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| “ | What is outside my walls is of no concern to me. Those walls are strong and thick. | „ |
| ~ Harren, to Aegon Targaryen. |
| “ | Had I a daughter, the dragonslayer could claim her hand as well. Instead I will give him one of Tully's daughters, or all three if he likes. Or he may pick one of Blackwood's whelps, or Strong's, or any girl born of these traitors of the Trident, these lords of yellow mud. | „ |
| ~ Harren's alleged words to his people at Harrenhal, who were mainly Ironborn, promising a reward to any man who manages to kill Balerion and expressing hatred for the rebel Riverlords. |
King Harren Hoare, also known as Harren the Black or Black Harren, is a supporting character in the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series.
He was a son of King Halleck Hoare and the grandson of King Harwyn "Hardhand" Hoare, a King of the Iron Islands who had conquered the Riverlands from House Durrandon of the Stormlands. Harren was the last ironborn king to rule over both the Iron Islands and the Riverlands until he met his end at the hands of Aegon the Conqueror. He is also famously known for having constructed the largest castle in Westeros, Harrenhal.
Harren is known to have had at least one brother, who was the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. He is also known to have had at least four trueborn sons and likely multiple grandchildren. He had no daughters.
Appearance[]
At the time of the Targaryen conquest of Westeros, Harren Hoare was an old, grey man who wore black armor.
Personality[]
Being a proud and vain tyrant, Harren is famous all throughout Westeros, most notably in the Riverlands, for his cruelty. He is willing to enslave entire regions just to achieve his own goals or to do so out of benefit. However, he has one flaw: his overconfidence and arrogance, similar to King Argilac Durrandon, and this would end up sealing his fate. An example of Harren's arrogance is when he believed that nothing could withstand the thick stone walls of his castle and also believed that stone could not burn. He would ultimately be proven wrong in the end when Aegon and his dragon flew over Harrenhal and burned the castle under the cover of darkness.
Biography[]
Harren Hoare was born to House Hoare, a noble house from Orkmont whose past members also built Hoare Castle at Great Wyk. By the time of his birth, the seat of the Hoares was Fairmarket, a town in the riverlands. Harren's grandfather, King Harwyn Hardhand, had extended ironborn territory over the riverlands from the Neck to the Blackwater Rush during his rule. King Halleck Hoare, Harren's father, was not as successful as Harwyn, while Harren's brother became Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.
Construction of Harrenhal[]
Harrenhal being constructed.
Throughout his reign as king, Harren, called Harren the Black by many, was a vain, bloody tyrant, whose cruelty made him despised by many. Though he is an ironborn, he returned to the Iron Islands infrequently. Though his father ruled from a modest tower keep at Fairmarket, King Harren desired a grander seat, which would forever represent his pride and obsession. He spent most of his reign constructing Harrenhal, the largest castle in all of Westeros, which was designed to have five gigantic towers and vast walls of black stone. He plundered the Riverlands for resources and beggared said region and the Iron Islands to build Harrenhal while thousands of captives died as they labored. After nearly forty years of construction, the castle was completed.
Aegon's Conquest[]
However, the day that Harrenhal was completed was also the same day that Aegon the Conqueror landed in Westeros to begin his conquest of the Seven Kingdoms. Prior to the beginning of the conquest, the Storm King Argilac "the Arrogant" Durrandon had been so wary of King Harren that he had tried to make an alliance with Aegon to protect his weakening Kingdom but was unable to reach terms with the conqueror. In response to Aegon's coronation as "King of all Westeros", both Harren and Argilac the Arrogant raised their banners, declaring war on Aegon.
While the Conqueror was victorious over Harren's men in the Battle of the Reeds, two of Harren's sons were victorious at the Wailing Willows. As they crossed the God's Eye to return to Harrenhal, they were killed by Aegon's dragon, Balerion the Black Dread. As Aegon's forces advanced in the Riverlands, they were joined by the Riverlords, who revolted against Harren. They were led by Lord Edmyn Tully, who had been summoned to defend Harrenhal, though Edmyn defied this order and he instead raised a dragon banner over his ancestral castle of Riverrun. Aegon was also joined by the Blackwoods, Mallisters, Vances, Brackens, Pipers, Freys, and Strongs, which swelled the conqueror's rank while Harren took refuge in Harrenhal.
During a parley with Aegon, Harren was ordered to yield so that he could remain as Lord of the Iron Islands, but the ironborn king, full of arrogance, rejected him, as he was confident that the vast walls of his castle could withstand anything. However, Aegon warns him that dragons can fly, but Harren brushes it off, claiming that as he built his castle from stone then stone doesn't burn. Aegon eventually warns him, "When the sun sets, your line shall end." Harren just spat at this and returned to Harrenhal.
Death[]
Harren Hoare meeting his end when Aegon burned Harrenhal.
Once within the safety of his castle, Harren armed his men and he promised lands and riches to whoever could bring down Aegon's dragon Balerion. Harren said if he had a daughter, he would give them to the dragonslayer, but he would give them one of Edmyn Tully's daughters, or all three, or Blackwood's, or Strong's, or any girl of the Trident.
However, that night, Aegon flew Balaerion up into the clouds, then descended on Harrenhal, setting the entire castle alight. Harren and his remaining sons were then burned alive within the castle's tallest and largest tower, which came to be called Kingspyre Tower, and the reign of House Hoare came to an end. The next day, Aegon accepted the fealty of the Riverlords and named Edmyn Tully the Lord Paramount of the Trident.
At the time, Harren's brother, Lord Commander Hoare of the Night's Watch, commanded ten thousand swords at the Wall, but he remained loyal to his oath and the Watch, and thus not intervene when the rest of his family, House Hoare, were massacred by Balerion.
Legacy[]
Harren's Kingdom Post-Mortem[]
The death of King Harren Hoare, along with the burning of Harrenhal, had a major impact throughout the conquest, spreading fear in different parts of Westeros as well as revealing the fact that even castles can be useless against dragons. The lords of Crackclaw Point, after learning of Harren's fate, immediately surrendered to Visenya Targaryen, one of Aegon's two sister-wives. After the extinction of House Hoare, Lord Commander Hoare of the Night's Watch became the sole confirmed living member of House Hoare.
After the death of King Harren and the loss of most of their kingdom, the Iron Islands fell into chaos and many Ironborn lords and warriors who lived in the Riverlands were killed or captured by the rebelling rivermen as they were attempting to return to the Iron Islands.
Meanwhile, King Argilac the Arrogant, not wanting to be burned alive within his own castle of Storm's End, decided to meet the Targaryen army, which was being led by Orys Baratheon, in open battle. After Argilac was slain, his only child, Princess Argella, barred Storm's End and declared herself Storm Queen. However, the fate of Harren the Black had installed such fear in Argella's men that they immediately betrayed her, and they delivered Argella in chains to Orys Baratheon, who then took her to wife.
After the Conquest, the Iron Islands remained under chaos, faced a succession crisis and rebelled against the Iron Throne. Qhorin Volmark, Lord of Volmark on the island of Harlaw, declared himself king and the heir of Harren the Black, claiming a driftwood crown due to his grandmother having been a younger sister of Harren's grandfather, King Harwyn Hardhand. However, the priests of the Drowned God on Old Wyk did not support Qhorin's claim and instead gave a driftwood crown to Lodos, a barefoot holy man who claimed to be a demigod; the son of the Drowned God himself. At the same time, more rival claimant kings emerged on the islands of Great Wyk, Orkmont, and Pyke.
For over a year, the various Ironborn factions fought each other in a civil war in the Iron Islands and sea battles in the Sunset Sea for naval dominance. There are tales claiming that hundreds of literal krakens appeared to feast on the countless dead bodies in the sea. The King of Orkmont was among those who died in one of these battles. Eventually, King Aegon I Targaryen intervened by leading an invasion of the Iron Islands in 2 AC, flying on Balerion to Great Wyk. He was supported and followed by the war fleets of Highgarden and Lannisport, the Redwyne fleet from the Arbor, and longships from Bear Island. Tired of suffering the civil war, numerous Ironborn, especially the smallfolk, welcomed House Targaryen to the Iron Islands; a very unique event seeing the Ironborn happily receiving armies of greenlanders in their homeland. Aegon personally killed King Qhorin Volmark with his Valyrian steel sword Blackfyre.
The priest King Lodos unsuccessfully called for his god to summon an army of krakens from the sea to destroy the enemy Iron Throne fleets from the green lands. After this failure, Lodos filled his robes with stones and walked into the sea to deliberately drown, declaring he would take counsel with his father, the Drowned God. Thousands of his devoted followers did the the same, committing mass suicide, and their drowned bodies continued to wash up on Old Wyk in the following years, although the body of Lodos himself was never found. The surviving Ironborn Kings of Great Wyk and Pyke bent the knee to Aegon in the end.
Instead of appointing one of his own supporters from the green lands to rule the Iron Islands in his name, King Aegon allowed the Ironborn nobility to choose their own ruler themselves in a civilized manner. The Ironborn chose Vickon Greyjoy, Lord Reaper of Pyke, to be Lord of the Iron Islands. Only after this war and invasion of the Iron Islands, the Ironborn were officially forced to relinquish their claims over the Riverlands, thus permanently undoing House Hoare's conquest and officially making the Riverlands an Iron Throne state, independent from Ironborn rule again. Following the submission of the Iron Islands, Aegon would move to the much more violent and genocidal First Dornish War.
Years later, in 37 AC, during the first year of the reign of King Aenys I Targaryen, the firstborn son of Aegon the Conqueror, an outlaw named Harren, also known as Harren the Red and Red Harren, claimed to be the grandson of Harren the Black. Harren the Red was the first of the four rebels to revolt against House Targaryen but was killed in a battle at a village west of the Gods Eye. During Aenys's reign, two of the Iron Islands also rebelled again, but Lord Goren Greyjoy prevented war against the Targaryens by personally invading the rebel islands of Old Wyk and Great Wyk with his longships to defeat the restorationists for the Iron Throne.
In 133 AC, following the Dance of the Dragons, Lord Dalton Greyjoy was murdered at Faircastle by his salt wife, Tess, leading to a bloody power struggle on the Iron Islands within House Greyjoy. During the conflict, a man named Sam Salt emerged as a pretender, claiming to be King Harren's descent from the black line. What became of Sam is unknown.
Harrenhal after Harren and House Hoare[]
As for Harrenhal, which was left half-melted and in ruins, it would be passed on to several different houses throughout the Targaryen Dynasty, though they all went extinct due to various reasons. After House Harroway, one of the houses that have been granted Harrenhal, was extinguished by King Maegor I Targaryen, this caused many to believe that Harrenhal is cursed. Harren is directly associated with the infamous myth of the curse of Harrenhal, making his castle dreaded and unwanted by many. In children's stories, as a result of his notorious reputation, Harren is often branded as an evil figure. Harren in general is remembered as the most evil and cruelest king in Westeros at the time of Aegon's Conquest. Although Black Harren died in Harrenhal's Kingspyre Tower, the popular legend claims that the spirits of the King and his sons haunt the cellars of the Wailing Tower, another of the five towers of Harrenhal, and that their cries are the reason behind the tower's mysterious wailing noise. Another tale claims that the ghosts of Harren and his sons wander through Harrenhal's halls at nighttime, and any unfortunate person who look upon them burst into flame.
The costs required to maintain and fully rebuild Harrenhal left most of the castle in ruin and never completely restored, and its gigantic size makes it impossible to properly garrison. Harrenhal's ruined status, along with the difficulty to man it, makes it one of Westeros's weakest castles. Many Westerosi comment that Harren built his seat too big and Ser Jaime Lannister of the Kingsguard criticizes Harrenhal as Harren's folly, a monstrosity, and a terrible place full of historical horror and atrocities, including those committed by Danelle Lothston, the Mountain's Men, and the Brave Companions in his list. Right near Harrenhal lies the Harrentown, also named after Black Harren, a large walled port town by the Gods Eye that was slowly developing into a full city, before being sacked by the Westermen's invasion in the War of the Five Kings, currently leaving it deserted.
About three centuries after King Harren's death, in 299 AC and during the War of the Five Kings, residents of Harrenhal believe that Chiswyck and Weese have been killed by Harren's ghost. In truth the culprit is Arya Stark, who had the two men killed by the assassin Jaqen H'ghar of the Faceless Men. In her mind, Arya likes to call herself the "ghost of Harrenhal", enjoying her role as "Harren's ghost", until she loses Jaqen when he leaves Harrenhal after the castle's fall to King Robb Stark's forces.
Current Ironborn Secession and Harren's Descendants[]
In the beginning of the fourth century, in 300 AC, the now independent Iron Islands face a succession crisis within the ruling House Greyjoy. To prevent a civil war like it happened after Harren the Black's death, the priest Aeron "Damphair" Greyjoy calls of the ancient Kingsmoot at the island of Old Wyk. During the long time period of preparations and spreading the word across the lands, the priest Tarle the Thrice-Drowned calls for the Ironborn to crown the young boy Lord Maron Volmark to become King of the Iron Islands because he shares Black Harren's blood. However, Maron supports Lord Captain Victarion Greyjoy for the Kingsmoot.
Quotes[]
| “ | Aegon: Yield now and you may remain as Lord of the Iron Islands. Yield now, and your sons will live to rule after you. I have eight thousand men outside your walls. Harren: What is outside my walls is of no concern to me. Those walls are strong and thick. Aegon: But not so high as to keep out dragons. Dragons fly. Harren: I built in stone. Stone does not burn. Aegon: When the sun sets, your line shall end. |
„ |
| ~ The unsuccessful parley between Harren the Black and Aegon the Conqueror. |
| “ | No king in Westeros was more feared than Black Harren, whose cruelty had become legendary all through the Seven Kingdoms. | „ |
| ~ Maester Yandel |
| “ | They (black brothers) came from a hundred quarrelsome kingdoms, and they knew times may change, but men do not. So they pledged as well that the Night's Watch would take no part in the battles of the realms it guarded. They kept their pledge. When Aegon slew Black Harren and claimed his kingdom, Harren's brother was Lord Commander on the Wall, with ten thousand swords to hand. He did not march. | „ |
| ~ Maester Aemon to Jon Snow, using Lord Commander Hoare's honor to his vows of neutrality instead of helping his brother Harren as an example of loyalty to the Night's Watch, when Jon wishes to help House Stark against its enemies. |
| “ | Harren had beggared the riverlands and the Iron Islands alike to ornament his dream. | „ |
| ~ Thoughts of Catelyn Stark |
Gallery[]
External Link[]
- Harren Hoare on the A Wiki of Ice and Fire.
