Rickard Karstark rode to war beside Robb Stark as one of the North's most committed bannermen, an old lord whose three sons all took up arms at his side in the fighting. Descended from a Stark cadet line generations back, House Karstark's loyalty to Winterfell runs deeper than most, and Rickard's own devotion to the Stark cause is, through the war's early turns, among the least hedged of any lord's in Robb's host. He is not a subtle man; his anger, once provoked, expresses itself directly rather than through any courtly indirection. A maester notes that few bannermen wear their loyalties as plainly, or as fiercely, as the Lord of Karhold.
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
- Titles
- Lord of Karhold
- Seat
- Karhold
- Religion
- The Old Gods of the Forest
- Notable for
- A once-devoted Stark bannerman and head of House Karstark, a Stark cadet line whose loyalty to Winterfell runs deeper than most
What ultimately became of Rickard Karstark during the war's final turns is a matter this chronicle treats with particular care.
Where they appear
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.
Key events
- no fixed yearBorn heir to House Karstark, a house descended from a Stark cadet line generations back
- 298 ACRides to war beside Robb Stark as one of the North's most committed bannermen
- 298 ACLoses his sons Torrhen and Eddard, killed defending Robb Stark's person at the Whispering Wood
- 299 ACHis grief curdles into vengeance, and he murders the young hostages Willem Lannister and Tion Frey in their cells at Riverrun
- 299 ACIs beheaded on Robb Stark's own order for the killings, despite decades of loyal service
- 299 ACHis execution costs Robb the Karstark levies at the worst possible moment in the war
Reading the character
Rickard Karstark's arc compresses the War of the Five Kings' human cost into a single bannerman's story: a lord whose loyalty to House Stark runs as deep as any in the North, with three sons fighting at his side in a war that asks a great deal of every house that answers Robb's call. His devotion to the Stark cause, and the toll the war exacts on even its most loyal houses, gives the conflict one of its clearest human faces.
The strain that grief places on Rickard's own judgment, and the question of what a war can still ask of men already pushed past their limits, is a thread this chronicle treats with the gravity it deserves rather than resolve in the open.
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.
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
Explore further
House
Is Rickard Karstark alive?
What ultimately became of Rickard Karstark during the war's final turns is a matter this chronicle treats with particular care.
Who is Rickard Karstark?
The Lord of Karhold and head of House Karstark, a once-devoted bannerman of Robb Stark descended from a Stark cadet line generations back.