Massey's Hook sub-region - Discussion Thread

[EStoop]

The Blackwater is generally used to refer to the river, not the bay. So I don't think the granted tract of land for Daemon was anywhere near the Hook.

As for the location of the invasion, we don't really know why they landed there of all places since we know relatively little of the rebellion. Possible explanations could be:

• The Hook is the closest you can get to Kingslanding from Tyrosh without getting uncomfortably close to Driftmark and Dragonstone. They might not have wanted to risk conflict with the Valeryon fleet or where forced to land there when they found the way to Kingslanding was blocked. It's just a walk through the forest and crossing the river from there.
• House Massey is the first house you come across from your starting point in Tyrosh that aided Bloodraven during the second Blackfyre rebellion. They might have wanted to retaliate against the houses that chose sides against them during earlier rebellions.
• They might have expected to find support there, or expected to gain support once they set up a strong vantage point on the Hook. Landing in the Crownlands has the benefit of not pissing of any of the lords paramount for invading their land. The Hook had once been part of the Stormlands, maybe they hoped to grant it to the Baratheons in exchange for their aid.
• Bittersteel might have become a bit impatient in his quest to defeat the Targaryens and just said "fuck it, it's got to be now" because he was 64 at this point and he wasn't about to get any younger. Grandpa Aegor would die just a few years after the Battle of the Wendwater during a skirmish.

Whatever the reason was for invading at Massey's Hook, I'd put the symbolic value of a possible ancestral castle which was held for a mere 12 years way down on the list of reasons. We don't even know if the castle was ever build, how large the tract of land was, wether it was even inhabited or if they had actually lived there at any point.

I personally like to imagine an even more than usual snarky grandpa Aegor attempting to do a Hail Mary (Hail Maiden?) in an attempt to purge the realm of some Targaryens before he kicks the bucket.

 

[Antony]

I personally like to imagine an even more than usual snarky grandpa Aegor attempting to do a Hail Mary (Hail Maiden?) in an attempt to purge the realm of some Targaryens before he kicks the bucket.

Hail Mother most likely

 

[StanateeManatee]

The bay is called Blackwater Bay though, and if Aegon was marrying his favorite (bastard) son to the daughter of the Archon, wouldn't it make sense to have him set up so he could easily maintain relations with Tyrosh? Plus that adds credence to why he would land on the Hook. Although it would be one of, if not the most, logical place anyway, it would be even more sensible if Daemon III hoped to find some people with a sliver of remaining loyalty to his dead-for-forty-years grandfather. So, I think it would make a bit more sense really than on the River. However, that still leaves it just a footnote in history. Maybe have an inn built on the foundation of a half-built manor named "The Black Dragon" or whatever. Might be a neat little immersion-easteregg-mini project, but way way down the priority list. Having fun headcanon and stories while building breathes life into an otherwise cold, distant world inside a computer.

 

[AerioOndos]

Generally, bays don't just get called 'the XYZ'. But rivers do. And frequently the Blackwater is used without river attached. Ser Bron of the -, Battle of the - and so on.

Plus, its not such a tactical move for Aegon to have been given a stretch of land further away that's potentially not so fertile. Daeron wanted Daemon to be sated and close by, just not in court. So the Blackwater has a number of towns along it, so there's people, good enough soil to support them and the rights to build a full castle (and presumably the money too) is a very attractive offer for anyone but a royal bastard.
A stretch of land at the base of the Hook is a poor choice for Daeron to have offered up. Its days away from KL, is practically in the third least populace region and Daemon would have always felt secondary to the Sunglasses of nearby Sweetport Sound, who absolutely dominate the local trade between Sharp Point and Parchments.