House Stark
The Lords Of Winterfell

Winter Is Coming



The Starks are an extremely ancient House who trace their descent from Bran the Builder, who is sometimes said to be the one, as a small boy, who told Durran Godsgrief, the first Storm King, how to build the castle that is now Storm's End. For eight thousand years, they reigned from Winterfell as the Kings in the North, the Kings of Winter. The North is a harsh land, cold and covered in snow even in the Summer, and as the lords of the land the Starks are rumored to be as stern and cold as the North itself.

The Starks worship the old gods, the gods of the Children of the Forest and of the First Men. These were the gods of the forest, stream, and stone, nameless and faceless, unlike the Seven. The wisemen of the Children of the Forest, called Greenseers, carved faces in the white barked weirwood trees to keep watch on the woods and to represent their gods. The blood of the First Men still flows strong in the veins of the Starks. When the Andals crossed the Narrow Sea with the seven-pointed star of the Seven emblazoned on their chests and proceeded to conquer Westeros and proclaim the supremacy of their own gods over the old, the only Kingdom that did not fall was the North, where the King in the North threw back every army that tried to cross the Neck. The Starks, as most of the Houses of the North, still kneel before the weirwoods with the carved faces just like their ancestors did for thousands of years.

Their rule as Kings ended when Torrhen Stark, the King Who Knelt, seeing the forces against him, chose to swear fealty to Aegon the Conqueror rather than give battle. The Stark words are:Winter Is Coming

The present Lord of Stark, Eddard, was the principal supporter of Robert Baratheon, who had been his foster brother at the Eyrie, during his rebellion. His father and elder brother, Lord Rickard Stark and Brandon Stark, were brutally killed by King Aerys II Targaryen; his sister, Lyanna, carried off and raped by Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. After his elder brother and father's death, he became the Lord of Winterfell and called his banners in rebellion. He was the one who rode into King's Landing to claim the Iron Throne for Robert after the city's sacking by the Lannisters.

When Lord Balon Greyjoy of Pyke rose up in rebellion against the Iron Throne, Lord Eddard was instrumental in his defeat and surrender, taking his last surviving son, Theon Greyjoy, as hostage and ward afterwards.


The Present Lords Of House Stark