Harrion Karstark

When Robb Stark calls his bannermen after the fall of Lord Eddard Stark, Harrion sets out for Winterfell with his father and his two younger brothers. He is the eldest of Rickard Karstark's sons and his heir, though at this early stage of the war he is little more than a name among the ranks of the northern host.

North of the Twins, when Robb's army splits in two, Harrion is placed under Roose Bolton's command and marches with him down the Kingsroad toward the Fords. He never reaches that crossing: during the Battle of the Green Fork he is taken captive by a hedge knight, and from then on his personal war becomes one of cells and transfers.

Tyrion Lannister offers Harrion as part of an exchange: himself and Ser Wylis Manderly for Willem Lannister, the queen's cousin, held by the North. The deal is slow to close, and Harrion spends those months confined at Harrenhal, waiting for a transfer that never comes.

Of that time only one loose image remains: a prisoner walking alone along the castle battlements, with no one to talk to about what others are deciding over his head elsewhere.

When Roose Bolton takes Harrenhal, Harrion is among the northern prisoners set free. Bolton sends him, along with Robett Glover and Ser Helman Tallhart, to take Duskendale — but the town holds out longer than expected and Harrion is taken captive again in the fighting.

Back at Karhold, meanwhile, his father's title passes to him: King Robb Stark has had Lord Rickard Karstark executed for killing Lannister prisoners, and Harrion, still unaware of it from his captivity, is already the new lord of his house.

By the time of A Feast for Crows, Harrion is still not free: he is held at Maidenpool, one more name among the northmen the war has left captive along the way.

At Karhold, Arnolf Karstark declares his loyalty to Stannis Baratheon, but the gesture hides a calculation: if word reaches Cersei Lannister on the Iron Throne, the queen might order Harrion's execution, freeing the title for Arnolf's son Cregan, who is betrothed to Alys, Harrion's sister and heir. The scheme is woven together with Roose Bolton.

The plan falls apart at Castle Black: Jon Snow, now Lord Commander, arranges instead the marriage of Alys to Sigorn, the new Magnar of Thenn, and has Cregan imprisoned. From there, Clydas sends a warning raven to Stannis, stationed at Deepwood Motte, about the treachery brewing behind his back. Cregan, convinced Harrion is already dead, cannot hide his outrage at seeing Alys marry a wildling.