Rodrik Mollen

Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory

## META

### Alternative Characters

Ferris FossowayDennis Buckler

**Rodrik Mollen** is a scion of House Mollen and the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. He joined the Night's Watch when he was only four and ten and has risen to the rank of Lord Commander since. He is sixty, born 38 AC.

## **Appearance and Character**

Rodrik could be called handsome once, with his hands on a hilt and his feet steady on the ground. Now his salt and pepper hair tumbles down his back, with a beard matching its length. Despite his age, Rodrik is still quite strong, with a beefy body and thick, meaty arms.

Years of serving as a Lord Commander has made Rodrik a skilled martial commander, as well as a leader. Taking the black, he didn't get the chance to have kids, thus he always looked out for the young recruits, always taking care of them. His love for young-lings was proven once again when he took the young child of the former wildling king and raised him as his own. He is also good with animals, and even has a collection of animals, which include a giant boar called "Tusk", two ravens who circle above him, and an elkhound called "Ice" because of it's white fur.

## **History**

### **Early Life**

Rodrik Mollen was born to a distant scion of House Mollen, in 38 AC. His father was just a steward, and his mother died giving birth to him. As a quiet boy, Rodrik had an uneventful childhood. He was barely noticed around the castle and he had no one he could call a friend. With no connections, there was no one who wanted to take him in as a squire or even a page. Realizing he could achieve nothing in Frostcrown, he decided to take the black, where status didn't matter.

### **At the wall**

#### **Magnar Beyond the Wall**

Rodrik easily fit in with the other black brothers. He was an outcast, like all. Good with a sword and bad with words. He eventually said the words to become a young ranger. He quickly became friends with fellow rangers like Patrek Moore, and Ormund Trant. It was around that time, when the Magnar who called himself the "Harbringer" allied himself with the other wildlings, to try and take the North.

Shocking the lords of the North, he sailed south from the Bay of Ice and mounted a surprise raid against House Glover and Deepwood Motte. In the year 52 AC, The Harbinger himself climbed the wooden walls and claimed Lawbringer, House Glover's family sword.

Upon learning that the Harbinger had sailed back past Bear Island, burning the castle severely as he raided, Lord Osric Stark had no choice but to rally his banners. After learning that, Lord Commander Duncan decided to leave the wall to see the Magnar himself, with 100 rangers by his side, the young Rodrik being one of them. They successfully managed to scout out the size of the humongous force of the wildlings, but not without getting caught. A force of 500 wildlings attacked the group of 100, destroying them. Some stayed and died, Rodrik and others fled the battle, only to be tracked down and killed. Some rangers returned in a day, other's like Rodrik and his friends Ormund and Patrek took almost a moon for safe return. Lord Commander Duncan also disappeared after the battle, not seen for years.

With the disappearance of Lord Commander Duncan, a new Lord Commander was needed to be selected. After just a few days of voting, the current First Ranger, who was named Terrence Bywater, was chosen to lead the crows. As previous First Ranger, he had befriended almost all the rangers in Nightfort, including Rodrik.

Almost 2 years after word was sent to Lord Stark, the entire Northern host had arrived at Castle Black, fifty thousand men marched through the wall and met the Wildling horde that had begun their siege of the immense structure. Rumors exist still that the Northmen fought giants and mammoths but the Maester's account from Castle Black makes no mention of such creatures.

However, one thing is certain, passed down orally by Lord Osric's brother, Rodrick, and Ethan Glover. Lord Osric Stark challenged the Harbinger to single combat, the monstrous Mangar stood at nearly seven feet tall, a head and a half taller than the Stark lord. Using House Glover's own weapon, Lord Osric Stark was slain by the Magnar on the battlefield, only to be slain himself by Ethan Glover soon after. The young Mollen rode after Rodrick Stark, who led the vanguard against the wildling horde, and while losses were catastrophic for the North, they won the day.

#### **Rising the Ranks**

When news reached the wall in 60 AC that this time, the Harbringers son named himself King beyond the Wall, promising vengeance for his father, the Lord Commander sent out a small party of 12 rangers, including Rodrik, Patrek, and Ormund, to sneak into Thenn Valley, and assassinate the so-called "King" before he managed to gain the full support of the wildlings.

The 12 rangers successfully infiltrated the camp, dressing up as wildlings, but were soon discovered because of First Ranger Qhorin's poor choices of words. Qhorin was slain instantly, along with another ranger, but the rest of the 10 fought hard. Their training with a sword easily outmatched wildlings with stone weapons, as they cut through the small group of wildlings protecting the son of the old king. 4 rangers were left as the Harbringer's son finally emerged out of his tent, with a sword he forged from steel. The Harbringer's son slew one of the rangers easily, burying the sword in his skull, then span around, gutting Ormund Trant with the sharp steel. Furious after watching his friend die in front of him, Rodrik stuck his sword through the back of the "King's" skull, proving the son a worse opponent than his father. When the rest of the wildling army finally arrived, all they found were dead wildlings, the Harbringer's son among them. After Rodrik's return, he was proudly named First Ranger for his actions.

### **The war inside the Wall**

Just a few days later, the old Lord Commander, Duncan, reappeared at the wall, claiming he was captured, and only managed to escape when the Harbringers son was killed. But Terrence Bywater dismissed his story, claiming years among the wildlings would "change" someone. After trying to execute Duncan, to save his seat, a civil war broke out in the wall. A lot of people supported Terrence, but he was only Lord Commander for 6 years, while Duncan had been Commander for more than 40, giving him the advantage of men. Rodrik, being a friend of Terrence, supported Terrence, and stayed on his side the whole time. The Commander of Castle Black was a friend of Terrence and sent some rangers to help him out. Learning this, Sable Hall, who supported Duncan, sent men to Castle Black to take it. While these were happening, the Commander of Greyguard tried to support Terrence, but his men didn't. Greyguard fought itself and did a lot of damage to the castle. In the end, the Commander was brutally murdered by his own men.

After just 2 days of fighting, Duncan took Nightfort, causing Terrence and the others to flee. They ran to Castle Black, thinking it was on their side, but they were surprised by Sable Hall men who took the castle before they arrived. The remaining Bywater supporters retreated back to the ruins of Queengate, where the final battle took place. On the left was the men of Nightfort, while the right was full of Sable Hall men, and the men of Bywater was stuck in the middle. The battle was a short one, with the Bywater men slowly being overwhelmed. Rodrik and Patrek fought back to back, slaying almost 30 enemies together, but men after men, they slowly became overwhelmed. When a ranger cut of Patrek's hand off, he yielded, but Rodrik didn't. It took almost 10 men to restrain the First Ranger.

Lord Commander Duncan, impressed with Rodrik's ability to fight, kept him as First Ranger but exiled Terrence Bywater due to his actions. With no hand, Patrek replaced it with a hammer, and became a blacksmith, losing his title as Ranger. At first, Rodrik refused to take orders from Duncan, but soon after, he decided to do his duty as First Ranger, not for Duncan, but for the wall.

### **The New King of the Wildlings**

After being exiled from the Wall, Terrence Bywater swore revenge on the Night's Watch, disappearing in the midst of the forests. He was rejected by most wildling clans, and many tried to kill him along the way, except one. Larra, the Chief of the Boulder Clan took the man in, after losing too many of her men and women after she refused to side with the Harbringer's Son. Terrence proved a good warrior, and with his short experience as Lord Commander, he managed to recruit many men and women to the clan, making the Boulder Clan great and powerful as it once was. Larra and Terrence eventually fell in love with each other, which was rare for a wildling and an old Night's Watch member. Lusting for more power, he set out to unite all the clans as one, and name himself King of the Wildlings.

It was 63 AC when news reached the Wall that Terrence was trying to reunite the Wildlings once more, to take the Wall once and for all. Lord Commander Duncan was furious and wanted to do a Great Ranging, with 500 men from each castle, to eliminate all the wildlings once and for all, but Rodrik had another idea. He pitched the idea of sending just archers, to Terrence's location, and barrage him and his allies with arrows, and try to kill him. Even though Rodrik's idea was to murder the man, a part of him wanted to do this because there was a chance Terrence might survive this attack, and come to his senses. Dunk at first rejected the proposition, then later decided it would be easier and safer to do this quietly. Duncan first found 20 men who were sent to the wall for thieving, who were skilled in sneaking in and out of places, and sent them as spies to locate Terrence. Most never came back, but one ranger, Rodrick Forrester, came back a few moons later, claiming he saw a horde of wildlings near the Snow Owl Tribe. The Lord Commander then sent 30 of the best archers he could trust, along with Rodrik who was still First Ranger.

The ranger was right, as the moment the 30 men got even a little close to the Snow Owl's, they spotted a horde of wildlings. The horde was indeed there, but there was no sign of Terrence, after almost a week of scouting, Rodrik determined that Terrence wasn't here. Leaving the archers in hiding, Rodrik tracked down and captured a wildling, torturing the location of Terrence out of him. According to the wildling, Terrence had gone to the Hornfoots to convince them to join him in his cause almost a moon ago. Rodrik then cut the throat of the wildling with a clean slash, leaving his body to freeze in the cold snow, then left to join the rest of his men.

#### **The massacre of Hornfoot**

The 30 men then traveled to the Hornfoot clans' village, to see if what the wildling said was true. Upon arrival, the first thing they noticed was the head of the thief, who was tasked with scouting the Hornfoots, on a spike. Not even an hour later after settling down on a hill to scout the village, they spotted Terrence, along with his lover Larra, and the chief of the Hornfoots. Not wanting to waste any time, Rodrik gave the order for the archers to barrage on the village. Arrows rained upon the village, and bodies dropped quickly. The Hornfoots chief took an arrow to the throat, Larra took one to her arm before Terrence threw himself in front of her, to use himself as a shield, and took many arrows to the back himself. After more than 5 barrages, Rodrik convinced Terrence was dead, ordered the retreat back to the Wall, to safely travel back before wildlings chased after them. Unknown to them, Terrence had survived the attempt thanks to a healer, who was suspected of using magic but was gravely wounded nonetheless.

After the supposed King's death, the group of wildling in the Snow Owl village wanted to march on the wall, to get revenge for the murder of their King. The only problem was, without their King, they had no one to lead them. When a set of random wildlings called themselves King, to try and take over, they started to kill each other, and the group slowly fell apart. Most chiefs took their clans and marched home, not wanting to participate in this folly.

### **Return of the King**

Rumors traveled fast, and not long after, word reached the Wall that Terrence Bywater had actually survived the attack, but was a changed man after being healed by magic. Furious at Rodrik for failing his task, Dunk almost had him beheaded, but after more than half the archers vouched for the man, claiming they all thought that Terrence was dead, Duncan let them man live to see another day, but tasked him with finding Terrence, and bringing his head this time. Rodrik gathered as many men as he could, to march on the wildlings to find Terrence and finish the job he tried to do once. They raided, burned, and massacred countless villages, all claiming Terrence was alive, but none of them had Terrence in them. After almost 4 moons of raiding, Rodrik was forced to return after losing two-thirds of his men.

#### **The Battle of Whitetree**

Several years later, in 68 AC Terrence Bywater finally showed himself when almost all the wildling clans suddenly started marching on the wall. Terrence had made a deal with any wildling clan he could, to march secretly at the same time to raise less suspicion, and it worked. More than 3000 wildlings marched all the way to Whitetree before the Night's Watch could even gather their men. From there, almost 2000 marched onto the Nightfort while the rest marched onto Castle Black. Lord Commander Duncan gathered every single man he could find, including builders, stewards, and even amputees like Patrek Moore. When the black brothers and wildlings came face to face, Dunk rode with 3 rangers to speak with Terrence, to challenge him to single combat, like how Osric Stark challenged The Harbringer years ago, and just like Osric Stark, Dunk also met his fate there, but not the way Osric did. A changed man, Terrence did not accept nor refuse the proposition, but instead, he dishonorably killed Dunk during the negotiation and sent his and the other's heads rolling down the hill to Rodrik's feet.

After that, Rodrik took command as First Ranger, and led the army into battle, clashing with the wildlings. The battle continued for hours, with bodies dropping all around. While the Night's Watch had better armor and better weapons, the wildlings had better strategies and more knowledge of the battleground. Rodrik fought side by side with his friend Patrek, but Patrek being an amputee, could do so much with a hammer instead of a hand, and eventually, the wildling Queen Larra got a hold on Patrek, holding him hostage in front of Rodrik. She demanded him to put an end to this madness, fearing for her husband and children, but Rodrik knew Terrence would never put an end to this. With a quick slash, he cut through Larra's throat, her head dangling weirdly from her body. Furious after watching his lover get "beheaded", Terrence rushed at Rodrik, sword up high, but their swords never clashed, as a newly freed Patrek smashed Terrence's skull with a strong swing of his hammer.

After the fall of the wildling King, it didn't take long for the Night's Watch to fall victorious. Most remaining wildlings either yielded or fled towards Castle Black, hoping that castle would fall. Unlucky for them, the Commander of Castle Black, Ser Downey, managed the hold off the wildlings long enough for Rodrik and the other's to arrive and end that battle as well. The still alive wildlings all fled East, to the surprise of the Night's Watchmen, as they thought there was nothing they could find in the East. Rodrik returned to the battlefield, to find his former friend's body, and bury him properly, but instead of finding his corpse where he left it, he found Terrence still alive, but on the verge of dying, right under a vierwood tree, with a baby clutched in his arms. Before dying, Terrence asked Rodrik to take care of the baby, who he called his son, as a dying wish. Rodrik decided to honor his friend's dying wish, taking the baby from him, before putting him out of his misery. Rodrik gave the baby to Patrek, tasking him to watch over the baby until his return, and gathered his army to follow the wildlings and march east.

#### **Battle East of the Wall**

Unbeknownst to the Night's Watch, while everyone was fighting the King, Larra's younger brother, Torrhen, had taken 30 ships from Hardhome, invading Eastwatch via sea with almost 2000 men. It didn't take long for the castle to fall into the hands into the wildlings. Torrhen opened the gates to the wild, allowing more wildlings, and supposedly giants, to enter, and with that Torrhen marched to Rimegate, and then Sable Hall. Rodrik not realizing that 3 castles had fallen, marched all the way to Eastwatch from the *north* of the wall, only to be trapped when the wildlings in Rimegate came up from behind them. When the wildlings attacked, Rodrik was confused as to why Eastwatch hadn't opened the gates to let them in. When they finally did, Rodrik was shocked to find giants coming out, instead of backup. Stuck on the wrong side of the Wall, the Night's Watch was confused and taken by surprise, and they were slowly overwhelmed by the wildlings.

Rodrik and the others were forced to flee North of the wall, into wildling territory, but with all the wildlings on the other side of the Wall, this time, their own villages were unprotected. Rodrik marched onto Hardhome, stopping by many villages as he marched. An honorable man, Rodrik did not touch and villages that did not attack him, leaving the wildlings be. As everyone was on the South of the Wall, Hardhome fell easily to Rodrik. He then took every ship he could find, to sail to Eastwatch, just like how Torrhen took.

His plan worked, as he was successful in taking control of Eastwatch again, and while Rodrik was off North, the Commander of Castle Black, managed to take back Sable Hall, leaving only Rimegate in the hands of wildlings. Rimegate was packed full of wildlings, more than the castle's holding space. Almost half the wildlings were staying outside the castle. Knowing it would take moons to siege the castle, a young ranger from Castle Black called Roderick Flint challenged Torrhen to single combat, and unlike his good-brother, Torrhen agreed, thinking he could easily beat the young ranger.

The duel was fierce, and swords clashed many times. Neither managed to gain an advantage, both with a fighting force equal to each other. Both the black brothers and the wildlings watched patiently for someone to finally make a fatal move, and almost half an hour later, it started to snow. With the dirt slowly turning to mud, the heavily armored Torrhen started to lose his balance. The slick Roderick easily outmaneuvered the wildling, and with a quick blow, he opened Torrhen's throat, ending the war once and for all. Realizing they could never win, the wildlings returned North, and a peace deal was made, stating that the Night's Watch would not attack any wildlings unless the wildlings attacked them first.

### **Lord Commander Rodrik Mollen**

With the death of Dunk, a new Lord Commander had to be chosen, and everyone already knew who that would be. Votes were given, and not even a moon after the war, in 68 AC, Rodrik Mollen was chosen as the new Lord Commander, outvoting the other contenders with more than three-quarters of the Night's Watch. The first thing he did was promoting Roderick Flint as First Ranger, for his brave actions, and ending the war. Wanting to find a proper place for every brother of the Night's Watch, he decided to rename the Wandering Crows as Roamers, and making them a full branch of the Night's Watch, like Rangers or Builders, Recruits with the ability of a convincing speech were accepted as Roamers, to travel around the realm. After the war, they had lost too many men and needed more recruits.

#### **The Boy**

Rodrik never thought he would need to raise a child when he took the black, but after a promise to his former friend, he was forced to. Even though he didn't dislike the child, he never gave him the love of a father, but nonetheless cared for him. Not being the true father, he never gave the kid a name, calling him "Boy" until his 7th nameday, which was when he gifted the boy a chance to choose his own name. Growing up at the wall, he decided to choose the name Brandon, after the legendary Brandon Stark, who built the Wall.

Years later, in 95 AC, after the death of the previous commander of Castle Black, Rodrik assigned Brandon to Castle Black, thinking he was ready for the task.

### **Tusk**

Rodrik enjoyed walking alone outside the Wall, watching animals, and talking with the peaceful wildlings nearby. Sometime during 89 AC, Rodrik came across a dying boar, whom he took back to Nightfort. The black brothers wanted to finish it off and have a feast with it, but Rodrik declined. With the help of the Maester at Nightfort, he nursed the baby boar back to health. He then tried to set the boar free into the wild, but the boar returned to him every time. Already having other animals with him, Rodrik decided to keep the boar as well, adding him into his collection of pets, naming him "Tusk" for his enormous tusks.

### **Massacre of the Mollens**

In 93 AC, Rodrik's nephew Harlon arrived at the wall, stating he'd like to join the black brothers and help his uncle. However, before he could say his vows, word reached Nightfort that there had been a massacre, which took the life of 5 Mollen's, including Harlon's brother, Lord Cregan. Knowing he was heir Harlon went back to Frostcrown, accompanied by Rodrik.

Upon their arrival, they learned that Cregan's daughter Molly had already been named Lady of the castle, as the people thought Harlon had already taken the black. Rodrik, however, told them that he hadn't actually said his vows yet. Nonetheless, Harlon stated he had no interest in becoming Lord, and did not want to contest Molly's Ladyship. But to the disappointment of Rodrik, Harlon decided he would stay with Molly to help her out, as he was the only actual family she had left.

After the funeral, Rodrik told Molly to send him letters if she ever wanted to talk, and gifted her his pet, a white hawk.

### **Prince of Winterfell**

In 97 AC, Prince Theodan along with many others traveled with the Night's Watch Rangers sent by Rodrik on a ranging beyond the wall, simply to gather numbers for the tribes that were moving around Castle Black's location. However, they were ambushed along the way and separated from the Rangers. Rodrik sent out all the Rangers he could find to search for the Prince and his men. Eventually, Prince Theodan was found by First Ranger Roderick and his companions, and the men were rushed back to Winterfell to be healed by the Stark's Maester.

## **Recent Events**

With the wildlings being peaceful for the time being, Rodrik and his brothers live a quiet and peaceful life, hunting and feasting in their days at the Wall. He also frequently sends letters to his great-niece, Lady Molly Mollen, being one of the only family members left of House Mollen.