Before Aegon Targaryen's Conquest of Westeros, the said continent was divided into seven independent but warring kingdoms. One of these, the North, was independent for thousands of years, but it too fell when the Targaryen dragonlord and his two sister-wives, viz, Visenya and Rhaenys, arrived in Westeros. King of Winter, interchangeably known as King in the North, or King of the North was the title that a Stark ruler who ruled from the seat of Winterfell bore for thousands of years.