Who was Rickard Stark's wife?

[Cold Children]

This is the biggest mystery of all ASOIAF.

[Duckfield]

Ned's mom is Rhaegar.

[The Meeraculous Third Reed]

Probably someone from the Winterfell household. If she was a noble, she was from a house too insignificant to even get a mention.

[Otho Bracken]

She was a warg and introduced the trait into the Stark bloodline.

[Nite's King]

Don't know about Benjen being on Skagos, but yeah, she was a Magnar.

[Queen‍‍‍‍‍‍ Alysanne‍‍™]

She was a warg and introduced the trait into the Stark bloodline.

Agreed, probably she warged into Syrio and is living in the neck.

[James Arryn]

I could be wrong, but I take the opposite slant to the triviality of this information.

Other extended parentage IS laid out when it is trivial. So the lack of information to me rings bells. Especially when you consider how much time and planning GRRM puts into genealogical planning for relatively minor characters. And the Starks are his foundational family, and Ned his original moral schwerpunkt. His brother, sister and father are central to the crisis of the story, his other brother appears, reappears and notably disappears leading to another plot crisis, and his mother is...unimportant?

Now, there are explanations outside of textual...it may be an overt effort to avoid patterns or just a playful tweak on his part, but I do think that the more obvious inference from the lack of information is that it will come into play.

[GlennSnow]

No otherwise Ned would have had the better claim, the realm would be in a better state, and there wouldn't have been anything worth writing about.

Ned did have the better claim.

[James Arryn]

Ned did have the better claim.

My recall is that that's a line from the show, not the books. Which I put down to the same reasoning as upping Ned's cred as a sword fighter, etc. But I could easily be wrong.

[Fire Eater]

Some woman no doubt, most of them are

I do think there is a possibility that she is from one of the houses of Skagos.

[Nite's King]

House Magnar, the most powerful house on Skagos.

[Queen‍‍‍‍‍‍ Alysanne‍‍™]

Some woman no doubt, most of them are

She probably went where whores go.

[ladytiger]

I think that "Lady Stark" being a Magnar is definitely a possibility. Also, why else would Rickon be on Skagos? Maybe Maester Luwin told Osha while he was dying about where Rickon's grandmother's family was from, and to seek refuge there?

It's also possible that a decent amount of Wildlings could travel to Skagos, and Bear Island for that matter (especially if we are to believe that Tormund's Bear "Har Har" is a Mormont), so maybe Osha is familiar with Skagos?

[Silent_Hero]

1. If Neds' mom had any real bearing on the story we surely would have heard of her already.

2. GRRM is saving her up to be mentioned like in the current Skagos arc.

3. GRRM just didn't feel it important to mention her.

[Carter209]

She's probably the daughter of the Lord of Skagos, who was married to Rickard after a previous Skagosi rebellion.

[Dead Wolf]

She's probably the daughter of the Lord of Skagos, who was married to Rickard after a previous Skagosi rebellion.

There is no Lord of Skagos. There are three houses on the island, but no one rules the whole place

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

Ned's mother. We don't know who she is either.

[Nite's King]

There is no Lord of Skagos. There are three houses on the island, but no one rules the whole place

Incorrect. The Magnars rule.

[Jessica Rogers]

Also, I think it should also be Noted that Rickard's mother is listed as an unknown female as well.

[Ludd]

I think that Ned's Mother AND grandmother are very important to the story, so much so that GRRM does not want to reveal much about them.

We know quite a bit about Catelyn's mother and family (good and bad)- the Noble Whents but also the rather disturbing Harrenhall connection and perhaps Lothstone bats.

I think it unlikely that the mother or grandmother were from the South. All we know is that one of Ned's grandmothers was a Flint. We know nothing of the other grandmother or mother.

My guess is that either or both were very wild - with Wolf blood. I am assuming that the mother wanting vengeance that Bran saw was Rickard's mother since he was an only child. From the various names in use I suspect that th Ryswells are related in some way (Rickard) and the Mormants (Lyanna) and the Reeds (Jyanna) but that is as far as it goes.

I have a theory that Jon is already the King of Winter because this title is inherited via the FEMALE line, going nephew to nephew. Lyanna's uncle from wherever was the last K o Winter, but the title came to Jon on his death (or when Jon turned 16)