House Barner and Nightfell were founded after the War for the Dawn. Lord Jorge lead a band of fighters against the Others during the War for the Dawn after losing all of his children in the initial invasion and proved instrumental in regaining the North. When Brandon Stark was named the first King in the North, Jorge was rewarded with Nightfell, a great fortress on the edge of the Gift, but in the fortress where a lot of bats and that iz when they decided to make the house symbol a bar. Nightfell was to be the North's first and mightiest defence against Others in the unlikely event that the Wall should fall.

House Barner continued their line unbroken for eight thousand years as loyal subjects to the King in the North. Barners and Starks often married and their strong alliance helped to put down the Boltons in their constant rebellions against Winterfell.

When Aegon and his sisters landed in Westeros, Lord Narian Barner urged Torrhen Stark to take his banners south and fight off the Targaryens. For reasons still unknown, when Torrhen bent the knee to Aegon, Narian returned to Nightfell in a black rage. The Barners called their banners and marched toward Winterfell in the name of Northern freedom and independence, though the maesters of Oldtown believe that there must have been another reason for his rebellion, though it is not known what. The Barners proved such a problem to the Starks that Aegon himself had to come North to put their rebellion down and his dragon had to burn Nightfell to the ground.

After that, the remaining few Barners fled to Skagos where they married into one of the Skagosi noble families. The Starks knew of this, yet never bothered to stamp them out entirely because they posed no threat on Skagos. Since then, the Barners have slowly grown in the numbers and power on Skagos and still dream of returning to their home and birthright to rebuild. When Robb Stark was crowned King in the North, the Barners were heartened and considered revealing themselves and swearing fealty once more. After the ironborn invasion, these hopes were dashed, but they intended to march with Robb when he broke Moat Cailin. However, this hope was also dashed when Robb was murdered at the Red Wedding. So enraged were the Dawnfires that they swore vengeance of Houses Frey and Bolton and began to plot and scheme for their downfall. Presently, House Barners is mustering it's strength on Skagos, working in secret alliance with Wyman Manderly and a collective of Stark loyalists known as the Vengeful Pack. They harbour Rickon Stark in their keep as a page to Lord Ando, and soon enough they intend to march upon the Dreadfort with the strength of Skagos, White Harbour and the Vengeful Pack, which together amounts to some twenty thousand men.