History Characters / ASongOfIceAndFireHouseStarkAncestors

** He was also close friends with Jacaerys Velaryon when the latter travelled to the North to gain their support in the Dance of the Dragons, partially because Jacaerys reminded Cregan of his deceased younger brother, culminating in the two of them [[SwornBrothers swearing an oath of brotherhood]] and agreeing to bind their families together in marriage and blood with one of Jacaerys' daughters to marry one of Cregan's sons (not unlike Robert Baratheon's desire to have Ned Stark's daughter marry "his" son). According to [[UnreliableNarrator Mushroom]], their friendship hit a snag when Jacaerys entered a relationship with Cregan's supposed bastard sister Sara Snow, but he ultimately gave his blessings. While Jacaerys died without children of his own, Cregan remained loyal to the Blacks and tried to ensure Jacaerys' little brother Aegon would have no more schemers about him at court.

The bastard half-sister of Lord Cregan Stark. According to Mushroom, when Jacaerys Velaryon came to the North to gain the allegiance of her brother, the two grew quite fond of each other. Some doubt she existed in the first place.

* LoveRuinsTheRealm: Or it would have had their relationship come out. Not only was Sara a bastard, Jacaerys was already betrothed to Baela Targaryen. He would have jeopardized his claim to the Iron Throne, undermined his legitimacy even more, and risked dividing the Blacks.

[[folder:Artos Stark]]
!!Artos Stark
!!!The Implacable

Artos Stark, also known as Artos the Implacable, was a member of House Stark during the reign of Aerys I Targaryen.

* DueToTheDead: He has a statue in the crypts at Winterfell even though he was never a lord or king. He might have served as his nephew Edwyle's regent, however. On top of his wartime "promotion" and resulting battlefield command. This meant that there was a solid argument to be made that the normal rules upon death didn't apply to (acting-Lord-when-needed) Artos.
* HyperCompetentSidekick: What he comes across as having been.
* NumberTwo: He was a bannerman for his brother, Lord Willam.
* TakeUpMySword: He led the Northern army to victory against the wildlings after his brother was killed. This earned him a load of respect points.
* WhatTheHellHero: Was ''not'' happy that the Night's Watch had allowed a horde of Wildlings to cross the Wall, causing a battle that resulted in the death of his brother Willam, the Lord Stark at the time, that the Watch arrived too late to help with. As punishment, he had the Watch bury the dead.

[[folder:Lord Brandon Stark "The Daughterless"]]
!!Lord Brandon Stark
!!!Brandon the Daughterless

Brandon Stark, also called Brandon the Daughterless, was supposedly the Lord of Winterfell when the legendary Bael the Bard was just a common wildling raider.

* BullyingADragon: By calling Bael the Bard a coward, he just invited him to sneak in his home and steal away his daughter.
* HeirClubForMen: Brandon named his bastard grandson the heir to Winterfell rather than his daughter.
* {{Irony}}: He ended up naming as his heir the son of the man he previously antagonized and insulted.
* LastOfHisKind: Was apparently the last Stark of the male line and was nearly the last Stark.
* ShroudedInMyth: We never learn exactly which Brandon Stark he was, and Jon Snow doubts his existence. This may very well be a mere legend, or simply the Starks covered the fact they were extinct in the male line and actually descendants of a wildling king. The publication of ''Literature/TheWorldOfIceAndFire'' and the first volume of ''Literature/FireAndBlood'' give credence to Jon's doubts, as almost all the Lords of Winterfell from the Conquest to the time of the main series seem to be accounted for. However, this leaves open the possibility that the title of "Lord" is an anachronism in the wildling tale and the historical Brandon the Daughterless was a King. It wouldn't be the first such anachronism in a story set in the dawn times; for instance, many of them feature knights in a time before the Faith of the Seven came to Westeros and made knights a thing, and similar anachronisms can be found in the real-world Arthurian cycles. Another anchronism is the fact that Bael allegedly skipped down the Kingsroad to reach Winterfell. Said Kingsroad was not built until the reign of Jaehaerys I, decades after the Starks renounced their title of Kings in the North.

* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: While both he and his descendant Eddard go south, hold to HonorBeforeReason, and act as Hand of the King, their fates are very different. Used as he is to the honor and loyalty in the north, "the Quiet Wolf" Eddard doesn't expect how low people can sink or exactly ''how'' disloyal the king's own advisors are to him, begrudgingly works with Petyr Baelish and Varys as he tries to discreetly investigate and unravel plots of treason, arrived with many ''fewer'' loyal men than he would've needed to survive the plots (and that number itself was whittled away at by other factors before he had need of them) because he didn't anticipate just how dire the situation would be, and ends up unpleasantly surprised by how dirty they play in King's Landing; "the Wolf of Winterfell" Cregan Stark came in ''knowing'' that none at court can truly be trusted, with an army of thousands of northmen eager for war that has the city of King's Landing (whose forces were already decimated by the Dance) surrendering to his will out of fear, publicly conducts a hard and fast investigation with loyal men aiding him, and condemns the generally honorable Lord Corlys Velaryon as just as bad as the rest for his part in poisoning Aegon II (it is implied by the text he also distrusted Corlys from hearing Queen Rhaenyra had imprisoned him for treason and disloyalty, though it's unclear if Cregan knew the context). Eddard is constantly unsure of how to operate in the serpentine southern court, is often out of his depth, and in showing mercy to Cersei he unwittingly dooms himself. Cregan has no patience for court politics and doesn't care about offending anyone, arrests and sentences numerous people, and is disinclined to show any mercy. Cregan consequently gets to go back to Winterfell with his head, while Eddard returns only as bones (and gets lost along the way).

** He was also close friends with Jacaerys Velaryon when the latter traveled to the North to gain their support in the Dance of the Dragons, partially because Jacaerys reminded Cregan of his deceased younger brother, culminating in the two of them [[SwornBrothers swearing an oath of brotherhood]] and agreeing to bind their families together in marriage and blood with one of Jacaerys' daughters to marry one of Cregan's sons (not unlike Robert Baratheon's desire to have Ned Stark's daughter marry "his" son). According to [[UnreliableNarrator Mushroom]], their friendship hit a snag when Jacaerys entered a relationship with Cregan's supposed bastard sister Sara Snow, but he ultimately gave his blessings. While Jacaerys died without children of his own, Cregan remained loyal to the blacks and tried to ensure Jacaerys' little brother Aegon would have no more schemers about him at court.

** He was also close friends with Jacaerys Velaryon when the latter traveled to the North to gain their support in the Dance of the Dragons, partially because Jacaerys reminded Cregan of his deceased younger brother, culminating in the two of them [[BloodBrothers swearing an oath of brotherhood]] and agreeing to bind their families together in marriage and blood with one of Jacaerys' daughters to marry one of Cregan's sons (not unlike Robert Baratheon's desire to have Ned Stark's daughter marry "his" son). According to [[UnreliableNarrator Mushroom]], their friendship hit a snag when Jacaerys entered a relationship with Cregan's supposed bastard sister Sara Snow, but he ultimately gave his blessings. While Jacaerys died without children of his own, Cregan remained loyal to the blacks and tried to ensure Jacaerys' little brother Aegon would have no more schemers about him at court.

Lord of Winterfell during the reign of King Jaehaerys the Wise.

Lord of Winterfell during the Dance of the Dragons, in which he supported Queen Rhaenyra, all the way to the days of Aemon the Dragonknight. He was the son of Rickon Stark, himself son of Benjen Stark and Lysa Locke, and Gilliane Glover. He was married three times, to Arra Norrey, Alysanne "Black Aly" Blackwood, and Lynara Stark, and had a total of ten children by his wives.

[[folder:King Theon Stark]]
!!King Theon Stark
!!!The Hungry Wolf

One of the most fearsome Stark kings who ever lived, he fought off the Andal invasion of the North, as well as several Ironborn invasions and a rebellion in the Rills, before joining the Night's Watch in breaking the power of the wildings so badly they needed a generation to recover.

* AllForNothing: Walton's quest to hunt the Nights Watch desrters down not only cost him his life, but the deserters were killed by the wildlings anyway.

-->'''Alaric Stark''': ''[to Jaehaerys]'' Walton lies down here in darkness in no small part thanks to you. Stars and Swords, the leavings of your seven gods, what are they to us? And yet you sent them to the Wall in their hundreds and their thousands, so many that the Night's Watch was hard pressed to feed them...and when the worst of them rose up, the oathbreakers you had sent us, it cost my brother's life to put them down.
-->'''Jaehaerys Targaryen''': A grievous price, but that was never our intent. You have my regrets, my lord, and my gratitude.
-->'''Alaric Stark''': I would sooner have my brother.

* MultipleChoicePast: Two maesters have different accounts on why Lord Alaric granted the lands known as "The New of Gift" to the Night's Watch. One says that he was charmed by Queen Alysanne into granting it. Another says that House Targaryen itself seized the land

* {{Determinator}}: Chased after Nights Watch deserters who escaped beyond the Wall. He was killed by giants.

[[folder:Lord Brandon Stark]]

!!!Brandon the Daughterless

Brandon Stark, also called Brandon the Daughterless, was supposedly the Lord of Winterfell when the legendary Bael the Bard was just a common wildling raider.
----
* BullyingADragon: By calling Bael the Bard a coward, he just invited him to sneak in his home and steal away his daughter.
* HeirClubForMen: Brandon named his bastard grandson the heir to Winterfell rather than his daughter.
* {{Irony}}: He ended up naming as his heir the son of the man he previously antagonized and insulted.
* LastOfHisKind: Was apparently the last Stark of the male line and was nearly the last Stark.
* ShroudedInMyth: We never learn exactly which Brandon Stark he was, and Jon Snow doubts his existence. This may very well be a mere legend, or simply the Starks covered the fact they were extinct in the male line and actually descendants of a wildling king. The publication of ''Literature/TheWorldOfIceAndFire'' and the first volume of ''Literature/FireAndBlood'' give credence to Jon's doubts, as almost all the Lords of Winterfell from the Conquest to the time of the main series seem to be accounted for. However, this leaves open the possibility that the title of "Lord" is an anachronism in the wildling tale and the historical Brandon the Daughterless was a King. It wouldn't be the first such anachronism in a story set in the dawn times; for instance, many of them feature knights in a time before the Faith of the Seven came to Westeros and made knights a thing, and similar anachronisms can be found in the real-world Arthurian cycles. Another anchronism is the fact that Bael allegedly skipped down the Kingsroad to reach Winterfell. Said Kingsroad was not built until the reign of Jaehaerys I, decades after the Starks renounced their title of Kings in the North.

!!Kings of Winter[=/=]Kings In The North

[[folder:King Brandon Stark "The Breaker"]]
!!King Brandon Stark
!!!Brandon the Breaker

Brandon Stark, known as Brandon the Breaker, was a King of Winter and Lord of Winterfell. When the thirteenth Lord Commander of the Night's Watch took a wife and declared himself the Night's King, Brandon amassed a joint force of Northerners and Wildlings to remove him.

* CainAndAbel: If the Night's King was indeed his brother.
* EnemyMine: Joined forces with the Wildlings to fight the Night's King.
* LegendFadesToMyth: Brandon took steps to ensure the Night's King's name was forgotten and all official records of him were destroyed. Much of the in-universe speculation surrounding the actual events are a direct result of this.
* StakingTheLovedOne: This possibly happened if the rumors of The Night's King being his brother are true.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Teamed up with his worst enemy to defeat the Night's King.
* UngratefulBastard: The Free Folk see him as this, since they helped him defeat the Night's King yet he drove them back outside the Wall.

[[folder:King Brandon Stark "The Shipwright"]]
!!King Brandon Stark
!!!The Shipwright
Brandon the Shipwright, was a King in the North and a head of House Stark.

King Brandon was known as Brandon the Shipwright, due to his love of the sea.

* BoldExplorer: He attempted to sail across the Sunset Sea.
* LostAtSea: After trying to cross the Sunset Sea, King Brandon was never seen again.
* NeverFoundTheBody: His tomb at Winterfell lies empty.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: His death at on the Sunset Sea had consequences he could never have imagined, even if he entertained the notion he might never return from his voyage. Tragically he is the last great seafaring Stark.

[[folder:King Brandon Stark "The Burner"]]

!!!The Burner

King Brandon Stark, better known as Brandon the Burner, was the son of Brandon the Shipwright.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Destroying his own navy was a massive mistake. It's also not what his father would have wanted in the slightest.
* ExcessiveMourning: One of the most famous examples among House Stark. Brandon the Burner took out his grief for his father's death by destroying all of the Stark's ships.
* KillItWithFire: He burned his father's ships after he was lost at sea.
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: He clearly loved his father a great deal, which made his grief all the more detrimental to his judgement.
* RevengeBeforeReason: He "avenged" his father but deprived his realm of valuable naval assets and forced the North to remain landlocked.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: He deprived the North of invaluable naval power, leading to many defeats over the centuries.
* UnfitForGreatness: His first act as King in the North was to burn his house's naval power to ash. This made the Starks weaker as a military force and led to many avoidable defeats down the line, and they've never restored their naval might.

[[folder:King Edrick Stark]]
!!Edrick Stark
!!!Snowbeard

Edrick Stark was a King in the North.

* LongLived: Snowbeard reigned for a century.
* WarHawk: He was constantly at war with the Boltons, the Ironborn, the wildlings and his own family.

* HeroicBastard: Despìte his bastard status, he was Torrhen's closest ally, and even offered to try to kill Aegon's dragons himself, alone.
* UndyingLoyalty: Not many would have volunteered to try and kill fire-breathing monsters to spare his brother and men from the task.