Siege of Moat Cailin

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Siege of Moat Cailin
Conflict War of the Five Kings
Date 300 AC
Place Moat Cailin, the North
Result Bolton victory
Combatants
House Bolton
House Cerwyn
House Dustin
House Hornwood
House Ryswell
House Umber
crannogmen
House Codd
Commanders
Ramsay Bolton
Theon Greyjoy
Ralf Kenning
Strength
2,000 67
Casualties
none all

The Siege of Moat Cailin refers to the retaking of Moat Cailin by northern forces under the command of Ramsay Bolton from the skeleton garrison left by the ironborn after the departure of Victarion Greyjoy and the Iron Fleet.

Prelude

After the Battle of Moat Cailin, the ironborn garrison holding the ruins prevents the army of Lord Roose Bolton from returning north of the Neck. When Lord Captain Victarion Greyjoy departs with nine-tenths of the Iron Fleet for the kingsmoot on Old Wyk,[1] he promises he will return with a thousand extra men to reinforce the small garrison he leaves behind. Unbeknownst to the garrison, however, Victarion is ordered by King Euron Greyjoy to lead the fleet to Essos after the Battle of the Shield Islands.[2]

Reinforcements for Ralf Kenning's garrison at Moat Cailin never show up. To make matters worse, the already small garrison is then slimmed down by guerrilla attacks from the crannogmen.[3] To allow the passage of his army without taking significant casualties, Roose assigns his legitimized bastard son, Ramsay, with the task of capturing Moat Cailin from the north, where it is more vulnerable. The Ryswells and Dustins surprise and burn the remaining longships of the Iron Fleet in the Fever River.[4]

Siege

Ramsay Bolton gathers a large force of northerners, including Boltons, Hornwoods, Cerwyns, and Umbers led by Hother Whoresbane,[4] to join with the Ryswells and Dustins and then take the fortress.[3] One of Lord Rodrik Ryswell's sons, Roger or Rickard, states the ironborn have withstood three northern attacks already.[3]

Ramsay sends his servant "Reek", actually the traumatized Theon Greyjoy, to the castle "disguised" as Theon, the son of Lord Balon Greyjoy and the garrison's prince. Theon is to offer the garrison terms of surrender: if the ironborn lay down their weapons and come to the Bolton camp unarmed, Ramsay will feed them and send them home to the Iron Islands. Theon is nearly struck by a crannogmen's arrow while traveling to the ruins.[3]

Once inside Moat Cailin, Theon discovers the garrison has been weakened by poisoned arrows and contaminated water. The cellar's vaults have flooded, so corpses are now left where they fall. All of the ironborn within the Children's Tower have died, save two cannibals eating the corpses, who were then executed by Ralf Kenning, the nominal commander of the garrison. Ralf is now incapacitated and near death on part of a poisoned arrow, however. Theon puts him out of his misery by slitting his throat before offering his terms to the leaderless remaining ironborn, many of whom are from the ill-regarded House Codd.[3]

Dagon Codd is opposed to the plan and distrusts the Boltons. However, he is killed with an axe to the head by Adrack Humble, who is then convinced by Theon to accept the terms on behalf of the other soldiers. Theon learns there are a mere 65 ironborn left—18 at the Drunkard's Tower and 47 at the Gatehouse Tower—and only 58 of them are combat capable. The fortress is defensible enough that the defenders could have inflicted three to one casualties on the attackers if Ramsay tried to take the position by storm, however. The 58 able-bodied men carry out five who cannot walk, while leaving two who are near death to die, as there is no hope for them. They follow the directions and lay down their weapons before the Bolton forces.

Before allowing them to travel to the Stony Shore to seek transport, however, Ramsay reneges on the deal and has all 63 of the remaining ironborn flayed alive. He then puts their still-bleeding bodies upon pikes along the causeway.[3]

Aftermath

With Moat Cailin retaken, Roose's host, consisting of 4,000 northerners (almost entirely his own Bolton men) and 2,000 Freys, is able to march past the Neck and on to Barrowton.[3][5]

References and Notes