The Battle of Deldarad was a skirmish during the Rider War while the Varden were trying to secure foodstuffs. This battle was a Varden victory, although many soldiers were slain under the command of Edric. Roran Stronghammer slew 193 soldiers here.
Summary[]
Under now demoted Varden commander Edric, Roran and a couple hundred Varden soldiers marched onto the small village of Deldarad, in order to gain food to support the hungry rebels. At first the plan was going well - it seemed as if the Varden would inevitably secure Deldarad. However, as more Imperial troops flooded the battle, Edric commanded a three-pronged attack, each being led by Roran, Sand, and Edric himself.
Roran's battalion seemed to be making quick work, but Edric and Sand were quickly being overcome. Roran made the decision to support Edric's army, while also placing several archers on top of the roof. Due to this, Edric and a small company were able to be saved by Roran, however, Edric reprimanded Roran for disobeying direct orders. Roran did not revoke his army nor his weapons during the battle, because he thought that without them, the Varden would have surely lost. He did grow furious that he could not confront Edric directly, though.
After slaying a few soldiers himself (with hammer and spear), and with the support of a few archers, Roran used the remains of the soldiers he killed to form a sort of barricade before the next wave of Imperial soldiers came. This slowed down the oncoming attack, as well as forcing them into a tight, compact funnel. The archers made quick work of some of the soldiers. This strategy is quite similar to that used by the Urgals at Starvarosk, where half the Imperial army was forced into a ravine before stones and arrows were fired upon them.
Despite the slaughter that the archers performed, most soldiers could squeeze through the funnel and thus confront Roran directly. Roran proved his worth, destroying 193 warriors over the course of the day. He laughed when he killed the first few soldiers, apparently pleased that he could stop those who wished to harm Katrina, his wife. When a respectable amount of bodies laid piled in front of him, Roran climbed the mound, as it gave him a high ground. The soldiers, in their rage to slay Roran, were prone to slipping on body parts, and thus placing them at a disadvantage. While Roran was a great warrior, he was not invincible, and thus recieved many wounds during the fight, mainly bruises. Only a few seconds later after he killed the last of them, Roran collapsed, to which another Varden soldier caught him before he fell. Carn revealed to him that he killed 193 men, to which Roran was astonished by. Sand's death was also revealed by a broken Edric, who was carrying a man with a severed wrist.
Later, Roran was forced to surrender his weapons, as well as his role as a Varden soldier (though this was temporary), to Edric. He was to take the packhorses back to the Varden camp. His soldiers praised him for his fighting prowess, however. When he returned, his record of disobedience was taken to Nasuada, who gave Roran the choice of 30 whips and a banishment from the Varden, or 50 whips to stay in the Varden. He chose the fifty, stating that no physical wound could be worse than that of losing his family again.
Result[]
The Varden won this battle, though at the cost of many lives. In the end, the army took home many foodstuffs, and Roran, as a direct result of this battle, was both punished and promoted. Edric lost his role as commander. This gave Roran especially a positive role, as he later became commander of the raid on a supply train (and with the subsequent fight with Yarbog, an Urgal), his siege on Aroughs, and later his frontal attack on Urû'baen, where he slew Lord Barst.