House Manderly of White Harbor

Long before White Harbor existed, the Manderlys were a First Men house settled along the great Mander river in the old Reach kingdom, holding Dunstonbury as their seat. Some even claim the river took its name from the family. Their rivalry with House Peake ran as old as their own line.

That enmity flared more than once. Under King Gwayne III Gardener, Manderly and Peake came to blows, and only the king's judgment kept the peace. Generations later, when Garth X Gardener neared the end of his reign without a son, his only two daughters — one wed to a Manderly, the other to a Peake — became each side's claim to the Reach's crown. The war that followed dragged on for almost twenty years, until Ser Osmund Tyrell, steward of Highgarden, joined with other Reach lords, defeated both Manderly and Peake, and crowned a distant cousin of the dead king: Mern VI Gardener.

Defeat had a delayed price. According to Maester Yandel, King Perceon III Gardener came to fear the Manderlys were growing too powerful and ordered Lord Lorimar Peake to drive them from the Reach. Landless, the house crossed the realm and was taken in by the Starks of Winterfell, who accepted their fealty in exchange for the gold they brought into exile.

That southern origin still shows: they remain the only northern house to follow the Faith of the Seven and to knight after the Andal fashion. The Starks granted them the Wolf's Den, an old keep, charged with guarding the White Knife against pirates and raiders. As the town that grew in its shadow became White Harbor, the Manderlys raised New Castle in the image of the Dunstonbury they had lost.

Settled in the North, the Manderlys cultivated the goodwill of both their Stark lords and the Targaryen crown. Princess Viserra, daughter of King Jaehaerys I and Queen Alysanne, was betrothed to a Lord Manderly, but died in King's Landing after a fall from her horse before the wedding could be held.

Other matches did succeed. Jeyne Manderly married Rickon Stark, heir to Lord Cregan Stark, and bore him two daughters, Serena and Sansa. Later, Myriame Manderly wed Rodwell Stark and became Lady of Winterfell.

In 101 AC, House Manderly backed Princess Rhaenys Targaryen at the Great Council held at Harrenhal to settle the succession to the Iron Throne.

Nearly three decades later, with the realm split by the Dance of the Dragons, Prince Jacaerys Velaryon traveled to White Harbor and Winterfell to win the North for his mother's cause, Rhaenyra Targaryen. Lord Desmond Manderly answered by sending warriors led by his own sons, Ser Medrick and Ser Torrhen.

After the war, Torrhen Manderly served as one of the regents for the young King Aegon III, resigning in 132 AC after his father and brother died of a winter fever. When Aegon III came of age in 136 AC, he ended the regency and dismissed his Hand of the King — another Manderly.