EXTRA: Harwyn “the Hardheart” Hoare: Chap 1: The Grey Letter

What if Harwyn was born as the oldest grandson of Harren the Black?

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Fifth Moon, 100 AD (2 BC)

3 day since Aegon’s Landing

Aegon “the soon to be Conqueror” Targaryen POV

It was always once in a full moon when Aegon felt fear. The emotion which so naturally to his lessers felt more like an acquaintance rather than a daily companion. He was one of the last

three living dragon riders and a rider of Balerion, the last born in Old Valyria, at that. How can someone carrying the legacy of the greatest empire ever known like him be a craven?

King Harwyn “Hardheart” of House Hardrada, formerly House Hoare, may be the answer. If it was once a full moon when Aegon of Dragonstone felt fear then it took as many full moons as he had seen in his lifetime to equate it to the bone chilling fear he felt right now. The letter from that demon in his hand felt like it weighed more than an auroch at the moment.

He and his sisters, Visenya and Rhaenys, had sailed from Dragonstone with a mighty host numbering over three thousand consisting of knights and levies from his lands and from the lands of his vassals. After three days of travel, the ships of House Targaryen had arrived on the mouth of the Blackwater on the mainland of Westeros. This act will be marked by Maesters as the beginning of a new era for the Seven Kingdoms.

Targaryens of old since Aenar had frequently traveled the lands of the Andals, he himself had flown further than any of his ancestors to the city of Old Town itself. However, he was the first of not just his line but of any other line of Dragonlords to travel to the Seven Kingdoms with the intention of conquest. He can just imagine the kings of these realms shivering in their keeps at the thought of the dragon’s wrath.

But it seemed his dream was not to be, or atleast the start of his conquest was definitely not what he thought it would be. He had thought there would be no one who would be able to stand on equal footing with them but it seemed like there was someone who was trying just that. The words written on the letter may well have been from poison rather than ink given how deep they cut.

The first three days after the beginning of their voyage had gone according to expectation but circumstances changed on the fourth day. They were greeted and then escorted by Captain Qhorwyn Volmark of the Big Belly, to the city of Princelanding where he served as the Commander of the City Guard. The city only recently rose to the heights where it could be called a city without any humor. It was hard to believe this place which now housed tens of thousands rose from a fishing village only less than half a decade ago.

He would not lie and say he was not jealous of that Hardheart boy. How was it just that a mere Ironborn from the other side of the continent would receive the satisfaction of being known as the founder of what will undoubtedly be one of the realms greatest cities? Why was the world so cruel as to not have that honour lay with the Dragonlord merely days away by sail and even less so by dragon?

He could previously console himself that his family would be the one to bring the city to its greatest height but now that dream was ash. It turned to ash when they landed at the docks of the city where they were condemned not as invaders but hailed as their new rulers. He had to fight to keep his mouth from hanging open when even joined the Ironborn in declaring him as the “Dragon Emperor of the West”.

Emperor? Why would these people refer to him with a title that was long dead? How would these low born even know what the 14 Autocrats of Valyria before the Freehold called themselves Emperors? Why did he know in his bones that Dragon Emperor was used as a challenge to the God Emperors of Yi-Ti? Who and why was this spectacle orchestrated? Why has his great conquest begun not with magnificent victories but with so many questions with answers nowhere in sight?

Their greeting party included the lords of the Hills such as the Lords Rosby, Stokeworth, Darklyn, the petty lords of Crackclaw Point, even a Riverlander, John Montoon the brother of the Lord Mooton of Maidenpool. They greeted him in the name of their Iron King, Harwyn, as the aforementioned King’s liege. While he and his bewildered companions marched to the castle of the city, the Black Keep, he pondered on how a man as infamous as the Hardheart, braver of the seas could submit without a fight.

The answer felt like a splash of icy water on a freezing day had been thrown on him, when he had sent ravens to the Kings of Westeros demanding their submission he did not expect for there to be anyone smart enough to acquiesce to his demands. That little bastard was using Aegon like he was a newly married woman before the invocation of the Right of First Night.

Harwyn has by addressing himself as Aegon’s vassal made the Dragonlord honour bound to defend him not just against his fellow Kings but also against any vassals that defy the Iron King’s bending of the knee. After all he informed Westeros that he would be their only King and that those who bent the knee would keep their lands and titles, while those that did not he would destroy. Now it was on Aegon’s shoulders to burn all those little rebels that hated their young Hoare ruler.

His was not what Aegon had wanted. He wanted to unite Westeros, with its endless potential waiting to be unleashed, as one land ruled by one worthy dynasty, his Targaryen dynasty. He wanted to bring do what should have been done since he age of Gaemon the Glorious, he wanted for his name to spoken with the same reverence as that of the Valyrian conquerors of the Ghiscari and Rhoynar and he wanted bring his House to the heights it rightfully deserved.

He also wanted to grow old with his lovely wives, but that was something that needed to be said aloud. Afterall have you seen his sisters?

What he did not want was to protect a little kinslayer and give him lands to distribute to his supporters. The word of the death of King Harren and all his immediate family, even his oft forgotten exiled brother, arrived on the same day as Argallic's foolish offer of alliance. Hardly any time had passed and those with sense came to the conclusion that Prince Harwyn was the one responsible.

The tragedy seemed almost comical in nature. The barge bringing the entirety of the royal family, barring Harwyn, sunk in the God’s Eye returning from their settlement, the God’s Sand. A fact that baffled those who say the sturdy ship just collapsed on such a calm day. The only other surviving descendant to a male line of the Qhorwyn the Cunning died in Castle Black from grief at the very moment he heard of the passing of his elder brother, Harren. A fact which baffled all those who knew the spiteful Lord Commander Harlan’s hatred for his kingly brother.

It had seemed so convenient, every highborn from the Lonely Light to Crackclaw point was required to attend the feast commemorating the completion of Harren’s monstrosity of a castle completed not too long ago. The city in all but name was expected to take a decade or more to build after funds were redirected towards the first major settlement of the Island in the God’s Eye known as the God’s Tear. He heard that architects from the east and labourers from the south brought by Harwyn were the only reason for its early construction.

On the same day as the death of the King, these nobles had been forced to give their oaths to the new king before the previous was even mourned. The funeral took place a day after the coronation and then the commemoration feast on the day after that. He heard one of his councilors call it a gross display of indecency for a celebratory feast to be held the day after such a tragedy. The young king had sent his vassals back to their lands before the week was more with a command that they prepare for war.

Such actions at the very beginning of his reign had caused much uproar and if there was any thought that it would stop then that was a grave misgiving. After the feast, King Harwyn had insisted on there being a “guest” from each House be left to foster in Harrenahall on the pretense they would “fill the halls with joy once again”. He would not be telling a tall tale if he were to say that those who hated Harwyn previously would use these acts as justification to remove him from his throne.

The highborn from the Iron Islands, who had grown audacious in their defiance from the decades of the Hoare focus on the mainland and those who yet still kept their loyalty and were rewarded from the bounty of Westeros. The lords of the Riverlands that were divided in half among those who still wished to rebel against Ironborn cruelty and those who now saw a future of cooperation with the young Harwyn who was born and bred in the Riverlands. Then there were the Hills which were dominated by those loyal to the Hardheart from the fanatics of Crackclaw Point and Princelanding to the oath keepers such as House Darklyn.

While none could prove the crime, they knew who was responsible, yet the motive remained elusive. Harwyn’s father had fallen in battle long ago and Harren himself was not long for this world, so why would Harwyn do this? Why would he smear his reputation and turn himself from a revered warrior of people into scum lower than even the lowest criminal.

Aegon now knew why. It was because if it was Harren the Black who read his raven then the old fool would have fought the might of the dragon to not just his last breath but also those of all his kin. Harren was the type of man to lead doom towards the work of his grandfather, the Hardheart’s namesake, for his pride. That would not do for that greedy little black blooded ironborn snake now would it?

Aegon had wanted to carve a fief for himself from the lands of the Storm Kings and the River Kings while leaving the neighboring Kingdoms either in the lands of his brother in regards to the Stormlands and under the stewardship of a relatively weaker House for the Riverlands. Yet now his plans were for naught, he would need to personally see to it that his newest vassal and his traitorous mutts knew of his fiery wrath.

The enemies of Harwyn will use his alleged murder of his House as justification to lead a rebellion against the young Ironborn King. Aegon will join Harwyn in crushing any rebellions that may take place and thereby prove his ability to defend his vassals. Thereby also showing that Harwyn was quite justified in his quick kneeling. 

All the while that little bastard will enjoy the fruits of Aegon’s labour by dividing the land taken from his old vassals to newer and more loyal alternatives. Aegon could appoint his own loyal men in these positions but he would be throwing them a den of snakes if he were to do so. They would either be sidelined or forced to walk in line with the rest of Harwyn’s little cronies.

He had been played by a filthy reaver savage and he was very very angry. However, unlike Visenya he knew not to let the world see his woes. Yet try as he might he could not bring his fear over four words, four measly insignificant words to end. He wanted to punch a hole in Harwyn’s personal chambers in the Black Keep he had been given for his own use, chambers that would have been his originally, if not for extremely unfortunate circumstances. 

Though try as he might to overpower his senses with rage he could not bring the words Shield of his People, a title he had wanted for himself since childhood, out of his mind. How that man knew to address him as such when he had not shared even this secret with his family and closest friend he has to know. By the Seven Hells he had not even written it by mistake while bored out of his mind during his lessons!

It was not a coincidence either, he knew as the little whore son wrote it with red ink as opposed to black ink he had used on the rest of the grey painted parchment. It was a means to signify its importance that much was obvious. He spied other words also written in red such as a section jesting that the High Septon would be praying and fasting for seven days and nights as soon as he heard of Aegon’s intentions of conquest. This was some sort of prediction, it had to be.

He has heard of rumors of Harwyn being some sort of prodigal sorcerer but he had dismissed these rumors as the rambling of sailors. However, at the moment he feels somewhat silly for not paying attention to such “silly talk”, he would be asking his uncle more on this subject as soon as he was able to.

Aegon released a deep breath and fought the urge to collapse on his bed. He would need to speak with his sisters and counselors on what to do next.

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Hope you guys liked it also if it feels like Harwyn is much more brazen here than in the original timeline it is due to the fact he has not had enough failures and smart friends and family around him to check his ego

This was around 2.3 K words a little longer than what the other fics will be but I hope you enjoy