Manfred Hightower

Manfred Hightower led House Hightower as the world he knew began to change. As its head he held the titles of Voice of Oldtown, Lord of the Port, Lord of the Hightower, Defender of the Citadel and Beacon of the South.

He is described as a prudent and pious man, qualities that shaped every choice he made in the years that followed. One of his younger sons served among the Warrior's Sons, and another had recently taken vows as a septon, marking a family bound as closely to the Faith as to the power of Oldtown.

When word reached Oldtown that Aegon the Dragon and his sisters had landed in Westeros, the High Septon shut himself beneath the dome of the Starry Sept and went seven days and seven nights without food or sleep.

When he emerged, he declared that the Faith would not take up arms against the Targaryens: the Crone had shown him that doing so would destroy Oldtown. Manfred heeded that counsel and chose not to stand against the Conqueror. The city was spared the fate of the armies gathered at the Field of Fire.

When Aegon reached the walls of Oldtown, Lord Hightower rode out to meet him and offered his sword, his city and his oath of loyalty. He is said to have even offered the hand of one of his younger daughters, an offer the Conqueror declined with tact.

Oldtown entered the new realm without a drop of blood spilled in its streets.

In the year 9 AC, King Aegon and Queen Visenya burned Sandstone, Vaith and Hellholt. The following year, Lord Fowler answered by leading his forces through the Prince's Pass into the Arbor and took Nightsong.

When word of the attack reached Oldtown, Manfred sent his eldest son, Addam, with a considerable force to retake the town, while a second Dornish army under Ser Joffrey Dayne came down from Starfall and fell upon Oldtown itself. The city's walls held, but the Dornishmen burned fields, farms and villages for twenty leagues around.

When Garmon, Lord Hightower's youngest son, rode out against them, Ser Joffrey killed him. Old Lord Manfred died shortly afterward, and his son Addam inherited the title of Lord of the Hightower.

Long after his death, Lord Manfred's name resurfaced at court. During a conversation between Queen Cersei Lannister and the new High Septon at the Great Sept of Baelor, he told her that Lord Manfred had listened from beginning to end to the prophecy spoken by the High Septon of his own time, the very words that had decided Oldtown's fate during the Conquest.