Battle of the Trident
| Battle of the Trident | |||||||||||||||||
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 Location 4, Factions:Baratheon. Stark. Tyrell. Lannister. Targaryen. | |||||||||||||||||
| Conflict | Robert's Rebellion | ||||||||||||||||
| Date | 283 AC | ||||||||||||||||
| Place | The Trident | ||||||||||||||||
| Result | Decisive rebel victory | ||||||||||||||||
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The Battle of the Trident was the battle that ultimately determined the outcome of Robert's Rebellion. The battle was fought between rebel and royal troops at the Trident, across what would thereafter be known as the ruby ford. It ended in a victory for the rebels.
Contents
Background
After Lord Jon Connington's defeat in the Battle of the Bells, King Aerys II Targaryen at last realized that the rebellion was a major threat to House Targaryen, perhaps the greatest threat to the dynasty since Daemon Blackfyre.[3] Lord Robert Baratheon left Stoney Sept for Riverrun, where Lords Jon Arryn and Eddard Stark married the daughters of Lord Hoster Tully in a double wedding. Around the time of the Trident, Robert announced his claim for the Iron Throne[4] and led the combined Arryn, Baratheon, Stark, and Tully host of rebels.[5]
King Aerys's heir, the crown prince Rhaegar Targaryen, returned from Dorne to take command of the royalist army.[6] Aerys gracelessly reminded the Martells that Princess Elia was in his power and dispatched her uncle, Prince Lewyn Martell of the Kingsguard, to assume command of ten thousand Dornishmen marching up the kingsroad, and joined them to Rhaegar's royalist army en route to the Trident. At the same time, Ser Barristan Selmy and Ser Jonothor Darry, also of the Kingsguard, were sent to rally the scattered forces of Lord Connington. Additionally, Rhaegar persuaded his father to ask for help from his old Hand of the King, Lord Tywin Lannister.[3]
Led by the loyalist lords Mace Tyrell and Paxter Redwyne, the Redwyne fleet and most levies from the Reach were at the siege of Storm's End.[7] Some of Mace's men joined Rhaegar's host, however, according to a semi-canon source.[1]
Opposing armies
Rebel Army
The army of the rebels consisted of:
- Forces from the north, including Houses House Bolton,[8] Karstark,[9] Manderly,[10] Mormont,[11] Stark,[9] and Umber.[12]
- Forces from the Vale of Arryn, including Houses Arryn and Corbray,[13] though a few houses had remained loyal to the Targaryens earlier in the war, like the Graftons.[14]
- Forces from the riverlands, although the riverlords were deeply divided during the war. House Tully and many subject lords, including House Mallister,[15] took the side of the rebels, while other houses, such as Houses Darry, Goodbrook, Mooton, and Ryger, some with personal ties to the Targaryens, took up the royal cause.[7][16] House Frey, the largest of the houses sworn to House Tully, was slow to gather their levies.[17]
- Some of the stormlands. Though Robert Baratheon was the Lord of Storm's End and a central figure of the rebellion, most of the stormlords were trapped in the south, and badly bloodied by Ashford and the siege of Storm's End. As such, their contribution north of the stormlands appears to have been limited.
Royal Army
The army of the House Targaryen royalists consisted of:
- Ten thousand Dornishmen in service to House Martell.
- Survivors of the Battle of the Bells. These may have included loyal riverlords, stormlords, and Valemen.
- Houses of the crownlands, including Houses Boggs, Brune, and Crabb from Crackclaw Point.[18]
- A sizable host from the Reach.[1]
The Targaryen host had nearly forty thousand men, with at most a tenth of them knights. The rest were archers, freeriders, and foot soldiers consisting of spearmen and pikemen.[2] The royalists were more numerous, but the rebels were more battle hardened.[19]
Battle
The battle took place at the chief crossing of the Trident, near the crossroads of the river road and the kingsroad,[20] when Rhaegar Targaryen tried to cross the river.[21] Robert Baratheon used his booming voice to command during the fighting.[22]
Dornishmen under the command of Prince Lewyn Martell threatened Robert's left flank. When Lord Corbray fell wounded, Ser Lyn Corbray picked up his father's Valyrian steel sword, Lady Forlorn, and led a charge which broke the Dornishmen. During the charge, Lyn killed the already-injured Lewyn.[13]
Elsewhere during the battle, Ser Barristan Selmy killed a dozen friends of Robert and Eddard Stark,[8] while his fellow sworn brother Ser Jonothor Darry was cut down in the midst of the conflict.[23] In addition to Jonothor, three of Lord Darry's sons also died fighting for House Targaryen,[24] while Mors Umber's sons were killed fighting for the Rebellion.[12] Lord Jason Mallister slew three of Rhaegar's bannermen.[15] The Elder Brother, a knight serving a lord who served a lord who chose to support King Aerys, was shot in the thigh and the foot before he was knocked unconscious and fell into the Trident, where he was stripped of his armor and possessions by those who thought him dead.[25]
Though many great lords and knights either lost their lives or made names for themselves in the fighting, the battle was decided when Robert and Rhaegar met in single combat on horseback in the stream. Robert eventually crushed Rhaegar's chest with a blow of his warhammer, which had been made by Donal Noye.[26] The blow was so hard that the rubies adorning Rhaegar's armor were shattered free to litter the river, giving the ruby ford its name.[27] Leaderless, the royal army broke and fled[2] back to King's Landing.[28]
Wounded by arrow, spear, and sword,[29] Barristan was close to death when he was brought before Robert. Although he was counseled to kill him by Lord Roose Bolton, Robert spared Barristan's life and sent his own maester to tend to his adversary's wounds.[8] Lord Grandison died a year later from wounds sustained in the fighting.[30] Lord Wyman Manderly granted the Wolf's Den to Ser Bartimus as a reward for saving his life during the battle.[10]
The son of Lord Goodbrook made peace with Lord Hoster Tully and Robert after the battle.[16] Lord Walder Frey arrived after the fighting was over, so Hoster has since called him "the Late Lord Frey" and questioned his bannerman's loyalty.[17][31]
Aftermath
The battle was the decisive engagement of the war. When King's Landing learned of Prince Rhaegar's death, King Aerys II Targaryen sent the pregnant Queen Rhaella with Prince Viserys to Dragonstone. Aerys kept Elia Martell and her children at the Red Keep as a threat against Doran Martell, Prince of Dorne, however, since the Mad King thought he had been betrayed by Doran's uncle, Prince Lewyn, at the Trident.[3]
The way to King's Landing was now open for the rebels, with the only significant loyalist force left invested in the siege of Storm's End. The rebels also learned that Lord Tywin Lannister was heading toward King's Landing. Lord Robert Baratheon had been wounded during the battle, so Lord Eddard Stark led Robert's vanguard down the kingsroad towards the capital, racing to reach it before the Lannisters.[28] Tywin arrived first, however, and Grand Maester Pycelle convinced the Mad King to open the city gates, resulting in the Sack of King's Landing.[3]
Robert succeeded Aerys on the Iron Throne,[27] with Barristan included among those pardoned by the new king.[11] Lord Mace Tyrell yielded to Lord Stark after the Trident, ending the siege of Storm's End,[32] and Eddard continued south to the tower of joy.[33] Queen Cersei Lannister, Robert's new wife, came to believe that the wrong man died at the Trident.[34]
Recent Events
A Game of Thrones
Recalling the stories told to her by her brother Viserys, Daenerys Targaryen sometimes imagines how their late brother Rhaegar died for the woman he loved. Viserys desires to avenge Rhaegar's death by killing King Robert I Baratheon.[35]
Unhappy as king, Robert admits to his childhood friend, Lord Eddard Stark, that he sometimes regrets the outcome of the Trident and that he was unable to save Eddard's sister, Lyanna, during the war.[27]
Arya Stark and Mycah leave the inn at the crossroads[36] to look for any of Rhaegar's rubies remaining in the ruby ford.[37]
A feverish Eddard has a fever dream of the tower of joy in which he tells Ser Arthur Dayne, Ser Oswell Whent, and Ser Gerold Hightower that he had unsuccessfully looked for the three Kingsguard on the Trident.[33]
A Clash of Kings
Ser Edmure Tully thinks of Rhaegar's fate while planning the Battle of the Fords against Lord Tywin Lannister.[38]
While in the House of the Undying in Qarth, Daenerys has a vision of a dying prince sinking to his knees in water and murmuring a woman's name as he dies.[39]
A Storm of Swords
Daenerys dreams she is Rhaegar at the Trident. She flies atop a dragon and melts the ice-armored host of the Usurper with dragonfire.[40]
A Feast for Crows
Brienne of Tarth meets the Elder Brother of the Quiet Isle, who says he "died" in the Battle of the Trident and was reborn on the island.[25]
A Dance with Dragons
Lord Jon Connington regrets his failure to slay Robert in the Battle of the Bells, as it would have prevented Rhaegar's death in the Battle of the Trident.[41] Jon supports Rhaegar's presumed son, Aegon Targaryen, in his campaign for the Iron Throne.[42]
Ser Bartimus drunkenly boasts to Lord Davos Seaworth about having saved the life of Lord Wyman Manderly at the Trident.[10]
Quotes
The battle screamed about Lord Robert and Prince Rhaegar both, and by the will of the gods, or by chance-or perhaps by design-they met amidst the shallows of the ford. The two knights fought valiantly upon their destriers, according to all accounts. For despite his crimes, Prince Rhaegar was no coward.[19]
—writings of Yandel
They had come together at the ford of the Trident while the battle crashed around them, Robert with his warhammer and his great antlered helm, the Targaryen prince armored all in black. On his breastplate was the three-headed dragon of his House, wrought all in rubies that flashed like fire in the sunlight. The waters of the Trident ran red around the hooves of their destriers as they circled and clashed, again and again, until at last a crushing blow from Robert's hammer stove in the dragon and the chest beneath it. When Ned had finally come on the scene, Rhaegar lay dead in the stream, while men of both armies scrabbled in the swirling waters for rubies knocked free of his armor.[27]
—thoughts of Eddard Stark
Daenerys: At the Trident, those brave men Viserys spoke of who died beneath our dragon banners—did they give their lives because they believed in Rhaegar's cause, or because they had been bought and paid for?
Jorah: My queen, all you say is true. But Rhaegar lost on the Trident. He lost the battle, he lost the war, he lost the kingdom, and he lost his life. His blood swirled downriver with the rubies from his breastplate, and Robert the Usurper rode over his corpse to steal the Iron Throne. Rhaegar fought valiantly, Rhaegar fought nobly, Rhaegar fought honorably. And Rhaegar died.[44]
It is time to cross the Trident, Dany thought, as she wheeled and rode her silver back.[40]
—thoughts of Daenerys Targaryen before the fall of Astapor
The battle was a bloody thing. The singers would have us believe it was all Rhaegar and Robert struggling in the stream for a woman both of them claimed to love, but I assure you, other men were fighting too, and I was one.[25]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 So Spake Martin: The Siege of Storm’s End (July 18, 1999).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 36, Daenerys IV.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 37, Jaime V.
- ↑ So Spake Martin: US Signing Tour (Huntington Beach, CA) (November 19, 2005).
- ↑ George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Robert Baratheon.
- ↑ George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Rhaegar Targaryen.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 27, Eddard VI.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 33, Eddard VIII.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 20, Catelyn III.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 29, Davos IV.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 57, Daenerys V.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 17, Jon IV.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 23, Alayne I.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 9, Davos I.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 29, Sansa II.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 43, Arya VIII.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 28, Catelyn V.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 20, Brienne IV.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The Fall of the Dragons: Robert's Rebellion.
- ↑ George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Ruby Ford.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 39, Arya VII.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 30, Eddard VII.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Fall of the Dragons: Robert's Rebellion.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 16, Eddard III.
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 31, Brienne VI.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 19, Jon III.
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 4, Eddard I.
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 12, Eddard II.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 67, Jaime VIII.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 36, Davos IV.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 45, Catelyn V.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 19, Tyrion III.
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 39, Eddard X.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 32, Cersei VII.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 3, Daenerys I.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 74, Arya XIII.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 15, Sansa I.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 39, Catelyn V.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 48, Daenerys IV.
- ↑ 40.0 40.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 27, Daenerys III.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 24, The Lost Lord.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 61, The Griffin Reborn.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 27, Daenerys II.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 23, Daenerys II.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 24, Cersei V.
- Robert's Rebellion
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