House Whent

House Whent of Harrenhal
Coat of arms	Or, nine bats sable
Seat	Harrenhal
Head	Lady Shella Whent
Region	The Riverlands
Title	Lord of Harrenhal
Overlord	House Tully

House Whent of Harrenhal is a noble house form the Riverlands. Their seat is the huge castle of Harrenhal built three hundred years ago by Harren the Black and since then the Whents are the seventh noble house to rule there, after houses Hoare, Qoherys, Towers, Harroway, Strong and Lothston.

The exact time and reason House Whent came to rule over Harrenhal are unknown. The first reference is from 281 AL, the Year of the False Spring, when Lord Whent hosted a tournament.

They blazon their arms depict nine black bats displayed over a yellow field. Their words do not appear in the books.

The Whent House at the end of the third century

The known Whents during the timespan of the events described on A Song of Ice and Fire are:

• Lady Shella Whent, wife of the unnamed Lord Whent who hosted the tournament in 281 AL. It is not known from which house she was before her marriage. She is an old woman without heirs.

Previous members:

• {Lord Whent}, the previous lord of the house, who was rich and open-handed, and hosted the tournament were Rhaegar and Lyanna met
  • {His children}, four sons and a daughter.
• {Ser Oswell Whent}, brother of Lord Whent and a member of Aerys's Kingsguard. Known for his black humor, he died at the Tower of Joy.

• {Minisa Whent}, Deceased wife of Lord Hoster Tully and mother to Catelyn, Lysa and Edmure.

• Wynafrei Whent, married to the ninth son of Lord Walder Frey (Danwell). With no progeny. Many stillbirths and miscarriages.

• {Sarya Whent}, fifth wife of Lord Walder Frey. Deceased with no progeny.

Of Lady Shella Whent, wife of the unnamed Lord Whent, is said that she is without heirs. Therefore is must be assumed that all of Lord Whent's progeny died before the start of the books.

It is remarkable the apparent poor fertility of the Whent women. Wynafrei and Sarya were both childless. Only Minisa and her line has proved fertile, although she died in childbed.

Lord Whent

Unknown wife

Lord Whent

Unknown wife

Shella

Walter

Oswell

Minisa

Hoster Tully

Sarya

Walder Frey

Amarei Crakehall

Four sons

Daughter

Wynafrei

Danwell Frey

References in the books

A Song of Ice and Fire

• When thinking about her father's most important bannermen, Catelyn Tully reflects that Lady Whent is dwelling with her ghosts in the cavernous vaults of Harrenhal.
• Ser Willis Wode, the hedge knight who first aided Catelyn to detain Tyrion, was sworn to Lady Whent.
• Ser Oswell Whent appears in Eddard's dream at the Tower of Joy, wearing the black bat of his house over his white-enameled helm. In the famous exchange before the fight, he delivers the sentences, "Woe to the Usurper if we had been", and "Ser Willem is a good man and true”.
• When Tywin Lannister approached with his army, Lady Whent yielded Harrenhal and fled lacking enough men to defend it.
• The castle of Harrenhal is granted to Janos Slynt and taken away from him by Tyrion Lannister.
• Yoren states that Lady Whent has always been a friend of the Watch
• It is said that Lady Whent only used the lower thirds of two of the five towers of Harrenhal, and let the rest go to ruin.
• Littlefinger is given the castle of Harrenhal and the title of Lord Paramount of the Trident for his services to King Joffrey I during the War of the Five Kings
• The tourney organized by Lord Whent is remembered both in Meera's story about the Knight of the Laughing Tree and in Jaime's thoughts on his entrance to the Kingsguard. It is said that the daughter of the castle was the queen of love and beauty, and that her four brothers and her uncle Oswell rode to defend her. Eventually they were defeated and at the end Lyanna Stark was crowned by Rhaegar Targaryen.
• Lady Shella is reported dead shortly after the war.
• Ser Jorah Mormont defeated a Lord Whent at the Tourney at Lannisport.
• House Whent is a fairly young house, Ben Blackthumb having smithed for the fomer lords of Harrenhal, the now extinct House Lothston.
• Petyr Baelish uses the news of the death of Shella Whent and the extinction of House Whent as a warning of the fate of all those who claim Harrenhal.

Sworn Houses

• Wode