Siege of Harrenhall

The Siege of Harrenhall was a sneak attack against the city of Harrenhall led by the rebellion House Seaworth and supported by theIron Islands against the rulers in House Strong.

The Siege started badly for House Strong when Stephon Strong was killed in the opening moments by his own gaurd. Following this murder the supposed mercenary army of House Seaworth - which was in fact simply soilders from the Iron Islands - landed in a fleet inside the port, and attempted to take control of the city. The siege ultimately failed after Kyle Strong along with a brigade of his men held the road to the Keep for long enough for reinforcements under Robert Strong to arrive.

The Siege has split the once completely dominated House Strong Harrenhall into a desperate battle for control between House Strong and House Seaworth.

Background

When looking at the background of the siege of Harrenhall it is important to look at the elements within the city of Harrenhall that caused the siege, and on top of this why the Iron Islands decided to become invovled.

Harrenhall

Main Article : Harrenhall

House Strong

See Also : House Strong

The city of Harrenhall from its earliest days as a true city had been controlled by House Strong, who had an iron grip on power in the city. To control the city the leadership of House Strong placed their banner houses in positions of power that led them to control something of their own, but at the same time still be devided from eachother and thus no threat to House Strong.

House Seaworth

See Also :House Seaworth

House Seaworth had been for much of their history the second or at the worst third strongest house in Harrenhall behind only House Strong, and at times House Gronn. This position was cherished by the leadership of House Seaworth for much of their history, and they were rewarded with control over the port of Harrenhall which was hugely important to the cities power.

Iron Islands

Main Article :Iron Islands

The Iron Islands was a very expansionist Kingdom and they were always interested in controlling Harrenhall, as from Harrenhall they could attempt to control the entire Dolish Penensila. At first they attempted diplomacy as the city itself was very strong and they didn't want to attack the city for fear of heavy losses. Their diplomacy was rebuffed by House Strong who wanted to control Harrenhall alone.

With diplomacy over they had attempted to gain control of the banner houses of House Strong but were rebuffed in their attempts at every turn by a people who were very ideologically opposed to the Iron Islands.

Prelude

The growing discontent of House Seaworth reached its pinacle and the basic end of the line, when they attempted to gain influence in the small House Jare, and when this was discovered Robert Strong had Halten Seaworth put in jail as punishment. With this imprisonment the leadership of House Seaworth came to the conclusion that House Strong were tyrants that they should take the mantle of power in Harrenhall from. They decided to do this by reopening the channels that had existed with the Iron Islands before they had cut ties with such rebellious thoughts.

The Battle

Fall of the Docks

Battle of Market Gate

As the Docks fell the forces of House Seaworth begin attempting to take control over the rest of the city. With forces heading north towards the North Yards and east towards the Factory District the forces of House Seaworth send the largest group of their forces towards the Opera House, and the Market Gate. If they took Market Gate they would thus also control The Market District and thus cut the city in two.

Stannis prepares the defences

Stannis was in the Harrenhall markets with his personal gaurd when the news of the docks being under attack filtered to the markets. With this knowledge Stannis led his small force towards the docks, while on the way gathering together every soilder or able man he came across. By the time he arrived at the area of the docks he had some 200 men with him, but he looked out over the docks and realized they were lost.

With the realizing that the docks were gone Stannis set up a perimiter around the area west of the docks that he would defend and thus force a bottleneck that the attacking forces could not bybass. Stannis had less then ten minutes but in that time he was able to fortify two large towers with archers and barricade two streets so that the only way through was through the one street he lined his troops in. His main defence was around the iconic Opera house which had a size that meant his archers could be defended with near impunity, and the attacks would have to slug through a brutal open area with no protection. Stannis when he recieved reinforcements in the from of Frenley Strong sent his cousin to defend the western markets, while he sent his nephew Jackson Strong, and great nephew Brayden Strong to defend the eastern market.

Battle of the Opera House

The defences of Stannis were attacked by the forces of the favored son of Davos Seaworth in Maric Seaworh along with his cousin John Seaworth. Maric was a competent leader but he was about to enter a battle against one of the greatest military minds in the area in Stannis Strong.

The forces of Stannis made no attempt to shoot from far away and waited until the forces of Maric Seaworth were right on top of them before they begin unleashing a deadly wave of archer fire to the troops that were completely in the open. During this ambush nearly the entire force including John Seaworth were killed but the rest under Maric Seaworth moved forward and attempted to get by the western side of the Opera House. When they arrived there they continued to lose men to the constant fire of the archers, and eventually they became bogged down in the middle of the street when they found cover with a wagon. As they stayed hidden to the eastern side they were then wiped out when the archers on the western side fired as well killing Maric as well as the rest of his forces.