George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon are not short of tragedy and curses that cost the lives of so many characters. There are some people and places that seem to have a streak of bad luck, almost as if they are cursed. However, the haunted castle of Harrenhal is a particularly special case, as it has seen its fair share of loss and tragedy within its walls. The castle, which has suffered from both fire and destruction, not only tells a story of death and despair but also provides the backdrop for our beloved characters’ stories. It is the haunted castle that children learn about in their bedtime stories in Westeros. Yet even before we became acquainted with it, Harrenhal had already faced its own fair share of tragic events. Harrenhal Castle was originally built to reflect the ego of a man whose very same ego would eventually lead to the Castle’s downfall. Harrenhal is actually a pretty interesting place because it’s where the House Targaryen, led by Aegon, began their rule over Westeros.
House of the Dragon
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The reign of House Targaryen begins with this prequel to the popular HBO series Game of Thrones. Based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon is set nearly 200 years before Game of Thrones, telling the story of the Targaryen civil war with King Viserys.
Release DateAugust 21, 2022CreatorRyan J. Condal, George R.R. MartinCastPaddy Considine , Olivia Cooke , Rhys Ifans , Matt Smith , Eve Best , Steve Toussaint , Emma D’Arcy , Milly Alcock , Emily CareySeasons4DistributorHBOHow Did Harrenhal Become Haunted?
Before the events of both Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, Harren the Black built Harrenhal. He built it as a grand tribute to himself, with the ambitious aim of creating the most magnificent castle in all of Westeros. The construction process spanned an impressive 40 years, and upon its completion, Harren boasted that it was an impregnable fortress. However, fate had other plans in store for the lord. The same day Harren moved in, Aegon the Conqueror and his dragons invaded Westeros and arrived at King’s Landing. Aegon offered Harren the opportunity to surrender and become the ruling Lord of the Iron Islands, ensuring a prosperous future for his descendants. Sadly, Harren’s pride got the better of him as he defiantly rejected Aegon’s proposal. Consequently, Aegon unleashed his mighty dragons upon Harrenhal, leading to the tragic demise of Harren and all his children. The once-magnificent castle was left ravaged, its grandeur reduced to ashes and melted stone.
Despite being partially destroyed, the importance of Harrenhal castle was undeniable, and the Targaryens ensured to appoint Houses to rule it. Aegon I Targaryen gave Quenton Qoherys the castle of Harrenhal, but his house died out soon after. By then the castle had become too big to protect and way too expensive. After that, it went to House Harroway, who was killed by King Maegor I Targaryen. The belief that the castle was cursed due to Harren’s arrogance only grew as most of its rulers found early deaths and terrible outcomes. Harrenhal Castle has unfortunately been the site of numerous distressing events in Westeros, with a significant number of deaths and heart-wrenching tragedies taking place within its walls. All the lords and ladies that ruled the castle met an early grave and, in some cases, their bloodlines also died in less than three generations.
When Did Harrenhal Appear in ‘Game of Thrones’?
Although Harrenhal Castle was mentioned in the first season of Game of Thrones, it was not until the second that it was shown on screen. In Season 1, Janos Slynt (Dominic Carter), commander of the City Watch, is granted the castle of Harrenhal by King Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) as a reward for betraying Eddard Stark (Sean Bean). Given his position in King’s Landing, he never gets the chance to claim it before Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) stands him to the Wall in Season 2. Following the Lannister defeat at the Battle of Whispering Wood, Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) announces his plan to seize Harrenhal with his army and establish it as his forces’ headquarters in the Riverlands.
But Harrenhal’s first appearance on screen is when Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) and Gendry Baratheon (Joseph Dempsie) are taken prisoner by the Lannisters. At the same time, Tyrion proposes to Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen) that he will give him Harrenhal and lordship over the Riverlands in exchange for his help in freeing Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). Ironically, Tyrion himself never gets the chance, as he is grievously wounded in the Battle of the Blackwater and loses power to Tywin upon his triumphant return. Still, Littlefinger ends up with the castle after all, as Joffrey rewards him with Harrenhal for his assistance in securing the Lannister-Tyrell alliance. As a lower lord despised by the upper class and master strategist himself, Littlefinger is well aware of its cursed status and never sets foot in the castle, though this does little to save him.
In the third season, the Northern army invades Harrenhal but finds out that the Mountain has already abandoned it and massacred every prisoner they were holding. Harrenhal remained under Robbs’s power until he left after learning of Hoster Tully’s (Christopher Newman) death. Robb Stark (Richard Madden) leaves Harrenhal to Roose Bolton (Michael McElhatton) with parts of the Northern army. Over the insistence of Walder Frey (David Bradley), Robb promises him Harrenhal so Walder agrees to renew his alliance. In Season 4, Locke and Roose abandon Harrenhal and return to the Dreadfort, but it is never specified exactly when. After Robbs’s death at the Red wedding, the Lannisters recover Harrenhal, but who exactly it is given to remains an open question after the Mountain is killed (for a while, anyway) in battle with Oberyn Martell (Pedro Pascal) during trial by combat.
After that, the castle remains unmentioned until Season 7, when Harrenhal becomes once again leaderless. Jaime Lannister appoints a castellan, Ser Bonifer Hasty, who remains in his post until Lord Baelish claims his castle. After that, in Season 7, the castle sees another of its leaders dead as Littlefinger, the last member of his house, is executed for his crimes, particularly for his role in the War of the Five Kings.
When Did Harrenhal Appear in ‘House of the Dragon’?
Harrenhal has also been important in House of the Dragon. Since Episode 1, Harrenhal became the place where the Great Council takes place, a council summoned by King Jaehaerys I Targaryen (Michael Carter) to determine who would be his successor. Harrenhal was the place where Viserys I Targaryen was chosen as King. By then, Harrenhal was granted by Jaehaerys I Targaryen to the House Strong, particularly to Ser Bywin Strong, who later left the castle to Lyonel Strong (Gavin Spokes).
Tragedy at Harrenhal did not wait to come for its residents, as Lyonel Strong as well as his successor Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr) perished in a fire. In the book of Fire & Blood, the true perpetrator responsible for the fire is never discovered; the fire is attributed to the curse of Harrenhal by some, while others blame everyone from Lyonel’s second son, Larys Strong (Matthew Needham), Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), and even King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine). Yet in the TV show, the person responsible was Larys, who turned prisoners into tongueless assassins who secretly set the castle on fire. With the death of his father and older brother, Harrenhal went to Larys, the new Lord Strong. Being the parallel to Littlefinger well over a century later, Larys also never sets foot in the castle, so the new castellan instead becomes his uncle, Simon Strong (Simon Russell Beale), who is weary of Larys and eager to disown him for arranging the death of his brother.
Harrenhal Is in a Strategic Location in Westeros
Harrenhal has played a very important role in both Game of Thrones and House of The Dragon, and it is not a castle to be taken lightly, regardless of the considerable damage that remains. All who seek to claim must remain cautious, however, as many deem the land to be cursed and there are cases both for and against such a claim. On one hand, the castle is a highly coveted one, often granted deceptively as a white elephant to lords who are deemed too ambitious for their good, explaining the tragic fates befalling many of those foolish few who set foot there. On the other hand, the books explicitly mention that much of the castle was constructed from fallen weirwood trees, themselves a strong source of magic, before they were burned with dragon fire, meaning some supernatural elements might indeed be at play. The fact that even those who have simply owned the castle, without ever occupying it, have experienced fates just as horrific as those who fruitlessly attempt to rule over it can easily be seen as too much of a coincidence to be believed.
By the end of the first season of House of The Dragon, Harrenhal Castle is still ruled by Larys Strong, who is loyal to the Greens, the faction led by Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke). With the outbreak of war, the Riverlands are perhaps the most vulnerable of the Seven Kingdoms to attack, given their status as the breadbasket of Westeros and lacking any natural defenses. As the largest castle in the region, Harrenhal also remains its biggest target due to its sheer size and proximity to other great castles, such as Riverrun. In the Dance of the Dragons, Harrenhal is even more important than it would be otherwise since Lord Tully is a frail old man unable to control his vassals, meaning that whoever controls the castle possesses the greatest claim to political legitimacy in the Riverlands. Just as it was during the Conquest, the fortress has no answer for dragons, meaning it will remain a hot spot for conflict for the entire war, with the potential to be claimed or reclaimed by either side. Rather than being a shield against protection as Harren the Black had intended, the castle is, and has always been, perhaps the biggest target on the continent.
The Mural in Aemond’s Room in ‘House of the Dragon’ Foreshadows Tragic Events
This definitely has more meaning than those scandalous dragon and human tapestries.
In ‘House of the Dragon,’ Harrenhal Is a Symbol of Human Folly
When Prince Daemon occupies the ruins of Harrenhal for the Blacks in Season 2, we get our first true sense of its scale. Finding the castle mostly abandoned, he spends several minutes simply walking through its many rooms, surrounded only by rain and darkened skies. Given its clear importance to the Riverlands, Daemon has won a major strategic victory with his claiming of the castle, but there is little to show for it. Just as it stands as a monument to the arrogance of man, the castle here displays the hollowness of victory in a war that we already know will lead to tragedy. Even when he meets Simon Strong in the main hearth, the building overwhelms and swallows everything in its presence, leaving Daemon feeling smaller than ever before.
During its appearance in the second season, the unnatural nature of the haunted castle is explored in detail. Within both House of the Dragon and its predecessor, Harrenhal is viewed as a cursed place, one so big that it claims the lives of even the great houses who seek to rule it. In the first season, Larys Strong has already orchestrated the death of most of his family, leaving it vastly diminished in the war to come. Finally, Daemon might not even be safe in the walls of the castle, either, as the highly mysterious Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) hints he will one day perish within them. The experience leaves Daemon, not a cowardly man of any sort, visibly shaken and reminds us that Harrenhal is not a place of great history but a horror story for anyone who dares to tread there.
House of the Dragon Season 2 airs every Sunday at 9:00 PM EST on Max in the US.
