Summary
- The Stark bond with Direwolves mirrors its family traits of loyalty & protectiveness.
- The tragic deaths of the Direwolves signify the harsh realities faced by the Stark children.
- Ghost & Nymeria survive battles & prove to be Jon & Arya's loyal companions.
The Starks are to Direwolves as the Targaryens are to dragons. Members of House Stark exemplify the ancient human-canine bond in Game of Thrones. There is a strong affinity between the new generation of the Starks and their Direwolves. In George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, Lyanna and Arya's hot Stark tempers are often attributed to them having the so-called "wolf blood."
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In Game of Thrones, the Starks are conspicuous by the gray Direwolf's head sigil against white. The Direwolves mirror the quintessential Stark traits, such as intelligence, loyalty, and protectiveness towards home and family. But as tragedies unfold, Ned's children are forced to part with their pets. A few wolves become battle-hardened, while others are killed mercilessly.
6 Sansa Stark's Lady
The First To Die
- Is Killed In Season 1, Episode 2: "The Kingsroad"
Sansa's Lady is the smallest of all. She is the first among the four Direwolves that die in Game of Thrones. While traveling from Winterfell to King's Landing, Robert and his entourage of royal courtiers make a pit stop.
Sansa walks Lady when Joffrey insists they take a stroll along the Trident. The pair discover Sansa's younger sister, Arya, practicing sword-fighting with her friend and the butcher's boy, Mycah. Joffrey is unnecessarily cruel to Mycah and is bitten by Arya's direwolf, Nymeria, as a result. In an ensuing furor among the royals, Cersei demands Lady be put down in the place of the missing Nymeria. Ned is forced to kill Lady on King Robert's orders:
The wolf is of the North. She deserves better than a butcher.
5 Rickon Stark's Shaggydog
Aids Jon Snow Against The Wildlings
- His Head Is Presented To Ramsay Bolton In Season 6, Episode 3: "Oathbreaker"
Rickon's Shaggydog leaves after Winterfell is sacked and torched by Ramsay Bolton. He's an underplayed beast as far as Game of Throne s' canon is concerned. Shaggydog goes wherever Rickon goes after the sack of Winterfell. He grows ferocious as he traverses the wildness of the North with Rickon and Osha.
Shaggydog is the only black Direwolf in the pack. He dies at the hands of the Umbers by way of professing their loyalty to the Stark enemy, Ramsay Bolton. Smalljon Umber carries Shaggydog's head and tosses it onto the ground to prove to the Starks that Rickon is their prisoner. Shaggydog is killed shortly before Bran's Summer in Game of Thrones.
4 Bran Stark's Summer
Dies Fighting The Wights
- Dies In Season 6, Episode 5: "The Door"
Summer and Shaggydog accompany the Stark children when they are forced out of their home, Winterfell, in Game of Thrones Season 2, Episode 10 "Valar Morghulis." The Direwolves have grown huge by the end of Season 2, and Bran's Summer gets to live until Episode 5 of Season 6.
Summer sacrifices himself beyond the Wall in the cave of the Three-Eyed Raven. He creates a diversion when the Night King, White Walkers, and the Wights force their way into the cave. Summer, stronger and fiercer than before, snarls at the horde of Wights inside the cave, while Hodor holds the door as Meera Reed and Bran escape. The giant Summer yelps as Wights attack him from all sides, but he holds his own until the end.
3 Robb Stark's Grey Wind
Oxcross' Victory Belongs To Grey Wind
- Is Killed In Season 3, Episode 9: "The Rains of Castamere"
Robb Stark's Grey Wind is a ferocious beast right from the start. As a young pup, Grey Wind rushes to attack Greatjon Umber the moment he senses hostility and aggression at Winterfell.
Greatjon loses two fingers to the Direwolf, and the attack demonstrates that Robb's pet is fiercely protective of him. Without so much as a signal from his master, Grey Wind instinctively senses danger. Although Frey's forces treacherously kill Grey Wind before Summer and Shaggydog, he has warfare experience. The Battle of Oxcross and Whispering Wood prove that Grey Wind is a battle-hardened and intelligent animal.
2 Arya Stark's Nymeria
Leads A Pack Of Wolves
- Survives Game of Thrones
Much like Robb's Direwolf, Arya's pet jumps to her defense when she sees Joffrey holding the sword to her throat in Season 1. Nymeria bites Joffrey's arm until Arya removes her. Arya takes her wolf into the woods and forces her to run away.
Arya and Nymeria's reunion occurs in Game of Thrones Season 7, Episode 2 "Stormborn." Arya stops to camp in the forested area near the Trident in the Riverlands when her horse is startled by a pack of wolves. In the next moments, Arya is saved by Nymeria, who, as it turns out, spends her days leading the smaller beasts. Nymeria has grown huge, and she refuses to accompany Arya north.
1 Jon Snow's Ghost
Fights In The Deadliest Battle
- Survives Game of Thrones
The most battle-hardened and lovable Direwolf of the pack, Jon Snow's Ghost survives Thrones. Ghost fights valiantly against the Dead in the Battle of Winterfell, and sets off with Jon into the Haunted Forest at the end of Game of Thrones.
Ghost and Nymeria are the only Direwolves that live through the War of the Five Kings, the Great War, and the Last War. Jon's Ghost saves Jeor Mormont from a Wight early on in the show and accompanies his master on his ranging expedition. Nymeria, by contrast, has no battle experience. Per Game of Thrones canon, Ghost grows to be the strongest among the six Direwolf pups.
- First Episode Air Date
- April 17, 2011
- Where to watch
- HBO Max
- Spin-offs
- House of the Dragon