The Vale Mountain Clans in TWoW

the clans that dwelt in the mountain fastnesses were brigands and murderers who bowed to no law but the sword.

One thing that I enjoy doing with the series is finding a minor character or group that has been removed from the plot for a bit and then looking at how/when they could get re-involved. In this post, I am going to attempt to do that with the Vale Mountain Clans

Note: If you have a good understanding of the Vale Clansmen and what they have done so far/their place in the story, feel free to skip ahead to the section titled "Going Forward".

Background/History

If you're really interested in their background, please check out the wiki article, but the Clansmen are groups of men including (but not limited to) the Black Ears, Painted Dogs, Moon Brothers, Stone Crows and my personal favorite the Burned Men who rejected the authority of the Eyrie/Iron Throne and live lives somewhat similar to wildlings.

They raid villages, attack travelers (mainly taking weapon/armor, food/livestock and women). There are over 3,000 total warriors among the clans, but they haven't been a serious threat to the Vale in hundreds of years.

the mountain clans were lawless brigands, descending from the heights to rob and kill and melting away like snow whenever the knights rode out from the Vale in search of them.

and:

That was the trouble with the clans; they had an absurd notion that every man’s voice should be heard in council, so they argued about everything, endlessly. Even their women were allowed to speak. Small wonder that it had been hundreds of years since they last threatened the Vale with anything beyond an occasional raid. Tyrion meant to change that.

As I mentioned earlier the Burned Men are my favorite, as they are feared by the other clans for the practice of burning off a body part, which likely originated when a group of Painted Dogs began worshipping a witch and her dragon (likely Nettles and Sheepstealer)

Current Events

The Vale

We experience the hill tribes very early on in the series as they attack Catelyn Stark/Tyrion en route to the Eyrie, and then again when Tyrion/Bronn are set out on the High Road.

This is where, in return for his life Tyrion barters and offers the Clansmen:

But Gunthor raised a hand. "No. I would hear his words. The mothers go hungry, and steel fills more mouths than gold. What would you give us for your lives, Tyrion son of Tywin? Swords? Lances? Mail?"
"All that, and more, Gunthor son of Gurn," Tyrion Lannister replied, smiling. "I will give you the Vale of Arryn." -AGOT, Tyrion VI

When Tyrion brings the Clansmen into the Lannister war camp, Lord Tywin (who deftly handles them btw) the initial request is for:

First, though, I have some promises of my own to keep," he said as he sliced off a wedge. "I shall require three thousand helms and as many hauberks, plus swords, pikes, steel spearheads, maces, battle-axes, gauntlets, gorgets, greaves, breastplates, wagons to carry all this—"

and:

Lord Tywin rose, dignified and correct. "Even in the west, we know the prowess of the warrior clans of the Mountains of the Moon. What brings you down from your strongholds, my lords?"
"Horses," said Shagga.
"A promise of silk and steel," said Timett son of Timett.
Tyrion was about to tell his lord father how he proposed to reduce the Vale of Arryn to a smoking wasteland, but he was never given the chance. -AGOT, Tyrion VII

and then Tywin convinces them to fight the northerners:

"Ride with me against my enemies, and you shall have all my son promised you, and more," Lord Tywin told them.
"Would you pay us with our own coin?" Ulf son of Umar said. "Why should we need the father's promise, when we have the son's?"
"I said nothing of need," Lord Tywin replied. "My words were courtesy, nothing more. You need not join us. The men of the winterlands are made of iron and ice, and even my boldest knights fear to face them."
Oh, deftly done, Tyrion thought, smiling crookedly.
"The Burned Men fear nothing. Timett son of Timett will ride with the lions."
"We will ride with you, lion lord," Chella daughter of Cheyk agreed, "but only if your halfman son goes with us. He has bought his breath with promises. Until we hold the steel he has pledged us, his life is ours." - AGOT, Tyrion VII

Battle on the Green Fork

For the Battle on the Green Fork ~300 clansmen fight:

"My savages will put your steel to excellent use, my lord," Tyrion replied. When he had told Lefford he needed arms and armor to equip the three hundred men Ulf had fetched down out of the foothills, you would have thought he'd asked the man to turn his virgin daughters over to their pleasure. -AGOT, Tyrion VIII

with about half surviving:

He and Bronn went looking for his men. Many he found among the dead. Ulf son of Umar lay in a pool of congealing blood, his arm gone at the elbow, a dozen of his Moon Brothers sprawled around him. Shagga was slumped beneath a tree, riddled with arrows, Conn’s head in his lap. Tyrion thought they were both dead, but as he dismounted, Shagga opened his eyes and said, “They have killed Conn son of Coratt.” Handsome Conn had no mark but for the red stain over his breast, where the spear thrust had killed him. When Bronn pulled Shagga to his feet, the big man seemed to notice the arrows for the first time. He plucked them out one by one, cursing the holes they had made in his layers of mail and leather, and yowling like a babe at the few that had buried themselves in his flesh. Chella daughter of Cheyk rode up as they were yanking arrows out of Shagga, and showed them four ears she had taken. Timett they discovered looting the bodies of the slain with his Burned Men. Of the three hundred clansmen who had ridden to battle behind Tyrion Lannister, perhaps half had survived.

In King's Landing

Tyrion then uses them as bodyguards, etc. in King's Landing:

The clansmen Tyrion had brought down from their fastnesses in the Mountains of the Moon were loyal in their own fierce way, but they were proud and quarrelsome as well, prone to answer insults real or imagined with steel. "Try to find him. And while you are at it, see that the rest have been quartered and fed**. I want them in the barracks beneath the Tower of the Hand**, but don't let the steward put the Stone Crows near the Moon Brothers, and tell him the Burned Men must have a hall all to themselves." -ACOK, Tyrion I

Battle on the Blackwater

Tyrion sends the clansmen into the Kingswood to harass Stannis:

Timett had taken his Burned Men into the kingswood two days before. Yesterday the Black Ears and Moon Brothers followed, today the Stone Crows. -ACOK, Tyrion XI

and:

Lord Stannis wants to smoke out the Imp's savages."... "They kill his scouts and raid his baggage train. And the wildlings have been lighting fires too. The Imp told the queen that Stannis had better train his horses to eat ash, since he would find no blade of grass. -ACOK, Sansa IV

Post Blackwater

After the Blackwater, different clans do different things:

"The Stone Crows are still in the kingswood. Shagga seems to have taken a fancy to the place. Timett led the Burned Men home, with all the plunder they took from Stannis's camp after the fighting. Chella turned up with a dozen Black Ears at the River Gate one morning, but your father's red cloaks chased them off while the Kingslanders threw dung and cheered." -ASOS, Tyrion I

so let's take a look at how they could be involved going forward..

Going Forward

Vale Raids

Littlefinger stroked the neat spike of his beard. "Lysa has woes of her own. Clansmen raiding out of the Mountains of the Moon, in greater numbers than ever before . . . and better armed."
"Distressing," said Tyrion Lannister, who had armed them. "I could help her with that. A word from me . . ." -ACOK, Tyrion IV

and:

The Blackfish was my Knight of the Gate, and since he left us the mountain clans are growing very bold. Petyr will soon set all that to rights, though. -ASOS, Sansa VI

and:

The senior branch of House Royce was close to open revolt over her aunt's failure to aid Robb in his war, and the Waynwoods, Redforts, Belmores, and Templetons were giving them every support. The mountain clans were being troublesome as well, and old Lord Hunter had died so suddenly that his two younger sons were accusing their elder brother of having murdered him. -ASOS, Sansa VII

If interested: The Lords Declarant

Tyrion's Promise

Tyrion has seemingly promised the clansmen the Vale (similar to his promise to Brown Ben Plumm), but they don't ever seem to care about the actual Vale (claim) it seems just the weapons, etc. (as we see above), that said the weapons do give them access to the Vale.

The Vale of Arryn might have been spared the worst of the war, but it was hardly the idyllic place that Lady Lysa had made it out to be. -ASOS, Sansa VII

If interested: & By Siege or Storm, A Look at Attacks on the Great Castles of Westeros

The Eyrie is not being used (and basically impregnable), but the Gates of the Moon (where the Vale plotline is at currently) is still a strong castle. I guess it is possible the Vale clans affect the Tourney of the Winged Knights, but I doubt it.

Ser Shadrich and his Companions

The high road to the Vale is closed by snow, even if he could get past the mountain clans. Where's a dog to go?" -AFFC, Brienne V

It is worth noting that somehow 3 men got past the mountain clans (although its possible they accessed the Vale in a different way.

If interested: Ser Shadrich of the Shady Glen aka The Mad Mouse

The Riverlands

It seems the Riverlands are affected somewhat as well as we see:

There's the clans as well. The Burned Men are fearless since Timett One-Eye came back from the war. And half a year ago, Gunthor son of Gurn led the Stone Crows down on a village not eight miles from here. They took every woman and every scrap of grain, and killed half the men. They have steel now, good swords and mail hauberks, and they watch the high road—the Stone Crows, the Milk Snakes, the Sons of the Mist, all of them. -ASOS, Arya XIII

The Kingswood

As of ASOS, Shagga and some of the Storm Crows were still in the kingswood:

"The Stone Crows are still in the kingswood. Shagga seems to have taken a fancy to the place

I would like to thank u/alt_north and u/genghiskazoo for their comment about Tyrion owing the clans the Vale on this post: Debts Owed that Could Affect the Storyline as it inspired this post.

TLDR: Just a look at the current locations of some of the "forgotten" Vale clansmen and where they were most recently and some thoughts on how they could affect TWOW.