Welcome to House Words Wednesdays! Each week, I take a House without known canon or semi-canon words and present what I think could make sense as that House’s motto. You’re free to suggest more as well, if your favored House has not yet been suggested; take a look at this link to see what has already been suggested, and shoot me an ask if you have another House you’d like to see done.
We’ve done it! We’ve made it to A HUNDRED HOUSES FOR HOUSE WORDS WEDNESDAYS!
If you told me when I started this project that not only would I still be doing it almost two years later, but that I had over a hundred Houses scheduled, I would never have believed you. For all I thought this would be a few-week experiment, I’m so grateful that I’ve been able to do this for so long and that people have actually enjoyed it.
Being that I schedule these Houses as I get them, House 100 for HWW ended up being House Hunter of Longbow Hall – not exactly the most epically important of all Westerosi families, but a schedule is a schedule. House Hunter is a noble House of the Vale, one of the principal Houses sworn to the Arryns of the Eyrie, The Hunters are old First Men of the Vale, an established power by the time the first Andals arrived in Westeros (though House Hunter seems to have been a lordly, rather than a royal, House by the time of the Andal Invasion). Being First Men, the Hunters resisted the Andal takeover, eventually siding with King Robar II Royce in a unified First Men alliance against Artys Arryn’s forces. Legend has it that young Robar won the allegiance of Lord Hunter by outshooting him in an archery contest – a neat show of strength, given that the Hunter sigil is a fan of five silver arrows on brown – though legend equally claims King Robar cheated. Unfortunately, the Hunters were defeated alongside King Robar at the Battle of the Seven Stars, and though their line endured (Teora Hunter even being married to one of the first Arryn kings), they would always be bannermen to the falcons of the Eyrie.
The Hunters have not been ignored in the modern narrative either. Old Lord Eon Hunter attended the great Tourney of Harrenhal with his liege lord Jon Arryn, and paid court to Lady Lysa after Jon’s death, even offering to champion her in Tyrion’s trial by combat. Unfortunately, Lord Eon died sometime into ASOS, so suddenly that his younger sons accused the new Lord Gilwood of arranging his murder. According to Littlefinger, however, it was actually youngest son Harlan who orchestrated his father’s death; Littlefinger confidently predicts Harlan will have Gilwood murdered within the year, and thus writes off “Young Lord Hunter” as a non-issue among the Lords Declarant. (Interestingly, the current maester at Longbow Hall is Willamen, formerly Willamen Frey – the son of Lord Walder and Bethany Rosby, and brother to Stark-loyalist Olyvar and Lady Roslin Tully.)
For Hunter words, I took inspiration from Diane de Poitiers, all-powerful mistress of King Henry II of France. Diane shared her name with the Roman goddess of the hunt, and liked to emphasize this connection: she once posed for a statue as the goddess with a stag beside her and a bow in her hand, and she decorated the Château d’Anet (a gift from Henry) with the device of an arrow and the motto Consequitur quodcunque petit, “She attains whatever she seeks”. Thus, my Hunter words are Sought and Attained. It seemed fitting for a family which so prizes skill with the bow – advertising it on its sigil and only bowing to Robar (allegedly) after he demonstrated his excellence in that art – that its motto should focus on hitting whatever mark a Hunter seeks. I also liked these words for the way they reflect young Harlan Hunter’s ambitions toward the rule of Longbow Hall. Littlefinger jokes that Harlan is “in for a penny, in for a stag”, having murdered Lord Eon; Harlan has sought mastership of House Hunter and looks on the path to attaining it, no matter how many of his kin he has to kill to get it.
Let me know what you think for this hundredth House’s words. Next week is another H-named Vale House.
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