Why so few Starks?

[Tattered Prince Pumpkinn]

The Karstarks descended from Starks. Who knows? Maybe Bolton is a Stark in disguise.

[freerider]

We ought to be saying the same thing about the Targaryens, no? We know how enormous that family was at points in its Westerosi reign. They had several calamitous generations with plenty of death - infighting, disease, disaster, everything under the sun - and a once huge and thriving family is reduced to a few. I suppose that's what Martin has going with the Starks at the time the series starts up. I guess now that you mention it, I feel like the fact that the Stark family is so small and depleted right now should have been brought up once or twice in a Ned chapter, particularly when Bran was paralyzed and rendered permanently unable to procreate. With three trueborn sons, a bastard, and a pair of daughters, the Stark family line appeared pretty stable at the get-go of the series though. The lack of cousins and uncles and aunts would have been fine if not for the disasterous events of the civil war. If Lyanna, Benjen and Brandon all had a few kids, the Stark family would be much bigger, and far more in line with the size of the other houses. Two rough generations in Westeros seems to be all it takes to put a 8000 (it was 8000, right?) year old house down.

How big must the Stark family have been to have had whole branches splintering off. Aside from the Karstarks, wasn't there another offshoot line of something-Starks? I could have sworn it was mentioned at some point...

there was the greystarks of the wolfs den in white harbor but they sided with boltons a few hundred years back and got killed off by the parent branch for disloyalty. A shame they did not kill the boltons

[sunworshipper]

For one thing, it appears that at least five of the last five to seven Lords of Winterfell have died violently while in their prime. Robb, Ned, Rickard. Some unnamed Lord in the Skagosian rebellion a hundred years ago (which had to be Ned's grandfather, Edwyle, or his older brother). Willam (Ned's great-grandfather or g-granduncle) killed by King-beyond-the-Wall Raymun Redbeard 150 years ago. And we don't know what kind of damage the Ironborn did later during their invasion until She-Wolves is published.

Numerous noble families and their cadet branches eventually died out in European history, even after hundreds or over a thousand years.

[Nezzer]

The Starks are actually a big family compared to some other ones. Roose and Ramsay are the last of the Boltons, a house as old as the Starks. Stannis and Shireen are the last of the Baratheons (no more Baratheons if Stannis dosen't get a son). Robert Arryn is the last of the Arryns, another thousand-year-old house, dating back to the invasion of the Andals. Edmure and Blackfish are the last of the Tullys. How can all these old and poweful houses be so fragile in population that they can be so easily exctinct? It's as if Westeros was ruled by the Chinese communist party for hundreds of years, allowing only one child per couple.

[WanderingKnight]

Prior generations have had very few Males, Ned's father and grandfather didn't have any siblings that had children (one of them had a brother Brandon who died at 3). The Karstarks are very distant relatives. Also some lords in the Vale probably related to the Starks from Ned's great-aunt.

It also seems like Starks are known to voluntarily join the Nights Watch. Benjen joined, and wasn't the Nights King a Stark? There was probably others since Brandon the Builder. As well as Starks with only daughters (Brandon the Daughterless).

[R'hllor's Bastard]

Neds brother and sister died before they could have Stark children, the other brother took the black,

Not sure if Neds dad had siblings?

Just read W/Knights post, I guess a combination of war and lack of breeding made the Starks so few

There would be tons of Stark cousins if Neds bro and sis didnt die

Now seems Rickon is the only one left to continue the name

[timenyart]

And furthermore, the North is huge. It's as big as the rest of the kingdoms put together in terms of landmass. At the same time it's the least populated of all 7 kingdoms. It doesn't have a lot of fertile land for agriculture. Or any valuable metal deposits like Westerland. At least non that we know of. Kings Landing probably has a many inhabitants as the whole North. And the North probably has the least number of noble houses since it's so lightley populated. So there is no need to have a huge family and lot's of extended relatives. And the Northeners being followers of the Old Gods could also mean they are not so inclined to intermarry with followers of the 7.

actually Dorne is the least populous kingdom, and the City of White Harbor is the third largest city in Westeros after, KL and Oldtown, Barrowton isnt tiny either, the North can raise about 30,000 fighting men when Dorne can only raise less than 20,000 ( the whole 50,000 spears thing is a bluff the Dornish like to say whenever they are threatening to actually do something Doran Martell admits this) so saying KL has as many people as the whole North is wrong, though I will say the North's population has moved South since the Dragons came

[ClashOfTheAsh]

they have distant cousins via daughters of previous lord Starks. ( Neds great Aunt married a Royce of the vale).

As siad before there are probly many of these marriages over the years to Northern House but they become lady of the married house, the relationship is likly gone after 3 - 4 generations.