Matching 50 Game of Thrones characters with each of the 50 states

Kentucky: Benjen Stark

Benjen Stark may not be the most prominent characters on Game of Thrones, but he’s certainly a memorable one. He first appears in the first season, where he orients Jon Snow with life in the Night’s Watch. Then he straight-up disappears for five years.

For a long time, no one knew what had happened to Benjen. In season 6, we learn that after he left Castle Black, he was stabbed by a White Walker and left to die. He was only saved when revived by the Children of the Forest. He wasn’t a mindless wight, but he was doomed to a kind of half-life between living and dying.

Benjen would fit in with Kentuckians, where the state motto is “United we stand, divided we fall.” Benjen shares this mentality; as he tells Bran, he intends to fight for the living as long as he’s able, even though he’s not truly among the living himself any more. Although he wasn’t enough to see his nephew flourish, he believes in Jon Snow’s message: that the world must come together to fight off the evil beyond the Wall.

There are also more kitschy reasons why Benjen and Kentucky are a good fit. Kentucky is home to the famous Kentucky Derby horse race, and Benjen is seldom seen without his steed. Also, Kentucky is the birthplace of both Abraham Lincoln, the president of the Union during the Civil War; and Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy. Likewise, Benjen is both a member of the living and the dead, an embodiment of two polar opposites.