The Battle Scene Is Set
- Robar II took a defensive position and the high ground, assembling his troops on the hill directly beneath the Giant’s Lance, with nothing but rocky mountainside to their rear.
- Having arrived days before the Andals, the First Men had dug trenches in front of their ranks and lined them with sharpened stakes (smeared with offal and excrement, says Septon Mallow’s account of the battle).
(the First Men gathering behind the spiked ditch, the valley the ground where the Andals would later assemble and then charge up the hill)
- Most of the First Men were afoot; the Andals had a ten-to-one advantage in mounted knights and were better armed and armored as well. They came late to the battle, if the tales are true; King Robar had looked for them three days earlier and every day since.
^ Andals planning out their attack, instead of acting in haste — it also served to make the First Men grow anxious, waiting for a week on the huge hill, just standing around.
Smart move by Artys Arryn — and he also had time to find the infamous goat trail hat ran through Giant’s Lance.
With the ration at 10:1, the high ground can only do so much — but wise of the First Men to not go to horse, and play to their own advantage.
Andals Finally Show Up
- Late evening after about a week of waiting, Artys Arryn brought his troops to the battlefield inside the valley floor — they camped half a league away, in plain sight of Giant’s Lance, and rested during the night.
No doubt the night that followed was a restless one in both camps, for every man there knew that battle would be joined at the break of day, with the Vale itself hanging in the balance.
Clouds blew in from the east, hiding the moon and stars, so the night was dark indeed. The only light came from hundreds of campfires burning in the camps, with a river of darkness between them.
From time to time, the singers say, archers on one side or another lofted an arrow in the air, hoping that it might find a foe, but whether any of the blind shafts drew blood, the tales do not tell.
^ Chills right there and an epic depiction — two massive armies standing still yet in sight of one another, the entire region to be fought over at daybreak — the tension during that night, the excitement literally bubbling in the atmosphere in anticipation — absolutely legendary.
As the east began to lighten, men rose from their stony beds, donned their armor, and prepared for the battle.
Then a shout rang through the Andal camp. There to the west, a sign had been seen: seven stars, gleaming in the grey dawn sky.
“The gods are with us,” went up the cry from a thousand throats. “Victory is ours.”
^ Whether true or not regarding the seven stars, quite the mythic tale.
Nothing like sleeping in a stony bed, waking up, and going straight to armor and battle — back before people sat around like a bunch of pussies staring at screens all day.
This sort of glory of existence has been robbed from modern man 😦
The Battle Begins
As trumpets blew, the vanguard of the Andals charged up the slope, banners streaming. Yet the First Men showed no dismay at the sign that had appeared in the sky; they held their ground and battle was joined, as savage and bloody a fight as any in the long history of the Vale.
- Reportedly the Andals were thrown back on their first six charges, only to break through the sharpened spikes and first line of defense on the seventh attempt.
- Torgold Tollett, known as Torgold the Grim, was a great Andal warrior in that seventh charge — he ran through a swathe of House Redfort’s top knights, killed Lord Redfort, and then barehanded with his two axes deep inside enemy chests, ripped Ursula Upcliff off her horse and tore her head from her shoulders.
- Apparently this Torgold was not very Grim, but a laughing maniac who went into battle completely shirtless, with an axe in each hand.
- After this breach the Andals spilled onto the hill, eliminating the advantage of any high ground.
- Robar II went straight to Torgold and buried Lady Forlorn through his skull, slashing through hands held up in defense, helpless to slow down the blade.
- Robar then looks for Artys Arryn — thinking if he kills the Falcon Knight, the spirit would fall away from the Andal ranks and gloom would set in.
- Robar finds the Falcon Knight, cuts his head off with the Valyrian blade going right through his helm, and then hears trumpets from behind the hill.
- Turns out that was a decoy Falcon Knight — the real Artys, the night before, sneaked away 500 of his best men, rode around the battlefield, and found a hidden goat track he remembered as a child that came out atop the hill Robar had made camp on.
- As the cavalry of 500 poured in the from atop the hillside, the battle turned into a rout, and the Andals soon toppled the First Men for once and for all.
- Robar II held his own, supposedly slaying dozens of knights and high lords who came to him for the honor of slaying the last king of the First Men. No one knows who really did the deed, but he did not survive the battle.
The Corbrays of Heart’s Home have always insisted that it was Ser Jaime Corbray who dealt the mortal blow, and for proof they point to Lady Forlorn, reclaimed for House Corbray after the battle.
^ Might be some truth to this. How else did they get the sword back? Though and an Andal might have just picked it up and handed it over.
Robar II Royce — one of the most absolute fucking legends in the history books of ASOIAF.
This is my favorite battle in all of ASOIAF lore — legendary fighters, the entire continent at stake, a mythic way to victory via the goat path, the 6 charges which were broken due to the stakes and high ground —the 3 day build-up on an open field — epic.
Daniel's Backup of 20 years of ASOIAF Historical Analysis 