House Karstark

Rickard Karstark

Lord of Karhold

Life: no fixed AC year given; an old lord, head of House Karstark and father of three sons and a daughter, when the story opens
House: Karstark

His service to the King in the North ended at the King in the North's own hand, and not on any battlefield.

Rickard Karstark rode to war beside Robb Stark as one of the North's most committed bannermen, a grief-hardened old lord whose devotion to the Stark cause survived the deaths of two of his three sons in battle before it finally broke under the weight of them. Descended from a Stark cadet line generations back, House Karstark's loyalty to Winterfell runs deeper than most, which made Rickard's eventual betrayal of that loyalty — however understandable the grief behind it — all the more damaging to Robb's cause when it came. He is not a subtle man; his anger, once provoked, expresses itself directly, and the murder he commits in vengeance is carried out with the same bluntness that marked his service beforehand. A maester notes that few of the war's tragedies illustrate its costs as starkly as a loyal old lord broken by grief into an act his own king could not forgive.

The arc of Rickard Karstark

This carries the character’s road through the published novels. Read on only if you do not fear to know.

After his sons Torrhen and Eddard are killed defending Robb Stark's person in the fighting at the Whispering Wood, Rickard's grief curdles into a vengeance he takes against two young hostages held at Riverrun — Willem Lannister and Tion Frey — murdering them in their cells despite their status under Robb's protection. Robb's decision to execute Rickard himself for the crime — rather than merely imprison him — costs the King in the North the Karstark levies at the worst possible moment, a loss whose consequences ripple through the war's final, catastrophic turn.

Where the books leave Rickard Karstark: beheaded by Robb Stark's own order in 299 AC, convicted of murdering two young hostages — Willem Lannister and Tion Frey — in their cells at Riverrun as revenge for his own sons' deaths

These partings name deaths, endings, and roads not yet ridden in the books. Unveil them only if both roads are known to you — or if you do not fear to know.

SourcesACOK · CatelynASOS · CatelynTWOIAF · House Karstark

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Is Rickard Karstark alive?

No — his service to the King in the North ended at the King in the North's own hand; the chronicle treats the particulars with the gravity they deserve.

Who is Rickard Karstark?

The Lord of Karhold and head of House Karstark, a once-devoted bannerman of Robb Stark whose grief over his sons' deaths drove him to a murder that cost him his own life.