Direwolf
A direwolf is a close relative of the wolf, but larger and stronger. A racing grey direwolf in a white field is the sigil of House Stark.[1]
Appearance
Direwolves can grow larger than ponies and twice the size of large hounds.[1] Direwolves are not simply oversized wolves, however, as they have slightly different body proportions: their legs are longer and their heads are larger than normal wolves. Their muzzles are also longer and more pronounced.[2] Possible colorations include grey with yellow eyes and black with green eyes.[3] Albino direwolves have white fur and red eyes.[1]
Behavior
Direwolves are efficient solitary hunters and are extremely intelligent, though they will also form packs.[4][5] Left to its own devices a solitary direwolf may join a pack of common wolves and establish dominance over it thanks to its larger size.[6][7]
The scent of direwolves can agitate dogs.[8] Just as horses are frightened by regular wolves, they are particularly frightened by direwolves, possibly due to a combination of their unusual scent and size: at the Battle of Oxcross, even destriers (war horses) specifically trained to ignore the sights and sounds of battle went mad with fear when Robb Stark's direwolf attacked them.[9] Even the presence of relatively tame, non-aggressive direwolves will upset horses: Jon Snow notes that the horses of the Night's Watch are still uneasy around his direwolf, even after it had has spent over a year in their presence.[9]
Like common wolves, direwolves can form a magical bond with a warg.[10][11]
History
Although it is believed that direwolves and shadowcats hunted the children of the forest,[11] the wood dancers of the children are said to have called upon direwolves to fight on their behalf.[12] The Others are said to have ridden dead animals, including direwolves.[13]
Direwolves once roamed the north in large packs.[14] According to a semi-canon source, direwolves have been hunted by people because they are large and dangerous predators.[15] According to Theon Greyjoy, direwolves have not been sighted south of the Wall for two hundred years.[1] Rangers of the Night's Watch hear direwolves beyond the Wall.[16]
Within the crypt of Winterfell, great stone direwolves sit at the feet of statues depicting the Lords of Winterfell and Kings of Winter from House Stark.[17][18]
Recent Events
A Game of Thrones
Robb Stark finds a dead female direwolf with a litter of six pups on the path between Winterfell and the holdfast where Gared was executed. Lord Eddard Stark allows his children to adopt the pups.[1]
Named direwolves
- Ghost - bonded to Jon Snow, currently with him at the Wall
- {Grey Wind} - bonded to Robb Stark, killed with him at the Red Wedding.
- {Lady} - bonded to Sansa Stark, executed by Ned Stark at the order of Cersei Lannister
- Nymeria - bonded to Arya Stark, set loose in the riverlands for several years where she rose to lead a large pack of wolves
- Shaggydog - bonded to Bran Stark, currently with him beyond the Wall
- Summer - bonded to Rickon Stark, currently in hiding with him on Skagos
Quotes
Jon: That's a direwolf. They grow larger than the other kind.
Theon: There's not been a direwolf sighted south of the Wall in two hundred years.[1]—Jon Snow and Theon Greyjoy
A direwolf will rip a man's arm off his shoulder as easily as a dog will kill a rat.[1]
It's said that direwolves once roamed the north in great packs of a hundred or more, and feared neither man nor mammoth, but that was long ago and in another land.[20]
—Roose Bolton to Qyburn
The gods gave us long lives but not great numbers, lest we overrun the world as deer will overrun a wood where there are no wolves to hunt them. That was in the dawn of days, when our sun was rising. Now it sinks, and this is our long dwindling. The giants are almost gone as well, they who were our bane and our brothers. The great lions of the western hills have been slain, the unicorns are all but gone, the mammoths down to a few hundred. The direwolves will outlast us all, but their time will come as well. In the world that men have made, there is no room for them, or us.[21]
—Leaf to Bran Stark
Behind the scenes
Direwolves are based on real world canine dire wolf which went extinct some 9,500 years ago. Historical dire wolves were equal in size to the largest modern gray wolves, but were nowhere near the size of those portrayed in A Song of Ice and Fire.[22]
The real-life animal's name is properly spelled as two words, "dire wolf", but the A Song of Ice and Fire series consistently spells it as one word, "direwolf".
References
- ↑ Jump up to: 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 1, Bran I.
- Jump up ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 37, Bran V.
- Jump up ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 24, Bran IV.
- Jump up ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 41, Jon V.
- Jump up ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 34, Jon IV.
- Jump up ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 44, Jaime VII.
- Jump up ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 4, Bran I.
- Jump up ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 14, Catelyn II.
- ↑ Jump up to: 9.0 9.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 32, Sansa III.
- Jump up ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 4, Bran I.
- ↑ Jump up to: 11.0 11.1 The World of Ice & Fire, Ancient History: The Dawn Age.
- Jump up ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Ancient History: The Coming of the First Men.
- Jump up ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 5, Samwell I.
- Jump up ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 53, Jon VII.
- Jump up ↑ "Interview with the Dragon" © 2003 Robert Shaw
- Jump up ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 5, Jon I.
- Jump up ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 4, Eddard I.
- Jump up ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 47, Eddard XIII.
- Jump up ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 16, Eddard III.
- Jump up ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 64, Arya X.
- Jump up ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 34, Bran III.
- Jump up ↑ nationalgeographic.com: Dire wolves were real—and even stranger than we thought January 13, 2021
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