House Whent of Harrenhal

Before they held a castle of their own, the Whents served as knights under House Lothston. When that house fell, during the reign of Maekar I Targaryen, the Whents took part in bringing it down and were rewarded with Harrenhal itself, along with the lands around it.

That made them the seventh family to rule the castle Harren the Black had raised three centuries earlier.

In the year 281, later remembered as the year of the False Spring, Lord Walter Whent held a tournament at Harrenhal to display his wealth and standing before the realm.

The extravagance of the event stayed in the memory of those who witnessed it, long after it had passed.

When the War of the Five Kings broke out, Lady Shella Whent found herself without enough men to defend the castle and ended up handing it over to House Lannister's forces.

King Joffrey Baratheon used the moment to grant Harrenhal to Janos Slynt and demanded that Shella swear her loyalty to him as the new king.

Some time later, Lord Petyr Baelish invoked Lady Shella's death as a warning: anyone who reached for Harrenhal, he seemed to say, met the same fate as its previous owners.