The Honeywine is a river in the Reach remembered as the setting of a decisive battle in the Dance of the Dragons. On its banks, a force closing in on Ormund Hightower seemed poised to defeat him until Daeron Targaryen arrived on Tessarion and reversed the course of the fighting.

Setting and Battle

Ormund Hightower was caught between opposing armies near the Honeywine. Thaddeus Rowan and Tom Flowers approached from the northeast with a large mounted force, while Alan Beesbury, Alan Tarly, and Owen Costayne had joined forces to cut off Hightower’s retreat toward Oldtown. Their armies converged at the river, attacking from front and rear as Ormund’s lines began to crumble.

The Dragon’s Arrival

The outcome changed when Tessarion, the Blue Queen, swept over the battlefield carrying the fifteen-year-old Daeron Targaryen. The dragon’s arrival turned the attack around: Ormund’s men pressed forward, while the queen’s forces fled. By the end of the day, Rowan was retreating north with what remained of his host; Tom Flowers was dead, Alan Beesbury and Alan Tarly had been captured, and Owen Costayne was dying from a wound inflicted by Bold Jon Roxton with Orphan-Maker.

Narrative Significance

The Honeywine is significant as the place where Daeron’s intervention transformed an apparently imminent defeat into victory for Ormund’s side. The battle’s outcome was also marked by the contrast between the battlefield’s heavy losses and the honors that followed: Ormund feasted Daeron and knighted him with Vigilance, while Daeron credited the victory to Tessarion.