Arnolf Karstark
Arnolf Karstark, the castellan of Karhold, is a gaunt, crooked-backed old man with flinty eyes, a long white beard, and a face as hard as winter frost. He wears a ragged bearskin jerkin and a ringmail byrnie even at table, a man shaped by a harsh northern life. Though he styles himself a lord, he is in truth only the castellan, holding Karhold for his nephew Harrion Karstark, who remains a captive of the Lannisters. Arnolf's ambition, however, reaches far beyond stewardship: he means to make the lordship his own, and he will stop at nothing to achieve it.
Treachery Disguised as Loyalty
When Stannis Baratheon calls the northern lords to his banner after his victory at the Wall, Arnolf Karstark is the first to respond, sending a raven declaring his allegiance. Jon Snow, the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, is immediately suspicious. "The Karstarks abandoned my brother amongst his enemies," he reminds Stannis, referring to Lord Rickard Karstark's desertion of Robb Stark after the Young Wolf beheaded him for murdering prisoners. Arnolf, however, was a thousand leagues away at the time, and he has Stark blood in his veins—a fact Stannis seizes upon. "He has Stark blood in him. The blood of Winterfell," the king insists, though Jon counters that half the northern houses can say the same. Stannis, desperate for allies, is inclined to bestow Winterfell itself upon Arnolf, a plan Jon warns against: "Arnolf Karstark is an old man with a crooked back, and even in his youth he was never the fighter Lord Rickard was. The rigors of the campaign may well kill him." Stannis dismisses the objection, noting that Arnolf has heirs—two sons, six grandsons, some daughters.
The Trap at Winterfell
Arnolf's true allegiance, however, lies not with Stannis but with Roose Bolton. As Stannis's host struggles through the snows toward Winterfell, Arnolf joins the king's march with four hundred spears, two score archers, a dozen mounted lances, a maester, and a cage of ravens—but only enough provisions to sustain his own men. He presents himself as a loyal northman, eager to fight for the Ned's daughter and avenge the Young Wolf. "Me and mine will show the way, if need be," he cackles at a war council, his spotted hand clutching at his son's shoulder for support. "March, I said, and before the moon can turn, we'll all be bathing in the blood of Freys and Boltons." His words stir the northmen to stamp their feet and pound their fists, but the southron lords sit silent, and Justin Massey openly questions his courage. "Your courage is admirable, Lord Karstark, but courage will not breach the walls of Winterfell," Massey retorts. Arnolf's grandsons offer plans—rams, ladders, siege towers—each met with Massey's mocking refrain: "And die." Arnolf's true purpose is revealed by his niece, Alys Karstark, who flees to Castle Black to escape her uncle's scheme to marry her to his son Cregan. "Arnolf is rushing to Winterfell, 'tis true, but only so he might put his dagger in your king's back," she tells Jon Snow. "He cast his lot with Roose Bolton long ago... for gold, the promise of a pardon, and poor Harry's head. Lord Stannis is marching to a slaughter."
The Price of Betrayal
Arnolf's plot is a mirror of the Karstark family's tragic history: Lord Rickard Karstark's betrayal of Robb Stark led to his execution and the decimation of his line. Arnolf, seizing the opportunity, means to eliminate the remaining true heirs—Harrion, a captive, and Alys, a girl—and claim Karhold for his own branch. His son Cregan pursues Alys north, but Jon Snow thwarts the marriage by wedding her to Sigorn, the Magnar of Thenn, and imprisoning Cregan in the ice cells. When Jon confronts the captive, Cregan remains defiant: "Let this Magnar come to Karhold. We'll hack off his head and stuff it in a privy, so we can piss into his mouth." Jon offers him the Wall as an alternative to death, but Cregan refuses. The fate of Arnolf himself remains uncertain as Stannis's host, snowbound and starving, stumbles toward Winterfell, unaware that the ally marching beside them is a knife waiting to be driven into the king's back.
