Ethan Lash

Ethan Lash is the Lord of Wolfhaven, a man with a storied history especially in warfare in the conflicts that invovled the 8 Kingdoms.

## Early Life

> *Father always told me about the greatness of the Targaryeans, the ones you read about in stories. The only ones everyone else talked about were the Mad King and the prince who betrayed his loyal wife.*
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Ethan Lash was born in 281, a year before Robert's Rebellion broke out and the years that followed would drive out the Targaryeans, though Ethan never knew any of them personally his father told him of the respects the men who once rode dragons used to respect, at the same time making sure Ethan understood Aerys and Rhaegar brought there folly on themselves. Ethan was raised after the Lash suffered greatly in the rebellion, groomed for leadership and combat, being taught to read, write, sail, shoot with a bow and fight, training to live up to the high standards his father set for him hoping to make a man whos reign would bring House Lash to a time of greatness it hadn't seen in years. Despite growing up under the Baratheons, when Robert Baratheon died and the War of 5 Kings (As it was called then) broke out, Ethan initially expected they would fight for Joeffrey or Stannis but he was surprised when his father was unusually reserved and unwilling to answer either's call to action. Initially he assumed it was because his father was wary of picking a side so soon after the mistake his father the previous Lord made, but then he later learned that Tavion was in talks with another claimant, one that would quickly storm the lands Stannis held and brought the King to his knees and left him in his own dungeons. Then House Lash swore for them and Ethan was sent to assist in the King's Royal army.

Serving as a soldier under Prince Daeron's as apart of his personal guard Ethan made many friends in the army, becoming a veteran soldier and commander for his young age and putting all the skills he had been taught to good use. He fought in the initial Northern Clashes with Robb's forces in the Riverlands before helping them defeat Renly's forces and crush Aegon Targaryeans before taking part in the Siege of King's Landing and later capturing Tywin Lannister. His time in the army would conclude in Second Battle of the Whispering Wood where he witnessed the death of the King, and then lead a desperate scramble to save the Prince from the attacking Lannisters. Though the battle was eventually won Ethan felt his time in the army was up, feeling that he could do more from there castle then he could serving in the army and announced his return the day after.

## Serving under his father and eventual Ascension to Lordship

> *Ethan: There is only so much we can do to keep the realm together, some of these people enjoy the chaos the Realm brings.*
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> *Tavion: Even more reason to keep a clear head, we need to be ready to crush anyone who threatens the King's peace, sadly even if they are allies and fellow Brightflame Lords.*
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Ethan's time with his family was well spent, he grew and learned much in the King's wars and started to fit in his role as future lord of the house, Tavion felt he was a few more years from being completely ready. He also married longtime love of his Genna Drake, and the two remained happily married from then until Genna's untimely death. He still helped in some of the kings wars but rather then a simple soldier in the army he would help with the Lashes own forces and handling affairs off the front lines, calming down revolts from the wars and putting down bandit threats or broken men who threatened the kings peace. One thing he struggled with was how to handle the matters of civil conflicts between lords as Ethan was unsure attacking them was the right choice and more often then not they refused to listen to words. He stayed out of many of the sieges of Hen Hill and the Black Rebellion, usually only helping in the event one side was clearly in the wrong. Still he was content and he couldnt imagine much could break the piece he had.

He found such peace was surprisingly easy to shatter, as the Lashes began clashing with the Verdants over many issues before there words turned to swords and war was inevitable. The first real civil war Ethan would participate in and sadly not the last, Ethan followed his father to war, there plans were to rush and take the castle of Castamere in a campaign and force the Verdants to surrender. Though they lost Castle claw to the Verdants Northern allies they bested the Verdant main forces in the first encounter between there armies. Tavion would win the Battle of the Scorched Wolf despite it taking his life and Ethan mourned his fathers passing, but was able to keep his composure to try and finish the war. Sadly the battle was the last taste of victory for the Lashes, there attempt to take Castamere failed even with the help of veteran Jory Redwater aiding him and then the Darkspears sieged Castle Lash, Ethan attempted to lead his men back to save his castle but was stopped by more Verdant allies, slowing him down until the Castle fell to Daniel Youngflower, and Ethan was forced to surrender. The losses were hard, the loss of his father even harder and Ethan was devastated by everything. This became a turning point in his life not just for him becoming Lord Ethan Lash but for the events that would follow.

## Botched Mission in Dorne and move to the Stepstones

> *Taren: You have disgraced our families name and sent us to be Haywin's whipping boy. House Lash will not tolerate your failures any longer!*
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> *Ethan: Is that so? Then show me just how ittle my family will tolerate me.*
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Ethan kept in the know on many of the Westerosi politics and conflicts but didnt do much more until the Four trials, where Ethan swore his services to saving Princess Rhaenys in Dorne with a party of other Lords and Knights. Though Ethan was dedicated to the role many felt he was too eager to try and save her as some means of regaining his houses reputation and respect after the war, and his boldness and headstrong nature clashes with the more pragmatic and stealthy approaches of his allies. The boldest of his actions was trying to rush and attack the rebel Martells forces during the public execution, with only a handful of men. Then he himself made the mistake of attacking Arianne directly when she had a knife to his throat nearly killing the women he swore to save. Ethan was caught and later tortured by the Dornish rebels for his actions spending at least a week there before being freed along with the rest. By then though some thought it might have been more merciful to have him killed. Ethan felt like an even bigger disgrace and many thought he would be exiled for his action, he might have been too if not for the Mercy of Haywin Darkspear who took him under his care, promising him protection for his family in the aftermath of the actions. This didnt go as planned either sadly, when Ethan returned to tell his house the news one of the Wolfpack guard revealed himself to be the son of his Uncle Taren Lash. The man declared he was done following Ethan and the two cousins came to blows for control of the House, Ethan fought well despite not being fully healed from his wounds but Taren had seen many battles as well and soon defeated him. Sparing his life he told any and all they could follow Ethan if he pleased but no loyalist of him would stay in the castle. The next day, Ethan's last in the castle he grew up in, he and many soldiers and civilians walked out of the castle to start there new life under the service of Haywin Darkspear.

## Service to the Darkspears

> *"The Stepstones seems to be a land of Houses looking for redemption or rejuvenation. I am no different even if its too my shame that such a redemption is needed."*
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Ethan felt disgraced by his failures. He felt grateful so many agreed to travel with him but he felt the shame bringing his long love Genna Lash with him through this transaction and even offered her the chance to return home while this took place, where again he felt admiration that she refused such a thing. Put on one of the spare islands Ethan renamed Wolfhaven he began the slow process to establish a home there for there family. It was slow going given the land wasnt as fertile and available as what he was used to but Ethan made do for the most part. Helped by his allies like the Esterolds who he housed one of the younger Esterolds as a Squire. Ethan would also start to slowly gain some respect, playing a part in saving Seles Wilder when Aegon came to take her and hosting a tourney and feast to celebrate the completion of his castle. Unfortunately old grudges resurfaced and when a Foolish Verdant Knight broke guest rights and was arrested, it lead to a second war among the Verdants and the Lashes.

The Verdants knew fully well Ethan's status and thus assumed that Ethan would be easy pickings for an easy war. But either do to the Verdants unambiguously being the aggressors or because they felt they were curbing his power, Ethan Lash gained more allies then he or Lord Verdant were expecting, and Verdants other advantage, Ethans' poor military record after the death of his father was amended when he gained two quick and impressive victories first defeating the Verdants at Duskendale and then assaulting and taking the verdant friendly Lodge, pushing out powerful foes in the process. Needless to say at the first available opportunity Lord Verdant was much more willing to see peace then he was at the start, and Ethan was quick to take it even if it put him at a disadvantage with some of the terms. The First war with the Verdants saw Ethan's start of woes, the second one saw more of a boon, he gained much respect among the lords for putting the Realm above himself and his pride, and the victories in the early going showed Ethan was a capable general validating Haywin's decision to take him in. He further impressed with his part in the siege of Henhill to help cast out the Dunbridges, furthering the respect with his fellow Stepstone Lord Daniel in the process. Though not all would go well as soon after Ethan would take an interest in the events in Essos, mostly about Zelos Wilder.

Ethan made little secret of his distrust of Lief Wilder and his story about how the events in KL played out, but with Zelos on the run he couldnt prove it. To this end Ethan decided he would send some men to check into it himself, but eventually he felt obligated to go himself finding Zelos with a sellsword company and helping them stop the rampaging Dothraki before making a daring rescue mission from Myr. During this Ethan made a grave error and dropped a beloved scope with his sigil. The scope would be found by Nyessos, the ruler of the castle they escaped from. Thus when Ethan returned home expecting nothing amiss and awaiting the birth of his children an assassin followed him. This assassin would make his presence known at the worst time. The day Ethan's children were born, three children one girl and two boys, what should have been the happiest day of Ethan and Genna's life was turned sour when the assassin attacked, though Ethan quickly put him down it wasnt before he had managed to jab a knife into Genna's chest. Ethan had him sent to his dungeons and spent his wife's last moments with her. Afterwards Ethan was devastated and spent the next few days making the Assassin pay before taking his head in a public execution, they say he was never the same after that day and he wanted revenge against Nyessos but for the sake of avoiding war with the Free City avoided any confrontation, but not even a month and a half later confrontation would find him anyway when he found out the true depths of his Liege Lords machinations.

## Silver Cloaks and the Darkspear Rebellion

> *I never sought to betray the Crown but Haywin gave me a second chance, what kind of man would I be to discard him so easily?*
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The infamous Darkspear Rebellion impacted Ethan more then most, for one when the council of Myr was called Ethan was in spitting distance with the man who ordered his assassination and lead to his wife's death Nyessos but by its end he was now an ally of that same man when they agreed to back Haywin's breaking from the Crown. Ethan was caught off guard and insulted when Nyessos stuck the knife in further returning the scope that implicated him back then, but ultimately he was going to help Haywin through the thick of it. Some of this loyalty is supposedly due to the alleged relationship he had with one Margaery Tyrell, the beautiful Ward Ethan befriended, and supposedly fell in love with in the aftermath of his wife's death, who Haywin threatened in a letter if Ethan wasnt compliant, but the validity of these threats are unknown. Despite this Haywin was always a pragmatic man, knowing Ethan was at his best when on the battlefield he named Ethan the head of his own King's Guard (This is a point of contention but we will get to that later) and Ethan was made the Lord Commander of the Silver Cloaks. He would oversee the creation of the order by recruiting every other member of the order first and only incarnation, consisting of members of the Stepstones he considered particularly loyal, with the exception of Aerin Paxton who was brought in solely for his skill. Ethan fought in many battles in the war as befitting his status as a soldier.

First Ethan was apart of the Siege of Dragonstone staying close to Haywin when his King charged the walls with the forces that eventually broke through the walls and slowly pushed through the defenses to completely subdue the castle. Ethan also fought in the Battle of Blackwater Bay though its noted he didnt really do much leading in this battle. Though Haywin would fall back to the Stepstones from there Ethan remained on the attack at his King's orders forced to coordinate an attack with Nyessos and Tywin on how to attack King's Landing though Nyessos would be the one to execute the attack as Ethan was sent to help the Volantis Dothraki land and Tywin fell back to Dragonstone. Thus neither were there for the failed attack on the Capitol, how much they could have changed the outcome is unknown but Ethan wouldnt fight again until the Battle of the Dark Storm where he helped Khal Pono in a successful attack in the Stormlands, besting Graznar Zo Patton in battle and smashing the Stormlands host, during which he also came face to face with his cousin Taren and defeated him as well, allowing the Dothraki to plunder until the counter attack came in but once again Ethan was stationed elsewhere and thus had no part in that defeat.

Ethan wasnt able to avoid the next defeat though, taking on the army heading for Bloodstone in the Battle in the Narrow Sea trying to smash the biggest threat to the Rebellion alongside fellow Stepstone Lords and Lys, the battle was intense but the timely intervention of the Sunfyres assured a Iron Throne victory and forcing the Lys forces into retreat, leaving the Stepstones on there own at least for now, Ethan would fall back in time to plan the defense of the Islands and the most iconic battle of the war, the Battle of Bloodstone. The battle saw the Iron throne forces throw themselves at the castles defenses hoping to take down quickly and despite the Stepstones best efforts they were still fighting and gaining ground, and in response King Haywin decided to lead a vanguard force to match them, which Ethan marched out along with him. There Ethan fought against many of the Thrones best forces, disarming some and killing others before he came face to face with Darron Flameheart. The two clashed for several minutes before Ethan eventually bested him, but knocked him out rather then kill him out of respect for there many times fighting together. Unfortunately when he saw Zelos Wilder fighting his king he was stopped from aiding him by Ser Jaime Rykker, who while neither could best the other he kept Ethan occupied until Haywin had been beaten, during which the entire outside force lost heart Ethan included. Soon after the castle was taken and the War was all but over. Though the Gods seemed to pity Ethan, as soon after when going over Haywins notes for any information on everything he did they found a letter from Nyessos who revealed he was coming in with a fleet to bolster Haywins, seeing a chance for redemption and for revenge Ethan volunteered to see to there destruction which Zelos allowed knowing that if the Lash lord turned on them they could just destroy them all at once. Ethan and Daniel would lead there fleets out to the unaware Myrish fleets before attacking them in what is known as the final battle of the war despite the Rebellion being put down by that point. Though they were outnumbered there surprise attack flattened the unsuspecting Myrish and Ethan himself hit the flagship Nyessos was on bringing the man to his knees before taking the scope and driving it into his throat, killing him and fully avenging his wife's murder. It would be the only joy he could find for awhile.

## Trial and Consequences

> *I will make myself known to all of you and speak the truth, let the gods judge me from there.*
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Ethan for his part in the war, having lead the Darkspear forces to several victories and becoming his leading Silver cloaks was understandably seen as a threat to the Realm. Ethan didnt back down and attempted to plead his innocence, but evidence from various sources either hurt or helped his cause. Many accusations were thrown, such as Ethan being the one who convinced Haywin to make the Silver cloaks, that Haywin threatened his family to get Ethan's compliance, and reprimanding the Stepstones for not attacking Haywin themselves claiming that he could only field 2000 men (this one was plainly inaccurate and reflected badly on the Maestar preceding the trials, and it should be noted it was not the only mistake he made during these trials) and eventually Ethan was punished with being forced to spend 6 months as a begging brother and one of his sons made a ward to the crown. A minor punishment when put up against the weight of his crimes, especially since the ward was sent to a sympathetic house to his plight and thus it was unlikely it would amount to anything. Ethan took his punishment well, and even managed to arrange two future marriages to strengthen his family during his travels, understanding the people and the scope of the damage the many wars done to the land. When his time ended Ethan was appreciative of the time he spent there and vowed to do better for the sake of the 8 Kingdoms.

Though that didnt mean he stayed out of conflicts, especially ones that propped up for petty reasons. He on several occasions narrowly avoided war with the Sunfyres, took part in putting down the Whent Rebellion, helped Rhaegon best his traitorous brother, and even fought in the wars between the faintwaters and the Skybrights, coming out successful each time. Some time afterwards the rumors of him and Margery being an item became almost common knowledge but Ethan managed to avoid any repercussions for this particular affair. A surprise given Margaery was still married to Renly, and that Garlan was Lord Paramount of the Reach.

## Winter War and Disappearance.

> *The Others and the Wights are something out of nightmares...I pray this is the last war I fight in.*
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Having helped the Nights Watch take back the Wall Ethan was all to aware of the threat beyond the Wall, and helped the King in planning for the eventual conflict with the Others. he prioritized this over the Dornish insurgents, seeing Dorne as something to avoid after the debacle he had last time. And prioritizing protecting the Stepstones above all else Ethan prepared for what he deemed to be the real war and when it came Ethan was quick to march his armies to the King's host to fight once more. Many battles in the cold were fought and the 8 Kingdoms had to come up with different ways to fight off the armies of the dead which didnt fight like normal foes but progress was made, and they managed to keep the enemy in the North for the most part though Ethan had many close calls. It wasnt until near the end that Ethan was lost in the snow, during a battle, many men came back from that attack, some living others as corpses, Ethan simply never returned and his fate remained unknown during the entire war. Even in the aftermath no sighting of anything resembling him or his corpse was found and many wonder what happened to Lord Lash in the end. But with no body to bury many refuse to label him dead noting that for any flaws they found in him his ability to stubbornly clinge to life was one that left doubt in all of them.