The harp is a musical instrument of the plucked string family. It is popular in Westeros amongst all of society, and is often used to accompany a song. The high harp is mentioned as making soft, sweet sounds.[1] A musician who plays the harp is called a harpist[2] or harper.[3]
Culture
According to a semi-canon source, the arms of House Orme is three golden harps on black, gold and silver bendy sinister.[4]
History
Ser Tom the Strummer, the young Jaehaerys I's court singer,[5] was either a lutenist or a harper judging by his epithet.
According to Archmaester Gyldayn, Simon Dondarrion was as skilled with the high harp as he was at jousting.[6]
When Michael Manwoody died, Princess Elaena Targaryen commanded that his effigy be made carrying a harp, instead of the sword and spurs that are commonly used in a knight's effigy.[7]
Lord Pearse Caron was a harper, singer, and knight of renown, and had his personal arms emblazoned with a silver harp.[8]
Prince Rhaegar Targaryen loved his silver-stringed harp more than he loved his lance.[9] Rhaegar often liked to visit the ruins of Summerhall with only his harp, and when he returned, he sang songs of such beauty they could reduce women to tears.[10] During the tournament in honor of Viserys's birth in 276 AC, Rhaegar's harp playing made Cersei Lannister cry,[11] and during a visit to Griffin's Roost, he played a song on his harp that made every woman in the Great Hall cry.[12]
Lord Jorah Mormont attempted to reproduce the luxurious lifestyle of his young wife, Lynesse Hightower, by hired a new cook from Oldtown and a harper from Lannisport, but the poor lord was unable to keep her in a life of luxury.[3]
Symon Silver Tongue learned to play the harp from an old master who believed each man has his song.[13]
Recent Events
A Game of Thrones
During the feast in honor of King Robert's visit to Winterfell, Orland of Oldtown, Robert's royal harper and bard,[14] plays the high harp and sings of dead kings beneath the sea.[15]
When they are attacked by Vale mountain clans on the high road, the singer Marillion has several broken ribs and four broken fingers on his playing hand, and his woodharp is also destroyed,[16] but he acquires a new woodharp at the Eyrie.[17]
Having been accused of making a song ridiculing the late King Robert I Baratheon, a plump tavern singer is given his woodharp to play in front of the court.[18]
A Clash of Kings
During the feast at Bitterbridge, Guyard Morrigen sings and plays the harp.[19]
Lancel Lannister sings The Seasons of My Love to Cersei Lannister, accompanied by a high harp mingled with a trilling of pipes.[2]
In order to plant the idea of Ser Loras Tyrell joining the Kingsguard, Lord Petyr Baelish slips a few silvers to Lord Tyrell's army of singers to sing of Ryam Redwyne, Serwyn of the Mirror Shield, and Prince Aemon the Dragonknight. He tells Sansa Stark that a harp can be as dangerous as a sword in the right hands.[20]
When Ser Edmure Tully returns to Riverrun after the Battle of the Fords, the castle is celebrating, with Rymund the Rhymer playing his harp.[21]
In one of Daenerys Targaryen's visions in the House of the Undying, Prince Rhaegar Targaryen picks up a harp, and runs his fingers lightly over its silver strings. Sweet sadness fills the room as the vision fades, and only the music lingers behind.[22]
During the Battle of the Blackwater, a harper sings beautiful, sad songs in the Queen's Ballroom at the Red Keep.[23]
A Storm of Swords
When Arstan Whitebeard tells Daenerys that he had the privilege of hearing her brother Rhaegar play his harp, Ser Jorah Mormont scoffs, as many would have heard Rhaegar perform at some harvest feast.[24]
When Leonette Fossoway comes to King's Landing she gives Sansa Stark lessons in the high harp.[25]
The harp is played, mixed with flute and pipes, at the wedding ceremony of Tyrion Lannister and Sansa Stark.[26]
Hamish the Harper and Orland of Oldtown, among many other singers, are invited to compete for a golden lute at the royal wedding of King Joffrey Baratheon and Margaery Tyrell.[13] At the wedding feast, Hamish the Harper performs "Lord Renly's Ride", "A Rose of Gold", and "The Rains of Castamere".[27]
When the Mad Huntsman returns to Stoney Sept, his hounds are soothed by the woodharp of Tom of Sevenstreams,[28] who tells his companions that Lady Lysa Arryn once sent him up the high road, where the Moon Brothers took his gold, horse, and clothes. He walked up to the Gates of the Moon with nothing but his harp. There the guards made him sing two songs before letting him pass.[29]
A Feast for Crows
An ensemble of pipes, fiddles, a flute, and a high harp perform during the wedding feast of King Tommen Baratheon and Margaery Tyrell.[30]
Brienne of Tarth reminisces about the feasts that Mace Tyrell would host for Renly Baratheon, whilst highborn maids and lovely ladies danced to the music of pipe, horn, and harp.[31]
Music soothes Lord Robert Arryn, the high harp especially.[32]
A Dance with Dragons
Rylona Rhee plays her harp while Daenerys is entertaining guests, but the Sons of the Harpy later break into her house and cut off her fingers before killing her.[33]
Known harpists
- Ser Tom the Strummer (possibly), the Bard of Flea Bottom, Jaehaerys I Targaryen's first court singer.[5]
- Dareon, who plays a woodharp.[34]
- Domeric Bolton, who played the high harp.[35]
- Guyard Morrigen [19]
- Hamish the Harper[27]
- Leonette Fossoway, who plays the high harp.[25]
- Marillion, who plays a woodharp.[36]
- Michael Manwoody[37]
- Queen Naerys Targaryen[38]
- Lord Pearse Caron[8]
- Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, who played a high harp with silver strings.[9][11]
- Rylona Rhee[33]
- Sansa Stark, who plays the high harp.[39][40]
- Lord Simon Dondarrion, who played the high harp.[6]
- Symon Silver Tongue, who plays a twelve-stringed woodharp.[13]
- Tom of Sevenstreams, who plays a woodharp.[41]
- Unnamed brother on the Quiet Isle, who plays the high harp.[1]
- Rymund the Rhymer[21]
Quotes
—thoughts of Tyrion Lannister
When you heard him play his high harp with the silver strings and sing of twilights and tears and the death of kings, you could not but feel that he was singing of himself and those he loved.[9]
Many a night she had watched Prince Rhaegar in the hall, playing his silver-stringed harp with those long, elegant fingers of his. Had any man ever been so beautiful?[11]
—thoughts of Cersei Lannister
Lord Petyr has been kind enough to let me keep my harp. My harp ... and my tongue ... so I may sing my songs.[42]
—Marillion to Nestor Royce, after being tortured
At the welcoming feast, the prince had taken up his silver-stringed harp and played for them. A song of love and doom, Jon Connington recalled, and every woman in the hall was weeping when he put down the harp.[12]
—thoughts of Jon Connington
A harp can be as dangerous as a sword, in the right hands.[20]
Theories
It has been speculated that Ned placed Rhaegar Targaryen's famous silver-stringed harp inside Lyanna's tomb in the crypts, as a means to provide proof of Jon Snow's true parantage.[43]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 31, Brienne VI.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 25, Tyrion VI.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 12, Daenerys I.
- ↑ The Citadel. Heraldry: Houses in the Reach
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Fire & Blood, The Year of the Three Brides - 49 AC.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Fire & Blood, Birth, Death, and Betrayal Under King Jaehaerys I.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Baelor I.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 The Hedge Knight.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 42, Daenerys IV.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 24, Cersei V.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 61, The Griffin Reborn.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 32, Tyrion IV.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Appendix.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 7, Jon I.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 31, Tyrion IV.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 38, Tyrion V.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 67, Sansa VI.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 22, Catelyn II.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 61, Sansa V.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 45, Catelyn VI.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 48, Daenerys IV.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 60, Sansa VI.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 8, Daenerys I.
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 16, Sansa II.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 28, Sansa III.
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 60, Tyrion VIII.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 34, Arya VI.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 43, Arya VIII.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 12, Cersei III.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 14, Brienne III.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 41, Alayne II.
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 11, Daenerys II.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 15, Samwell II.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 32, Reek III.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 28, Catelyn V.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Sisters of Baelor I.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Viserys II.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 7, Arya I.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 6, Sansa I.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 22, Arya IV.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 10, Sansa I.
- ↑ A Forum of Ice and Fire: A Theory: The possibly game-changing secret beneath the Winterfell Crypts, November 18, 2013