Robb Stark

Robb Stark
A Song of Ice and Fire character

Richard Madden as Robb Stark
First appearance Novel:
A Game of Thrones (1996)
Television:
"Winter Is Coming" (2011)
Last appearance

Novel:
A Storm of Swords (2000)
Television:
"The Rains of Castamere" (2013) alive

"Mhysa" (2013) as corpse
Created by George R. R. Martin
Portrayed by Richard Madden
Game of Thrones
Information
Title Lord of Winterfell
King in the North
The Young Wolf
Family House Stark
Spouse(s) Jeyne Westerling (book)
Talisa Maegyr (tv-series)
Children Eddard Stark II. (unborn child on tv-series)
Relatives Ned Stark (father)
Catelyn Stark (mother)
Bran Stark (brother)
Sansa Stark (sister)
Arya Stark (sister)
Rickon Stark (brother)
Jon Snow (paternal half-brother)
Kingdom The North

Robb Stark is a fictional character in the A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin, and its television adaptation Game of Thrones.

Introduced in 1996's A Game of Thrones, Robb is the eldest son of Eddard Stark, the honorable lord of Winterfell, an ancient fortress in the North of the fictional continent Westeros. He subsequently appeared in Martin's A Clash of Kings (1998) and A Storm of Swords (2000)

Robb is portrayed by Richard Madden in the HBO television adaptation.[1][2][3]

Character description

Robb is fourteen years old at the beginning of A Game of Thrones (1996). He is the eldest son of Eddard "Ned" Stark and his wife Catelyn, and has five siblings: Bran, Sansa, Arya, Rickon, and the illegitimate brother Jon Snow. Robb is constantly accompanied by his direwolf, Grey Wind.

Robb is the eldest legitimate son of Lord Eddard Stark, and heir to Winterfell. When Lord Eddard relocates to King's Landing to become the King's Hand, Robb remains at Winterfell to rule in his father's stead. When Eddard is beheaded by Ser Ilyn Payne, Robb declares himself King in the North rather than swear fealty to the Lannister king, Joffrey Baratheon, drawing the banners of the north and of the riverlands to his cause. Despite winning every military conquest against the Lannisters, he is betrayed and murdered by Walder Frey at the wedding of his uncle, Edmure Tully, to Frey's daughter Roslin.

Development, overview and reception

Robb Stark is not a point of view character in the novels, so his actions are witnessed and interpreted through the eyes of other people, such as his mother and Theon Greyjoy. Robb is mostly a background character in the novels.[4]

James Poniewozik of Time describes Robb as less eager to seek retaliation than his father Eddard Stark but also as more pragmatic.[5][6] His overview of the television version of Robb focuses on his role as a foil for Eddard:

Robb has risen to take his father’s place, as a lord of Winterfell and as a focal character in the show. We never saw what kind of warrior Ned was in the field, but in King’s Landing, he fought a straight-ahead battle, telegraphing his moves, and died for it. Robb, seeing the Lannisters' numbers, shows himself capable of feints and deceptions—albeit at the cost of 2,000 men and the guilt of having sent them on a suicide mission.[7]

In the third novel, A Storm of Swords, Robb Stark is assassinated in an event called the Red Wedding, which was inspired by the Black Dinner and Glencoe Massacre from Scottish history.[8] George Martin has said that he decided to kill Robb Stark because he wished to keep the story difficult to predict: "I killed Ned because everybody thinks he’s the hero ... The next predictable thing is to think his eldest son is going to rise up and avenge his father. And everybody is going to expect that. So immediately [killing Robb] became the next thing I had to do."[8]

In their 2015 book, Game of Thrones and Business, Tim Phillips and Rebecca Claire agree:

But the Internet-crashing shock wasn't fundamentally about death. There's loads of that on TV. What really made this stand out was that it broke the rules – the story just wasn't supposed to go this way. We'd invested in the revenge story of Robb Stark and his family who, in Hollywood narrative terms, should clearly win the war against the Lannisters because that's the way things are done in fairy stories.[9]

The Scottish actor Richard Madden has received positive reviews for his role as Robb Stark in the tv-series.[10]

Storylines

A coat of arms showing a gray wolf on a white field.
Coat of arms of House Stark

A Game of Thrones

When his father leaves for King's Landing to be made King Robert Baratheon's Hand, Robb becomes acting Lord of Winterfell. After his father's arrest for presumed treason on the death of Robert Baratheon, he marches south with an army to free his father. To secure control of a vital bridge, Robb consents to marry one of Walder Frey's daughters or granddaughters. After crossing, he destroys the Lannister army besieging Riverrun. Upon hearing of his father's execution while at Riverrun, Robb and his men debate what to do. His bannermen declare him King in the North, and the River Lords declare him their king as well, and Robb invades the Westerlands, then controlled by Tywin Lannister.

A Clash of Kings

Robb sends Theon Greyjoy to Pyke, hoping to win the alliance of Theon's father Balon Greyjoy, ruler of the Iron Islands. However Balon decides to attack the North. Theon joins him and seizes Winterfell, where he is believed to have murdered Robb's youngest siblings Bran and Rickon Stark, who really go into hiding. During his raids in the Westerlands, Robb is wounded and falls in love with his nurse, Jeyne Westerling, taking her virginity and marrying her to preserve her honor, meaning House Frey leaves his army. Robb continues to win victories against the Lannister army. He earns the nickname "The Young Wolf" for his ferocity in battle in A Clash of Kings (1998).

A Storm of Swords

Robb then returns to the Twins to repair the alliance, with his uncle Edmure Tully agreeing to marry Roslin Frey. Before he arrives at the Twins, he learns that his legitimate brothers are apparently dead, the oldest of his two sisters has been forced to marry Tyrion Lannister, and his other sister has disappeared. Robb then signs a decree legitimizing Jon Snow, requesting that the Night's Watch release him and declaring them his heir should he have no children. Meanwhile Robert's only surviving brother Stannis Baratheon, who is losing the war, uses leeches with King's blood to curse the three rival Kings. Robb, his mother, his direwolf, and nearly all of his army are killed in an event known as "The Red Wedding" in A Storm of Swords (2000). Robb is personally murdered by his vassal Roose Bolton, who is rewarded by the Lannisters with stewardship of the North.

Later novels

Robb is mentioned a few times in the later novels.

Family tree of House Stark

Family tree of Rickard Stark
Rickard[lower-alpha 1]Lyarra [lower-alpha 2]
Brandon [lower-alpha 1]Catelyn
Tully [lower-alpha 3]		Eddard [lower-alpha 1]Unknown [lower-alpha 1]Lyanna [lower-alpha 1]Benjen [lower-alpha 1]
Robb [lower-alpha 3]Jeyne
Westerling [lower-alpha 4]		Sansa [lower-alpha 3]Arya [lower-alpha 3]Brandon [lower-alpha 3]Rickon [lower-alpha 3]Jon
Snow [lower-alpha 3]
Notes:
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Martin, George R. R. (1996). "Chapter 4: Eddard". A Game of Thrones. pp. 36–45. ISBN 978-0-553-89784-5.
  2. ↑ Martin, George R. R.; García Jr., Elio M.; Antonsson, Linda (2014). "Appendix: Stark Lineage". The World of Ice & Fire. ISBN 978-0-553-80544-4.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Martin. "Appendix: House Stark". A Game of Thrones. pp. 785–786.
  4. ↑ Martin, George R. R. (2000). "Chapter 14: Catelyn". A Storm of Swords. pp. 192–193. ISBN 978-0-553-89787-6.

TV adaptation

Richard Madden plays the role of Robb Stark in the television series.

Robb Stark is played by Richard Madden in the television adaption of the series of books.[11] Due to the child characters' ages being increased, Robb's age is changed from 14 to 17 years old at the start of the series. Instead of marrying Jeyne Westering (as in the novels), he marries a healer from Volantis named Talisa Maegyr, who is also killed during the Red Wedding.

James Poniewozik comments on Madden's performance in "The Pointy End" in Time, saying "both the script and Richard Madden show in deft, quick strokes how the crisis focuses him. (This is another case where having a live actor does a better job of showing a transition that seemed more abrupt in the book.)"[6]

Madden said that he learned that the character would be killed off early on but otherwise read the books season by season, focusing primarily on the scripts: "I'm, as an actor, forced to bend the path I put Robb on and change it and keep the surprises coming. Hopefully, I managed to do that."[12]

Storylines

Robb Stark is the eldest son of Eddard and Catelyn Stark and the heir to Winterfell. His dire wolf is called Grey Wind. Robb becomes involved in the war against the Lannisters after his father, Ned Stark, is arrested for treason. Robb summons his bannermen for war against House Lannister and marches to the Riverlands. Eventually, crossing the river at the Twins becomes strategically necessary. To win permission to cross, Robb agrees to marry a daughter of Walder Frey, Lord of the Twins. Robb leads the war effort against the Lannisters and successfully captures Jaime. After Ned is executed, the North and the Riverlands declare their independence from the Seven Kingdoms and proclaim Robb as their new King, "The King in the North".

He wins a succession of battles in Season 2, earning him the nickname the Young Wolf. However, he feels that he botched the political aspects of war. He sends Theon to the Iron Islands hoping that he can broker an alliance with Balon Greyjoy, Theon's father. In exchange for Greyjoy support, Robb as King in the North will recognize the Iron Islands' independence. He also sends his mother Catelyn to deal with Stannis Baratheon and Renly Baratheon, both of whom are fighting to be the rightful king. Theon and Catelyn fail in their missions, and Balon launches an invasion of the North. Robb falls in love with Talisa Maegyr, a healer from Volantis due to her kindness and spirit. Despite his mother's protest, Robb breaks his engagement with the Freys and marries Talisa in the 2nd season finale. On news of his grandfather, Lord Hoster Tully's, death, Robb and his party travel north to Riverrun for the funeral, where the young king is reunited with his great-uncle, Brynden Blackfish, and his uncle, Edmure Tully, the new lord of Riverrun. While at Riverrun, Robb makes the decision to execute Lord Rickard Karstark for the murders of two teenage squires related to the Lannisters, a decision that loses the support of the Karstarks and leads Robb to make the ultimately fatal decision to ask the Freys for their alliance. He is killed in the Red Wedding Massacre, after witnessing the murder of his pregnant wife and their child. Lord Bolton personally executes Robb, stabbing him through the heart while taunting that "the Lannisters send their regards", in fact a promise made to Jaime (who had no knowledge of Bolton's impending treason) when leaving for the Twins. His corpse is later decapitated and Grey Wind's head is sewn on and paraded around as the Stark forces are slaughtered by the Freys and the Boltons.

In other media

In his article "The War in Westeros and Just War Theory," Richard H. Corrigan uses Robb to illustrate the concepts of just cause and right intention in the decision to go to war: "Robb is not only fighting this war to ensure that his fellow Northerners have a just king [Robb's cause]. He is also doing it to avenge his father, Ned, and to recover his sisters Arya and Sansa [Robb's intention]." Corrigan speculates that Robb may be suffering from cognitive dissonance and says that, ethically, once Robb has achieved his cause, he is obligated to cease fighting even if he has not yet avenged his family.[13]

Robb's decision to renege on his promise to marry one of Walder Frey's daughters features heavily in the fifth chapter of Tim Phillips and Rebecca Clare's Game of Thrones and Business, "Keep Your Word: Robb Stark discovers too late the dangers of broken promises in business deals."[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Game of Thrones Cast and Crew: Robb Stark played by Richard Madden". HBO. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
  2. ↑ "The Official Website for the HBO Series Game of Thrones - Season 4". HBO.
  3. ↑ "From HBO".
  4. ↑ "Game of Thrones Viewer's Guide".
  5. ↑ Poniewozik, James (May 23, 2011). "Game of Thrones Watch: Talk to the Hand". Time. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
  6. 1 2 Poniewozik, James (June 6, 2011). "Game of Thrones Watch: the Quality of Mercy". Time. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
  7. ↑ Poniewozik, James (June 13, 2011). "Game of Thrones Watch: The Unkindest Cut". Time. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
  8. 1 2 Hibberd, James (June 2, 2013). "'Game of Thrones' author George R.R. Martin: Why he wrote The Red Wedding". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
  9. 1 2 Phillips, Tim; Clare, Rebecca (2015). Game of Thrones and Business: Strategy, morality and leadership lessons from the world’s most talked about TV show. Infinite Ideas. ISBN 1909652938.
  10. ↑ "Robb Stark shocker: 'Game of Thrones' actor talks heart-breaking twist". Entertainment Weekly.
  11. ↑ "'Game of Thrones' Q&A: Richard Madden on Robb Stark's Endgame". Rolling Stone.
  12. ↑ Maureen Ryan (February 7, 2013). "'Game of Thrones' Robb Stark Speaks: Richard Madden Addresses Shocking Developments". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
  13. ↑ Corrigan, Richard H. (2012), "The War in Westeros and Just War Theory", in Jacoby, Henry, Game of Thrones and Philosophy: Logic Cuts Deeper than Swords, Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series 65, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 1118206053, retrieved February 7, 2016
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