Argilac Durrandon

When Argilac inherited the crown of Storm's End, the realm behind it had been shrinking for three generations. Dorne and the Reach had carved away land in the south, and further north the rivalry with Harren the Black had cost the Storm Kings everything beyond the Blackwater. Still a boy, he beat back a Dornish invasion by force; the act announced the temper that would earn him his nickname.

He later crossed the narrow sea to join the alliance that stood against the Volantene Tigers when they tried to seize Myr, and came home with a victory to his name. Twenty years after that he killed the King of the Reach, Garse Gardener the Seventh, in battle. He reached old age with his hair gone grey, but his sword arm never dulled.

Harren the Black's advance was what pushed Argilac to look for an ally across the sea: he offered Lord Aegon Targaryen his only daughter's hand and, as dowry, every acre east of Gods Eye between the Trident and the Blackwater. Aegon, already married to his two sisters, wanted no third wife, and that land had sat in the hands of the Iron Kings for a generation and a half. He countered with a proposal of his own: he would take the territory if given Massey's Hook, the woods and plains between the Blackwater and the Wendwater, and the headwaters of the Mander, and asked that Princess Argella marry his lifelong friend and half-brother Orys Baratheon.

Argilac read the offer as an insult. He had the messenger's hands cut off, boxed them, and sent the box back to Aegon with a note: 'These are the only hands your bastard will get from me.'

Aegon called his advisors and his sisters together and made his move: he sent word to every king in Westeros that there would be only one throne, promising lands and titles to anyone who yielded without a fight. Argilac would not yield. Aegon proclaimed himself King of the Seven Kingdoms and sent Orys and Rhaenys toward Storm's End.

When news of the Burning of Harrenhal reached Storm's End, Argilac chose not to wait for Harren's fate and rode out to meet his enemies in the open. He cornered Orys's forces at Bronzegate and struck during a lightning storm that kept Queen Rhaenys's dragon Meraxes grounded; the clash took its name, the Last Storm, from that choice.

His men outnumbered Orys's army two to one and tore through the Targaryen ranks. But even grounded, Meraxes still tipped the scales. Argilac fought Orys Baratheon hand to hand, and died in that duel.

On learning of her father's death, Argella shut herself inside Storm's End and declared herself Queen of the Storm. Her own garrison handed her over to Orys Baratheon, who treated her gently.

Aegon rewarded Orys with those lands and with Argella's hand; Orys kept the old Storm Kings' sigil, honors, and words. Through that marriage Argilac's blood carried on in House Baratheon, which would rule the Stormlands for the centuries that followed.