Alaric Arryn

Alaric Arryn is the current head of House Arryn, whose titles include Lord of the Eyrie, Defender of the Vale, and Warden of the East. He assumed these titles after the death of his cousin, Roland Arryn, in the year 382AC.

Appearance and Character
Alaric is a tall, well-built man, with dark hair and crow's feet at the corners of his eyes. A veteran of several conflicts, and a warrior of note in his youth, he has matured into a man who can be rather imposing at his full height, and bears the mark of seriousness wherever he goes. Bearded, and often armoured, he holds little resemblance to Arryns of by gone days - but his eyes hold the same clever sharpness as a falcon's, and he has yet to find a desire that he could not grasp in his talons.

Ambitious only just describes the Lord of the Eyrie, who took his seat through dubious means nearly twenty years ago. Since then he has ruled - firmly, though not cruelly - uncontested in the Mountains of the Moon. Not an overly affectionate man in the presence of most, Alaric nonetheless bears obvious love for his sons; and a fierce love for the people of the Vale.

History
Young Life

Alaric was born to Godric Arryn and Luceiia Royce, early in the year 364AC. A robust boy, he was lusty and strong, with a smattering of dark hair on the top of his head that matched that of his mother.

Alaric grew swiftly, prospering in the clean mountain air, and trained with both sword and bow upon the foothills of the mountains. His uncle Oswin taught him the basics of sword-craft, whilst the greater lessons of combat he learned beneath the tutelage of Ser Vardis Ruthermont, a member of the Winged Brotherhood. His youth in the Eyrie also exposed the young Arryn scion to a strange presence in his familial castle - the young boy Maegor Waters, hidden from his own kin, and of an age with the boy who would one day be the Lord of the Eyrie.

In 379AC, Alaric would attend the Kingswood Tourney. Still a young boy, and thus not allowed to compete, he nonetheless watched with awe as men vied in violent contest. It was a wondrous affair; but one of his fellow squiers came to tell him that Roland Arryn - his cousin and brother-by-law - had bedded a serving girl to forget the troubles of the tourney. The disrespect done to his sister inflamed the young boy Alaric, who rode home alone in a black fury. Upon arriving at the Bloody Gate, he received fell news; Alyssa Arryn had given birth - another girl - and now lay in a terrible state. Ravens had already departed to bring the Lord of the Eyrie and his retinue home - no doubt they would be following close behind. Alaric at once departed for the Eyrie and his sister, but arrives just days too late. Alyssa Arryn has passed, without kin or husband by her side - although a healthy baby girl yet remained.

The Keeper of the Gates of the Moon
Alaric's fury towards his cousin would not abate over the coming weeks nor months. In 380AC he reached his majority, and after the death of his father was named the Keeper of the Gates of the Moon by his lord cousin.

Some whispered that the move was intended to assuage the temper of the fiery boy, whose anger towards his cousin was a poorly kept secret throughout the region. Others say it was to remove the lad from the Eyrie during the course of what was to come next.

A year had not yet passed when Lord Roland Arryn announced the next step of his plans; he meant to marry Valla, daughter of Joramun of the Redsmiths, in order to cement an alliance with their chief and begin the process of acclimating the Mountain Clans. At once the men of the Vale were in uproar - a wildling as their lady, the mother to the future Arryn heir! Riots broke out in Gulltown as news spread like the plague. Violent retribution against the Clans began in every corner of the mountains, and many knights whispered of riding into the hills to track down the Redsmiths themselves.

None, however, were so inflamed than Alaric Arryn, Keeper of the Gates of the Moon. The insult to his sister, not yet a year in the ground, along with the union to the very same folk who had slain his father and slaughtered friends and companions when he was but a boy, coupled with his growing ambition and disdain for his lord cousin, conspired to ignite within him a wrath that would nearly consume. From his place in the Gates, Alaric would send riders to those Lords he was familiar with, asking them for their support.

The Crisis of the Crescent
Main Article: The Crisis of the Crescent

Those lords who accepted the young Arryn’s invitation - Belmore, his wife’s kin; Royce, his cousins; as well as Hunter and Corbray - met in the halls of the Gates of the Moon. There they made an agreement, professing their plans to force Roland to cease his negotiations with the Mountain Clans. Taking on the name of the group of lords who defied Petyr Baelish during his forced regency in 300AC, the new Lords Declarant make their plans and go their separate ways. Some thought that Roland would put away his wife, agreeing to marry a woman of proper Andal stock. Others thought the coward would simply abdicate his seat, heading off to live with the wildling peoples he seemed to favour so greatly. In the end, none were sure what the future might hold.

Alaric, however, had a guess.

With the aid of the Lords Declarant, Alaric arrange for a confrontation with Lord Roland on the very day of his wedding. Meeting the eight members of the Winged Knights with ten fighters of his own, they clashed upon the shore of Crescent Lake in a battle whose beginnings were witnessed by only three men yet living. In the end, Alaric proved victorious, two of Roland's Winged Knights betraying him, and joining the side of the Lords Declarant.

With Roland dead, and his wife-to-be fled into the mountains, there were only two choices for the new Lord of the Eyrie. One, of course, was Alaric himself, head of the Lords Declarant and champion of the forces who had defeated Lord Roland - even if those very same forces had not imagined that they might slay their lord. The other choice was Roland's brother, Jonos Arryn - but Jonos had been rendered simple years before, and few were those who wished to see him upon the weirwood seat.

In the end, Alaric entered the Eyrie unopposed by its remaining inhabitants. Jonos' wife, the lady Aemma Hunter, was the first to greet him and hail him as lord; securing the safety of her husband from the barely-seventeen-year-old Arryn.

With that, Alaric became the Defender of the Vale - a kinslayer, according to some, but a hero according to others. Regardless, the majority of the Lords of the Vale bent the knee.

The Lord of the Mountains
Alaric was confirmed as Lord of the Eyrie in the year 382AC, and from then on ruled as best as he was able. Renewing the wars against the Mountain Clans, the knights of the Vale once more drove the First Men back into the foothills - but only after the execution of Joramun Redsmith and his captured warriors, ostensibly for their part in the Crisis.

Following the Hammer Uprising in 388AC, many smallfolk of the Vale began to rise up against their lords and abandon their fields and fiefs. These wandering peasants proved easy prey for the Mountain Clans, who raided in ever greater numbers. Alaric rode out to defend his people, finally earning his knighthood in that year.

After the hardships of the Great Famine, Alaric's rule came into its own - his unyielding firmness and harsh justice when it came to thieves and smugglers doing what little could be done to ease the suffering of the people. After breaking a smuggler's cove based near the headwaters of one of the nearby glacial rivers, he sent word to Gulltown to send ships across the Narrow Sea, and bring back what supplies might be found.

During the Scarlet Winter, the court of the Eyrie descended to the Gates of the Moon. There they lived for the next four years, whilst the snows and the winds howled through the mountains. The Night with No Moon filled many with feelings of worry and fear - and was followed soon after with word from the mountains, of a boy - now a man - born to a wildling princess and a Lord of House Arryn...

Recent Events
With Harrold Arryn set to be wed, and the tournament of the red comet set to be held in the Riverlands, Alaric has summoned all the vassals of the Vale to attend the festivities in the Eyrie, before descending the High Road to travel thence to Harrenhal.

Children

 * Alaric Arryn, Lord of the Eyrie and Defender of the Vale, b. 364AC
 * Theodosia Belmore, Lady of the Eyrie
 * Osric Arryn, b. 382AC
 * m. Rowena Waynwood
 * Arwen Arryn b. 400AC
 * Jasper Arryn, b. 385AC
 * Artys Arryn b. 387AC
 * Jon Arryn, b. 389AC
 * Alys Arryn b. 390AC

House Arryn in 400AC

 * Oswin “the Osprey” Arryn, 327-
 * m. Bellandra Grafton
 * Roland Arryn, 348-
 * m. Alyssa Arryn, 351-
 * Teora Arryn
 * Lenore Arryn
 * Anya Arryn
 * m. Valla of the Redsmiths
 * Her son by Roland Arryn
 * Jonos “Finch” Arryn b. 351
 * m. Aemma Hunter
 * Harrold Arryn, b. 385AC
 * Godric “Blackwing” Arryn, 332-
 * m. Luceiia Royce, b 329
 * Alyssa Arryn, 351-
 * A son, stillborn, b. 352AC
 * A son, died young, b. 354AC
 * A daughter, stillborn b. 357AC
 * A son, stillborn, b. 360AC
 * Alaric Arryn, b. 364AC
 * m. Theodosia Belmore
 * Osric Arryn, b. 382AC
 * m. Rowena Waynwood
 * Arwen Arryn b. 400AC
 * Jasper Arryn, b. 385AC
 * Artys Arryn b. 387AC
 * Jon Arryn, b. 389AC
 * Alys Arryn b. 390AC
 * Jeyne Arryn, b. 366AC.