- "And it's not just thieves, my lord. There's wolves in them hills now, more than I ever seen. They come down in the night and they kill my sheep. My three sons is away fighting for your brother, my lord. They'll fight, keep fighting till they're told to go home. I have no one to man my flock now. Only me. I can't keep watch all day and all night."
- ―The shepherd explains his hardships to Bran Stark.
A Winterfell shepherd is a shepherd on the lands of House Stark of Winterfell. He appealed to Prince Bran Stark for help tending his flock and is given two orphan boys. Both the shepherd and the orphans were later murdered by Dagmer.
Biography
Background
He and his family lived in the lands of House Stark of Winterfell. His sons fought in the army of King Robb Stark in the War of the Five Kings.
Season 2
In the great hall of Winterfell, Prince Bran Stark holds court for his people. His brother Rickon Stark sits beside him, shelling nuts loudly with a rock. The shepherd reports being unable to tend to his flock with his three sons fighting in the south. He reassures Bran of the loyalty of his sons but says that there are growing numbers of wolves in the north and that he cannot protect his sheep from them alone. Bran offers to assign two orphans, Billy and Jack, from Winterfell's outlying town to aid him if he will give them room and board. The shepherd gratefully accepts, saying that his wife always wanted more children.[1]
Theon asks the shepherd about Bran and Rickon.
Winterfell is later seized by Theon Greyjoy. Bran and Rickon escape and pass close by to the shepherd's farm. Theon tracks them there and brutally questions the shepherd who denies having seen them. Dagmer finds nutshells and tells Theon to send Maester Luwin back to Winterfell. Theon later returns to Winterfell with the charred corpses of two boys, pretending that they are the Stark princes.[2]
Theon tries to give Dagmer a pouch of gold for the shepherd, to compensate him for his trouble, but Dagmer reveals to Theon that he killed the shepherd and his wife to prevent them from revealing that the two corpses were those of the orphans.[3]
Appearances
Template:Season Two Appearances
In the books
In A Clash of Kings, in which most of Season 2 is based, there's no shepherd that adopts two orphans. Instead, there's a miller and his wife from Winterstown, whose two sons are killed at Theon's command to facilitate an identical ruse. The wife, who desperately begs for mercy, is also killed at Theon's command. It is unknown what has become of the miller, who was not at home while his family was murdered.
References
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