Wat the Hewer

Wat the Hewer was a giant who led nine thousand Poor Fellows at Stonebridge during King Maegor’s war against the Faith Militant. Captured after the battle, he was taken to King’s Landing and kept alive to witness Maegor’s marriage to Tyanna of the Tower, making him a defiant captive at a ceremony staged amid the destruction of the Warrior’s Sons.

Leader of the Poor Fellows

Wat commanded an army of roughly nine thousand Poor Fellows at Stonebridge in the Reach. His followers were poorly equipped and undisciplined, carrying woodsmen’s axes, sharpened sticks, and farm implements, while wearing boiled leather, roughspun clothing, and scraps of rusted steel. They faced six lordly hosts as they tried to cross the Mander, with Wat’s forces divided between its two banks.

Defeat and Capture

The Poor Fellows were overwhelmed by the armored knights and their heavy horses. The slaughter was so severe that the Mander was said to have run red for twenty leagues, and the town and castle where the fighting took place thereafter became known as Bitterbridge. Wat himself fought fiercely, killing half a dozen knights, including Lord Meadows of Grassy Vale, who commanded the king’s host. He was taken alive and delivered to King’s Landing in chains.

A Captive at Maegor’s Wedding

After the king’s victory at the Great Fork, Wat was brought before Maegor, still defiant despite his chains. Maegor ordered that Wat be kept alive so he could attend the king’s wedding. Wat was then made to witness Maegor’s marriage to Tyanna of the Tower on the Hill of Rhaenys, among the ashes and bones of the Warrior’s Sons who had died there. The account establishes Wat’s survival through the ceremony, but gives no further outcome for him.

Significance

Wat’s story links the Poor Fellows’ military defeat to Maegor’s use of public power and ceremony. His capture followed a battle in which the Faith’s poorly equipped followers were crushed by the king’s forces; his enforced presence at the wedding then made a defeated rebel leader part of the spectacle surrounding Maegor’s victory. His continued defiance is the final detail attached to him, even as the king controlled where he was taken and what he was made to witness.