House Hardy of Harrenhal

House Hardy of Harrenhal is a noble house based in the Riverlands, though originally from the Crownlands. House Hardy of Harrenhal is a cadet branch of the House Hardy in the Crownlands, though the Riverlands branch controls significantly more land than their crownlander cousin.

The Fall of House Whent
Lord Whent, the somewhat aged Lord of Harrenhal, was naturally competent, good with people as well as numbers. It was little surprise, then, that he was eventually chosen by King Aemon as his Master of Laws, once an opening in the position came about in 283. His service in the position did a great deal to strengthen the Riverlands, both in actual influence and in the eyes of the realm at large. Collaboration between the two regions were never much higher, and the King and House Tully frequently feasted one another on visits to each's respective fief.

This came crashing down, of course, when Lord Whent was implicated in the Name Day plot. The influence of the Trident in court dropped as quickly as the Lord of Harrenhal's head. While there was no evidence that any other Rivermen were involved in any capacity, the prospect of such was never fully dismissed. As such, Aemon and his small council decided to raise to Harrenhal a figure decidedly loyal to neither Tully nor Whent: The brusque uncle of Lord Hardy, a man who had served in court as Master-At-Arms of the Red Keep for sometime and Aemon felt confident in the loyalty of.

Now, instead of Riverlander influence in the Crownlands, it seemed that the die had turned on its head. A Crownlander took Harrenhal as his seat, and the Riverlanders began to grumble. Some began to whisper that Whent's bastard, a boy of fourteen, had fled across the waters to the Isle of Faces to avoid capture. Other said he had merely been hanged.

Treading the Red Path
Some would, almost two decades of seemingly unsubstantiated, come to see that they (or their fathers) had supposedly been right about House Hardy. Upon hearing of King Aemon's death and Viserys's ascension to the Throne, House Hardy promptly converted to the Red God. It is unclear whether the conversion was made in order to gain political power, or if Hardy was simply revealing long held beliefs now that he had an ally upon the Iron Throne. Regardless of the reason, it did not go over quite too well with many riverlords.

With Hardy's conversion came hope for many followers of R'hllor, and missionaries abound swept to the Riverlands, hoping to spread seeds of faith in fertile ground. Over the next few years, they found some success. House Darry, alongside some others, would join the Hardys in the Red Faith that their king worshipped. Not all people found the new religion so charming however. Notably, Houses Bracken and Blackwood, oftentimes enemies, found themselves alike in hatred towards the King's red men, and were known for executing missionaries on... less than solid grounds, though never without some sort of excuse for it. House Tully wavered between viewing R'hllor as a threat and a pest, and wandering septons and red priests often came to fisticuffs.

Recent History
TBA