Editing House Stark (section)

===Kings in the North===
[[File:T Jedruszek RobbSwornSwords.jpg|thumb|350px|Stark cavalry, Tomasz Jedruszek © Fantasy Flight Games]]
The Starks are an ancient house of [[First Men]] descent.{{Ref|AGOT|1}} House Stark was founded by [[Brandon the Builder]], a legendary figure who lived during the [[Age of Heroes]]. Bran the Builder is said to have raised [[Winterfell]],{{ref|AGOT|2}} the seat of the Starks, and the [[Wall]],{{ref|AGOT|24}} and other legends connect him with [[Storm's End]]{{ref|ACOK|31}}{{ref|TWOIAF|The Stormlands: House Durrandon}} and the [[Hightower]].{{ref|TWOIAF|The Reach: Oldtown}} The Starks were [[King in the North|Kings of Winter]] in the north for eight thousand years{{ref|ACOK|21}}{{ref|ACOK|52}} since the Age of Heroes, possibly beginning with Bran the Builder. The [[Night's King]], the attainted thirteenth [[Lord Commander of the Night's Watch]], has been suggested to have been a Stark, among other possibilities.{{ref|ASOS|56}} The Night's King is said to have been defeated by [[Brandon Stark (Breaker)|Brandon the Breaker]] and [[Joramun]].{{ref|TWOIAF|The Wall and Beyond: The Night's Watch}}

The ancient Starks gradually defeated rival kings, such as the [[Barrow Kings]] to their south and the [[Red King]]s to their east.{{Ref|TWOIAF|The North: The Kings of Winter}} For several millennia, the Starks were not the uncontested Kings in the North. Their primary antagonists, the Red Kings from [[House Bolton]] of the [[Dreadfort]], swore fealty some thousand years ago, ending their [[flaying]] ways. Meanwhile, King [[Jon Stark]] drove raiders from the [[White Knife]], and the [[Wolf's Den]] was built at its mouth. This stronghold was often granted to sons and grandsons of the King in the North; one such branch, the [[House Greystark|Greystarks]], was extinguished after allying with the Boltons against the Starks.{{ref|ADWD|29}} King Jon's son, [[Rickard Stark (king)|Rickard]], defeated the [[Marsh King]] and married his daughter, bringing the [[Neck]] into Winterfell's realm under the lordship of [[House Reed]].{{ref|AGOT|66}}

When [[Andals]] attempted to conquer the north, King [[Theon Stark]] made common cause with House Bolton and defeated [[Argos Sevenstar]] in the [[Battle of the Weeping Water]], after which he raised a fleet and sailed to [[Andalos]]. There he took revenge by sacking and putting hundreds to death. He later conquered the [[Three Sisters]], attacked the [[Fingers]], and battled against the [[ironborn]], driving them away from [[Cape Kraken]] and [[Bear Island]] and slaying [[Ravos Hoare]]. Both places were later taken back by King [[Loron Greyjoy]], and King [[Rodrik Stark]] took Bear Island back after Loron's death. It is said that he did so by winning a wrestling match, though some scholars doubt the truth of this tale.{{Ref|TWOIAF|The North: The Mountain Clans}}{{Ref|AGOT|66}} Rodrik's sons and grandsons took back Cape Kraken.{{Ref|TWOIAF|The North: The Kings of Winter}} King Theon also smashed a rebellion in the [[Rills]], and gave aid to the Night's Watch against [[wildlings]].{{Ref|TWOIAF|The North: The Kings of Winter}}

Thousands of years before [[Aegon's Conquest]],{{ref|FAB|Jaehaerys and Alysanne - Their Triumphs and Tragedies}} King [[Brandon Stark (Shipwright)|Brandon the Shipwright]] attempted to sail across the [[Sunset Sea]], but never returned back home. His son, also named [[Brandon Stark (Burner)|Brandon]], burned the northern shipyards in his grief.{{Ref|AGOT|66}}{{ref|FAB|Jaehaerys and Alysanne - Their Triumphs and Tragedies}} The north has since lacked strength at sea.{{Ref|ACOK|16}}

House Stark attempted to conquer the Three Sisters, which began a conflict between the Starks and [[House Arryn]] from the [[Vale of Arryn|Vale]]. In response to the [[Rape of the Three Sisters]], the [[Sistermen]] asked for help from [[Mathos II Arryn]], [[King of Mountain and Vale]]. This conflict, the [[War Across the Water]], lasted for a thousand years, during which time the Starks thrice landed on the [[Fingers]].{{Ref|TWOIAF|The Vale}}{{Ref|ADWD|9}} During King [[Edrick Stark]]'s hundred-year long reign, the Wolf's Den, already torched by House Arryn, was captured by slavers from the [[Stepstones]]. Edrick's great-grandson, King [[Brandon Stark (Ice Eyes)|Brandon "Ice Eyes"]], took back the Wolf's Den.{{Ref|ADWD|29}} After a thousand years of war, the Arryns were victorious over the Starks, and the Valemen have ruled over the Three Sisters ever since.{{Ref|TWOIAF|The Vale}}

Several centuries before Aegon's Conquest,<ref group="N">When exactly [[House Manderly]] came north is unknown. In {{Date|211}}, Lady [[Rohanne Webber]] dated the flight of the Manderlys as having occurred "a thousand years" ago (''[[The Sworn Sword]]''). Lord [[Godric Borrell]] defines the time period to "no more than nine hundred years" before {{Date|300}} (''[[A Dance with Dragons]]'', [[A Dance with Dragons-Chapter 9|Davos I]]). However, [[Wylla Manderly]] and Maester [[Yandel]] date the arrival of the Manderlys in the north back a bit further, "a thousand years before [[Aegon's Conquest|the Conquest]]" (''A Dance with Dragons'', [[A Dance with Dragons-Chapter 19|Davos III]]) and "some thousand years before the Conquest", (''[[The World of Ice & Fire]]'', The North: The Kings of Winter) respectively. A semi-canon source lists "a thousand years before the Conquest" as well (''[[A World of Ice and Fire]]'', White Harbor). These accounts thus place the arrival of the Manderlys in the north between 1000 BC and 600 BC.</ref> [[House Manderly]] was driven into exile from the [[Mander]] by Lord [[Lorimar Peake]] during the reign of [[Perceon III Gardener]], [[King of the Reach]].{{Ref|TWOIAF|The North: The Kings of Winter}} The Starks welcomed them to the north, and accepted oaths of fealthy from the Manderlys, giving them the Wolf's Den and the surrounding lands, leading to the creation of [[White Harbor]] around the Wolf's Den.{{Ref|ADWD|19}}{{Ref|TWOIAF|The North: The Kings of Winter}}{{ref|AWOIAF|Wolf's Den}}

Possibly around 700 BC,<ref group="N">[[Catelyn Stark]] recalls that [[Karlon Stark]] put down a rebel lord "a thousand years ago" (''[[A Storm of Swords]]'', [[A Storm of Swords-Chapter 20|Catelyn III]]). It is unknown if this means one thousand years ago (seven hundred years before [[Aegon's Conquest]]) or if [[George R. R. Martin]] is being figurative.</ref> [[Karlon Stark]], a younger son of Winterfell, helped crush a rebel lord. As a reward, he was granted lands on which he built a keep named Karl's Hold. Over time, the keep became known as [[Karhold]] and Karlon's descendants became [[House Karstark]].{{Ref|ASOS|20}} Three hundred years before the Conquest, the commanders of the [[Queensgate|Snowgate]] and [[Nightfort]] went to war with each other, then joined together to murder the [[Lord Commander of the Night's Watch]] when he tried to stop them. The Stark in Winterfell intervened and took both men's heads easily because the strongholds of the Night's Watch were not designed to be defensible from the south.{{Ref|ASOS|55}}

The Starks helped repel several major [[wildling]] invasions, such as when they and their [[House Umber|Umber]] bannermen defeated the brother [[King-Beyond-the-Wall|Kings-Beyond-the-Wall]] [[Gendel]] and [[Gorne]] three thousand years ago.{{ref|TWOIAF|The Wall and Beyond: The Wildlings}} [[Bael the Bard]] is said to have sired a son on the maiden [[Rose of Winterfell|daughter]] of [[Brandon Stark (the daughterless)|Brandon the Daughterless]]. Bael was later slain by his own son, who was unaware of the fact that Bael was his father.{{ref|ACOK|51}}