Ethan Dragen

Ethan Dragen
Biographical information
Born	264 AL
Died	Assassinated by his men then finished off by Josmus Snow, later resurrected
Political information
Title(s)	Master-at-arms (formerly) Ser (formerly) Lord of Helgen (disputed) Lord Defender of the North (disputed)
Personal information
Also known as	Ethan Snow (formerly) The Bastard of Helgen The Man with no Name The Bastard who Bled The Prince of the Moths
Culture	Northmen
Religion	Many-Faced God (formerly)
Behind the scenes information
Season(s)	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Appeared in	35 episodes
First seen	"Winter is Coming"
Portrayed by	Hugh Dancy

"My father never loved him. My mother despised him. But I loved him like a true Dragen"

―Garth Dragen

Lord Ethan Dragen (formerly Snow), also known as The Bastard of Helgen, the eponymous Prince of the Moths, is a major character in the first, second, third, fourth and fifth and sixth seasons. Ethan is the bastard son of Lord Harkon Dragen of Helgen, as well as Lord Garth Dragen and Ser Jaran Dragen's half brother. He is married to Jorthos Harrigon's bastard daughter, Arrena Storm. He was eventually killed by Ramsay Bolton on Lucius Dragen's request, who promised him that he would get Arrena if he kills him. However, Ethan has been recently revived by Vurus. He is the temporary Lord of Helgen until Lucius' son, Warron Dragen comes of age.

Biography

Background

Harkon Dragen brings a newborn Ethan to Helgen. Jaran Dragen investigates Ethan.

Ethan is the bastard son of Lord Harkon Dragen of Helgen, the former head of House Dragen. Nobody knows who Ethan's real mother is, but according semi-canon sources she was a blacksmith's wife. Ethan was always seen as an outcast in House Dragen, loathed by his father and shunned by his stepmother. Everyone except for his half-brother, Garth Dragen, disdained him.

Ethan was raised at Helgen on a somewhat equal footing with Harkon's legitimate children. He has two older half-brothers, Garth and Jaran Dragen.

Season 4

Ethan encounters Arya Stark and Sandor Clegane while scouting the war-torn Riverlands. When Arya reveals that she wishes to join the Faceless Men, He explains to her that he also believes in the Many-Faced God and says that the Old and New gods never accepted his prayers, so he set sail to Braavos where he trained with the Faceless Men for awhile, until ultimately leaving them.

Season 5

After Garth's death, Ethan vows to take revenge on his brother's murder. He leaves Helgen to fight his own personal war against Houses Bolton, Frey and Lannister. Before he left Helgen, however, Ethan married Arrena Storm, a bastard daughter of Lord Jorthos Harrigon. Together, they had a daughter named Merei Whitesnow, one of the few bastard-born children in the Seven Kingdoms.

Ethan stands atop of a building, ready to kill a Bolton soldier

Ethan, shortly before his assassination

After the Boltons defeat Stannis Baratheon near Winterfell, Ramsay Bolton and his men ride towards Helgen but are stalled after Ethan and his army confront him. Ramsay suspiciously nods at one of Ethan's men. Ethan's friend, Josmus Snow grabs at Ethan, who commands Josmus to let go of him. However, this is the signal for several of his soldiers to attack Ethan, and they come at him with knives and stab him from all directions. Eventually, Ethan is left dying on the ground, bleeding profusely. Ramsay tells Josmus to deal the final blow, and the young man stabs Ethan through the heart, As Ethan dies, Ramsay proclaims "Thus ever for the Dragens!" and Josmus collapses in shock at his actions.

Season 6

Ethan's body is brought back to Helgen, where Maester Vahaelor begins preparing him for the funeral. But before Ethan could be buried, he is resurrected by Vurus, using Erik Dragen as the necessary blood sacrifice. After he supposedly kills Lucius Dragen in his duel, he is told that before Erik died, he legitimized Ethan. Thus, Ethan was now officially renamed Ethan Dragen. He becomes the new Lord of Helgen until Lucius' son, Warron Dragen is old enough to lead. Ethan undoes all the damage Lucius has done to the house in the process.

Lucius, however, survived the duel and has left Helgen shortly after the fight. Following Lucius' exile, Ethan employs the retired assassin Jaqelos Eranelion to track down and assassinate him.

Shortly after Ethan sends Jaqelos Eranelion to assassinate Lucius, Jon Snow arrives in Helgen to try and rally House Dragen to his cause to retake Winterfell from the Boltons. Seeing as how Ethan had also lost his half-brother, Garth, to the Boltons, Ethan not only pledges House Dragen's banners to Jon, but volunteers to fight by his side, charging Duncan Catell to rule Helgen in his stead while he was away. Coren Brewlan, who has been newly knighted, volunteers to come with him. Ethan becomes one of Jon's prominent commanders alongside Ser Davos Seaworth.

Ethan fights in the Battle of the Bastards, leading House Dragen's men into battle. When the battle is won after both Petyr Baelish's reinforcements from the Vale and Grayburn's Legion join the battle, Ethan enters Winterfell's courtyards as the Bolton banners are taken down and reminisces about the last time he was in Winterfell. After Jon beats Ramsay down, he pulls out a knife and slashes both his cheeks, saying "That was for Garth."

Jon and Ethan later have a conversation about their similar backgrounds, both being bastards from the North, both having been betrayed and killed by those they trusted, but later resurrected by red priests. Jon elaborates on how well he knew Ethan's half-brother Jaran Dragen, and tells him that, if was anything like Jaran was, he'd need him by his side in the wars to come. He later writes a letter to his wife, Arrena Harrigon, saying he might be away for longer than he thought, and advises her to stay strong and look after their daughter, Merei.

Ethan is in attendance with the other Northern lords in Winterfell's great hall. After Lyanna Mormont declares Jon as the new King in the North, Ethan stands up and talks about how his brother Garth followed both Jon's father and brother into war on two separate occasions, and how his brother Jaran fought by Jon's side during the Battle of Castle Black. Ethan declares that, from this day until his last day, House Dragen would once again fight with House Stark. He later joins in the chants of "King in the North!"

Personality

Because Ethan was raised mostly by Maester Vahaelor in Helgen, Ethan has adopted a clear moral compass and a true sense of honor, which he tries his hardest to abide by even when he must make a hard decision. He always admired and idolized his brothers, but due to Lady Dragen's cold disdain for Ethan, Harkon did not give him any attention as a child.

Like many bastard children, Ethan had to learn to grow up quickly. This made Ethan mature and perceptive beyond his age, so he could navigate his complicated relationships within the Dragen household. His bastard status has also made Ethan something of a loner, solemn and somber with a desire to prove himself to society and to his father. Ethan thought that the best way for a bastard in his position to gain honor and respect was to join the Night's Watch, emulating his brother Jaran. Unfortunately for him, Ethan did not join the Watch, instead he stayed at Helgen to protect his family for the wars to come.

In many ways, Ethan has been unusually lucky for a bastard child, given how rare it is for a lord to raise one in his own castle alongside his lawful children. He was given the opportunity to marry the daughter of a Lord (his wife Arrena), despite her also being a bastard, and managed to father a child before his supposed death. For all of Ethan's misgivings about not knowing his mother and Lord Harkon ignoring and shunning him. He was never poor or hungry, but lived in a castle and always had a roof over his head. Ethan was also formally trained in swordsmanship by Ser Cerran Harlaw.

Reign

|- style="text-align: center;" |- style="text-align:center;"

|style="width:30%;" rowspan="1"|Preceded by

Lucius Dragen

| style="width: 40%; text-align: center;" rowspan="1"| Lord of Helgen
303 AL - now

| style="width: 30%; text-align: center;" rowspan="1"| Succeeded by

{{{after}}}

|-

Quotes

Spoken by Ethan

"You too, Josmus?"

―Ethan, after discovering Josmus's true allegiance.