Burning and Sack of Bitterbridge

The Burning and Sack of Bitterbridge was Ormund Hightower’s answer to Lady Caswell’s request for the same lenient terms granted at Longtable. Daeron Targaryen invoked the killing of Prince Maelor Targaryen to justify that answer; Bitterbridge was then destroyed, its people massacred or drowned, and Lady Caswell killed herself rather than see her castle held against a dragon.

Background and Terms

Before marching on Bitterbridge, Ormund Hightower had taken Longtable from Lady Merryweather. He had promised not to harm her or her household, though he stripped the castle of its wealth and food, using its grain to feed his thousands as he broke camp and continued toward Bitterbridge. That outcome gave Lady Caswell reason to seek the same terms when Ormund arrived.

Lady Caswell appeared on Bitterbridge’s ramparts to make her appeal. Ormund left the answer to Daeron Targaryen, who told her, “You shall receive the same terms you gave my nephew.” The reference was to Prince Maelor, whose death had made the terms offered at Longtable unavailable to Bitterbridge. The exchange turned Lady Caswell’s request into a sentence against the town.

The Sack and Burning

Bitterbridge was sacked. The Hogs Head was the first building set alight; the fire spread through inns, guild halls, storehouses, and the homes of both poor and wealthy inhabitants. Dragonflame consumed the sept as well, with hundreds of wounded people still inside. Only the bridge was left standing, because the army needed it to cross the Mander.

The townspeople faced killing if they tried to fight or flee; others were driven into the river and drowned. The destruction was therefore not confined to the town’s buildings: the assault made the population’s attempts to resist or escape equally perilous. The bridge’s survival, amid the burning, reflected its military use rather than any reprieve for Bitterbridge’s inhabitants.

Lady Caswell and the Aftermath

Lady Caswell watched the destruction from her walls before ordering the gates opened. She told her garrison, “No castle can be held against a dragon.” When Ormund rode up, he found her on the gatehouse with a noose around her neck. She begged, “Have mercy on my children, lord,” then threw herself down and hanged herself.

Her children—young sons and a daughter—were spared and sent in chains to Oldtown. The account allows that Lady Caswell’s plea may have moved Ormund, but it gives no certainty about his reason for sparing them. The castle’s garrison received no such mercy: its men were killed by the sword. Her suicide thus failed to save the town or its defenders, but her children survived the fall of Bitterbridge.