House Lothston

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House Lothston of Harrenhal
Coat of arms A black bat on per bend silver and gold
(Per bend argent and or, a bat sable)
Seat Harrenhal
Head Extinct
Region The riverlands
Title Lord of Harrenhal
Overlord House Tully
Vassal House Whent[1]
Founder Lord Lucas Lothston (House Lothston of Harrenhal)
Founded 151 AC (House Lothston of Harrenhal)
Died out 221–233 AC[N 1]

House Lothston of Harrenhal is an extinct house from Harrenhal in the riverlands. Their arms were a black bat on a field divided bendwise, silver and gold.[3][4] They held Harrenhal until three or four generations before A Song of Ice and Fire, and were a powerful house that once loomed large in the histories of the Seven Kingdoms.[5]

History

Falena Stokeworth and Jeyne Lothston by Rae Lavergne ©

Knights

In 42 AC, Ser Guy Lothston was slain defending Maegor I Targaryen during the king's Trial of Seven.[6]

Ser Lucas Lothston was the grandson of a hedge knight. In 135 AC, after the secret siege and the failed plot against King Aegon III Targaryen, Lucas was named master-at-arms of the Red Keep by Lord Torrhen Manderly to replace Ser Gareth Long. Lucas earned the respect of Prince Viserys Targaryen and his elder brother, King Aegon III.[7]

Lords of Harrenhal

In 149 AC, Falena Stokeworth became the first mistress of Prince Aegon Targaryen, making him "a man" when the prince was fourteen. When a knight of the Kingsguard found them abed together in 151 AC, his father, Prince Viserys, desired to remove Falena from court at King's Landing. Viserys married her to Ser Lucas, and convinced King Aegon III to gift his master-at-arms with Harrenhal, as the previous holders of the castle, House Strong, had died out as a result of the Dance of the Dragons.[8][1] House Lothston became the sixth noble house to rule as Lords of Harrenhal.[1]

In 178 AC, Falena came to court with her daughter (by Lucas or by Aegon), Jeyne, who became the eighth of King Aegon IV Targaryen's mistresses. Lord Lucas was made Hand of the King, and it was rumored that the king enjoyed mother and daughter in the same bed.[8] This possibly resulted in Lucas receiving the derogatory title "The Pander".[4][N 2] However, after Jeyne caught a pox from the king, Lucas was removed as Hand and the Lothstons were all sent away from court.[8]

The Bastard of Harrenhal was defeated by Ser Arlan of Pennytree in the melee at a tourney held at King's Landing in 193 AC.[10]

Danelle Lothston, by scrapchap ©

The Lothstons of Harrenhal had a bad reputation; Lord Lucas Lothston and his son Manfryd, for example, were renowned for their black deeds.[4] According to Ser Eustace Osgrey, Manfred Lothston betrayed Daemon Blackfyre in the First Blackfyre Rebellion.[11] Lady Danelle Lothston, called Mad Danelle, was said to send giant bats out to capture children for her cookpots, to have bathed in blood, and to have feasted on human flesh.[12][13]

In 212 AC, when Lord Bloodraven marched on the wedding tourney at Whitewalls to quash the Second Blackfyre Rebellion, among the river lords who came in support was Lady Danelle.[14]

The downfall of House Lothston came when Danelle turned to the black arts, causing chaos.[1] The last Lothston was killed with the help of an ancestor of Ser Illifer the Penniless in unknown circumstances.[4] After the line ended during the reign of King Maekar I Targaryen, the lordship of Harrenhal was given to House Whent, knights who had first served the Lothstons but then helped to defeat the mad family.[1] The blacksmith Ben Blackthumb worked as a boy for Lord Lothston, and later for the grandfather and father of Lady Shella Whent.[15]

Recent Events

A Storm of Swords

For his ride back to King's Landing, Ser Jaime Lannister uses a shield found in the armory of Harrenhal with the arms of House Lothston, thinking that because the Lothstons are all dead, no one will bother him for using arms that are not his own.[3]

A Feast for Crows

Jaime gives the heavy oaken shield to Brienne of Tarth when she departs King's Landing to find Sansa Stark.[4] On the road, Brienne encounters a hedge knight, Ser Illifer the Penniless, who chastises her for using the Lothston arms, and mentions an ancestor who helped kill the last of the Lothstons.[4] When Brienne gets to Duskendale, a captain at the gate tells her that the black bat arms are of ill repute. Brienne has the shield re-painted by the captain's sister, who is not pleased to see the black bat either, as she is reminded of her mother's frightening tale about Mad Danelle.[12]

Lord Petyr Baelish uses the extinction of House Lothston as an example of the fate of those who claim to own Harrenhal.[16]

Jaime Lannister returns to Harrenhal, and learns that Ser Gregor Clegane forced some of his captives to commit cannibalism there. Jaime remembers the stories of Lady Danelle Lothston, who bathed in tubs of blood and presided over feasts of human flesh.[13]

A Dance with Dragons

Jon Lothston serves with the Golden Company in Essos. He may or not be genuinely of House Lothston, as in the free companies a man can call himself whatever he chooses.[5]

House Lothston at the end of the third century

The known Lothstons during the timespan of the events described in A Song of Ice and Fire are:

Historical Members

Quotes

He found an old shield in the armory, battered and splintered, the chipped paint still showing most of the great black bat of House Lothston upon a field of silver and gold. The Lothstons held Harrenhal before the Whents and had been a powerful family in their day, but they had died out ages ago, so no one was likely to object to him bearing their arms.[3]

—thoughts of Jaime Lannister

You bear a liar's shield, to which you have no right. My grandfather's grandfather helped kill the last o' Lothston. None since has dared to show that bat, black as the deeds of them that bore it.[4]

—Illifer the Penniless to Brienne of Tarth

The black bat of Lothston. Those are arms of ill repute.[12]

—Duskendale captain regarding Brienne of Tarth's shield

Notes

  1. ↑ Danelle Lothston turned to the black arts during the reign of Maekar I Targaryen, causing chaos and the downfall of the Lothston line.[1] Maekar reigned from 221 AC to 233 AC.[2]
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 It is unclear whether Lucas Lothston, Falena Stokeworth's husband, is the same character as the Lucas Lothston called the Pander.[4] However, a pander is a pimp,[9] which would be a logical aspersion after Falena and Lucas arranged for their daughter Jeyne to become the mistress of Aegon IV Targaryen, and especially since it was rumored Falena was also Aegon's lover at the same time.[8]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 The World of Ice & Fire, The Riverlands: House Tully.
  2. ↑ A Game of Thrones, Appendix.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 44, Jaime VI.
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 4, Brienne I.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 24, The Lost Lord.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Fire & Blood, The Sons of the Dragon.
  7. ↑ Fire & Blood, The Lysene Spring and the End of Regency.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon IV.
  9. ↑ Wiktionary: Pander
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 The Hedge Knight.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 The Sworn Sword.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 9, Brienne II.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 27, Jaime III.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 The Mystery Knight.
  15. ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 47, Arya IX.
  16. ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 23, Alayne I.
  17. ↑ Fire & Blood, Under the Regents - War and Peace and Cattle Shows.
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