Battle of Harlaw Hall

Combatants| Greyjoy Rebels* House Greyjoy
* House Harlaw (partial)
* House Stonetree
* House Kenning
* House Myre

The Battle of Harlaw Hall was a major battle in the Ironborn Civil War, and is marked by many maesters as the turning point in the conflict.

## Prelude

After an initial attempt to seize control of the island which had resulted in the devastation of Volmark and a brief but anticlimactic clash with his brother, Otto Harlaw retreated off the island to reinforce and plan his next move. Lord Aeron Harlaw pursued but soon broke off the chase to join Queen Sigrun Blacktyde in the devastating campaign against Orkmont, leaving his son and heir Lucas on Harlaw with five-hundred men in case the rebels attempted another assault.

In the midst of the fighting on Orkmont, Lord Aeron received word that a rebel fleet was mobilizing from Pyke and was likely planning on landing at Harlaw. Sigrun gave Aeron command of a large portion of the loyalist fleet and sent him off, but the rebels - manning a larger number of ships than anticipated, having kept their shipyards running around the clock even as much of Sigrun's fleet was being sunk to the bottom of Oldtown's harbor - forced the loyalists to retreat. Aeron managed to land a thousand troops on Harlaw and moved to reinforce his son and contest the rebel landing.

## The Battle

The rebel forces divided in half, with Rodrik Greyjoy and Otto Harlaw leading separate divisions of troops in an envelopment of Harlaw Hall. The plan was for Rodrik to tie up Aeron's forces while Otto besieged Harlaw Hall, cutting Lucas Harlaw off from his reinforcements and forcing Aeron to fight on tactically-unfavourable ground. Otto had other ideas. After decades spent in anonymity, deprived of his birthright by his brother's cunning duplicity during the War of the Seadragon Throne, Otto intended nothing less than to annihilate his treacherous brother and his entire sordid brood.

Otto's men attacked Aeron in the field, but because the road to Harlaw Hall had not been blocked off, Lucas was able to dispatch the five-hundred troops at the keep to reinforce his father. Knowing that Otto's forces would be crushed if they were outnumbered, Rodrik retasked his own men with supporting the spurned heir of Harlaw.

The battle lasted for hours, wavering back and forth at numerous points. Rodrik and Aeron were both experienced battle commanders and great warriors, and though Otto was equal to neither of them he was fueled by years of hatred and betrayal. Eventually, the two brothers found themselves face-to-face. In the ensuring duel, Aeron got the better of his brother, inflicting over a dozen wounds which would prove mortal soon enough. However, his confidence cause him to lower his guard, and in a single moment Otto channeled all his rage and frustration into a single, final slash that severed the lord of Harlaw's head from his body. Otto's own corpse collapsed to the ground moments later, the brothers' blood mingling on the stony ground.

Without their lord, the men of Harlaw quickly lost their will to fight. Lucas Harlaw was faced with a stark choice: bend the knee to Rodrik Greyjoy or face the same fate as his father. His defection and commitment of House Harlaw's remaining troops and ships to the rebel cause is often cited by the historians as a turning point in the war, and certainly with the death of Aeron, Queen Sigrun lost one of her most talented warriors and commanders. The war, however, was far from over, and plenty more blood would yet be spilled before peace was to be had.