Siege of Riverrun

The Siege of Riverrun was the culmination of the Lannister campaign to subdue the riverlands after the capture of Tyrion Lannister and the death of Lord Eddard Stark. Following the Battle of the Golden Tooth, where Ser Jaime Lannister defeated and captured Ser Edmure Tully, the Lannister army surrounded Riverrun, the ancestral seat of House Tully. The castle, situated at the confluence of the Tumblestone and the Red Fork, was besieged from three separate camps, a necessity dictated by the terrain. The siege dragged on, with the Lannisters building siege towers and cutting off supply lines, while the Tullys held out behind their walls, their sluice gates turned the castle into an island. The arrival of Robb Stark's northern host, fresh from their victory at the Battle of the Whispering Wood, changed the strategic situation entirely. The northern army, having crossed the Green Fork at the Twins after a tense negotiation with Lord Walder Frey, marched south to relieve the siege. The Blackfish, Ser Brynden Tully, led a picked force to screen their movements, ensuring Jaime Lannister remained ignorant of the approaching army. The trap was sprung at night. The Blackfish's men cleared the Lannister sentries and palisades, and then the main northern force, led by Robb Stark with his direwolf Grey Wind at his side, poured into the Lannister camps. The attack was a complete surprise. The Lannister forces, split by the rivers, could not support each other. The camp between the rivers was overrun, and the camp north of the Tumblestone was destroyed. The Greatjon Umber fired the siege towers, and Lord Tytos Blackwood led a sortie from Riverrun itself, taking the Lannister rear. Ser Jaime Lannister, attempting to rally his men and cut down Robb Stark, fought his way up the valley but was eventually surrounded and captured. The siege was broken. The Lannister army was shattered, with thousands killed or taken prisoner. The victory freed Riverrun, reunited the Starks and Tullys, and delivered the Kingslayer into the hands of his enemies. It also set the stage for the political crisis that followed, as the northern lords, led by the Greatjon, proclaimed Robb Stark the King in the North, rejecting the claims of both Joffrey Baratheon and Renly Baratheon.