- "I heard his wolf killed a dozen men and as many horses."
- ―Leo Lefford
Grey Wind was one of six direwolf pups found by the children of House Stark. Grey Wind is adopted and raised by Robb Stark. He was killed at the Red Wedding.
Biography[]
Game of Thrones: Season 1[]
Grey Wind was adopted as a pup with the rest of the Stark direwolves when Eddard Stark and his entourage came upon the pups and their deceased mother. At the request of Jon Snow, the pups were spared and each Stark child adopted one as their own. Robb names his direwolf Grey Wind.[1]
When Tyrion appears before Robb at Winterfell to present him with plans for a custom saddle that will allow the crippled Bran to ride a horse, Grey Wind is under the table at Robb's feet, watching their visitor intently as he presents the plans to Bran.[2]
Greatjon Umber draws his sword when Robb refuses to give him command of the Northern army's vanguard, a tantamount to a threat. Grey Wind jumps over the table. He latches on to Umber and bites off two of his fingers.[3]
Lord Leo Lefford reports that during the Battle of Whispering Wood, Grey Wind killed a dozen men and as many horses.[4]
Game of Thrones: Season 2[]
When Robb approaches his hostage Jaime at camp, Grey Wind slowly emerges. Grey Wind has grown larger and stands protectively next to Robb, who caresses his back. After Robb leaves, Grey Wind inches closer to Jaime and taunts him with a snap, before leaving to rejoin his master.[5]
Grey Wind plays a decisive role in the Battle of Oxcross. The direwolf sneaks into the Lannisters' camp and frightens their horses, as well as killing several sentries. Without their horses the Lannister army is easily slaughtered as they are roused from sleep by Stark cavalry. Such an impression is made on Lannister forces that terrified rumors spread in King's Landing that Robb attacked the Lannister camp using an entire army of wolves.[6]
Game of Thrones: Season 3[]
Grey Wind travels along with the Stark host as it moves from Harrenhal to Riverrun.[7] There, he is present during the execution of Rickard Karstark.[8]
Grey Wind accompanies Robb's host to the Twins for the wedding of Edmure Tully and Roslin Frey, though he's placed inside a kennel. Grey Wind grows restless, having sensed the impending betrayal of the members of House Frey. When the Frey and Bolton men turn on the Starks, Grey Wind is shot several times by Frey crossbowmen before Arya can release him. He succumbs to his injuries just after making eye contact with Arya.[9]
Later, as the Frey and Bolton men continue massacring the Northern army, both Grey Wind and Robb's corpses are decapitated, with Grey Wind's head sewn onto Robb's headless body and paraded atop a horse around the Twins as final act of mockery and desecration to the late King in the North.[10]
Family[]
Grey Wind Deceased |
Lady Deceased |
Nymeria |
Summer Deceased |
Shaggydog Deceased |
Ghost | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In the books[]
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Grey Wind is arguably the most disciplined of the six pups; he follows Robb's commands almost to the letter, mirroring how Robb is arguably Ned's most understanding and disciplined child, very much his father's son. It is stated that he received his name because Robb felt that he ran so fast that he seemed like just a blur, a "grey wind" moving over the fields. He is colored smokey grey, with yellow eyes. He can detect danger, and sense whether people are friends or foes.
After Robb marries Jeyne Westerling, Grey Wind acts restlessly in her vicinity, as well as near her mother Sybell Spicer and uncle Rolph Spicer (both of whom, unbeknown to the Starks, collaborate with the Lannisters), causing Catelyn to distrust them and urge Robb to send Rolph away. Robb, however, believes Grey Wind has grown violent because of the war and has the wolf put away, as he has also lost his faith in the direwolves due to the news of his brothers' deaths. Grey Wind is friendly toward Jeyne's brother Raynald, who is not involved in the scheme against the Starks.
On the way to the Twins to celebrate Edmure's wedding, Ryman Frey (Stevron's son) and his three sons welcome the Starks. Grey Wind senses that they mean ill and acts menacely toward them, frightening their horses and causing Petyr "Pimple" to fall to the ground. Moreover, at the middle of the drawbridge, Grey Wind howls at the portcullis and bares his teeth, and Robb can barely calm him down.
Unfortunately, the Starks fail to understand the meaning of Grey Wind's aggressive behavior, and the aforementioned incident provides Lord Frey with a convenient excuse to demand that Grey Wind will be kept at the kennels. Robb does not like the idea of being separated from his direwolf but complies, determined to appease Lord Frey at any matter. It is doubtful that the direwolf's presence at the wedding hall could have changed the outcome, but it might have made the conspirators' victory more costly.
During the Red Wedding itself, as the massacre is taking place, Grey Wind is released by Raynald, who presumably gets killed for his attempt to save the direwolf (he is shot by two arrows, jumps into the river, and his body is never found). According to Merrett Frey, the beast kills four Frey wolfhounds and tears the arm off of the kennelmaster, even while being shot repeatedly by crossbowmen.[11]
Similarly to the show, the Freys sew Grey Wind's head to Robb's corpse and nail a crown on his ears as an additional insult to the Starks, but it is done off-screen.
In the books, Arya never witnesses Grey Wind's death or her brother's desecrated corpse with his head sewn on. This was likely written to provide a familiar POV character to the desecration - which in the novels is only described by Salladhor Saan to Stannis,[12] since the Red Wedding is a chapter from Catelyn's POV which ends with her death.
Both in the books and the TV show, Grey Wind is the second to die of the pack, following Lady.
Gallery[]
Appearances[]
- – Pilot (non-canonical appearance)
- – "Winter Is Coming"
- – "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things"
- – "The Pointy End"
- – "The North Remembers"
- – "Garden of Bones"
- – "Dark Wings, Dark Words"
- – "Kissed by Fire"
- – "The Rains of Castamere"
- – "Mhysa" (corpse)
References[]
- ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 1, Episode 1: "Winter Is Coming" (2011).
- ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 1, Episode 4: "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things" (2011).
- ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 1, Episode 8: "The Pointy End" (2011).
- ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 1, Episode 10: "Fire and Blood" (2011).
- ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 2, Episode 1: "The North Remembers" (2012).
- ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 2, Episode 4: "Garden of Bones" (2012).
- ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 3, Episode 2: "Dark Wings, Dark Words" (2013).
- ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 3, Episode 5: "Kissed by Fire" (2013).
- ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 3, Episode 9: "The Rains of Castamere" (2013).
- ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 3, Episode 10: "Mhysa" (2013).
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Epilogue (2000).
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 54, Davos V (2000).
Notes[]
- ↑ In "You Win or You Die," Jorah Mormont receives a pardon stating that the current year is 298.
- ↑ In "Winter Is Coming," which takes place in 298 AC, Sansa Stark tells Cersei Lannister that she is 13 years old and Bran Stark tells Jaime Lannister that he is 10 years old. Arya Stark was born between Sansa and Bran, making her either 11 or 12 in Season 1. The rest of the Stark children have been aged up by 2 years from their book ages, so it can be assumed that she is 11 in Season 1. Arya is 18 in Season 8 according to HBO, which means at least 7 years occur in the span of the series; therefore, each season of Game of Thrones must roughly correspond to a year in-universe, placing the events of Season 3 in 300 AC.
External links[]
Alive | |
Slain |