A speculative family tree of Stark-Vale relationships
So @mrsjadecurtiss/@amuelia, while working on her great new Vale artwork, asked me if it were possible that House Royce had some Stark blood. (Based on recollections of Stark-Royce marriages, Bronze Yohn's visit to Winterfell, and also apparently there's a theory the Others attacked Waymar Royce because he had "the Stark look".)
I explained that while we know the Starks are descendants of Lorra Royce, it doesn't go the other way, at least not for certain. Per Catelyn (and per the TWOIAF Stark family tree), there was a Stark daughter, Jocelyn, who married a Royce (of the junior branch of House Royce)… but they only had daughters. Since one of those daughters married a Waynwood, and per Sansa's TWOW preview chapter “all the Waynwood men are horse-faced”, it's a near-certainty that they at least have Stark blood. But as for the Royces themselves, probably not, unless a child of one of Jocelyn's daughters married back into the Royce family. Which is feasible, and we shouldn't rule it out entirely– but if Waymar had any sort of look similar to the Starks, most likely it's a generic First Men appearance. (As the Royces are descendants of First Men, albeit with some adoption of the Faith, as they have knights.)
But that got me wondering, how exactly is Sansa related to the Waynwood boys she meets in TWOW? And if there was a marriage back into House Royce, could it be Yohn Royce's mother? (Or Nestor's?) And we've met other people from the families Jocelyn's daughters married into, how could they be related, if at all? So, I worked up a bit of a speculative family tree, to figure the generations:
We don't yet know anything about the Corbray and Templeton that Jocelyn's daughters married. They might have been younger sons, they might too have only had daughters, or no children at all. In other words, there's no guarantee whatsoever that Lyn Corbray or Symond Templeton are Stark descendants – and if there are any Corbrays or Templetons that are, they could be cousins of those named characters. We'll probably find out in Sansa's TWOW storyline, as the subplot of Jocelyn's descendants seems to be getting re-activated there.
Lady Anya Waynwood is an older woman, more of a grandmother-age than Ned's generation, granted. However, since women tend to marry younger, and Jocelyn could also have been older than her brother Edwyle, that could explain a bit of the generational skew there. And note Anya's youngest son, Wallace, is younger than her grandson Roland, and close to Robb's age, so the skew factors back out again.
We don't know Anya's family tree in detail yet– she might have had several husbands, one of those husbands could have been a Waynwood cousin and the actual descendant of Jocelyn Stark. (Especially considering the “all the Waynwood men are horse-faced” factor.) But as both Roland and Wallace are long-faced and brown haired, this is the tree I've gone with for now. Again, we'll probably get more details in TWOW.
This tree does not include Carolei Waynwood (widow of Geremy Frey), as I don't know if she's Anya's daughter or niece or cousin or what. Otherwise I'd've definitely included her and her children Sandor Frey (12-year-old squire to Donnel Waynwood) and Cynthea (Anya's ward), as I strongly suspect they'll interact with Sansa at some point.
Harry Hardyng (Anya's cousin and ward) isn't on this tree either, but for a good reason, as his grandfather Elys Waynwood couldn't be one of Jocelyn's descendants, the generations don't work out at all. (Unless GRRM is incredibly bad at math, and though he is pretty bad, he's not that bad, lol.) Alas, Harry will have to settle for just being the Arryn heir, not a Stark one too.
So, to answer my questions: The newly knighted Ser Wallace Waynwood (around age 16-17) is Sansa's third cousin, and his nephew Ser Roland Waynwood (around age 25) is her third cousin once removed. (Probably.) Roland would probably be the alternate Stark heir Catelyn was reaching for – shame, as he's kind of an asshole – though tbf his father Morton would have rights before him. (And Anya too, if it's her and not her husband who was Jocelyn's descendant.) Also, with how the generations work out, if there is any Stark blood in the Royces, it would probably be through Yohn's or Nestor's wives, rather than their mothers. (Making Yohn's children and Myranda the potential Stark descendants in question.) Maybe if this is actually a thing, these wives might even get names. Imagine.
