House Stark of Winterfell is an exiled Great House of Westeros, ruling over the vast region known as the North from their seat in Winterfell. It is by far one of the oldest lines of Westerosi nobility, claiming a line of descent stretching back over eight thousand years. The head of the house was the Lord of Winterfell. Before the Targaryen conquest, the leaders of House Stark ruled over the region as the Kings in the North.

Their rule in the North seemingly ended after the events of the Red Wedding when House Frey and House Bolton betrayed them, and Roose Bolton personally killed King Robb Stark. Both the North and Winterfell have since been taken over by the Boltons but their hold has been jeopardized now that Sansa Stark has escaped their clutches after learning that her brothers Bran and Rickon Stark are still alive.

House Stark's sigil is a grey direwolf on a white field, sometimes white and pale green. They are one of the few noble Houses whose family words are not a boast or threat. Instead, the House Stark family motto is a warning, one that no matter the circumstances will always be relevant: "Winter is Coming."

House Lannister of Casterly Rock is one of the Great Houses of Westeros, one of its richest and most powerful families and oldest dynasties. Though not officially the royal house, the Lannisters do in truth control the Iron Throne. The major characters Jaime, Cersei, and Tyrion and the recurring characters Tywin, Kevan, and Lancel are members of the house. Tywin is the head of House Lannister and Lord of Casterly Rock.

Their lands are in the far west of the continent. Their seat is Casterly Rock, a massive rocky promontory overlooking the Sunset Sea which has had habitations and fortifications built into it over the millennia. They are the Lords Paramount of the Westerlands and Wardens of the West. House Lannister's Heraldry consists of a golden lion on a crimson background, and their House words are "Hear me roar!", which is rarely mentioned. Their unofficial motto, which is as well known as the official one, is "A Lannister always pays his debts" - which is used much more often and mostly in negative context, though it can also be used in the original, literal sense.

The incestuous relationship of Cersei and Jaime has been concealed in a conspiracy. Their son Joffrey Baratheon has claimed the Iron Throne on the premise that he was actually fathered by the late King Robert Baratheon. Lord Tywin is a key supporter of his reign in the War of the Five Kings.