Siege of Riverrun

From A Wiki of Ice and Fire
Revision as of 23:08, 16 August 2013 by Rhaena Targaryen (talk | contribs)
Jump to: navigation, search
The Siege of Riverrun
Siege of Riverrun.jpg
© Fantasy Flight Games
Conflict War of the Five Kings
Date 300 AL
Place Riverrun
Result Lannister victory
Combatants
Iron Throne
House Tully
Commanders
Ser Daven Lannister, Warden of the West
Ser Ryman Frey
Ser Brynden Tully, Warden of the Southern Marches
Strength
2,000 Frey men under Ser Ryman and unknown strength under Ser Daven
later reinforced by 1,000 men under Ser Jaime
unknown
Casualties
unknown unknown

The Siege of Riverrun took place near the end of War of the Five Kings. Ser Brynden Tully was besieged by the combined forces of House Lannister and House Frey in an effort to remove House Tully and install the newly raised House Frey of Riverrun.

The Siege

After the Red Wedding, Riverland nobility offered terms to the Iron Throne, the support for the Stark - Tully kingdom slipping away. House Lannister, supported by their new allies, House Frey, besieged Riverrun in an effort to remove the final vestiges of resistance in the Riverlands and install Ser Emmon Frey as the new Lord of Riverrun, as the terms of the alliance between the Freys and Lannisters dictated. Ser Daven Lannister, the new Warden of the West, was sent to command the siege.[1]

Ser Brynden Tully, anticipating the siege, gathered all the foodstuffs and goods he could within the castle, expelled all the unnecessary mouths and prepared for a long siege. Ser Ryman Frey, the commander of the House Frey forces, brought out Lord Edmure Tully, who had been captured at the Red Wedding and threatened to hang him daily unless the castle surrendered. He never went through with his threat and the siege continued.[2]

The siege was broken when Ser Jaime Lannister, arriving with reinforcements, had Ser Ryman dismissed and had Lord Edmure brought to him and explained what would happen should the Lannister forces have to storm the castle.

"You've seen our numbers, Edmure. You've seen the ladders, the towers, the trebuchets, the rams. If I speak the command, my coz will bridge your moat and break your gate. Hundreds will die, most of them your own. Your former bannermen will make up the first wave of attackers, so you'll start your day by killing the fathers and brothers of men who died for you at the Twins. The second wave will be Freys, I have no lack of those. My westermen will follow when your archers are short of arrows and your knights so weary they can hardly lift their blades. When the castle falls, all those inside will be put to the sword. Your herds will be butchered, your godswood will be felled, your keeps and towers will burn. I'll pull your walls down, and divert the Tumblestone over the ruins. By the time I'm done no man will ever know that a castle once stood here." Jaime got to his feet. "Your wife may whelp before that. You'll want your child, I expect. I'll send him to you when he's born. With a trebuchet."[3]

Lord Edmure agreed to talk to his uncle. Lord Edmure surrendered the castle the next day but not before letting his uncle, Ser Brynden, escape, which did not please Ser Jaime.[4]

Aftermath

Lord Edmure was sent to Casterly Rock, accompanied by Jeyne Westerling, the wife and Queen of the late Robb Stark, who had been within Riverrun when it was surrendered. Ser Brynden Tully escaped. Ser Ryman was found hanged, his attackers unknown, though his son had several ideas as to who was behind his father's murder. House Frey of Riverrun was established and Ser Jaime set out to end the fight between Houses Blackwood and Bracken.[4]

References and Notes