Saltpans is a town in the riverlands that sits on the Bay of Crabs. It is the seat of House Cox, although semi-canon sources indicate that House Hawick is also from the town.[1]
Layout
There are shops and inns and alehouses by the harbor of Saltpans, as well as a sept and a stable.[2] Industries in the town include fishing and trading salt across the narrow sea.[2][3]
The small castle of House Cox dominates Saltpans. Little more than a holdfast, it consists of a single tall square keep with a bailey and a curtain wall.[2]
The Quiet Isle is a nearby island in the Bay of Crabs, some distance to the southeast; the fires of Saltpans can be seen from the isle on clear nights.[3]
History
The river kings of old refused charters which would have allowed towns like Fairmarket, Lord Harroway's Town, and Saltpans to expand and potentially become cities.[4]
Saltpans has never been an important trading port, but ships do call there from time to time.[3]
Recent Events
A Storm of Swords
Arya Stark arrives at Saltpans six days after abandoning the dying Sandor Clegane by the banks of the Trident. Arya sees that most of the shops and inns and alehouses around the harbor have been plundered or burned from the War of the Five Kings, though some still look inhabited. After trading her horse for silver, she manages to procure passage on a Braavosi ship, Titan's Daughter, using the iron coin given to her by Jaqen H'ghar.[2]
A Feast for Crows
The crew of Titan's Daughter refer to Arya as Salty since she boarded the ship at Saltpans.[5]
A raven arrives in King's Landing from the septry at the Quiet Isle, saying that Saltpans has been savagely raided by a band of outlaws, and some of the survivors claim a roaring brute in a hound's head helmm was amongst the raiders. Supposedly Sandor Clegane killed a dozen men and raped a twelve-year-old girl who had been promised to the Faith.[6][7] Later reports say that all that remains of the town is the castle of Ser Quincy Cox, and the rest is bones and ashes.[8][3][9] Those who were at sea during the raid only returned to bury their kin.[3]
On the Quiet Isle, the Elder Brother informs Brienne of Tarth more of what happened at Saltpans. He has treated some of the survivors, when the fisherfolk brought them across the bay to him, after the flames had gone out and they deemed it safe to land. The Elder Brother tells Brienne that the raiders wanted a galley or a cog to carry them across the narrow sea. When none was at hand, they took their rage and desperation out upon the townsfolk.[3]
The Elder Brother tells Brienne that it was not Sandor Clegane who had led the massacre, as the Hound had died by the Trident, but another man who found his hound's head helm that the Elder Brother had left on his grave.[3] Later, Brienne learns that it was in fact Rorge, wearing the helm, who committed the atrocities, along with his companion Biter. The rest of the raiders were members of the Brave Companions.[10][9]
The fishermen and others who escaped the assault eventually abandon the town, with most of them going to Maidenpool, leaving nothing behind in Saltpans other than Quincy's castle.[3]
Quotes
A small castle dominated the town; no more than a holdfast, really, a single tall square keep with a bailey and a curtain wall. Most of the shops and inns and alehouses around the harbor had been plundered or burned, though some looked still inhabited. But the port was there, and eastward spread the Bay of Crabs, its waters shimmering blue and green in the sun.[2]
—thoughts of Arya Stark
Saltpans was the work of some fell beast in human skin.[8]
Saltpans was never an important port, but ships did call there from time to time. That was what the raiders wanted, a galley or a cog to carry them across the narrow sea. When none was at hand, they took their rage and desperation out upon the townsfolk.[3]
At Saltpans, they had found only death and desolation. By the time Brienne and her companions were ferried over from the Quiet Isle, the survivors had fled and the dead had been given to the ground, but the corpse of the town itself remained, ashen and unburied.[9]
—thoughts of Brienne Tarth
References
- ↑ The Citadel. Heraldry: Houses in the Riverlands
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 74, Arya XIII.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 31, Brienne VI.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Riverlands.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 6, Arya I.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 12, Cersei III.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 28, Cersei VI.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 30, Jaime IV.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 37, Brienne VII.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 20, Brienne IV.