Harrenhal

This page is about the castle. For the short, see: Harrenhal (short)

Harrenhal
Information
Type	Castle
Status	Mostly ruined
Location	The north shore of the Gods Eye, the Riverlands
Rulers	{House Hoare} {House Qoherys} {House Towers} {House Harroway} {House Strong} {House Lothston} House Whent House Slynt {House Baelish}
Religion	Faith of the Seven Drowned God (formerly)
Places of note	Kingspyre Tower Tower of Dread Widow's Tower Wailing Tower Tower of Ghosts
Founded	2 BC by {Harren the Black}

"You've heard the stories of Harrenhal, Your Grace. It was built in hubris by Harren the Black as a monument to his own greatness. Blood mixed into the mortar. It is said to be a cursed place. That it passes judgment on all who pass beneath its gates."

―Larys Strong

Harrenhal is a huge castle, the largest one in all of Westeros, though it is also the most ill-omened. It is located on the northern shore of the Gods Eye lake at the heart of the Riverlands, south of the River Trident and northwest of King's Landing.

History

Background

Harrenhal before its destruction.

"Harrenhal was built to withstand an attack from the land. A million men could have marched on these walls and a million men would have been repelled. But an attack from the air, with dragonfire? Harren and all his sons roasted alive within these walls."

―Tywin Lannister to Arya Stark

King Harren Hoare's grandfather led the Ironborn to conquer the Riverlands, previously occupied by the Stormlands. The Ironborn cared nothing for the inhabitants of the mainland, and their rule was brutal and tyrannical - far more than any previous occupier. To consolidate their hold on the Riverlands, Harren's grandfather commissioned construction of a great fortress on the northern shore of the Gods Eye lake, in the very heart of the region. The largest and greatest fortress ever built in Westeros, it took three generations to finish. The Ironborn broke the backs of the Rivermen in forced labor to complete an instrument for their own domination; it is rumored that Harren mixed blood in the mortar. The great castle was finally finished in King Harren's time, and he arrogantly named it "Harrenhal" after himself. On the very same day that the last brick was laid, however, Aegon Targaryen and his sisters landed with their army from Dragonstone at the mouth of the Blackwater river, along with their three dragons, beginning Aegon's Conquest.

Harren thought the walls of his massive castle could withstand any assault, but he did not realize that dragons could simply fly over them. In the Burning of Harrenhal, Aegon used his dragon Balerion to roast King Harren and all of his sons alive within their own tower. Harrenhal was blasted with dragonfire and left half-ruined.

Afterwards, Aegon Targaryen granted Harrenhal to his bannermen of House Qoherys, which eventually became extinct. They were followed by Houses Towers, Harroway, Strong, and Lothston. All of them, like the Hoares and Qoherys before them, died out, leading to the castle to be considered a cursed place. Several tales are told of Harrenhal, including the tale of Mad Lady Lothston, the flaming ghosts of Harren and his sons, and of servants who go to sleep and are found turned to ashes the following day.

Harrenhal is seen as something of a white elephant: while it is technically the biggest castle in Westeros, it is so ridiculously large that the surrounding area cannot possibly produce the necessary food to support the massive army needed to fully man it. Rulers of Harrenhal usually lose money and resources simply by possessing it. As a result, Harrenhal is rarely if ever fully manned. Moreover, it was never fully repaired after being blasted with dragonfire by the Targaryens three hundred years ago, which combined with the fact that the garrison is never as large as the fortifications require, means that Harrenhal really isn't one of the most defensibly formidable castles in Westeros.

The surrounding lands subject to Harrenhal are actually some of the richest and most fertile in all of Westeros, being located in the watersheds of both the Trident River and Gods Eye lake. In peacetime, a noble House can actually become quite wealthy from holding Harrenhal - provided that they hire only a skeleton force to defend it instead of a full garrison. It is a testament to the sheer size of the castle that even the most productive farmlands in Westeros cannot support enough troops to fully garrison it. Nonetheless, the unwary often see Harrenhal as a great reward or prize in war, without pausing to consider that there is actually little net profit in holding it.

By the time of the War of the Five Kings, Harrenhal was held by House Whent, until they were stripped of it and the castle was given to House Slynt as a reward for Janos Slynt's betrayal of Eddard Stark. However, due to the area being a warzone, Slynt never actually occupied the castle and was stripped of it when he was sent to the Wall. In Season 2, it is used as the main forward base for Tywin Lannister's army in the Riverlands during his campaign against Robb Stark. However, the Lannisters later withdraw their forces to defend King's Landing in the decisive Battle of the Blackwater. At the beginning of Season 3 the abandoned castle is re-captured by the Northern army (Robb Stark's maternal grandmother was a Whent, so he has some direct claim to the castle), and Robb left a detachment of the Northern army under Roose Bolton to hold the castle. After Bolton left to attend the wedding of Edmure Tully and Roslin Frey, the castle is manned by his crony Locke. However in Season 4, Locke is seen at Bolton's side back in the North. After this, Petyr Baelish was Lord of Harrenhal, until he was executed in the Season 7 finale by Arya Stark on orders of Sansa Stark. It now is unclear who is Lord of Harrenhal and who holds the castle in real terms.

House of the Dragon: Season 1

The Great Council, within the ruined great hall of Harrenhal.

A Great Council is convened by a dying Jaehaerys I Targaryen at Harrenhal to choose an heir apparent. Jaehaerys's grandson, Viserys, is elected and eventually becomes the fifth king of the Seven Kingdoms upon his grandfather's death.

Lyonel Strong and his son Harwin are killed by a fire that broke out in Harrenhal, secretly arranged by Larys Strong. When confronted by Queen Alicent about the murder, Larys indifferently claims it is the curse of Harrenhal.

Following Aegon II Targaryen's usurping of the Iron Throne, Daemon proposes seizing Harrenhal as a base of operations in the Riverlands, where the Riverlords loyal to the Blacks can amass their forces to assault King's Landing.

House of the Dragon: Season 2

Daemon flies to Harrenhal with Caraxes to take it for the Blacks. Arriving in the midst of a severe storm, he lands Caraxes atop Kingspyre Tower, overpowers the minimal resistance offered by the castle's guards as he descends, and bursts into the castle's great hall, declaring he is claiming it. Harrenhal's castellan, Ser Simon Strong willingly bends the knee to Daemon and declares his loyalty to Rhaenyra, explaining afterwards that he despises his lord and great-nephew Larys, since he murdered his father and brother to claim lordship of Harrenhal. Daemon orders Simon to begin repairs to Harrenhal that it might sufficiently garrison an army, and summon his liege lord, Grover Tully, to Harrenhal so Daemon can treat with him.

Later that night, in Harrenhal's godswood, a mysterious, dark-haired woman Daemon previously encountered at Simon's side tells Daemon, rattled by a strange dream he'd experienced, that he will die at Harrenhal.

Alys Rivers tells Daemon that the castle is cursed, as Harren the Black felled a grove of weirwood trees during the castle's construction, heart trees imbued with the spirits of those who lived long before he came; it is rumored that their whispers can still be heard sometimes.

Game of Thrones: Season 1

Catelyn recognizes Willis Wode, a knight of Harrenhal at the Inn at the Crossroads and asks him if he is loyal to Lady Whent and Catelyn's father, Whent's liege lord. He replies this is the case, and she asks his aid in restraining Tyrion and receives it.

King Joffrey gives the castle of Harrenhal to Janos Slynt, commander of the City Watch, for his part in betraying Eddard Stark.

Following the Lannister defeat at the Battle of Whispering Wood, Tywin announces that he will take his army of 30,000 men, capture Harrenhal and use it as the forward base for his army in the Riverlands while Robb's numerically superior forces consolidate near Riverrun.

Game of Thrones: Season 2

The towers of Harrenhal.

Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie are taken prisoner and taken to Harrenhal, which serves as a rallying point for the Lannister troops warring in the Riverlands. Here they are witness to horrific torture inflicted upon the smallfolk by Lannister torturers in search for the Brotherhood Without Banners. The torturers are led by the Mountain, the Tickler and Polliver. Later' Tywin arrives to take command over the forces operating the Riverlands and scolds the Lannister torturers for not putting the smallfolk to work serving the war cause.

Tyrion offers Harrenhal to Littlefinger along with lordship over all of the Riverlands in exchange for his aid in the release of Jaime.

Tywin and Arya converse about the Burning of Harrenhal.

Eventually Tywin leaves Harrenhal to move against an approaching Robb, and leaves Arya behind under the brutal command of the Mountain. Later on Arya escapes from Harrenhal with the help of Jaqen H'ghar.

After the Battle of the Blackwater, Joffrey grants Harrenhal to Littlefinger for his aid in arranging the Lannister-Tyrell alliance.

Game of Thrones: Season 3

The Northern army prepares to seize Harrenhal, only to find that the Mountain has already abandoned the castle and put all the Northern and Riverlands prisoners to the sword.

After receiving news of Hoster Tully's death, Robb departs from Harrenhal. Roose Bolton remains in command of the ruined castle, along with a portion of the northern army.

Jaime arrives at Harrenhal, having been captured and maimed by Bolton's hunter Locke, along with Brienne, who was taking him back to King's Landing in exchange for Catelyn's daughters.

Among the terms Walder Frey sends Robb to renew his alliance with House Stark, he demands Harrenhal and all its attendant lands and income. Despite Edmure Tully's protests, Robb agrees to this demand for after the war is over. Harrenhal never passes to House Frey.

After negotiating with Lord Bolton, Jaime is sent back to King's Landing under the command of Steelshanks, while Brienne has to stay behind for abetting treason against House Stark.

Roose Bolton leaves Harrenhal for the Twins, and leaves Brienne to the mercy of Locke, who has her thrown into a bear pit. Jaime returns to save her just in time. They leave a furious Locke behind.

Game of Thrones: Season 4

At some point, Locke abandons Harrenhal and returns to the Dreadfort alongside Roose Bolton.

Game of Thrones: Season 7

After Littlefinger, the only living member of House Baelish, is tried and executed for numerous crimes, including orchestrating the War of the Five Kings, Harrenhal is once again leaderless.

Notable residents of Harrenhal

House Whent

• Lady {Shella Whent}, called "Old Lady Whent", the former Lady of Harrenhal, head of House Whent, and vassal to House Tully. She had no heirs and surrendered Harrenhal to Tywin Lannister. Presumed dead.

Lannister occupation

• Lord {Tywin Lannister}, Lord of Casterly Rock and Warden of the West. Made Harrenhal his seat while waging war in the Riverlands. Killed by his son Tyrion Lannister.
  • Ser {Kevan Lannister}, his brother and adviser. Rode south with Lord Tywin. Killed in the wildfire explosion that destroyed the Great Sept of Baelor.
  • Ser Gregor Clegane, called "the Mountain That Rides" or "the Mountain", Lord Tywin's sworn sword. Severely wounded by Oberyn Martell.
    • {The Tickler}, a torturer in the Lannister army. Killed by Jaqen H'ghar.
    • Weasel, a gaoler.
  • Ser {Amory Lorch}, a knight sworn to Lord Tywin. Poisoned by Jaqen H'ghar.
    • {Polliver}, a man-at-arms serving under Ser Amory. Killed by Arya Stark.
    • Jaqen H'ghar, a Lorathi criminal recruited into the Lannister army. Actually a Faceless Man. Whereabouts unknown (last seen at the House of Black and White in Braavos).
    • {Rorge} and {Biter}, King's Landing criminals recruited into the Lannister army. Killed by Arya Stark and the Hound, respectively.
  • Arya Stark, disguised as a commoner and made Tywin's cupbearer. Escaped into the Riverlands.
    • Gendry, a smith (currently traveling with Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen), and Hot Pie, an apprentice baker (currently working at the Inn at the Crossroads). Arya's companions.

Northern occupation

• Lord {Roose Bolton}, Lord of the Dreadfort, holding the castle in the name of Robb Stark, the King in the North. Murdered by his son, {Ramsay Bolton} (formerly Ramsay Snow), at Winterfell while serving as Warden of the North.
  • {Locke}, Roose Bolton's master-at-arms. Killed by a Bran Stark-controlled Hodor.
  • Steelshanks, a man-at-arms sworn to Lord Bolton.
• Qyburn, a former maester. Now at King's Landing serving as Hand of the Queen to Cersei Lannister.

Behind the scenes

Concept artist Kimberley Pope explained the elements she came up with for Harrenhal's design: "I added the thorns, dead trees, and suggested it would be nice to have the lake as a sulphuric crater, toxic and dead, still suffering from the devastation brought about by the burning of Harrenhal." The walls of Harrenhal's major towers are also supposed to appear so large that to characters inside the complex they seem like mountains in the background.

Production Designer Gemma Jackson said that in order to develop the look of Harrenhal, she visited Cambodia and the ruins of Angkor Wat to get a feel for how a vast but crumbling castle complex should appear, with many broken walls overgrown with vines and creepers. Many of the walls were broken when it was burned with dragonfire, and more have since fallen into ruin but not been repaired, because the entire castle is too big to adequately maintain. To emphasize this, the paths through the Harrenhal set were designed to be deliberately confusing, so the camera is never quite sure what is right around the next bend: informal "entrances" to different sections of the castle will suddenly appear as characters pass through large broken gaps in old walls. The Lannister troops have also haphazardly assembled some wooden constructions in their makeshift camp within the older stone walls - and because all of the trees were burned away long ago, they mostly just broke up whatever old rotting furniture or half-burned support beams they could find within the castle itself and hastily hammered them together into new forms. The combined effect gives Harrenhal a confusing, maze-like quality. Jackson also added large broken stones around the bases of many of the walls, to emphasize that they are crumbling into ruin, and their upkeep is so neglected that no one even expends the effort to clear the fallen stones away.

In the books

In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Harrenhal is a colossal castle consisting of five massive towers (the Tower of Dread, the Widow's Tower, the Wailing Tower, the Tower of Ghosts, and the Kingspyre) and immense walls. It occupies three times as much land area as Winterfell, though the buildings are far larger. Its godswood spans 20 acres, its stables hold a thousand horses, and its kitchens are as large as Winterfell's great hall. The main hall contains some 30 hearths.

The castle was built over 300 years ago by House Hoare, the ruling house of the Iron Islands which had overrun and conquered the Riverlands. It took forty years to construct, weirwoods that had stood three thousand years were cut down, and thousands of captives died in the quarries chained to sledges or laboring on the five huge towers. King Harren the Black completed the castle, boasting that it was impregnable. Unfortunately, the day he completed the castle was the same day that Aegon the Conqueror invaded Westeros. His dragons were not obstructed by the towering walls and roasted Harren and all his heirs alive in the tallest tower of the castle, now known as the Kingspyre.

Since Harren's death the castle has passed through a number of other noble houses (Qoherys, Harroway, Towers, Strong, and Lothston), each of which has come to ruin for one reason or another. Also, almost every castellan to command the castle's garrison has come to a horrific end, even after getting far away from the castle. This has led to the common superstition in Westeros that Harrenhal is cursed, which is the reason Petyr Baelish never set foot there ever since he was granted the castle. Prior to the War of the Five Kings House Whent, loyal vassals to Lord Hoster Tully of Riverrun, held the lordship of Harrenhal.

The people who served as castellans of Harrenhal from the beginning of the series are:

• {Shella Whent}. Presumed dead.
• {Tywin Lannister}. Killed by Tyrion Lannister.
• {Amory Lorch}. Torn apart by the bear.
• Roose Bolton
• {Vargo Hoat}. Killed by the Mountain.
• Gregor Clegane. Mortally wounded in a duel by Oberyn Martell.
• {Polliver}. Killed by the Hound.
• Bonifer Hasty

So far in the books, Roose Bolton is the only one who evaded the alleged curse - maybe because he voluntarily withdrew from the castle.

Ser Bonifer Hasty has been recently appointed by Jaime Lannister to be the castellan of Harrenhal. He is aware of the curse but is not concerned, claiming that a pious man like himself (unlike the former castellans) is armored by his faith. So far nothing ill happened to him, but it does not mean much because he has been in his new office only for a short while, too short for the curse to take effect.

Harrenhal is considered extremely ill-reputed place not only due to the alleged curse: according to Jaime, Harrenhal has seen more horror in its three hundred years than Casterly Rock had witnessed in three thousand. It is said that Harren and his sons still walk the halls by night, afire, and those who look upon them - burst into flame.

Due to its central location in contested borderlands, since its construction Harrenhal has fallen to hostile siege more times than any other major castle in Westeros (within the same three hundred year time period). Aegon the Conqueror infamously burned and half-ruined the castle not long after it was finished using his dragon Balerion. It was also attacked during the Faith Militant uprisings - or rather, the early localized rebellions against Aegon I's sons which later coalesced into a wide-scale conflict. A rebel leader styling himself Harren the Red, claiming to be Harren the Black's bastard, established himself at Harrenhal but was crushed. It was probably attacked during the First Blackfyre Rebellion. Ironically, the one major continent-wide war which Harrenhal was not directly besieged in was Robert's Rebellion - yet in many ways, the spark of the rebellion began at Harrenhal. It was during a great tournament at Harrenhal that Rhaegar Targaryen controversially crowned Lyanna Stark as the Queen of Love and Beauty - and his later abduction of Lyanna set the entire war in motion.

By the War of the Five Kings, Harrenhal had fallen into such disrepair that Shella Whent's household had completely abandoned three of the five great towers of the castle, letting them fall into ruin. Even in the two remaining towers, they only occupied and continued to service the bottom fifth of each tower - put another way, only about two fifteenths of the castle's potential living space was actually being used and maintained.

After House Lannister takes Harrenhal, most of its household keep on serving the occupiers. However, Arya, Jaqen H'ghar, Rorge, and Biter free the Northern prisoners after Tywin and the Mountain leave the castle under the command of Amory Lorch. The Brave Companions seize the chance to turn on Lorch and deliver the castle to Roose Bolton, who was commanding the Northern forces east of the Trident, with whom they had previously made a deal. Later Roose leaves Harrenhal to attend Edmure Tully's wedding, granting the command of the castle to Vargo Hoat. Hoat is killed by the Mountain. When the Mountain is called back to King's Landing, he gives the command to Polliver, who is killed by the Hound.

According to the TV series official pronunciation guide developed for the cast and crew, "Harrenhal" is pronounced "HAIR-in-hall".

External links

• Harrenhal on A Wiki of Ice and Fire (potential spoilers for House of the Dragon)
• Harrenhal on The Official Guide

House Hoare
Head	Vacant (extinct)	Heir	Vacant (extinct)
Seat	Harrenhal	Region	Iron Islands · Riverlands
Titles	King of the Iron Islands
Ancestors	Qhored Hoare · Qhorwyn Hoare · Harlan Hoare · Harwyn Hoare · Harren Hoare

House Strong
Head	Larys Strong	Heir	Unknown
Seat	Harrenhal	Region	Riverlands
Titles	Lord of Harrenhal
Members	Simon Strong · Germund Strong · Paxter Strong
Deceased	Lyonel Strong · Harwin Strong
Household	Alys Rivers
Overlords	House Tully