Benjicot Blackwood
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 Benjicot Blackwood by © Riotarttherite | ||||
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| Title | Lord of Raventree Hall[2] | |||
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| Culture | Rivermen | |||
| Born | In 118 AC[3] | |||
| Died | In 136–206 AC[3] | |||
| Father | Samwell Blackwood | |||
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Benjicot Blackwood, known as Bloody Ben by his men,[1] was the Lord of Raventree Hall and the head of House Blackwood during the Dance of the Dragons and during the reign of King Aegon III Targaryen.[1]
Contents
Appearance and Character
Benjicot was tall and slim, with a shy and sensitive manner. When armored for battle, however, he was quite fierce.[1]
History
Dance of the Dragons
When he was eleven years old, Benjicot became the head of his House after the death of his father, Lord Samwell Blackwood, in the Battle of the Burning Mill in 129 AC during the Dance of the Dragons.[4] A member of the blacks, Benjicot participated in the Battle by the Lakeshore the following year. Although the soldiers from the riverlands and the north defeated the westermen army in the battle, Benjicot wept when he saw all of the dead.[2]
When Prince Aemond Targaryen raided the riverlands atop Vhagar, Benjicot asked Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen to protect the riverlords with her dragons, but she remained in King's Landing.[2]
Benjicot's men hunted the foragers of Ser Criston Cole after the Kingmaker left Harrenhal.[1] Benjicot commanded the center during the Second Battle of Tumbleton.[1] Following the battle, he had one of his longbowmen, Billy Burley, put three arrows through the eye of the weakened dragon Tessarion.[5]
During the Battle of the Kingsroad in 131 AC, Benjicot led the army with his liege, Kermit Tully, Lord of Riverrun, and Kermit's brother, Ser Oscar Tully.[1] Benjicot's rivermen broke the flank of Lord Borros Baratheon's greens in the battle, allowing the archers of his aunt, Alysanne, to bring down the green knights. Benjicot was remembered after the battle as Bloody Ben.[6][7]
Benjicot, Kermit, and Oscar became known as "the Lads", a name bestowed upon them by their men on account of their youth. Together with Black Aly and Lady Sabitha Frey, they were well received when they arrived at King's Landing. The youths deferred to the more formidable Cregan Stark, Lord of Winterfell, after the northern army appeared at the capital, however.[1]
Regency of King Aegon III
Lord Blackwood returned to Raventree Hall after the coronation of King Aegon III Targaryen in 131 AC. With peace having been achieved, many northmen agreed to settle in the riverlands instead of returning to the north, and Widow Fairs were held at Raventree and other river castles.[8] The following year, Ben took the kingsroad to Winterfell to attend the winter wedding of his aunt, Alysanne Blackwood, to Lord Cregan Stark. Ben's retinue was attacked three times en route by outlaws, however, and his wedding gifts were stolen.[8]
When Lord Unwin Peake planned for Aegon to wed his daughter, Myrielle Peake, after the death of Queen Jaehaera Targaryen, Lord Blackwood questioned Unwin's hastiness. Aegon instead wed Daenaera Velaryon after the Maiden's Day Ball in 133 AC.[9]
In 135 AC, Benjicot and a thousand Blackwood men supported Ser Robert Rowan's campaign to end the civil war in the Vale of Arryn. Robert's host of nine thousand was slowed by snow on the high road, however, and repeatedly attacked by desperate Vale mountain clansmen. After Robert was crushed by a boulder, the young but experienced Benjicot took command. The royal host had lost a third of their men in reaching the Bloody Gate, and were therefore less useful for the cause of Ser Joffrey Arryn.[8] Benjicot and Lord Alyn Velaryon eventually forced the other claimants to accept Joffrey, and Benjicot returned to Raventree.[10]
Later life
Benjicot had a long life.[7] In 138 AC, he allowed Lord Alyn Velaryon to bring the bones of his brother Addam, which had been taken to Raventree Hall after Second Tumbleton in 130 AC, to Driftmark so they could be entombed in Hull.[5]
Family
| Lord Blackwood | Unknown wife | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Robb Rivers | Samwell | Unknown wife | Alysanne | Cregan Stark | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Benjicot | Sarra Stark | Alys Stark | Raya Stark | Mariah Stark | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Fire & Blood, Aftermath - The Hour of the Wolf.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Triumphant.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 See the Benjicot Blackwood calculation.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons - The Red Dragon and the Gold.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Overthrown.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Stormlands: House Baratheon.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons - The Short, Sad Reign of Aegon II.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Fire & Blood, Under the Regents - The Hooded Hand.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, Under the Regents - War and Peace and Cattle Shows.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, The Lysene Spring and the End of Regency.