Benjen Stark

Benjen Stark is the only son of Lord Eyron Stark of the Dreadfort and Lady Evelyne Stark née Mormont and the current Heir to the Dreadfort. With his House having been through tragedy in recent years which Benjen witnessed first hand, he has become a resilient and honorable young man.

With his father leaving into a self-imposed exile when Benjen was only six, Benjen has spent half his life without his father being around and as such he has learned to become independent. The majority of his current skills he taught himself.

With his father's recent return and the tribulations that had fallen on their house since then, Benjen hopes that the future of his family is free of troubles.

Apperance and Character
Standing tall, Benjen is a strongly built yet lean 14 year old. Shades of green are hinted throughout his stormy grey eyes, and a head of short yet messy raven black hair sits on his head. Tall for his age, Benjen stands out among his peers, known as strong and swift.

Benjen dresses mostly in simple clothing but adapts depending on the occasion. His regular clothing consists mostly of plain brown leather and a fur of some sort, usually that of a wolf to represent himself as a Stark.

Due to his father not being around for half of his life, Benjen has learnt to become independent and how to rely on himself. He had taught himself how to fight and the intricacies of commanding men. Emotionally he is rather withdrawn, trusting few with his true emotions and to most he is entirely closed off.

While growing up, Benjen developed a very strong sense of honor, choosing for himself what he determined to be right or wrong. For himself the number one principle of honor was that family came first. He held the belief that anybody who would betray their family is a coward. After seeing his House go through difficult times, he realized the importance of family.

One of Benjen's defining characteristics was his stubbornness and refusal to give up on a challenge. He will often hold grudges and will hold on to them tightly for a long time.

Overall Benjen is quiet, thoughtful and brooding. He keeps a serious demeanor most of the time, feeling as though he didn't have appropriate time to grow up. Despite his constant serious mood though, he does truly care a lot for his family, and places them above all else first.

Early Life
Born in the 1st Moon of 396 AC to Eyron Stark and Evelyne Stark as the War of the Three Thieves was just beginning. For the years following his birth, his father was the acting Lord of the Dreadfort while Benjen's grandfather and uncle were out leading their host. During this time, his father was an ineffective lord, not a just one and it was clear that he wasn't ready for the task set upon him.

Benjen didn't have much of a relationship with his father to start with, having much more interaction with his mother throughout his early childhood. He was, as is usual with noble children, provided with a thorough education by the Maester of the Dreadfort, Maril. His childhood wasn't filled with fun like the childhoods of many others. Even as a young boy, Benjen tended to brood and he was known to be quiet and thoughtful.

As the War of Three Thieves ended, Benjen's grandfather and uncle were just a few of the many casualties the war had brought. Although Benjen was only six years old at the time, he still felt the pain that rest of the house did. His father, now the Lord of the Dreadfort, soon realized the mistakes he had made during his short reign. Out of shame and feelings of disgrace, he renounced his title as Lord, passing it on to his brother Torrhen and left the Dreadfort in a self-imposed exile.

The Scarlet Winter
With his father now gone, Benjen was left confused and sad. Benjen didn't understand why his father left and over time, would grow to resent his father for disappearing without a word to his family about it. Not having a fatherly figure present is what drove Benjen to learning matters by himself, such as sword fighting and the commanding of men. He would train by himself for hours on end each day fighting with swords and he would often stay awake into the deepest hours of the night studying battle formations and reading about historical battles. He mostly took his education by Maester Maril onto himself, able to learn much better that way.

Benjen talked to few, even in his own family, with the exception of his mother. With the Scarlet Winter hitting as hard as it did, fear spread throughout the realm. The Dreadfort's food reserves were empty and the peasants grew restless. Benjen's uncle Edwyn went to invade Skagos, where it was rumored there was food stockpiled, but he returned empty-handed, having fought a pointless fight. Skagos had been starving just as much as the rest of the North was.

Hunts became longer and returning back from a hunt without anything was never an option. Towards the end of the cruel winter, Benjen remembered seeing his cousin, Eddard, being rushed back to the Dreadfort after a hunt. He could distinctly remember the screams of his frostbit cousin, screams that still rung through his ears long past his death. His cousin's death, combined with the other tragedies the winter brought, quickly turned Benjen into a brooding and melancholic young man, similar to his father.

As the Scarlet Winter finally ended, the Dreadfort was left in the wake of tragedy. A winter filled with starvation and cold had caused many casualties everywhere and Benjen saw them first hand. The only thing left to do was rebuild what House Stark of the Dreadfort had lost.

The Grey Years
During the five years that followed the Scarlet Winter, Benjen further worked on improving his swordplay and he would study long into the night nearly every night. When he was twelve, he went on his first hunt. Although the only game he got was a rabbit, it was this hunt that truly made Benjen interested in hunting and he begged to go out on future hunts.

It was also during these five years that Benjen formed a sort of fatherly-son relationship with Maester Maril, who gave him advice and his opinion when Benjen requested it. Maril did his best to ensure that Benjen would grow to be a strong man, and Maril was one of the few people that Benjen trusted with his inner feelings.

When he was thirteen, Benjen fell gravely ill and was hardly able to even move. His bones and muscles ached for weeks on end and he had a horrible cough. Maester Maril was left dumbfounded and the only thing he could do was give Benjen milk of the poppy. It was only after six weeks that the illness cleared, and Benjen had made a full recovery. This experience shook Benjen, as there was a point where he honestly thought he was going to die.

Return of the Exiled
Benjen was one of the first to hear the news of his father's sudden return, yet he wanted nothing to do with him. Years of brewing resentment had surfaced once more, and Benjen refused to talk to his father for a week after his return. Finally, after much talk with Maester Maril and his mother, he finally held a conversation with Eyron. It was clear that years of no contact had left their relationship incredibly strained, and that there was much work to be done.

While the majority of his family traveled to the Tourney of Harrenhal, Benjen elected to stay home. Tragedy struck at the house though when Torrhen passed before arriving back home, making Benjen's cousin, Cregard, Lord of the Dreadfort. Cregard's rule was a short one though and he died at the hands of Benjen's uncle, Jakob Mormont, after attempting to remove him from his lands by force. Cregard's last command as Lord was to make Eyron Lord of the Dreadfort.

With his father once more Lord of the Dreadfort, Benjen was designated as the Heir to the Dreadfort. Though Benjen still held resentment towards his father for his self-imposed exile, deep down he did want to reconcile with him, he just wasn't sure how to. After so long apart, Benjen really didn't know his own father.

With the realm headed towards war, Benjen accompanied his father to Winterfell after being summoned by Lord Jon Stark.

Family
Family Tree