At the beginning of the story, Lord Eddard “Ned” Stark executes a deserter from the Night’s Watch, who has betrayed his vows and fled from the Wall. On the way back, his children adopt six direwolf pups, the animal of his sigil. There are three male and two female direwolf pups, as well as an albino runt, which aligns with his three trueborn sons, two trueborn daughters, and one bastard son. That night, Ned receives word of the death of his mentor, Lord Jon Arryn, the principal advisor to Ned’s childhood friend, King Robert Baratheon. During his own visit to Ned’s castle of Winterfell, Robert recruits Ned to replace Arryn as the King’s Hand.