Battle of the Trident

The Battle of the Trident was the climatic battle of the civil war known as Robert's Rebellion. Prince Rhaegar Targaryen was slain by Lord Robert Baratheon during the battle, resulting in a crucial and critical victory for the rebel forces.

In the books
In the Song of Ice and Fire novels, the Battle of the Trident took place at a ford over the River Trident several hundred miles north of King's Landing. The battle was only possible due to some impressive maneuvering by King Robert's army from the Stormlands, which had to travel through hundreds of miles of enemy territory to link up with the Stark, Tully and Arryn forces north of the river.

The battle itself was on a large scale, with Prince Rhaegar leading 40,000 royalist troops. The rebels had slightly less, but the rebels were more experienced due to almost a year of warfare beforehand. The battle was quite bloody with high casualties on both sides, but in the event it was the royalist force which broke and ran after Prince Rhaegar's death.

Other notable characters present at the battle included Lord Eddard Stark, Lord Jon Arryn, Lord Hoster Tully, Lord Roose Bolton and Ser Barristan Selmy. Robert had taken a minor wound in the battle, so it was left to Lord Eddard to take a detachment of troops south at speed to secure the capital of King's Landing, only to find that the Lannisters had already sacked and captured the city as a sign of fealty to Robert's cause.