House Stark

House Stark of Winterfell is one of the Great Houses of Westeros and the principal noble house of the north. In days of old they ruled as Kings of Winter, but since Aegon's Conquest they have been Wardens of the North and ruled as Lords of Winterfell. Their seat, Winterfell, is an ancient castle renowned for its strength.
Their sigil is a grey direwolf racing across a field of white. Their words are "Winter Is Coming", one of only a few house mottoes to be a warning rather than a boast. House Stark is the main House in the story of The Song of Ice and Fire.
Aside from the Karstarks of Karhold, the Starks of Winterfell may have other, distant relatives in the north. White Harbor and Barrowton are considered to be likely options. Some younger Starks have also held vassal holdfasts for the lords of Winterfell.
== Culture ==
=== Traits ===
The Starks have a reputation for long faces, brown hair, and blue eyes. Some are known for melancholy and iciness, while others have a wildness sometimes called "wolf blood".
In the current generation of Starks, several members (e.g., Robb, Arya, Bran, and Rickon Stark, as well as Jon Snow/Stark) have the ability to enter the minds of their direwolf pets as wargs, giving them the ability to experience the senses of their direwolves and to see through their eyes. The latter occurs most frequently when the children sleep, although they are able to do it at will when awake, once they are more practiced.
=== Customs ===
House Stark traditionally buries deceased members of their family in the crypts below Winterfell. The Kings of Winter and Lords of Winterfell are given a statue of their likeness, sitting by their tomb, whereas other family members normally do not get one. Exceptions include Brandon and Lyanna Stark, who were given statues by their brother, Lord Eddard Stark, and Artos Stark, as well as Bran Stark by his bastard brother, Jon Stark. The statues of the kings and lords have stone wolves by their feet and have swords placed upon their lap, which are said to keep the spirits of the dead at rest, locked within their tombs.
House Stark traditionally follows the old gods. Following the marriage of Eddard to Lady Catelyn Tully, a follower of the Faith of the Seven, a small sept was constructed at Winterfell.
The Starks have traditionally been friends of the Night's Watch. The four youngest men to have served as Lord Commander, including Osric Stark, were brothers, sons, or bastards of Kings in the North.
The Starks hold the belief that there must always be a Stark in Winterfell. When the head of the house is away, the Stark remaining in the castle to rule the north is referred to as "the Stark in Winterfell".
== History ==
=== Kings of Winter ===
The Starks are an ancient house of First Men descent. House Stark was founded by Brandon the Builder, a legendary figure who lived during the Age of Heroes. Bran the Builder is said to have raised Winterfell, the seat of the Starks, and the Wall, and other legends connect him with Storm's End and the Hightower. The Starks were Kings of Winter in the north for eight thousand years since the Age of Heroes, possibly beginning with Bran the Builder. The Night's King, the attainted thirteenth Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, has been suggested to have been a Stark, among other possibilities. The Night's King is said to have been defeated by Brandon the Breaker and Joramun.
The ancient Starks gradually defeated rival kings, such as the Barrow Kings to their south and the Red Kings to their east. For several millennia, the Starks were not the uncontested Kings in the North (Kings of Winter). Their primary antagonists, the Red Kings from House Bolton of the Dreadfort, swore fealty some thousand years ago, ending their flaying ways. Meanwhile, King Jon Stark drove raiders from the White Knife, and the Wolf's Den was built at its mouth. This stronghold was often granted to sons and grandsons of the King in the North; one such branch, the Greystarks, was extinguished after allying with the Boltons against the Starks. King Jon's son, Rickard, defeated the Marsh King and married his daughter, bringing the Neck into Winterfell's realm under the lordship of House Reed.
When Andals attempted to conquer the north, King Theon Stark made common cause with House Bolton and defeated Argos Sevenstar in the Battle of the Weeping Water, after which he raised a fleet and sailed to Andalos. There he took revenge by sacking and putting hundreds to death. He later conquered the Three Sisters, attacked the Fingers, and battled against the ironborn, driving them away from Cape Kraken and Bear Island and slaying Ravos Hoare. Both places were later taken back by King Loron Greyjoy, and King Rodrik Stark took Bear Island back after Loron's death. It is said that he did so by winning a wrestling match, though some scholars doubt the truth of this tale. Rodrik's sons and grandsons took back Cape Kraken. King Theon also smashed a rebellion in the Rills, and gave aid to the Night's Watch against wildlings.
Thousands of years before Aegon's Conquest, King Brandon the Shipwright attempted to sail across the Sunset Sea, but never returned back home. His son, also named Brandon, burned the northern shipyards in his grief. The north lacked strength at sea until the reign of Kings Robb and Jon Stark.
House Stark attempted to conquer the Three Sisters, which began a conflict between the Starks and House Arryn from the Vale. In response to the Rape of the Three Sisters, the Sistermen asked for help from Mathos II Arryn, King of Mountain and Vale. This conflict, the War Across the Water, lasted for a thousand years, during which time the Starks thrice landed on the Fingers. During King Edrick Stark's hundred-year long reign, the Wolf's Den, already torched by House Arryn, was captured by slavers from the Stepstones. Edrick's great-grandson, King Brandon "Ice Eyes", took back the Wolf's Den. After a thousand years of war, the Arryns were victorious over the Starks, and the Valemen have ruled over the Three Sisters ever since.
Several centuries before Aegon's Conquest, House Manderly was driven into exile from the Mander by Lord Lorimar Peake during the reign of Perceon III Gardener, King of the Reach. The Starks welcomed them to the north, and accepted oaths of fealthy from the Manderlys, giving them the Wolf's Den and the surrounding lands, leading to the creation of White Harbor around the Wolf's Den.
Possibly around 700 BC, Karlon Stark, a younger son of Winterfell, helped crush a rebel lord. As a reward, he was granted lands on which he built a keep named Karl's Hold. Over time, the keep became known as Karhold and Karlon's descendants became House Karstark.
The Starks helped repel several major wildling invasions, such as when they and their Umber bannermen defeated the brother Kings-Beyond-the-Wall Gendel and Gorne three thousand years ago. Bael the Bard is said to have sired a son on the maiden daughter of Brandon the Daughterless. Bael was later slain by his own son, who was unaware of the fact that Bael was his father.
=== Targaryen Conquest and Aftermath ===
During Aegon's Conquest, King Torrhen Stark raised thirty thousand Northmen and marched south. With the burning of Harrenhal and the Field of Fire in mind, however, Torrhen submitted without battle to Aegon I Targaryen. Since the time of the King Who Knelt, the Starks have held the north for the Lords of the Seven Kingdoms as Lord Paramounts and Wardens of the North. Queen Rhaenys Targaryen arranged the marriage of Torrhen's daughter to Ronnel Arryn, the Lord of the Eyrie, in an attempt to knit the new realm together. There are letters at the Citadel which suggest that Torrhen only agreed to this match after much protest, and that his sons had refused to attend the wedding. Torrhen's sons did not agree with the rule of House Targaryen. Some spoke of rebelling and raising the Stark banner, though no rebellion has been mentioned to have ultimately taken place.
For the next full century after the Conquest, the Starks remained aloof from the royal court and disinterested in politics affecting the rest of Westeros. Historians such as Yandel barely remark upon the Starks during this time period, and even Gyldayn's definitive history offers only slightly more information about this uneventful era (thus a full family tree has not yet been revealed for the Starks between the Conquest and the Dance of the Dragons). Torrhen was succeeded by "Brandon the Boisterous". At some point rule of the North passed to Roderick Stark, and Roderick was succeeded by "Brandon the Boastful". Brandon the Boastful attended the Golden Wedding in 49 AC, along with his sons Walton and Alaric, though Brandon died soon after his return from it to the North.
Despite earlier rumblings of dissent by Torrhen's sons, the Starks were not among the wave of localized rebellions that popped up against Aegon the Conqueror's son Aenys I (in the Vale, the Iron Islands, and at Harrenhal). The Starks took no part in the ongoing Faith Militant uprising against Aenys and then his tyrannical brother Maegor the Cruel: as the North follows the old gods they did not heed the High Septon's calls for rebellion. Moreover the North was never singled out for mistreatment by Maegor, so they never joined either of the rebellions against him by Aenys's sons, but they didn't actively support Maegor either. The only brief point when the Starks became involved in the conflicts was after Maegor's death. Captured members of the Faith Militant had been exiled to the Night's Watch by Maegor, and later Aenys's son Jaehaerys I exiled many of Maegor's hardcore supporters to the Wall as well, including surviving members of his old Kingsguard. Neither group had love for Jaehaerys, so soon afterward in 50 AC the two groups made common cause to rebel against the leadership of the Watch. Lord Walton Stark called his bannermen to intervene and crushed the deserters, but survivors fled beyond the Wall: Walton pursued them but was ambushed by wildlings and killed by giants. Walton was succeeded by his brother Alaric Stark.
In 58 AC Queen Alysanne Targaryen visited Winterfell and was received by Lord Alaric, who was initially cold to her and Jaehaerys: the new king had spared the lives of the men who rebeled against the Night's Watch by exiling them to the Wall instead of executing them, and Alaric felt that had Jaehaerys executed them his brother would still be alive. Alaric was gradually charmed by Alysanne's visit, however, and his daughter ​Alarra grew particularly close to the queen during her visit. Alaric did not attend the tourney in King's Landing which celebrated the tenth anniversary of Jaehaerys's coronation, sending his sons instead. Alaric ordered his bannermen to put aside half of their harvests in anticipation of the winter of 59–60 AC, but not all of the northmen obeyed, resulting in famine. The Shivers plague followed later that winter, though no specific casualties are mentioned in the North and Alaric survived. Lord Alaric died in 72 AC and was succeeded by his grandson, Edric Stark, as Alaric's two sons had preceded him in death.
Alaric's relationship with the Targaryens remained complicated throughout his reign. According to Archmaester Gyldayn, Alysanne charmed a reluctant Alaric into granting the New Gift to the Night's Watch because, even though Alaric was a strong friend to the Watch, he knew the northern lords who already held the lands in question would not be happy to give them away. According to Maester Yandel, however, the Starks were opposed to the royal demand for a different reason: the Starks feared that, under the control of Castle Black, the New Gift would inevitably decline, for the Night's Watch would always look northward and never give much thought to their new tenants to the south. Time proved this criticism correct, for as the decades passed the Night's Watch neglected the New Gift and it fell into disuse. Yandel cites that there are archived letters in the Citadel sent by Lord Stark’s sons, asking the maesters about precedents against forced donation of property. Whatever the case, on the whole Jaehaerys and Alysanne became popular in the North due to their other generous donations to the Night's Watch, and their construction of the new Kingsroad extending from the Neck to Winterfell and the Wall.
=== The Dance of the Dragons ===
Edric was eventually succeeded by Ellard Stark, who attended the Great Council of 101 AC to determine the new heir of the elderly Jaehaerys after his second son's death. The final vote came to a choice between Viserys Targaryen (son of Jaehaerys's second son) and Laenor Velaryon (grandson of Jaehaerys through his first son's daughter, Rhaenys). Viserys was the candidate Jaehaerys himself preferred, and he won the final vote by a landslide, though the Starks were among the minority of lords who had supported Laenor (and one of only two Great Houses, the other being the Baratheons). Yandel believed in his history that the reason why Ellard voted against Jaehaerys's preferred successor is because the Starks were still bitter about Jaehaerys forcing them to donate the New Gift to the Night's Watch, leading to its mismanagement. This vote would have longstanding consequences, as it pushed the Starks closer to the Velaryon faction at Viserys I's royal court, and through them to ultimately side with Rhaenyra during the Dance of the Dragons.
At some point after 101 AC, Ellard was succeeded by Benjen Stark, and later Benjen was succeeded by his son Rickon. Rickon died in 121 AC, and was succeeded as the nominal Lord of Winterfell by his only surviving son, the thirteen-year-old Cregan Stark. Rickon's brother, Bennard, served as regent during Cregan's minority. When Cregan came of age in 126 AC, however, Bennard was slow to surrender his power. Relations grew strained between Bennard and Cregan as the young Lord of Winterfell chafed under the limits imposed on him by his uncle. Ultimately, Cregan rose up against his uncle, imprisoned Bennard and his sons, and took rule of the North into his own hands.
In 129 AC, as the Dance of the Dragons began, Prince Jacaerys Velaryon recruited Lord Cregan's aid for his mother, Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen. Cregan was cold and stern to the prince, but after Jacaerys found a deep affection for Cregan's bastard sister, Sara Snow, she convinced Cregan to listen to Jace. The two would grow quite close, and forge the Pact of Ice and Fire, with Jace promising to have a future daughter of his wed a future son of Cregan's, giving the Starks dragons. Cregan sent the Winter Wolves under Roderick Dustin, Lord of Barrowton, and knights from White Harbor led by Ser Medrick and Ser Torrhen Manderly. After the gathering of one last harvest before winter, Cregan led a great army of childless, homeless, unwed, or old men, and younger sons, to King's Landing. He arrived after King Aegon II Targaryen had been poisoned, however, and though he had hoped to punish those lords who had supported the late king, Corlys Velaryon, Lord of the Tides, had already sent out ravens suing for peace. While the court awaited replies, Cregan held sway and arrested all those involved in Aegon II's death, as he objected to the murder of a king. The as-yet-uncrowned Aegon III Targaryen was cowed into naming Cregan as Hand of the King, though Cregan served only a day in that office, a time known as the Hour of the Wolf. Lord Stark held trials for twenty-one out of twenty-two of his prisoners, with Corlys the only one spared a trial. Aegon III pardoned Lord Velaryon and restored his titles to him, which Cregan allowed when Alysanne Blackwood offered the Hand her own hand in marriage. Cregan returned north the next day. Sara would also die giving birth to a bastard boy, whom Cregan would label a stillborn before adopting him as his own son and heir, naming him Rickon Stark.
During the Regency era that followed the Dance, Cregan struggled to hold the North together against several threats. A devastating winter had already begun late in the war which ultimately lasted six years, and in 132 AC the North was one of the first regions in Westeros struck by the Winter Fever, which continued through 133 AC. With the North weakened by winter, famine, and plague, a large wildling war-band led by Sylas the Grim seized on the opportunity to force their way south of the Wall. His force of 3,000 raiders overwhelmed the Night's Watch at Queensgate and proceeded to plunder the lands to the south. Lord Cregan rallied what few remaining able-bodied men were left among his bannermen, then rode out to hunt down and destroy Sylas's raiding bands.
Cregan's eldest son and heir was Rickon, named after his own father. Rickon predeceased his father when he died in one of the final battles of the Conquest of Dorne, during the reign of King Daeron I Targaryen, unknowingly dying alongside his Targaryen cousin. The North lamented Rickon's death, for the subsequent reigns of Cregan's younger sons after him were troublesome.
=== Blackfyre Rebellions and Cregan's Successors ===
The exact date of Cregan Stark's death is unclear, though it is said that he lived to be quite old. It is unlikely though possible that he lived through the First Blackfyre Rebellion, as he would have been 88 years old in 196 AC. It is said that "all" of the Seven Kingdoms were divided in the rebellion - though in truth none of the Great Houses sided with the Blackfyres, and most of their supporters were along the southern borders with Dorne, where many lords were ancestral enemies of the Martells and opposed King Daeron II Targaryen's new marriage-alliance with them. Therefore it's possible that a few Northern lords may have sided with the Blackfyres, but overall the North saw little fighting.
The decades after Cregan Stark's death were a troublesome time for the North, as Cregan's descendants squabbled amongst each other and dealt with numerous more local threats in rapid succession.
Cregan Stark had five sons: Rickon, Jonnel, Edric, Barthogan, and Brandon. Though Rickon Stark predeceased his father, he was survived by his own two daughters, Sansa and Serena, and by the known laws of succesion they should have been ahead of Rickon's younger brothers in line of inheritance - however, northern succession laws may simply be different, there has never been a ruling Queen of Winter or ruling Lady of Winterfell for example, and promigeniture is not nessesarily binding elsewere in the seven kingdoms either. Whatever the case was, Cregan's second son Jonnel Stark succeeded Cregan upon his death, marrying his half-niece Sansa. Cregan's third son Edric Stark married Rickon's other daughter Serena. Jonnel's marriage to Sansa was childless, but upon his death rule passed not to Cregan's third son Edric, but to his fourth son Barthogan Stark. While it is possible that Edric predeceased his older brother, Edric did have two sons and two daughters with Serena, and the daughters had children of their own, and all of these should have been ahead in the line of succession to Barthogan. The exact reasons and circumstances under which Barthogan became Lord of Winterfell are as yet unknown.
Barthogan himself later died childless, when he was slain in the Skagosi rebellion during the reign of Daeron II Targaryen, and he was succeeded by Cregan's fifth and final son, Brandon, from whom the later generations of House Stark descend. Convoluted succession challenges remained for decades, possibly through Serena and Edric's children - and between Brandon's own rival grandchildren. Brandon was succeeded by his eldest son Rodwell Stark, who died without issue, after which rule passed to his younger brother Beron Stark. The grandson of Cregan, Beron was mortally wounded fighting off an incursion by Dagon Greyjoy's ironborn, and as he lay dying in Winterfell multiple Stark widows pushed their children's rival succession claims against the others - only for the unlikely traveling duo Dunk and Egg to become embroiled in the ensuing events.
Ultimately Beron was succeeded by his eldest son, Donnor Stark, but when he died without issue rule passed to second son Willam Stark. In 226 AC, Raymun Redbeard, the King-Beyond-the-Wall, led a large wildling invasion. Lord Willam and Harmond Umber, Lord of the Last Hearth, met the wildling host in battle on the shores of Long Lake. Although Willam was killed by Raymun, his younger brother, Artos, avenged him by slaying the King-Beyond-the-Wall.
Willam was succeeded upon his death by his son Edwyle Stark, father of Rickard Stark and grandfather of Eddard Stark.
=== Robert's Rebellion ===
Lord Rickard Stark, urged on by his maester, Walys, allegedly sought to further southron alliances. He sent his second son, Eddard, to be fostered with Lord Jon Arryn at the Eyrie at the age of eight. There, Eddard befriended fellow ward Robert Baratheon. Rickard betrothed his heir, Brandon, to Catelyn Tully, the daughter of Hoster Tully, Lord of Riverrun, and his only daughter, Lyanna, to Robert, Lord of Storm's End. Rickard's four children attended the tourney at Harrenhal in 281 AC, where they met Howland Reed. After winning the jousting competition at the tourney, Prince Rhaegar Targaryen crowned Lyanna as his queen of love and beauty, passing over his own wife, Princess Elia Martell.
In 282 AC, Brandon Stark was at Riverrun when the date of his wedding to Catelyn Tully was announced. Petyr Baelish, Lord Hoster's ward, had been in love with Catelyn for years, and challenged Brandon to a duel for Catelyn's hand. Brandon won. After the duel, Brandon left Riverrun, promising his bride-to-be that he would return soon, riding for King's Landing to demand justice for Lyanna's abduction at the hands of Rhaegar, which wasn't actually an abduction. He was arrested by Aerys II for threatening the life of the crown prince. Rickard, who had just arrived at Riverrun with the wedding party, was summoned to court to answer for Brandon's crime. Although Lord Hoster advised against it, Rickard went. Brandon and Rickard were executed by Aerys II; Rickard was burned alive, while Brandon strangled himself in his attempt to rescue his father. After the executions, King Aerys demanded the heads of Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon from their former foster father, Jon Arryn. The Lord of the Eyrie refused, however, and raised his banners in revolt. This act is seen as the start of Robert's Rebellion.
Eddard rode with Robert and Jon to Gulltown, where they took the city and flipped the banner of the Targaryen loyalists. From there, Eddard took a ship up to White Harbor, where he would then return to Winterfell, forming his host and marching south. He would rejoin the war effort after arriving at Riverrun, going south with the Arryn and initial Tully host to fight at the Battle of the Bells, where they would crush the smaller Targaryen force led by Hand of the King, Lord Jon Connington, saving Robert. They would then return to Riverrun, where the final arrangements were made for the Tullys to join the rebellion: Eddard would take his brother's place, marrying Catelyn, and Jon would wed Lysa. 
One of the principal commanders in the war, Eddard took command of the rebel army after the Battle of the Trident, following the remnants of Rhaegar's army to King's Landing. Ned arrived at the capital after the Sack of King's Landing by Lord Tywin Lannister, however, and Lord Stark found Aerys II dead and Ser Jaime Lannister sitting on the Iron Throne. He had a falling out with Robert when Robert accepted the aid of House Lannister and condoned the murders of Rhaegar's wife, young daughter, and infant son. Eddard rode south the next day to relieve the siege of Storm's End.
After lifting the siege and turning the banners of the Reach Lords and Mace Tyrell at Storm's End, Eddard and six companions went to retrieve Lyanna at the building Rhaegar had named the Tower of Joy, finding it defended by three knights of the Kingsguard: Arthur Dayne, Gerold Hightower, and Oswell Whent. Eddard and Howland Reed were the only survivors of the ensuing combat at the tower of joy. Eddard found Lyanna dying in a bed of blood, clutching rose petals, dead and black, in her palm. He very quickly realized that she had just given birth, and she revealed Prince Daeron Targaryen to him. She made him promise to protect him, and keep him hidden from Robert to save him his wrath, to which he ultimately agreed, taking the boy as his bastard son, Jon Snow, mirroring Cregan and Rickon. Eddard and Robert were reconciled in their shared grief over Lyanna's death.
=== The Quiet Wolf ===
Eddard returned from the war with his bastard son, Jon Snow, rumors of which flew about, some claiming he had been born to a whore or a fisherman's daughter, others the Lady Ashara Dayne, now dead after a visit from Ned. Eddard was presented with his trueborn son, Robb, by Catelyn when he arrived. Ned buried Lyanna's body in the crypt of Winterfell beside her father and brother. Eddard's younger brother, Benjen, joined the Night's Watch within a few months of Eddard's return from the war. A skilled ranger, Benjen eventually became First Ranger.
Lord Stark fought in Greyjoy's Rebellion in 289 AC, and he took Balon Greyjoy's son Theon with him to Winterfell, a hostage to ensure the loyalty of the Lord of the Iron Islands. Eddard ruled the north in Robert's name, keeping a distance from the intrigue-ridden politics of King's Landing.
Following the death of his Hand of the King, Lord Jon Arryn, King Robert I Baratheon journeys to Winterfell to offer Lord Eddard Stark the office. A letter arrives from Lysa Arryn, Jon's widow and Eddard's wife Catelyn's sister, who claims the Lannisters were behind Lord Arryn's sudden death. At Catelyn's urging, Ned grudgingly accepts the Handship and a betrothal of their daughter Sansa to Prince Joffrey Baratheon. During the royal party's stay, Eddard's second son, Bran, accidentally witnesses Queen Cersei Lannister having sex with her twin brother, Ser Jaime. Jaime throws Bran out of the tower window, hoping to kill him to keep their relationship a secret. Bran survives, but is crippled and comatose.
Eddard rides to King's Landing along with his daughters, Sansa and Arya, while Catelyn remains at Winterfell with their sons. Meanwhile, Ned's bastard son, Jon Snow, rides north with his uncle, Benjen, to join the Night's Watch. Catelyn is inconsolable in her worry for Bran, ignoring her duties as Lady of Winterfell, but she is jolted back to reality by an attempt on Bran's life thwarted only by his direwolf. As Bran lies comatose, he begins to have visions of a three-eyed crow.
Near the ruby ford and the crossroads, Arya defends her friend Mycah from the aggressions of Prince Joffrey Baratheon, upsetting Sansa. This is exacerbated when Sansa's direwolf, Lady, is ordered killed in place of Arya's, Nymeria, which has escaped.
In King's Landing, Eddard is outraged to find that the crown is heavily in debt (largely to Robert's goodfather, Tywin Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock) and that the king intends to throw a lavish tourney in his honor. After taking up his duties as Hand, Eddard assigns twenty of his household guard to assist the gold cloaks in keeping order in King's Landing.
Ned investigates the death of Jon Arryn, determining that he was looking into the king's bastard brood. When Robert holds a small council meeting to arrange the death of the exiled Daenerys Targaryen, who has wed Drogo, a mighty khal of the Dothraki, Ned refuses to condone the assassination and resigns as Hand. In the streets of the capital, he is waylaid by Jaime Lannister and red cloaks in retaliation for Catelyn's abduction of Tyrion Lannister, whom her foster-brother, Petyr Baelish, had told her was responsible for the attempt on Bran's life. Ned's leg is broken and his best men slain, but Ned survives and Robert re-confirms his appointment as Hand before going on a hunt and leaving Ned to sit the Iron Throne. In this capacity he sends men, including twenty Stark guards, under Beric Dondarrion, Lord of Blackhaven, to stop Ser Gregor Clegane from raiding the riverlands. Gregor's attacks were ordered by Lord Lannister; since Lord Stark was wounded he was not lured into the field and thus could not be captured and traded for Tyrion. The men sent after Gregor are ambushed and many are slain. Catelyn brings Tyrion to her sister Lysa at the Eyrie, but Tyrion is released after Bronn is victorious in a trial by battle.
At the Wall, Jon Snow deals with the cruel tutelage of Ser Alliser Thorne while making friends such as Samwell Tarly and learning lessons from his elders. Jon becomes the personal steward of Jeor Mormont, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. The youth encounters a hint of the evil that supposedly lies beyond the Wall when the corpses of two of his uncle's men rise from the dead and go on the rampage at Castle Black; Jon saves the Lord Commander from being killed by one of the wights.
Eventually, Ned arrives at the same conclusion at which Jon Arryn did: that Queen Cersei's children are not Robert's, but bastards born of incest between the Lannister twins, and determines that it is this secret for which Jon was murdered. He approaches Cersei with this truth, warning her to flee the city. Enlisting Lord Baelish to recruit the gold cloaks, Ned confronts Cersei after Robert's death from a hunting accident, insisting that Stannis Baratheon is now king by rights. Littlefinger betrays Ned, however, and the Hand's men are slaughtered by Janos Slynt's gold cloaks and Ned is thrown into a black cell. Sansa is held hostage in the Red Keep, but Arya manages to escape thanks to Syrio Forel, the fencing master Ned had hired to train her in swordplay.
Robb Stark calls the banners to Winterfell and marches south to aid his mother's family, House Tully of Riverrun, against the Lannisters, and to rescue his father and sisters from the capital. At the Twins, Catelyn arranges an alliance with Walder Frey, Lord of the Crossing, to negotiate passage over the Green Fork, promising that Robb and Arya will wed Freys. Robb captures Jaime in the Whispering Wood and then relieves the Lannisters' siege of Riverrun with the Battle of the Camps. The rest of the Stark army, led by Roose Bolton, Lord of the Dreadfort, is defeated by Tywin in the battle on the Green Fork, however.
Ned initially refuses to name Joffrey as the true king, but in the end agrees in order to ensure the safety of Sansa. When he publicly announces this support at the Great Sept of Baelor, however, the capricious boy king orders Ned's execution rather than allow him to join the Night's Watch as planned. In response, the northern and river lords at Robb's war council in Riverrun proclaim him King in the North, seceding from the realm of the Iron Throne.
Benjen has gone missing beyond the Wall, and Jon Snow, after briefly deserting the Watch to join his half-brother's army, rides as part of the great ranging meant to determine his fate and the threats of the Others and wildlings.
=== The War of the Five Kings ===
Robb, the King in the North, invades the westerlands, winning a string of victories against Lannister bannermen. In an effort to gain allies, he sends his father's ward, Theon Greyjoy, and his mother, Catelyn, as envoys to Balon Greyjoy and Renly Baratheon, respectively. However, Theon joins his family, House Greyjoy, in attacking the north, while Catelyn's diplomatic progress is shattered when Renly is killed by Melisandre's shadow assassin. Renly's sworn shield, Brienne of Tarth, takes up service with Catelyn. While Riverrun celebrates the Battle of the Fords, Robb is reported to have taken the Crag.
Arya journeys north with Yoren and his new recruits for the Night's Watch, including King Robert's bastard Gendry, but their band is attacked by westermen at a Gods Eye town and she is eventually taken into captivity by the Mountain's men. At Harrenhal, she is witness to myriad atrocities, but remains strong, orchestrating several deaths of her tormentors via the assassin Jaqen H'ghar. During the fall of Harrenhal to Roose Bolton, Arya helps free a band of northern prisoners. The incognito Arya is named Roose's cupbearer, but she does not trust her father's bannerman and flees the castle when Roose intends to give it to Vargo Hoat. Meanwhile, Sansa remains in custody at the Red Keep, betrothed to King Joffrey. She suffers abuse at his hands, but makes tenuous relationships with Sandor Clegane, Dontos Hollard, and Tyrion Lannister, the acting Hand of the King.
At Winterfell, Bran enjoys titular reign and hosts two Frey wards, Big Walder and Little Walder. Maester Luwin and Ser Rodrik Cassel deal with such issues as the harvest feast, the Hornwood inheritance, and the atrocities of Ramsay Snow, the Bastard of Bolton. With the guidance of the Reed children, Jojen and Meera, Bran hones his gift for greensight and skinchanging. When Rodrik leads six hundred Winterfell men, among others, to battle the ironborn under Dagmer Cleftjaw, Theon Greyjoy seizes Winterfell. On his return to Winterfell, Rodrik and his men mean to liberate the castle from Theon, but are betrayed and routed by Ramsay. Luwin is mortally wounded by Ramsay's men, and Theon is captured during the sack of Winterfell. Bran and Rickon, thought to have been killed by Theon, leave the crypts of Winterfell after the Boltons depart. The Stark boys split up and flee towards remote northern havens.
Benjen remains lost beyond the Wall. Jon Snow joins Qhorin Halfhand on a scouting mission in the Skirling Pass, during which he refuses an order to execute a spearwife named Ygritte. On their return to Lord Commander Jeor Mormont, the pair encounter a wildling band led by Rattleshirt. Jon, on orders from Qhorin, joins the wildlings as a double agent, and is forced to kill the Halfhand to prove his earnestness. Ygritte, now with Rattleshirt, vouches for Jon.
With Stannis Baratheon's power broken by the Battle of the Blackwater and the Tyrells and Martells allied with the Lannisters, the Stark-Tully forces stand alone against their foes in the south, and the Greyjoys threaten the north. Ramsay blames the slaughter at Winterfell on Theon and his ironborn.
Having been informed of Bran's and Rickon's alleged deaths, Catelyn frees Jaime Lannister in a desperate attempt to trade him for her daughters, sending Brienne to accompany him to King's Landing. Catelyn is put under house arrest at Riverrun. Meanwhile, Robb returns from his westerlands campaign having wed Jeyne Westerling, the daughter of a minor Lannister bannerman. Jeyne had treated Robb's wounds after the storming of the Crag, and the youths slept together after Robb was informed of the deaths of his brothers. This marriage breaks the Starks' alliance with the furious Freys, however. With Jaime gone from Riverrun, the vengeful Rickard Karstark, Lord of Karhold, murders two prisoners, Willem Lannister and Tion Frey. Rickard is in turn executed for treason by Robb, alienating House Karstark.
Lord Walder Frey accepts Robb's offer to forgive his breach of marriage contract by having Robb's uncle, Edmure Tully, now Lord of Riverrun, stand in the king's place. Robb and Catelyn ride with thirty-five hundred veterans to attend the wedding at the Twins. At Hag's Mire Robb designates his heir (believed to be Jon Snow, in spite of the Night's Watch vows) and resolves to march north to reclaim his homeland from the Greyjoys. Meanwhile, Arya traverses the riverlands, unknowingly entering the mind of her lost direwolf, Nymeria, and killing several sellswords of the Brave Companions chasing her from Harrenhal. She joins with the brotherhood without banners, whose founding members included the Winterfell guards Alyn and Harwin. However, Arya is abducted by the Hound, Sandor Clegane, who hopes to ransom her at Edmure's wedding.
In preparation for the siege of Moat Cailin, Robb's host reconvenes with Lord Roose Bolton's thirty-five hundred men at the Twins. Lord Tywin Lannister, the Hand of the King to Joffrey I Baratheon, has been conspiring with Roose and Walder, however. Despite guest right, Robb, Catelyn, and many of their bannermen are murdered or taken captive in the Red Wedding.
Bran journeys north with Hodor, Jojen and Meera Reed, and his direwolf Summer. They pass through the Wall at the Nightfort with the aid of Samwell Tarly and Coldhands.
Further north, Jon Snow ingratiates himself with the free folk, beginning a romance with Ygritte and befriending Mance Rayder, the King-beyond-the-Wall, and other wildling leaders. He scales the Wall with Styr, the Magnar of Thenn, and escapes from Queenscrown to Castle Black in time to help prepare for the assault of the wildlings. Ygritte and Styr are killed during the fighting, and command over the black brothers falls to Jon after the death of Donal Noye. Jon successfully defends the Wall during the early stages of the battle beneath the Wall, until Ser Alliser Thorne and Lord Janos Slynt arrive and imprison him for allegedly betraying his vows. They send him to assassinate Mance under a flag of parley, but Stannis Baratheon's arrival breaks the wildling host before the deed is carried out. After the battle, Stannis offers to legitimize the youth as Jon Stark, Lord of Winterfell. Jon decides to decline the offer, however, and is then elected Lord Commander of the Night's Watch thanks to the maneuverings of his friend, Samwell Tarly.
The Hound brings Arya toward the Eyrie in an attempt to ransom her to her aunt, Lady Lysa Arryn, but they are halted by snow in the Mountains of the Moon. They are attacked by the Mountain's men at the crossroads inn and Sandor is stabbed. Arya leaves the Hound to die along the Trident. At Saltpans she uses the iron coin given to her by Jaqen H'ghar to book passage across the narrow sea on the galleas Titan's Daughter.
Sansa's engagement to King Joffrey is ended by his betrothal to Margaery Tyrell. She begins to mingle with the Tyrell women in King's Landing and is nearly betrothed to Willas Tyrell. She is abruptly wed to Tyrion Lannister instead, but they never consummate their match. The pair are blamed for Joffrey's murder at his wedding feast; in truth it was orchestrated by Petyr Baelish and Olenna Tyrell. Petyr smuggles Sansa out of the capital, murdering his pawn and her friend, Dontos Hollard. He brings Sansa to the Fingers, where he marries her aunt, Lysa, and then to the Eyrie. Littlefinger keeps Sansa hidden by presenting her as his natural daughter, Alayne Stone. Lysa observes Petyr kiss Sansa after the girl builds a snow castle of Winterfell. When Lysa drunkenly accuses Sansa of trying to steal her new husband and reveals that she and Petyr had killed her first husband, Lord Jon Arryn, Littlefinger throws Lysa from the Moon Door.
With Bran and Rickon thought dead and Sansa and Arya missing, House Stark is all but extinguished in the eyes of the world. The Iron Throne names Roose Bolton as Warden of the North and legitimizes his son Ramsay, and most rivermen return to the king's peace. Ice, the ancestral Valyrian steel blade of the Starks, has been reforged into two new Lannister blades, Widow's Wail and Oathkeeper. A revived Catelyn Stark takes leadership of the brotherhood and hangs Freys.
=== The Rule of the Boltons and the Return of the Starks ===
=== The Battle for the Dawn ===
=== The King in the North ===
== Current Status ==
The undead legend of Jon Stark rules as King in the North, Lord of Winterfell, Lord of the Three Kingdoms of the North, and Warden of the North. He bears the Crown of Winter, forged in Riverrun and worn by his brother, King Robb. Despite having been revealed as a Targaryen, the Northerners still accept Jon as a Stark and their ruler. Despite his dragon, Rhaegal, having died in the Battle for the Dawn fighting Euron Greyjoy and the undead Cannibal, he now has a new dragon which he has named Balegar, having hatched at the end of the series, having been laid by Vermax during Prince Jacaerys Velaryon's stay. Jon is married to Val, aunt to the young Lord Paramount of the Far North, Lord Aemon Rayder, son of former King Mance Rayder, who died in the Battle for the Dawn. Their only child is the young Prince Eddard Stark. After taking both Widow's Wail and Dark Sister, Jon has them reforged into a new version of Ice, claiming that as the new ancestral sword of the new dragon riding Starks, and Longclaw to be their own version of Dawn or Dark Sister, to be given to the worthiest warrior. 
The only other living member of the House is Queen Sansa Stark, now married to King Aegon Blackfyre, who is a very active and political Queen, similar to that of Queen Alysanne Targaryen. She is the bond between the North and South, thanks to her marriage with Aegon, and her Stark blood.