- "There will be smoke on the water, and fire in the sky as Bannhurst lays in ruins!"
- ―Maegon Targaryen's infamous battle cry before the battle begins.
The Defense of Bannhurst was an engagement that took place during Robert's Rebellion. It was fought between Targaryen loyalists under command of Ser Maegon Targaryen of the Kingsguard and the forces of Lord Tyran Clement. Though the Targaryen forces were successful at first, late-arriving reinforcements under command of Ser Brynden "The Blackfish" Tully helped the Clement forces to drive the Targaryens back and safeguard Bannhurst.
Prelude[]
Following his defeat at the Battle of Ashford, Robert Baratheon fled to the town of Stoney Sept to recover. Jon Connington, the Hand of the King, had taken over the pursuit of Robert, but at the same time, he charged Ser Maegon Targaryen, the youngest brother of King Aerys II Targaryen and a member of his Kingsguard, with mounting an assault on Riverrun to try and gain control of the Riverlands and dethrone House Tully, who were among Robert's strongest allies. Jon instructed Maegon to capture the castle of Bannhurst so they could use it as a staging point for the assault on Riverrun.
The battle[]
Before the battle began, Maegon Targaryen famously declared "There will be smoke on the water, and fire in the sky as Bannhurst lays in ruins!" The forces of House Clement clashed with the Targaryen loyalists by the bank of Blackwater Rush, despite the fact that the Clements were greatly outnumbered by the Targaryens. During the battle, the castellan of Bannhurstn (who has never been identified) was killed, and Tyran ordered his Maester to send a raven to Riverrun asking for reinforcements.
During the midpoint of the battle, the Targaryen forces breached Bannhurst, and Ser Maegon himself actually began fighting Lord Tyran in single combat, in a duel that took them to Bannhurst's battlements. He managed to disarm him and was about to kill him when reinforcements under Brynden Tully arrived. With the additional forces, the Clement forces were able to regroup and the combined Clement-Tully forces managed to hold the line against the Targaryens.
Aftermath[]
Wounded during the battle, Maegon Targaryen fled after his forces were decimated by the Clement-Tully forces, eventually regrouping with Ser Jonothor Darry and the survivors of the Battle of the Bells at the Trident.
Because he abandoned the battle, Maegon became derisively known among Robert Baratheon's rebels as "The Dragon Who Ran".
It is revealed that Maegon intended to use wildfire to finish the Clement forces and capture Bannhurst.