Cregan Stark

Cregan Stark
Political information
House(s)	Stark
Affiliation(s)	House Targaryen Blacks
Title(s)	Lord of Winterfell Warden of the North
Personal information
Culture	Northern
Father	{Rickon Stark}
World of Westeros
Series	House of the Dragon
Season(s)	2
Appeared in	"A Son for a Son"
Portrayed by	Tom Taylor

"Duty is sacrifice. It eclipses all things, even blood. All men of honor must pay its price."

―Cregan Stark

Lord Cregan Stark is the head of House Stark, Lord of Winterfell, and Warden of the North during the Dance of the Dragons.

Biography

Background

Cregan Stark is the son and heir of Lord Rickon Stark. Upon his father's death, Cregan succeeded as Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North.

House of the Dragon: Season 1

When the Dance of the Dragons starts, the Black Council hopes to bring House Stark and the rest of the North to their side, with Bartimos Celtigar noting the Stark reputation for keeping their oaths. Rhaenyra sends her son Jacaerys Velaryon to treat with Lord Cregan at Winterfell, telling him that, as two young men, she hopes they can find some common interest.

House of the Dragon: Season 2

Upon the arrival of Prince Jacaerys, Cregan welcomed him to Winterfell. Shortly afterwards, Cregan and Jace travelled to the Wall, accompanying a party of new recruits for the Night's Watch, with Cregan explaining to Jace the tradition started by his ancestor Torrhen Stark of sending one of every ten men to join the Watch at the start of winter and the honor to be found in such sacrifice. The pair ascend to the top of the Wall, where Jace notes that the unity forged by Aegon I Targaryen, the unity Torrhen contributed to by bending the knee rather than fighting a hopeless war to retain his title as King in the North is now threatened. Cregan asserts his intention to honor his oath, but insists he needs to keep men to protect the north. Jace scoffs at the idea of Cregan wasting his men to guard "against wildlings and weather" while the Hightowers plot to usurp the Iron Throne, insisting the north's support and strength will be invaluable to his mother's efforts to press her claim.

Cregan takes Jace to the same place along the Wall that King Jaehaerys and his sister-wife Alysanne Targaryen went to see. As the two youths contemplate the view beyond the Wall, Cregan tells Jace that both Jaehaerys and Alysanne's respective dragons (Vermithor and Silverwing) refused to go beyond the Wall, and asks if Jace really believes Cregan's ancestors "built a seven hundred foot wall to keep out snow and savages." When Jace asks what the Wall was meant to keep out, Cregan bluntly replies "Death." Cregan then agrees to muster an army of "greybeards" immediately, insisting that their age will not be a detriment to their fighting ability. At that moment, a member of the Night's Watch approaches to give him a message brought by a raven from Dragonstone. Cregan reads the message, and then looks to Jace with grim sympathy, as the message bears word of his younger brother, Prince Lucerys's death.

Personality

Like the Starks that came before him, Cregan is highly honorable and does not forget an oath. However he prefers to stay out of the political affairs in the South, knowing the threat North of the Wall is far greater.

Quotes

Spoken by Cregan

"Duty is sacrifice. It eclipses all things, even blood. All men of honor must pay its price. The North owes a great duty to the Seven Kingdoms. One older than any oath. Since the days of the First Men we have stood as guardians against the cold and the dark. Through its long tradition, the Night's Watch cultivated its strength from doomed men who had their life as their only possession. But my ancestor, Torrhen Stark, began a tradition by making an offering at the onset of winter. One in ten men from our household was to be chosen to fortify the Watch. This is not a sentence but an honor, a duty embraced by all who serve the North, even by mine own kin. The North must stand ready. Winter is coming."

―Lord Cregan Stark

"This is only a late summer snow, my prince. In winter it will cover all you see and all memories of warmth will be forgotten."

―Cregan Stark to Jacaerys

Jacaerys: "It pleases me that over a century ago our ancestors treated in this very place. The Conqueror and the King in the North."

Cregan: "You at least had the mercy not to threaten me with your dragon."

— Jacaerys and Cregan

Cregan: "Starks do not forget their oaths, my prince, but you must know that my gaze is forever torn between north and south. In winter, my duty to the Wall is even more dire than the one I ought to King's Landing. I need my men here."

Jacaerys: "Whilst your men guard against wildlings and weather, the Hightowers plan to usurp the throne. If my mother is to defend her claim to hold the realm united she needs an army. War is coming, unto the whole of the realm, my lord. We cannot wage it without the support of the North."

— Cregan and Jacaerys about their oaths and duty

Cregan: "My father brought King Jaehaerys and Queen Alysanne to see the Wall. His Grace stood at this very outlook and watched as their dragons, the greatest power in the world, refused to cross it. Do you think my ancestors built a seven-hundred-foot wall of ice to keep out snow and savages?"

Jacaerys: "What does it keep out?"

Cregan: "Death."

— Cregan to Jacaerys about the purpose of the Wall

Family

Rickon Stark Deceased

Gilliane Glover Deceased

Cregan Stark

Behind the scenes

On December 2, 2023, HBO announced that Tom Taylor had been cast in the role of Lord Cregan Stark for House of the Dragon: Season 2. His character description reads as follows:

"The Lord of Winterfell who like the Starks that came before him does not forget an oath."

In the books

In Fire & Blood, Cregan was born in 108 AC to Lord Rickon Stark and Lady Gilliane Glover. He had a younger brother who died young (in the books, one reason he took a liking to Jacaerys Velaryon was because Jace reminded him of his deceased brother) and, according to The Testimony of Mushroom, a bastard half-sister named Sara Snow (other accounts dispute Sara's existence).

Cregan succeeded his father as Lord of Winterfell in 121 AC, at the age of thirteen (one year after the infamous Year of the Red Spring when Laena Velaryon died). His uncle Bennard Stark served as his regent, though their relations were strained and Bennard was slow to relinquish power to his nephew when he came of age in 124 AC. In 126 AC, Cregan finally seized power and had Bennard and his three sons imprisoned. Cregan then married his childhood friend Arra Norrey, but she soon died giving birth to their son and heir Rickon, named after Cregan's father.

In the over a century following Aegon's Conquest, in which King Torrhen Stark bent the knee to the Targaryens without a fight, Cregan's Stark ancestors remained largely aloof from politics in the newly unified Seven Kingdoms. They had no presence at the royal court, but (unlike the Lannisters) they didn't aspire to it either. The Starks were uninvolved in the Faith Militant uprising against Aegon's sons: as the North follows the old gods, the Faith Militant had no presence there, but the Starks didn't actively lend support to the Targaryens either.

At the start of the Dance of the Dragons in 129 AC, Rhaenyra sent her son Jacaerys Velaryon to bring Cregan to their side.

Cregan is six generations removed from his descendant Eddard Stark: his grandson Beron Stark was an elderly man when the traveling duo Dunk and Egg visited Winterfell some 80 years or so after the Dance of the Dragons. In turn, Beron was the grandfather of Edwyle Stark, who was himself the grandfather of Eddard Stark. Thus Cregan is Eddard's great-great-great-great grandfather.

In the main A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Cregan was only briefly mentioned once in the first book (published in 1996, long before Martin worked out the story of the Dance of the Dragons). When Bran is passing through the crypts of Winterfell with Osha, he remarks on the tombs of several previous Stark lords as they go, and notes that Cregan Stark was one of the finest swordsmen of his generation. In the end of the second novel, shortly before the Stark boys and their companions exit of their hiding place to find Winterfell ruined, Bran takes a look at the statues of Cregan and the rest, imagining that the dead are rising.

Appearances

• – "Two Swords" (mentioned in text)
• The Dance of Dragons (mentioned in text)
• – "The Black Queen" (mentioned)
• – "A Son for a Son"
• – "Regent" (mentioned)

External links

• Cregan Stark on A Wiki of Ice and Fire (potential spoilers for House of the Dragon)