House Westerling

House Westerling is a vassal house that holds fealty to House Lannister of Casterly Rock. Their lands are north-east of Casterly Rock on the shores of the Sunset Sea.

House Westerling is an old house that traces its descent back to the First Men and at one time was very powerful, giving brides to the Kings of the Rock before the Targaryen conquest. However, they have fallen on hard times and are now poor, but still proud.

Behind the scenes
The Westerling family was originally intended to appear in Season 2, but during pre-production rewrites, Robb Stark's romantic interest began to get an increasingly different backstory than in the novels. George R.R. Martin himself suggested the name away from Westerling to accommodate the changes from his source novels.

In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, House Westerling is said to have more pride than power. Tywin Lannister blames their descent in fortunes on their ill-advised marriage with House Spicer, a young house co-founded by a spice merchant and his wife, a "maegi" of the east. Lord Gawen proposed that his daughter marry one of Ser Kevan Lannister's sons, but Tywin rejected the match due to their mixing with a lesser house.

Robb Stark was wounded during the capture of the Crag. While he was lying injured, he received news about the alleged death of Bran and Rickon. This left him emotionally broken. Jeyne, who was tending his injuries, comforted him in bed. Being honorable like his father, the next morning Robb married Jeyne. By this he has broken the pact with the Freys and made them switch sides.

Unlike Robb and Talisa's marriage in the TV series, Robb's marriage to Jeyne takes place off-screen without Catelyn's knowledge. Only in A Storm of Swords, when Robb returns to Riverrun with his bride, Catelyn is informed about his marriage. The Freys leave angrily when they are told. Catelyn welcomes Jeyne warmly, but when she and Robb are alone, she chides him for breaking the pact with the Freys and warns him of the consequences. Robb regretfully admits that he has committed a mistake, but the damage could not be undone: although Robb and Catelyn do their best to appease Lord Walder Frey, the Red Wedding is performed.

Jeyne, unlike Talisa, is left at Riverrun with Blackfish. Catelyn insists that she must not come with them to the Twins, lest her presence will offend Lord Frey. Thus Jeyne's life is saved.

The books reveal that Sybell Spicer collaborated with Tywin Lannister to make Robb Stark marry her daughter Jeyne, thus offending the Freys and providing them a "legitimate" excuse to perform the Red Wedding. She also made sure that her daughter would not get pregnant (presumably by using contraceptive like Moon tea). It is unclear how far Jeyne herself was involved in the conspiracy: whether she collaborated willingly, or was forced by her mother, or acted innocently all the way. However, she openly mourned Robb's death (but that could be a pretense).

Jeyne's brother Raynald was not part of the conspiracy. He was genuinely loyal to Robb Stark. During the Red Wedding, he attempted to protect Grey Wind from the Freys. He managed to free the direwolf from his chains, but that cost his life: he was hit by several arrows and fell into the river. His body was never found, but it is very unlikely he survived.

The Westerlings were well rewarded for assisting to bring the Starks down: they received a pardon for their feigned alliance with the Starks; Rolph, Sybell's brother, has been made Lord of Castamere; Tywin promised worthy marriages for Jeyne and Elenya, either lords or heirs (though Jeyne was ordered to avoid marriage for at least two years, as any children she might have in that time could be mistaken for Robb's); Rollam would wed Joy Hill, the bastard daughter of Gerion Lannister, when she is old enough.

The physical description of Jeyne in "A Feast for Crows" is slightly different than her description when she is first introduced in "A Storm of Swords", most notably the shape of her hips. This difference led to fan theory that perhaps Jeyne is pregnant with Robb's child despite what her mother claimed, and maybe she has escaped with Blackfish. However, Talisa Stark's death made this theory invalid, otherwise the inconsistency between the books and the TV series in this aspect will be too far.

The Westerling sigil is six white shells on a sand-colored background. Their motto is "Honor, Not Honors".

Members

 * Lord Gawen Westerling, the Lord of the Crag.
 * His wife Lady Sybell of House Spicer.
 * Their elder son and heir Ser {Raynald Westerling}. Slain in the Red Wedding.
 * Their elder daughter Jeyne Westerling. The character is analogous in the TV series to Talisa Maegyr.
 * Their younger daughter Elenya Westerling.
 * Their younger son Rollam Westerling.