Until that day, let us eat and drink and make merry ... for winter is almost upon us, my friends, and many of us here shall not live to see the spring.
(The Prince of Winterfell, ADwD)
Thus spoke Roose Bolton, Warden of the north by royal decree, lord of the Dreadfort by birth, Kingslayer, master of ceremonies, as he greeted his guests.
His wife Walda, daughter of Merrett
Frey, granddaughter of the Lord of the Crossing, a Crakehall via her
grandmother.
His host, comprised of two to four thousand Dreadfort men,
veterans of War of the Five Kings, including his sworn sword Walton
Steelshanks. And more men coming from the Dreadfort. In his
command, the three maesters Rhodry, Henly
and Medrick formerly in service of houses Cerwyn,
Slate and Hornwood respectively. And the old gods know how many leeches.
His bastard Ramsay, lord of the Hornwood, heir of the
Dreadfort, legitimized by the Iron Throne. And the bastard's boys: Yellow
Dick, Luton, Skinner,
Damon-Dance-For-Me, Sour Alyn,
Grunt and the girls: Red Jeyne, Grey
Jeyne, Maud, Helicent, Jez,
Sara, Willow, Alison
and the new pup Kyra... and the kennelmaster Ben
Bones.
Ramsay's squires: the cruel Little Walder Frey,
brother of Lady Walda, and the marginal, but ambitious, Big
Walder Frey.
Ramsay's bride: Jeyne Poole, a pretty girl, forced to
assume the role of Arya Stark, heiress of Winterfell.
The turncloak and closest kin of the presumed bride: Theon
Greyjoy, once ward of Winterfell, dispossessed king of
the Iron Islands and accursed in the eyes of gods and men.
Roose's main ally: Barbrey Dustin,
née Ryswell, the black widow of Barrowton. Her liege man, petty lord in
Barrowton, Harwood Stout. Her
trusted sworn sword Beron.
The four Ryswells, father, brothers and cousin to
Barbrey: the once ambitious and perhaps absent Rodrik,
the wise Roger, the inconsequential Rickard,
and Lord Bolton's namesake, Roose.
Tallhart men, Hornwood men, and Cerwyn
men all attending despite the absence of their liege lords.
Flints of Flint's fingers, cousins of the First Flints,
who are with King Stannis, and at the Wall, and cousins of the Flints of
Widow's Watch.
Slates of unknown provenance, and unknown disposition.
Wyman Manderly, wealthiest man in the north, bringing musicians
and food in abundance while plotting vengeance with the hundred
knights and two hundred other men-at-arms
in his service.
Ondrew Locke, the old lord of
Oldcastle, ally of Manderly.
Hother Umber, known as
Whoresbane, laconic and somber, with a troop of old men comprised
of three hundred spearmen and one hundred
archers.
Mors Umber, known as Crowfood, a huge
old man, but still a fearsome fighter, positioned outside the castle
with a troop of green boys.
Hosteen and Aenys Frey,
with more than one thousand common men-at-arms,
in addition to five hundred knights.
Maisie and Jez, serving women to Lady
Walda or Lady Dustin, and sometimes in charge of the bride's baths.
More cooks, grooms, serving women, Barrowton boys, etc.
Abel the bard, in reality Mance Rayder, the
King-beyond-the-Wall in disguise, with false family members, mother,
wife, daughters and sisters, all washerwomen and sometimes musicians: Rowan,
Holly, Myrtle, Willow,
Frenya and Squirrel.
Hanged men and snowmen, dead Starks
and other ghosts, frightened horses, ravens
and old gods, and one hooded man.