Shella Whent

Shella was born into House Whent: her father and grandfather had ruled Harrenhal before her, so the lordship of the castle came to her by blood rather than marriage. The man she married also carried the Whent name, likely from some distant branch of the family, and it was through that marriage that he gained the title of Lord of Harrenhal.

In 281 AC, Shella and her husband opened the castle's gates to mark her still-unwed daughter's name day with a tournament that all of Westeros would remember: the Tourney of Harrenhal.

When the War of the Five Kings breaks out, Lady Catelyn Tully thinks of her while riding near the Inn at the Crossroads: the last of her house, she reflects, living among the ghosts that fill Harrenhal's halls.

Shella has no soldiers left to hold off a siege and yields the castle to the forces of House Lannister. King Joffrey Baratheon seizes the chance to hand Harrenhal to Janos Slynt and demands that Shella swear her loyalty to the new crown.

With Harrenhal in other hands, Arya Stark hides there under a false name; of the years when the Whents lived in the castle, little remains but a reminder of how little of it they ever used — only the lower thirds of two of its five towers.

Later, also travelling in disguise, Sandor Clegane tells Ser Donnel Haigh that he serves Lady Whent, as though Shella's name were still the password that opens Harrenhal's gates.

By the time word of her reaches anyone again, Shella is already very old, and what is said is that she has died. The sources are not precise about the exact year.