House Hoare

The extinct line of the old ironborn kings, who ruled the Iron Islands and the riverlands both ÔÇö until Harren the Black raised Harrenhal, and a dragon burned him inside it.

The fuller tale

For centuries the Hoares were kings of the Iron Islands, and at their height they ruled the riverlands as well, holding the greenlands under the black iron heel. Their last and greatest folly was Harren the Black, who spent a generation and untold lives raising Harrenhal, the largest castle ever built in Westeros, its five towers meant to stand against any siege.

Harren finished his monster of a castle in the same year Aegon the Conqueror came ashore. When Harren refused to kneel, Aegon flew the dragon Balerion over the walls the ironborn king had thought impregnable and burned him and his sons alive inside them. The Hoares died with him, the riverlands were freed, and Harrenhal has been a haunted, half-melted ruin ÔÇö and a curse on whoever holds it ÔÇö ever since.