Aemond's purge of House Strong at Harrenhal turned suspicion of treachery into the destruction of an entire noble line. Convinced that the castle's surrender had aided his enemies, Aemond made Ser Simon Strong answer for it in a duel and ordered the deaths of Simon's male kin. Alys Rivers alone was spared among the family, an exception linked in the account to Aemond's favor toward her after the castle's capture.

Causes and Suspicion

Aemond's fury at Harrenhal followed a costly misreading of events. He had expected Daemon Targaryen to resist his advance, but after a long march found the castle abandoned. Aemond celebrated what he took to be a victory; when word arrived that King's Landing had fallen, he felt that Daemon had outmaneuvered him. The first person he punished was Ser Simon, the elderly castellan who had yielded Harrenhal to Daemon. Aemond regarded the haste of the surrender as proof that Simon was a traitor. Simon protested that he had remained loyal to the Crown and pointed to his great-nephew, Larys Strong, as Lord of Harrenhal and King Aegon’s master of whisperers. Rather than easing Aemond's suspicions, the explanation widened them: he decided Larys must also be a traitor, reasoning that someone on the small council had revealed when King's Landing would be vulnerable. He further connected Larys to Daemon and Rhaenyra through Larys's brother, Harwin Strong, and Harwin's relationship to Rhaenyra's sons. These were Aemond's accusations and inferences, not proof established by the account.

Simon Strong's Death

Aemond ordered that Simon be given a sword and framed the duel as a test of his innocence. The accounts agree that the encounter was entirely one-sided: Aemond killed the old man and fed his body to Vhagar. Simon's appeal to his loyalty and family position did not secure a hearing; Aemond had already made suspicion itself the measure of guilt.

The Destruction of House Strong

The violence did not end with Simon. His grandsons were killed, and Aemond's men put every Strong man and boy in the castle to death. The account describes the killings as a purge of the family's male line: no trueborn Strong was spared, and the flower of an ancient house claiming descent from the First Men came to an ignoble end in Harrenhal. Alys Rivers was the sole exception. Although she was a member of the Strong household, Aemond spared her after taking her as a captive at Harrenhal and singling her out for his favor over the other women in the castle. The account emphasizes the contrast between her survival and the fate of the rest of the family, without establishing that she shared their alleged political involvement.

Consequences and Significance

The purge was both a personal act of vengeance and a political destruction carried out under an accusation of conspiracy. Aemond treated Simon's surrender as evidence, extended suspicion from the castellan to Larys, and then punished the wider family for a treason he believed had enabled Daemon and Rhaenyra. The result was not simply the death of a suspected opponent: the deaths of the men and boys at Harrenhal extinguished the trueborn Strong line. Alys's exceptional survival, tied to Aemond's personal favor, makes the purge's arbitrary reach especially stark.