#house cargyll

[asoiaf-lover]

House Cargyll

Ser Arryk and his twin brother, Ser Erryk Cargyll, were famous members of the Kingsguard. They chose opposite sides during the Dance of the Dragons, with Arryk supporting Aegon II Targaryen and Erryk siding with Rhaenyra Targaryen. The twins slew one another during the civil war.

[3racha-agustd]

"I swear toward the Queen, with all my strength and give my blood for hers. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall guard her secrets, obey her commands, ride at her side and defend her name and honour."

ME:

[zuzcreation]

Elliott Tittensore as Erryk Cargyll in House of the Dragon s1 (x9)

[chasingthedragons]

The History of the Greater and the Lesser Houses

HOUSE TARGARYEN of King's Landing TITLES: King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men Lord of the Seven Kingdoms Protector of the Realm Warden of the King's Mint Vassal Houses - House Darklyn of Duskendale - House Massey of Stonedance - House Staunton of Rook's Rest - House Cargyll - House Thorne

HOUSE TARGARYEN of Dragonstone TITLES: Prince of Dragonstone Lord of Dragonstone Vassal Houses - House Velaryon of Driftmark - House Celtigar of Claw Isle - House Bar Emmon of Sharp Point

HOUSE BARATHEON of Storm's End TITLES: Lords Paramount of the Stormlands Vassal Houses - House Wylde of the Rain House - House Dondarrion of Blackhaven [Overlord of House Cole] - House Fell of Felwood - House Swan of Stonehelm - House Caron of Nightsong - House Stokeworth of Stokeworth - House Lonmouth

HOUSE LANNISTER of Casterly Rock TITLES: Warden of the West Lord of Casterly Rock Vassal Houses - House Westerling of the Crag - House Marbrand of Ashemark - House Lefford of the Golden Tooth - House Crakehall of Crakehall

HOUSE TYRELL of Highgarden TITLES: Warden of the South Lord Paramount of the Reach Lord of Highgarden Vassal Houses - House Hightower of the Hightower "of Oldtown" [Overlord of House Beesbury of Honeyholt] - House Redwyne of the Arbor - House Caswell of Bitterbridge - House Merryweather of Longtable - House Tarly of Horn Hill - House Rowan of Goldengrove

HOUSE TULLY of Riverrun TITLES: Lord Paramount of the Trident Lord of Riverrun Vassal Houses - House Strong of Harrenhal - House Blackwood of Raventree Hall - House Bracken of Stone Hedge - House Mooton of Maidenpool - House Frey of the Crossing - House Mallister of Seagard - House Mudd of Oldstones

HOUSE ARRYN of the Eyrie TITLES: Warden of the East Lord of the Eyrie Vassal Houses - House Royce of Runestone - House Corbray of Heart's Home

HOUSE STARK of Winterfell TITLES: Warden of the North Lord of Winterfell Vassal Houses - House Bolton of the Dreadfort

HOUSE GREYJOY of Pyke TITLES: Lord Reaper of Pyke Vassal Houses - House Sharp

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

Hi butterfly! In your recent post about the STAB bloc, you mentioned Aerys' mistress in connection with Prince Jaehaerys' death. That was the first I'd heard of that and so I was curious about the source and if we know anything else. Is there speculation on the mistress' house/identity and by whole family, does that mean the entire house is likely extinct? Thanks!

The source is TWOIAF, which was the first place we ever heard of Aerys and Rhaella’s unfortunate difficulties with fertility and infant mortality between the births of Rhaegar and Viserys.

The march of the king’s madness seemed to abate for a time in 274 AC, when Queen Rhaella gave birth to a son. So profound was His Grace’s joy that it seemed to restore him to his old self once again… but Prince Jaehaerys died later that same year, plunging Aerys into despair. In his black rage, he decided the babe’s wet nurse was to blame and had the woman beheaded. Not long after, in a change of heart, Aerys announced that Jaehaerys had been poisoned by his own mistress, the pretty young daughter of one of his household knights. The king had the girl and all her kin tortured to death. During the course of their torment, it is recorded, all confessed to the murder, though the details of their confessions were greatly at odds.Afterward, King Aerys fasted for a fortnight and made a walk of repentance across the city to the Great Sept, to pray with the High Septon. On his return, His Grace announced that henceforth he would sleep only with his lawful wife, Queen Rhaella. If the chronicles can be believed, Aerys remained true to this vow, losing all interest in the charms of women from that day in 275 AC.

–The World of Ice and Fire

There is no other information, and there hasn’t been any speculation as far as I can tell. (Googling the story only turns up stupid Darkstar theories.) However, I’ll try to see if I can narrow it down a bit.

So, facts:

Aerys had filled his court “with fair maidens from every corner of the realm” and rarely kept a mistress for more than 6 months (and usually less than 2 weeks) – so this girl could have been from anywhere, from any level of nobility.

However, the mistress was the daughter of a “household knight”, which seems likely to mean that the family wasn’t a landed house – perhaps only a bit more prestigious than a hedge knight – or if noble, maybe just a very minor Crownlands house. (Per the other household knights we know from minor noble families, like the Hardyngs and Norcrosses and Hunts, etc.)

I say Crownlands because Crownlands houses were sworn to House Targaryen as their liege lord, and therefore a household knight of the Red Keep would be more likely to be from that region of Westeros than anywhere else.

“All her kin” and “all confessed” tells us it was many people who were tortured to death (not just the father as in the case of poor Bethany Bracken and King Aegon IV), and thus the entire family was made extinct. (As in the case of the Harroways and King Maegor, another situation with an innocent family accused of the murder of an infant prince.)

Therefore this household knight couldn’t have been a Darklyn or Hollard (as Aerys wiped them out after the Defiance of Duskendale). Actually, listing extant Crownlands houses would take too long, so let me just look at the list of houses and find the ones that are extinct now, and weren’t mentioned later in Aerys’s reign…

Well, huh, there’s only one we absolutely know is extinct, House Cargyll. Interestingly, we don’t know why they’re extinct (per info GRRM provided to Elio Garcia for w.org’s heraldry page), just that they died out “under unknown circumstances”. House Cargyll was the family of the famous twin Kingsguards, Arryk and Erryk, who picked opposite sides in the Dance of the Dragons and ended up killing each other. But that wasn’t what ended the family, as Clarence Cargyll attended the Tourney at Ashford in 209 AC. So sometime between then and now, House Cargyll became extinct… and they don’t seem to be a particularly notable house, we don’t have any known lands or castles for them, therefore they seem more likely to be household knights than others… And heck, their sigil is a golden goose on striped black and red… which suggests a beneficence granted by House Targaryen, doesn’t it?

So, there’s my vote. This poor girl, this mistress of Aerys Targaryen that he accused in paranoia of poisoning his infant son, was the daughter of a knight of House Cargyll, a household knight of the Red Keep. And when Aerys had her and her entire family tortured to death, that was the end of House Cargyll.

I could be wrong – GRRM might have left the mistress and her father nameless because he just didn’t care, and House Cargyll’s extinction could have come from something else entirely – but until/unless we get more details in Fire and Blood (volume 2, scheduled after TWOW), I hope you’re pleased with this answer for now. :)

[goodqueenaly]

House Words Wednesdays: House Cargyll

Welcome to House Words Wednesdays! Each week, I’ll take a House without known canon/semi-canon words and present what I think could make sense as that House’s motto. You’re free to suggest more as well; take a look at this link to see what has already been suggested, and shoot me an ask through Tumblr if you have another House you’d like to see. 

House Cargyll is an extinct noble House of the Crownlands ... and that's about where our knowledge of the House ends. We don't know when it came into existence, who founded it (Andals, First Men, or some combination?), what rank it held (lordly or landed knightly), or when it went extinct. We know it was in existence at least until 209 AC, because in that year Ser Duncan the Tall spotted the arms of House Cargyll among the competitors at the Tourney of Ashford, but past that, who knows. Speaking of which: the sigil of House Cargyll was a golden goose on bendy sinister, black and red.

The only known members of House Cargyll were twin brothers, Arryk and Erryk. The brothers were made members of the Kingsguard, though when is something of a mystery: in 104 AC, Gyldayn notes, Ser Criston Cole "unhorsed both of the celebrated Cargyll twins, Ser Arryk and Ser Erryk of the Kingsguard", but whether that statement means that only Ser Erryk was "of the Kingsguard", or that both the brothers had been given white cloaks by that point, who knows. Suffice to say that they were both Kingsguard knights of Viserys I’s reign, and although we know little of the brothers' careers and virtually nothing of their personalities, the line seems to have been drawn between them during the factionalism of Viserys' court. Ser Arryk was said (by the pro-Aegon chronicler Septon Eustace) to have been the one who discovered Rhaenyra abed with her uncle Daemon in or around 111 AC, prompting Daemon's exile; later, Arryk would support King Aegon II during the Dance. By contrast, in 120 AC Viserys I named Ser Erryk his daughter's sworn shield, to replace the much-rumored-about Ser Harwin Strong; later, Erryk would join Rhaenyra's forces during the Dance. Of course, this divide came to a head when Ser Arryk infiltrated Dragonstone (to kill Rhaenyra or her children) and met his brother in mutually fatal combat. (I agree with Mushroom that the brothers’ end was probably not the poetic tragedy of later songs, but an emotionally charged fight to the death between two fervent partisans.)

With this admittedly limited history, I made the Cargyll words Devoted to Our Cause. I was thinking of a few stories from antiquity: Pliny the Elder, perennial HWW favorite, once recounted the story of a goose devoted to the philosopher Lacydes, which would follow him wherever he went; in another legend, when Gauls attempted to invade Rome, the sacred geese of the Capitoline Hill made such a noise at their presence that they awoke Marcus Manlius Capitolinus, who then threw back the Gauls. Geese seeming in these stories to be symbols of devotion, I liked the idea of words which reflected devotion to a cause. As both Ser Arryk and Ser Erryk proved - each willing, despite the bond of blood between them, to kill and be killed by his brother to defend the monarch to whom he was sworn - the Cargylls seemed to keep devotion to their cause paramount, whatever that cause may have been.

Let me know how you like these words for the now-extinct Cargylls. We stay in and around the Crownlands next week, visiting a pious island House.

[the-maesters-chronicles]

Basically, House Cargyll's sigil & House Patterly's sigil are very similar, hence the accusations:

[artoficeandfire]

Houses of the Crownlands... as stuffed animals.