Randyll Tarly
Lord of Horn Hill
fl. 283–300 AC
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.
House Tarly — seat, history, and blood
House Tarly
The seat, the words, the line, and the tale of House Tarly — drawn from the novels and the Citadel's fuller histories, with the television series set aside wherever it parts from the books.
- Seat
- Horn Hill
- Region
- The Reach
- Founder
- Herndon of the Horn and Harlon the Hunter, twin sons of Garth Greenhand, if the oldest songs may be trusted
Marcher lords of the Dornish frontier, the Tarlys hold Horn Hill in the Reach and answer to Highgarden with a promptness their neighbors sometimes lack. Legend credits their line to twin sons of Garth Greenhand, though the Citadel keeps its opinion of woods-witch marriages to itself. What the histories agree on is plainer: House Tarly fields some of the hardest soldiers south of the Neck, wields the Valyrian steel greatsword Heartsbane, and expects its heirs to be soldiers first and everything else a distant second — an expectation that has cost the house more than one son.
The people of House Tarly
The lords, ladies, and branches of Tarly the books name — the notable, the infamous, and the merely unlucky.
Samwell Tarlythe Slayer
of the Night's Watch
b. 283 AC
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.
What the record disputes
Where the sources disagree or a song outruns the maesters, the chronicle marks the doubt rather than settling it.
"First in Battle" circulates as the Tarly words in supplementary and semi-canon material, but no novel puts the phrase in a Tarly mouth or a maester's chronicle; the Chronicle treats it as unconfirmed.
The precise span of years Heartsbane has sat in Tarly hands is given only loosely in the sources consulted; the Chronicle notes centuries rather than commit to a number the record itself does not fix.
What is House Tarly known for?
Marcher lords of the Dornish frontier, the Tarlys hold Horn Hill in the Reach and answer to Highgarden with a promptness their neighbors sometimes lack. Legend credits their line to twin sons of Garth Greenhand, though the Citadel keeps its opinion of woods-witch marriages to itself. What the histories agree on is plainer: House Tarly fields some of the hardest soldiers south of the Neck, wields the Valyrian steel greatsword Heartsbane, and expects its heirs to be soldiers first and everything else a distant second — an expectation that has cost the house more than one son.
Where is the seat of House Tarly?
House Tarly holds Horn Hill, in The Reach. 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 Tarly 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.