Howland Reed

## Lord of Greywater Watch

Howland Reed is the ruler of the Crannogmen, Lord of Greywater Watch, and a devout follower of the Kings in the North.

## Appearance

Howland is a old man by Westerosi standards, but strong and spry for his age. His face is wrinkled and tanned, his hair grey and turning white, and his once-brilliant green eyes fading with age, but brightening with wisdom.

He normally wears a plain green tunic, albeit with the lizard-lion of his sigil embroidered onto them, and woolen pants. In wartime, he rarely wears the plate and chain that his fellow countrymen to the north and south prefer, rather opting for a thick but flexible lamellar cuirass of boiled leather lamellae interlaced with steel covering the more vulnerable bits. Even so, all the nobleborn men of Greywater Watch, including Howland, own true armor fitted to themselves, and never let it go to rust.

Howland is a very small man, topping off at 5'2", and leaner than most boys, although beneath his skin is only muscle, flesh, and bone, with not a lick of fat to be found.

## History

Howland Reed was born in 310 AC to Jojen and Wylla Reed. Their marriage was a loving one, but Howland would never know, as his mother perished giving birth to his younger sister.

Howland himself was the eldest son of Jojen Reed, at that time the heir to Greywater Watch, and was trained from the moment he could walk all his father and grandfather deemed fit to teach him. He was taken into the crannogs by his elders, through the swamps, passing by the slumbering animals and serene villages as they trained him. This training went on for only a year, until on his eighth nameday, when he was sent to foster with one of the great houses of the North.

Upon his arrival at Winterfell, Howland met an older boy by the name of Brandon Stark. They became fast friends over Howland’s eight years at the mighty castle. It was a great change from the crannogs which he was used to, but the Reeds had sworn themselves to the Kings of Winter, to the Kings in the North, and it was their duty to protect their lieges. Howland was trained in *polearms*, sword, and shield, along with riding, some archery, and lessons in the highborn arts of reading, writing, and math.

Before Howland knew it, he was a man grown and he left Winterfell once again, riding a small but strong garron back to the Neck, where the two years of late-night romps with his elders, long forgotten at this point, kicked back in. He slid off of the saddle and led his horse onto a barge and through the swamps, his mind telling him where to turn and where to stop, Where the small villages were, and where the keeps were. After a few hours navigating the murky crannogs, he looked up to find himself at the place he was raised before leaving. He had returned to Greywater Watch.

He remained at Greywater for a few more years, quietly arranging marriages for his aging father and grandfather, dealing with some of the bureaucracies and tedium that his father dealt with daily. His eldest sister had left while he was away, living at Bear Island, and his father had had more children while he was gone, still young, and he swore that he would teach them well.

Most mornings he would go out into the swamps and hunt. While the commonfolk of the Neck subsided on mostly fish and frogs, a few deer and rabbits darted through the swamplands, and a man who moved as quietly and as *covertly* as Howland Reed could spear one of them before it even noticed he was upon it. Over time, he began to master the art of *hunting*, and more often than not he would return to Greywater Watch with a deer’s carcass following close behind. Sometimes he would merely wander. While a lesser man would grow lost and confused in the hostile swamps, Howland somehow knew his way back. The entire Neck he could *navigate* like the palm of his hand.

The Reeds power and influence grew under the watchful eye of Howland Reed as his father Jojen began to fail, and in 345 AC Howland finally took on the title that he had owned for the past years in truth, though not in technicality. The Reed tree began to grow and blossom, every promising bud being bred with another until more branches and leaves sprouted, leaving few loose ends. He worried for his sister Catelyn, who, although devoted to her lord husband, was afraid he did not feel the same. He worried for his son, for his daughter, for their children to come. He worried for his siblings, and his nephews and nieces, his second cousins, their siblings, and all harm that might befall the Reed tree.

Come 370 AC and the announcement of a tourney to celebrate seventy years of peace, Lord Howland packed his bags and called his barge. He hadn’t personally left the Neck in years. Perhaps it was finally time to do so.

## Timeline

310AC: Howland Reed is born

318AC: Howland Reed is sent to Winterfell to be fostered.

326AC: Howland Reed returns from Winterfell, fantasizing about one of the Stark girls he had grown fond of during his stay.

329AC: Howland finally finds the courage to ask Rickard Stark if he has his blessing for his daughter Mariah to be his wife. He agrees, and so does she.

331AC: Howland and Mariah have their first child together, a boy named Petyr

333AC: Howland and Mariah have their second child, a girl named Gwynesse.

341AC: Howland rides off to fight in the War of the Exile.

342AC: Howland is injured and returns to Greywater Watch shortly after the war ends, having spent the last few months in a recovery tent.

345AC: Howland’s father, Jojen, dies. Howland inherits Greywater Watch and becomes the new lord.

350AC, Third Moon: Howland’s son Petyr marries Rhea Bolton.

350AC, Twelfth Moon: Petyr’s first child is born, along with his second. Rhea has birthed twins, named Jon and Jeyne.

352AC: Gwynessse is married to Cregan Dustin.

354AC: Howland rides off to war again, this time with his son Petyr alongside him. They fight throughout the entirety of War of the Burning Brand, both in open combat and in traditional Crannogmen skirmish.

363AC: Howland’s wife, Mariah, dies. Her bones are sent back to Winterfell in respect of Stark traditions. A small shrine is made and dedicated to her in the bowels of Greywater Watch.

370AC: Present times.