House Karstark of Karhold

A thousand years ago, by the house's own account, a son who was not the firstborn of the King in the North defeated a lord who had risen against Winterfell. For that victory he was granted lands of his own, and on them he raised a castle then known as Karl's Hold.

Over the generations the name of those lords, first Stark of Karhold, wore down into Karstark, and the castle came to be known simply as Karhold. The house never stopped remembering that origin: they hold themselves distant cousins of the lords of Winterfell, not mere subjects.

The Karstarks had already proven their loyalty to Winterfell before: when the North joined the rebellion that put Robert Baratheon on the throne, they marched to war alongside Eddard Stark. That same loyalty is what Eddard's son calls on years later.

When Robb Stark summons his bannermen, Lord Rickard Karstark answers with his three sons and a host of five hundred men, three hundred mounted and two hundred on foot. It is one of the largest levies to answer the call, placing the Karstarks among the pillars of the army Robb leads south.

Lord Rickard remains one of Robb Stark's principal supporters, accompanying him on the campaign that carries the war into the Lannisters' own lands.

Meanwhile, back in the North, Theon Greyjoy spots Karstark banners among the troops Ser Rodrik Cassel gathers to drive the ironborn out of Winterfell. The attempt fails: Ramsay of the Dreadfort pretends to join those forces and then betrays them by surprise.

When Catelyn Tully frees Jaime Lannister without her son's consent, an outraged Lord Rickard withdraws all his troops from Riverrun and offers his daughter Alys's hand to whoever brings him the Kingslayer's head.

That same night he enters the cells at Riverrun and kills the squires Willem Lannister and Tion Frey, held prisoner since the battle of the Whispering Wood. Robb Stark tries him for it and sentences him to death, swinging the sword himself. Lord Rickard dies saying he had no king.

The execution costs Robb dearly: the Karstark cavalry abandons the army and returns to Karhold, leaving only the foot soldiers, now under Lord Roose Bolton's command. Those are the men who survive the battle of Duskendale and march with Bolton to the Twins, still at his side when the Red Wedding is carried out.

Months after the Red Wedding, Brienne of Tarth finds a Karstark token at Duskendale among the belongings gathered from the bodies left around that battle. It is no more than a trace, but enough to recall how much the house has already paid for following the Starks.

The material says nothing of what became of those arms or who carried them, only that they were there, mixed in with those of other dead, far from any banner still worth flying.

With Karhold left in his castellan's hands, Arnolf Karstark declares the castle for Stannis Baratheon. It is no act of loyalty: he hopes word of it will reach the Iron Throne and hasten the execution of Harrion Karstark, held prisoner at Maidenpool, so that the inheritance passes to his sister Alys, whom he plans to marry off to his own son Cregan.

Alys uncovers the plan and flees to Castle Black to escape that marriage, and there tells Jon Snow everything. Instead of marrying Cregan, she marries Sigorn, the Magnar of Thenn, and Jon warns Stannis of the treason being brewed in his name.

Sigorn sets out for Karhold at the head of two hundred men, and Lady Alys trusts that the castle's gates will open for her.