Who Is Lord Rickon Stark in ‘House of the Dragon’?

When Game of Thrones came out, everyone became obsessed with the animal-themed family houses. We needed a new way to sort ourselves away from the toxic wizarding school fandom. A lot of folks, myself included, became big fans of House Stark. Their crest is the dire wolf (what is better than a wolf? A bigger wolf!) and they rule the far north of Westeros from my dream home, Winterfell. Why did Ned Stark (Sean Bean) ever leave that wonderful place to go down to smelly King’s Landing?

The new Game of Thrones spin-off, House of the Dragon, takes place primarily in King’s Landing and far away from Winterfell and about two hundred years in the past. It focuses mostly on the Targaryen family, their succession drama, and their dragons. During a fealty ceremony in episode one, a Stark did appear. Lord Rickon Stark swore to uphold King Viserys Targaryen’s passing of the Iron Throne to his daughter, Rhaenyra Targaryen. But how does Lord Rickon connect back to the Stark family we know and love?

How many people named Rickon are there?

As you may recall from the original show, there was already a Rickon in the Stark family. Played by Art Parkinson, he was the youngest child of Ned and Catelyn Stark. Sadly, he brutally died at the hands of the awful Ramsay Bolton when he was only 11. Obviously, Lord Rickon in House of the Dragon is not the same person as the one in Game of Thrones, but the two are connected.

For some reason, the great family houses of Westeros only use about five names so the family trees get confusing really fast. I mean there are several Rickons, Brandons, Sansas, Rickards, and Benjens. In this case, Lord Rickon, who lived before the Dance of Dragons civil war, is the sixth-great grandfather of Rickon, son of Ned. This also makes Lord Rickon the sixth-great grandfather of Bran, who would become the Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and sit on the Iron Throne at the end of Game of Thrones. Funny how time can change things. The Starks probably won’t figure much into the new series, as their kingdom is so far away from the main action between Targaryens, but we’ll always have Winterfell.

(feature image: HBO)