Cregan Karstark

	Cregan Karstark
Allegiance	House Karstark
Culture	Northmen
Born	or before 249 AC; Karhold
Father	Arnolf Karstark
Spouses	1st: Unknown; 2nd: Unknown;
Book	A Dance with Dragons (appears)

Cregan Karstark is a member of House Karstark. He is the eldest son of Arnolf Karstark and the cousin of Rickard Karstark, Lord of Karhold.^[4]

Appearance and Character

Cregan is a strong man with brown hair, streaked with grey, a beard and mustache. He has broad shoulders.^[5]

Cregan's black wool surcoat is emblazoned with the white sunburst of House Karstark. His leather gloves are lined with fur, as is his cloak.^[5]

Cregan is twice a widower having outlived both of his wives.^[3] Alys Karstark and her brothers always refer to Cregan as their uncle even though he actually is their first cousin once removed.^[3]

Recent Events

A Dance with Dragons

Cregan and his father Arnolf, castellan of Karhold, conspire to marry him to Alys Karstark, the daughter of the late Rickard Karstark, the previous Lord of Karhold.^[6] According to Alys, after the wedding Cregan and Arnolf plan to have her brother, Lord Harrion, Lord Rickard's heir, killed by the Lannisters, who currently hold Harrion prisoner at Maidenpool. That way, they wish to claim the lordship of Karhold for Cregan. Alys fears that Cregan may kill her once she has given birth to his child.^[3]

To avoid the marriage all together, Alys flees north to the Wall and requests protection from the Night's Watch.^[3] Cregan follows her with four men-at-arms, a huntsman, and a pack of dogs. He arrives at Castle Black a day after Alys does, and is subsequently arrested and thrown in the ice cells before he can claim the guest right, together with four of his men, while the fifth is slain.^[5]

Jon Snow, the new Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, arranges a wedding between Alys and Sigorn, the new Magnar of Thenn. After the ceremony, Jon confronts Cregan, offering him the option of taking the black and telling him that Alys has agreed to allow every man from Karhold who had betrayed her to do so as well. When Cregan refuses, Jon warns that King Stannis Baratheon might eventually put Cregan to death unless Cregan wears a cloak of the Night's Watch.^[5]

Cregan remains in the ice cells, taking to howling in the night. He additionally begins to throw his frozen feces at the men who bring him his food. When snowstorms start to bury the access to the ice cells, Jon Snow orders Cregan moved to the undervault of the Lord Commander's Tower. Cregan attempts to attack the men of the Night's Watch when they move him, but has been weakened by the cold in the ice cells.^[7]

Quotes by Cregan

Jon: You are no guest of mine. You came to the Wall without my leave, armed, to carry off your niece against her will. Lady Alys was given bread and salt. She is a guest. You are a prisoner. Your niece is wed.

Cregan: Alys was promised to me. My lord father—

Jon: Your father is a castellan, not a lord. And a castellan has no right to make marriage pacts.^[5]
—Jon Snow and Cregan

Cregan: I see what you are, Snow. Half a wolf and half a wildling, baseborn get of a traitor and a whore. You would deliver a highborn maid to the bed of some stinking savage. Did you sample her yourself first? If you mean to kill me, do it and be damned for a kinslayer. Stark and Karstark are one blood.
Jon: My name is Snow.^[5]
—Cregan and Jon Snow