Battle of the Trident

After the defeat at Stoney Sept, Aerys II finally grasped the scale of the threat, perhaps the greatest the dynasty had faced since the days of Daemon Blackfyre. The rebels had been gathering on the eastern bank of the Green Fork, and once the Tullys and Arryns joined Stark and Baratheon, they had strength enough to march down the Kingsroad toward the crossing of the Trident.

Rhaegar reappeared to take command of the king's army. Aerys, to keep the Martells bound to him, reminded them that Princess Elia was still in his keeping, and sent Prince Lewyn Martell north at the head of ten thousand Dornishmen to join Rhaegar. Barristan Selmy and Jonothor Darry rode off to find what remained of Jon Connington's beaten force, and Rhaegar himself talked his father into asking Tywin Lannister for aid.

What mattered most, though, was what never happened: neither the fleet Mace Tyrell and Paxter Redwyne kept anchored outside Storm's End nor any other southern force was called north. Some forty thousand men marched north under Rhaegar's command, more numerous than the rebels but never having fought together as one army.

Lewyn Martell's Dornishmen drove into the rebel left flank at the ford. Ser Lyn Corbray took up his wounded father's sword, Lady Forlorn, and broke their line with it; in the press he came upon Lewyn himself, already wounded, and killed him. Nearby, Barristan Selmy left men falling with every stroke.

Robert found Rhaegar in the water, and the two fought alone while the battle went on around them. Robert's warhammer struck the prince full in the chest, hard enough to tear the rubies from his armor and send them into the river — which is how the crossing got its name. Without Rhaegar, the king's army broke and ran.

The victory settled the war. With the royal army broken, the road to King's Landing lay open; the only royalist force still standing was pinned down outside Storm's End, while the Lannister host was already marching on the capital and the Greyjoys were finally choosing the rebel side. Robert had been wounded in the fighting, so it was Eddard Stark who led the army south, racing to reach the city before Tywin did.

Barristan Selmy was brought before Robert half dead; some counselled finishing him off, but the new king pardoned him instead and sent his own maester to tend his wounds. He later pardoned Jaime Lannister too, despite Jaime having killed Aerys himself, a deed that would follow him for the rest of his life as the name Kingslayer. Robert took both men into his own Kingsguard.