Game Of Thrones: Here's Why The Starks Won't Go Extinct Without Male Heirs

Summary:

• By the end of Game of Thrones, the Starks didn’t have living mail heirs who could reproduce, implying that the House would go extinct.
• In George Martin ’s books, such situations were fixed by matrilineal marriages and changing last names of next inheriting relatives.
• The HBO series implied that Tyrells and Martells died off, but Sansa could still bypass the rules now that she was an independent ruler.

Throughout Westeros history, several Great Houses died off completely: no one bears their family names any more, and no armies carry their banners. By the finale of Game of Thrones, House Stark was seemingly on its way to join their ranks, with no male heirs available to repopulate the once great dynasty… But that’s not true.

George Martin Has A Failsafe For Dying Houses

In A Song of Ice and Fire, it’s pretty difficult for a Great House to completely die off. We can see that in the Arryns’s example: the House of the Vale was seemingly doomed since Jon Arryn was dead, and his only heir, Robin, was sickly and unlikely to live much longer, as Littlefinger noted — partially, because it was his fault, too.

But, as Baelish himself explained to Sansa, it didn’t mean the end of House Arryn. Even if Robin died, his closest living male relative, blood or not, would become the new Lord of the Vale, and his last name would be changed to Arryn. Through him and his successors, the name of the Great House would survive and continue.

Alternatively, there are matrilineal marriages. For House Stark, this seems to be the most likely option, as Queen Sansa will inevitably marry some northern lordling only to produce an heir that would bear her, not their father’s last name. Perhaps, Arya could do the same. The Starks don’t need living mail heirs — they’ll make new ones.

Game Of Thrones Handles Succession Differently

The aforementioned methods, on the other hand, seem to only exist in George Martin’s continuity, A Song of Ice and Fire series. Game of Thrones didn’t show or imply either of these methods, opting for a much easier to grasp approach: no male heirs equals a dead House. At least, that’s what we’ve gathered from the show.

If that’s the case, then several Houses have gone extinct in Game of Thrones, including Martells, Tyrells, and yes, sadly, Starks. Though the latter still have living members of the dynasty, they can’t directly repopulate… But even by the show’s logic, we’re pretty certain Sansa Stark would bypass such limitation and save her House’s name, especially since she became an independent ruler of the North.