Siege of Riverrun

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The Siege of Riverrun
Siege of Riverrun.jpg
© Fantasy Flight Games
Conflict War of the Five Kings
Date 300 AC
Place Riverrun
Result Lannister victory
Combatants
Iron Throne
House Tully
Commanders
Ser Daven Lannister
Ser Ryman Frey
Ser Brynden Tully
Strength
2,000 Frey men under Ryman and unknown strength under Daven
later reinforced by 1,000 men under Jaime
unknown
Casualties
unknown unknown
For the earlier siege, see Battle of the Camps.

The Siege of Riverrun takes place near the end of War of the Five Kings. Ser Brynden Tully is besieged at Riverrun by the combined forces of House Lannister and House Frey in an effort to remove House Tully and install the newly-raised House Frey of Riverrun.

The Siege

After the Red Wedding and the death of Robb Stark, King of the Trident, the river lords offer terms to the Iron Throne and support for the Stark-Tully kingdom slips away. House Lannister, supported by their new allies, House Frey, besiege Riverrun in an effort to remove the final vestiges of resistance in the Riverlands and install Ser Emmon Frey as the new Lord of Riverrun, as the terms of the alliance between the Freys and Lannisters dictate. Ser Daven Lannister, the new Warden of the West, is sent to command the siege.[1]

Ser Brynden Tully, Robb's Warden of the Southern Marches, anticipates the siege. He gathers all the foodstuffs and goods he can within the castle, expels all the unnecessary mouths, and prepares for a long siege. Ser Ryman Frey, the commander of the Frey forces, brings out Lord Edmure Tully, who had been captured at the Red Wedding, and threatens to hang him daily unless the castle surrenders. Ryman never goes through with his threat and the siege continues.[2]

The siege is broken when Ser Jaime Lannister, arriving with reinforcements, has Ryman dismissed and has Edmure brought to him and explains what would happen should the Lannister forces have to storm the castle.

You've seen our numbers, Edmure. You've seen the ladders, the towers, the trebuchets, the rams. If I speak the command, my coz will bridge your moat and break your gate. Hundreds will die, most of them your own. Your former bannermen will make up the first wave of attackers, so you'll start your day by killing the fathers and brothers of men who died for you at the Twins. The second wave will be Freys, I have no lack of those. My westermen will follow when your archers are short of arrows and your knights so weary they can hardly lift their blades. When the castle falls, all those inside will be put to the sword. Your herds will be butchered, your godswood will be felled, your keeps and towers will burn. I'll pull your walls down, and divert the Tumblestone over the ruins. By the time I'm done no man will ever know that a castle once stood here. Your wife may whelp before that. You'll want your child, I expect. I'll send him to you when he's born. With a trebuchet.[3]

Lord Edmure agrees to talk to his uncle, Brynden. Edmure surrenders the castle the next day but not before letting Brynden escape, which displeases Jaime.[4]

Aftermath

Edmure is sent to Casterly Rock, accompanied by Jeyne Westerling, the wife and queen of the late Robb Stark, who had been within Riverrun when it was surrendered. Brynden escapes, presumably swimming down the Red Fork. Ryman is found hanged, his attackers unknown, though his son Edwyn has several ideas as to who was behind his father's murder. House Frey of Riverrun is established and Jaime sets out to end the fight between Houses Blackwood and Bracken.[4]

References and Notes