House Stark
House Stark of Winterfell is one of the Great Houses of Westeros and the principal noble family of the North, the largest of the Seven Kingdoms. Their sigil is a grey direwolf running across a field of white, and their words are "Winter Is Coming" -- a warning and a creed rather than a boast, fitting a House older than the realms of men. The Starks rule from Winterfell, the great ancient castle built over hot springs, and trace their line back through eight thousand years to Bran the Builder, the legendary founder credited with raising both Winterfell and the Wall.
For most of recorded history the Starks reigned as the Kings in the North, until Torrhen Stark, the King Who Knelt, submitted to Aegon the Conqueror rather than see his army destroyed. Thereafter they ruled as Wardens of the North, keeping the old gods and the weirwood heart trees while most of the south turned to the Faith of the Seven.
History
The Starks descend from the First Men and kept the old gods through the long ages. Among their ancestors are figures of legend such as the Night's King, a Lord Commander of the Night's Watch said to have taken a corpse-pale woman to wife, and Brandon the Breaker, who is said to have brought him down. Over the millennia the Kings of Winter absorbed or destroyed rival northern lines, including the Red Kings of the Dreadfort -- the Boltons, who never forgot.
After Torrhen Stark knelt, the House served the Iron Throne loyally for three centuries. That loyalty ended in blood when Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Hand to King Robert Baratheon, was executed on false charges of treason, igniting the War of the Five Kings.
Notable Members
- Eddard Stark, called Ned, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North
- Catelyn Stark, his lady wife, born of House Tully
- Robb Stark, the eldest son, proclaimed King in the North
- Sansa Stark and Arya Stark, his daughters
- Bran Stark and Rickon Stark, his younger sons
- Jon Snow, Ned's acknowledged bastard, sworn to the Night's Watch
- Benjen Stark, Ned's brother, First Ranger of the Night's Watch
Significance
As Wardens of the North and the keepers of an enormous, sparsely settled domain, the Starks have long stood as the realm's bulwark against the dangers beyond the Wall. Their fall during the War of the Five Kings -- the murder of Robb and Catelyn at the Red Wedding and the seizure of Winterfell -- shattered the North's stability and left the old enemies of winter, the Others, to stir unchecked.