The Stark Who Slayed Giants: The Lore Game of Thrones Fans Missed
Reddit is buzzing over a rediscovered slice of Westerosi lore: a Stark lord who felled two giants — and left no clue how he did it. The mystery kill has fans digging back into George R.R. Martin’s pages for answers.
Every few months, Thrones lore bubbles back up and reminds everyone how much the show left on the cutting room floor. Case in point: people are resurfacing a very metal Stark story that reads like a Northern tall tale, except it comes straight from George R.R. Martin's history book.
"So apparently, there was a Stark Lord who once fought Giants, killed two before dying... That guy probably was a warg if he can pull that shit."
The Stark who cut down two giants
The story is in Martin's prequel chronicle 'Fire & Blood'. During the reign of King Jaehaerys I, Lord Walton Stark sat the high seat at Winterfell. When a Night's Watch rebellion broke out - kicked off by two former Kingsguard, Ser Olyver Bracken and Ser Raymund Mallery - Walton rode north to shut it down. He captured and executed Bracken, then chased the rest past the Wall.
Out there, things went sideways. Giants hit the party. The legend says Walton Stark killed two of them before the others tore him apart. Survivors dragged what they could of him back to Castle Black.
Why that death ticked off House Stark
Walton's brother Alaric took over and held a grudge. He blamed Jaehaerys, not the Watch, for what happened. Instead of coming down hard on the oathbreakers, the king gave them an out: exile over execution. Northern translation: you let the traitors walk, my brother died cleaning up their mess.
When Jaehaerys eventually visited Winterfell, Alaric marched him into the crypts to see Walton's tomb. The king expressed regret. It did not fix anything. The chill between Stark and Targaryen stayed.
The show barely grazed this stuff
Game of Thrones gave us giants and a little warging, but the Stark backstory in the books goes way deeper than the series ever had time or money to unpack. In the novels, the Starks are said to have wolf blood, and multiple members have the ability to slip into their direwolves. And the family resume from the old days is stacked.
- Bran the Builder, Age of Heroes MVP, is credited with founding House Stark, building Winterfell, and raising the Wall.
- Brandon the Breaker supposedly teamed up with the King-Beyond-the-Wall Joramun to topple the Night's King and his corpse queen.
File under: please make the Stark prequel already
Between Walton's last stand and the ancient North myth-making, there is more than enough material to carry a series. House of the Dragon proved the Targaryen histories sing on TV; the Stark side of the tapestry could absolutely hold its own.
For the record: Game of Thrones ran from April 17, 2011 to May 19, 2019, with David Benioff and D.B. Weiss as showrunners, and it sits at 89% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Game of Thrones is currently available to watch on HBO Max.
How do you think Walton Stark actually brought down two giants before they got him? Strategy, warg tricks, pure Northern stubbornness? I want theories.