The Battle at the Red Fork — Everything we know about the Dance of the Dragons battle

In the Dance of the Dragons, there were many well-known huge battles, but there were also smaller ones that greatly impacted the war. Though the smaller battles weren’t as famous, the events that transpired during them shaped the direction of the war. We are likely to see these battles take place in House of the Dragon.

Many prominent members of the Westerosi nobility participated in these battles. One of these smaller battles was the Battle of The Red Fork, which occurred at the Trident. This article will tell you everything we know about the Battle of the Red Fork.

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What happened during the Battle at the Red Fork?

Credits: HBO

At the beginning of the Dance of the Dragons, most of the lords in the Riverlands had allied with the Blacks. Prince Daemon rallied them at Harrenhal, where a war council took place.

With King Aegon II injured after the Battle of Rook’s Rest, Prince Aemond sat on the throne as Regent. One of Aemond’s decisions was to send an army into the Riverlands to retaliate against the Riverlords.

The army was made up of Westerman, largely the forces of House Lannister. They were led by Lord Jason Lannister, who was the Lord of Casterly Rock and Warden of the West. The battle ensued at crossing The Red Fork, one of the three main rivers that make up the Trident in the Riverlands.

The Green army vastly outnumbered the Rivermen. The Lannister army made three attempts to cross the river, and all three times, they were thrown back by the Rivermen. During the third attempt, a squire among the Rivermen, known as Pate of Longleaf, mortally wounded Lord Jason Lannister.

Lord Jason succumbed to his wounds and passed away. Left without a commander, the Lannister army rallied behind Ser Adrian Tarbeck, a knight from a lesser house. Ser Adrian, along with another hundred knights, decided to continue the attack by approaching it differently.

The soldiers stripped themselves of their heavy armour and swam upstream. Approaching from behind, they attacked the rivermen, who were being led by Lord Tristan Vance, one of the prominent Riverlords. Ser Adrian managed to slay Lord Tristan, after which the resisting forces of the Rivermen surrendered.

What happened after the battle?

Credits: Hylora

The battle ended in a victory for the Greens. With the resistance of the Rivermen crumbling away, the Lannister army was now free to cross the Red Fork. The Greens lost one of their foremost commanders, Lord Jason Lannister, in this battle.

Lord Petyr Piper, the grizzled old Lord of Pinkmaiden, knighted the squire, Pate of Longleaf. For his valiant feat of killing Lord Jason, Pate was henceforth known as Longleaf the Lionslayer.

Lord Jason’s death resulted in consequences that spread beyond the scope of the battle itself. Seeing the westerlands undefended, the Lord of the Iron Islands, Dalton Greyjoy, seized his opportunity. He sailed his fleets to Lannisport under the direction of Queen Rhaenyra and sacked the port city along with the surrounding lands.

Lord Jason Lannister’s widow, Lady Johanna Lannister, barred the gates of Casterly Rock upon witnessing his arrival. Though she managed to prevent the castle from harm, she could not protect the rest of the kingdom from the pirate raids.

The Black forces began to regroup, though they had suffered a defeat. They would go on to fight the Lannister horde in a battle known as the Battle by the Lakeshore, where the Lannister army would ultimately meet its end.

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