| Whitewalls | |
|---|---|
| Castle | |
 Whitewalls, by Mike S. Miller | |
| Location | Riverlands, Westeros |
| Government | House Butterwell, feudal lord |
| Religion | Faith of the Seven |
| Founded | 171 AC |
| Destroyed | 212 AC |
| Notable places | great hall, lord's bedchamber, sept |
Whitewalls, nicknamed the Milkhouse, was the second castle of House Butterwell.[1] Its location on maps has not yet been published, but it was located in the riverlands.[2] The castle was built near the Gods Eye,[3] with the Butterwell lands on the eastern shore of the lake.[N 1] Whitewalls was closer to Maidenpool than to King's Landing.[1]
Layout
Costly to build, the castle's walls, keep, and towers were made of white stone quarried in the Vale of Arryn, and its floors and pillars were crafted from white marble veined with gold. The rafters were carved from the trunks of weirwoods. The pale castle was commonly called the "Milkhouse" by those who lived near it, for its color and for House Butterwell's income from dairy cows.[1]
The arms of House Butterwell were displayed from the keep and the gatehouse. Whitewalls had postern gates, including one in the north wall. Whitewalls had barracks, stables, dungeons, kennels, and kitchens. The castle's cellar was full of casks of wine and ale and had a barrel-vaulted ceiling. A closed courtyard contained a well ringed with a low stone wall. The castle sept had inner and outer doors, and altars to each of the Seven. Viewing stands for tourneys could be raised in the castle's outer yard.[1]
The great hall of Whitewalls was a long white hall with a dais and a minstrel's gallery. In contrast to the castle's marble opulence, the hall was modest in size. Lord Ambrose Butterwell and his wife had a double throne of gilded oak, and esteemed guests could sit in tall chairs with carved arms. Banners hung from the hall's rafters.[1]
Located in a tower, the large bedchamber of Lord Butterwell was finely decorated with Myrish carpets, scented candles, and a set of plate armor inlaid with gold and gems. Ambrose kept his dragon egg on a black velvet cushion on the top of a marble plinth. The chamber had its own privy as well.[1]
Half a mile from Whitewalls was a spreading elm tree with cows grazing nearby.[1]
History
Whitewalls was built forty years before the Second Blackfyre Rebellion, about 171 AC, by Lord Butterwell, who had been Hand of the King to Aegon IV Targaryen.[1] Some seventy to eighty years before the War of the Five Kings, one could take a ferry across the Trident from the crossroads inn to the road that led to Lord Harroway's Town and Whitewalls. However, the river moved and the ferry landing at the crossroads inn was abandoned.[4]
The castle was the site of the wedding tourney at Whitewalls in 212 AC. While journeying from Stoney Sept to the kingsroad, Ser Duncan the Tall and Prince Aegon Targaryen took Ned's ferry from the old inn by the lakeshore across the Gods Eye to attend the festivities. Due to the overflow of injured during the tourney, Maester Lothar tended to the wounded in the castle's cellar.[1]
The Second Blackfyre Rebellion failed at the tourney, and for his treason, Lord Ambrose Butterwell forfeited Whitewalls to the Iron Throne. Lord Brynden Rivers, Hand of the King to Aerys I Targaryen, ordered the castle pulled down and its earth salted.[1]
Recent Events
A Feast for Crows
While recounting the history of the inn at the crossroads, Septon Meribald tells Brienne of Tarth about the ferry that once brought travelers across the Trident towards Whitewalls.[4]
Quotes
Whitewalls was almost new as castles went, having been raised a mere forty years ago by the grandsire of its present lord. The smallfolk hereabouts called it the Milkhouse, for its walls and keeps and towers were made of finely dressed white stone, quarried in the Vale and brought over the mountains at great expense. Inside were floors and pillars of milky white marble veined with gold; the rafters overhead were carved from the bone-pale trunks of weirwoods. Dunk could not begin to imagine what all of that had cost.[1]
—thoughts of Duncan the Tall
John: It almost looks as if it's made of snow.
Duncan: What's made of snow?
John: The castle. All that white stone in the moonlight.[1]
—John the Fiddler (Daemon II Blackfyre) to Duncan the Tall
I mean to pull it down stone by stone and sow the ground that it stands upon with salt. In twenty years, no one will remember it existed. Old fools and young malcontents still make pilgrimages to the Redgrass Field to plant flowers on the spot where Daemon Blackfyre fell. I will not suffer Whitewalls to become another monument to the Black Dragon.[1]
Notes
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 The Mystery Knight.
- ↑ George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Whitewalls.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aerys I.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 37, Brienne VII.