Manfryd Mooton
Manfryd Mooton was lord of Maidenpool during the final years of the war between the supporters of Rhaenyra Targaryen and those of her half-brother Aegon II, and later held a seat among the seven regents who ruled in the name of a boy king.
His name became tied to an order he refused to carry out, one demanding the death of a guest under his own roof, and years afterward he represented the Seven Kingdoms before Braavos in a mission that averted a war at sea.
Chapter 1
The new lord of Maidenpool
Aemond TargaryenWhen the Dance of the Dragons broke out, Manfryd sided with the Blacks and with Queen Rhaenyra. He was not yet lord of Maidenpool: that title belonged to his brother Walys, who burned to death after the retaking of Rook's Rest, trying to finish off Sunfyre, the dragon that had come out of that battle badly wounded. That was how the lordship passed to Manfryd.
On learning that Prince Aemond was ravaging the Riverlands astride Vhagar, Manfryd sent the queen urgent word of what was happening.
Chapter 2
The host who did not betray
Daemon Targaryen
Ulf the White
Hugh HammerPrince Daemon Targaryen and a dragonrider known as Nettles, whom many took for his lover, set up their base at Maidenpool. Manfryd suggested the two riders split up to hunt for Aemond along separate routes, but Daemon would not hear of it.
The treachery of the riders Ulf the White and Hugh Hammer led the Black Council to persuade the queen to condemn Ser Addam Velaryon and Nettles as well. Jealous of the bond between Nettles and Daemon, Rhaenyra wrote to the castle's maester ordering Manfryd to kill the girl without harming the prince.
Manfryd was not willing to break the laws of hospitality with those who were his guests. He discussed the matter in secret with his maester, the captain of his guard, his one remaining brother, and his champion Ser Florian Greysteel, and chose not to obey. Maester Norren warned Daemon and Nettles without telling anyone else in the castle that the letter existed, and the two riders left at dawn the next day; Daemon, grateful, asked Manfryd to tell Aemond, should he arrive, that he would be waiting for him at Harrenhal.
The night after they left, Manfryd had Rhaenyra's banner lowered from the castle gates and replaced it with Aegon II's golden dragon. The queen ordered a writ of attainder drawn up against the Mootons, but she lost power soon after, when the Dragonpit was stormed.
Chapter 3
The seven regents
133–134 AC
Aegon III Targaryen
Tyland Lannister
Alyn VelaryonWith the war over and Aegon III crowned, Manfryd joined the council of seven regents who would rule until the boy king came of age.
In 133 AC he was laid low by a winter fever. After the death of Ser Tyland Lannister he asked that the regents meet and deliberate, but Lord Unwin Peake did not wait: he brushed aside Aegon's appointments and proclaimed himself Hand of the King on his own authority.
When Lord Alyn Velaryon attacked the Braavosi at the Stepstones, Manfryd traveled to Braavos at the head of a retinue of several lords, several singers, and several dozen knights, guards, servants, scribes, and septons, to treat with the Sealord and return a captured elephant. The city's Titan left him deeply impressed. In exchange for a heavy indemnity, the Sealord pardoned the attack, broke Braavos's alliance with Tyrosh and Racallio Ryndoon, and ceded the Stepstones to the Iron Throne, though the city did not actually hold them.
Back at court, he joined Lord Thaddeus Rowan in opposing Peake's plan to marry his daughter Myrielle to Aegon III after the death of Queen Jaehaera. He was with the king at the docks of King's Landing when Alyn Velaryon returned to the city with Prince Viserys, the king's brother who had been given up for lost. Manfryd died of old age and illness in 134 AC.
