Originally Posted by wstar

They really don't give the wolves enough screen time compared to the books. I feel like if I only saw the series, there's just some wolves around on the sidelines and well, whatever. Each of the major houses has an animal. The Baratheons had a Stag, the Lannisters are the Lions, and the Starks are the Wolves. There was a bunch of animal stuff going on in the books that you don't see here. To recap (some of which was in the series, but not highlighted very well):

Ned Stark's party finds 6 Direwolves in the snow. Their mother died to being gored by a Stag, I think. Ned has 6 children counting his bastard son: Robb, Bran, Rickon, Jon Snow, Sansa, Arya. They each get one wolf, and all the wolves are named (Robb - Grey Wind, Bran - Summer, Rickon - Shaggydog, Jon - Ghost, Sansa - Lady, Arya - Nymeria). Ghost is notable because he was an albino and the runt of the litter, and given to the bastard of Ned's litter.

There's obviously some kind of nebulous psychic link between the Direwolves (which are some kind of magical creature from beyond the wall, not regular wolves) and their owners. Grey Wind dies in the Red Wedding we just saw, as did Robb. Summer and Shaggydog are still with Bran and Rickon. Ghost is still somewhere in Jon's part of the world, but they're currently separated. Sansa's Lady was killed by Ned after the incident where Arya's wolf bit Geoffrey's arm (much earlier in the story). The death of her dog while she lives on is a sort of sign that she's leaving the Direwolves' house (Starks), and she does basically turn on them to try to marry Geoffrey, which doesn't turn out so well. Arya chased off Nymeria to save her, but we don't know where she is now.