Back then, they were the bane of the North. Starks fought the wildlings and their Kings-Beyond-the-Wall beside the Umbers of Last Hearth, thus earning their fealty.Д«oltons. His family then grew up into the Karstarks. A Stark granted a keep and land to a younger son, Karlon, in return for putting down a rebellion. Not in gold and silver like their southern counterparts, but in fish and grain and trade.ДЄs for the other great Northern houses, the Starks brought them into the fold during the Age of Heroes.ДЄ Stark wrestled an ironborn for Bear Island and gave it to the Mormonts. Now White Harbor is the richest city of the North, and the Manderlys the richest family. Generations ago, the Manderlys were driven from the Reach, but the Starks gave them their land in return for fealty.

White Harbor, the closest thing to a southern city we have governed by the closest thing to a southern family we have. Where House Reed holds the gate to the North, House Manderly holds the port. Ancient and dark, they swear by earth and water, by bronze and iron, and by ice and fire. I heard their oath of fealty once as a child. Small, shy people who rarely leave those swamps and who follow House Reed, the gatekeepers of the North, and among the most important and loyal bannermen of House Stark.ДЄlso a bit strange. And if the swamps don't deter you, the crannogmen should. The swamps of the Neck are as good as the Wall for keeping out unwelcome armies. If that's true, every Northman owes them a debt of gratitude. Legend has it that the Children of the Forest flooded it in their war against the First Men. Our lands stretches from the Wall down to the Neck, a narrow land that divides it from the rest of Westeros. But where their name rules over the North, mine is the North. Growing up, Lady Catelyn made sure I knew I wasn't a Stark, no matter how much blood I shared with her trueborn children. Mine was once Winterfell, the ancient seat of my father's family, House Stark, who have ruled the North since the First Men and were once the Kings of Winter. Let the south have its sun, flowers, and affectations, we Northerners have home.

Without the rain, a man can't appreciate the roof over his head. Cold and damp, that's how the southerners see the North.Д«ut without the cold, a man can't appreciate the fire in his hearth. The North is by far the largest of the Seven Kingdoms and can fit the other six inside it. Jon Snow: As a boy, looking out from my father's castle, I thought the sun could never set on the North. Jon Snow reflects on the history and legends of the North, as well as its great houses and their keeps.

Kingdom of the nords