King in the North

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King in the North and King of Winter are ancient titles held for thousands of years by House Stark of Winterfell.[1][2][3] They were the last kingdom of the First Men and continued to rule the North after the Andals invaded and took over the southern kingdoms of Westeros. While the running direwolf is the sigil of House Stark, some Kings in the North had personal variants.[4]

History

House Stark traces their descent from Bran the Builder who is said to have lived in the Age of Heroes and built the Wall at the end of the Long Night. Ballads claim the ancient kings drove giants from the North and slew skinchangers in the War of the Wolves. Over thousands of years, the Kings of Winter conquered and reduced to vassalage a number of rival kings, including Barrow Kings, Red Kings, Flints, Slates, Umbers, Lockes, Glovers, Fishers, and Ryders. They defeated the Warg King and Marsh King, forced the Blackwoods to flee, and vanquished the Greenwoods, Towers, Ambers, and Frosts. Many of their defeated enemies were forced to yield their women as prizes or brides.[5]

The Stark kings successfully defended the North during the Andal invasion and they often warred with the ironborn from the Iron Islands and wildlings from beyond the Wall. The Starks battled with the Arryns for a thousand years over the Bite after the Rape of the Three Sisters.[6]

Originally, "The Kings of Winter" was the title used by the Starks who ruled the proto-kingdom centered around Winterfell itself. Centuries later, as they united most of the North under their rule, they increasingly called themselves "The Kings in the North" - a title claiming authority over the entire region. The shift in titles became solidified around 6,000 years ago, after the Starks finally subdued the Boltons - just as the first ships of the Andal Invasion were beginning to land on the eastern coasts of Westeros. In subsequent generations the Starks rallied the entire North to resist encroachments by the Andals.[5]

The last King in the North prior to the end of the third century was Torrhen Stark, who bent the knee to Aegon the Conqueror during the War of Conquest, thus making the North part of the Seven Kingdoms controlled by the Iron Throne. Since then Lord Stark has traditionally held the of Warden of the North for the Iron Throne.

Recent Events

A Game of Thrones

The title is revived during the War of the Five Kings by Robb Stark, who breaks away from the Iron Throne after the murder of his father, Lord Eddard Stark. Rejecting House Baratheon of King's Landing, the northern and river lords assembled at Riverrun declare Robb to be the King in the North.[2] He is also later known as the King of the Trident.[7][8]

A Clash of Kings

After Balon Greyjoy conquers several portions of the North, he styles himself "King of the Isles and the North" by right of conquest, disputing the Stark claim.[9]

A Storm of Swords

Because he is childless and his younger brothers, Bran and Rickon, are believed dead, King Robb worries that Tyrion Lannister will claim Winterfell through his marriage to Sansa Stark. Robb decides to legitimize his bastard half-brother, Jon Snow, and names him as heir in his will.[10][11] Before Jon can be informed of Robb's decision, however, the king is murdered at the Twins during the Red Wedding.[12] One of Robb's betrayers, Lord Roose Bolton, is named Warden of the North by the Iron Throne.[13]

A Feast for Crows

King Balon's brother and successor, Euron Crow's Eye, continues to style himself King of the Isles and the North,[14] although he redirects the ironborn offensives to the Reach.[15]

A Dance with Dragons

Jon Snow, who does not know he was Robb's chosen successor, is attacked and possibly slain by fellow members of the Night's Watch at Castle Black.[16]

Crown

Copyrighted work by Fantasy Flight Games (FFG)

The crown of the King in the North was shaped as an open circlet of hammered bronze incised with runes of the First Men, surmounted by nine black iron spikes in the shape of longswords.[17]

Bronze and iron are stronger than gold and silver. The old Kings of Winter wore such a sword-crown.[18]

- King Robb Stark

Known Kings in the North

No precise lineage of Kings in the North is known, but the individuals listed below are supposed to be in rough chronological order.

Line of succession

The following is the hypothetical line of succession to the title and position King in the North following on from King Robb Stark. It can also be taken as the line of succession to Lordship of Winterfell.

  1. Prince Jon (Snow) Stark, secretly legitimised as a Stark and declared heir by decree of King Robb.[10][11] Jon may be dead after being attacked by his own men of the Night's Watch, where he served as Lord Commander.
  2. Prince Bran Stark, second in line. Currently beyond the Wall and believed dead.
  3. Prince Rickon Stark, third in line. Currently on Skagos, also believed dead.
  4. Princess Sansa Stark, fourth in line. Currently in hiding as "Alayne Stone" in the Vale, accused in the regicide of Joffrey Baratheon.
  5. Princess Arya Stark, fifth in line. Missing and presumed dead. (In actuality currently in Braavos as an apprentice of the Faceless Men.)

The positions as ordered assume the following:

  • the Kingdom of the North is an extant kingdom distinct from the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros;
  • King Robb is without issue, his Queen Jeyne Westerling having been unable to conceive an heir;
  • Jon Snow's legitimisation by King Robb is considered legal and accepted by his bannermen;
  • Jon Snow's legitimisation is unconditional and independent of the survival of any of the legitimate offspring of Lord Eddard Stark;
  • the Starks practice male-preference cognatic primogeniture, that is not excluding female heirs from the succession, but placing female heirs behind male heirs regardless of birth order; and
  • Sansa Stark was not removed from the line of succession by King Robb's decree following her marriage to Tyrion Lannister.

References and Notes