There seem to be Lannisters and Freys under every rock, while the Starks are very scarce. Does Ned not have any distant relatives who could reclaim Winterfell?
The Starks do have distant relations, but the problem is how to define what you mean by
"relations". You have some like the
Karstarks, who are
their own family and is basically a house founded by a
son of House Stark, but this was more than a thousand years ago.
And the Starks have certainly married other families. For example, it's mencioned in the books that when Robb believes Bran and Rickon are dead, he has a conversation with his mother Catelyn soon after he's married Jeyne. He neds an heir and it's too soon for him to have a child yet. And so he tells her he needs an heir, and
Catelyn replies that there are near relations. There's a relation
in the Vale, from an aunt (in the sense of a female relation in general, not necessarily of the previous generation) of yours. That's your closest
relative. To that, Robb says that there's someone much nearer to him in terms of blood, and
Catelyn insists these relations in the Vale are the nearest. They're both discussing a topic without being explicit about it.
So there's different relations between different characters, and the problem is that the validity of the aspirations of certain characters to rule can lead to war over questions like this. I
f they say they're heirs because they're related two generations back, someone else may argue they have a better connection three generations back but through someone who was nearer to the throne, and so on. Because of problems like this, about who had more right to the throne, there have been wars in the Seven KIngdoms.
It's true that in recent times, the Starks have become quite scarce. There's not many of them in the present generatons. Some may say it's because Ned's siblings died. Brandon died before he had sons, and Lyanna is also dead, and
Benjen joined the
Night's Watch which means he doesn't have descendants
either. It might also have to do with their father,
Rickard, who was an only son and I'd have to go back to my notes to see why he was the only child -- and really, I'm speaking from memory, so that may not be quite right. At home I have my notecards, my family trees where I keep this information, because unlike some other people I can't remember everything.
It's also true that there are many more Lannisters. It also has to be taken into consideration that
the North has had frequent revolts and other such problems, that there have been rebel lords in the past, that they've dealt with the Kings-beyond-the-Wall, and the
revolt of Skagos, and everything else that's occured in the
last hundred years. All of these things are a reason for why there aren't so many Starks in the present as there were in the past.
откуда и можно предположения стоить, что ключевой родственик на которого он намекает, который вероятно имеет отношение к Рикарду, у кого в отличии например от Сестры Эдвайла родились не три дивицы, а затем некий наследник имеет преимущество, перед его кузинами.
Он видимо имеет ввиду, что у кого-то например из тех вдов Винтрфелла (который встретит позже Эгг), родится сын, и он имеет какое-то преимущество.
Или тут более чем вероятно, что он напрямую намекает, на какие-то прав касательно ЖТ
Проклятие на твою голову, Нед Старк. На твою и Джона Аррена, я любил вас обоих, и что же вы со мной сделали? Это тебе нужно было становиться королем, тебе или Джону.
– У тебя было больше прав, светлейший.
Если про бабку Роберта известно, о каком-то родстве Арренов с Таргариенами, можно предполагать (из книги мейстера) что кто-то остался, то со Старками отправную точку найти куда сложнее ...
, но, возможно, имеется в виду, что Вилла их вскармливала в разное время? 
Я имел в виду - у нее было два своих ребенка, первый раз она заодно кормила Джона, второй - Эдрика. 
