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House Stark is the first of the Great Houses to be introduced in Game of Thrones. The head of the House - Eddard Stark - is Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North, and he remains a faithful friend to King Robert I Baratheon, whom he helped win the Iron Throne roughly 16 years ago. House Stark's introduction is followed by that of the Baratheons of King's Landing, and the so-called heirs of this ruling family share blood with House Lannister of Casterly Rock.
King Robert is married to Cersei, who is the only daughter of Lord of Casterly Rock, Tywin Lannister, and none of their three children are trueborn. This comes as a shock to Ned, and it turns out that Cersei's children are fathered by her twin brother, who is also Robert's Kingsguard, Jaime Lannister. As such, Prince Joffrey, Princess Myrcella, and Prince Tommen Baratheon do not have a claim to the throne. Ned mishandles his dangerous piece of information and pays with his freedom and life. True to Cersei's famous Game of Thrones words - "When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground" - Ned dies and Cersei survives.
Game Of Thrones: The Seventy-Nine Sentinels, Explained
The story of the Seventy-nine sentinels concerns the Night's Watch, and here is how Game of Thrones lore lays it out.
Starks And Lannisters At The Beginning Of Game Of Thrones
In the wake of Lord Hand, Jon Arryn's mysterious death, in Game of Thrones season 1, episode 1 "Winter Is Coming," Robert rides to Winterfell to ask his old friend, Ned, to fill the position. He is accompanied by the Lannisters twins and lovers, Cersei and Jaime, and their younger brother, Tyrion. 16 years ago, after winning the war, Robert became lazy and addicted to various pleasures, and now with Jon dead, he needs a responsible man to run the Seven Kingdoms for him:
You helped me win the Iron Throne, now help me keep the damn thing. We were meant to rule together. If your sister had lived, we'd have been bound by blood. Well, it's not too late. I have a son, you have a daughter. We'll join our Houses.
Robert's Rebellion was a result of the Mad King's oppression, and it was majorly caused by Robert's betrothed, Lyanna Stark's alleged kidnapping by the crown prince, Rhaegar Targaryen. The truth is, that Lyanna stole away with Rhaegar, but the Starks perceived her disappearance as an abduction. They mishandled the situation and undoubtedly caused the Seven Kingdoms to bleed. Robert still dreams of allying his House with the Starks, and in Game of Thrones' "Winter Is Coming," he formally proposes his heir, Joffrey, be wedded to Ned's eldest daughter, Sansa.
The key thing to remember here, aside from court politics, is that the Lannisters and Starks are two very different families. The former are cunning and Machiavellian, while the latter pride themselves on honor and loyalty. The Lannisters have an air of pride at Winterfell, save for Tyrion. The two Great Houses generally don't mix well together. At the end of Game of Thrones' "Winter Is Coming," Bran Stark climbs an abandoned tower and stumbles upon Cersei and Jaime engaging in coitus. Jaime grabs him and throws him off the tower to prevent him from telling anyone what he saw. House Stark is in complete disarray, and Ned leaves Robb and his wife, Catelyn, in charge and follows Robert to King's Landing. Bran survives the assault but is rendered physically incapacitated. Robb, Catelyn, Bran, and the youngest, Rickon, stay at Winterfell, while Ned brings his daughters, Arya and Sansa, to King's Landing.
Who Turns House Stark Against House Lannister?
The Machinations Of Petyr Baelish Aka Littlefinger
It is Robert's Master of Coin, Petyr Baelish aka Littlefinger, who turns the Starks against the Lannisters in the hopes of benefiting from the chaos, as he puts it in Game of Thrones season 3, episode 6 "The Climb,":
Chaos is a ladder.
Littlefinger intentionally pursues a relationship with Catelyn Stark's unhinged sister, and Jon Arryn's wife, Lysa. She is directed to slip her lawful husband, the Tears of the Lys poison, and writes a letter to Catelyn claiming the power-hungry Lannisters killed Jon, and that she has fled the capital. Lysa adds that Robert's life is in danger. Ned, driven by Lysa's claims, accepts the position because he wants to watch out for his old friend. The Stark-Lannister relations sour due to three major events in Game of Thrones.
Although instigated by Joffrey, his and Arya's quarrel at the Inn at the Crossroads culminates in Arya's direwof, Nymeria, attacking him. The boy reports it as an assault, causing outrage and Robert ordering that Sansa's direwolf, Lady, be put down. At Winterfell in Bran's room, Catelyn tussles with a catspaw armed with a Valyrian steel dagger. She calls a meeting in the Godswood to convey the Lannisters' role in Bran's assassination attempts and sets off to King's Landing to bring the dagger to Ned as proof.
When Catelyn meets Ned, Littlefinger claims the dagger is his, and that he lost it to Tyrion in a bet years ago, confirming Catelyn's position on the matter. She leaves for home, leaving the dagger in Ned's possession, while he promises to take action as soon as he has some conclusive proof. Things go wrong as Tyrion and Catelyn meet on the road back to Winterfell, and in a spur-of-the-moment decision, she publicly charges him with Bran's attempted assassination and takes him to the Eyrie. When Jaime Lannister catches word of his brother's imprisonment, he attacks Ned and his men in Game of Thrones season 1, episode 5 "The Wolf and the Lion," and demands Tyrion be released.
Jaime and Cersei's setting because the former has taken an oath of celibacy as a Kingsguard, and the latter is in a loveless marriage with King Robert. The Lannisters and the Starks are at each other's throats, and the Head, Tywin (refusing to believe the truth about his son and daughter's illicit relationship) would much rather consolidate the position of his House. War is inevitable, given how cleverly Cersei removes Robert by planning regicide with her cousin, Lancel, and makes preparations to install Joffrey on the Iron Throne. Ned's biggest mistake is that once he discovers the truth about Joffrey's birth, he confronts and threatens the Queen with Robert's wrath in Game of Thrones season 1, episode 7 "You Win or You Die."
How Does The Stark Lannister Relationship Worsen?
The Stark-Lannister relations take a nosedive after Robert returns mortally wounded from a hunt and names Ned as Lord Regent and Lord Protector of the realm until Joffrey comes of age. He narrates his will, and Ned slightly alters the wording from "my son Joffrey" to "my rightful heir" and takes Robert's signature. Ned doesn't tell his friend the truth about Cersei's children, but tasks Littlefinger to secure the support of the Gold Cloaks of King's Landing in Game of Thrones' "You Win or You Die."
Robert dies, and because Littlefinger assures Ned the Gold Cloaks have agreed to lend their support, he enters the throne room, demanding Joffrey vacate the throne. The Gold Cloaks turn on him, kill his men, and he is taken prisoner, thanks to Littlefinger's betrayal. By having Jon Arryn poisoned, winning the unhinged Lysa's affection, falsely claiming the Valyrian steel dagger is Tyrion's, promising Catelyn to protect Ned at the capital, and conspiring with the Lannisters to install Joffrey on the throne, Littlefinger sets in motion a chain reaction. It ends with Cersei ordering her captive, Sansa, to write a letter to Robb, asking him to bend the knee to Joffrey at King's Landing. Arya runs away, and the monster Joffrey has Ned beheaded after extracting a cooked-up confession in Game of Thrones season 1, episode 9 "Baelor."
The Stark bannermen, led by Robb, march to war; Tywin, meanwhile, secures his allies, and three more kings join the mix. Robert's brothers, Stannis and Renly, claim the throne, and Balon redeclares the independence of the Iron Islands, as does the North. Tywin collaborates with the Freys and the Boltons to wipe out Robb and his host at the Red Wedding towards the end of Game of Thrones season 3 and weds Sansa to Tyrion to secure the North. Littlefinger (loyal to none) has Joffrey murdered with Strangler poison at his wedding feast. He also arranges for Sansa's escape. It is at the Eyrie that she hears the truth from Lysa's mouth:
What wife would do the things I’ve done for you? What wife would trust you the way I’ve trusted you? When you gave me those drops and told me to pour them into Jon’s wine. My husband’s wine... when you told me to write a letter to Cat telling her it was the Lannisters...
Littlefinger pushes Lysa down the Moon Door and seizes power in the Vale. Life comes full circle in Game of Thrones season 7 when Sansa avenges everyone the man ever wronged:
You had Aunt Lysa send a letter to our parents telling them it was the Lannisters who murdered Jon Arryn, when really it was you. The conflict between the Starks and the Lannisters — it was you who started it.
The brief trial ends in Littlefinger's execution by Arya. Using the same Valyrian steel dagger he used to sow discord, she slays his throat in one quick motion. It is pertinent to mention that Jaime earns his redemption by riding to Winterfell to aid House Stark and the alliance of the living in the war against the Dead. He tries to make amends by apologizing to Bran (who now is the Three-Eyed Raven) but refuses to apologize to Sansa for the things he did in the past:
Do you want me to apologize? I won't! Everything I did, I did for my House and my family. I'd do it all again.
Game of Thrones concludes with Sansa securing the North's independence and Tyrion proposing Bran be named the new King and Lord of the Six Kingdoms, marking an end to deadly strife. Sansa and Arya are the last of the Starks, Tyrion survives the Last War, while Jaime and Cersei Lannister die in the Battle of King's Landing.
Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones, based on the Song of Ice and Fire book series by George R.R. Martin, tells the sprawling story of warring families in Westeros. This includes the Starks, the Lannisters, the Baratheons, and the Targaryens. Along with human conflicts, Westeros is also threatened by the re-emergence of dragons, and an undead enemy from beyond the Wall.
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