“None the Citadel can confirm from the printed page.”
The seat, the words, the line, and the tale of House Tallhart — drawn from the novels and the Citadel's fuller histories, with the television series set aside wherever it parts from the books.
Seat
Torrhen's Square
Region
The North
Founder
Unnamed, though the seat's own name invites a guess this chronicle will note without asserting as fact — Torrhen's Square, sharing its name with the King Who Knelt, the last King in the North to hold that title before Robb Stark briefly revived it.
A steady bannerman house that answered Robb Stark's summons in full and paid for it in full as well — a father lost to ambush, a son lost to the sea, and a daughter left to inherit a castle that was, by the time the inheritance reached her, no longer in Tallhart hands at all.
I
A Square Named for a King
Torrhen's Square takes its name, by every account this chronicle trusts, from King Torrhen Stark, the last King in the North to hold that title before Aegon's conquest ended the northern kingdom's independence rather than its identity. Whether the Tallharts held the land already at the time of Torrhen's kneeling or received it in some connection to that surrender, the record does not settle with any confidence this chronicle is willing to print as fact — only that the name has stuck, through eight thousand years or eight hundred, longer than most northern houses can claim for anything.
In the chronicle
The present tale
This chapter carries the house's fortunes into the novels' events — veiled until you choose to read on.
§
South with Robb, and a Trap Near Duskendale
Lord Helman Tallhart marched south with Robb Stark's host and later led a raiding column into the westerlands alongside Robett Glover, striking at Lannister holdings while the main northern army campaigned elsewhere. The raid ended badly: Helman and a substantial part of the northern infantry under his command were caught and destroyed near Duskendale, ambushed by Lord Randyll Tarly's forces in fighting this chronicle records as a rout rather than a battle. Helman did not survive it.
In the chronicle
These partings name deaths, endings, and roads not yet ridden in the books. Unveil them only if both roads are known to you — or if you do not fear to know.
The present tale
This chapter carries the house's fortunes into the novels' events — veiled until you choose to read on.
§
Benfred's Sally, and Eddara's Captivity
Helman's son Benfred, left to hold Torrhen's Square in his father's absence, rode out against the ironborn raiding the Stony Shore against the advice of cooler heads in his own household — a sally that ended in his capture and, by the account this chronicle has been able to confirm, his drowning at sea under Aeron Greyjoy's direction. Torrhen's Square itself fell shortly after to Dagmer Cleftjaw's men, and Helman's daughter Eddara, left as the family's last direct claimant by two deaths in quick succession, was taken captive in the castle her own name should by rights have inherited outright. Helman's brother Leobald, castellan in the family's absence, is left to this chronicle's record holding what remains of House Tallhart's authority together as best a castellan can.
In the chronicle
These partings name deaths, endings, and roads not yet ridden in the books. Unveil them only if both roads are known to you — or if you do not fear to know.
The people of House Tallhart
The lords, ladies, and branches of Tallhart the books name — the notable, the infamous, and the merely unlucky.
Helman Tallhart
Lord of Torrhen's Square
d. 299 AC, near Duskendale
Benfred Tallhart
Helman's son
d. 299 AC, drowned by ironborn captors
Eddara Tallhart
Helman's daughter, held captive after Torrhen's Square's fall
fl. 299 AC
Leobald Tallhart
Helman's brother, castellan of Torrhen's Square
fl. 299–300 AC
What is House Tallhart known for?
A steady bannerman house that answered Robb Stark's summons in full and paid for it in full as well — a father lost to ambush, a son lost to the sea, and a daughter left to inherit a castle that was, by the time the inheritance reached her, no longer in Tallhart hands at all.
Where is the seat of House Tallhart?
House Tallhart holds Torrhen's Square, in The North. 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 Tallhart 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.