Maester Yandel's Kingdom of the True North (Chapter 5)

The Battle of Rhodri's Pass.

"...Once I was able to speak, I have decided to make it my quest to unite the Free folk not against the South of Westeros but against the White Walkers, everything I have done, uplifting the Free folk as well as uniting them through fear, will, and force if necessary was done with the purpose of preparing them in the winter to come, so that they can fight united against the Others not as disparate tribes of wildlings but as one unified kingdom..." - Diary of Rhodri Map Merfyn.

"...Now is the Winter of our doom....I can talk about the gods to save us from this cold but they have no place here but rather you are here standing in defiance against Winter and Death, I can talk about honor but our enemies know not of honor for they come with the cold we have been striving to fight against, fight, aye, every waking moment we have been fighting, for our lives and for each other, today I ask you to fight once more! Fight Bravely! Fight for your families! Fight for a better tomorrow! Fight even the gods themselves for putting such a fate in our shoulders! And most of all fight my children! Fight for your right to live!..." - Rhodri's speech before the Battle against the White Walkers.

Rhodri and his army at Rhodri's pass.

It was argued amongst the best and brightest of the Citadel that Myths and Legends have no place in truthful records of history however, I would disagree. As recent as the events are of the battle with the stuff of children's nightmares which are the Others, the White Walkers, the Cold ones they are very much real and alive Beyond the Wall, it was one of the reason as to why Braavos, House Stark, and even the Iron Throne were more than willing to send their support to the Kingdom of Hengledd through supplies, fighting men, and even men of knowledge to assist in building up the buffer between them and the Long Winter brought by the White Walkers to the writing of this record regardless of the fact that the North considers the True North a suspicious neighbor, even the Kings of the Iron Throne upon learning of the Battle of Rhodri's pass had given supplies of food and wildfire to the men of the Wall who would assist the True North in their efforts in halting the advance of the Others.

The Battle of Rhodri's pass was a climactic event in the history of Beyond the Wall as it created a unifying identity of the Kingdom of Hengledd, it was said that on Rhodri's thirtieth year of reign, he had heard of the advance of the White Walkers from the Lands of Always Winter towards the pass with which he will die and would bear his name, numbering around a fifty and a hundred thousand, an overestimation by the people of the True North one could assume as I can say that the force the White Walkers brought to bear is actually five and seventy thousand, Rhodri called upon his army to assemble while at the same time call upon Braavos, the Night's Watch, and even House Stark to assist him in the fight, the Sealord of Braavos sent a thousand men to Hardhome, as well as had bought the services of the Company of the Rose led by its captain, Karlon Snow, numbering three thousand, the Night's Watch was only able to send five hundred men, Rodrik Stark, the Wandering Wolf complimented the Night's Watch joining in the march to the aid of Rhodri with five hundred and a thousand men, joining up with Rhodri Map Merfyn's force of seven thousand assembled in the famous Caterans and Gallowglasses that had been successful in fighting against other wildling tribes also including the Giants and their Mammoth Steeds, the Night's Watch and the forces South of the Wall, all in all the force numbered in the total ten and three thousand.

Rhodri's army marching to battle.

"My family stays at home, as I march

With Caterans and Gallowglasses in tow,

We march towards the pass facing west of Winterlands

With swords and pikes of Black Dragonglass we will not let them pass!

We rode out of the Cooleys,

With memories of our families,

Blow the Horn of Spring, O King Rhodri!

Do not let Winter pass!

We fought at the pass for ten days

We fought bravely regardless of the death and cold we feel

We fought until we saw the sun shine red and hot

We fought with fire, steel, and fury" - Song of the Battle of Rhodri's Pass.

March of the Dead.

The Battle of Rhodri's pass was fought for ten days as Rhodri held off the pass and await the arrival of reinforcements, he arranged the pass into six ditches and makeshift walls as lines of defense, at the first day of the battle he had his men light the first line of ditches filled with cow manure to burn, as fire was the weakness of the Others, there his Caterans and the supporting archers shot and poked at the Others and there dead slaves halting the progress that is until night falls and finally the Night's Watch finally arrived and fought with them, at the second day Rhodri had his men gather cow manure and further fill the burning ditches of the pass, he sent his Mormaer Cavalry to launch skirmishes against the others holding them off while his men busied themselves in preparing the ditch to be able to sustain the fires once more, at the third day Rhodri his army, and the Night's Watch fought a retreating battle towards the second ditch, his brother, Gwain Map Merfyn and his retinue of Caterans and Gallowglasses sacrificed himself to save his brother as they fled to the second line of defense where when the last Caterans and Black Brother were able to retreat, Rhodri released wheels spiked with dragonglass against his pursuers, in the fourth day of the battle he had lit the second line of ditches and did the same thing with the Brothers of the Night's Watch only this time he had catapults and the giants lob flaming barrels filled with pitch at the oncoming hordes, on the fifth day Rodrik Stark arrived and together they managed to hold off against a large assault of the Others with undead mammoths and giants at the fray.

Gwain's Last Stand.

On the sixth day pitch was spread on the second line of defenses as Rhodri, the First Ranger, and the Wandering Wolf began a controlled retreat as they saw thirty White Walkers charging towards them in their giant spiders, catapults and giants once more fling barrels of fire to the enemy, Rhodri had the field of the second line of defenses lit up burning the advancing dead, on the seventh day the third line of defense held as the White Walkers tried to charge in once more only to get impaled by the Cateran pikes and slew by the dragonglass daggers of the Gallowglasses. The eight day, the White Walkers sent in a cold wind which killed off the fires Rhodri had set off, forcing the combined forces to retreat to the fourth line of defense, this was where the majority of the casualty came for their forces as the White Walkers came in full force of a hundred of them with thousands of Wights and undead Giants and mammoths, the situation was stabilized when Braavos and the Company of the Rose finally arrived and they managed to push off the advance of the White Walkers, the ninth day was a desperate situation as Rodrik Stark was slain after killing thirty White Walkers and Rhodri's cousin, Finn Map Hakon, was slain in a last stand and igniting to flames the fifth line of defenses, it was on the tenth day where Rhodri gathered the final numbers of the combined force and charged against the gather mass of White Walkers, it was on this tenth day where Rhodri slew five more White Walkers before he blew his horn as if declaring total victory against the Others and finally succumbing to his wounds and the Others retreated alongside their shambling wights, there was a great mourning amongst the people of Rhodri as his body was burned and his bones were put on an urn and sent back to the Cooleys, the home of his tribe the Ailpins