How House Stark Is Involved in House of the Dragon, Explained
The Starks’ participation in the Dance of the Dragons was teased in House of the Dragon’s season 2, but next season will likely offer much more. Here’s what George Martin’s Fire & Blood unveils about the Starks and the Targaryens’ connection.
Things are about to start swirling in House of the Dragon ’s upcoming season 3, and the show is unlikely to deal with it all without the Starks also being present.
The second season briefly introduced Cregan Stark, the head of the House Stark at the time when Rhaenyra’s son Jace travels to the North to talk Cregan and his army into backing the Blacks up.
We never see Cregan after that again, and House of the Dragon’s fans were losing it all about the Starks’ quick disappearance back in the day.
Still, the next season might fix the issue — especially since George Martin ’s Fire & Blood tells it to do so.
Will House Stark Play an Important Role During the Dance of the Dragons?
Well, both yes and no.
In George Martin’s Fire & Blood, Cregan does keep his promise to help Rhaenyra, sending out an army of Northerners known as the Winter Wolves. Trained to fight to death, these soldiers will play a crucial role in some of the fiercest fights like the Battle of the Lakeshore, the Butcher’s Ball and the First Battle of Tumbleton.
However, compared to other Houses’ active participation in the war’s outcome, the Starks don’t bring that much to Rhaenyra’s win, though they will redeem their position after the Dance of the Dragons is over.
If the show remains faithful to Martin’s book (let’s hope Ryan Condal’s promises can still be trusted), Cregan Stark will be the one to help Rhaenyra’s young son Aegon III get to the Iron Throne after King Aegon II is poisoned.
In the end, however, he returns to Winterfell with no desire to get involved in King’s Landing’s mess ever again.
Why Is House Stark Not That Eager to Get Involved in the Targaryens’ War?
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Even though it does seem like Cregan Stark gets along with the Blacks, the biggest reason why he stays away from the conflict as much as possible is because, well, that’s too much effort for somebody else’s war.
Geographically, Winterfell lies hundreds of miles away from Dragonstone and King’s Landing, and it will take an eternity for the Northern soldiers to reach those lands, especially since they don’t have an advantage of flying and fire-spitting pets like the Targaryens.
Additionally, at peaceful times the Starks were just fine living on their own in the North and didn’t really have a need to visit King’s Landing that often, so the upcoming war between the Blacks and the Greens is more like a burden rather than a means to show their military strength.
