Pennytree

Pennytree is a village in the riverlands, situated between two grassy hills called the Teats, a short ride from the ruins of Raventree Hall. Its most distinctive landmark is an ancient oak tree, its gnarled roots twisting in and out of the earth, whose trunk is covered with hundreds of old copper pennies nailed into the bark. The village has been repeatedly scarred by the War of the Five Kings; blackened orchards and the scorched shells of broken houses testify to the violence that has passed through, though for every home in ruins three more have been rebuilt, with fresh thatch and doors of raw green wood, suggesting a stubborn resilience among its inhabitants.

History and Naming

The name Pennytree is said to derive from the ancient oak and the pennies nailed to it, a tradition whose origins are lost to memory. The hills that flank the village have been a source of contention between the neighboring houses of Bracken and Blackwood for centuries. The Brackens call them Barba's Teats, after Barba Bracken, a mistress of King Aegon the Unworthy, while the Blackwoods insist on Missy's Teats, after Lady Melissa Blackwood, who succeeded Barba in the king's favor. The village itself has been a royal fief for a hundred years, a fact that Lord Jonos Bracken acknowledges when he presses his claim to the surrounding lands, though he agrees to leave Pennytree out of the dispute.

The Village in the War of the Five Kings

When Jaime Lannister arrives at Pennytree with his hostage, Hoster Blackwood, the village is largely deserted. The inhabitants have taken refuge behind the thick stone walls of the local holdfast, a strong defensive structure that has allowed the settlement to survive repeated raids. The villagers are wary of armed men, having suffered at the hands of king's men who burned their homes, stole their sheep, and raped and killed their women. Jaime orders his men to camp in the empty houses but forbids any looting, recognizing that the villagers have been victimized enough. The holdfast's gates remain closed, and the villagers refuse to emerge until the column departs.

Jaime's Encounter with Brienne

It is at Pennytree that Jaime Lannister is reunited with Brienne of Tarth, who has come to fulfill the quest he gave her. She appears at midnight, her face bandaged from a wound, and tells him she has found the girl he sent her to find—Sansa Stark. She insists that he must come alone, or else the Hound will kill the girl. This meeting sets in motion Jaime's departure from his army and his subsequent disappearance into the riverlands, a turning point that removes him from the political stage of King's Landing and leaves his fate uncertain.