The Rise of the Wolves; or a True Account of the Stark Age in a New Westeros

By Maester Flowers and Maester Westerling of the Citadel, 601 AC.

The name Stark, when said in public, inspires a vast array of reactions and responses. For the descendants of the Dothraki who remained in Westeros, for example, it invokes a long-seated outrage and deep loss over the assassination of their beloved Khaleesi, Daenerys the Unburnt, Mother of Dragons and Breaker of Chains (1), and a hatred of the family they see as responsible for her downfall.

Likewise, to a major contingent of R'hllor's followers, the Starks betrayed and murdered their Promised One and schemed to put their cousin on the throne instead. Yet to the Aegonian denomination of R'hllor's followers, King Jon Snow was Azor Ahai, the Promised One (2).

However, to any of the Free Folk, the Northmen, or to the multitudes of those in the Six Kingdoms and beyond who follow the Old Gods and their supposed mortal representative, the Three Eyed Raven, to say the name Stark is to elicit a reverence eight and a half thousand years in the making, a fevered deification that to this day is recognised as one of the key reasons why reunification of the Seven Kingdoms would be impossible. As the Northern saying goes, "We know no King but the King in the North, whose name is Stark."(3)

As a foreword to what is sure to be a lengthy tome, we as Maesters of the Citadel would like to begin with the disclosure that while factions of the Old and New Religions, and the adherents to the Lord of Light each have their own versions of these historical events and indeed the supposed divinity of the following figures, this text involves itself purely with what historical facts and first-hand accounts could be gathered in the following decades after the ascension of Brandon Stark I as King of the newly forged Six Kingdoms, Sansa Stark I as Queen in the North, Arya Stark as her Commander of the Northern Fleets, and Aegon Targaryen, better known as Jon Snow throughout his life, as King Beyond the Wall. The latter half of this text will involve itself with influence their legacies and descendants had on Westeros' path, stretching to the modern day.

King Brandon the Broken, First of His Name, also called the Three-Eyed Raven or Bran the Wise by his followers and the Witch King by his detractors, was the first King of a new Realm. Elected to the throne by the High Council of Lords following the Queen of Ashes' assassination at the hands of his cousin, Brandon is thought to be a pivotal piece in the rebuilding and revival of a mutilated realm following near a decade of wars, conflict, and upheaval (4). His Small Council, led by his Hand, Tyrion Lannister, Lord Paramount of the Westerlands, is often held up as a shining example of diplomatic relations between previously warring feudal Houses. In the decades that followed, Brandon the Broken led Westeros through rebellions, conflicts, as well as himself surviving several assassination attempts by the Second Sons of Mereen and the Iron Bank of Braavos.

He was succeeded on his deathbed by Elyan Martell of Dorne, chosen by the High Council of Lords in 357 AC to ascend as King of the Six Realms, while the title of the Three-Eyed-Raven seemingly went to King Elyan's Master of Whispers, Lord Brandon Blackwood of Raventree Hall.

Over the next two hundred and eighty-nine years, a total of three Stark scions were either elected or were consorts to the Kings and Queens of the Six Kingdoms (5), and of the six Three Eyed Ravens to lead the Old Religion, four have been Starks (6).

It should be noted that one of Brandon Stark's first and most controversial decrees was the formal recognition of the North as an independent kingdom, granted to his elder sister, Queen Sansa Stark of Winterfell. While disputed at first – indeed the act caused both Dorne and the Iron Islands to attempt their own unsuccessful bids for independence in the following decade – it has later been recognised as a highly strategic decision, made to satisfy an unruly and increasingly rebellious kingdom too large to conquer without the aid of dragons (7). In fact, with both the North and Six Kingdoms ruled by two of the four remaining Stark family members, trade, military, and diplomatic relations continued much as they had when the North was still included within the realm.

By all accounts, Queen Sansa Stark was a master politician and strategist. A particular example we discuss later in the text is her dealings and negotiations with a hostile Iron Bank of Braavos in 312 AC. Indeed, throughout her life she maintained a delicate balance of separation and coordination between the Six Kingdoms and the North. This being said, there were many at the time who criticised her as being too involved in the affairs of the Six Kingdoms, or suspected her as being the mummer's master behind her uncle's and cousin's respective seats in Riverrun and the Eyrie (8), particularly after her involvement in the 325 AC conflict between House Tully and House Marbrand of Ashenmark, in which the Lords of the Riverlands obeyed her command over her uncle's to cease the invasion into the Westerlands and instead engage in peace talks. Her uncle, Lord Paramount Edmure Tully of Riverrun, lodged a formal complaint with the Crown, and although King Brandon claimed his sister's actions were at his request, many were sceptical and the incident caused a brief trade dispute between the realms (9).

Sansa Stark's legacy is found in her informed economic, infrastructural, and social policies, rebuilding the North to a level of prosperity not seen in many centuries. She invested in the revival of the Northern shipyards in Deepwood Motte, given to a cadet branch of House Baratheon to rule in her name after the extinction of House Glover during the Long Night. With the establishment of a trading relationship between the North and the inhabitants of the newly discovered continent, Northoss, the Western Docks became a hub of commerce. By the end of Sansa's reign in 361 AC, the prosperity of the North had risen to match and possibly exceed that of its southern neighbour.

While her policies were of great interest to the upper echelons of Westerosi politics, her experiences and personal life – much like that of her siblings and cousin – captured the imagination of the common folk. Her many suitors included her cousin's heir, Lord Harold Hardyng of the Vale, a Dornish Prince, and various lords of the North and the Six Kingdoms.

However Sansa never married, whether for political or personal reasons is unknown. Yet she gave issue to four children, three of whom survived to adulthood. When confronted over their legitimacy, her reported response was "They are not bastards, for I am married to my kingdom, and they are of my blood." (10)

Her firstborn son and successor, King Rickard II, in fact claimed to be fathered by a wolf when questions of legitimacy were raised during his reign. While assumedly this was tongue in cheek, it was the cause for a number of popular ballads and folk tales that purported the ability of the Starks to shapeshift into direwolves at will. The scourge of direwolf packs in the Riverlands at the time, the Stark reputation as wargs, as well as the commonality of the Starks holding direwolves as pets and hunting dogs certainly gave credit to these folk tales.

Queen Sansa's second son, Prince Brandon, went on to marry Lady Paramount Cassana Baratheon of Storm's End, having an illustrious career as a Knight of the Realm in his uncle's court. Queen Sansa's only daughter, Princess Lyanna, assumed control of the abandoned Dreadfort in 332 AC (11), and after her marriage to a member of House Flint, formed the royal cadet branch and staunch Stark loyalists, House Lystark.

As for Queen Sansa's sister, no one living today in Essos, Westeros, or Northoss could forget the legacy of the Nightslayer, Arya Stark. Formally titled as a Princess of the North, Arya was the heir to her sister's throne before the birth of her nephew. She eschewed tradition by leading the first successful voyage west of Westeros in 307 AC (12), and discovered the New Continent in 309 AC. Her journey across the Sunset Sea has been immortalised in stories since – a journey fraught with pirates and sirens, krakens and sea dragons. Friendly first contact with the Northossians, and the subsequent trade alliance brokered between the North and Northoss by Arya Stark herself, occurred where the city of Starkton now bustles, a hub for cultures all across the world to meet and trade (13).

In 314 AC, she accepted her title as Commander of a newly burgeoning Northern Fleet, passing the reigns of her captaincy of the Northossi expeditions to her first mate. It was as Commander that in 316 AC, she led her forces to fight against ironborn incursions along the coastline of the Westerlands and the Reach, aiding Blackwater, Lannister, Crown, and Baratheon forces.

The political repercussions of the conflict were great, as in the following months Gendry Baratheon, Lord Paramount of the Stormlands, abdicated his rule to Lady Mya Baratheon, another legitimised sibling who had survived the Culling of the Bastards in 299 AC. Reportedly claiming that his heart wasn't in ruling, he went on to become ship blacksmith to Arya Stark's flagship vessel, the Nymeria. He acknowledged her two bastard children as his own, and both children were later legitimised as Baratheons and given titles and lands by their aunt, Queen Sansa. Arya and Gendry eventually married in 341 AC, making Arya Stark the only Stark sibling to marry. Their story stretching from childhood friends to lovers has gone on to become almost as popular amongst the common folk as her first voyage to Northoss.

Perhaps the most infamous Stark sibling was, of course, not a sibling at all. Jon Snow carried many names throughout his life, from the Bastard of Winterfell, to Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, to the King in the North, to Aegon Targaryen, the Rightful King of the Seven Kingdoms, and finally to Jon Snow, the King Beyond the Wall. Betrayer to some, saviour to others, Jon Snow forsook all of his titles and birthrights when he assassinated Queen Daenerys, his lover and aunt, in 307 AC (14).

His exile to the Night's Watch as recompense for his actions was short, as he led the remaining Night's Watch brothers and Free Folk North of the Wall. Queen Daenerys' surviving dragon, Drogon, was last known to have reappeared later Beyond the Wall with a clutch of eggs (15).

While Jon Snow never again crossed the Wall, he was known to have reunited with his cousins, in particular Queen Sansa, often throughout their lifetimes. Castle Black thus stands as a symbolic diplomatic meeting point and a trade route for both the Free Folk and the Northerners.

It is not known if Jon Snow married, however the Free Folk to this day sing of the three women their King loved. While the identity of the third woman is not known, their child together is presumably Eddard Whitewolf, chosen as King of the Free Folk after his father. The paternity of the child was not generally questioned at the time, as the Targaryen silver hair and purple eyes reportedly ran true within the child. Several centuries on, those of the Free Folk who inherit these Valyrian features are known to be 'kissed by ice'.

Indeed, the ramifications of a surviving, traceable Targaryen bloodline still have impacts felt today, as there have been several attempts by rebels, political rivals, and Targaryen loyalists over the centuries to reinstall Jon Snow's descendants (and their dragons) as rulers of Westeros. Each attempt to travel Beyond the Wall to collect said King or Queen has been rebuffed by Northmen and Free Folk alike, with the 426 AC digestion of the enterprising Ser Admure Crakehall and company by King Lyan's dragon WunWun a particularly amusing example (16).

From broken, lost children to a group of kings and queens, greenseers and assassins, dragonriders and skilled strategists, King Brandon the Broken, Queen Sansa I, Princess Arya the Nightslayer, and King Jon Snow went on to shift the very fabric of Westeros in a dawning Golden Age (17). Separating fact from fanaticism is difficult work, but we as Maesters of the Citadel seek to undertake this challenge throughout the coming pages, and hope to enlighten readers as to the extraordinarily real lives of these legendary figures in Westerosi history and culture.

END.

A/N: Say what you will about the final seasons, but the ending seemed very fitting. I wrote this in a rush, so let me know if there are any grammar errors... and excuse the footnote attempts – the Maesters who wrote this are probably going to get pulled up for lazy referencing.

If I continue this series, it'll probably be only as a series of oneshots based on this.