The North

The North is the largest of the constituent regions of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, comprising roughly the northern third of the continent. It is ruled from Winterfell by House Stark, who held it as Kings in the North for thousands of years before bending the knee to House Targaryen, after which they ruled as Wardens of the North.

The North is a vast, cold, and thinly settled land of forests, hills, moors, and mountains, bounded in the south by the Neck and in the far north by the Wall. Its people are hardy, plainspoken, and largely keep to the worship of the old gods rather than the Faith of the Seven that dominates the south.

Geography

The North stretches from the Neck, the narrow marshy isthmus guarded by Moat Cailin and the crannogmen of House Reed, all the way to the Wall. It is larger than all the other kingdoms combined but far less populous. Its terrain includes the wolfswood, the great forest west of Winterfell; the stony shore and the rugged northern mountains, home to the mountain clans; the barrowlands of the First Men; and the cold coasts facing the Shivering Sea and the Sunset Sea.

Major holdings include Winterfell, the Dreadfort of House Bolton, White Harbor of House Manderly, the only true city in the North, Karhold, Last Hearth, Deepwood Motte, and Torrhen's Square. Bear Island in the west is the seat of House Mormont.

History

The North was settled in the Dawn Age by the children of the forest and later the First Men, whose blood still runs strongest in the northern lords. For thousands of years the Starks ruled as Kings of Winter, fighting off ironborn raids, the Boltons, and threats from beyond the Wall. They never fell to the Andals who conquered the south, so the North preserved the old gods and the customs of the First Men.

When Aegon the Conqueror came, King Torrhen Stark knelt rather than burn, and the North joined the Seven Kingdoms while keeping its identity. During the War of the Five Kings, the lords of the North declared Robb Stark King in the North, reviving the ancient title before his betrayal and death at the Red Wedding.

Inhabitants

Northmen are known for their loyalty, their hardiness, and their grim sense of honor. Many keep the old gods and the godswoods of weirwood. The North is also home to the crannogmen of the Neck, the mountain clans, and the people of the White Harbor who, uniquely among northern houses, follow the Faith of the Seven.