Catelyn Stark

Lady **Catelyn Stark**, née **Tully**, is a major character in the first, second and third seasons of *Game of Thrones*. She was born into House Tully, the eldest daughter of Hoster Tully, Lord of Riverrun and Lord Paramount of the Trident, and his wife Lady Minisa Tully. She was the sister of Lysa and Edmure Tully. She was the wife of Lord Eddard Stark and the mother of his five children, Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon.

## Biography

### Background

Catelyn was born into House Tully and is the eldest child of Lord Hoster and Lady Minisa Tully. She has a younger brother, Edmure, and a younger sister, Lysa. Petyr Baelish was fostered with the Tullys and Catelyn grew up with him.

She was betrothed to marry Brandon Stark of Winterfell, but he was brutally murdered along with his father, Lord Rickard Stark, by the Mad King, Aerys II Targaryen, after his Prince Rhaegar purportedly kidnapped Brandon's sister Lyanna. Catelyn instead married Brandon's brother, Eddard. Though they barely knew one another when they wed, they have formed a strong and loving marriage.

Catelyn and Eddard have five children together: Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran, and Rickon. Eddard's illegitimate son, Jon Snow, also lives alongside her trueborn children with Eddard in Winterfell. Catelyn resents this and it is the only source of friction between her and her husband.

Catelyn has some independent political influence. A former ward of her father's and her childhood friend, Petyr Baelish, known as "Littlefinger", is the king's master of coin and one of his closest advisers in King's Landing.

Catelyn says that she hasn't been to the capital city of King's Landing since nine years before her husband went there to be the new Hand of the King, which would be around the time of the Greyjoy Rebellion.

## Personality

Catelyn was a woman who was both dutiful and complex: in many ways, she fitted the expectations of her house, and their words 'Family, Duty, Honor', but she often found herself at odds with these words. She was a loving mother, and her maternal disposition influenced much of what she did; all of her children loved her and they would come to mourn her as they did their father when she was killed.

Catelyn was capable of being a very intelligent woman, as evidenced by many of her actions during the prelude of the War of the Five Kings, and later during the war itself. She was capable of deducing that the Lannisters were behind the attempted murder of Bran. Unfortunately, she jumped to the conclusion that it was Tyrion Lannister who hired the catspaw assassin, based on Petyr Baelish's lie that the dagger belonged to Tyrion. She was also clever enough to suggest aloud that she was taking Tyrion back to Winterfell, but goes to the Eyrie instead so nobody could stop her from bringing Tyrion to justice she had mistaken him for deserving. Catelyn would later prove her wisdom in times of war by reminding Robb of the man that they were up against - Tywin Lannister - and the fact that the Lord of Casterly Rock's completely ruthless reputation would mean that Robb would have to defeat the Lannisters openly in the field if they meant to survive. Despite being more politically savvy than her husband, however, Catelyn made her fair share of mistakes, as well: she impulsively arrested Tyrion, and her trust in Littlefinger and Lysa also blinded her to the fact that time and experience had changed them both for the worse.

She was, to a great extent, a peaceful woman. This is shown when she pleaded with Renly Baratheon to make peace with Stannis instead of fighting his own brother to the death in open battle, even though she had seen the man Stannis had become and both of them knew that Stannis would never be agreeable with them. However, this did not prevent Catelyn from being incredibly fierce when she was pushed - when Loras Tyrell slighted Robb's actions during the war, she coldly repelled him by reminding the Knight of Flowers that Robb was actually fighting a war instead of playing at one. She later accosts Renly for treating this potentially disastrous war as if it were a game, showing that she had a very mature and pragmatic view of a situation. With Jaime Lannister as her prisoner, Catelyn showed disgust for him for the crimes he committed, and for what his family had done to hers; however, this did not prevent her from releasing Jaime in the hope that it would win her daughters back. When she met Tyrion Lannister, she didn't hesitate to compel the bannermen of her father into arresting him; when they reached the Eyrie, she actually tried to protect Tyrion when Lysa planned to have him executed without a trial. Also, when she heard of Ned's arrest, and of Lysa's total reluctance to contribute, she became furious when confronting her sister.

Catelyn's resentful and less loving side was brought out in the situation of Jon Snow, who was publicly believed to be her husband's illegitimate son with an unidentified woman. She speaks very coldly to Jon when he came to say goodbye to Bran, and did not farewell him when he revealed that he intended to join the Night's Watch, outright ordering him to leave. She would explain later to Talisa that, when Jon caught the pox as a young boy, she prayed for him to die, only to truly hate herself afterward for wishing such a thing on an innocent child. She promised that she would treat him as her own son and ask Ned to legitimize him if the gods let him live. However, she couldn't bring herself to keep this promise in the end. This shows some amount of hypocrisy on her part, but it also shows that she is self-reproachful as well - this sets her vastly apart from her sister Lysa, who was completely unapologetic about her actions, which were much worse than Catelyn's.

Towards the end of her life, Catelyn became melancholic at the loss of so many family members - her father, her husband, two of her sons and the captivity of her daughters. She laments that she could have done things differently, and that she was incapable of saving her youngest sons. Later, she tearfully remembers her father when she was a child. During the Red Wedding, Catelyn shows a ferocious will to ensure that her remaining family survived - she held Joyeuse, a wife of Walder Frey, at knife-point and threatened to kill her if Robb was not allowed to leave with his life. When Walder rebuked her, and Roose Bolton murdered Robb right in front of her, Catelyn made good of her promise and killed Joyeuse, screaming with despair and becoming catatonic as a result of the grief that overwhelmed her, moments before her death.

Even the people who did not get on well with her admitted that they admired her - namely both Tyrion and Jaime Lannister. Tyrion and Jaime are two people Catelyn showed open contempt for, but Tyrion and Jaime nonetheless admit they admired her. Tyrion recognized that she showed strength when it came to protecting her children, which Jaime seconded later during a confrontation with Catelyn's brother Edmure.

## Quotes

### About Catelyn

**Robb Stark**: *"My mother's alone with Roose Bolton. I should rescue her."*
**Talisa Stark**: *"Your mother is less in need of rescue than any woman I've ever met."*
—Robb and Talisa discuss Catelyn.[[[The Rains of Castamere (episode)|src]]]
## In the books

### As Catelyn Stark

In the *A Song of Ice and Fire* novels, Catelyn is proud, strong, kind and generous. A letter received by Catelyn from her sister Lysa about Jon Arryn sets in motion the events of the novels. She loves her five children very much and dotes on them, but is also aware they need to be strong if they are to inherit leadership positions in the North. Catelyn has a severe disregard for Jon Snow - so much worse than expressed in the show - as he is Eddard's illegitimate son with an unidentified woman. She resents Jon because Eddard brought him home as an infant to Winterfell to raise alongside her trueborn children. However, she does not interfere with the close relationships between Jon and his half-siblings but makes her disdain for him known. Before he leaves to join the Night's Watch, she voices her wish that it was him who fell from the tower, not Bran.

Catelyn deeply loves her family, but this sometimes results in her acting rashly, selfishly and irresponsibly, with a total disregard to the applications, especially to the lives of innocent people who may get harmed as a result of her deeds. Catelyn seizes Tyrion, since she believes he is guilty of attempting to murder her son Bran. However, she fails to verify Littlefinger's false accusation (that the dagger belonged to Tyrion), and refuses to listen to Tyrion's logical statements. She is so outraged and determined to exact justice for the attempt on her son's life that she pays little heed that the Lannisters would retaliate and innocent people (among them Masha Heddle, who was indeed killed at Tywin's order, and was not the only one) may be harmed. The book makes a point that Catelyn did not care even slightly about six of her escorts, who were killed by the tribe hills on the way to the Eyrie - "*sometimes she felt as though her heart had turned to stone*". That sentence is perhaps a foreshadowing of her resurrection as Lady Stoneheart.

In contrast to the show, Ned does not want to become Robert's Hand, stating that his place is in Winterfell; Catelyn presses him to accept the office, claiming that a refusal will put them in great danger, and that he has to become the King's Hand in order to find out the truth of Jon Arryn's death. Ned is persuaded by her arguments, though reluctantly. Following Ned's death, Catelyn realizes he was right after all; she deeply regrets persuading him to act against his will, thinking that his death was her fault.

During the war, Catelyn stays most of the time in Riverrun (except her visit at Renly's camp and the two rides to the Twins), not in Robb's camp. Since Robb is not a POV character, the information about his battles is revealed mostly from the reports Catelyn receives after they take place.

Catelyn releases Jaime not to prevent Rickard Karstark from killing him; the news about the alleged deaths of Bran and Rickon, combined with Cleos Frey's admission he has not seen Arya, drive her to attempt saving Sansa. Once again, Catelyn acts very rashly and selfishly: she does not give any thought about the damage her deed will cause Robb's authority, nor about the folly in the idea of sending Jaime via a land strewn with enemies and outlaws, escorted by only two people (one of whom - Cleos Frey - is an untrustworthy coward). She also does not take into consideration that even if Jaime is brought to King's Landing - the Lannisters will not simply let Sansa go away. The foolhardy plan goes totally wrong: Cleos Frey is killed by outlaws; Jaime and Brienne are captured by the Brave Companions; Brienne is nearly gang-raped and killed, and saved thanks to Jaime; by the time they finally arrive at King's Landing, Sansa had already escaped (even if she had still been there, it is highly doubtful Tywin would have released her); finally, Jaime's escape costs Robb the Karstark troops.

When Catelyn is at Renly's camp, she sees her reflection in an armor suit, gazing back at her as if from the bottom of a deep green pond. The image makes Catelyn think "*The face of a drowned woman. Can you drown in grief?*". This is perhaps a foreshadowing of her death.

Catelyn's death is different than in the show: during the massacre, she finds a knife and grabs Aegon "Jinglebell" Frey, Lord Frey's lackwit grandson (in the show he was replaced with Lord Frey's eighth wife), in attempt to trade his life for her son. Lord Frey says indifferently that Jinglebell was never useful. After Robb is killed, Catelyn slits Jinglebell's throat. Driven mad by grief, Catelyn scratches her face, her tears mingled with the blood, till Raymund Frey cuts her throat. Her corpse has been dumped naked into the Green Fork, in a savage mockery of House Tully's funeral customs, after she has been dead for a day and a night.

According to the TV series, official pronunciation guide developed for the cast and crew, "Catelyn" is pronounced "CAT-lin" ("cat" like the animal), not "Kate-lin" or "Cat-ellen". Indeed, in the TV series, she is sometimes referred to as simply "Cat" by people who know her well, like Ned Stark or Petyr Baelish.

#### **As Lady Stoneheart**

Perhaps the most significant difference from the books to the TV series is Catelyn's fate after the Red Wedding. In *A Storm of Swords*, three days after her death - Catelyn's body is found by Nymeria who drags it out of the river, which is then found by the Brotherhood Without Banners. Harwin begs Thoros to revive her, but Thoros refuses, since it had been too long. Despite Thoros's objection, Beric Dondarrion then gives his own life to resurrect Catelyn; that proves to be a serious mistake.

Taking on the moniker *Lady Stoneheart* (also known as the Silent Sister, Mother Merciless, and the Hangwoman), Catelyn becomes the new leader of the Brotherhood Without Banners. Under her leadership, the Brotherhood falls low, to the point it is no longer different than any outlaw gang; its members even violate the sacred guest right. Rather than protect commoners, as they did when Beric was still alive, they hunt down and murder numerous members of House Frey out of revenge for the Red Wedding. As a result, many of the original members (among them Edric Dayne and Anguy) abandon the Brotherhood. Thoros stays with the Brotherhood, though he strongly disapproves of what it has become.

Lady Stoneheart is totally monstrous, physically and characteristically: her flesh has turned soft and the color of curdled milk due to being submerged in river water for days; half of her hair is gone and the rest is white and brittle as a crone's; her wounds have not healed, and her face is covered in scratch marks and black blood where she raked herself; her throat still slit open; the most terrible thing about her is her eyes, expressing deep hatred. In order to speak, she must cover the wound on her throat, and even then she is difficult to understand. She wears a crown of a bronze circlet ringed by iron swords - the crown which her son used to wear.

Now void of all humanity, Lady Stoneheart becomes cold and ruthless - caring only about exacting revenge on those responsible for murdering her son, as well as innocent people whose only "crime" is having some connection (even very remote) to the Freys or the Lannisters. Most of all she wishes to have Jaime killed, based on Roose Bolton's statement while killing her son "*Jaime Lannister sends his regards*" - although Jaime had absolutely nothing to do with the Red Wedding. She has no intentions of performing altruistic missions, like going north and fighting the army of the dead.

In *A Feast for Crows*, Brienne and Jaime hear various rumors (partly or wholly true) about Lady Stoneheart: some say she belongs to Beric's band, perhaps his lover; that she was hanged by the Freys, but Beric kissed her and brought her back to life, and now both cannot die; some say she is a leader of a different band. According to the rumors, she is cloaked and hooded, her face is torn and scarred, and her eyes are terrible to look.

Randyll Tarly, who has been recently chasing and hanging dozens of outlaws, is determined to capture Lady Stoneheart, but so far she and the other local band leaders (among them Rorge, impersonating as the Hound) still elude him.

Following a bloody encounter with Rorge's gang near the Inn at the Crossroads, Brienne, Pod and their companion Ser Hyle Hunt are taken captive by the Brotherhood; they unjustly accuse Brienne and Pod of serving the Lannisters, since Brienne carries a Lannister sword and Pod was Tyrion's squire. Brienne is shocked and sorrowful to see the monstrous creature that Catelyn turned to be; for a moment, she thinks she is caught in a nightmare. One of the attending people, Jeyne Heddle, comments that death and guest right don't mean much anymore since the Red Wedding.

Brienne insists that she and Pod are looking for Sansa, and that Jaime armed her with the sword for that purpose, and that he is not what he used to be; her words fall on deaf ears. Lady Stoneheart demands that she kills Jaime, otherwise she and her companions will be hanged. Brienne refuses to make a choice, but watching Pod dying, she gives up to the unjust demand.

The topic of Lady Stoneheart's absence in the show has become almost infamous in the frequency in which it is brought up by fans - as well as the show creators' continued insistence that Stoneheart was omitted from the TV series. With Beric's return in the sixth season of Game of Thrones - as well as the deaths of Walder Frey and his sons at the hands of Arya - it has become clear that Stoneheart was indeed written out of the TV series - and it can be assumed that her storyline in the forthcoming novels was condensed with Arya's.