Roderick Dustin, called Roddy the Ruin, was Lord of Barrowton and head of House Dustin during the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons. By the start of the war he was an old and hoary warrior, yet still reckoned a savage combatant, going into battle with shield, helm, and warhorn. When the North declared for Rhaenyra Targaryen, Roderick led two thousand northern riders, the Winter Wolves, south of the Neck to fight for the queen. They marched first to the Twins, where he greeted Lady Sabitha Frey with the grim vow that they had come to die for the dragon queen.
At the Battle by the Lakeshore along the western Gods Eye, the Winter Wolves led the attack and charged the Lannister spearmen five times, winning the day though more than two-thirds of the northmen were killed or wounded and Roderick himself was scarred in the fighting. After the Kingmaker Ser Criston Cole was felled by archers, it was Roddy the Ruin who sounded the charge that opened the slaughter remembered as the Butcher's Ball. Roderick met his own end in 130 AC at the First Battle of Tumbleton, leading his remaining Winter Wolves against Lord Ormund Hightower. Though Ser Bryndon Hightower hewed off his shield arm, the battle-drunk lord slew both Hightowers before he died, blood from head to heel with splintered shield and cracked helm, as recorded in Fire & Blood.