Harlan Waters

Harlan Waters is a bastard hailing originally from the Crownlands, a former sellsword and sellsail, a companion of Lord Myles Mormont, and the commander of Bear Island's fleet.

Appearance and Character
Harlan is fairly tall and of average build, with short dark brown hair and blue-gray eyes. He dresses lightly, and his clothes bear the undeniable salt staining of a career sailor. Quiet and professional, Harlan does not speak unless he has something worth saying, and even then is frugal with his words.

Harlan can be difficult to read, but those who know him understand him to be a consummate expert in his field - that being sailing and the command of naval vessels. His loyalty to his friend Myles Mormont is also without question, the pair having forged a strong bond as mercenaries in Essos for years before returning to their homeland.

History
Harlan claims to be the baseborn son of a scion of House Massey of Stonedance - Ser Ryon Massey. If true, this would make him the natural brother of Stonedance's heir, and the cousin of its current lady.

Harlan's mother was a shipwright's daughter, and as a boy Harlan was frequently around or on ships with his grandfather and uncles. He developed an intimate knowledge of the skills needed to captain a vessel, as well as construct one of quality. Though he never would have guessed it at the time, these skills would serve him well later in life.

As an adult, Harlan was briefly married to another baseborn girl in the village outside Stonedance, but she died giving birth to a stillborn son, and Harlan refused to remarry so soon after the loss. Instead, he threw himself into his work as a carpenter and boatswain, sailing to King's Landing, Duskendale, Maidenpool, Dragonstone, Driftmark, and even as far north as Saltpans and as far south as Tarth.

Yet the scorn of his base birth ever rankled Harlan, and living in the shadow of his alleged family's keep cast a darkness over his mind. The death of his mother severed his last tie to his home, and Harlan signed on with a merchant vessel which regularly made the journey across the Narrow Sea to Braavos, Pentos and Lys for trade.

His first voyage as a crewman on that ship proved to be his last; an early Autumn storm blew the vessel far south, into dangerous proximity with the Stepstones, where it soon proved a tempting target and easy prey for a Lyseni slave hunter. Harlan was lucky enough to merely find himself lashed to a galley's oar instead of having his throat cut and being dumped over the side, and for the next year he toiled for one master or another as a deck slave.

It was while toiling in such a way that he met Myles Mormont - captured after a skirmish between two sellsword companies - and the two formulated a plan of escape along with several other slaves. While docked in Pentos, Harlan provided a distraction which gave Myles and the others time to overpower their guards. Though not a fighter, Harlan took great pleasure in driving a blade through the heart of the slaver who had taken him prisoner on his first fateful voyage.

Thereafter, the two formed a fast companionship that carried them through countless hardships. When Myles was called home to Westeros to succeed his father as lord of Bear Island, Harlan could not imagine a continued mercenary career without Myles, and so begged permission to find a place in his household. Myles was only too content to place his old friend in command of Bear Island's modest fleet, and keep his friend and ally by his side.