During The Great Tourney at Harrenhal, he asked Ashara Dayne if she would dance with his bashful younger brother Eddard Stark. Brandon was killed on the order of the Aerys Targaryen, along with his father, after they protested the kidnapping of Lyanna by Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. Lord Rickard was burned alive inside his armor with wildfire, while Brandon was tied to a strangulation device, with a sword mere inches from his hands and strangled himself by trying to reach the sword. This brutal act triggered Robert's Rebellion, the civil war that led to the removal of House Targaryen from the Iron Throne.