A Clash of King – Harrenhal

In today's a Clash of Kings Illustration, Arya and her friends arrive at Harrenhal. castle army arya stark gendry mountain camp pen and ink

A Clash of King – Harrenhal

Yet they walked all that day and most of the next before at last they reached the fringes of Lord Tywin’s army, encamped west of the castle amidst the scorched remains of a town. Harrenhal was deceptive from afar, because it was so huge. Its colossal curtain walls rose beside the lake, sheer and sudden as mountain cliffs, while atop their battlements the rows of wood-and-iron scorpions looked as small as the bugs for which they were named.

A Clash of Kings – Chapter 26 – Arya

Obviously, getting the chance to show Harrenhal, one of the most memorable locations in the whole series, was something I was looking forward to. The only problem is, beyond it being huge and having five towers, we don’t really know what it looks like. I used a handful of Welsh castles as references.

Once I thought of an overpowering, creepy, and, most importantly, consistent look the trick was showing it. I suppose I could have gotten away with just doing a picture of the castle but I thought it would better with Arya’s point of view, where the prisoners are walking through the Lannister camp and the sheer size of Harrenhal creates a forced perspective.

I’m afraid I botched Arya’s left leg completely.