The North

The North is one of the constituent regions of Westeros and was a sovereign nation ruled by Kings in the North before Aegon's Conquest. The largest region of the Seven Kingdoms, the dominion of House Stark extends from the border of the New Gift, which is controlled by the Night's Watch, to the southern edge of the Neck far to the south.

The north has been ruled by the Starks for thousands of years from the castle known as Winterfell. Notable bannermen of the region include Cerwyn, Dustin, Flint, Glover, Hornwood, Karstark, Manderly, Mormont, Reed, Ryswell, Tallhart, and Umber. Bastards of noble origin raised in the north are given the surname Snow.

The King at the Wall
After his timely intervention at the Battle of Castle Black helped turn back Mance Rayder’s wildling army, Stannis Baratheon offered to legitimize Lord Commander Jon Snow and name him Lord of Winterfell. Jon declined, citing his vows to the Night’s Watch, and Stannis marched south toward Winterfell with his army to deal with the Boltons.

Not long thereafter, Lord Commander Snow received a letter from Ramsay Bolton claiming defeat of the Baratheon forces and detailed accounts of Ramsay’s excesses of cruelty. Jon resolves to march south with a force of volunteers to join the fight to reclaim his family’s home. This, combined with Jon’s controversial decision to allow Wildlings to pass South of the wall, lead to a conspiracy of Black Brothers attacking the Lord Commander and stabbing him repeatedly. Some say the Lord Commander was killed by his attackers and brought back from death by Stannis Baratheon’s Red Woman. Others state that he was merely gravely wounded and she merely healed him with her strange and foreign magic.

Regardless of the truth of the matter, Jon Snow presided over the execution of his attackers and declared his Watch over and his oaths fulfilled. The brothers of the Night’s Watch considered his term as Lord Commander ended and never charged him with desertion.

The Battle for Winterfell
Stannis Baratheon’s forces made camp at a small village just west of Winterfell while they planned their assault on the ancient castle. Roose Bolton was at first content to settle in for a siege and allow the winter weather to destroy the Baratheon forces, but word arrived at Winterfell of an army of Valemen approaching from the South, sent by Lord Harold Arryn at the behest of his new bride, Sansa Stark. Not wanting to be pinned between two armies, Roose made the decision to seek battle and destroy the Baratheon forces before reinforcements from the Vale could arrive.

Lord Bolton initially sent Manderly and Frey forces for an initial sally against the Southern invaders, but the Freys were deprived of their commander by a pit trap dug by Mors Umber. When the battle lines were drawn up according to the direction of the Manderly commanders, the forces of White Harbor turned cloak and attacked the Frey flank, throwing the Riverlanders into disarray. The battle quickly turned into a slaughter and the Manderly forces joined Stannis’s army. With intelligence about the Bolton forces and Winterfell’s defenses provided by the Manderlys, the Baratheon forces advanced toward Winterfell.

The battle between Stannis Baratheon and Roose Bolton initially favored the Warden of the North, but Bolton forces failed to win the quick victory they sought. The fighting had devolved into a bloody stalemate and both sides were tiring when horns from the south heralded the arrival of Vale forces. Roose Bolton shifted his lines so that the walls of Winterfell would partially screen him from a Vale cavalry charge, but the fresh troops turned the tide decisively. Ramsay Bolton turned and fled with the majority of the Bolton cavalry, while Roose Bolton was cut off and slain. The next morning saw Stark banners rise over Winterfell once more, and the heavily pregnant Walda Bolton became a prisoner of Stannis Baratheon.