Battle in the hills below the Golden Tooth

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Battle in the hills below the Golden Tooth
Conflict War of the Five Kings
Date 298 AC
Place beneath the Golden Tooth, Westerlands
Result Lannister victory
Combatants
House Tully.svg Riverlands, led by House Tully House Lannister.svg Westerlands, led by House Lannister
Commanders
House Piper.svg Lord Clement Piper
House Vance of Wayfarer's Rest.svg Lord Vance
Kingsguard.svg Ser Jaime Lannister
Strength
Armies of Houses Piper and Vance[1] ~15,000[2]
Casualties
Complete
Lord Vance
unknown

A battle in the hills below the Golden Tooth[3] is the opening battle of the War of the Five Kings and the Lannister campaign in the riverlands.

Prelude

Ser Edmure Tully finds out that the Lannisters are raising a host at Casterly Rock. With Lord Hoster Tully ill, Edmure sends riders to the Rock, demanding that Lord Tywin Lannister proclaim his intent. Meanwhile, he starts raising a host at Riverrun and sends Lord Vance of Wayfarer's Rest and Lord Clement Piper of Pinkmaiden to guard the pass below the Golden Tooth, to prevent any Lannister armies from entering the riverlands.[4]

Tywin dispatches Ser Gregor Clegane to raid the villages along the Red Fork, and Gregor circumvents the Tully forces below the Golden Tooth. In response Edmure further divides his forces, sending men to every village and holdfast within a day's ride of the border. Lord Eddard Stark, the Hand of the King, fears this will weaken the defense of the riverlands.[5]

Battle

Ser Jaime Lannister, commanding the Lannister forces, descends on the outnumbered rivermen and breaks them. Lord Vance is slain during the fight and Lord Piper retreats back to Riverrun with the remnants of his forces, with Jaime following on his heels. Meanwhile, Tywin brings another Lannister army up from the south.[3]

Aftermath

The rout of the rivermen beneath the Golden Tooth allows Jaime to then fight the battle under the walls of Riverrun.[6] Ser Marq Piper and Karyl Vance, now a lord, raid behind the Lannisters' lines.[7] Jaime later thinks of the battle as a glorious victory.[8]

Quotes

On the morning after the battle, the crows had feasted on victors and vanquished alike, as once they had feasted on Rhaegar Targaryen after the Trident.[8]

—thoughts of Jaime Lannister

References

  1. Note: as these were the only houses involved, the rivermen army must at least be far below 8,000 men, as House Frey, the strongest bannerman of the riverlands, can only field 4,000 men on its own.
  2. After capturing Edmure, Jaime besieges Riverrun with 12,000 foot and 2,000 or 3,000 horse, according to A Game of Thrones, Chapter 63.
  3. 3.0 3.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 55, Catelyn VIII.
  4. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 40, Catelyn VII.
  5. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 43, Eddard XI.
  6. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 59, Catelyn IX.
  7. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 56, Tyrion VII.
  8. 8.0 8.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 8, Jaime I.