House Stark: Wardens & Kings of The North

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House Stark: Wardens & Kings of The North

House Stark is the greatest amongst all the seven houses of Westeros. It is the oldest and the most prominent, with ancestry dating back to more than eight thousand years. With a family motto of “Winter Is Coming”, their sigil is a grey direwolf on a white field. They rule over the vast land of The North from Winterfell and the head of the house enjoys the position of Lord of Winterfell.

Background and History of House Stark

The Starks are descended from the First Men, who were the first to inhabit the land of Westeros. They are enigmatic yet explicit with ancient history behind them. Three hundred years ago Aegon Targaryen invaded the land of Westeros, and whoever stood in his path suffered a fiery death by Dragon Fire.

Before this House Stark had been ruling over the region as Kings in the North. After the conquest, King Torrhen Stark, who was on the throne at the time, marched against the Targaryen. But seeing their massive power, superior numbers and his dragons, he thought the battle to be futile and despondent and thus, surrendered so as to spare the lives of his men. In return Aegon Targaryen gave the Starks the title of Wardens of the North as long as they paid homage to House Targaryen.

Members Of House Stark & Their Dominion

Lord Eddard Stark

Lord Eddard Stark, who is known as Ned by his friends and family, played by Sean Bean, is the head of the Stark family. He is the second son of Lord Rickard Stark and is the head of House Stark and Lord Paramount of the North.

He is calm yet gallant and an honorable man who is the perfect leader of the North. He is a loving father and husband and a loyal friend. He is married to Lady Catelyn Stark.

As he is famous for his loyalty, his friend, King Robert Baratheon asks him to become the King’s Hand, as his previous one, Jon Arryn dies under suspicious circumstances. At first Ned is reluctant but then he agrees and decides to use his position to investigate the alleged murder and the reasons behind it.

Lady Catelyn Stark

Catelyn Stark, of House Tully is married to Ned Stark of House Stark. Although they hardly knew each other when they got married, they grew into a happy and successful marriage.
The only trouble they have is Ned’s bastard son living with them as it is an unhappy daily reminder of Ned’s past infidelity. They have five children together the eldest being Robb Stark, who is the heir to Winterfell.

Catleyn is sister to Lysa Arryn who rules the Vale of Arryn and is also the daughter of Lord Hoster Tully. Catelyn Stark is one of the many strong female characters in George R. R. Martin’s Ice & Fire series who help to shape events through little other than the force of their will.

Lord Robb Stark

Robb Stark is the eldest son of Lord Eddard Stark and is played by Richard Madden. He is the heir to Winterfell and North. He is an excellent warrior and has been trained to fight since his childhood. His younger siblings look up to him for he is sharp and gallant.

When his father Ned Stark is beheaded by Ilyn Payne under orders from Joffrey Baratheon, he is devastated but he has to act strong in order to hold the North together and keep them free from their enemies.

Meanwhile Stannis Baratheon and his brother Renly are scheming to usurp the throne. A long debate continues but Robb is declared the king of North as they declare their independence.

In Game of Thrones (TV series) Robb marries Talisa Maegyr from Volantis, in the series of novels he marries Jeyne Westerling. In both cases this marriage causes him to break his vow to marry a daughter of Walder Frey. This loses him the support from House Frey which he so badly needs.

Sansa Stark

She is Ned Stark’s eldest daughter and the oldest child after Robb. He character is played by the young and beautiful Sophie Turner. Sansa Stark is a typical young girl who is fond of singing and poetry.

She is also good at sewing and embroidering. She has beautiful and sharp features and has remarkable resemblance with her mother. She wishes to explore the world outside Winterfell.

She aspires to become queen one day and looks up to Cersei Lannister. She gets betrothed to Joffrey Baratheon in season one and gets very excited as she is quite taken by his charm and looks.

Later Joffrey sets Sansa aside so he can marry Margaery Tyrell. During the months of their betrothal Sansa suffered abuse and casual cruelty at the hands of Joffrey Baratheon as well as witnessing the murder of her own father as he is beheaded by Ilyn Payne on the direct order of Joffrey in front of her.

Arya Stark

Arya Stark is the youngest daughter of Ned and Catelyn stark and is played by Maisie Williams. She is a strong and independent girl who is often mistaken for a boy as she is a total tomboy.

She is fond of sword fighting and even owns a sword named Needle, which was gifted to her by her half brother Jon snow. She is another of the strong willed female characters in the series.

She is taught to sword fight by Syrio Forel, the First Sword of Braavos. She seems to have the ability to be dealt the worst cards yet still always finds a way to win or at least survive.

Her travels take her into the midst of her enemies, across the Narrow Sea and make into one of the most interesting Starks.

Brandon Stark

Brandon Stark is called ‘Bran’ for short, is played by Isaac Hempstead-Wright. He is young and adventurous, which turns out to be quite cruel in his case. One day while exploring a decaying tower, he sees Cersei and Jamie Lannister having intercourse, so Jamie pushes him off the tower in order to keep him silent.

Bran survives the fall but unfortunately becomes paralyzed from the waist down. The Lannisters realizing they didn’t finish the job properly try once again to kill Bran and this time he is saved by his dire wolf summer.

Later in the series we find that he has the ability to “Skinchange” which means share minds and bodies with animals. Bran Stark also has dreams which show him things that may happen. A major part of his journey is his search for the Three Eyed Crow who is said to be able to teach him how to use his skills.

Jon Snow

Jon Snow is Lord Eddard Stark’s bastard son, and is thus given the name Snow, like all bastards in the North. Since the beginning, Ned has refused to disclose the origins of his bastard son, but it was rumoured that it was a common girl called Wylla. Played by Kit Harington, he is treated with warmth and respect by most, but cannot achieve the same rank as the other Starks.

He decides to join the Night’s Watch early in the story forsaking all claims to family and politics. The Night’s Watch guard the Seven Kingdoms from the Wildings and anything else beyond The wall.

Later in the story Jon Snow’s perspective is how we learn about the lands beyond the wall, get to know the Wildings and more of the terrors which unknown to the Seven Kingdoms threaten everything they hold dear.

Rickon Stark

He is the youngest child of Ned Stark and Catelyn and is just five years old when the series begin but is quite wild. This character is portrayed by Art Parkinson.

Conclusion

Starks are my personal family in the GoT lore. Obviously, I've given only short description of characters, not revealing too much of the TV show's content. For all those spoiler hungry, we have a year ahead of us - there will be plenty of spoilers :)
My plans are to do houses Lannister and Targaryen soon, and then to move on other topics as The Long Wait for the season 8 takes its toll.