House Connington of Griffin's Roost

For much of the Targaryen dynasty's rule, the Conningtons ranked among the wealthiest houses in the Stormlands. Alyn Connington rose to command the Kingsguard, remembered afterward as one of the finest tacticians the order ever produced. He died at the hands of Dornish assassins while out hunting, in the midst of the First Dornish War.

One of his sons, the fourth, chose a different path: he rode with Prince Aegon Targaryen when the prince rose against his uncle, King Maegor I, and fought at his side in the battle beneath the Gods Eye.

Generations later, Lord Kyle Connington attended the Golden Wedding and spoke with the young King Jaehaerys, whom he remembered for his good humor. His kinsman Roy took a different road, growing close to Princess Saera Targaryen during her years at her father's court; a bedroom scandal cost them both dearly, and the king sentenced him to ten years away from Westeros. He died in exile, shortly before he could return.

When Lord Borros Baratheon died during the Dance of the Dragons and left an infant as his heir, the Stormlands lay open to Dornish raids.

His widow, Lady Elenda Caron, sought a warrior able to defend the region and married Ser Steffon Connington, known for his ferocity in battle. The peace did not last: Steffon fell at the hands of Wyland Wyl.

Lord Armond Connington was fond of his lands, and when a dispute with Lord Morrigen got out of hand, he asked Prince Rhaegar Targaryen to help settle it.

Of his son Jon it is known, thanks to the pages Ser Barristan Selmy devoted to his own deeds in the White Book, that he lost to Barristan in a tourney held at Storm's End. It is also remembered that Ashara Dayne danced with Jon during the Tourney at Harrenhal.

King Aerys II Targaryen named Jon Connington Hand of the King after removing Owen Merryweather, who had failed to contain Robert's Rebellion. Connington was a warrior of proven repute and one of Prince Rhaegar's closest friends, and that closeness weighed in his favor.

The king's trust did him little good: the rebels defeated him at the Battle of the Bells, and that defeat cost him his office, his titles, and exile to the Free Cities.

His cousin Ronald took the other side. When Robert Baratheon took the crown, Ronald returned to Griffin's Roost, but no longer as lord: he was reduced to a landed knight, his titles cut and much of his land parceled out among the lords who had actually rebelled.

It was Ronald who arranged, when his son Ronnet was sixteen, a betrothal to Brienne Tarth, then twelve. Ronnet rejected her the moment he met her: he did not find her attractive.

Brienne would later remember that meeting with uncomfortable clarity. Ronnet handed her a rose and told her that was all she would ever get from him. Years afterward, in a dream, she would cut off that hand when he offered the rose again.

Lady Catelyn Tully recognized him by the griffin on his shield and his reddish beard: Ser Ronnet Connington, bare-headed, falling defeated to Brienne Tarth in a tourney held at Bridgekeep.

Ronnet had first backed Renly Baratheon; once Renly was dead, he threw in with Stannis and fought for him at the Battle of the Blackwater. The defeat left him a prisoner, and he ended up kneeling before King Joffrey.

Known now as Ronnet the Red, the Knight of Griffin's Roost joined the army Ser Jaime Lannister was gathering in King's Landing to settle the Siege of Riverrun.

At Harrenhal, Jaime struck him across the face with his golden hand for speaking of Brienne without due respect. Shortly after, he sent Ronnet out of his sight altogether, dispatching him to Maidenpool to deliver Ser Wylis Manderly.

In Meereen, Arstan Whitebeard told Daenerys Targaryen that young Lord Jon Connington had once been a close friend of her brother Rhaegar. Not long after, it emerged that the rumors of his death — drowned in wine somewhere in Essos — were false.

Jon had survived in hiding under the name Griff, with Varys's help, and for years had raised a boy named Aegon Targaryen, hoping one day to seat him on the Iron Throne. An ambush by Stone Men on a barge along the Rhoyne nearly ended the plan: Jon contracted greyscale while saving Tyrion Lannister.

When the Golden Company landed at Cape Wrath, Jon led it by night to Griffin's Roost, and taking the castle took him only minutes: he proclaimed himself its lord once again. His kinsman Ronnet was far away, serving under Jaime in the Riverlands, but Ronnet's bastard son, Ronald Storm, and his siblings Raymund and Alynne remained prisoners in the castle.

Back in King's Landing after leaving Wylis Manderly at Maidenpool, Ronnet sought to prove his loyalty to King Tommen I Baratheon: he swore to bring his uncle Jon's head to the Small Council. Ser Kevan Lannister, the king's regent, chose for now to keep him under watch in King's Landing itself.