House Blackwood

## House Information

### Sigil

A flock of ravens surrounding a black shield charged with a dead weirwood, on a scarlet field

## Historic Information

### Culture

Rivermen

House Blackwood of Raventree Hall is an old house from Raventree Hall in the riverlands, one of the main families sworn to House Tully of Riverrun. They once ruled the riverlands as kings during the Age of Heroes. They blazon their arms with a flock of ravens on scarlet surrounding a dead weirwood upon a black escutcheon. House Blackwood rules over wider domains and can field a much larger army than their overlord of House Tully.

## History

### Age Of Heroes

The Blackwoods are an ancient house descended of the First Men. Family traditions state they ruled most of the wolfswood before being driven from the North by the Kings of Winter, which Maester Barneby's runic translations support.

The Blackwoods have an old and bitter feud against their neighbor in the riverlands, the Brackens, coming from the Age of Heroes when both houses ruled as kings. According to the Blackwoods, the Brackens were petty lords and horse breeders who hired swords to usurp the Blackwood kings. The Blackwoods believe this occurred five hundred years before the arrival of the Andals, but the True History states it was one thousand years before the Andals.

### Andal Invasion

The Blackwoods and Brackens allied together against the Andal invasion, but they were defeated in the Battle of the Bitter River. The feud was aided by House Bracken's conversion to the Faith of the Seven after the Andal invasion. In contrast, the Blackwoods kept the religion of the old gods, being one of the few houses south of the Neck to do so. The Blackwoods accuse the Brackens of having poisoned the weirwood of Raventree Hall. The Teats, Battle Valley, and the village of Blackbuckle are part of the disputed land. There have been numerous peaces between the Blackwoods and Brackens, many sealed by marriage, but the feud always restarts. Benedict Rivers was a bastard born from both houses who eventually became King Benedict I Justman, with House Justman ruling the riverlands for about three centuries. There were Blackwoods among the many petty kings who disputed the riverlands in the tumultuous century after King Bernarr II Justman's death.

With the support of the Storm King Arlan III Durrandon, Lord Roderick Blackwood rebelled against Humfrey I Teague, King of the Rivers and the Hills. Roderick was killed in the Battle of Six Kings, ending Arlan's attempt to restore the riverlands to the Blackwoods. After the river lords rejected the possibility of being ruled by Roderick's daughter, Shiera Blackwood, Arlan added the riverlands to the realm of the Storm Kings.[8]

When the Kings of the Iron Islands from House Hoare invaded the riverlands three centuries later, Lady Agnes Blackwood led the rivermen's resistance. She was betrayed by Lord Lothar Bracken, however, and then slain by King Harwyn Hoare. The ironborn then conquered the riverlands from the Storm King, Arrec Durrandon.

### Targaryen Era

House Blackwood aided Aegon the Conquerer during his War of Conquest and rebelled against Harwyn's grandson, King Harren the Black of Harrenhal. The Blackwoods and Brackens had been weakened by a private war a decade before the rebellion, however, and Aegon granted the new title of Lord Paramount of the Trident to Lord Edmyn Tully of Riverrun.