Staunton

When King Viserys I Targaryen died, Lord Staunton sided with Princess Rhaenyra in the dispute over the Iron Throne and joined the Black Council, the group of lords backing her claim against her half-brother's.

The Sack of Duskendale sent Ser Criston Cole marching on Crow's Nest next, and Lord Staunton, knowing he would be the target, shut his gates rather than yield. Through the siege that followed he could only watch his fields burn and his smallfolk die; when supplies began running out, he sent a raven to Dragonstone asking for help.

Nine days after the raven reached Dragonstone, Princess Rhaenys Targaryen arrived on her dragon Meleys to break the siege. It was a trap: King Aegon II and his brother appeared alongside her mounted on Sunfyre and Vhagar, and the rescue Lord Staunton had waited for became the undoing of the one who came to give it.

Rhaenys died in the fighting and Crow's Nest fell soon after; Lord Staunton was put to death with his castle's capture. Meleys's head was carried to King's Landing and set above the Old Gate.

In 131 AC, once the war had ended, Lord Staunton's widow joined her own forces to the host Ser Corwyn Corbray was leading toward King's Landing.