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HOTD's Cregan Will Make Ned Stark's Kill Rule Way More Brutal
Cregan Stark is coming to House of the Dragon, and he'll make a Ned Stark rule from Game of Thrones be far more brutal. The House of the Dragon season 1 finale set up season 2 in a number of ways, but one of the most intriguing was the mention of Jacaerys Velaryon going to meet Lord Cregan Stark of Winterfell. Cregan is the head of House Stark and Warden of the North at this point in House of the Dragon's timeline, and so will be a key ally of Rhaenyra Targaryen's blacks faction. He will, however, be somewhat different from Game of Thrones' Starks.
The Starks are generally known for being hardy Northerners, but Cregan is considered formidable even by those standards. Ned Stark's key killing rule in Game of Thrones was "the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword." They're words that Cregan himself evidently lives by as well, only he takes it much further: when he is fully involved in House of the Dragon's King's Landing story, Cregan will want to kill a lot of people (wielding the Valyrian steel greatsword, Ice, that Ned also used), and showing a much greater desire for that punishment than Ned ever did.
Cregan Stark Is Far More Brutal Than Ned Stark
Cregan Stark will fully come into House of the Dragon's story towards the end of the Dance of the Dragons. Arriving in King's Landing after much of the fighting is over (to his disappointment) and King Aegon II Targaryen has been killed, he begins cleaning up the mess - which means ordering a lot of executions. Known as the Hour of the Wolf, Cregan takes command and insists upon punishment for those who betrayed not only Rhaenyra, but also the members of the greens who turned against King Aegon at the very end. This includes some key House of the Dragon characters, such as Corlys Velaryon and Larys Strong. Cregan is unyielding in his belief that they must be executed for their crimes, ordering around two dozen people to be killed.
Like Ned would want, he's fully prepared to carry out these beheadings himself with Ice, though is eventually swayed from killing Corlys - but it takes the persuasion of Aegon the Younger (who is now the rightful King) and a woman named Alysanne Blackwood (whom he wants to marry, and eventually does) in order to convince him. After that, the only thing that stops Cregan from mercilessly beheading some 20 individuals is that they decide to take the Black, and his ties to the Night's Watch mean he reluctantly lets them do so. Cregan kills two people in the end - Larys Strong and Ser Gyles Belgrave - but, if he had his way, it would have been many more, a Stark difference to Ned.
He's Brutal, But Cregan Stark Does What Ned Couldn't
Cregan Stark's methods are undoubtedly brutal - his desire to deal out the harshest form of punishment gives him a reputation as not only stern but positively bloodthirsty and wrathful, whereas Game of Thrones' Starks are defined far more by their honor. At the same time, though, Cregan's methods are effective. He arrives in King's Landing and in around a week - including just one day as Hand of the King - he tidies up a lot of the fallout from the war and the death of the previous monarch, sees that justice (or his form of it) is delivered, and then gets to go back home to the North and be with his family. Cregan is more vicious, but also a sad reminder of what Ned didn't get to accomplish.
