Battle of the Blackwater
From A Wiki of Ice and Fire
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| Battle of the Blackwater | |||||||||||||||||
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| Conflict | War of the Five Kings | ||||||||||||||||
| Date | 299 AL | ||||||||||||||||
| Place | King's Landing / Mouth of the Blackwater | ||||||||||||||||
| Result | Decisive victory of King Joffrey | ||||||||||||||||
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The Battle of the Blackwater was one of the last conflicts in the War of the Five Kings. The battle was fought between forces loyal to Stannis Baratheon and royalist forces. Stannis's army managed to defeat the small army of King's Landing but then they were attacked and annihilated by the joint forces of Tywin Lannister and the Tyrell's.
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[edit] Intro
[edit] Dragonstone
Stannis and Jon Arryn had been suspicious if the children of Robert's wife, Cersei, were Robert's. After they discovered that the children were probably bastards, Jon was killed and Stannis fled to Dragonstone. In Dragonstone he began to amass forces. Those who joined him were mostly his vassals Houses sworn to Dragonstone and some mercenaries and pirates of the Free Cities. The area sworn to Dragonstone consists mostly of islands without large populations so Stannis fleet was quit large, (Stannis was also commander of royal fleet) but he did not have much of an army.
After Robert died, Stannis send letters over the whole country in which he stated that Joffrey and the other children were bastards and that he, Stannis, was the legitimate king. Because he did not have proof and because he was not liked, Stannis got very little support.
[edit] Battling Renly
Stannis's younger brother had claimed the throne even before Stannis did it. For Stannis, this was treason. Because of this and because he needed the support of the Stormlands, he attacked his brother's castle Storm's End. Renly had allied with the Reach and with their support he marched to Storm's End. However, before the battle could begin, Renly was killed by Melisandre's shadow baby. A part of Renly's army now went over to Stannis. This consisted mostly of lords of the Stormlands and the Florent relatives of Stannis's wife. The other part with most lords of the Reach went back to Bitterbridge.
[edit] The Battle
Stannis's army and fleet now marched to King's Landing. The number of army and fleet consisted of about 20,000 men.
[edit] Battle on the river
The fleet under the command of Axel Florent sailed up the Blackwater Rush with almost the whole fleet. They knew that their fleet was much larger than the fleet of King's Landing so they attacked immediately. But the royal fleet consisted mostly of unmanned ships filled with wildfire. Stannis's ships started to burn, while behind them a chain across the river was raised to prevent the fleet from escaping. A lot of the fleet was destroyed along with the people on it, but some ships managed to reach the bank. The soldiers jumped on land and started to attack the royal army.
[edit] Attack on King's Landing
King's Landing was defended by about 5,000 gold cloaks and a few hedge knights and mercenaries. Tyrion Lannister was in charge as acting Hand. To avoid becoming overwhelmed by the sheer numbers, Tyrion was determined to attack forces who would reach the riverbank on the city site before they could establish themselves. The sorties were led by Sandor Clegane. They were very successful until a lot of burned ships drifted together and could be used as a natural bridge. Clegane refused to led another sortie because of his fear of fire. That the aggressive and always courageous Sandor was afraid unnerved the cities defenders. Tyrion realized that they still needed to hold the riverbank and let the next sortie himself. Again the Kingslanders were able to clear the riverbank. But during the destruction of the natural bridge, Tyrion was lost when Ser Mandon Moore of the Kingsguard attempted to assassinate him. The defenders retreated to the city and Stannis was able to transport enough men over the river to start the attack on the city. At that time Cersei made Joffrey, who had the whole time been near the city walls to bolster the morale of the defence, retreat to the Red Keep. The city watch saw the king retreat and a lot of them ran away, killing their commander when he commanded them to resume fighting.
[edit] Arrival of Tywin Lannister
In the mean time, Stannis's forces had attacked and taken two city ports. The Baratheon forces were on the brink of victory when a huge combined Lannister-Tyrell army arrived. The Baratheon army left the city to turn to the new army.
The van of the army was led by Garlan Tyrell disguised in the armor of Renly Baratheon. This led some to think that Renly had risen from the dead and fought as a ghost for Joffrey. Some followers of Stannis now began to flee. Garlan was challenged to a fight by Ser Guyard Morrigan. In a personal fight Garlan killed him. Under heavy pressure from the much larger army of Tywin, a number of former Stannis supporters went over to Tywin. After that the battle ended quickly in a great victory for the crown.
Stannis and a small group of loyal followers managed to escape back to Dragonstone.
