The greatest Westerosi castle that never was is considered cursed — but what happened to it and who’s to blame?

Harrenhal is among the most iconic and terrifying landmarks of the Seven Kingdoms. An abhorrently massive castle that dominates the Riverlands, it could supposedly withstand an attack from a million-people army — but in reality, it has always been abandoned, ruined, and rumored to be cursed. Harrenhal never lived up to its supposed greatness, but the question is, did House Targaryen cause its curse?

How Was Harrenhal Built?

Before House Greyjoy, House Hoare led the Iron Islands — and before the Targaryens conquered Westeros, the Ironborn were a real threat to others. Harren the Black’s grandfather conquered the Riverlands from the Stormlanders and decided to build an impenetrable fortress to dominate the region, a castle like no other that would never be taken by an enemy army, no matter its size.

It took a couple of generations to complete the monumental citadel, and it was finished during the Iron King Harren Hoare’s reign. He boldly named the castle after himself and moved in — but as luck would have it, that very same day, Aegon Targaryen and his sister-wives landed in Westeros, beginning Aegon’s Conquest. That didn’t bother Harren the Black, though: he knew his castle was perfect.

What Happened to Harrenhal?

When Aegon the Conqueror approached Harrenhal, he was effectively told to piss off. Harren Hoare felt safe in his citadel, but there was one issue: the Targaryens had dragons, and they didn’t care for any castle’s thick walls or tall towers. Riding Balerion the Black Dread, Aegon Targaryen incinerated Harren the Black and his family, as well as Harrenhal’s defenders, in their own castle, melting its stone.

Since then, several Houses were named as lords of Harrenhal, and all of them either died off or went bankrupt. Coupled with stories about Harren and his sons’ ghosts roaming the castle or servants being burnt to ash by unseen forces in their sleep, this led many people to believe that Harrenhal was a cursed and dark place.

Who & How Started the Harrenhal Curse?

Whether there was magic involved or not, the real curse of Harrenhal consisted of at least two parts: its sheer size and its ruined state. The massive castle needed a garrison so large that even the fertile Riverlands can’t feed that many people, and requires an ungodly amount in upkeep — and after Balerion’s fire, no one who owned the citadel has been rich enough to properly fix its walls and halls.

Long story short, the Harrenhal curse is real — and there are only two people to blame for it: Harren Hoare’s grandfather, the man who built it with no regard for its unbearably expensive upkeep, and Aegon Targaryen, who destroyed the monumental structure instead of finding a less bloody way to take out the Hoares.