The seat, the words, the line, and the tale of House Hoare — drawn from the novels and the Citadel's fuller histories, with the television series set aside wherever it parts from the books.
Seat
Orkmont, later Harrenhal
Region
The Iron Islands, later the Riverlands
Founder
unrecorded; House Hoare is remembered only as the black line, the black blood, that took the Seastone Chair from House Greyiron by means no two chronicles describe alike
House Hoare rose on the Iron Islands as the black line and, under Qhored Hoare, claimed a dominion the singers stretch to the whole western coast of Westeros — a boast a maester is entitled to doubt at its edges even while granting it some truth at its centre. A later Hoare king moved the seat of power to the riverlands entirely, ruling Isles and Rivers together for three hard generations, and the dynasty ended with Harren the Black, who spent forty years and countless captive lives raising Harrenhal, the largest castle Westeros has known, only to burn inside it the same season Aegon Targaryen's dragons found it.
The people of House Hoare
The lords, ladies, and branches of Hoare the books name — the notable, the infamous, and the merely unlucky.
Qhored Hoare
King of the Iron Islands
unrecorded
Ruled at the black line's furthest reach, when — by report — his dominion ran wherever the salt of the Sunset Sea could be smelled or its waves heard, from Bear Island to the Arbor. His banner, quartered with a longship, a pine, a cluster of grapes, and a raven bound in iron chains, is grander than the tribute rolls of Bear Island or Oldtown are ever likely to have supported; the boast was probably real at its edges and considerably embroidered at its centre, which is the size ironborn boasting tends to reach.
Harren Hoarethe Black
King of the Isles and the Rivers
d. 2 BC
Spent forty years and the labour of thousands of riverlands and ironborn captives raising Harrenhal's five towers, thick enough, he reckoned, to laugh at any siege. He reckoned without dragons. When Aegon's host landed, river lords who had suffered three generations of Hoare rule abandoned him for the invader, Lord Edmyn Tully foremost among them, and Balerion the Black Dread turned Harrenhal's towers to running slag with Harren and his surviving sons inside — a fire that needed no wall breached, only a roof.
What the record disputes
Where the sources disagree or a song outruns the maesters, the chronicle marks the doubt rather than settling it.
The manner of House Hoare's rise to the Seastone Chair over House Greyiron is given differently across the sources consulted, ranging from outright conquest to a decisive kingsmoot; the Chronicle does not adjudicate between them.
Qhored Hoare's claimed dominion over Bear Island and the Arbor is treated with visible skepticism even in the semi-canon material that reports it; the Chronicle repeats the boast without endorsing it as sustained fact.
No House Hoare sigil is confirmed in the novels themselves; the quartered banner attributed to Qhored comes from semi-canon reference material, and the Chronicle marks it accordingly rather than presenting it as settled heraldry.
What is House Hoare known for?
House Hoare rose on the Iron Islands as the black line and, under Qhored Hoare, claimed a dominion the singers stretch to the whole western coast of Westeros — a boast a maester is entitled to doubt at its edges even while granting it some truth at its centre. A later Hoare king moved the seat of power to the riverlands entirely, ruling Isles and Rivers together for three hard generations, and the dynasty ended with Harren the Black, who spent forty years and countless captive lives raising Harrenhal, the largest castle Westeros has known, only to burn inside it the same season Aegon Targaryen's dragons found it.
Where is the seat of House Hoare?
House Hoare holds Orkmont, later Harrenhal, in The Iron Islands, later the Riverlands. The chronicle traces the house from its founding down to its part in the present tale, marking legend as legend wherever the songs run ahead of the record.
Is House Hoare in the books or only the show?
Book canon. This history follows George R. R. Martin's novels first, then the histories — Fire & Blood and The World of Ice & Fire — and does not follow the television series where it diverges.