Benjen Stark

Benjen travelled to Harrenhal with his siblings for the great tourney called by Lord Whent. There his sister Lyanna freed Howland Reed from a band of squires harassing him, and it was Benjen who gave Reed a mount and weapons to stand up to them.

At the feast he teased Lyanna when she wept on hearing a song composed by Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. Among the guests was also a sworn brother of the Night's Watch working to win recruits for his order, and his words struck Benjen more deeply than anyone expected.

While Westeros bled through Robert's Rebellion, Benjen stayed behind at Winterfell. He fought in none of the war's battles; shortly after it ended he chose, for reasons no source explains, to take the black.

He said his vows before a weirwood that stands roughly half a league from Castle Black, well within the Haunted Forest. In time he proved an exceptional ranger, rising to become First Ranger of the Watch.

As First Ranger, Benjen knows the land north of the Wall better than almost any other brother of the Watch. Mance Rayder, who has lived among the wildlings and come to lead them, names him his greatest nightmare.

He is quiet and watchful, and shares his brother Eddard's distrust of House Lannister; among his few known tastes is a fondness for summerwine.

Word that the king rides for the North reaches Winterfell, and Eddard Stark sends for Benjen at the Wall. Benjen comes to the castle for the feast the Starks hold in Robert Baratheon's honour, and there Jon Snow begs to be allowed to take the black. Benjen tells him to wait a few more years, until he is certain, but the boy will not let it go.

He ends up speaking with Maester Luwin about Jon's request, which leads Luwin to inform Eddard, who eventually gives his consent. Benjen also takes part in a boar hunt near the castle.

Tyrion Lannister joins the party riding back to the Wall to see the scale of it for himself. Already caught up in his duties as First Ranger, Benjen has little time for his nephew; he explains that, once the vows are sworn, a brother of the Watch gives up his own kin and the ties he had before.

Lord Commander Jeor Mormont sends Benjen at the head of a party to find Ser Waymar Royce, who has not returned from a ranging beyond the Wall. Benjen does not come back either.

Among the men of the Watch, speculation about his fate runs wild. His disappearance is one of the reasons that push Mormont to lead the Great Ranging beyond the Wall himself.