“
The Lord of Winterfell would always be a Stark
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
“
I wish I was home", She said miserably.
She tried so hard to be brave,
to be fierce as a wolverine and all,
but some times she felt she was a little girl after all.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
“
It's just a stupid sword," she said, aloud this time...
... but it wasn't.
Needle was Robb and Bran and Rickon, her mother and her father, even Sansa. Needle was Winterfell's grey walls, and the laughter of its people. Needle was the summer snows, Old Nan's stories, the heart tree with its red leaves and scary face, the warm earthy smell of the glass gardens, the sound of the north wind rattling the shutters of her room. Needle was Jon Snow's smile.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, #4))
“
You are Arya of Winterfell, daughter of the North. You told me you could be strong. You have the wolf blood in you.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
“
The northern girl. Winterfell's daughter. We heard she killed the king with a spell, and afterward changed into a wolf with big leathery wings like a bat, and flew out a tower window.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3))
“
She wondered where this courage had come from, to speak to him so frankly. From Winterfell, she thought. I am stronger within the walls of Winterfell.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3))
“
This is not Winterfell', he told him as he cut his meat with fork and dagger. 'On the Wall, a man gets only what he earns. You're no ranger, Jon, only a green boy with the smell of summer still on you.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
“
Did you teach him wisdom as well as valor, Ned! She wondered. Did you teach him how to
Kneel! The grave yards of the Seven Kinfdoms are full of brave men who had never learned that lesson.
Cat.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
“
All the color had been leached from Winterfell until only grey and white remained. The Stark colors. Theon did not know whether he ought to find that ominous or reassuring. Even the sky was grey.
The eyes of the bride were brown. Big and brown and full of fear.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, #5))
“
Who are you?” he would ask her every day. “No one,” she would answer, she who had been Arya of House Stark, Arya Underfoot, Arya Horseface. She had been Arry and Weasel too, and Squab and Salty, Nan the cupbearer, a grey mouse, a sheep, the ghost of Harrenhal…but not for true, not in her heart of hearts. In there she was Arya of Winterfell, the daughter of Lord Eddard Stark and Lady Catelyn, who had once had brothers named Robb and Bran and Rickon, a sister named Sansa, a direwolf called Nymeria, a half brother named Jon Snow. In there she was someone…but that was not the answer he wanted.
”
”
George R.R. Martin
“
And then the years were gone, and he was back at Winterfell once more, wearing a quilted leather coat in place of mail and plate. His sword was not made of wood, and it was Robb who stood facing him, not Iron Emmett.
Every morning they had trailed together, since they were big enough to walk; Snow and Stark, spinning and slashing about the wards of Winterfell, shouting and laughing, sometimes crying when there was no one else to see. They were not little boys when they fought, but knights and mighty heroes. "I'm Prince Aemon the Dragonknight," Jon would call out, and Robb would shout back, "Well, I'm Florian the Fool." Or Robb would say, "I'm the Young Dragon," and Jon would reply, "I'm Ser Ryam Redwyne."
That morning he called it first. "I'm Lord of Winterfell!" he cried, as he had a hundred times before. Only this time, this time, Robb had answered, "You can't be Lord of Winterfell, you're bastard-born. My lady mother says you can't ever be the Lord of Winterfell.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3))
“
Even now, he was a Stark of Winterfell, and his grief and his rage froze hard inside him.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
“
Tyrion Lannister sniggered. That was when Catelyn knew he was hers. “This man came a guest into my house, and there conspired to murder my son, a boy of seven,” she proclaimed to the room at large, pointing. Ser Rodrik moved to her side, his sword in hand. “In the name of King Robert and the good lords you serve, I call upon you to seize him and help me return him to Winterfell to await the king’s justice.”
She did not know what was more satisfying: the sound of a dozen swords drawn as one or the look on Tyrion Lannister’s face.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
“
She wondered where this courage had come from, to speak to him so frankly. 'From Winterfell,' she thought. 'I am stronger within the walls of Winterfell.
”
”
George R.R. Martin
“
Sansa cried herself to sleep, Arya brooded silently all day long, and Eddard Stark dreamed of a frozen hell reserved for the Starks of Winterfell.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
“
It was different when there was a Stark in Winterfell. But the old wolf’s dead and young one’s gone south to play the game of thrones, and all that’s left us is the ghosts.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3))
“
It was all too much. For a moment Eddard Stark wanted nothing so much as to return to Winterfell, to the clean simplicity of the north, where the enemies were winter and the wildlings beyond the Wall. “Surely Robert has other loyal friends,” he protested. “His brothers, his—”
“—wife?” Varys finished, with a smile that cut. “His brothers hate the Lannisters, true enough, but hating the queen and loving the king are not quite the same thing, are they? Ser Barristan loves his honor, Grand Maester Pycelle loves his office, and Littlefinger loves Littlefinger.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
“
Her clothes were almost dry by the time she reached the gatehouse. The portcullis was down and the gates barred, so she turned aside to a postern door. The gold cloaks who had the watch sneered when she told them to let her in. “Off with you,” one said. “The kitchen scraps are gone, and we’ll have no begging after dark.”
“I’m not a beggar,” she said. “I live here.”
“I said, off with you. Do you need a clout on the ear to help your hearing?”
“I want to see my father.”
The guards exchanged a glance. “I want to fuck the queen myself, for all the good it does me,” the younger one said.
The older scowled. “Who’s this father of yours, boy, the city ratcatcher?”
“The Hand of the King,” Arya told him.
Both men laughed, but then the older one swung his fist at her, casually, as a man would swat a dog. Arya saw the blow coming even before it began. She danced back out of the way, untouched. “I’m not a boy,” she spat at them. “I’m Arya Stark of Winterfell, and if you lay a hand on me my lord father will have both your heads on spikes. If you don’t believe me, fetch Jory Cassel or Vayon Poole from the Tower of the Hand.” She put her hands on her hips. “Now are you going to open the gate, or do you need a clout on the ear to help your hearing?
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
“
One of the very striking life lessons from Game of Thrones.
When Arya was blind; hopeless and helpless. The Waif lured her into multiple stick fights and the Waif would promptly beat Arya in every sparring match.
But through those stick fight, Arya learned to cope with her blindness and how to fight “in the dark.”
After Arya had regained her sight and Jaqen had granted the Waif’s wish to kill Arya. Arya confronted the Waif in a hideout and put out the only light in the room. Arya best the Waif due to her proficiency in fighting without sight (which, ironically, was trained by the Waif). Arya killed her adversary.
ONE THING ABOUT CHALLENGES IN LIFE IS: THROUGH THEM, WE LEARN HOW TO OVERCOME THEM. Always Pay Attention!
”
”
Olaotan Fawehinmi (The Soldier Within)
“
Desmond ushered the man inside. He was stooped and ugly, with an unkempt beard and unwashed clothes, yet Father greeted him pleasantly and asked his name.
“Yoren, as it please m’lord. My pardons for the hour.” He bowed to Arya. “And this must be your son. He has your look.”
“I’m a girl,” Arya said, exasperated. If the old man was down from the Wall, he must have come by way of Winterfell. “Do you know my brothers?” she asked excitedly. “Robb and Bran are at Winterfell, and Jon’s on the Wall. Jon Snow, he’s in the Night’s Watch too, you must know him, he has a direwolf, a white one with red eyes. Is Jon a ranger yet? I’m Arya Stark.” The old man in his smelly black clothes was looking at her oddly, but Arya could not seem to stop talking. “When you ride back to the Wall, would you bring Jon a letter if I wrote one?” She wished Jon were here right now. He’d believe her about the dungeons and the fat man with the forked beard and the wizard in the steel cap.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
“
Harwin's eyes went from her face to the flayed man on her doublet. "How do you know me?" he said, frowning suspiciously. "The flayed man . . . who are you, some serving boy to Lord Leech?"
For a moment she did not know how to answer. She'd had so many names. Had she only dreamed Arya Stark? "I'm a girl," she sniffed. "I was Lord Bolton's cupbearer but he was going to leave me for the goat, so I ran off with Gendry and Hot Pie. You have to know me! You used to lead my pony, when I was little."
His eyes went wide. "Gods be good," he said in a choked voice. "Arya Underfoot? Lem, let go of her."
"She broke my nose." Lem dumped her unceremoniously to the floor. "Who in seven hells is she supposed to be?"
"The Hand's daughter." Harwin went to one knee before her. "Arya Stark, of Winterfell.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3))
“
When he thought of his daughters, he would have wept gladly, but the tears would not come. Even now, he was a Stark of Winterfell, and his grief and his rage froze hard inside him.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
“
Over their heads flapped the banner of the Starks of Winterfell: a grey direwolf racing across an ice-white field. Bran
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
“
By then Ser Gregor Clegane was in position at the head of the lists. He was huge, the biggest man that Eddard Stark had ever seen. Robert Baratheon and his brothers were all big men, as was the Hound, and back at Winterfell there was a simpleminded stableboy named Hodor who dwarfed them all, but the knight they called the Mountain That Rides would have towered over Hodor. He was well over seven feet tall, closer to eight, with massive shoulders and arms thick as the trunks of small trees. His destrier seemed a pony in between his armored legs, and the lance he carried looked as small as a broom handl
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
“
Oh, I can see that,” Catelyn said. “Lord Tully is fond of song, I hear. No doubt you’ve been to Riverrun.”
“A hundred times,” Marillion the singer said airily. “They keep a chamber for me, and the young lord is like a brother.”
Catelyn smiled, wondering what Edmure would think of that. Another singer had once bedded a girl her brother fancied; he had hated the breed ever since. “And Winterfell?” she asked him. “Have you traveled north?”
“Why would I?” Marillion asked. “It’s all blizzards and bearskins up there, and the Starks know no music but the howling of wolves.” Distantly, she was aware of the door banging open at the far end of the room.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
“
Snow, the boy is called,” Pycelle said unhelpfully. “I glimpsed him once at Winterfell,” the queen said, “though the Starks did their best to hide him. He looks very like his father.” Her husband’s by-blows had his look as well, though at least Robert had the grace to keep them out of sight.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire #4))
“
Wylla." Lord Wyman smiled. "Did you see how brave she was? Even when I threatened to have her tongue out, she reminded me of the debt White Harbor owes to the Starks of Winterfell, a debt that can never be repaid. Wylla spoke from the heart, as did Lady Leona. Forgive her if you can, my lord. She is a foolish, frightened woman, and Wylis is her life. Not every man has it in him to be Prince Aemon the Dragonknight or Symeon Star-Eyes, and not every woman can be as brave as my Wylla.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, #5))
“
Starks of Winterfell: a grey direwolf racing across an ice-white field.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
“
So those are your gifts from me, my sweet Sansa... Harry, the Eyrie,
and Winterfell. That’s worth another kiss now, don’t you think?
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, #4))
“
There must always be a Stark in Winterfell.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
“
Vermax left a clutch of eggs somewhere in the depths of Winterfell’s crypts, where the waters of the hot springs run close to the walls, while his rider treated with Cregan Stark at the start of the Dance of the Dragons. As Archmaester Gyldayn notes in his fragmentary history, there is no record that Vermax ever laid so much as a single egg, suggesting the dragon was
”
”
George R.R. Martin (The World of Ice & Fire: The Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire))
“
The Westeros of Aegon’s youth was divided into seven quarrelsome kingdoms, and there was hardly a time when two or three of these kingdoms were not at war with one another. The vast, cold, stony North was ruled by the Starks of Winterfell. In the deserts of Dorne, the Martell princes held sway. The gold-rich westerlands were ruled by the Lannisters of Casterly Rock, the fertile Reach by the Gardeners of Highgarden. The Vale, the Fingers, and the Mountains of the Moon belonged to House Arryn … but the most belligerent kings of Aegon’s time were the two whose realms lay closest to Dragonstone, Harren the Black and Argilac the Arrogant.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (The World of Ice & Fire: The Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire))
“
In the name of Robert of the House Baratheon, the First of his Name, King of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, by the word of Eddard of the House Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North, I do sentence you to die.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire, 5-Book Boxed Set: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, A Dance with Dragons (Song of Ice & Fire 1-5))
“
Living men had gone south, and cold bones would return. Ned had the truth of it, she thought. His place was at Winterfell, he said as much, but would I hear him? No. Go, I told him, you must be Robert's Hand, for the good of our House, for the sake of our children ... my doing, min, no other ...
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
“
Visenya and Rhaenys, took a special delight in arranging these matches. Through their efforts, young Ronnel Arryn, Lord of the Eyrie, took a daughter of Torrhen Stark of Winterfell to wed, whilst Loren Lannister’s eldest son, heir to Casterly Rock, married a Redwyne girl from the Arbor. When three girls, triplets, were born to the Evenstar of Tarth, Queen Rhaenys arranged betrothals for them with House Corbray, House Hightower, and House Harlaw. Queen Visenya brokered a double wedding between House Blackwood and House Bracken, rivals whose history of enmity went back centuries, matching a son of each house with a daughter of the other to seal a peace between them. And when a Rowan girl in Rhaenys’s service found herself with child by a scullion, the queen found a knight to marry her in White Harbor, and another in Lannisport who was willing to take on her bastard as a fosterling.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (Fire & Blood (A Targaryen History, #1))
“
Bran’s father sat solemnly on his horse, long brown hair stirring in the wind. His closely trimmed beard was shot with white, making him look older than his thirty-five years. He had a grim cast to his grey eyes this day, and he seemed not at all the man who would sit before the fire in the evening and talk softly of the age of heroes and the children of the forest. He had taken off Father’s face, Bran thought, and donned the face of Lord Stark of Winterfell. There
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
“
His father peeled off his gloves and handed them to Jory Cassel, the captain of his household guard. He took hold of Ice with both hands and said, “In the name of Robert of the House Baratheon, the First of his Name, King of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, by the word of Eddard of the House Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North, I do sentence you to die.” He lifted the greatsword high above his head.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
“
At your command, Your Grace.” “This is the will and word of Robert of House Baratheon, the First of his Name, King of the Andals and all the rest—put in the damn titles, you know how it goes. I do hereby command Eddard of House Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Hand of the King, to serve as Lord Regent and Protector of the Realm upon my … upon my death … to rule in my … in my stead, until my son Joffrey does come of age …” “Robert …” Joffrey is not your son, he wanted to say, but the words would not come.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
“
The Westeros of Aegon’s youth was divided into seven quarrelsome kingdoms, and there was hardly a time when two or three of these kingdoms were not at war with one another. The vast, cold, stony North was ruled by the Starks of Winterfell. In the deserts of Dorne, the Martell princes held sway. The gold-rich westerlands were ruled by the Lannisters of Casterly Rock, the fertile Reach by the Gardeners of Highgarden. The Vale, the Fingers, and the Mountains of the Moon belonged to House Arryn…but the most belligerent kings of Aegon’s time were the two whose realms lay closest to Dragonstone, Harren the Black and Argilac the Arrogant.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (Fire & Blood)
“
Samwell Tarly looked at him for a long moment, and his round face seemed to cave in on itself. He sat down on the frost-covered ground and began to cry, huge choking sobs that made his whole body shake. Jon Snow could only stand and watch. Like the snowfall on the barrowlands, it seemed the tears would never end.
It was Ghost who knew what to do. Silent as shadow, the pale direwolf moved closer and began to lick the warm tears off Samwell Tarly's face. The fat boy cried out, startled... and somehow, in a heartbeat, his sobs turned to laughter. Jon Snow laughed with him. Afterward they sat on the frozen ground, huddled in their cloaks with Ghost between them. Jon told the story of how he and Robb had found the pups newborn in the late summer snows. It seemed a thousand years ago now. Before long he found himself talking of Winterfell.
"Sometimes I dream about it," he said. "I'm walking down this long empty hall. My voice echoes all around, but no one answers, so I walk faster, opening doors, shouting names. I don't even know who I'm looking for. Most nights it's my father, but sometimes it's Robb instead, or my little sister Arya, or my uncle." The thought of Benjen Stark saddened him; his uncle was still missing. The Old Bear had sent out rangers in search of him. Ser Jaremy Rykker had led two sweeps, and Quorin Halfhand had gone forth from the Shadow Tower, but they'd found nothing aside from a few blazes in the trees that his uncle had left to mark his way. In the stony highlands to the northwest, the marks stopped abruptly and all trace of Ben Stark vanished. "Do you ever find anyone in your dream?" Sam asked. Jon shook his head. "No one. The castle is always empty." He had never told anyone of the dream, and he did not understand why he was telling Sam now, yet somehow it felt good to talk of it. "Even the ravens are gone from the rookery, and the stables are full of bones. That always scares me. I start to run then, throwing open doors, climbing the tower three steps at a time, screaming for someone, for anyone. And then I find myself in front of the door to the crypts. It's black inside, and I can see the steps spiraling down. Somehow I know I have to go down there, but I don't want to. I'm afraid of what might be waiting for me. The old Kings of Winter are down there, sitting on their thrones with stone wolves at their feet and iron swords across their laps, but it's not them I'm afraid of. I scream that I'm not a Stark, that this isn't my place, but it's no good, I have to go anyway, so I start down, feeling the walls as I descend, with no torch to light the way. It gets darker and darker, until I want to scream." He stopped, frowning, embarrassed. "That's when I always wake." His skin cold and clammy, shivering in the darkness of his cell. Ghost would leap up beside him, his warmth as comforting as daybreak. He would go back to sleep with his face pressed into the direwolf s shaggy white fur.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
“
The Karstarks traced their descent to Karlon Stark, a younger son of Winterfell who had put down a rebel lord a thousand years ago, and been granted lands for his valor. The castle he built had been named Karl’s Hold, but that soon became Karhold, and over the centuries the Karhold Starks had become Karstarks.
”
”
Anonymous
“
That night he dreamed of the feast Ned Stark had thrown when King Robert came to Winterfell. The hall rang with music and laughter, though the cold winds were rising outside. At first it was all wine and roast meat, and Theon was making japes and eyeing the serving girls and having himself a fine time … until he noticed that the room was growing darker. The music did not seem so jolly then; he heard discords and strange silences, and notes that hung in the air bleeding. Suddenly the wine turned bitter in his mouth, and when he looked up from his cup he saw that he was dining with the dead. King Robert sat with his guts spilling out on the table from the great gash in his belly, and Lord Eddard was headless beside him. Corpses lined the benches below, grey-brown flesh sloughing off their bones as they raised their cups to toast, worms crawling in and out of the holes that were their eyes. He knew them, every one; Jory Cassel and Fat Tom, Porther and Cayn and Hullen the master of horse, and all the others who had ridden south to King’s Landing never to return. Mikken and Chayle sat together, one dripping blood and the other water. Benfred Tallhart and his Wild Hares filled most of a table. The miller’s wife was there as well, and Farlen, even the wildling Theon had killed in the wolfswood the day he had saved Bran’s life. But there were others with faces he had never known in life, faces he had seen only in stone. The slim, sad girl who wore a crown of pale blue roses and a white gown spattered with gore could only be Lyanna. Her brother Brandon stood beside her, and their father Lord Rickard just behind. Along the walls figures half-seen moved through the shadows, pale shades with long grim faces. The sight of them sent fear shivering through Theon sharp as a knife. And then the tall doors opened with a crash, and a freezing gale blew down the hall, and Robb came walking out of the night. Grey Wind stalked beside, eyes burning, and man and wolf alike bled from half a hundred savage wounds.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
“
When they woke the next morning, the fire had gone out and the Liddle was gone, but he’d left a sausage for them, and a dozen oatcakes folded up neatly in a green and white cloth. Some of the cakes had pinenuts baked in them and some had blackberries. Bran ate one of each, and still did not know which sort he liked the best. One day there would be Starks in Winterfell again, he told himself, and then he'd send for the Liddles and pay them back a hundredfold for every nut and berry.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3.1))
“
The North remembers"
-King Robb Stark, The King in the North, Heir to Winterfell
”
”
George R.R. Martin (Games of Thrones: A Storm of Swords: Book Three of a Song of Ice and Fire Vol. 3c (English and Vietnamese Edition))
“
It was decided that Jace, being the older of the two, would take the longer, more dangerous task, flying first to the Eyrie to treat with the Lady of the Vale, then to White Harbor to win over Lord Manderly, and lastly to Winterfell to meet with Lord Stark.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (Fire & Blood (A Targaryen History, #1))
“
One day there would be Starks in Winterfell again, he told himself, and then he’d send for the Liddles and pay them back a hundredfold for every nut and berry.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire, 5-Book Boxed Set: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, A Dance with Dragons (Song of Ice & Fire 1-5))
“
When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die,” she whispered. Ned had played and lost, and his men had paid the price of his folly with their life’s blood. When he thought of his daughters, he would have wept gladly, but the tears would not come. Even now, he was a Stark of Winterfell, and his grief and his rage froze hard inside him.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones / A Clash of Kings / A Storm of Swords / A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire #1-4))
“
He was a Stark of Winterfell, and who can say? Mayhaps his name was Brandon. Mayhaps he slept in this very bed in this very room
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Storm of Swords 2: Blood and Gold (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3, Part 2 of 2))
“
Tyrion had only the vaguest memory of Theon Greyjoy from his time with the Starks.
A callow youth, always smiling, skilled with a bow; it was hard to imagine him as Lord
of Winterfell. The Lord of Winterfell would always be a Stark.
He remembered their godswood; the tall sentinels armored in their grey-green needles,
the great oaks, the hawthorn and ash and soldier pines, and at the center the heart tree
standing like some pale giant frozen in time. He could almost smell the place, earthy and
brooding, the smell of centuries, and he remembered how dark the wood had been even
by day. That wood was Winterfell. It was the north. I never felt so out of place as I did
when I walked there, so much an unwelcome intruder. He wondered if the Greyjoys
would feel it too. The castle might well be theirs, but never that godswood. Not in a
year, or ten, or fifty.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
“
The leading house of the North, House Stark traces its descent from the First Men in the Age of Heroes. The Family’s founder, Brandon the Builder, was among those who established the Night’s Watch in the aftermath of the Long Night, According to legend, Brandon enlisted the aid of giants and the powerful magic of the Children of the Forest to raise the Wall. He went on to build the ancestral seat of Winterfell and was crowned the first king in the North.
”
”
Bryan Cogman (Inside HBO's Game of Thrones)
“
Another singer had once bedded a girl her brother fancied; he had hated the breed ever since. “And Winterfell?” she asked him. “Have you traveled north?” “Why would I?” Marillion asked. “It’s all blizzards and bearskins up there, and the Starks know no music but the howling of wolves.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
“
Theon …did you hate us the whole time?”—Bran Stark Heir to Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Islands, Theon grew up as Ned Stark’s ward and hostage, forced to live at Winterfell after his father’s rebellion was crushed by Ned Stark many years before. Believing he can trust him, Robb Stark sends Theon back to his family to enlist their aid in the war. But Theon’s father has a different plan—the Greyjoys will go to war against the North. Torn between his own blood and the family that raised him, Theon chooses blood and betrays the Starks, eventually attacking Winterfell.
”
”
Bryan Cogman (Inside HBO's Game of Thrones)
“
Brave?" His laugh was half a snarl. "A dog doesn't need courage to chase off rats. They had me thirty to one, and not a man of them dared face me."
She hated the way he talked, always so harsh and angry. "does it give you jot to scare people?"
"No, it gives me joy to kill people." His mouth twitched. "Wrinkle your face all you like, but spare me this false piety. You were a high lord's get. Don't tell me Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell never killed a man."
"That was his duty. He never liked it."
"Is that what he told you?" Clean laughed again. "Your father lied. Killing is the sweetest thing there is.
”
”
George R.R. Martin
“
When he comes after you, we will be waiting--- his finger moved an inch to the left---- "here." '
'Here' was the hush in the night, moonlight and shadows, a thick carpet of dead leaves underfoot, densely wooded ridges sloping gently down the streambed, the underbrush thinning as the ground fell away.
Here was her son on his stallion, glancing back at her one last time and lifting his sword in salute.
Here was the call of Maege Mormont's warhorn, a long low blast that rolled down the valley from the east, to tell them that the last of Jaime's riders has entered the trap.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (冰与火之歌1:卷一 权力的游戏(上))
“
Was it possible that one of Robb Stark’s brothers had survived the ruin of Winterfell? Did Manderly have a Stark heir hidden away in his castle? A found boy or a feigned one? The north would rise for either, he suspected… but Stannis Baratheon would never make common cause with an imposter.
”
”
George R.R. Martin (A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, #5))