Quick answer: Rohanne Webber — the “Red Widow” of Coldmoat — is the formidable lady who feuds with (and then marries) Eustace Osgrey in The Sworn Sword, and the woman Dunk falls for across a battle line. Four husbands dead, a castle held in a man’s world, and a reputation for poisoning that says more about Westeros than about her. And here’s the part that should make every Game of Thrones fan sit up: she is Tywin Lannister’s grandmother. See her place on the interactive Targaryen family tree.
The Legend vs. the Woman
The legend: a black widow who married four times and buried every husband, some say with poison’s help, each grave adding to her power.
The reality GRRM shows us is sharper and sadder. Her four husbands died of ordinary causes — a boy killed at the Redgrass Field, an old man taken by a chill, a knight who choked on a chicken bone, another lost to sickness — and a woman who keeps property in Westeros collects suspicion the way other widows collect black dresses. Rohanne understood the game perfectly: she let the “Red Widow” legend grow, because fear is a moat that never runs dry. Behind it, she’s intelligent, lonely, and trapped by a deadline.
Her Father’s Will and the Two-Year Clock
Rohanne’s position rests on a trap set by love. Her father, Lord Wyman Webber, adored her — and his will required her to marry within two years of his death or lose Coldmoat to her cousin, Ser Wendell Webber. The clause was meant to protect her; in practice it made her a prize hunted by every ambitious knight in the Reach.
Coldmoat and the Moat Doctrine
Coldmoat sits in the north-west of the Reach, a few leagues west of Standfast, behind thirty-foot crenellated walls, corner towers and the moat that gives the castle its name. The lands around it grow grain and fruit and are known for horse breeding. It was once the grandest castle of House Osgrey — Maegor I took it from them — and the worn Osgrey lion is still carved above its gates. House Webber holds it now, and Rohanne holds it like a woman who has studied her own history: “I trust in moats, ser, and mine will not go dry.”
That line explains the dam. Rohanne didn’t block the Chequy Water out of malice toward Standfast; she blocked it to keep her moat full through a drought. It also explains the harshness behind the legend: in 209 AC her knights seized a peasant accused of stealing sheep and drowned him in that moat, one of the grievances Eustace Osgrey carried into the dry summer of 211.
The Feud With Standfast
When drought cracks the Reach in 211 AC, Coldmoat dams the Chequy Water — and Standfast, Eustace Osgrey’s tower, is downstream of that decision. The escalation (a slashed digger, a fire in Wat’s Wood, a trial by combat) is the engine of the novella, but the heart of it is the two encounters between Rohanne and Dunk: the tense parley at the stream, and the later meeting where she offers him her finest warhorse — and he refuses it as too good for him. When she insists, he kisses her, and cuts a lock of her famous red hair to remember her by. It’s the closest Dunk and Egg comes to a love story, and it’s about two people who chose duty.
The feud ends in the most surprising way: after Dunk’s trial by combat against her champion, Ser Lucas Inchfield, Rohanne marries Eustace Osgrey — joining Coldmoat and Standfast and meeting her father’s deadline.
The Tywin Lannister Twist
Here’s where the Red Widow stops being a footnote. Per The World of Ice & Fire, Rohanne later married Gerold “the Golden” Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock. She became Lady of the Rock and bore him four sons — the twins Tywald and Tion, Tytos, and Jason. Tytos Lannister (born 220 AC) is the father of Tywin — which makes the Red Widow of Coldmoat Tywin’s grandmother, and the great-grandmother of Jaime, Cersei, and Tyrion.
Lord Wyman Webber
│
Rohanne Webber ═══ Gerold "the Golden" Lannister
("the Red Widow")
│
┌─────┴───────────────┬────────────────┐
Tywald and Tion Tytos Jason
(twins) (b. 220 AC) (b. 229 AC)
│
Tywin, Kevan, Genna, Tygett, Gerion
│
Tywin's children: Jaime, Cersei, TyrionAnd then she vanishes. In 230 AC, less than a year after Jason’s birth, Rohanne disappeared under mysterious circumstances that no source explains. The woman who out-schemed the Reach simply steps out of the histories — which means, yes, somewhere in Tywin Lannister’s iron will and political patience, there’s a strain of Red Widow.
What Became of Rohanne’s Sons
| Son | What happened |
|---|---|
| Tywald (twin) | Slain in the Peake Uprising, at the Storming of Starpike, in 233 AC |
| Tion (twin) | Died at the Battle of Wendwater Bridge, 236 AC |
| Tytos (b. 220 AC) | Succeeded Gerold as Lord of Casterly Rock in 244 AC. Married Jeyne Marbrand in 235 AC and fathered Tywin, Kevan, Genna, Tygett and Gerion. Died in 267 AC; known as “the Laughing Lion” |
| Jason (b. 229 AC) | The youngest — born less than a year before Rohanne disappeared |
It is a grim ledger: two sons lost in a single decade of Targaryen-era wars, and a third, Tytos, who inherited the Rock — and whose weak rule would one day make his son Tywin the Lannister who ruled with an iron fist.
What to Watch for in Season 2
The Sworn Sword is the basis of AKOTSK Season 2 (2027), and Rohanne is the novella’s standout character — the showrunner has said she will appear. Watch how the show handles the lock-of-hair scene, the dam, and whether it leans into the Lannister connection for the audience that knows what she becomes. For the full story of the novella, see The Sworn Sword, Explained.
FAQ
Who is the Red Widow in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms?
Lady Rohanne Webber of Coldmoat — a young noblewoman widowed four times, feared as a poisoner, and the central figure of The Sworn Sword, the novella Season 2 adapts.
How many husbands did Rohanne Webber have?
Four before the story begins — all dead of war, illness or accident, none proven poisoned. She marries twice more: Eustace Osgrey at the end of the novella, and later Gerold Lannister of Casterly Rock.
Is Rohanne Webber related to Tywin Lannister?
Yes — she’s his grandmother. Rohanne married Gerold Lannister and bore Tytos Lannister, Tywin’s father. Jaime, Cersei, and Tyrion are her great-grandchildren.
What happened to the Red Widow?
She disappeared in 230 AC, less than a year after her youngest son was born. No book or history explains how — her fate is one of the era’s genuine unsolved mysteries.
Did Dunk love Rohanne?
The novella never says it plainly, but it doesn’t need to — the lock of red hair Dunk takes with him says it for him.
Which Lannisters descend from Rohanne Webber?
All of Tytos Lannister’s line: Tywin, Kevan, Genna, Tygett and Gerion, and through Tywin, Jaime, Cersei and Tyrion.
What happened to Rohanne’s sons?
Tywald died in the Peake Uprising (233 AC) and his twin Tion at Wendwater Bridge (236 AC); Tytos succeeded Gerold as Lord of Casterly Rock in 244 AC; Jason was born in 229 AC, the year before she vanished.
Why did Rohanne dam the Chequy Water?
To keep Coldmoat’s moat full through the drought — she trusts in moats, and she meant hers to stay full.