Lord Oswain HardyIndex | HomePage | Non-PlayerCharacters | HouseHardyNPCs | Oswain  Lord Hardy is ailing, old and enfeebled, and despite near-constant care from the house maester, it is clear that he will not live for many years. He is bedridden most of the time, incapable of making any journeys from Holdfast Castle. Lord Hardy was once a doughty warrior, honourable and vigorous, but time and a wasting disease have stricken him fully; now he spends most days upon what will be his deathbed. When he is able to rise he cannot go far, and the chill of the outside air, once a balm to his strong lungs, now sends him into paroxysms of choking coughs. Oswain has lost none of his wits, despite his physical frailty, and has begun to put his affairs into order, seeing to the management of his house and the eventual transfer of lordship to a worthy heir. Oswain is tall and gaunt, with a grizzled short beard, a mane of wildly-unkempt hair, and a rough voice torn raw from years of shouting orders across battlefield lines. Currently, he is terribly thin, often able to speak only in a whisper, and his hands are tremulous and weak, barely able to hold utensils while he eats. Oswain is often wracked with bouts of coughing or wheezing, and blood comes up more often than not when he has these fits. The house’s mester, Sewell, does what he can for Oswain, but believes that the man’s life is to be measured in months, not years. When not abed, Lord Hardy is to be found in his massive carved wooden chair in the great hall of Castle Holdfast, swathed in thick layers of a fur-lined cloak and heavy blankets. From here, he oversees much of the house’s business, though this has of late fallen to Lady Celia (his second wife) and his youngest brother, Ser Godfrey. In his younger days, Oswain fought many campaigns for his lord of Winterfell, battling wildlings, raiders, and even other Northmen. Hardy has a long history of violence with House Bolton, and Lord Oswain and the now-deceased Lord Bolton? had a long standing enmity over certain territories, rights, and interests. |
