284 AC, Autumn. Two years after the Battle of the Trident.
The new king, Robert Baratheon, had ascended the throne. The Targaryen dynasty had been completely overthrown by the grand alliance of the "Wolf, Fish, Stag, and Falcon."
The eastern Riverlands, a hotbed for the Royalist faction, naturally took the heaviest beating in the aftermath.
Prominent Royalist houses like Whent, Darry, and Mooton had marched to war alongside Rhaegar, while House Frey conveniently sat the whole thing out.
Hoster Tully's performance at the Battle of the Trident was underwhelming at best. Even with half the military might of the Riverlands behind him, he failed to secure a seat on the Small Council.
Right now, the Small Council in King's Landing consists of three veterans and two newcomers.
The three veterans, holdovers from the Mad King's reign, are Grand Maester Pycelle, Master of Whisperers Varys, and the White Knight, Barristan Selmy. The two new additions are Jon Arryn—serving double duty as Hand of the King and Master of Laws—and Stannis Baratheon as Master of Ships.
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Harrenhal, North Shore of the Gods Eye. The Training Yard.
Two boys were sparring with sword and shield. They looked to be about ten or eleven years old, each wearing a surcoat embroidered with their house sigil.
One was a bat; the other, a hedgehog.
Boys from noble families, well-fed and privileged, were often larger than commoners their age—Joffrey, the "Demon Child," being a prime example.
The boy wearing the bat sigil was handsome, with long black hair and deep blue eyes that bordered on purple.
Arthur Whent gripped his wooden training sword. He parried, thrust, and jabbed.
He tracked his opponent's movements perfectly.
Speed, power, and accuracy!
Arthur lunged forward with practiced ease, executing a spinning slash that cracked his wooden sword right against Wylis Wode.
Wylis stumbled and hit the dirt, the padded leather armor doing little to soften his pride.
"Lost again! Damn it, Arthur," Wylis laughed, tossing his wooden sword aside.
Arthur walked over and pulled up his follower, who was also his regular sparring partner.
Arthur Whent was named by his great-uncle, Ser Oswell Whent, in honor of the finest knight of their time, Ser Arthur Dayne.
Kingsguard Ser Oswell, along with "The Sword of the Morning" Arthur Dayne, "The White Bull" Gerold Hightower, "The Griffin" Jon Connington, Myles Mooton, and Richard Lonmouth, made up Crown Prince Rhaegar's tight-knit inner circle.
Oswell, the Sword of the Morning, and the White Bull had all been deployed on a secret mission to guard Lyanna Stark. Had Rhaegar won the crown, House Whent's future would have been limitless.
Unfortunately, all three died at the Tower of Joy late last year, missing the Battle of the Trident entirely. If they had been there, the outcome of the war might have been very different.
Also dying at the Tower of Joy were five of Eddard Stark's companions, as well as his sister, Lyanna Stark.
Wylis Wode was the third canon character in Arthur's immediate orbit. House Wode was a family of landed knights sworn to House Whent.
Ever since they learned to walk, the two boys had trained together every morning, much like Robb Stark and Jon Snow in the original story.
For boys of noble birth, unless they were crippled or completely hopeless, combat training was their daily routine.
The two sat down on a bench and watched the other boys run through their sword and shield drills.
Born in 275 AC, Arthur Whent might look like a boy on the outside, but the soul inside was far older.
He used to be an ordinary office worker on a blue planet, until a massive truck unexpectedly sent him straight to Westeros—specifically, into the body of a boy who had nearly died of a severe fever the previous year.
The good news: he was the heir to a prominent noble house. The bad news: that house was the Lord of Harrenhal.
Harrenhal had two defining features. First, it was ridiculously wealthy. Whoever held the castle was usually among the richest people in Westeros.
It was the largest fortress in the Seven Kingdoms, a castle fit for a king, and its lord controlled a massive expanse of fertile land around it.
Even with its terrible reputation, countless lords and landed knights coveted Harrenhal.
It was much like when Maegor the Cruel wiped out House Harroway in 44 AC and decreed that his strongest knight would win the castle of Harrenhal (though not all of its lands).
Twenty-three knights fought a bloody, brutal melee in the streets of Lord Harroway's Town just for the chance to claim that prize.
Ser Walton Towers eventually won Harrenhal, but his severe injuries killed him shortly after, and the castle passed to his eldest son, Jordan Towers.
The second defining feature: a terrifying curse. This ruined, colossal fortress seemed to devour every single family that tried to hold onto it for long.
House Whent was the seventh noble house to rule Harrenhal, and they were already circling the drain.
Once a flourishing family, the direct line of House Whent had been reduced to just three people: his grandfather, Earl Walter; his grandmother, Lady Shella Whent; and the heir, Arthur Whent.
There was also a collateral relative, his aunt Wynafrei Whent, who was married to Ser Danwell Frey, the eighth son of the old Lord Frey.
They had no living children; she had suffered multiple miscarriages and stillbirths.
Arthur's grandfather, Earl Walter, had grown frail and sickly following Rhaegar's defeat and the family's decline. Walter's sister, Minisa Whent—wife to Lord Hoster Tully—had died in childbirth long ago.
Arthur's father had been the heir to House Whent, Earl Walter's eldest son, and his mother was the heiress of House Butterwell. Arthur was their only child.
But both of them were gone now, having succumbed to a severe winter chill that proved untreatable.
And it wasn't just them. Arthur's two uncles and an aunt had all died under bizarre, tragic circumstances.
One uncle died at the Battle of the Trident. The other was killed when he was thrown from his horse during jousting practice. As for his aunt, she was married off shortly after the fateful Tourney at Harrenhal and quickly died of childbed fever.
Arthur couldn't help but marvel at the sheer power of Harrenhal's debuff. So many Whents lost to "accidents," severe injuries, sudden illness, premature death, and miscarriages.
If he hadn't been a transmigrator, House Whent would probably have gone extinct just like all the previous lords of Harrenhal.
And all of this, naturally, traced back to the infamous Tourney at Harrenhal.
Shortly after a visit from his younger brother, Kingsguard Ser Oswell Whent, Earl Walter Whent announced the idea of hosting a grand tourney in 280 AC.
The prize money he offered was a staggering three times the amount given at the Lannisport tourney held to celebrate the birth of Prince Viserys in 276 AC.
Many believed House Whent hosted the event simply to flex their wealth and prestige. Others suspected the Whents didn't have that kind of capital on their own, implying a secret benefactor pulling the strings. Maester Yandel once hinted that the Whents were secretly backed by Rhaegar, the heir to the Iron Throne.
Without a doubt, this tourney became the spark that ignited a series of catastrophic events.
Never in the history of the Seven Kingdoms had a single tournament generated so much sheer drama.
First, the ultimate shut-in, the "Mad King" Aerys, actually showed up, shocking everyone.
His long, yellowed fingernails, tangled beard, and unwashed, matted hair broadcasted the king's severe mental decline to the entire realm, dealing a massive blow to the royal family's prestige.
Second, during the opening ceremonies, Aerys publicly named Jaime Lannister to the Kingsguard.
Jaime knelt on the green grass before the royal pavilion and swore his vows while half the lords of the realm watched.
Ser Oswell Whent helped him to his feet, Ser Gerold Hightower fastened the white cloak around his shoulders, and the crowd erupted in genuine cheers.
Aerys and Tywin's relationship was already incredibly toxic, and naming the heir to Casterly Rock as a White Sword was one of Aerys's most deliberate and humiliating insults to Tywin.
But of course, the most explosive stunt of all came when Rhaegar, having won the champion's tilt, bypassed his own wife and crowned Lyanna Stark the "Queen of Love and Beauty."
With that single gesture, Rhaegar managed to simultaneously insult House Stark, House Baratheon, and House Martell—laying the groundwork for the brutal war that followed.
Thinking back on it, Arthur could only sigh at the terrifying consequences of thinking with your heart instead of your head.
The butterfly flapped its wings, and not only did it knock the dragons off the Iron Throne, it left House Whent clinging to life by a thread.
Clack! Clack! Clack!
The sound of boots echoed nearby. It was a guard wearing the golden surcoat of House Whent—one of the Lord's personal retinue.
"Young Master Arthur, the Earl has requested you join him in his study. The guests will be arriving shortly," said Merrett, the Captain of the Guard at Harrenhal. He wore black armor under his golden surcoat.
"Got it!" Arthur replied, stripping off his padded leather armor and setting down his wooden sword.
The guests arriving today were no ordinary visitors. They were coming all the way from Dorne.