Rodrick Forrester

Rodrick Forrester is the youngest brother of Desmond Forrester, Lord of Ironrath. He is currently serving as a ranger in the Night's Watch.

## Appearance

Rodrick is tall man of fifty. His body type is much like the bow that he carries on his back. Lean but strong. A thick beard covers his face.

## History

### Early Years:

Rodrick was born in 49 AC and from day one he was the least like his siblings as possible. From the first opportunity he found his way outside and explored the woods surround his home. He didn't like being inside and would often get a feeling of the world closing in on him. He would often be found high in the trees looking at the skies.

When he and his siblings would study he only found interest in the works that pertained to the stars and navigation.

### The Wildlings Attack

Rodrick was a young boy when the Battle Beyond the Wall was fought. He sat in the rookery trying to get the news from the north as soon as it would arrive. He would play out in the woods pretending to be is father or another member of his House's army fighting at the Wall.

This was the spark that would continue to grow into his desire to join the Night's Watch.

### Taking the Black

In the year 63 AC Rodrick left his home for the last time and began North to the Wall. He announced himself at Castle Black and said that he wished to join the ranks of Night's Watch.

His life changed from that moment on as he began his training. It was quickly seen that he excelled at being unseen and gathering information on the Wildlings movements. This was the main reason that he was assigned to be a Ranger and continue to do so. He said the words before the Weirwood tree and donned his black cloak. He was appointed as one of the first members of the Archer Corp.

### **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. Larra "Blade", 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 re-unite the Wildlings once more, to take the Wall once and for all. Lord Commander Duncan was furious, and wanted to do a Great Ranging, Although young with his time in the brotherhood, Rodrick was one of 500 men from Castle Black sent to eliminate all the wildlings once and for all, but Rodrik Mollen 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. Duncan 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 of the 20 men died out there but Rodrick was able to 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 Rodrick who was hoping to get justice for those who had died.

Rodrick soon showed he 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, First Ranger Rodrik Mollen, who was leading the band, determined that Terrence wasn't here. Leaving Mollen 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 Mollen 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, Mollen, 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.

### **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 Mollen for failing his task, Duncan almost had him beheaded, but after more than half the archers, Rodrick included, vouched for the man, claiming they all thought that Terrence was dead, Duncan let the man live to see another day, but tasked him with finding Terrence, and bringing his head this time. The First Ranger gathered as much men as he could, to march on the wildlings to find Terrence and finish the job he tried to do once. Rodrick was one of the first to volunteer. 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 Mollen 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. When the black brothers and wildlings came face to face, Duncan 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, Duncan 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 Duncan during a negotiation, and sent his and the other's heads rolling down the hill to The First Ranger'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. The wildling Queen Larra got a hold on Patrek, an old friend of The First Ranger, holding him hostage in front of Rodrik. She demanded for him to put and end to this madness, fearing for her husband and children, but Rodrik Mollen knew Terrence would never put an end to this. With a quick slash, The First Ranger killed Larra. Furious after watching his lover get "beheaded", Terrence rushed at Rodrik Mollen, 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 Mollen 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.

#### **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 Mollen not realizing that 3 castles had fallen, ordered a march 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, Rodrick lead his archers against them. When the walls were raised giants came out, instead of backup. Stuck on the wrong side of the Wall, the Night's Watch were confused and taken by surprise, and they were slowly overwhelmed by the Prince of Wildlings.

Rodrick and the others were forced to flee North of the wall, into wildling territory. Rodrik Mollen ordered a march onto Hardhome. As everyone was on the South of the Wall, Hardhome fell easily to the Night's Watch. They took every ship they could find, to sail to Eastwatch, just like how Torrhen himself had done.

The plan worked, and control of Eastwatch was again the Night Watch's, and while this was happening, 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 be 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 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.

### Under New Management

With the death of Duncan, 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.

### Meeting a Prince

In 97 AC, Prince Theodan along with many others traveled with the Night's Watch Rangers sent by the Lord Commander 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. Eventually, Prince Theodan was found by First Ranger Roderick, with Rodrick in tow, and the men were rushed back to Winterfell to be healed by the Stark's Maester.

### Current Events

Rodrick has been spending most of his years following the rescue of the Prince leading expeditions North of the Wall and training the new recruits. He became a well liked member of the watch and would work with the Lord Commander on certain issues.

When his nephew Torrhen came to Castle Black with thoughts of joining the Crows it was Rodrick who talked him out of it. He told him that his place was back home with their family.

## Family Tree

https://www.familyecho.com/?p=YO2HN&c=u19vor6o2p&f=459338567533847210

## Meta

**Attributes:** Agile and Elusive

**Aptitude:** Living Shadow

**Skills:** Precision(COM), Ranged Weapon(COM), Infiltration(INT), Ambuscade(STE), Reconnaissance(STE), Astronomy(EDU)