Hull

Hull is a town on the island of Driftmark in the crownlands. It is located beneath the walls of Castle Driftmark and took its name from the rows of ship hulls at anchor below the castle.^[1]

History

Marilda of Hull with her shipwright father and her two sons, Addam and Alyn, by Dragonsaria ©

Hull arose from three modest fishing villages which grew together at the time in which House Velaryon grew in wealth and power from the treasures brought by Lord Corlys Velaryon from his voyages.^[1] The Sea Snake frequently visited the town's shipyards.^[2]

At the start of the Dance of the Dragons, Corlys the Sea Snake launched his ships from Hull and Spicetown to close the Gullet.^[3] Addam and Alyn were legitimized bastards from the town. The boys' mother, Marilda of Hull, was a shipwright's daughter and a canny trader who owned seven ships by 130 AC. Marilda claimed their father was Corlys's son, the late Ser Laenor Velaryon, who had been known to visit Hull's shipyard on occasion. Mushroom claimed the brothers were actually Corlys's bastard sons, however. Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen legitimized the two as the Sea Snake's Velaryon heirs after Addam was able to ride the dragon Seasmoke. While Spicetown and High Tide were sacked during the Battle of the Gullet, never to be rebuilt, Hull and Castle Driftmark on the opposite side of the island were unharmed.^[2] Another dragonseed, Nettles, grew up on the streets of Hull and Spicetown.^[4]

When King Aegon II Targaryen returned to King's Landing from Dragonstone in 131 AC, Alyn had him transported on Mouse, Marilda's old cog.^[5] Before setting forth to confront the Red Kraken, Lord Dalton Greyjoy, Alyn Oakenfist gathered his fleet at Hull in 134 AC.^[6]

Hull prospered during the Lysene Spring, with scores of new ships built and Marilda expanded her trading fleets. She built above the harbor a palatial manse which Mushroom called the Mouse House.^[7]

In 138 AC Lord Alyn entombed at Hull the bones of his brother Addam, which had been returned by Lord Benjicot Blackwood from Raventree. Addam had died in 130 AC during the Second Battle of Tumbleton after being called a traitor by Rhaenyra. Alyn had his brother's tomb engraved with the word LOYAL and decorated with carvings of a seahorse and a mouse.^[8]

References