History Characters / ASongOfIceAndFireLordsOfHarrenhal

* RealityEnsues: Harren spent 40-odd years building a castle that was the biggest and grandest in all Westeros. Well, by golly, he ''got'' the biggest and grandest castle in all Westeros, a castle that was way too big to maintain or garrison effectively, and still wasn't dragon-proof.

* RealityEnsues: Jeyne's career as mistress is quickly cut short when she catches a pox from Aegon. With all the people Aegon slept with over the years, it was inevitable that he wound up with an STD and gave it to someone else.

* TruthInTelevision: Replace dragons with cannons, and Harrenhal's tale looks like many a familiar tale of centuries developed, tried-and-true Eurasian castle designs getting, well, massively out-dated very quickly. The UK, specifically, is dotted by ruins of once-great castles that met the rise of modern artillery doctrine in warfare during the Civil War (no, not that one). The ones still with rooves that survived to become tourist magnets or hotels? Either surrendered or quickly or got lucky by not taking a large role. Most of those were still quite visibly damaged.

* TheBigGuy: He was a huge man, massively muscled and enormounsly strong,described as "hulking", and stated to be the strongest man in the Seven Kingdoms.

* YourCheatingHeart: If he indeed was Rhaenyra's lover during her marriage to Laenor Velaryon.

* ReallyGetsAround: Subverted. [[spoiler: Tyanna claimed she was cheating on Maegor with as many as ''twenty'' men, but they were tortured into confessing, making it suspect, and Tyanna isn't the most trustworthy of individuals, so it seems doubtful it's true]].
* SterilityPlague: Sure, [[spoiler: the problems with her pregnancy ''could'' have been with Maegor, given his known lack of issue with other women. But, given she ''was'' from the still-relatively-recently-dragonfired-and-probably-still-settling Harrenhal, it might not have been about him at all in this specific case... Perhaps his mother (or Tyanna) could have warned the "happy couple" a little more about any possible long-term side effects of the extensive use of Fire and Blood. On both parties.]]

** A subtler element (which nobody seems to have noticed in-universe) is that living in it gradually makes women infertile via stillbirths and miscarriages. All of the houses that held it that weren't simply wiped out collapsed in a few generations from lack of heirs, and the life-long female servants Arya meets there have the same issue.

* BiTheWay: It was rumored that Tyanna was not only Maegor's lover, but Alys's as well.
** Though the rumors are sort of suspect considering [[spoiler: Tyanna arranged for Alys's death.]]

* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: Of Countess Elizabeth Bathory.

* CaptainErsatz: Of Countess Elizabeth Bathory.

* TruthInTelivision: Replace dragons with cannons, and Harrenhal's tale looks like many a familiar tale of centuries developed, tried-and-true Eurasian castle designs getting, well, massively out-dated very quickly. The UK, specifically, is dotted by ruins of once-great castles that met the rise of modern artillery doctrine in warfare during the Civil War (no, not that one). The ones still with rooves that survived to become tourist magnets or hotels? Either surrendered or quickly or got lucky by not taking a large role. Most of those were still quite visibly damaged.

* RealityEnsues: Harren spent 40-odd years building a castle that was the biggest and grandest in all Westeros. He got a castle that was way too big to maintain or garrison effectively, and still wasn't dragon-proof.

* SterilityPlague: Sure, [[spoiler: the problem with her pregnancy ''could'' have been with Maegor, given his known lack of issue with other women. But, given she ''was'' from around Harrenhal, it might not have been him in this specific case...]]

** Compare and contrast how living castles like Winterfell, the Wolf's Den or Riverrun are treated. Even bashed around quite a lot, with some towers/wings in disuse, they still regularly get repaired or repurposed as needed, meaning that the whole ticks along with a purpose that works for the people living in and around them. Or, how about the properly dead places like the Castle Black, Oldstones or Castamere -- left alone to be their own mausoleums. Mount Calin, although occasionally still used as a fort, at least gets the regularly maintained family grave treatment most of the time and ''doesn't'' have a permanent civilian settlement forced to try living there. Also... the Dragon Pit: occasionally still used for large events, but mostly left alone to be half-heartedly patrolled by the City Watch.

* SterilityPlague: Sure, [[spoiler: the problem with her pregnancy ''could'' have been with Maegor, given his known lack of issue. But, given she ''was'' from around Harrenhal, it might not have been in this specific case...]]
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* SterilityPlague: Their fertility is questionable. Walter and Shella had a respectable number of children, as did the half-Whent Catelyn Tully. However both Sarya and Wynafrei could not produce any living children. Minisa Whent had three children who died in infancy and three that survived. Minisa's daughter Lysa only produced a single, sickly child [[note]]Though admittedly her fertility issues might be the result of being forced to drink moon tea[[/note]].
** Note that the one wife of Lord Walder Frey who deffo had no kids was a Whent -- that is something, alright, because no other bride of his died without issue (and the latest is already expecting). There is also only one Frey-born woman who seems to be infertile, and Amerei's mother has had [[ReallyGetsAround more than sufficient reason]] to make sure her wayward girl's eyeballs swim in moon tea very regularly to avoid any more issues with her daughter's behaviour (pun not intended, but kept). Frey boys can have bastards whenever; girls need to be more stealthy and actually ''be married'' '''''and''''' pretty sure who Daddy is.

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: In a series that likes to ask the reader how they feel about various brands of undeath, we also get this corpse of a castle that is, frankly, an awful home to try occupying, despite the perceived need to at least garrison enough people there to discourage bandits and other rebellious sorts from using the vaguely habitable mess as a base from which to operate. Arguably, Harrenhal was actually "killed" just after its completion, it just ''cannot'' function as originally intended, yet it is forced to keep on going because of the political necessity and sunk costs. Heck, it barely functions at its current reduced capacity. Instead, it shuffles along, periodically injected with new "purpose", somewhat adapted and rotting, bringing ruin on any who try to harness it. Littlefinger has a point: stake it through the heart, decapitate it and cut it to pieces, already.
** Compare and contrast how living castles like Winterfell, the Wolf's Den or Riverrun are treated. Even bashed around and some towers/wings mostly disused, they regularly get repaired or repurposed as needed and the whole ticks along with a purpose that works for the people around them. Or properly dead ones like the Castle Black, Oldstones or Castamere -- left alone to be their own mausoleums. Mount Calin, although occasionally still used as a fort, at least gets the regularly maintained family grave treatment most of the time and doesn't have a permanent civilian settlement forced to try living there. Also... the Dragon Pit: occasional use for large events, but mostly left alone.

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: In a series that likes to ask the reader how they feel about various brands of undeath, we also get this corpse of a castle that is, frankly, an awful home to try occupying. Arguably "killed" just after its completion, it just ''cannot'' function as intended, yet it is forced to keep on going because of political "necessity" and sunk costs. Heck, it barely functions at its current reduced capacity. Instead, it shuffles along, periodically injected with new "purpose", somewhat adapted and rotting, bringing ruin on any who try to harness it. Littlefinger has a point: stake it through the heart, decapitate it and cut it to pieces, already.

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: In a series that likes to ask the reader how they feel about various brands of undeath, we also get this corpse of a castle that is, frankly, an awful home to try occupying. Arguably "killed" just after its completion, it just ''cannot'' function as intended, yet it is forced to keep on going because of political "necessity" and sunk costs. Heck, it barely functions at its current reduced capacity. Instead, it shuffles along, periodically injected with new "purpose", adapted and rotting, bringing ruin on any who try to harness it. Littlefinger has a point: stake it through the heart, decapitate it and cut it to pieces, already.