The first two full trailers for the second season of House of the Dragon—one for each team fighting in the Dance, of course—brought us all back to the power struggle that is going to engulf Westeros in a literal deluge of fire and blood.
As the conflict expands beyond the walls of the Red Keep and Dragonstone, it only makes sense for the cast to expand as well—after all, wars are fought with allies and both claimants to the Iron Throne will need to find some among the lords of the other noble houses of the land. And this means that we will finally get to meet one of the most anticipated characters of the entire show, so pack your furs and your snow boots because just like the Team Black trailer anticipated, we’re going north to Winterfell.
After all, the Starks of Winterfell were the first Great House of Westeros we were introduced to in Game of Thrones. So it’s about time that have a look at where they stand during the events of the Dance of the Dragons. And especially meet their lord, with whom Rhaenyra wants to treat to ensure the North’s support of her cause, as she said during her first council as Queen in the final episode of the first season of House of the Dragon.
Who are the Starks?
First of all, a quick history and lore refresher. The Starks have ruled over the North for thousands of years and have been loyal to the Targaryens ever since the days of the Conquest. It was then that the last King in the North, Torrhen Stark, bent the knee to Aegon the Conqueror to spare the North from being burned into oblivion.
Torrhen Stark—whom Daenerys even mentions to Jon during their first meeting in Season 7 of Game of Thrones—was forevermore known as the King Who Knelt, and Aegon made the Starks his Wardens of the North. The entire region transitioned smoothly into the forming new realm, becoming the largest of all the lands under the rule of the Iron Throne. It did remain, however, always a bit removed and disinterested in the royal politics happening in King’s Landing. Northerners are in general a bit different from the other peoples of the Seven Kingdoms, something that we see remarked times and times again in Game of Thrones.
What are the Starks doing during House of the Dragon?
At the time of the Dance of the Dragons, House Stark is under the command of young Cregan Stark— son of Rickon Stark and Lady Gilliane Glover, who had taken up the responsibilities of Lord of Winterfell at the very young age of thirteen. His rule over the North started with the regency of his uncle, whom Cregan actually had imprisoned when he refused to give up the seat of Lord of Winterfell once the young lord had reached the age of majority and could therefore command on his own.
By the time Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen reminds House Stark of their oath to her and calls for Winterfell’s support in her cause, Lord Cregan is twenty-one. He has a one-year-old son, named Rickon after Cregan’s father. His first wife, Lady Arra Norrey, died in childbirth, like pretty much every single other noble lady in Westeros.
What’s important is that Cregan Stark becomes fast friends with the envoy Rhaenyra sends him, Prince Jacaerys Velaryon. The two are close in age and spend their time together hunting and exploring the North before they end up swearing the Pact of Ice and Fire, promising Lord Cregan’s support to the blacks in exchange for Jacaerys’s future firstborn daughter marrying Cregan’s son and becoming Lady of Winterfell.
***From now on, the article will contain spoilers from Fire & Blood about the future seasons of House of the Dragon. Be warned. ***
One of the three sources of the chronicle of Fire & Blood, the court jester Mushroom, tells that Cregan Stark also had a bastard half-sister, Sara Snow. According to Mushroom, she and Prince Jacaerys fell in love and married in secret— but the other in-universe sources, Septon Eustace and Maester Munkun, doubt that Sara even existed or that Jacaerys would betray his long engagement to Lady Baela Targaryen, ascribing the whole thing to Mushroom’s love for scandalous tales, whether they be real or imagined.
A good chunk of ASOIAF fans have also long held the theory that there is no Sara Snow but that there was some romance happening in the halls of Winterfell between Cregan and Jacaerys themselves. Of course, there’s no way to confirm this as of now since the in-universe sources of Fire & Blood do not mention it—but then again, those historians could have simply invented Sara Snow to cover for a relationship that was more scandalous for Westerosi standards. We’ll have to see what the show decides to go for, even though no canon has ever stopped fandoms from shipping whomever they want—exactly as they should.
What happens after the Pact of Ice & Fire?
Once Jacaerys returns to Dragonstone and Cregan is firmly secured to Rhaenyra’s cause, a Northern host descends through the Neck and clashes with the Greens in the Riverlands, which pretty much always end up a bloody battlefield whenever there’s a war in the Seven Kingdoms.
Cregan, known to history as the Wolf of the North, will remain loyal to his word to the end, making true on what Rhaenyra said in Episode 10 of the first season of HotD, that “there has never lived a Stark who forgot an oath”. He’s definitely a key player of the Dance of the Dragons and so it makes sense for fans to be excited to finally see him on screen, where he will be played by English actor Tom Taylor. So far, we caught only the briefest glimpse of him in the Team Black trailer, where Jace and a man wearing a heavy fur coat walk along what seems to be the top of the Wall.
What is the Hour ff the Wolf in Fire & Blood?
Once Rhaenyra flees from King’s Landing—well into the Dance, and actually towards its bloody and gruesome end—Lord Cregan Stark sends word to her that he is going to gather up a host and march south as soon as the last harvest of the season is done. Before he can start his long journey down the Kingsroad, however, Rhaenyra is captured and killed on Dragonstone by her half-brother Aegon— who feeds her to his dragon Sunfyre.
That doesn’t stop Cregan. He passes through the Riverlands with the intent of marching on powerful Green seats in the South, from Storm’s End to Oldtown— but he stops and holds court in the Red Keep of King’s Landing, dispensing justice for a period of six days which are going to be known to Westerosi history as the Hour of the Wolf.
He imprisons many of those who were responsible for the poisoning of King Aegon II, since he’s opposed to the idea of a king being killed by such shameful means rather than in battle. Like a true Stark, Cregan also punishes many lords who went back on their vows during the Dance.
Eventually, he is persuaded to put a true end to the fighting—in no small part thanks to Alysanne Blackwood, known as Black Aly, daughter of the noble House Blackwood of the Riverlands, whom Cregan ends up marrying. The two return North after the young King Aegon III is installed on the Iron Throne.
Cregan Stark goes on to have a long life, ruling over the North for at least thirty more years— so much so that his monicker changes into “the Old Man of the North”. He has the chance to cross swords with Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, the son of King Viserys II and brother of King Aegon IV, who will say that there had never been a finer swordsman.
Like all the other members of House Stark, his body rests in the crypts underneath Winterfell— he’s mentioned in one of Bran’s chapters in A Game of Thrones when he’s visiting the crypts with Osha.
(image: HBO)
