The North: Legacy of the First Men and the Unyielding Houses of Winterfell

Welcome to another episode of The Westerosi Primer. My name is Liz. And in this episode, I will be talking about the North. I’ll be discussing some of the notable people, places, and historical events that happened in the largest of the Seven Kingdoms.

Before I start the discussion, there are a couple of things to note. First there will be some potential spoilers for people who have not read the novels in the “A Song of Ice and Fire” saga. There may also be potential spoilers for House of the Dragon and other future shows that may be adapted by Max in the future. So if you’re okay with this, then please continue listening.

Second, this will not be a definitive episode of everything about the North as there really is a lot of information about all the notable houses mentioned in the novels and the additional information written by George R. R. Martin and collected by various fans including the contributors of Westeros.org.

Throughout this season of the Westerosi Primer, I will be using information gathered from the novel series, Westeros.org, The World of Ice and Fire, and The Lands of Ice and Fire. Check out the full show notes and other links located on this show’s website: thewesterosiprimer.com With that said, let’s begin!

The North is the largest of the seven kingdoms. It also makes up roughly half of mainland Westeros. Despite its large size, this kingdom is lightly populated due to the harsh climate. Even when it is summer, it periodically snows. This is also a reason why in comparison to the more southern kingdoms, the North is poor. This along with the fact a majority of Northmen claim descent from the First Men and worship the Old gods.

The northern border of the North is the Gift and The Wall. Beyond the Wall are wild lands full of wandering clans of Wildings and creatures. Of course, fans of Game of Thrones know there are a lot more than just that beyond the Wall. The southern border of the North is the Neck, which is mostly swampland filled with all sorts of animals that can cause the death of unwary travelers. A ruined castle called Moat Cailin stands as the primary manmade defense against land invasion from the South. Despite the close relationship between the North and the Vale due to the friendship and later family relationship between the Starks and the Arryns, there has long been disputes between the two kingdoms.

This is primarily due to the differences in the cultures of the two kingdoms along with the border disputes involving three islands known as the Three Sisters, which swear fealty to The Vale. Centuries after the First Men arrive, Andals began their invasion bringing along their religion, The Seven Who Are One or The New Gods. The Andals couldn’t make much headway as they had to deal with fighting in a land with a fierce climate and going up against fierce people. Especially a fierce people led by King Theon Stark.

The history of the North goes back thousands of years. And this history heavily involves House Stark. You can’t necessarily have a discussion about Northern history without talking about the Starks. So they will be the first house I talk about here.

Legend and history says that the first people to live in Westeros were the Children of the Forest. They were people who possessed magic and worshipped the Old Gods. They were also the ones who created the Heart Trees, which were weirwood trees that had faces carved into the trunks. It is said that the gods needed the faces in order to see into the world. Prayers to the gods are done in front of the Heart Trees.

The first humans to live in Westeros were First Men. The First Men invaded Westeros and war broke out between the Children and the First Men. It was said that the Children destroyed a land bridge between Westeros and Essos that was later referred to as The Arm of Dorne. Later another attempt to stop First Men incursion was the flooding of the Neck. Eventually the war ended and a pact was made on The Isle of Faces in the Gods’s Eye. I’ll be discussing more about this particular island in a later episode.

Later there was of course the Long Night. During the legendary Age of Heroes, the Children and the First Men joined in the fight against The White Walker or The Other in the novels. It was said once this coalition pushed back the White Walkers to the Lands of Always Winter, a man known as Bran the Builder constructed the Wall to protect the rest of Westeros from the return of the icy demons. Of course Bran the Builder was a Stark and considered the progenitor of House Stark.

There are many stories about Bran the Builder, including one legend that claims he is a descendant of Garth Greenhand, who is a figure I’ll discuss in another episode. Aside from constructing the Wall, there are various structures that allegedly were built by him. Winterfell, Storm’s End, and The Hightower. Of course I’ll be discussing those last two structures more in later episodes.

Over the course of the following centuries, House Stark fought with other minor kings in the North and over time defeated them. All the various kingdoms form what we know as The North and the Starks became the Kings of Winter and King in the North. This title was lost after Aegon’s Conquest and was later revived with Robb Stark.

Winterfell of course as we know from Game of Thrones is the home of House Stark. It is centrally located within the North and is not far from the Kingsroad. A few notable things about Winterfell are of course the hot springs that makes the keep warm in the Northern climate. There is the great heart tree that members of house Stark worship under. And of course the crypts where the remains of Stark kings and lords are buried. Notably one of the few women buried there is Lyanna Stark.

Before I move on to some of the other notable houses in the North, I’ll mention a few notable Starks. After Bran the builder, we have Bran the Breaker, who was the king who joined with a Wildling chieftain named Joramun to defeat a figure known as The Night’s King.

In the tv show, The Night King is the leader of the White walkers. However in the novels, there is no evidence thus far that there is a leader of the White walkers. In fact, we know nothing much about them other than their necromancy and the threat they pose to the living. In the novels there is a legend of a 13^th lord commander of the Night’s Watch who became known as the Night’s King. The legend says that he saw a mysterious woman beyond the wall. He marries her and declares themselves as king and queen of the Wall and performed sacrifices to the white walkers. It is suspected the woman was a female white walker. This led to the Northmen and Wildings uniting in order to defeat them. The name of this commander is lost to history, but there are speculations of who this man was. Amongst them was that he could have been a Stark or a Bolton amongst the various possibilities.

As I mentioned earlier, King Theon Stark, who was also known as The Hungry Wolf, drove out the Andals during their invasion of the North. To retaliate against them for their audacity, he and his army sailed to Andalos, the original home of the Andals and sacked coastal villages. I’ll talk more about Andalos in a later episode.

Karlon Stark was a younger son of a Stark King. He defeated a rebellious lord and was later granted lands of his own. He built a castle originally called Karl’s hold and later became known as Karhold. He is the founder of House Karstark.

Torrhen Stark was the last King in the North when he surrendered to the Targaryens rather than risk a brutal, fiery death for his people. Some call him the King Who Knelt in derision of his choice. However in hindsight, he was merely being a prudent leader trying to spare his people a horrible fate. This becomes a point of discussion during the later centuries with the War of the Five Kings.

As a fan of the novels and apocrypha, I’m very excited about the inclusion of Cregan Stark in the upcoming season 2 of House of the Dragon. I won’t do a long discussion of this character so I don’t spoil upcoming events in the Dance of the Dragons. However I will say that Cregan Stark created large shoes to fill for his descendants decades later, which is why fans like me are pretty eager to see how he gets portrayed in the show.

And finally we have the Starks we knew and loved so well in Game of Thrones. I don’t need to explain much of them. However I will say if you are interested in me doing character essays about these Starks or any of the characters you know then please check out the website to find out how to let me know. If enough people request it, I may do so in a future season of this podcast.

As I mentioned not long ago, House Karstark originated as a branch of House Stark. However I should point out that unfortunately, Dan and David made the choice of oversimplifying House Karstark’s actions after Robb’s and Catelyn’s decisions in the Riverlands. Lord Rickard Karstark had three sons and one daughter. Lord Rickard and his sons follow Robb south while his daughter Alys stays behind in Karhold with her great uncle Arnolf, who is the castellan. Her brother Harrion is the only surviving Karstark in the South and is held captive. He is the rightful new Lord Karstark.

However Arnolf has been plotting to take over the lordship with Roose Bolton’s help. He declares for King Stannis hoping that the Lannisters will kill Harrion and cause Alys to become the heir. He plots to have his son Cregan marry her, but things don’t quite work out the way he planned. Alys flees to the Wall finding sanctuary with her distant cousin, Lord Commander Jon Snow. It appears that part of Alys’s storyline in the novels was given to Sansa in the TV show. Sansa had a very different storyline in the novels. I’ll talk about one aspect of Sansa’s book storyline in another episode.

House Umber of Last Hearth is one of the most northern of the Northmen houses since their territory is just south of the New Gift. At one point in time, they were also kings until they were defeated by the Starks and became vassals. House Umber in general has a reputation of being loud, proud, and loyal. We are familiar with Greatjon Umber, who was the loud lord who had his fingers bitten off by Greywind for challenging Robb Stark in Season 1 of Game of Thrones. In this show, his son Smalljon betrays the Starks by surrendering Rickon Stark to Ramsay Bolton.

However this never happened in the books since Smalljon was actually killed at the Red Wedding trying to protect Robb. Also it is clear in the novels that House Umber is very much loyal to the Starks. While the two Jons go south with Robb, Greatjon’s two uncles, Hother and Mors are joint castellans. Hother was sent to Winterfell to act as leader of Umber forces defending the North from the Ironborn. Officially Hother had to swear loyalty to the Boltons since Greatjon was still imprisoned at the Twins. Mors however promises to join Stannis under the condition that Hother would be pardoned and that Umber forces would not be forced to fight other Umbers.

House Bolton of the Dreadfort is a house where its members were once known as the Red Kings until they were later defeated by House Stark. Their sigil is that of the flayed man and their words “Our blades are sharp.” If you needed more clues that this house would cause people a lot of grief I don’t know what else could be done to make it more obvious. As we know from Game of Thrones, they readily took advantage of an opportunity to betray the Starks and gain control of the North.

Of course in the grand scheme of things, it seems ridiculous that they think they can actually maintain control of the North. Their elevated position as Lord Paramount and Warden of the North was only made possible because of the Lannisters. If there’s one thing Northmen value most above all other things is that you are a strong leader who proves their capability. House Bolton’s betrayal and deception doesn’t sit with most houses, which is why it’s more clear in the books that many of the houses are actively plotting against the Boltons. In fact the books have a far more complex storyline than what was portrayed in the show. If you are interested in me discussing this in a future season of the podcast, head to the website to find out how to reach out.

House Cassel is a very minor house which we know very limited information about. The only things we do know for certain are about the members of this house at the time of Game of Thrones. Ser Jory Cassel is the captain of the guards at Winterfell. He also followed Ned south to King's Landing. He was also the last soldier to die with Ned during the confrontation with Jaime at Littlefinger’s brothel. He was the one Jaime stabbed in the face. His uncle was Ser Rodrik Cassel. Ser Rodrik was master-at-arms for House Stark. He was the man who accompanied Catelyn Stark to the south to find Ned. As master-at-arms, he trains all the guards and soldiers directly serving house Stark. He was also the one training the Stark sons and Theon Greyjoy.

In the show Theon is the one who kills Ser Rodrik. Meanwhile in the books it was actually Ramsey who killed Rodrik. Ramsay led Bolton men to Winterfell making Rodrik and his party think they were backup to help retake Winterfell from Theon and the Ironborn. It was actually a trick where Rodrik and his men were killed and the Boltons gain control of the castle. And we know what happens after that. Not mentioned in the show is the fact that there are other Cassels. Martyn Cassel was Rodrik’s brother and Jory’s father. He was one of Ned’s companions at the Tower of Joy and died fighting the Kingsguard stationed there. Ser Rodrik had a daughter named Beth Cassel. She was one of Sansa’s companions at Winterfell. As far as we know, in the books she is still alive as it was last mentioned she was a prisoner at the Dreadfort.

House Manderly is an important house in the North as they are the lords of the only city in the North, White Harbor. As their name suggests, they were a house from the Reach since there is a river in the Reach known as the Mander. As I will discuss in a future episode about the Reach, political machinations centuries earlier cause House Manderly to be exiled by a Gardener king. The Manderlys wound up in the North where they were given lordship of the land they continue to control in exchange for fealty to House Stark. Like House Umber, this house maintains a reputation of unquestioned loyalty to their liege lord. It is a shame that this house wasn’t mentioned or featured much in the tv series considering they have a much bigger role in the books they are one of the big anti-Bolton conspirators in the North. Also interestingly enough, a small plot point involving the Manderlys was actually given to Arya in the TV show. It involved pies and three missing Freys.

House Mormont of Bear Island we are familiar with from the TV show because of Lord Commander Jeor Mormont, his son Jorah, and Lyanna Mormont. Like with many of the houses I’ve talked about so far, there’s a bunch of missing members of this family not included in the TV show and they’re all women other than Lyanna. Jeor Mormont actually had a sister named Maege, who had five daughters. The youngest of them was Lyanna. So yes young Lyanna Mormont was Jorah’s cousin.

After Jorah’s flight from Westeros, Maege took over the lordship of Bear Island. Her oldest daughter Dacey died at the Red Wedding. Dacey’s younger sisters were still up in the North. Alysane actually represented Bear Island and joined with Stannis to fight the Boltons. The other interesting thing I’ll mention has to do with Jorah. This doesn’t really get mentioned in the tv show, but the wife whom Jorah dishonored himself for was Lynesse Hightower. For those of you who watched House of the Dragon, yes it is that House Hightower. Lynesse was the youngest of many siblings and one of her older sister is named Alerie. Alerie married Mace Tyrell, which means she was Loras and Margaery’s mother. So yes at one point in time, Jorah was technically Loras and Margaery’s uncle.

House Poole is a minor house in the North. There’s very little information available about this house. However I had to mention this one because of the two known members in it: Vayon Poole and Jeyne Poole. Vayon was the steward at Winterfell and joined Ned south to Kingslanding where he tragically dies with most of the household servants. His daughter Jeyne was one of Sansa’s companions and was basically her best friend. Jeyne plays a more significant role in the books than in the TV show where she was played by a random extra in some of the Winterfell scenes in season 1. In fact some of Jeyne’s storyline in the books was given to Sansa in the TV show, which on a personal note, I most definitely didn’t like this fact and neither did a lot of book readers. Again if you are interested in me discussing more about this point, please let me know.

House Reed of Greywater Watch lives in the Neck. They are acknowledged as the leaders of the Crannogmen. The Crannogmen are the people who live in the Neck and are known for their skills in stealth and knowledge of the swampy environment. Like other Northmen, they are descendants of the First Men. At one point in time, the Crannogmen had a Marsh King who led them. Eventually they submitted to House Stark after King Rickard Stark defeated the last Marsh King and married his daughter. The limited information we have about House Reed in particular is what we know in the novels. We’re only told information about three members in particular: Howland Reed and his two children, Meera and Jojen.

As we know Meera and Jojen helped Bran and Rickon escape the invasion of Winterfell. Later they assist Bran on his search for the Three Eyed Raven or the Three Eyed Crow as it is known in the books. Howland was briefly seen in the flashback at the Tower of Joy as the only other survivor with Ned. Howland doesn’t appear in the five published novels though he does get mentioned a few times. He actually had befriended Ned and his siblings when he also went to the Tourney at Harrenhal. This is a pretty significant event in lore. However I won’t get too much into this story at this time. So again if you’re interested in me talking about this in a future season of the podcast, let me know!

And that just about covers the basics of whose who in the North. If you’re interested in finding out more for yourself about any of these houses and other people and places I didn’t discuss in this episode, feel free to go to the full show notes where I will have links. Though be aware if you do any of this research there will be spoilers to the novels and some possible material covered in the future seasons of House of the Dragon.

Thank you for listening and tune in to the next episode where we travel to a region famous for the tall peaks of its mountain where we too can fly as high as honor.