Theon Stark

Theon Stark is the firstborn son and child to come from the union of his mother, Lady Alysanne Stark of the Dreadfort, and his detached father, the late Lord Jon of the North. He is the first of six children to be born from their union, and their only son to have successfully made it to adulthood without being forced to forsake their family name or taken by the Gods.

Born many years after his three elder half-siblings, when they were long passed adults grown, Theon, while very much a Stark of Winterfell, was also a Stark of the Dreadfort. Such was a separation that for all the benefits of inheritance, only compounded upon their difference in age, as well as that of the other Starks of Winterfell.

His unique place in Northern society saw him often moving between the two Castles, with him coming to name them both 'home'. It was this lack of a proper and constant home that saw him develop a personal inward identity as 'the Wolf of Two Coats'.

Appearance and Character
Theon has always been a lean individual, even as a child, and so, has never taken to fat or anything of the like. From birth possssed the hallmarks of his mother, those being, brown hair and grey eyes, unakin his late father's black hair and brown eyes. Resting atop his head is a mess of short brown hair, with a long and lean Stark visage resting beneath. Further so, while Theon is a lean youth, he has never suffered from an inability to put on muscle unlike some with a lean build. While being no true image of gigantism, Theon does posses the figure that would be expected of one who so actively trains with sword, bow, axe, and mace.

While known as quite the archer to those within both Winterfell and the Dreadfort, he is more commonly known by a simple fact of his existence; his scar. A most notable fixture of his visage, the scar starts just above his left eye and cuts down just into the top of his cheek, where it meets in an upside down T-shape with its other half.

The scar is a divisive reality for Theon. At times, he readily embraces it, and thinks himself quite the handsome Lord-in-waiting when he gazes upon his reflection, seeing as a compliment to his looks and a statement of his martial prowess, as after all, do not all the greatest warriors and men have some scars. Yet, in contrast, Theon can also be incredibly sensitive over it, known to have quite thoroughly grown to rage on a few occasions for japes and laughter made at his expense.

Yet, to those select parties within the Dreadfort, it is known that despite his martial prowess, the heir does also have an inclination toward the methods and means of interrogation and torture. Theon's interest in such a pasttime is not that affliction of so many of the Dreadfort come before him, for by nature he is not actively cruel and malicious, simply somewhat different. Such is an interest Theon has actively engaged in since his permanent return to the Dreadfort after his father's passing in 434 A.C.

While Theon does certainly have a set of more merciless tendencies, he is by no means an outwardly repugnant individual. Having been raised closely by his mother, especiially after they both dearly felt the loss of his younger brother, Cregard, to the Wall, he is well aware of how to present himself in public and within the upper eschelons of society, even if they are at times few and far between this far North.

For Theon, while there will always exist laws of the land, as well as those made official law by his betters, he does at time take an arbitrary approach to them, seeing what he refers to as 'the Lord's decision' taking paramount importance. While no incidents have been reported, there is indeed a select circle of individuals who know of what exactly does occur at times.

Further building on Theon's feelings of freedom is that of his status as unwed. While he has always been aware that marriage is an impending part of his life, he has never let that stop him before. The heir to the Dreadfort has been known within the walls of Winterfell and the Dreadfort to have had a few bedwarmers so far.

Never having grown to enjoy duels and spars, Theon possesses a different martial make. Where others prefer to fight with rules and honour, Theon moves forth in the most proficient and effective manner available to him. Yet, for all his indifference toward duels, the scar on his face that he is at times so sensitive about speaks to a fate he did not choose.

419 - 424 A.C. The Pup of Two Coats
Theon Stark was born worlds apart from his elder half-siblings and most of his kin. Where Dacey and Edderion were Starks of Winterfell, Theon was the heir to the Dreadfort, and seen as having no chance at Winterfell, and within his mind, even proper place within its walls. Even as a babe, and a toddler, Theon's father proved distant at best, and a mere name and title at worst. This distance only further served to leave Theon under his mother's over-bearing and constant care as a youth, spending nigh all his time with her and his younger brother, Cregard, and later, Sybelle as well.

Yet despite the burgeoning relationship between Theon and Sybelle, in 424 A.C., another child was due to be born to their parents. The girl was born dead, stillborn, nothing but a corpse to bury. The divide between their parents afterward was clear as the summer skies, leaving their mother to retire to the Dreadfort more frequently and for longer stretches of time in the coming years.

For the pup of Winterfell, and the Dreadfort, these years were a peace he would never again know, for they were a peace of innocence. It was a peace that would soon be lost with the coming of the Blue Winter and its harsh judgement.

425 - 428 A.C. The Snows Come in Earnest
The North was prepared. It always was. Theon's father, for all the distance he had placed between them, had indeed readied the North for the times ahead. The winter was harsh, none could doubt that, and the realm did greatly suffer under its tidings, but the Starks of Winterfell, and the Starks of the Dreadfort, would do as they had always done. They gathered the harvest, filled their food stores to the limit, closed their doors to the cold, and simply, as they had done hundreds, if not thousands of times over, waited. Yet, in 427 A.C., the Black Draft came a-knocking. Their benevolent and just Lord Paramount called for all the second sons of the North to be sent to the Wall and join the Night's Watch, not for any crime other than that of being secondborn. And so, Theon was forced to say goodbye to his younger brother and close playmate, Cregard Stark, a boy of only seven years. The tearing of his brother from his life would prove to be something Theon would never forget and never leave in the past, resolutely holding that action against his father to his death and beyond.

By the Gods, that was not to be the end of the taking of Stark sons. For in that same year, Theon's eldest half-brother, Ellard, passed from this world. Strikingly, as Theon found himself at as half-brother's funeral, he was without sadness for the loss, a loss felt by the entire North but him. Had it been the distance between them? Their status as half-siblings? Their rare encounters? Their few commonalities? Gods knew. Soon enough the lad was in the crypts, and gone from mind and thought.

Without Cregard, Theon felt ever more alone within Winterfell, for while he could play with the other children, both they and he always knew he was truly of the Dreadfort. Truly not one of them. In Theon's eye, even the smith's son, the kennelmaster's son, and the cook's son, were more of Winterfell and aprize of their own father's eye than he would ever be to his father.

Gradually, as the winter proved a long one, and Sybelle grew ever older, Theon began spending increasing amounts of time with her, albeit the age gap of a few years. While Sybelle was but a babe to Theon, she was his kin, his true kin, and no matter how much shorter, how much less proficient at walking and talking, and no matter that was she no Cregard, Theon loved her dearly.

Four years they waited. By the time winter ended, Theon was nine years grown, and while through these past years he and his sister had bonded closely, he would never come to consider hs sister a fair trade for the brother he lost. Alas, these were never feelings or thoughts that the great Jon Stark would come to see or hear, for he never had time for his thirdborn son, the pup of the second litter, or any of those pups born with the Dread Wolf. So on the rare occasion when Jon's gaze did fall upon Theon, he smiled, as his mother had taught him, bowed his head, and uttered the words, "My Lord father". Jon always seemed most pleased, for the handful of seconds he gave Theon.

429 - 433 A.C. Beginnings of Youth
With the Blue Winter finally abated, the North came alive once more. Theon's trips between Winterfell and the Dreadfort gradually become ever more frequent, with his mother began to expect more and more of him, after all, with the loss of his younger brother, he was but one of two sons of Alysanne Stark, with the younger of the two, his recently born brother, Torrhen Stark, being but the youngest of youths. It was oft that Theon saw the strain of motherhood upon his mother, after all, before his own birth she had lost a son, her first son. A babe named Beron, had the whispers told him, with her first husband, the once co-ruler of the Dreadfort, Benjen Stark.

However this would not by any means serve to stop Theon from enjoying his days for the most part. Both Winterfell and the Dreadfort were plenty when it came to riding, sparring with other lads his age, practicing the bow, and the joys of being a highest of lordlings. The North had always been its own country, even while the Targaryens and Baratheons had in truth ruled them, the North had been of its own make, of its own rulership. And while the land of Theon's forefathers had for a time been stolen away by the Boltons, albeit for the shortest of times, they were in truth, Theon's forefathers as well.

It was during this years that Theon did find himself growing closer and closer with the bow, finding to have in it a true passion. And as the years did pass, such a passion grew into tangible skill. Yet, that would not be all the skill Theon would find himself possessing of, for soon enough he also found such in the art of combat from the shadows. With dagger in hand, and footsteps as silent as the dead of the night itself, Theon was less than even a shadow on the wall, less than a mere reflection, he was as a direwolf of grey, while of blackest fur as well, and of lightest paw, yet the heaviest strike, he was, the Wolf of Two Coats.

And as the years passed evermore, Theon also found himself to possess a true understanding of war and its ongoings, of how the great conquests had been so successful, in more detail than just 'dragons'. He learnt of great past battles and wars alike, all the way from the invasions of the Andals, to the Battle of Winterfell, which saw the Stark dyansty re-established within the North and once more occupying its rightful seat, as well as that of the Dreadfort soon enough, ending the male Bolton line for all times.

Yet the true fun for one of the most powerful and prominent lordlings of the North was only to begin to make itself known to Theon in 433 A.C. Come this time, he was of an age where siblings had increasingly become less than enough for travel between the Castles and direct lands of his individual parents, and so, soon enough, a band of lads of similar ages joined Theon in his regular procession. The boys were a mixture of men-to-be, one was a petty noble by the name of Whitehill, another a stablemaster's son, the third a boy of his mother's household, whose father served diligently in one capacity or another, and at least another four lads.

Now with a motley retinue of his own, Theon did become ever the independent young lad, ever the troublesome one too. From girls, who he found he liked very much, to the causing of grief for the local peasantry every so often, to the hunts they went on with minimal servants and guards, this son of the North enjoyed it all. Undoubtedly, it went to his head, as it does for so many noble children. Not to mention, Theon was no ordinary noble child. Born of the Warden of the North, the Lord of Winterfell, and the Lady of the Dreadfort, the latter of the two to whom he was heir, he was in a unique position, while he would not inherit Winterfell and the North, he would so come into land and title of his own, and still retain the prestigious position owed to him by virtue of his father.

Recent Events
438 A.C.
 * Theon travels with his mother, Lady Alysanne Stark, and his notably older niece and liege, Lady Berena Stark, to Fairmarket, to see his niece, Gilliane Stark wed to Lord Androw Tully.
 * Within the Dreadfort there have been whispers of a possible match for Theon himself.

The Lineage of both House Stark of Winterfell, and House Stark of the Dreadfort.

 * Jon Stark, b. 371 A.C. d. 434 A.C.
 * m. Sarra Mormont, b. 375 A.C. d. 404 A.C.
 * Eon Stark, b. 389 A.C. d. 419 A.C.
 * m. Alys Arryn, b. 390 A.C.
 * Berena Stark, b. 411 A.C.
 * m. Domeric Umber, b. 406 A.C.
 * Artos Stark, b. 430 A.C.
 * Alaric Stark, b. 430 A.C.
 * Eddara Stark, b. 436 A.C.
 * Ellard Stark, b. 414 A.C. d. 427 A.C.
 * Rodwell Stark, b. 416 A.C. d. 418 A.C.
 * Jocelyn Stark, b. 417 A.C.
 * m. Jareth Manderly, b. 402 A.C.
 * House Manderly
 * Dacey Stark, b. 391 A.C.
 * m. Damion Blackwood, b. 388 A.C. d. 426 A.C.
 * Lucas Blackwood, b. 411 A.C. d. 426 A.C.
 * Sybelle Blackwood, b. 414 A.C. d. 426 A.C.
 * m. Lord Glover
 * House Glover
 * Edderion Stark, b. 403 A.C.
 * m. Arya Tallhart, b. 402 A.C. d. 421 A.C.
 * Arsa Stark, b. 418 A.C.
 * m. Lord Wull
 * House Wull
 * Mariah Stark, b. 419 A.C.
 * m. Dustin Heir
 * House Dustin
 * Gilliane Stark, b. 421 A.C.
 * m. Meera Hornwood, b. 405 A.C.
 * Lyra Stark, b. 423 A.C.
 * Jojen Stark, b. 425 A.C.
 * m. Alysanne Stark, b. 391 A.C.
 * Theon Stark, b. 419 A.C.
 * Cregard Stark, b. 420 A.C.
 * Sybelle Stark, b. 422 A.C.
 * Wynafryd Stark, b. 424 A.C. d. 424 A.C.
 * Torrhen Stark, b. 427 A.C. d. 436 A.C.
 * Serena Stark, b. 428 A.C.