Karl Tanner

"We had a good thing here. We were free men. You'll never be free. You'll never know what that's like."

- Karl to Jon Snow

Karl Tanner was a character in the third and fourth season. He is played by guest star Burn Gorman and debuts in "Walk of Punishment." He is a brother of the Night's Watch who has gone north of the Wall on Lord Commander Jeor Mormont's Great Ranging. Karl led a mutiny at Craster's Keep in which he and his fellow mutineers- mainly ex-criminals- killed Craster and Mormont, but he and his comrades were later tracked down and killed by a band of the Night's Watch led by Jon Snow.

Background
Karl Tanner hails from Gin Alley in Flea Bottom, King's Landing, where he was a self-proclaimed "legend", making a name for himself as a highly-capable enforcer, assassin, and cutthroat. Karl was eventually sent to the Wall and became a ranger of the Night's Watch. He takes part in the Great Ranging.

His fighting style favored speed and using small, fast weapons like daggers to quickly stab and deliver killing blows. This style reflected his background in Flea Bottom where he fought in tight, confined spaces and had to use small, easily-concealed weapons to avoid being caught by the city guard.

Season 3
Karl survives the White Walkers' attack on the Fist of the First Men, and regroups with the remaining survivors as the ranging attempts to pull back to the Wall.

When the Watch arrive at Craster's Keep seeking food and shelter, Karl is openly antagonistic towards Craster, accusing him of giving his pigs better food than them. Along with Rast, he shows an interest in Craster's daughter-wives.

Following the death and funeral of Bannen, as tensions between Craster and the brothers of the Watch run higher, Karl insults Craster - calling him "a daughter fucking wildling bastard" - after the wildling demands the Watch to leave his hall and threatens to kill anyone who insults him. Craster charges against Karl with an axe but the black brother easily kills him by quickly closing the distance between them, blocking Craster's attack by grabbing the wrist of his weapon hand, and stabbing him in the throat with a dagger. Karl's action triggers a mutiny that causes the death of Lord Commander Mormont and fight among the black brothers.

Season 4
Grenn and Edd arrive at Castle Black after escaping from their captivity at Craster's Keep. They reveal that Karl is the ringleader of the mutineers, and that they are content with staying at the keep, eating Craster's food, and raping his wives and daughters.

​Jon Snow then points out that they know about the small garrison at Castle Black and proposes that they should be killed so they won't disclose it to the wildlings.

At Craster's Keep, Karl drinks wine from the skull of Jeor Mormont, drunkenly bragging about himself and his skill as a hired killer back in King's Landing before ordering Rast to "feed the beast". One of Craster's former wives enters the Keep and presents Karl with Craster's last child, a son. The women call for it to be given to the gods, and Rast takes the child out into the forest, leaving it behind. Soon after, Bran, Jojen, and Meera are captured and taken to Karl, who threatens to kill Meera and Jojen until Bran admits his true identity as Jon Snow's half-brother. With his new captives in hand, Karl attempts to rape Meera, but is interrupted when Jon Snow and a handful of the Night's Watch storm Craster's Keep. Karl duels and defeats Jon one-on-one where he overpowers him using dirty tactics and is about to kill Jon when one of Craster's daughter-wives stabs him in the shoulder. As Karl advances towards the girl in anger, Jon kills him by driving his sword through the back of Karl's head and out through his mouth.

In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Karl, called Clubfoot Karl, is a steward of the Night's Watch. Along with Chett, Lark the Sisterman, Paul, Dirk, Ollo Lophand and others, he had conspired to kill Lord Commander Mormont, Sam and other individuals and desert the Watch, but their plan was interrupted by the sudden snowfall and the subsequent White Walkers' attack. He is among the traitors who mutiny against Lord Commander Mormont. However, Dirk - not Karl - is the one who kills Craster and takes one of his wives as hostage. Like the TV version of Karl, Dirk is a ranger.

In "A Dance with Dragons", five of the Betrayers are killed by the mysterious person (who has not appeared so far in the show) that accompanies Bran and his escorts. Bran wargs into Summer and finds their bodies, one of them is presumed to be Ollo Lophand. It is unknown if Karl or Dirk are among the other dead four, or among the remaining Betrayers whose fate is not revealed.

"Tanner" is the (likely unofficial) surname given to Lollys Stokeworth's newborn son, conceived when his unmarried, noble born mother was gang raped behind a tanner's shop during the Riot of King's Landing. Any relation to the show's Karl Tanner is probably coincidental, as the common surname of noble bastards from the Crownlands is Waters.