The Battle of the Burning Mill was the first battle of the
Dance of the Dragons, though it involved neither Dragons nor
even Targaryens. The death of Prince Lucerus upon
his dragon air acts was answered through vengeance with the
infamous incident known as Blood and Cheese.
The Blacks and Greens had each murdered a child of the other
side, quickly taking their family feud to full scale civil
war, full dragon scale civil war and beyond, the Dragons Fire and
Blood tells us. And all across the realm, Lords
called their banners and armies began to March.
Fittingly, the 1st to take up arms against one another were
the two houses in Westeros most associated with feuding and
vengeance, House Bracken and House Blackwood.
The feud between two halves of the royal house was the perfect
excuse for those two to go at it again, and they did so quickly.
It's like they couldn't wait. This resulted in several tales
of heroism, a huge pile of bodies, and of course, as the
name tells us, a burned mill. We have in our podcast library a
lengthy deep dive available on the entire history of the
infinite Blackwood Bracken enmity, but this video is a
brief 1 dedicated to the first Battle of the Dance of the
Dragons, the Battle of the Burning Mill.
Hello and welcome to another history of Westeros lore video.
House of the Dragon has a much increased budget, but even with
one of the larger TV budgets ever, there is no way for them
to include every in the dance. There are a lot.
They couldn't possibly include every scene, let alone every
battle. And battles are crazy expensive.
So we're here to detail some of the missing parts of Fire and
Blood. Make sure to subscribe and hit
the notification bell and also check out history of
westeros.com. Heron the Black was the first
king that Aegon the Conqueror took down to win his throne, and
when he marched on Herrenhall for the confrontation, many of
the river Lords deserted their king for the guy with the
gigantic dragon. Good call on their parts as the
place was soon a smoking ruin, though still functional enough
as a castle when it cooled off months later. 1200 more months
later, AKA a century after that, the realm's first Great Council
was held, which we saw in the very first scene of House of the
Dragon at Herrenhall as it was in the books.
What we didn't see in the show is that Bracken and Blackwood as
usual took opposite sides in the voting at the Great Council
because of course they did. When the Dance broke out it
happened again because if they were on the same side then how
could they fight each other? Got to think, Prince Damon
Targaryen told the Black Council and Queen Rainiera on the eve of
war that Harrenhal was the place he would strike first, as it was
a central location from which to rally the loyal houses in the
region and large enough to actually host them.
All recognize that Herrenhall had both great strategic value
and great symbolic power. Why not return to the place
where Aegon won the Riverlands to win it again?
Many would see it the same way and remember what happened to
those who defied him with initiative and the obvious yet
unspoken threat of Caraxes the Bloodworm.
He meant to win as many of the river Lords to his side as
possible, and with their help, they could overwhelm the rest.
Soon afterwards, fittingly, Damon landed on King's Fire
Tower, the place where King Heron burned to death.
And no castle in Westeros is a grander testament to the folly
of thinking a castle makes one safe against a dragon.
Heck, the place wasn't even safe against regular fire given the
deaths of Sir Harwin and Lord Lionel 10 years prior.
Though to be fair, that particular incident was quite
suspicious, but it's a tale for another time.
Lord Lionel's brother, Sir Simon Strong, the elderly castellan,
survived that incident and was unwilling to let the place taste
any sort of flame again, dragon or regular, so Harrenhal
submitted without a fight to Prince Damon.
When Sir Simon was young, he may have had living relatives who
actually saw Valerian's grandstone melting display, so
for many reasons it's hard to blame him.
And he may have preferred the blacks anyway, perhaps believing
Lord Lars responsible for the fire, as many did.
The surrender yielded further success for Prince Damon.
When? Prince Damon sent forth his call
to arms. They rose up all along the
rivers, Knights and men at arms and humble peasants who yet
remembered the Realms Delight, so beloved of her father and the
way she smiled and charmed them as she made her progress through
the Riverlands in her youth. Hundreds and then thousands
buckled on their sword belts and donned their mail or grabbed a
pitchfork or a hoe and a crude wooden shield and began to make
their way to Harrenhal to fight for Viserys little girl.
The Lords of the Trident, having more to lose, were not so quick
to move, but soon enough they too began to throw their lots in
with the Queen. The sources tell us that the
houses to raise their banners to Queen Rainier and ride for
Herrenhal were Frey, Mooten, Piper, Root Dairy, Malister and
Vance of Wayfarers Rest. The Blackwoods raised the banner
of Queen Rainier as well, but did not ride for Herrenhal.
Instead, they rode straight for Bracken territory.
Remember what I said about Dazers for waiting for an
excuse? Yeah, they sacked villages,
burned crops, drove off herds of livestock to their own
homelands, and despoiled septs. We suspect they sent a Raven to
Prince Damon, however, to tell him of their plans.
Given what happened next, House Bracken's response was
predictable. No stranger to war with the
Blackwoods, Sir Amos Bracken sent the command to muster at
Stonehedge so as to March on them in turn, and quickly, with
the motivation of a Blackwood attack.
It probably didn't take very long.
No one is more hated in Bracken lands than the Blackwoods, of
course, and they had a fresh outrage to get fired up about.
They wouldn't be the only thing that got fired up.
Sir Amos had gathered a strong army and the March to Blackwood
territory from Stonehedge is a short enough trek.
But he perhaps underestimated his foes.
Anger can make a man stupid, and these Brackens do hate these
Blackwoods. One night, the Bracken army
camped by a Riverside mill, and the Blackwood army struck them
unawares. The river in question is very
likely the Red Fork, which divides much of Bracken and
Blackwood territory, but we're not sure entirely.
There's other smaller rivers and tributaries, some that don't
even show up on the map. Either way, it's very likely the
Brackens camped on their side of this river, which would partly
explain how they got caught unawares by the ambush that
came. The Blackwoods of course knew
the Brackens would be coming and laid a trap.
We're not really sure how sorry Miss didn't see this coming.
Could it be that he didn't send out scouts or post sentries in
his camp? Perhaps rage made him blind.
Or perhaps he did send out scouts and posted watch, but the
Blackwoods were just too sneaky. Perhaps the famous red robbed
rivers called the Bowman of Raven Tree and considered the
finest Archer in Westeros picked them all off.
Perhaps this generation of Blackwoods had a skin changer in
their midst. It's not very likely, but it's
certainly possible, and such a man or woman would be very
helpful in scouting the enemy or scouting the enemy's scouts.
Perhaps it was this very same famous red robbed rivers called
the Bowman of Raven Tree and considered the finest Archer.
Again, you've heard that part already.
Anyway, regardless of why the ambush was successful, we're
told that. Men fought and died for hours,
bathed in the red light of the flames.
The flames came from, of course, the very same burning mill that
the battle is named for. We're not given A cause for the
fire, and it may have been a simple accident, but it may be
that the mill was set ablaze by the Blackwoods to distract the
Bracken camp just before their surprise attack.
What a spectacle that must have been, a spinning wheel of fire
while a battle is happening, but there's no time to enjoy it
again given the battle and all all the fighting and killing and
deeply held hatred and all that. All we know for sure is that the
mill burned while the battle blazed.
The first battle of the Dance of the Dragons was very well lit
thanks to that burning mill. And this epic display of fire
happened despite the lack of Dragons.
Hey, the Dance of the Dragons first battle and it didn't even
have Dragons. It would have been a tale worth
telling for those who survived, but the casualty count was high,
leaving fewer candidates to tell the tale.
The battle lasted for hours, it says, which means the element of
surprise alone was not enough to win the day for the ambushers.
Lord Samwell Blackwood and his men clearly devised a cunning
plan, but if Sir Amos Bracken was incompetent in leading his
men before the battle, he proved at least somewhat worthy during
it because they lasted quite a while.
And yeah, gave good account. Sir Amos and his men made a
capable stand, fighting off the Blackwood attackers well enough
that the battle hung in the balance for quite a while.
Eventually the two leaders found each other and came to blows in
single combat. Perhaps it was the chaos of the
struggle that brought them together by chance, but we
suspect at some point Lord Blackwood decided to go straight
for Sir Amos Bracken. Though it might have been the
reverse. Sir Amos coming for him.
Maybe they just went for each other.
I mean, it's Bracken and Blackwood.
Bracken would have reason to be confident, however, because it
wasn't the first time these two had crossed swords.
Almost two decades prior to the Battle of the Burning Mill, a
much younger Samwell Blackwood, not yet Lord of Raven Tree Hall
at the time, and the very same Sir Amos Bracken fought a duel
to win the favor and perhaps hand in marriage of none other
than Princess Rainier herself when she visited the Trident in
the year 112. Sir Amos, as I said, won the
duel that day long ago. Not to mention the acclaim of
all Brackens and the tears of all Blackwoods, which must have
been sweet for him. But he didn't get the Princess,
which must have been sour for him.
Rainier hadn't agreed to marry the winner and was unmoved
despite the contest, which was not a fight to the death, as you
can see, because here we have a rematch.
But the Battle of the Burning Mill was just that.
The dead lay all around them. The second chance did not pay
off. Amidst the chaos and darkness
and fire, Sir Amos slew Lord Samwell, no doubt with many of
their retainers and loyal men around them watching.
And at least one woman, Lord Samwell's sister, Black Alley
Blackwood, who hadn't yet been born when he lost that first
duel, saw her brother fall and acted quickly, drawing her bow
on Sir Amos. He likely didn't see her.
He was distracted not just by the battle, but by his own
success. I mean, he had just achieved
eternal glory. What better victory is there for
a Bracken than to kill a Blackwood, and no Greater
Blackwood than the actual Lord of Raven Tree Hall?
Sir Amos must have felt absolute elation, but then he felt
nothing at all, because whatever Black Alley was feeling in the
moment, it did not affect her aim, which was legendary.
She fired a weirwood arrow right through the slit in Sir Amos's
helm and deep into his skull. He was probably dead before he
hit the ground. She must have known that acting
earlier might have saved her brother's life, but maybe she
just didn't have a clean shot before.
Or maybe it would be dishonorable to shoot Sir Amos
while he was in single combat with her brother.
Or perhaps she was overconfident that her brother would win.
Probably not a good idea if true.
But again, these Blackwoods really hate these Brackens, and
judgement can be clouded. Either way, she earned about as
much a claim as Sir Amos had by killing her Lord brother, and
unlike Sir Amos, she lived to tell about it.
I bet Black Alley Blackwood never paid for her own drinks
again in Blackwood lands. I mean, what a shot, what a
kill, and it's a Bracken. But before she could cash in on
her newfound fame, the battle raged a bit longer.
It didn't just end right there. The element of surprise and the
fall of Sir Amos had given the Blackwoods an edge, and though
they took many losses against a foe honed on countless
generations of hate, their advantage began to manifest.
Sir Raylan Rivers, the half brother of Sir Amos, took
command after his fall, but he was unable to change the
eventual outcome, which saw the Bracken army in flight with the
Blackwoods in pursuit and a huge mass of corpses left behind on
both sides. Though the Blackwoods won.
Yeah, their losses were massive too.
Earlier, we suggested the possibility, if not likelihood,
that Lord Blackwood communicated his plan of attack on the
Brackens to Prince Damon. Let's return to that.
And it's not suggested in the text.
So let's briefly explain what we mean by attacking the Brackens
with Raiders. The Blackwoods knew the Brackens
would gather their forces to give answer, as they no doubt
had done many times before, just as the Blackwoods have answered
Bracken depredations many times over the past as well.
The feud has restarted over very small provocations, and this was
a large one. They despoiled Sept after all,
and it was a completely unprovoked attack.
The point here is that the Blackwoods knew the Brackens
would respond. We also pointed out that Sir
Amos brought a strong force, meaning a lot of men, and that
he may have also underestimated his foe.
While the Battle of Burning Mill raged West of Stonehedge, all
those earlier mentioned river Lords who gathered at Harrenhal
struck the undefended Bracken Castle from the east.
All those dairies, roots, pipers, phrase vances and
moutons, etcetera were led by Prince Damon on Caraxes in a
storming of the castle. There's no detail given here
other than that that they stormed the castle and we
suspect that's because it was so one sided.
There's not much to describe. With so few defenders on hand,
the castle fell quickly. The bloodworms role may have
been minimal enough other than terrifying the defenders who
must have had very little hope, if any.
In fact, they were probably glad to surrender.
Lord Humphrey Bracken, along with his family and household,
were made captives in their own ancestral seat.
Presumably he's the one who surrendered since he's in
charge. It was probably only a matter of
days later at most when Sir Raylan Rivers arrived, leading
the survivors from the West. It may have been only one day
later, and he would not have failed to notice that King Egg
on the Second's banner was missing from Stonehedge.
With Queen Rainier as Banner in its place.
It might have been confusing at first.
Did he think perhaps Lord Humphrey had decided to switch
sides after their loss so quickly?
Or perhaps seen as men simply just saw Caraxes sitting there
and needed no further explanation?
Like, oh, I guess we lost Either way, he surrendered, given the
hopelessness of the situation. And Lord Humphrey had already
had surrendered, so his own Lord had surrendered.
What else is there to do? Lord Humphrey would also learn
soon after with sorrow that his son Sir Amos fell during the
fighting. But he would have also gotten
the silver lining that his son died bravely and killed the Lord
Blackwood before his own fall. Which, again, that puts him in
Bracken Valhalla. No Blackwood could actually
stand before Sir Amos. It took a cowardly arrow, Lord
Bracken might say, but words would be about all he had to do.
Anything other than bend the knee would mean his head or
death by fire, and that would be Prince Damon's choice.
And it's not hard to see why he chose life instead.
The fall of Stonehedge was enough to end all support for
the Greens and the Riverlands. For the time being, anyway.
Raven Tree Hall's reaction would likely have been somber.
A great victory, but at the cost of their Lord.
Yeah, but Benjicott Blackwood, later known as Bloody Ben, took
his father's seat, ascending at the age of only 11.
Dragonstone was soon informed as well.
Prince Damon Plan had worked. Riverlands was theirs.
The Red Keep was informed as well.
King Egon the Second had been assured their claim to the
throne would go off with few problems and that if there was
going to be violence, the Greens would have the upper hand.
Yet Harrenhal Stonehedge had fallen already, thanks to the
Battle of the Burning Mill, and with it all of the Riverlands.
And what did the Greens won? If he had asked, well, he might
have been met with silence, stammering.
Not to mention his son had just been murdered within his own
castle. He'd either been lied to, or his
counsel had seriously aired in judgement, perhaps to the point
of incompetence or both. His elation of being crowned had
been replaced by dread. The Iron Throne gave him a sense
of absolute power, but that had gone up in flames like the
unnamed mill, leaving him seized with paranoia.
In the state of mind, he began to make changes to his counsel
and showed an increasing desire to personally join the war on
his dragon Sunfire, despite the risk to his own person.
Battle of the Burning Mill didn't just begin the war in the
Riverlands and in Westeros, it began the war within the Green
Council. King Agon the Second needed an
outlet for his rage and frustration, and that had grave
implications for the rest of the day.
Dance of the Dragons, Don't forget to check out our
immersive deep dive into the Blackwood Bracken conflict link
in the description, along with all our House of the Dragon and
House Targaryen coverage. We've been doing this since
2012. Until next time Valar reread us.