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|---|---|---|---|---|
 Lancel IV Lannister by Mike S Miller for The Sworn Sword graphic novel | ||||
| Monarch | ||||
| Full name | Lancel Lannister, the Fourth of His Name | |||
| Title | King of the Rock | |||
| Personal Information | ||||
| Died | Red Lake in the Reach | |||
| Culture | Andal | |||
| Family | ||||
| Dynasty | House Lannister | |||
| References | ||||
| Books |
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Lancel IV Lannister was a King of the Rock from House Lannister of Casterly Rock.
History
Lancel IV is said to have beheaded the ironborn king Harrald Halfdrowned and his heir during the Battle of Lann's Point.[1], with a single stroke of Brightroar, the Valyrian steel greatsword of House Lannister[1] (however, it was probably a common steel sword of the same name, which has been conflated with the Valyrian blade).[N 1]
When Gyles III Gardener, King of the Reach, was away battling the Storm King in the east, Lancel attempted to cut a piece out of the Reach for himself. According to Ser Eustace Osgrey, his ancestor Wilbert fought against Lancel as the Osgreys were Marshals of the Northmarch. Although Lancel nearly cut Ser Wilbert in half with Brightroar, the dying Little Lion was able to stab his dagger through a gap in Lancel's armor to kill the king.[2] Eustace claimed Lancel's men returned to the westerlands after Lancel's death, as they did not want to fight on after the death of their king.[2]
According to Maester Yandel, Lancel IV died at Red Lake during his invasion of the Reach.[1] Yandel writes that Gyles halted his own conquest and returned home to the Reach to deal with Lancel's westermen.[4] Had Lancel not invaded the Reach, Gyles might have been able to complete his conquest in the stormlands.[4]
Notes
- ↑ Lancel IV Lannister and Gyles III Gardener were contemporaries.[2][3] As stated by Maester Yandel, they participated in a war involving two kings from the riverlands and three from Dorne,[4] indicating an era prior to the riverlands being ruled by House Durrandon and Dorne being ruled by House Martell (centuries before Aegon's Conquest). Ser Eustace Osgrey says that Lancel IV or Lancel V wielded a Valyrian steel sword,[2] and Yandel writes that Lancel IV wielded the Valyrian steel sword Brightroar and that House Lannister had acquired the blade in the century before the Doom of Valyria (which occurred a century before the Conquest).[1] According to Elio García, before the Valyrian version of it, the Lannisters had probably wielded other swords named Brightroar, made instead of common steel, and the stories of their actions became merged with the last one (like with Ice or Lady Forlorn).[5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The World of Ice & Fire, The Westerlands.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 The Sworn Sword.
- ↑ George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Wilbert Osgrey.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 The World of Ice & Fire, The Reach: Andals in the Reach.
- ↑ asoiaf.westeros.org: The ASOIAF wiki thread Comment by Ran (November 16, 2025)