Benjen Stark

Lord Benjen Stark is the co-regnant Lord of the Dreadfort alongside his wife, Lady Alysanne Stark. He is the only son of Lord Eyron Stark of and Lady Evelyne Stark, née Mormont.

Apperance and Character
Benjen is a strongly built and lean. Shades of green are hinted throughout his stormy grey eyes, and a head of long, messy black hair sits on his head.

His regular clothing consists mostly of plain brown leather and wolf’s fur.

Due to his father’s absence during half of his life, Benjen is fiercely independent. Emotionally, he is rather withdrawn, trusting few with his true emotions.

While growing up, Benjen developed a very strong sense of honor, choosing for himself what he determined to be right or wrong. Among his foremost principles is that family comes first. He holds the belief that anybody who would betray their own family is a craven and a coward.

One of Benjen's defining characteristics is his stubbornness and refusal to yield in a challenge. He will often hold grudges and will hold on to them for a while.

Early Life
Born in the 1st Moon of 393 AC to Eyron Stark and Evelyne Stark. The War of the Three Thieves was only just starting when he was three years of age. For the years following the beginning of the war, 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 nine 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 two 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 thirteen, 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 three years that Benjen formed a sort of fatherly-son relationship with Maester Kermit, who gave him advice and his opinion when Benjen requested it. Kermit did his best to ensure that Benjen would grow to be a strong man, and Kermit 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 Kermit 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. Five 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 Kermit 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 lord father to Winterfell during the gathering of the northern Lords. Here, his uncle is forced to take the black and his father is beheaded for conspiring to kill Cregard Stark, leaving Benjen the Lord of the Dreadfort. He is ordered to remain as a ward in Winterfell until his sixteenth nameday, and Ellard Cassel is named the Regent of the Dreadfort until Benjen's eighteenth nameday.

Imprisoned without walls
The years in winterfell were long and difficult, not only had Benjen lost his father, he was also forced to live as the ward of the man who had killed him in cold blood. While there he distanced himself from those around him as much as he could, having little interaction with anyone apart from when absolutely necessary. The only person he frequently spoke with was the master at arms with whom Benjen trained to become more proficient in combat.

Benjen’s only reprieve during these years was Eon’s attempt at easing the strain between his father and Benjen yet it was without result. Although Eon had admitted to disagreeing with his father’s decision to behead Eyron, he had not spoken out against it and even while Benjen knew it would not have made a difference he could not help but hold it against him.

Homeward bound
Two years had passed before Benjen returned home as Lord of the Dreadfort to rule his holdings. His ‘rule’ under Ellard’s regency was relatively quiet and mostly a time for learning. While he was allowed to take part in whatever decisions had to be made, he was never allowed final say. The two years the men spent together were not the worst, but Benjen still felt as if he were a prisoner in his own home.

Even with these sentiments in place, Benjen took all of Ellard’s teachings to heart and has slowly grown into a strong leader. Both on martial and administrative grounds. Although Benjen and Ellard never grew fond of each other they did grow into a general state of acceptance, they were stuck with one another for the time being and simply had to live with that fact.

Freedom
Benjen turned eight and ten and Ellard left, leaving Benjen with his mother and uncles. The fortress seemed empty but a light shone brightly on the horizon. It wasn’t long until he and Donella got married and he had never been happier. Nothing about him had changed intrinsically but he finally had someone to live for, someone to make proud. He finally ruled the Dreadfort on his own, but even though there was nobody to watch him present, all the eyes of the Northern Lords were still watching him. To Benjen it seemed as if everyone laid in wait of him moving against Jon, but he never did. He more than resented the man, but he was far past the point of wanting revenge. He had a family now, he had found happiness again.

Years passed in relative quiet once more, until finally the news arrived of Donella’s pregnancy. While the news would usually bring joy, Benjen’s mind already ground it’s gears thinking about the challenges to come as the North faced challenges yet again with not only a King beyond the Wall at their doorstep but another winter as well.

Recent Events
With a child on the way a pair of ravens arrived, one black one white. A feast and winter have been announced, the two almost feeling contradictory. Benjen journeyed south nonetheless, leaving his mother to care for his pregnant wife and rule the holdings.

Family
Family Tree