The Westerosi Art Journal

“Northern Royal Family” by unknown artist, circa 322 AC.
[Image description: a portrait of the Northern royal family. Queen Sansa Stark is seated center-right of the painting, with her husband Lord Theon Greyjoy seated on the left. Their son, crown prince Robb Greyjoy Stark, stands partially behind his mother, with his hand on her shoulder. Princess Alannys stands to the left of her father, and Princess Lyarra is seated on a stool at her mother’s feet. The youngest child, Prince Quellon, leans against his father’s leg. Three direwolves are in the foreground of the painting.]

The Wolves Have Come Again

For the first time in seven hundred years, the Starks are going South again- that is, one of their most famous portraits will be, to be displayed on loan in the Crownlands. Completed in the year 322 AC by an unknown artist, the portrait was commissioned as a gift from King Bran the Rebuilder to his sister Sansa I Stark, the first reigning queen in the independent North. Known by her striking red hair and a number of creative epithets- the Red Wolf, Kingmaker, Mother of Seawolves, the Queen of Winter, just to name a few- Sansa Stark is a figure who has fascinated generations of writers, historians, and filmmakers. Her political achievements are well-recorded, the most obvious being securing Northern independence,^[1] but her personal life is often considered far more interesting.

Who was Sansa the First?

Born in 285 AC, Sansa was the second child and eldest daughter of Lord Eddard Stark and Lady Catelyn Tully Stark. Little is known about her early childhood in the traditional seat of her family, Winterfell, though it is recorded as having been “peaceful and uneventful […] a true Summer childhood.”^[2] In 298 AC, she was betrothed to Prince Joffrey Baratheon, who was later revealed to be illegitimate by none other than her own father.^[3] Instead of marrying a king, she found herself a hostage of the queen regent Cersei Lannister. Her betrothal to Joffrey was dissolved and she was instead married off to his uncle Tyrion Lannister, though the marriage was later annulled. Later, she was possibly involved in the assassination of the now-King Joffrey at his wedding to Queen Margaery Tyrell, although historians argue over the extent of her role in the plot.^[4,5] From there she disappears from the historical record for a time, only to later reappear back in Winterfell help captive by an unknown bastard son of Roose Bolton. It was there that she reunited with an unlikely friend: her family’s former ward/hostage, Theon Greyjoy.

An Unlikely Match

While Stark is largely remembered in a positive light, the general public’s view of Greyjoy is far more contested. The only surviving son of infamous ironborn lord Balon Greyjoy,^[6] he spent his youth as a bargaining chip to ensure his father’s compliance following a failed rebellion against Robert Baratheon. The practice of taking noble children as hostages was not uncommon during this period, but Greyjoy’s relationship with his Stark captors was unusually close. He was recorded as having been a close companion to Robb I Stark and his half-brother, Jon Snow, and grew up with many of the same privileges typically afforded a boy of noble birth. It was this closeness that made his later betrayal of Robb and his capture of Winterfell in 299 AC so devastating to the young monarch.^[7]

Unfortunately for Greyjoy, the tables were later turned when he was betrayed by an unknown advisor and was made a prisoner in the same castle he had once called home. It is unclear what happened during his captivity, but suffice to say, this time his treatment was far worse: he lost three fingers and in later years required the use of a cane due to an injury to either the foot or the knee.^[8] The details of the events which led to these injuries are unknown, something which writers and directors have taken wild liberties with.^[9] Either out of regret for his actions or just desire to escape his current conditions, Greyjoy assisted Stark’s escape from Winterfell, which later allowed her to lead a coup against their former captor and regain control of the castle and territory for her family. Greyjoy was not present for the later events, having apparently separated from Stark some time after their escape. He instead rejoined his sister Yara WomanKing and assisted in her plot to remove their uncle Euron Greyjoy from the Seastone Chair.

Reunion and Marriage

Greyjoy and Stark did not see each other again until 305 AC when he arrived in Winterfell to help fight against an invading force known only as the Others. In an ironic twist, Greyjoy ended up saving the life of the boy he had once betrayed, Brandon Stark, though he received a grievous wound that took months to recover from.^[10] Afterwards he married the now-queen Sansa Stark, who had been elected to the position by a council of Northern nobles.^[11] Though perhaps unexpected, the marriage made political sense, as it allowed the North to form an alliance with the also newly independent Iron Islands. The couple went on to have four children- King Robb II, Alannys Stark Martell, Lyarra Stark Velaryon, and Quellon Greyjoy Stark- all of whom are present in the portrait.

The relationship between Stark and Greyjoy has been the subject of much debate, and has led to popular portrayals both sympathetic and less-so.^[12] Some portray them as star-crossed lovers that put even the raunchiest bodice ripper to shame; others cast Stark as a ruthless, domineering black widow with Greyjoy as thoroughly submissive. Recently, a mini-series that suggested all of Stark’s children had actually been fathered by her half-brother drew so much ire that the network had to add a disclaimer that the show was “historically inspired”^[13] as opposed to being based on historical events. There has even been some suggestion that Greyjoy suffered from a form of Sothoryos Syndrome from his childhood as the Stark’s hostage. The debate is nothing new, going back to the early days of their marriage when other nobles questioned the rationale of the match, and, privately, even the queen’s sanity; while the politics of the marriage made sense as a means of solidifying the alliance between the North and the Iron Islands, there were many northerners who remembered Greyjoy’s betrayal and regarded him with suspicion. These critiques were largely ignored, as his actions during the Battle of Winterfell were considered proof for most of his loyalty to the Starks; indeed, his gentleness towards children and his prowess as a master archer led to him becoming considered something of a folk hero among the local peasantry. When asked about her marriage, the celebrated historian Maester Tarly wrote that Stark once declared Greyjoy to be “the bravest and most faithful man [she] had ever known [...] a true knight.”^[14]

The Portrait’s Legacy

You might be asking, why the fuss over this portrait? Surely there are multiple pieces depicting the first Northern royal family since Aegon’s Conquest? You would be right, but the fascination this piece has held both among medievalists and historical fiction writers sets this one apart. It is important to remember here that a royal family portrait is far removed from the modern family picture, and not just in the skill required or the time needed to complete. Before the invention of photography or television, portraits were a way of establishing status and allegiance; as such, they made for spectacular propaganda.^[15] Nothing featured in portraits was done on accident, from the positioning of the subjects to their clothing and props.

Queen Sansa is center-right so that your eye is first drawn to her, while her consort is solidly on the left hand side of the canvas; they are on an equal plane, however, which points to his role as an advisor and ambassador. He is also on the queen’s right hand side, perhaps signaling the closeness of their bond. Stark and her children wear crowns, while Greyjoy does not; despite being a prince twice over, between his sister’s rule and his marriage, in documents he is always referred to as “lord.” The rationale behind this is unclear. The artist also included Greyjoy’s cane, and the missing fingers on his right hand are clearly visible; typically royal portraits excluded any suggestion of disfiguration or infirmity, which makes the inclusion of these elements rather extraordinary.^[16] Three pet wolves are also featured in the foreground of the portrait; House Stark kept wolves and wolfdogs as companions for generations, although the size of the wolves here is thought to have been artistic exaggeration, to make them closer resemble the extinct direwolves represented in the house sigil.^[17]

The queen wears a gown of grey and white samite with a heavy black fur ruff, the heraldic colors of House Stark, and sports mother-of-pearl jewelry; Greyjoy wears a richly embroidered doublet in his own house’s black and gold with a silver direwolf pin in his cloak, and has an ornate cane resting against his thigh, the handle a finely crafted pewter kraken. These choices are notable in that in noble marriages typically the lower ranking spouse would be expected to adopt the higher ranking spouse’s heraldry and family name; usually this meant the woman taking on her husband’s house name, however in cases where the man married up he was expected to do the same.^[18] This, along with the House Greyjoy kraken clearly embroidered on his doublet, is indicative of a greater level of egalitarianism in their marriage, which is also echoed in the couple’s decision to give the children their father’s last name as a patronymic.

This is reflected in the clothing of the children, who despite being dressed primarily in their mother’s house colors, also have black and gold accents to represent their paternal lineage. The family’s eldest son, who would of course go on to become King Robb II, is stationed to the left of his mother with a hand placed on her shoulder, signaling his role as heir to the throne. Even without this he would be easily identifiable by his auburn hair and sea-green eyes. The artist took great care to include the young prince’s personal sigil on his doublet, a direwolf with a fish’s tail for hind legs, which would later be called The Seawolf and was adopted by many of the Greyjoy-Stark descendants. Robb II’s own children would often sport the sigil along with winter roses, in honor of their Tyrell mother.^[19]

The second eldest child, Alannys, is stood next to her father, perhaps to indicate her closeness to her ironborn side of the family; Alannys was a fierce fighter and renowned sailor who served as first mate on two different vessels, the Black Wind II and the Lady Cat, before eventually captaining her own ship. It was said that her prowess at sea led her to capture the heart of the son of the Princess of Dorne, Elio Martell, who commissioned a new type of ship built in an attempt to woo her, resulting in the revitalization of Dornish maritime exploration.^[20] Lyarra, the younger daughter, is sat on her mother’s side of the portrait, perhaps an indication of her budding interest in politics; while the youngest child, five year old Quellon, stands pressed against his father’s leg, one hand tangled in his cloak. Greyjoy was said to be especially close with his youngest son, who died tragically young during the White Plague of 337 AC; Greyjoy himself died only six months later at age fifty-eight, most likely of heart failure,^[21] although romanticist writers often list the cause of death as grief. In keeping with ironborn funeral practices, his body was given to the sea.

The queen apparently kept composed in public, but private correspondences reveal a deep grief that never truly abated.^[22] She never married again, and ruled for another twelve years after the deaths of her husband and youngest child, before passing the crown on in 349 AC to her successor, Robb II. The now-dowager queen spent her later years taking on a number of humanitarian projects and training an ever-growing menagerie of pet wolves; she was often accompanied by her beloved grandchildren, though her favorite was said to be her granddaughter Margaery. She died in 372 AC, aged eighty-seven, and was interred in the family crypt below Winterfell, as legend has it with a vial of seawater held to her breast.^[23] Her great-granddaughter, Sansa II, became the first Northern queen to inherit the throne over her younger brothers, establishing the rule of monarchal primogeniture regardless of gender, in the custom of their Martell cousins. When the last ruling king, Eddard XII, stepped down following increased campaigns in favor of the parliamentary system, he did so citing his ancestor Sansa I: “she ruled according to the will of the people, and so shall I.”^[24]

Today the Greyjoy-Stark descendants maintain honorary noble titles, as well as their ancestral seat in Winterfell. This portrait is considered a particularly precious family heirloom, and was only loaned out to the Bran and Meera Museum following a resurgence in public fascination with medieval history; likely spurred largely by the success of “A Clash of Kings,” the wildly popular television adaptation of Maester Tarly’s chronicling of Westerosi history, A Song of Ice and Fire.

References

^{1, 4, 19, 22, 23} “Daughter of the North: the Fall and Rise of Sansa the First,” Arla Baratheon.
^{2, 10, 18, 20} “Historie of the Westerosi Noble Houses,” Samwell the Younger.
^{3, 5, 11} “A Song of Ice and Fire,” Maester Tarly.
⁶ “Maester Yandel’s ‘The World of Ice & Fire,’” ed. Yon Harwind, 5^th edition.
^{7, 8, 9, 14, 21} “Theon Greyjoy: ‘My Blood is Salt and Iron,’ a biographical exploration of identity,” Edwin Stone.
¹² media portrayals of Sansa Stark and Theon Greyjoy, Planetospedia.
¹³ “CW clarifies positioning behind hit teen drama: ‘it’s historically inspired, not based on history.’” TvGuide.
^{15, 16} “Why Royal Portraits Still Fascinate Us.” Art History Monthly.
¹⁷ “Winter's Kings, or the Legends and Lineages of the Starks of Winterfell,” Maester Childer.
²⁴ “Northern King vows to honor parliamentary vote.” Northern Times.