Capture of Harrenhal

When Aegon II took the crown and Rhaenyra pressed her own claim, the council gathered at Dragonstone realized they needed ground under their feet, not just sky. Controlling dragons wasn't enough on its own; they needed somewhere to muster troops and hold out if the Greens came calling.

Harrenhal was the answer. Its walls were vast enough to shelter a whole army, and its sheer size alone promised it could outlast a siege. Nobody forgot the shadow the castle carried since Harren the Black's day, but that history mattered less than what the place could do for them.

Daemon Targaryen took to the sky on Caraxes and set course for Harrenhal, ready to take it by force if he had to. It never came to that.

Ser Simon Strong, in command of the castle, saw the dragon closing in and didn't wait to find out what came next. He opened the gates without a fight — the memory of what dragonfire once did to Harren the Black outweighed any oath to hold the line.

With the castle in hand, the Blacks gained more than a base of operations — a symbolic win right as the war opened. The wealth the Strongs had built up passed over to Rhaenyra's side.

A dozen hostages of real worth were taken too, among them Ser Simon's own children and grandchildren. Harrenhal, which had so often cursed whoever held it, now worked as a guarantee for the Blacks instead.