House Hardyng is a house of landed knights in the Vale of Arryn, sworn to House Waynwood of Ironoaks. Their chequy arms of red and white diamonds mark them as men of modest station but proud lineage within the Vale. The house traces its roots to the age of Andal settlement, when the knights who crossed the Narrow Sea carved fiefdoms large and small from the hills and valleys of the eastern realm.
The Hardyngs distinguished themselves on the tourney circuit during the reign of King Daeron II. Ser Humfrey Hardyng won the great melee at Maidenpool in 208 AC and entered the lists at Ashford Meadow the following year as one of the five champions chosen to defend the honor of the fair maid, defeating fourteen knights on the first day before he was maimed when Prince Aerion Targaryen's lance shattered his horse beneath him. He took Ser Duncan the Tall's side in the trial of seven that followed and died of his wounds shortly after -- a death that was counted among the shameful costs of Aerion's cruelty.
At the time of A Game of Thrones, the most notable scion of House Hardyng is Ser Harrold Hardyng, called Harry the Heir. His mother was the youngest daughter of Ser Elys Waynwood and Alys Arryn, making him a great-nephew of Lord Jon Arryn by blood. Raised as a ward of Lady Anya Waynwood at Ironoaks, Ser Harrold is heir presumptive to the Lord of the Eyrie; should Lord Robert Arryn die without issue, he would inherit the Arryn seat and titles as Harrold Arryn. Petyr Baelish, the Lord of Harrenhal and Lord Protector of the Vale, works quietly to betroth Harrold to his ward Alayne Stone, binding the young knight to his designs on the Vale's bannermen.