House Stark

**House Stark of Winterfell** is a Great House of Westeros and the royal house of the Kingdom of the North. They rule over the vast region known as the North from their seat in Winterfell. It is one of the oldest lines of Westerosi nobility by far, claiming a line of descent stretching back over eight thousand years. Before the Targaryen Conquest, as well as during the War of the Five Kings and early on in Daenerys Targaryen's war for Westeros, the leaders of House Stark ruled over the region as the Kings in the North.

Their rule in the North seemingly ended after the events of the Red Wedding when House Frey and House Bolton betrayed House Stark after forming a secret alliance with House Lannister, during which Roose Bolton murdered King Robb Stark. Both the North and Winterfell were taken over by House Bolton. However, the Boltons' hold was jeopardized when Sansa Stark escaped their clutches after learning her brothers Bran and Rickon Stark were still alive and reunited with her half-brother, Jon Snow, at Castle Black. Sansa and Jon marched on the Boltons to save their younger brother Rickon, who was later murdered by Ramsay Bolton, and retake Winterfell. House Stark was restored to their former stature after the Battle of the Bastards. The Stark victory led to House Stark's return to royal status in the North with their bannermen declaring Jon as the King in the North. He later abdicated his title as king in order to gain the full support of Daenerys Targaryen in the Great War, becoming the Warden of the North. Following the Battle of King's Landing, Bran Stark was chosen as the new king of the Six Kingdoms, allowing the North to secede as an independent kingdom under Sansa.

House Stark's sigil is a grey direwolf on a white background, over green. They are one of the few noble houses whose words are not a boast or threat. Instead, the House Stark family motto is a warning, one that, no matter the circumstances, will always be relevant: "Winter Is Coming," which served as a reminder of their beginnings in the wake of the Long Night and a grim portent of things to come.

House Stark, as the only First Men dynasty to resist the Andal invasion, proudly hold on to the worship of the Old Gods. Due to their rule over the North and knowledge of it's troubles, they are unfailing supporters of the importance of the Night's Watch, despite it's fall from glory in current times. As one of the last remaining Valyrian steel items, from Old Valyria, House Stark greatly treasures it's ancestral sword of Ice, which has been used in battles and executions.

## History

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. 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 pirates 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, 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 has since lacked strength at sea.

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 Edric Stark's hundred-year long reign, the Wolf's Den, already torched by House Arryn, was captured by slavers from the Stepstones. Edric'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.

During the 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 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 be given 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 the 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 the sons of Lord Alaric, asking the maesters about precedents against forced donations of land. 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.

Edric was eventually succeeded by Ellard Stark, who took part in 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). 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.

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. On his way back to Riverrun, however, Brandon heard about Lyanna's abduction by Prince Rhaegar, and rode for King's Landing, where he was arrested by Aerys II for threatening the life of the crown prince. Rickard, who had been on his way to Riverrun with the wedding party, was summoned to court to answer for Brandon's crime. 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 made an arduous journey through the Mountains of the Moon and the Bite to call his banners in the north. The new lord then marched south and won an important victory during the Battle of the Bells, rescuing his friend Robert with the aid of Hoster Tully. Next, he went to Riverrun, where he honored his late brother Brandon's betrothal by marrying Catelyn as part of the alliance to bring House Tully into the rebel fold.

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 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. 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. She forced him to make a promise to her, the contents of which are unknown, but which have haunted Eddard since. Eddard and Robert were reconciled in their shared grief over Lyanna's death.

Eddard returned from the war with his bastard son, Jon Snow, said to have been birthed by Wylla, and Ned was presented with his trueborn son, Robb, by Catelyn when she arrived from Riverrun. 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 has ruled the north in Robert's name, keeping a distance from the intrigue-ridden politics of King's Landing.