Harald Eiriksson

Jarldom of Whiterun

Kingdom of West Skyrim

**Harald Eiriksson** is the ruling Jarl of Whiterun, controversially elected by a moot in 2E 608. An influential thane in the hold, and married to his predecessor’s daughter, he came to power despite Jarl Gorm’s living heirs. Largely unbeknownst to others, he suffers from the curse of lycanthropy.

## **Timeline**

**2E 575 — Harald is born on 14th First Seed.**

* He is born into Nordic nobility, his father a thane.

**2E 587 — Harald becomes the apprentice of Sverre Haldorsson (aged 12).**

**2E 591 — Harald joins the Companions *(aged 16)*.**

* His first task is to hunt down and slay Brynja Svensdottir, a vampire.

**2E 598 — Harald is charged with leading the war against the Reachmen of Markarth *(aged 23)*.**

* With the death of Erland Helgesson, command of Whiterun’s force is granted to Harald.
* He leads and aggressive advance into Markarth, reaching Karthwasten by the year’s end.

**2E 599 — Harald secures peace with the Kingdom of Markarth *(aged 24)*.**

* He meets with Hungenbar Duilach, a chieftain and representative of the Reachman king, to discuss peace terms.
* While no land is ceded, the Kingdom of Markarth agrees to a monthly tribute of iron lasting two years.

**2E 604 — Harald is victorious against the Riften incursion into Whiterun *(aged 29)*.**

* He defeats a larger Riften force at the southern White River crossing, ending its push into the Hold and preventing an assault on the city of Whiterun.
* When asked to name his reward, Harald requests that he be betrothed to the Jarl’s daughter. Though pressed to reject the proposal, Jarl Gorm accepts.

**2E 605 — Harald marries Freya Gormsdottir *(aged 30)*.**

* The marriage is met with some quiet opposition from those who counselled a more appropriate match with Riften to secure peace.

**2E 608 — Harald Eiriksson is elected co-Jarl of Whiterun alongside Freya Gormsdottir *(aged 33)*.**

* A moot orchestrated by Sigurd Horiksson, Jarl Gorm’s nephew, leads to the election of Harald and Freya as co-rulers.

## **Biography**

### **Childhood**

Born in his family’s estate, even then a large manor, under the sign of the Lord, Harald did not belong to a particularly successful family. Though his father was a thane, he had little authority and regularly failed to advance himself. His mother, once a semi-famous shieldmaiden, was made lame in battle.

Studying diligently under a tutor, he would learn to read and write; literacy a thing his father did not possess. Harald developed a keen interest in the military histories of Skyrim, what little was recorded and available, and to this day remains an enthusiast. Looking to model himself on Ysgramor, the legendary warrior of the Merethic Era, he proactively sought out training in the martial arts.

Though at first he failed to join Jorrvaskr, the hall of the Companions, proving to be a poor child-warrior, Harald found fortune and future in Sverre Haldorsson. The warrior, an acquaintance of Harald’s father and himself a Companion, was at the time searching for an apprentice: an aide to follow him about Skyrim on his missions. Although for many the post was a step down; the son of a thane carrying a warrior’s weapons for him; Eirik approached Sverre. The latter agreed to take on the thane’s son, promising to train the boy daily.

Train daily he did. Harald’s skill with an axe quickly grew. Travelling the length and breadth of Skyrim, he took part in the tasks his master was charged with. At just fourteen, he killed his first man: a brigand named Halstein Arnesson who terrorised the White River. Though it was not a particularly heroic fight, it cemented Sverre’s confidence in Harald.

On the eve of his sixteenth nameday, Harald was presented to Jorrvaskr once more. With Sverre vouching for him, and in spite of his previous failure to join the Companions, Harald was accepted into the order the following morning. The first task given to him, his initiation, was the tracking down and slaying of a vampire named Brynja Svensdottir. He would go alone, despite his mother’s attempt to sway him otherwise, and spend some months on this quest.

### **Quest to Kill a Vampire**

First taking the eastern road to the Valtheim towers, where he was told Brynja had appeared, his journey was largely uneventful. Coming to a merchant caravan on the way, its merchants travelling to Riften, he sold his service as a warrior for food and a bedroll. The leader of the caravan, Magni Runesson, would become a close friend of his.

On reaching the Valtheim towers, Harald parted from the caravan and began to search the area. Questioning the local guard, having found little evidence of the vampire’s presence, he learned that Brynja had in fact remained at the towers for less than half an hour. She left southward, he was told, though not by the road. Though it was scant to go on, Harald decided to cut south across the land, passing the tomb of Hillgrund and his descendants.

Some days passed before he reached the border of Riften, there discovering a number of the vampire’s victims. The bodies of a family lay scattered about a stables, horses missing. At first fearing failure, for he could not chase a rider whose direction he did not know, his hope of success was restored when it became apparent that one of the family - an ageing man - was not yet dead. In a feat of endurance, one that would only inspire doubt in his detractors, he lifted the man and carried him to Mistwatch in a single run.

Coming to Mistwatch, and there being fortunate enough to find a class of mages from Winterhold studying the Eldergleam Tree, he would wait while the mages brought the dying man back to health. The service, which proved a useful restoration exercise, was free. On his return to consciousness, some four days later, the man recounted the attack on his family’s stables. In this tale, there was neither mercy nor remorse, and Harald’s will was steeled. The next day, the man said more: now remembering that, in his final moments, the vampire stole a horse and bolted towards Falkreath hold through the south-west pass.

Harald left immediately, hoping to win back lost time. On the way westward, he found more evidence of the vampire’s escape into Falkreath. North of Ivarstead, before the south-west pass, he discovered a cart that had been attacked - its driver killed and feasted on. Once he reached the pass, he found a horse dead and drained. Realising then that Brynja was truly driven berserk by bloodlust instilled some greater degree of fear in the young warrior, but he would not let it stop him.

It was then that Harald found himself ambushed. Determining now to kill her pursuer, having failed to evade him, Brynja prepared a trap for Eiriksson in the pass through the mountains. From above, she threw firebolt and frostshard at him. Armed with only an axe and bow, he could do little to respond, and so found himself under siege. This went on for some time, Harald weaving between rocks for cover, before finally the vampire’s magic was spent. She drew a sword then, charging the hiding Companion. The two duelled, neither managing to land a strike at first. Checks and parries and swings, Harald’s skill was put to difficult test.

In his account, Harald told his masters at Jorrvaskr that the fighting went on for hours; that he fought the vampire through the night and it was only once the sun rose that her spirit was broken. Before the other Companions, he presented a pouch containing Brynja’s ashes. Harald was formally introduced into the Companions as a fully-fledged Shieldbrother.

### **The Wars of Whiterun**

In the years following his entrance into Jorrvaskr, Harald would wander about Skyrim completing the tasks assigned to him. Quickly building a reputation as a capable warrior, he drew the interest of a number of jarls.

The Jarl of Morthal was the first to offer him a place in his personal retinue, and Harald accepted. At nineteen, he joined the Jarl’s court as a warrior, accompanying him as a soldier and a bodyguard. Taking part in the Battle of Robber’s Gorge, he won his spurs as a soldier. He would fight in the skirmishes against the Reachmen for another year, leading a small force and seizing Ulf’s Tower.

Though proving himself a capable commander, taking victory after victory for Morthal, Harald found little love from the noblemen of the Hold. As an outsider, and one so quickly climbing into favour, he was detested as an upstart. When the Jarl of Morthal died, he was cast out - forcing his return to Whiterun. While the return to his home itself did not trouble him, Harald swore never to forgive the people of Morthal who so curbed his ambition.

In Whiterun, it was unlikely that he would be appointed a thane until his father’s passing, and there was little work for warriors in the hold that desired peace after brief conflict with Riften. For the next two years, Harald bided his time, continuing in his service to the Companions of Jorrvaskr. He would come to the attention of the Jarl of Whiterun in the third year.

Jarl Gorm, a man successful and beloved, was largely responsible for repairing the Jarldom of Whiterun after his uncle’s military failures against the Reachmen of Markarth. Ruling by then 42 years, he had already ushered in an era of economic success. Enduring the storm of the Three Banners War, he created a turtle-like defence of Whiterun that saw its industry protected and restored: farms and mines were kept safe, and caravans passed through the realm with ease.

Now finally content with the state of his Jarldom, Gorm looked to expansion and revenge. Having already defeated the Reachmen some decades ago, he sought to force a peace in his twilight years - so that his successors might be spared. In 2E 598, the Jarl declared war against the Markarth and its peoples.

Raising a large host, and with the aid of the Companions of Jorrvaskr, the Jarl tasked Thane Erland Helgesson with defeating the Reachmen. Harald joined this force alongside other Companions, once again finding greater use for his skills. The Nords would march west, first meeting the Reachmen at Bleakwind Bluff.

The battle was delayed, for neither side wished to abandon its favourable position. The Reachmen held the fort and high ground, while the Nords could supply themselves from, or withdraw to, Rorikstead. For a fortnight the two armies stood still, both growing increasingly restless. Fearing that the Reachmen might be reinforced from the west, or that they might look to the hagravens for aid, a number of warriors argued for an immediate and direct assault on the Reachman position.

Though he too was wary of the destructive capability of the hagravens should they come to the aid of the Reachmen, Erland could not risk a climb to the Reachman fort under fire of arrow and magic. The potential losses the Nord force might endure would force an early ceasefire and stain his otherwise spotless record. Erland instead determined that he could reasonably afford to split his force in half, sending detachment around the fort to prevent western aid. Ordering this move, he also sent scouts to the north so that he could be made aware of any Reachmen approaching from Karthwasten. The siege of Bleakwind Buff began.

For several months, nothing of note would happen. The nights, and indeed largely the days, were quiet, and no second Reachman force came. Unaware of how many supplies the Reachmen had, Erland could only wait for a surrender. Sending out raiding parties to scour the south, he remained patient through the siege. It was five months later that a messenger came down from the fort to meet with Erland and discuss terms.

This messenger spoke with Erland for some time before, much to the horror of the Nords, murdering him. Having lulled the Nord commander into a false sense of security, he was able to cast a firebolt that struck him in the chest. The Reachman killed another three before falling, and the Whiterun force fell into chaos. Many demanded a revenge-strike, some even breaking off to attack the fort themselves. Shortly after, a second Reachman force appeared in the south - having defeated the small Nordic raiding parties. The bulk of the Nords retreated, withdrawing to Rorikstead. The siege was broken.

Now in a stalemate, their commander assassinated, the Nord force sent messages to the noblemen and the Jarl, requesting a new leader. None in the host were particularly willing to take up Erland’s position, and when the Reachmen marched on Rorikstead, Harald saw his chance.

The Reachman force, the joint Bleakwind and southern armies, appeared on the fields west of Rorikstead, led by Prir Urtach. They would storm Rorikstead, outnumbering the Nords several-fold and seizing the Nordic chaos as an opportunity. Harald took it upon himself to lead the defence, tasking his fellow Companions with holding each flank. The fighting was bloody yet swift, with major losses on both sides. Harald himself fought and killed Prir Urtach, rallying the Nordic spirit.

The attack broken, the Reachmen in full rout, Harald gave chase into Markarth. Taking the unmanned Bleakwind Bluff, he then marched on Rebel’s Cairn and defeated the Reachmen there. Pushing further, he stormed the forts east of the river. The Nords would not stop to recover until they reached Karthwasten, whose minor force surrendered itself on their arrival.

Harald had won victory, and so quickly that Whiterun’s replacement for Erland, Harald’s old master Sverre, would reach Karthwasten once the war was already brought to an end. Meeting with Hungenbar Duilach, a tribal chieftain sent by the Reach-King, Harald delayed peace talks until the arrival of Haldorsson. No land was ceded in the treaty made, but Markarth was bound to a two-year monthly tribute of iron, and victory in and of itself would, the Nords hoped, secure peace.

On his return to Whiterun, Harald was called before the Jarl. Introduced into Jarl Gorm’s court as a commander of his forces and rewarded with a stretch of land, Harald’s staunch defence became known across Skyrim. The Jarl also guaranteed Harald’s position as a Thane on his father’s death: a guarantee he would fulfil just two years before his own passing.

For the years that followed, Harald found himself increasingly involved at court. His access to the Jarl now even greater than his father’s, he regular and welcome counsel. In Whiterun, his advancement was not opposed as it had been in Morthal, and Harald quickly rose in influence. During this time, he also returned to his interest in the history of Skyrim, visiting the barrows across the land on a near-monthly basis. Though he rarely delved deep, for these ancient tombs were guarded by draugr, he learned a great deal about the Nords of old.

There was peace in Whiterun, though it proved to but five years long, and a great many projects were completed. Harald personally oversaw the construction of a small castle on his land, built with the aid and connections of Runesson, while also building a number of bridges on the orders of the Jarl. His role in the Hold became fluid during this period, though ever he trained himself and others in the way of war.

A number of smithies were to be built, at first taking advantage of the tribute of Markarth iron, and afforded to Harald was a share of the weapons and armour forged. By 2E 603, he had begun to build a personal retinue of warriors. Though paid in both food and silver, these soldiers did not prove too costly.

*Unfinished*