Erich VII Durrandon

"Erich… son of Monfryd. I pity him, Hagen of Yore. For all I have said of the sons of Durran - I do not wish him ill. He is cursed, I think - to have been born an ordinary man with an extraordinary burden. But I would think he was too sorely beset to trouble with you."
- The Andal Invasions

Erich the Unready

Erich VII Durrandon (born 3841 A.H.), known as Erich the Unready, was the first Storm King at the beginning of the Coming of the Andals. When the Andals began migrating to Westeros en masse, Erich famously ignored them to focus on his war to retake the Hook from Justin Milk-Eye Massey, and to defend against a Dornish invasion by Olyvar I Yronwood, and was named "the Unready.

History

Erich was born the eldest and only son of Monfryd IV Durrandon and Alerie Gardener, daughter of Garth VII Gardener of the Reach, near the end of the Age of Heroes in 3841 A.H.

As a prince, Erich became a competent and tested commander, leading armies and breaking raids from Dorne and the Blackwater, and was hailed as the successor that would break the Stormlands' streak of failing and controversial kings, most notably his great-grandfather Durwald the Fat and grandfather Ronard the Bastard. He would have his first child at sixteen, fathering a boy named Durran with a commoner whom he took back to Storm's End, but he never spoke of the mother.

Monfryd IV would die at the relatively young age of forty-seven of a failing heart, and Erich would be crowned as Erich VII in 3867 A.H. at twenty-nine.

For the early years of his reign Erich would be relatively successful, reintegrating parts of the Stormlands his ancestors had lost, most notably the Eastern Marches who he entered into the first many wars against the Yronwoods to reclaim. But as his reign continued the challenges brought to the kingdom by his forebears was too great an obstacle to overcome for Erich, and though he tried his armies dwindled, his treasury wasted away, and even his vassals stopped taking his commands as seriously as they did before.

As the Age of Heroes came to an end and the first decades of the Andal Invasions came upon the Stormlands, several disasters occured in quick succession that destabilised the entire kingdom and diminished Erich's power significantly. The most significant was the secession of the Hook led by Justin Milk-Eye Massey who plunged the Stormlands into a civil war. Erich warred with the Milk-Eye to retake the Hook back, but failed. In the wake of the failure, House Tarth and House Wylde abruptly stopped paying tribute to Erich, the latter of which was under attack by an Andal invading force, and the other thought to be bewitched by the Green Queen, neither of which Erich had the troops to respond to.

At the same time, minor Andal adventurers began to land in and near the Stormlands, threatening his vassals. News of Andal conquests from the First Men in the Mountain and Vale would reach him, but overwhelmed by his own problems, Erich ignored the invasion to focus on his own problems.

Years later, Olyvar I Yronwood would lead an invasion force against the Stormlands, intending to expand his domain north into the Eastern Marches.

Trivia

• Erich the Unready is only the third 'Erich' of House Durrandon that is known of, the others being his ancestors Erich the Sailmaker and Erich Kin-Killer. The histories of the five Storm Kings named Erich that preceded him are lost.