Lord of Horn Hill and head of House Tarly, bearer of the Valyrian greatsword Heartsbane. A lean, hard, balding man with a grey bristle of beard, reckoned by Kevan Lannister the finest soldier in the Seven Kingdoms. In Robert's Rebellion he commanded the van of the Reach at Ashford, breaking Robert Baratheon's host and slaying Lord Cafferen with his own hand, though his liege Mace Tyrell took the credit.
A martinet who prized courage above all things, he despaired of his gentle firstborn Samwell and, on the boy's fifteenth nameday, gave him the choice of the black or a hunting accident, clearing the way for his second son Dickon to inherit. In the War of the Five Kings he held with Renly, then with the Tyrell-Lannister accord after Renly's death, taking Bitterbridge, breaking a northern host at Duskendale, and seizing Maidenpool. Under the regency of Kevan Lannister he was named master of laws and justiciar on the small council of King Tommen I.