Rickard Locke

**Rickard ‘Rick’ Locke** is a veteran Brother of the Night's Watch, having served for over thirty years. Starting off as a lowly steward, he climbed his way through the ranks of the Watch and garnered much respect from his peers along the way.

Rick is the current Commander of Greyguard, one of the eight Castles still garrisoned by the Night's Watch, and currently remains undeclared in the ongoing War on the Wall.

Known for his grim sense of duty and lead-by-example attitude, Rick is a man of action and resourcefulness. He much prefers to take matters into his own hands than let the task fall to any other man.

## Appearance

Standing at 5'10" tall, with a slim and sinewy build. His hair is a dark shade of brown and is long and rather unkempt, and his eyes are dark brown to match. A once handsome face is now decorated with more than a handful of scars, some more recent than others, and the telltale signs of his age.

## History

Born one stormy night in 252 AA, Rickard was the last child of the youngest son of Lord Locke of Oldcastle. Not a moon after his birth, the lands of Oldcastle were ravaged by a sickness and that sickness spread to both Rickard and his mother. Though mother dies, the baby clings to life with surprising ferocity and survives to the surprise of all. Though glad his son survived, Rick’s father soon became cold and bitter following the death of his wife.

Twelve years of castle life then went by without real incident for young Rickard. He was an average child in most every way, taking to his letters and numbers without incident and routinely getting thrashed on the training yard by his older kin. It was a trip to White Harbor that would change Rick and set him down the path that would soon come to define him.

Whilst in the city as guests of Lord Manderly, Rickard was accosted by a pair of vagrants on his way around the markets - having snuck off from his father and guards. A man garbed all in black came to the boy’s rescue, fending off Rick’s would-be robbers and likely saving his life. When the man returned Rickard to his father, alive and well, he asked for no reward or praise before heading on his way.

As they returned home, Rick’s father regaled him with tales of the noble order of the Night’s Watch and their duty to protect Westeros from the wildlings beyond the Wall. It took little to fill his head with the grand ideals and honour and, after two more years spent finishing his education at Oldcastle, Rick headed north to pledge his life to the Night’s Watch. On the road he met many people, some of which were also headed to the Wall, including Jon Storm - a bastard of a Stormlander house that had no care for him - and the pair would become fast friends.

The pair arrived at Castle Black and soon began their training. For a boy of five-and-ten, Rick performed well on the training yard, particularly with greatswords, though he was quickly earmarked for more important and stewardly tasks thanks to the castle education that set him apart from the majority of his peers. Though he desired to be a Ranger and go beyond the Wall in defence of the realm, it came as little surprise when he found himself bundled into the Stewards.

Assigned to the castle of Greyguard, a half-ruined mess that displayed the reality of life in the Watch at its worst, Rick was quick to realise that the talk of honour and nobility at the Wall was little more than a children’s tale. There were good men, like Greyguard’s Commander - an old fisherman called Vickon, but these were vastly outnumbered by the criminals and vagrants that kept the Watch’s ranks from plummeting. It took three years serving as Steward to Commander Vickon before his complaints got through and he was reassigned to the Rangers, teaming up with Jon Storm again after his friend also transferred to Greyguard after a short stint with Castle Black’s Rangers.

His first ranging would be the first of many times that Rick would dodge certain death by the skin of his teeth. Ambushed by a pack of wildlings whilst returning to Greyguard after a relatively quiet scouting mission, Locke was impaled by a wildling’s spear and left for dead in the blood-stained snow. His comrades were, fortunately, able to repel the wildlings, and discovered that Rick was amazingly still conscious - the spear having fortunately been partially deflected by the folds of his cloak and leaving him with nothing more than a rather deep scar across his chest.

After nearly a decade as a Ranger at Greyguard, Locke had earned the respect of his fellow Brothers and even Commander Vickon. The old man, now well into his seventies, had grown fond of the young northerner’s attitude and began to make arrangements for Rick to succeed him as Greyguard’s Commander once his time was up. Unfortunately, this would come sooner than either man had intended. Vickon had refused the advice of his Steward and others and continued to lead patrols out beyond the Wall. It was on one of these rangings that Vickon was delivered a mortal wound whilst saving a newly sworn recruit from an ice bear, leaving Greyguard in Locke’s hands.

It took a few years for Rick to settle into his role as Commander, but he strove to follow in Vickon’s footsteps by leading as many rangings and patrols as he could. He couldn’t spend all his time beyond the Wall though, and he met the first real test of his command from his fellow brothers rather than a wildling.

One of Greyguard’s towers, known as the Singing Tower for how the wind screamed as it whistled between the ancient bricks, was growing more and more unstable every passing moon. Request after request was sent from Greyguard to Castle Black for more supplies, and more builders, but they seemed to fall upon deaf ears. Eventually, and with some reluctance, Rick ordered the tower cleared of all supplies and left almost abandoned. It was during this removal effort that the uppermost parts of the tower began to collapse, killing two men and infuriating the Commander - who blamed Lord-Commander Webber for this incompetence.

Relations between Locke and Webber had grown terse in the decade since the Singing Tower incident, but that never did impact upon the Commander’s loyalty to the Watch and his oath. When rangings and patrols began to report fewer and fewer sightings of wildling packs and rumours of a horde amassing under a new King-Beyond-the-Wall, Rick sent his report to Castle Black and the Lord-Commander replied with haste. The First Ranger had learned of Hadrin Stormaxe, a wildling chief possessing an axe of craftsmanship far greater than any at the Wall or beyond could have smithed, who was uniting the clans in preparation for heading south.

Webber had decided to meet the wildling horde in the Haunted Forest and put an end to Hadrin before he grew too powerful to stop. Accompanied by two-hundred-and-fifty men from Greyguard, Rick marched to Castle Black to assist the Lord-Commander. Upon discovering the encampment, Rick took charge of half the Watchmen and led one prong of a two-pronged assault intended to shatter the wildling ranks before they knew what was happening. Unfortunately for the Black Brothers, the enemy was aware of the impending attack thanks to the turncloak Sylas Vikary and - whilst visibility was hampered by a snowstorm - the Night’s Watch marched into a wildling ambush and became surrounded.

Whilst the shieldwall of Webber’s men was assaulted by Hadrin himself, Sylas made similar headway against the men under Locke’s command. At the height of the battle, whilst Hadrin clashed with the outmatched Webber, Vikary met Locke in a ferocious duel of their own. The turncloak’s blade found openings in Rick’s defences three times, drinking deep in the Commander’s blood, but still they fought on with Sylas growing more frustrated that he could not deal a finishing blow. It was the arrival of the Night’s Watch reinforcements, led by Commander Blackmont from the Nightfort, that would separate the pair and turn the tides in the Watch’s favour.

With Hadrin slain by Blackmont’s hand, and the wildlings scattered and routed, the battle was finally over. Barely conscious, Rick was carried from the field by his surviving men and rushed back to the Wall for treatment. After four moons in the infirmary at Castle Black, Locke finally returned to Greyguard to count the losses suffered at Hadrin’s Fall and resume his duties. After less than a week back on his feet, he led a ranging to scout the Frostfangs after a rumour spread that Sylas Shallowgrave had been spotted in the region by a group Shadow Tower rangers.

Rick was on a ranging when Lord-Commander Webber passed away but, upon his return to Greyguard, the Commander was met with much support for the role amongst his men. Still, he was graceful in defeat and happy to serve as he had done under Webber. When the Commanders of the Shadow Tower and the Nightfort raised their flag in rebellion and reneged on their oaths, Locke was left in a perilous position with Greyguard penned in on both sides by the rebels.

## Timeline

* 252 AA - Rickard is born, he is the youngest son of the youngest son of Lord Locke of Oldcastle. His mother dies shortly after the birth from a fever, which nearly claims Rickard’s life as well.
* 264 AA - After a forgettable childhood, Rickard is won over by the words of a wandering Crow and comes to idolise the Night’s Watch.
* 266 AA - Accompanied by a few companions, Rickard leaves Oldcastle and rides for the Wall to take the Black.
* 267 AA - After arriving at Castle Black, his upbringing allows him to breeze through training. Eager to be a Ranger, he is instead assigned to the Stewards due to his youth and noble blood.
* 267-270 AA - Assigned to Greyguard, Rick ‘suffers’ three years as a steward before Commander Vickon reassigns him to the Rangers.
* 270 AA - Goes on his first ranging, nearly meeting his end on a wildling’s spear.
* 273 AA - Rick is the sole survivor of a ranging to scout the Thenn Valley, his report on the Thenn movements wins respect from Greyguard’s veteran Rangers.
* 278 AA - Rick is nominated as Greyguard’s head Ranger and begins to befriend Commander Vickon.
* 279 AA - Commander Vickon is dealt a mortal wound by an ice bear, Rick succeeds him as Commander of Greyguard.
* 284 AA - With regret, Commander Locke abandons one of Greyguard’s towers after his requests for more Builders to work on repairs fall upon deaf ears at Castle Black.
* 296 AA - Rick leads a force of 250 men into the Haunted Forest to aid Lord-Commander Webber at the Battle of Hadrin’s Fall, less than half the men return to Greyguard following the costly victory.
* 298 AA - Locke is on a ranging when news of the Lord-Commander’s death reaches him. He returns in time to vote but, despite his popularity amongst the men of Greyguard, he does not get enough support to particularly challenge for the position.

## Supporting Characters

**Jon Storm** [Archetype - General] - A veteran Ranger at Greyguard, Jon has served alongside his Commander since they both took their oaths together in the Godswood some thirty years ago and remains a close friend.

**Byron ‘Bramblebane’ Briar** [Archetype - Warrior(Swords)] - A Dornish knight, hailing from the Torrentine, and one of Greyguard’s Rangers. He earned his nickname after a prickly incident involving a bush and his own clumsiness, leaving his face horrifically scarred.

**Gyles** [Archetype - Maester] - Greyguard’s maester, sharp-tongued and grouchy from years spent as a well-educated and learned man trapped at the edge of the known world.