Torrhen Stark

As the kingdoms of the south fell one after another to Aegon Targaryen, Torrhen gathered thirty thousand men under his command and marched south ready to fight. But when he arrived and saw Balerion circling over a camp of forty-five thousand soldiers, he changed his mind.

Before presenting himself in person, he sent three maesters and his half-brother Brandon Snow ahead to negotiate. He ended up submitting to Aegon himself at the spot where the Inn of the Kneeling Man would later stand, and handed over the crown of the Kings of Winter.

He lost his royal title, but was allowed to remain Lord of Winterfell and was also named Warden of the North. No record survives of where he was buried.

Not all of the North accepted Torrhen's surrender. A number of men and women refused to kneel to Aegon and chose exile instead, crossing the narrow sea and eventually forming what became known as the Rogue's Company.

Discontent left its mark within House Stark itself: some of Torrhen's sons talked of rising against the new king. There's no record of whether their father approved, nor any known rebellion that ever came of the talk.

When the Arryn fleet went down at Gulltown, the crown was left without the ships to hold the Three Sisters, where Queen Marla Sunderland had risen in revolt. Aegon turned to Torrhen, who sent Ser Warrick Manderly to put down the uprising.

He also lent ships to the king's cause: longships sailing out of Bear Island reinforced the Targaryen fleet when it struck the Iron Islands.

Queen Rhaenys Targaryen arranged a marriage meant to bind the realm together: Torrhen's daughter would wed Lord Ronnel Arryn, Lord of the Vale. Letters kept in the Citadel suggest Torrhen only agreed after much protest, and that his sons refused to attend the wedding.

Ronnel Arryn was killed by his own brother, Jonos Arryn, early in Aenys I's reign. Whether his wife, Torrhen's daughter, met the same fate is unknown.

On his death, Winterfell and the title of Warden of the North passed to Brandon the Boisterous, who was probably his son.