Jaehaerys I Targaryen and Alaric Stark

The relationship between Jaehaerys I Targaryen and Alaric Stark was marked by an unresolved loss: Walton Stark had died putting down an uprising among offenders sent to the Wall by the king. Jaehaerys acknowledged the price and offered regret and gratitude, but Alaric made clear that no royal apology could restore his brother. They eventually found a measure of accord through Alysanne Targaryen’s intervention, though they never became friends.

The Reckoning at Winterfell Castle

When Jaehaerys arrived at Winterfell Castle during his northern journey, Alaric led him into the crypts to see Walton’s tomb. There he confronted the king with the consequences of sending large numbers of religious offenders to the Night’s Watch. The Watch had struggled to feed them, and when some of the men rebelled, Walton had died suppressing the oathbreakers. Alaric’s choice to bring the king to the tomb made their political disagreement personal: the cost of the king’s policy was embodied in his dead brother.

Jaehaerys agreed that the price had been grievous and said that the deaths had not been intended, while expressing regret and gratitude to Alaric. Alaric answered that he would rather have his brother. His response did not dispute the king’s intentions; it rejected the idea that regret could compensate for Walton’s loss.

Alysanne’s Mediation

The two men never became fast friends, and the memory of Walton remained between them. Their eventual accord came through Alysanne, who had visited Brandon’s Gift, the lands south of the Wall granted to the Night’s Watch. She concluded that the existing provision was inadequate: its soil was thin and stony, its hills were unpopulated, and the Watch lacked both money and the means to secure enough food for winter.

Alysanne proposed a New Gift, an additional strip of land south of Brandon’s Gift. Alaric initially resisted because the lands in question belonged to other lords, who could object to their being given away without consent. Alysanne was confident he could persuade them; charmed by her, Alaric agreed to undertake it. The Gift was thereby doubled, turning the queen’s assessment of the Watch’s needs into a practical settlement that required Alaric’s cooperation.

An Accord Without Friendship

The episode joins a family grievance to a problem of royal governance. Jaehaerys’s policy had placed pressure on the Night’s Watch, and the resulting uprising had cost Alaric his brother. The king could acknowledge unintended consequences, but Alaric’s answer kept the human loss distinct from the question of intent. Their relationship therefore remained strained even as cooperation became possible.

Alysanne’s role was decisive: she addressed the material conditions behind the crisis and persuaded Alaric to help secure a remedy. The enlarged Gift provided the Night’s Watch with more land, but it did not erase Walton’s death or make the two men friends. Their accord was real, yet bounded by a bereavement that remained unresolved.