#manfryd lothston

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

“I held the bridge against Ser Maynard. Red hair and a black temper, he had, but he could not move me. Six wounds I took before I killed him. Six!”- I made this "theory" as a joke for fanart purpose, but i wonder if it is hypothetically possible for that Maynard to be Manfred's spawn/greatson since name starts with Ma-, has red hair & bad temper & memory is triggered by people asking about a Dondarrion? Are there any wars that could fit it? Thanks.

This is the quote by Ser Lymond Lychester, the elderly and senile knight who Arya encounters in the Riverlands? Hmm, if I had to guess, I wouldn’t think his Ser Maynard was the descendant of Manfred Dondarrion, but rather the descendant of Manfred or Manfryd Lothston. My reasons:

“Mad” Danelle Lothston had red hair, and Falena and Jeyne are depicted as redheaded in their TWOIAF illustrations (not necessarily canon but nevertheless)

Ma- names among the Lothstons: Jeyne’s brother Manfryd o’ the Black Hood, who may have been the same person as the Manfred Lothston who betrayed Daemon Blackfyre in the First Blackfyre Rebellion, or perhaps Manfryd was Manfred’s father

“Mad Danelle Lothston herself rode forth in strength from her haunted towers at Harrenhal, clad in black armor that fit her like an iron glove, her long red hair streaming.” “Ser Illifer crooked a bony finger at her shield. Though its paint was cracked and peeling, the device it bore showed plain: a black bat on a field divided bendwise, silver and gold. “You bear a liar’s shield, to which you have no right. My grandfather’s grandfather helped kill the last o’ Lothston. None since has dared to show that bat, black as the deeds of them that bore it.””

House Lothston “was ended in madness and chaos” for practicing black magic, during the reign of King Maekar, c. 66-78 years before Arya met Ser Lymond

Presumably various Riverlords and local knights were brought in by the crown to help defeat the Lothstons, much like Bloodraven summoned them to deal with the Second Blackfyre Rebellion at Whitewalls (and note House Whent was given Harrenhal for their role in the takedown)

Castle Lychester is the Riverlands, not far from Harrenhal

Lymond’s triumphant stand feels like the sort of easter-egg-like thing in ASOIAF that would be detailed in a Dunk and Egg story, like the reason for why Tytos Blackwood tells Jaime Lannister that Pennytree village has been a royal fief for the past 100 years – and I am sure that the fall of House Lothston will be detailed in a D&E story.

So I could imagine that Ser Maynard was Lady Danelle’s son or nephew (or perhaps bastard), and maybe tried to flee during the battle that took down the Lothstons, but young Ser Lymond Lychester held the bridge and kept him from escaping. Or maybe Maynard was engaged in banditry during the period of “chaos” that caused the crown to come deal with Harrenhal, but Ser Lymond protected his village from his depredations. And some 70+ years later, Lymond is a senile old knight with no living family, but just that one memory of his great moment of heroism to keep him going.

Now I could be wrong, but again, I’d bet we’ll find out the details in a Dunk and Egg story. Though if it did happen during the reign of King Maekar (about 10-20 years after TMK), who knows when that might be written and released. Still, I’m looking forward to it. :)  Hope that helps!

[goodqueenaly]

House Words Wednesdays: House Lothston

Welcome to House Words Wednesdays! Each week, I take a House without known canon or semi-canon words and present what I think could make sense as that House’s motto. You’re free to suggest more as well, if your favored House has not yet been suggested; take a look at this link to see what has already been suggested, and shoot me a tweet or ask through Tumblr if you have another House you’d like to see done.

House Lothston is an extinct noble House, the penultimate family to rule Harrenhal under the Targaryens. The Lothstons also hold the possibly dubious distinction of ruling Harrenhal longer than any other family - roughly eight decades, an eon in Harrenhal time. The Lothstons came into their mighty seat somewhat surprisingly, as a cover for scandal. Lady Falena Stokeworth, having served as the future Aegon IV's first mistress, was quietly married off to Lucas Lothston, master-at-arms for the future Viserys II - a step down, perhaps, for what a Stokeworth of Stokeworth might have ordinarily married, but vastly improved when the new couple was given the seat of Harrenhal. Perhaps Viserys hoped a faraway seat would make Aegon forget about his scandalous dalliance, or perhaps he wished to bribe Lucas into keeping his son's scandal quiet. Whatever the cause, the Lothstons rose rapidly through the Westerosi table of ranks, becoming in a pen stroke one of the grandest vassal families of the realm.

Unfortunately, the Lothstons also hold probably the worst reputation of any of the families that ruled Harrenhal (besides Harren the Black himself). Lucas Lothston was probably "the Pander" whom Ser Illifer mentions in AFFC - so named, perhaps, for the way he shoved his teenage daughter Jeyne (and perhaps his wife as well) into the bed of the aged and obese Aegon IV in exchange for the Handship. His son, Manfryd of the Black Hood, is no better remembered; @racefortheironthrone once speculated that he claimed that epithet for his penchant of masking himself in a black hood to do terrible deeds. This is probably the same Manfryd (or Manfred) who initially sided with Daemon Blackfyre in the First Blackfyre Rebellion ... and then turned cloak for the loyalists (as the always rad @warsofasoiaf suggested, perhaps Manfryd refused to be left to defend against the Arryn approach from the east alone, and instead allowed Lord Donnel's host to pass south toward the Redgrass Field). "Mad" Danelle - I assume the daughter or granddaughter of that Manfred/Manfryd - has all sorts of horrific stories about her, from bathing in blood to feasting on human flesh to sending giant bats to capture children for her cook pots. Although she proved more loyal than Manfryd - assisting the Hand Brynden Rivers in quashing the abortive Second Blackfyre Rebellion - she was the last of the Lothston line; overthrown for speculative and probably wholly unsavory reasons, House Lothston surrendered Harrenhal sometime during the reign of Maekar I.

Like their bannermen and eventual successors the Whents, the Lothstons featured a bat on their sigil - just a single bat, the appearance of which is still considered ominous in the Riverlands. I wanted words for the Lothstons that were sort of related to the Whent words I came up with all the way back in June of last year - "Our Hour Will Come" - to reinforce the ties between the two Houses. So I settled on Rising in Our Time for House Lothston. The hour of the bat is one of the chronological markers of Westeros, so - as with the Whents - there's a nice connection to the bat of the Lothstons rising when its hour comes (although with a more sinister bent for the Lothstons, given the scary children's stories Jaime recalls hearing about the bats of Lady Danelle). These words call back to the Lothston's brief rise (and very quick fall) from royal favor during the reign of Aegon IV: from Lucas as Hand of the King and Jeyne as royal maîtresse-en-titre back to Harrenhal when the king tired of his plaything. Just as well, Manfryd Lothston rose in his time to support Daemon - but only for a time, until Manfryd decided that being on the rebel side was not so beneficial to his House as supporting King Daeron. When called upon by the Hand to present a show of force to Lord Butterwell, Danelle rose to stand with the crown ... but, in her time, she and her House fell as well. Every family that has held Harrenhal has had its season, its time to rise before it falls into extinction; the Lothstons might have held the seat the longest (though only a little longer than the Whents did), but even their power could only rise for a certain time before they, too, fell to the castle's curse.

Let me know what you think of these words for the Lothston bats. We continue both with the extinct Houses and Harrenhal Houses next week - the very first Lords of Harrenhal.

The Queen Regent (NFriel)

[nanshe-of-nina]

Posthumous Characters Picspam → Manfryd Lothston Ser Illifer paid him no mind. “A barefoot man looks for a boot, a chilly man a cloak. But who would cloak themselves in shame? Lord Lucas bore that bat, the Pander, and Manfryd o’ the Black Hood, his son.”

[nanshe-of-nina]

“My grandfather’s grandfather helped kill the last o’ Lothston. None since has dared showed that bat, black as the deeds that bore it. Lord Lucas bore that bat, the Pander, and Manfryd o’ the Black Hood, his son.” “My old ma used to say that giant bats flew out from Harrenhal on moonless nights, to carry bad children to Mad Danelle for her cookpots.”

Lothston and Whent fanon and theories:

The Lothstons recieved Harrenhal from Aegon IV by brown nosing. I suspect Jeyne becoming one of Aegon's mistresses may have been part of it.

The Lothstons and the Whents were related and intermarried often. Thus, the similarities of their sigils.

Most Lothstons were redheads with green eyes because reasons.

Manfred the Betrayer and Lucas the Pander were brothers. Danelle was Manfred's daughter and Manfryd o' the Black Hood was Lucas' (naturally). Manfred had three sons who all died before him, so Harrenhal passed to Lucas when he died.

Manfryd o' the Black Hood's mother was a Banefort. He also pre-deceased his father.

Thus, Danelle became Lady Lothston in her own right and was the last Lothston to rule Harrenhal. She had two sons and a daughter.

The daughter married a Whent and was the Token Good Teammate. They were the parents of Minisa, Ser Oswell, and the Lord who held the Tourney at Harrenhal.

Danelle and her sons were stripped of Harrenhal in 233 because of their atrocities. One son fled to Saltpans, took the first ship out of Westeros, and became a sellsword in Essos. The other stayed and went on a burning spree in the Riverlands. He managed to kill King Maekar before being killed himself by a hedge knight loyal to the crown.

Danelle's daughter and her husband sided with the crown during that brief rebellion. Because of that, Aegon V granted them Harrenhal and its lands after the smoke cleared.

The four sons of Lord Whent all died during Robert's Rebellion.

[nanshe-of-nina]

House Lothston, former lords of Harrenhal.

"My grandfather's grandfather helped kill the last o' Lothston. None since has dared showed that bat, black as the deeds that bore it. Lord Lucas bore that bat, the Pander, and Manfryd o' the Black Hood, his son." "My old ma used to say that giant bats flew out from Harrenhal on moonless nights, to carry bad children to Mad Danelle for her cookpots." He found himself remembering tales he had heard as a child at Casterly Rock, of mad Lady Lothston who bathed in tubs of blood and presided over feasts of human flesh within these very walls.