Game of Thrones: King of Harrenhal, starting with a blue hand stat panel

Chapter 130 I'm Going to Build a New Harrenhal

But that would require more than just the power of a count's territory; it would require a golden dragon with a wealth base almost equivalent to that of the old town of Hightar.

"Is this the Hall family crest?" Sir Lucas looked at the nearly worn-out pattern on the stone wall below the railing, still faintly recognizable as the Hall family sigil.

The Hall family crests were once ubiquitous in Harrenhal, engraved on stone walls, ceilings, and floors.

Although most traces of the Hall family crest were destroyed by Dragonflame and subsequent earls, the Hall family's distinctive emblem can still be seen occasionally.

A crisscrossing silver chain is divided into four equal parts. Clockwise, the four parts are a black longship with gold background, a white pine tree with green background, a bunch of golden grapes with purple background, and a black raven flying in the blue sky.

“That’s right. Although the Hall family is destroyed, Harrenhal still retains some of the Hall family's symbols,” Arthur said. “These patterns are interesting, aren’t they?”

The powerful House Hall displayed its great achievements on its coat of arms, which represented the distant lands the family had once ruled: a longship for the Iron Islands, a pine tree for Bear Island, grapes for Greenwood Island, and a raven for Raventree City, all bound together by the Ironborn's chains.

But the raven doesn't only represent Raventree City; one of the Old Gods' ambassadors is the raven.

Blackheart was certainly aware of this, as his castle was located near the Lake of Godeye and the Isle of a Thousand Faces, and Blackheart's brother was the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.

The wicked, with the help of the old gods, may have plotted to become the supreme king, a king who combined faith and royal power, but unfortunately, he was burned to the ground by the demonic dragon.

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"It's interesting, but also very strange. Although the Hall family is of the Ironblood, the ruthless King Hall was fond of trading and, later on, even more so of building cities and living in the Riverlands. The Hall family was not also a devout raider or a follower of the Drowning God, which incurred the endless curses of the priests," Sir Lucas said, frowning.

The Hor people are described as having "black hair, black eyes, black hearts, and black blood." In ancient times, they frequently intermarried with the Andals, and their bloodline is more like black blood than salt water.

Although the Hall family were not particularly brave, they were extremely cunning and cruel. Their vassals never loved them, but no one dared to challenge their wrath.

"For the priests, the Hall family's greatest sin is that they treated the gods as mere tools. They were indeed disrespectful to the gods and casually brought the worship of the Seven Gods to the Iron Islands. Or perhaps, this castle still bears traces of the Old Gods." Arthur's slender fingers traced the Hall family's emblem, which still possessed a cold texture.

From this perspective, Arthur even felt that the sea monster Raveneye truly inherited the Hall family's characteristics: a blasphemer, a schemer, and a tool rather than a faith in the gods.

Sir Lucas remained silent. The mystery and curse of Harrenhal were inextricably linked to the Hall family.

Regarding Harrenhal, Arthur is also considering new ideas for population increase and renovation.

Castle renovations and relocations are common occurrences in Westeros; if you have money, you'll definitely be fixing up your castle.

The same applies to Whitewall and White Harbor, as well as Sunspear in Dorne and the second new Highgarden in the Reach.

Not to mention the Red Castle, where the royal family now resides.

Under the rule of the Mandalay family, the importance of the Wolf Lair gradually declined.

The new rulers established a new city here, which developed into present-day White Harbor, and their center of power moved to the new fort in White Harbor.

But the old town of Harrenhal is indeed too fortified, and abandoning it would be a waste.

Arthur looked at the grand yet rough exterior of Harrenhal in the distance; grandeur was the first impression Harrenhal gave.

The Tower of the King of the Burning King has a similar feel to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, with its melted and deformed rocks leaning to one side, resembling a giant, half-melted black candle.

When the "black-hearted" Herren built the castle, he had no architectural aesthetics; he only required it to be the biggest and tallest, and that was all.

Harrenhal’s massive walls are steep and precipitous like cliffs, with wooden and iron crossbows and even catapults on the battlements, which look as small as insects.

Harrenhal remains the largest castle in the Seven Kingdoms, capable of housing three Winterfells, with a stable that can hold a thousand horses, a kitchen larger than the hall of any other castle, and a grove of gods that spans twenty acres.

Harrenhal's gate tower is taller than Winterfell's tallest tower, and the five main castles average seventy meters in height.

The walls of Harrenhal were also incredibly thick; the walls at the gate were so thick that one had to pass through at least a dozen killing holes to reach the other side of the courtyard.

Harrenhal was also filled with the shadow of the dragon; every tower was rough, crooked, cracked, and unbalanced, and the cracks in the stones were the remnants of the Black Death Dragon's flames.

Sir Lucas Dane looked at the dark brown Harrenhal and then emphasized, "To rebuild Harrenhal, three problems need to be solved. The first is the repair cost, the second is injecting new manpower, and the third may be that elusive curse."

Arthur nodded. "This is a problem that every Earl of Harrenhal has had to solve. Repairs require golden dragons, manpower requires industry and towns to gather. And the curse of the Void and Drifting needs to be broken."

Today, Harrenhal appears rather desolate, with many parts of the castle untouched for decades and decaying.

Today, the He'an family only uses the bottom three floors of the four towers, leaving the rest to gradually turn into ruins.

The ground floor of the tower was often used as a storage room and granary, while the upper two floors were where people lived.

The servants, too, were afraid of the haunted legends of Harrenhal.

However, the He'an family's salary has always been quite high, and poverty is more terrifying than ghosts. Most of these people are also hereditary servants of the He'an family, and they are used to this kind of life.

"After all, it was the former king's castle; it's truly unacceptable for an earl to occupy it," Sir Lucas said calmly.

Road.

The owners of Harrenhal were usually the wealthiest people in the Riverlands, owning a large tract of fertile land.

However, this wealth could not fill the manpower and material resources needed by Harrenhal.

Harrenburg, which Harren built, was the capital of the Kingdom of the Islands and the Trident River.

Harrenhal can continuously extract resources from both borders, and Harrenhal even goes so far as to raid the banks of the Blackwater River.

Now, Harrenhal is merely a count's castle, further aggravated by the siphon effect of King's Landing.

Ordinary lords simply do not have enough resources to maintain this giant city.

"I need to prepare enough people, enough money, and enough power to turn the old Harrenhal into the new Harrenhal."

Arthur pondered.

The maintenance of Harrenhal is a bottomless pit; countless floors need cleaning, countless windows need wiping, and countless broken chairs and beds need repairing.

Furthermore, a large number of rat catchers are needed, as bats inhabit the tops of some towers and rats are present in many basements.

Humans are definitely the top priority for Harrenhal. If, according to the original story, the He'an family only had Lady He'an and a small group of servants left, they probably wouldn't even be able to maintain the two towers properly.

The He'an family is now quite powerful and has an heir. The family is still able to maintain the lower three floors of the four towers.

Harrenhal can only be fully restored if Arthur can raise more money and recruit more servants.

Arthur had studied the curse of Harrenhal, and it was probably because "Blackheart" Harrenhal had accumulated a lot of resentment and blood in the fortress when it was built, and the sweeping of dragon flames left behind this strange remnant.

In addition, the castle's design, coupled with its low population density and large area, makes this place unsuitable for human habitation.

Arthur had thought it through: the power of the "Blue Hands" could offset the curse of Harrenhal, and the reputation of this cursed city would not last long.

The stronger the Blue Hand, the larger the area they can cover.

Arthur's current coverage area is not large, but once his power continues to increase, he will be able to suppress the cursed aura within the castle.

"Hrenburg now has four industries: agriculture, livestock, wine, and commercial taxes," Arthur said to Sir Lucas.

Agriculture, commercial taxes, and tolls were the foundation of Harrenhal's former prosperity, while livestock, dairy cattle, and wine were the basis of the White Wall City's wealth.

Arthur did not change the industrial model of Harrenhal and Whitewall, but instead used the power of the Blue Hands to transform and upgrade the industrial structure.

Through new seed production, alfalfa's effects on cows and horses, and Arthur's maintenance of the Whitewall vineyards.

The industries Arthur mentioned are now slowly gaining momentum, like four cash cows that bring in massive amounts of wealth.

Ordinary families often thrive with just one or two pillar businesses, such as the Freys' toll collection business, the Redwyn family's wine business, and the Wakeley family's scented candles business.

Arthur now uses a four-wheeled carriage, making his wealth accumulation incredibly efficient.

"It would be even better if there were a port. No industry is more profitable than a port," Sir Lucas said with a hint of regret. Based on Arthur's description, he seemed to see an endless stream of golden dragons.

Unfortunately, if there were a large port, the money would have been even greater.

In this era, every family in a port city was incredibly wealthy.

"There aren't any good ports right now, so we'll just have to make do with the small docks around Crab Bay," Arthur said.

He naturally wanted the port as well.

King's Landing is the best right now, but that ambition is difficult to realize at present.

With the four major industries plus Arthur's authority to protect the large number of ports under his duty as guardian of Crab Bay, it was already quite an achievement. In addition, Arthur was preparing to find someone to maintain the castle.

A completely new look, a surge in wealth—this is the new Harrenhal that Arthur desires.