Marston Waters

Marston Waters was a knight of uncertain standing who rose to command the Kingsguard during Aegon III’s minority. His path ran through the capture of Dragonstone, the last phase of Aegon II’s reign, and the struggle over who would govern for the boy king. At each turn, his place in the royal household depended on the faction holding power: first he was rewarded for serving Aegon II, then elevated and displaced as Aegon III’s regents rearranged the court, and finally restored as Lord Commander by Unwin Peake.

Identity and Early Associations

Marston’s kinship with the two men known as the Two Toms was real but limited. Tom Tanglebeard’s sister had borne a bastard son to the knight who took her maidenhead; that son was Marston. The other Tom, Tom Tangletongue, was not his blood relative, despite the group’s language of cousins. This connection placed Marston alongside the Toms in the venture that brought Aegon II’s supporters to Dragonstone, although the account identifies his contribution chiefly through the later actions of the group and his reward from the king.

The episode also marked the beginning of Marston’s ascent in Aegon II’s service. After the king’s men seized Dragonstone, Aegon named Marston to the Kingsguard, citing his valor. By the time Rhaenyra was brought into the castle yard, Marston wore a white cloak and stood among those present. He did not speak in protest as Aegon delivered his half-sister to Sunfyre. His presence at the scene links his new office to the final, violent assertion of Aegon II’s claim, without the account assigning him a direct role in Rhaenyra’s death.

The Seizure of Dragonstone

Before that appointment, Marston had joined Tom Tanglebeard and Tom Tangletongue in a small boat bound for Dragonstone. The party was seeking men willing to help capture the castle after identifying Sunfyre as the dragon that had attacked Grey Ghost. Marston was among those who returned to the island’s other side to recruit supporters for Aegon II. The castle’s garrison was small, and its commander, Ser Robert Quince, had been placed in charge by Rhaenyra while she was away in King’s Landing.

Ser Alfred Broome, a member of the garrison, agreed to betray Rhaenyra in exchange for a promise of lordship, lands, and gold if Aegon regained the throne. Drawing on his long service at Dragonstone, Broome advised the attackers about the castle’s defenses and the guards who might be bribed, persuaded, or removed. When the assault came, men whom Broome had turned opened a postern gate during the hour of ghosts. Marston, Tom Tangletongue, and their men entered without being seen. Other groups seized the armory and detained the loyal guards and master-at-arms, while Marston surprised Grand Maester Gerardys in the rookery, preventing a raven from carrying news of the attack.

The plan did not capture everyone. Lady Baela escaped through her window, crossed the roofs and walls, and reached the yard before her pursuers caught up. Though the attackers had secured the stable, Baela knew ways around the castle that they did not. She freed Moondancer and saddled her, leaving the king’s men unable to prevent her escape by dragon.

Service to Aegon II

Marston stood witness when Aegon II confronted the captive Rhaenyra. The king’s men pulled her away from her son, Aegon the Younger, and the accounts disagree about whether Ser Alfred Broome or one of the Two Toms held her arm. Marston’s role is more certain in one respect: he was present in a white cloak, and neither he nor the other knights and lords in the yard protested the king’s decision. The chronicle thus presents him as a witness to an act of royal vengeance, not as its instigator.

In the waning days of 130 AC, Marston accompanied Aegon II back to King’s Landing, along with Ser Alfred Broome, the Two Toms, and Lady Baela, who remained in chains. Their vessel was the battered trading cog Mouse, captained by Marilda of Hull, and twelve Velaryon war galleys escorted it. The king’s return was markedly different from a triumphal progress: unable to walk, he was carried through the River Gate and up Aegon’s High Hill in a closed litter. Marston’s place in the returning party reflects his status as one of the king’s trusted attendants after Dragonstone, even as the city they entered was silent and badly damaged.

Marston’s service also took him across the Narrow Sea to seek sellswords. He was sent with Tyland Lannister and Ser Julian Wormwood, but returned alone from Lys a few days after Cregan Stark stepped down as Hand. Marston accepted a pardon for his past crimes and reported that the Triarchy had collapsed. The Three Daughters were competing to hire free companies at wages he could not match. For some of Cregan’s northmen, that news offered an alternative to returning to a land entering winter: two companies, the Wolf Pack and the Stormbreakers, formed from men seeking paid service abroad. The account credits the news Marston brought with helping reveal that opportunity, not with his founding either company.

Kingsguard and Regency Politics

When Aegon III began his reign as a child, Marston was made second in command of the Kingsguard under Ser Willis Fell, the sole surviving Kingsguard from the time of King Viserys. The appointments deliberately crossed factional lines: both Fell and Marston were considered greens, while black loyalists filled the remaining places. This arrangement gave Marston an important position in the young king’s household, but not the freedom to determine its direction.

After Ser Tyland Lannister’s death, Aegon III acted without consulting the regents. He passed over Marston and gave white cloaks to Ser Robin Massey and Ser Robert Darklyn, making Massey Lord Commander. He also sought to appoint Thaddeus Rowan as Hand and bring Baela back to court. Unwin Peake and the regents who remained in King’s Landing rejected the boy’s decisions, arguing that a twelve-year-old king lacked the judgment to make such appointments. They confirmed Marston as Lord Commander, ordered Massey and Darklyn to surrender their cloaks, and left Marston to choose the knights who would receive them. The reversal made clear that his authority came from the regency, not from Aegon III’s personal choice.

Peake used the restored command to extend his influence through the Kingsguard. He prevailed upon Marston to confer white cloaks on his nephew, Ser Amaury Peake, and his bastard brother, Ser Mervyn Flowers. The appointment placed Marston at the center of Peake’s effort to install kin and supporters in positions around the court. He also took part in the public honoring of Alyn Velaryon after Alyn’s triumphant return to King’s Landing: Marston dubbed him a knight in a ceremony before Aegon III, the court, and a large crowd from the city. Peake presented Alyn with an admiral’s chain and secured his appointment as master of ships, then used the office to send him on a dangerous campaign against the Ironborn.

A Courtly Challenge

Marston’s authority as Lord Commander did not make him master of the royal family. At the Maiden’s Day ball, he tried to stop Baela Velaryon and Rhaena Corbray as they rode into the throne room on black chargers. When he ordered them to dismount, Baela struck him across the cheek with her riding crop and insisted that only her brother, Aegon III, could command her. The twins then rode on to the foot of the Iron Throne and presented Daenaera Velaryon as a candidate to be the king’s new queen.

The confrontation set the boundaries of Marston’s position in plain view. He could enforce the court’s protocol and physically bar the king’s half-sisters, but Baela refused to recognize his authority over her. Her defiance did not end his command, yet it exposed the limits of a status conferred by regents in a court where royal kin and competing factions continued to contest who could speak and act in the king’s name.