Highlights
- House Stark is known for their honor, benevolence, and upholding the rule of law, setting them apart from other noble houses in Westeros.
- The Starks have a rich history that dates back thousands of years, with their founder Brandon the Builder raising Winterfell and building the Wall.
- Despite facing numerous tragedies and setbacks, including the loss of key members and their ancestral seat, the Starks ultimately emerge as powerful and independent leaders in the North.
House Stark is among the Great Houses of Westeros and one that suffers setbacks but emerges as the strongest in the aftermath of the Great War and the Last War. While membership to nobility is hereditary in Westeros, the Starks are more than just fancy aristocrats with a castle. Their appeal doesn't merely rest on their nobility, but the countless sacrifices they make for the North and the realm. House Stark is known for honor, benevolence, moral uprightness, and upholding the rule of law.
The Starks and the ruling seat of the North - the castle of Winterfell come into prominence in Game of Thrones season 1, episode 1 "Winter Is Coming." The honorable Eddard Stark serves as the Lord of Winterfell and the Warden of the North. He guards the North for his old friend, King Robert I Baratheon who he followed to war roughly sixteen years ago. Ned lives at Winterfell with his family of five and an illegitimate son named, Jon Snow. The Starks of Winterfell are a happy family, but the events of Game of Thrones take all that they hold dear.
Stark History: An Overview
One of the oldest Houses of Westeros, the Starks descended from the First Men, just as the Wildlings did. The founder of House Stark was Brandon the Builder who lived during the Age of Heroes. Also known as Bran the Builder, he raised Winterfell and built the Wall that was breached by the Night King in the climax of Game of Thrones season 7. The Starks ruled as Kings of Winter in the north for eight thousand years, but the dragons forced them to bow down to the Targaryen might. The last King in the North was Torrhen Stark who bent the knee to Aegon and placed the crown of the Kings of Winter at his feet. Torrhen is known in the lore as "the King Who Knelt," but by bowing down to Aegon, his mighty host, and the dragons, he proved that his pride was less important than the lives of innocent Northerners.
From Torrhen's time, the Starks guarded the North as Targaryen vassals and those years were some of the most prosperous in the history of the Seven Kingdoms. But of course, bloody conflicts such as the Dance of the Dragons, which is the focal point of HBO's House of the Dragon, arose. Roughly a century after the Conquest, a major succession war between Viserys I Targaryen's eldest daughter, Rhaenyra, and her half-brother arose. In this war of two scions of House Targaryen, the Starks of the North declared for Rhaenyra Targaryen.
Starks In Game of Thrones
At the beginning of Game of Thrones, Ned is married to Catelyn of House Tully of the Riverlands, and together they have three sons and two daughters. Robb is Ned's oldest, followed by Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon. While Catelyn despises Jon Snow because it reminds her of her husband's supposed infidelity, later Thrones reveals that Jon is only half-Stark as he's Ned's sister, Lyanna and Rhaegar Targaryen's son. The powerful Starks lose their key members, and seat in the War of the Five Kings.
First, Robert I rides for Winterfell to ask his old friend, Ned to be his Hand. While Ned is reluctant, he eventually agrees and takes his two daughters to the capital city, King's Landing where he is surrounded by cunning, treacherous people. A man of Ned's honor, simplicity, and stature is simply ill-suited to the capital. After deducing (and confronting Cersei Lannister) that the King has no trueborn children, Ned took it upon himself to place late Robert's younger brother, Stannis on the Iron Throne. Cersei and her vicious son, Joffrey put him in chains and demand the heir to Winterfell, Robb declare for the new boy king. These events mark the beginnings of the tragedies that befall House Stark in Game of Thrones. Robb, in response, assembles a host of twenty thousand Northmen to march South and later, redeclares North's independence. He, his bannermen, and the Northern army are butchered at the Red Wedding. After the Northern rebellion is quelled, the Lannisters place Boltons in charge of Winterfell but Jon Snow and allies take the seat back in Game of Thrones season 6.
It takes time for the Stark children to come together, and the only ones who survive the War of the Five Kings, and subsequent onslaughts on are Arya, Bran Sansa, and Jon. The Last of the Starks come together to defend the North when the simmering conflict beyond the Wall peaks in Game of Thrones. The Dead breach the Wall and Arya, Jon, Sansa, and Bran band together to defend the living in the war known as the Great War. In its aftermath, that of the Battle of King's Landing, Bran is elected king in the Great Council and Sansa secures independence for the North. She rules as Queen in the North, Arya goes off to explore the West of Westeros, and Jon is exiled to the Wall for assassinating Daenerys Targaryen.
Stark Customs, Traditions, And Practices
The Stark sigil is the direwolf, and the House Words are - "Winter Is Coming." As seen in Game of Thrones, the Starks bury their dead in the crypts of Winterfell. As the premier Northern House, the Starks are followers of the polytheistic religion - the Old Gods of the Forest. Since Catelyn Stark isn't a Northerner by birth, she worships the Faith of the Seven in Game of Thrones. The Godswood of Winterfell has a Weirwood tree with a face carved into its bark, and Ned Stark and later his son, Bran often visit the place for solace.
The Starks strongly believe that there must always be a Stark at Winterfell. While House Stark is the principal House in the North, in the past, its authority was challenged by the Red Kings (House Bolton of the Dreadfort). The Boltons tried to contest the Stark position as Kings in the North but ultimately had to swear fealty to House Stark. As per the events of Game of Thrones, House Bolton went extinct from the map of Westeros, after Ramsay killed his father, stepmother, and half-brother and he himself was killed in the aftermath of the Battle of the Bastards.