Stark of Winterfell

House Stark of Winterfell is one of the Great Houses of Westeros and the principal noble house of the north. In days of old they ruled as Kings of Winter, but since Aegon's Conquest they have been Wardens of the North and ruled as Lords of Winterfell. Their seat, Winterfell, is an ancient castle renowned for its strength. Their sigil is a grey direwolf racing across a field of white. Their words are "Winter Is Coming." Aside from the Karstarks of Karhold, the Starks of Winterfell may have other, distant relatives in the north. White Harbor and Barrowton are considered to be likely options for offshoot branches. Some younger Starks have also held vassal holdfasts for the Lords of Winterfell.

Culture

Traits

The Starks have a reputation for long faces, brown hair, and grey eyes. Some are known for melancholy and iciness, while others have a wildness sometimes called "wolf blood". Stories of old claim the Starks have had the ability to enter the minds of direwolves, known as warging, giving them the ability to experience the senses of the direwolves and to see through their eyes.

Stark

^{A running grey direwolf, on an ice-white field}

Winter is coming

Seat

Winterfell

Head

Lady Regent Leah Stark

Titles

King of Winter/King in the North_(formerly)

Lord of Winterfell

Warden of the North

Heir(s)

Overlord(s)

Targaryen

Vassal(s)

The lords of the North

Customs

House Stark traditionally buries deceased members of their family in the crypts below Winterfell. The Kings of Winter and Lords of Winterfell are given a statue of their likeness, sitting by their tomb, whereas other family members normally do not get one. The statues of the kings and lords have stone wolves by their feet and have swords placed upon their lap, which are said to keep the spirits of the dead at rest, locked within their tombs. House Stark traditionally follows the old gods. Following the marriage of Eddard to Lady Catelyn Tully, a follower of the Faith of the Seven, a small sept was constructed at Winterfell. The Starks have traditionally been friends of the Night's Watch. The four youngest men to have served as Lord Commander, including Osric Stark, were brothers, sons, or bastards of Kings in the North. The Starks hold the belief that there must always be a Stark in Winterfell. When the head of the house is away, the Stark remaining in the castle to rule the north is referred to as "the Stark in Winterfell."

Family Tree

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

Targaryen Conquest and Aftermath

During Aegon's 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.

Recent Events

Seat and Holdings

Winterfell is the ancestral castle and seat of power of House Stark and is considered to be the capital of the north. It is in the center of the northernmost province of the Seven Kingdoms, on the kingsroad that runs from Storm's End to the Wall. It is situated at the eastern edge of the wolfswood, north of the western branch of the White Knife and Castle Cerwyn. Winterfell is south of the northern mountains and southwest of Long Lake, one hundred leagues (three hundred miles) southeast of Deepwood Motte. Winterfell is a huge castle complex spanning several acres and encircled by two massive granite walls. There is a village outside, the winter town. Winterfell has been built around an ancient godswood and over natural hot springs. The water is piped through walls and chambers to heat them, making Winterfell more comfortable than other castles during the harsh northern winters. Inside the walls, the complex is composed of dozens of courtyards and small open spaces. Weapons training and practice take place in those yards. The inner ward is a second, much older open space in the castle where archery practice takes place. It is located next to the broken tower. Inside Winterfell stands the inner castle, which contains the Great Keep and the Great Hall. Winterfell's towers and halls have diamond-shaped window panes.

The Great Keep is the innermost castle and stronghold of the castle complex. It was built over natural hot springs to keep it warm. The Great Keep contains bedchambers for House Stark as well as a solar. The building is connected to the armory by a covered bridge. From a window on the covered bridge, one can see the entire yard. Beneath the Great Keep are cellars with narrow windows.
The Great Hall is used for receiving guests and the place where the household dines together, including the Lord of Winterfell. It is made of grey stone and has wide doors made of oak and iron, which opens to the castle yard, and a rear exit leads to a dimly-lit gallery. Inside it can hold eight long rows of trestle tables, four to each side of the central aisle, and the hall can seat five hundred people. There is a raised platform for noble guests, and the walls are covered with banners. The hall contains the high seat of the old Kings in the North. The seat's cold stone has been polished by the many lords who have sat upon it, and its massive arms are decorated with the carved heads of snarling direwolves.
At some point in history a small sept was built inside the castle for southern guests, most likely in a sign of friendship to house Manderly.
The First Keep, a squat and round drum tower, is the oldest surviving part of the castle but is no longer in use. Around it lies a lichyard where the Kings of Winter would bury their loyal servants. The keep has gargoyles atop it. Maester Kennet determined it was built after the Andals arrived.
The ancient godswood of Winterfell has stood untouched for ten thousand years, with three acres of old packed earth and close-together trees creating a dense canopy, which the castle was built around. At the center of the grove stands an ancient weirwood with a face carved into it, standing over a pool of black water. Across the godswood from the heart tree, beneath the windows of the Guest House, an underground hot spring feeds three small pools, with a moss-covered wall looming above them. The godswood is enclosed by walls, and is accessed by a main iron gate, or smaller wooden ones.
The Glass Gardens is a greenhouse heated by the hot springs, which turn it into a place of moist warmth. It is used to grow fruits, vegetables, and flowers. The garden has green and yellow glass panes locked in frames.
The crypt of Winterfell, located near the First Keep, is where members of House Stark are buried. The underground crypts are long and narrow, with pillars moving two by two along its length. Between pillars stand the sepulchers of the Starks of Winterfell, the likenesses of the dead seated on thrones, with iron swords set before them to keep the restless spirits from wandering, and snarling direwolves at their feet. The crypts are deep under the earth, cavernous and bigger than the complex above ground. They are accessed by a twisting stone stair and a huge ironwood door that lies at a slant to the floor. The stair continues below to older levels where the most ancient Kings in the North are entombed.
The Bell Tower is connected to the rookery by a bridge. The bridge is covered and runs from the fourth floor of the tower to the second floor of the rookery.
The maester's turret is below the rookery.
The Library Tower houses the library at Winterfell. A stonework staircase winds about its exterior.
The Guards Hall is in line with the Bell Tower, and further back, the First Keep.
Winterfell has undercrofts and cellars. The castle also has dungeons, including tower cells.

Around Winterfell are two massive walls of grey granite with a wide moat between them. The outer wall is eighty feet high, while the inner is one hundred feet high. There are guard turrets on the outer wall and more than thirty watch turrets on the crenelated inner walls. The great main gates have a gatehouse made of two huge crenelated bulwarks which flank the arched gate and a drawbridge that opens into the market square of the winter town. There is a narrow tunnel inside of the inner wall stretching halfway around the castle, allowing travel from the south gate all the way to the north gate without interruption.

The Hunter's Gate is close to the kennels and the kitchens. It opens directly onto open fields and the wolfswood, so people can come and go without having to cross through the winter town. It is favored by hunting parties.
The East Gate or east gate leads to the kingsroad. The Kingsroad Gate may be another name for the same gate.
The Battlements Gate is a small arched postern in the inner wall. It crosses the moat between the walls but does not have a passageway through the outer wall.

Winter Town

The winter town, so called because it is mostly deserted during summer, is where smallfolk gather in winter. It is outside the walls of Winterfell. Its market square is filled with wooden stalls for merchants, and its streets are muddy and lined with rows of houses made from logs and undressed stone. Less than one in five are occupied during the summer, but they fill up when winter arrives. The kingsroad, which runs east of Winterfell, is beyond the winter town. There is an inn in the winter town, the Smoking Log.

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