Introduction
You want to understand the vast and intricate lore behind the known world of Westeros and Essos. When faced with thousands of years of legends, wars, and noble lineages, you need a single authoritative record to make sense of it all.
Maester Yandel compiles this comprehensive guide from the deepest archives of the Citadel. The central idea is that you can trace the origins of modern civilization through the interplay of ancient magic, migrating peoples, and the ambitions of great houses. The book details prehistoric eras, the rise and fall of empires, and the reigns of ruling dynasties.
- How did the First Men and the Children of the Forest shape early Westeros?
- What caused the catastrophic Doom of Valyria?
- How did Aegon the Conqueror forge the Seven Kingdoms?
- Which distinct cultures define the great houses of the realm?
1. Ancient History and Early Races
Westeros was shaped by the primitive Dawn Age, the coming of the First Men, and the cataclysmic Long Night. You can trace the earliest origins of the realm back to these prehistoric inhabitants.
The Dawn Age
During the Dawn Age, Westeros was inhabited solely by the giants and the children of the forest, both non-lettered and primitive peoples. Giants were large, fur-covered creatures who used unworked tree branches as weapons and had no permanent homes. The children of the forest were small, dark beings who crafted obsidian weapons, wove garments of leaves, and worshipped nameless stream and forest gods.
Maester Kennet's Passages of the Dead records giant burials with bones indicating heights up to fourteen feet. A letter from Maester Aemon recounts ranger Redwyn fighting giants and trading with the children near Lorn Point.
Centuries of war between the First Men and the children of the forest ended with the Pact, which divided Westeros and protected the sacred weirwood trees. After the First Men invaded with bronze weapons, horses, and agriculture, continuous warfare forced both sides to negotiate on an island in the Gods Eye. The children relinquished most lands except the deep forests in exchange for the preservation of the weirwoods.
The Long Night
The Long Night was a generational winter accompanied by the invasion of the Others from the Land of Always Winter before being pushed back by the Night's Watch. Cataclysmic darkness and extreme cold paralyzed the known world, forcing desperate survival measures in the North and culminating in the Battle for the Dawn, after which the Wall was constructed to keep out the northern threats.
Lomas Longstrider recorded descendants of the Rhoynar in Chroyane speaking of a frozen river. Followers of R'hllor attribute the victory to Azor Ahai with his red sword.
2. Valyria and the Andal Invasions
The rise of the Valyrian Freehold and the arrival of the iron-wielding Andals transformed the political and cultural landscape of the known world.
The Rise of Valyria
The Valyrian Freehold rose to power in Essos by harnessing dragons from the Fourteen Flames and utterly destroying the slave-based empire of Old Ghis. Starting as a modest peninsula population, the Valyrians mastered dragon-taming and fought five major wars against Old Ghis. They ultimately razed its capital, sowed its fields with salt and lime, and enslaved its survivors.
Grazdan the Great founded Old Ghis and its lockstep legions, a legacy later echoed by the red-brick cities of Slaver's Bay that trade in slaves and produce the Unsullied.
Valyrian expansion fueled an immense appetite for slave labor in the mines of the Fourteen Flames and perfected the art of forging magical steel. Valyrian steel was created by folding iron repeatedly to remove impurities and utilizing lost spells to grant unnatural edge retention and strength. Hundreds of thousands of slaves perished extracting ore.
Archmaester Thurgood's Inventories records that 227 Valyrian steel weapons originally existed in the Seven Kingdoms.
The Arrival of the Andals
Fleeing Valyrian expansion in Essos, the iron-wielding Andals crossed the narrow sea to invade Westeros, conquering southron kingdoms and almost entirely eradicating the children of the forest. Originating in the Axe and Andalos, the Andals utilized iron weapons and armor to overwhelm the bronze-wielding First Men. They carved out small kingdoms, established the Faith of the Seven, and destroyed the remaining sacred weirwood groves.
Erreg the Kinslayer attacked the hill of High Heart, slaughtering the children of the forest and the First Men who defended the thirty-one carved weirwoods, according to Archmaester Laurent.
Only the North successfully resisted Andal conquest by utilizing the impenetrable swamps of the Neck and the fortification of Moat Cailin. While southron realms fell, assimilated, or adopted the Faith of the Seven, the Kings of Winter in the North maintained their independence. Numerous Andal invasion armies perished in the treacherous bogs of the Neck.
3. Ten Thousand Ships and the Doom
Princess Nymeria's migration to Dorne and the catastrophic Doom of Valyria reshaped southron and eastern civilizations.
Ten Thousand Ships
Prince Garin of Chroyane united the independent cities of the Rhoyne to launch a massive military campaign against Valyrian expansion. A quarter of a million strong was the size of Prince Garin's amassed army, which initially achieved great victories against Valyrian armies and even brought down dragons with water magic and archers. The Freehold responded by deploying three hundred or more dragons, whose intense flames boiled the river waters and utterly crushed the Rhoynish host.
Prince Garin was captured alive and locked in a golden cage to witness the enslavement and slaughter of his people at Chroyane, where he called down a curse that supposedly brought greyscale to the ruins.
After failing to defeat Valyria, Princess Nymeria gathered the survivors of her people on thousands of river craft, wandered the southern seas and Sothoryos, and finally brought her battered fleet to the coast of Dorne. During their years of wandering, the Rhoynar attempted to colonize abandoned ancient sites along the Zamoyos river in Sothoryos for more than a year before the oppressive heat, carnivorous river life, and numerous virulent diseases decimated the population.
A boat from Zamettar arrived at the ruined city of Yeen to discover that every man, woman, and child had vanished overnight, prompting the Rhoynar to return to their ships.
Princess Nymeria burned hundreds of leaking ships on the coast of Dorne, creating a fifty-league wall of fire to ensure her people could never retreat to the sea. Eight of every ten refugees who came to Dorne with Nymeria were women, and their integration with House Martell fundamentally altered the culture, military capabilities, and bloodlines of the region.
Following their marriage, the Martells and their Rhoynish allies fought a series of wars against regional lords who resisted the integration of the newcomers. Mors Martell was killed by Yorick Yronwood's sword in the Third Battle of the Boneway, leaving Nymeria to successfully conclude the war and rule Sunspear for nearly twenty-seven years.
Six conquered kings sent to the Wall in golden fetters demonstrated the finality of Nymeria's unification of Dorne.
The Doom of Valyria
The mighty Freehold of Valyria was completely destroyed within hours by a sudden cataclysmic event known as the Doom. Five hundred miles where every hill split asunder during the cataclysm, which eradicated the center of the dragonlord empire two hundred years after Dragonstone was established as an outpost.
Aenar Targaryen and his family survived the catastrophe because they had previously fled their homeland to establish an outpost on Dragonstone.
In the wake of Valyria's destruction, Volantis attempted to claim the Freehold's mantle through aggressive conquests that ultimately failed due to overexpansion. A hundred ships provided by the Sealord of Braavos to aid Lys helped form a coalition that stopped the Volantene expansion.
Aegon Targaryen flew his dragon Balerion to Lys to destroy a Volantene fleet that was preparing to invade the Free City, siding temporarily with the grand alliance against Volantis.
4. The Targaryen Dynasty and Conquests
Aegon the Conqueror forged the Seven Kingdoms, initiating a complex royal lineage marked by profound reforms, religious strife, and dragon-riding rulers.
House Targaryen survived the Doom of Valyria because Daenys the Dreamer foresaw the cataclysm. Lord Aenar relocated his holdings to Dragonstone twelve years before the Doom in 114 BC. More than two years passed between Aegon's landing at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush and his Oldtown coronation.
Aegon's Conquest did not occur in a single day, and maesters have used it as their touchstone for three hundred years.
Aegon's Conquest
King Harren the Black devoted forty years to building Harrenhal. When Harren refused to yield, Aegon flew Balerion high through the clouds and plunged down inside the castle walls. Wood and provisions burned alongside the fortress, ending House Hoare.
King Mern and Loren assembled an allied host fifty-five thousand strong with six hundred lords and five thousand mounted knights on the Goldroad.
The Field of Fire demonstrated dragon superiority against that vast host:
- King Mern died along with all his sons and kin.
- Four thousand men died in the flames.
King Torrhen Stark crossed the Trident with an army thirty thousand strong. Torrhen chose to negotiate through his brother Brandon Snow before kneeling to preserve his people.
Queen Visenya created the elite Sworn Brotherhood of the Kingsguard in ten AC. She selected seven champions, including Ser Corlys Velaryon as Lord Commander, after an assassination attempt in King's Landing. Queen Rhaenys established the rule of six during a royal progress.
When lawful chastisement is applied, you must follow these legal limits:
- Use a rod no thicker than a thumb when lawful chastisement is applied.
- Limit the strikes to a maximum of six blows, one for each of the Seven except the Stranger.
Ninety-four of the husband's blows were deemed unlawful in the precedent case.
Early Targaryen Kings
King Aenys I came to the throne at the age of thirty in 37 AC. He wed his daughter Rhaena to his son Aegon in 41 AC, sparking open revolt from the Faith. Armed zealots of the Poor Fellows and Warrior's Sons fortified the Hill of Rhaenys while Septon Murmison was hacked to pieces.
Maegor I came to the throne in 42 AC and earned his sobriquet through brutal suppression. He brought back two thousand skulls as trophies from his campaign in 46 AC.
King Jaehaerys I brought unprecedented peace and ruled for fifty-five years. Septon Barth rose to become Hand of the King and spearheaded modernization efforts.
The Great Council of 101 AC established a lasting precedent. Thousands of tents turned the area into Harrenton, and the voting margin favored Prince Viserys by twenty to one over Laenor Velaryon. Jaehaerys died at the age of sixty-nine in 103 AC after holding a grand tourney in 98 AC.
5. Civil Wars and Later Targaryens
Internal divisions, the Dance of the Dragons, and successive rebellions eroded the Targaryen grip on power until the dynasty fell.
The Dance of the Dragons
The succession dispute between Viserys I's children ignited the Dance of the Dragons, a war between siblings that tore Westeros apart using rival family factions and dragons. Following Viserys I's death, the small council and queen crowned Prince Aegon II, while Princess Rhaenyra was crowned on Dragonstone. Both sides gathered supporters and dragons, plunging the realm into unprecedented bloodshed and causing the deaths of numerous royal family members.
Prince Aemond killed Lucerys Velaryon over the storm-raging skies of Storm’s End, prompting Daemon Targaryen to engineer the brutal assassination of Prince Jaehaerys by Blood and Cheese in retaliation.
Public terror of dragons in King’s Landing culminated in a violent riot led by the Shepherd, destroying the structure and most of the remaining dragons. Stirred up by the preaching of the Shepherd who denounced dragons as demons of Valyria, an armed mob marched on the Dragonpit. They slaughtered five chained dragons along with members of the royal family and commoners alike.
Young Prince Joffrey Velaryon plummeted to his death when trying to ride Queen Rhaenicra's dragon Syrax to the Dragonpit to save his own dragon.
Lord Cregan Stark briefly served as Hand of the King to execute the poisoners and betrayers of Aegon II before abruptly resigning. Marching his army into King’s Landing after the war, Cregan Stark held sway at court for six days, arresting twenty-two men for the murder of Aegon II. After presiding over the trials, where most took the black and two chose death, he resigned his office after a single day.
Larys the Clubfoot chose death by execution rather than taking the black during Cregan Stark's brief tenure as Hand.
Rebellions and the Mad King
King Aegon IV legitimized all his natural children on his deathbed, planting the seeds for generations of civil war. Known as Aegon the Unworthy, the king had numerous mistresses and natural children. Before dying in agony from a rotting, swollen body at age forty-nine, he issued a will legitimizing all his natural children, both baseborn and the Great Bastards, which resulted in decades of bloodshed and the Blackfyre rebellions.
Aegon's deathbed decree gave formal recognition to his acknowledged bastards like Daemon Blackfyre and Aegor Rivers, turning them into claimants for the Iron Throne.
The First Blackfyre Rebellion broke out due to tensions over Daeron II's peace with Dorne, his refusal to let Daemon wed Princess Daenerys, and the instigation of Bittersteel. Daemon Blackfyre was granted the ancestral sword Blackfyre in his youth by his father. Years later, pushed by Aegor Rivers and discontented lords who resented Daeron II's pro-Dornish policies and peaceful rule, Daemon claimed the throne, leading to the pivotal battle at the Redgrass Field.
At the Redgrass Field in 196 AC, Daemon Blackfyre and his twin sons were killed by Brynden Rivers and his Raven's Teeth archers, while Bittersteel fought a duel with Bloodraven that left Bloodraven blinded in one eye.
Following his captivity at Duskendale, Aerys II developed extreme paranoia, a refusal to be touched, and an obsession with wildfire and fiery executions. Aerys grew unwashed with overgrown fingernails, banned blades from his presence except for his Kingsguard, and began using wildfire to execute enemies through Wisdom Rossart and the Guild of Alchemists.
Aerys had Ser Ilyn Payne's tongue ripped out with red-hot pincers simply for a rumor that Payne said Tywin truly ruled.
Prince Rhaegar's abduction of Lyanna Stark and Aerys's brutal execution of demanding nobles triggered Robert's Rebellion. When Lord Rickard Stark and his heir demanded redress, Aerys burned them alive and ordered Jon Arryn to execute Robert Baratheon and Eddard Stark. Lord Arryn's refusal and raising of banners started the war.
Robert Baratheon fought his way through the stormlands, winning three battles in a single day at Summerhall.
6. The Great Houses of Westeros
The distinct cultures, geographies, and histories of the North, the Riverlands, the Vale, the Iron Islands, the Westerlands, the Reach, the Stormlands, and Dorne defined the realm's character.
The North and the Riverlands
You find that the North comprises about a third of the realm, featuring harsh climates and mountain clans. Northmen value hunting, brawling, and strict guest right over southron chivalry. The Starks ruled large portions for eight thousand years as Kings of Winter.
At the great mêlée at Last Hearth in 170 AC, eighteen men died and many more were sorely maimed.
You see that House Tully rose to become Lords Paramount of the Trident under Aegon I. Edmyn Tully was the first riverlord to declare for Aegon the Conqueror, leading to his appointment as Lord Paramount of the Trident in 7 AC when Lord Edmyn began his two years as Hand of the King.
The Southern and Island Realms
You learn that Casterly Rock was founded after Corlos son of Caster discovered gold. Tywin Lannister later flooded the subterranean tunnels of Castamere, trapping three hundred men, women, and children.
You must follow these rules when managing threats and territories:
- Cast votes for the man believed best suited to lead the Watch until his death.
- Feed and tame incoming threats rather than merely destroying them so they protect the realm from future packs.
- Arm naval forces with long-reaching goldenheart bows.
- Construct ships using rare hardwoods without metal nails.
- Form alliances across rival island territories to repel foreign invaders.
10 Key Ideas
- During the Dawn Age, Westeros was inhabited solely by the giants and the children of the forest before the Pact ended centuries of war with the First Men.
- The Valyrian Freehold rose to power in Essos by harnessing dragons from the Fourteen Flames and utterly destroying the slave-based empire of Old Ghis.
- Fleeing Valyrian expansion in Essos, the iron-wielding Andals crossed the narrow sea to invade Westeros, conquering southron kingdoms and almost entirely eradicating the children of the forest.
- After failing to defeat Valyria, Princess Nymeria gathered the survivors of her people on thousands of river craft and finally brought her battered fleet to the coast of Dorne.
- The mighty Freehold of Valyria was completely destroyed within hours by a sudden cataclysmic event known as the Doom.
- Aegon's Conquest did not occur in a single day, and maesters have used it as their touchstone for three hundred years.
- Public terror of dragons in King’s Landing culminated in a violent riot led by the Shepherd, destroying the structure and most of the remaining dragons.
- Aegon IV's deathbed decree gave formal recognition to his acknowledged bastards like Daemon Blackfyre and Aegor Rivers, turning them into claimants for the Iron Throne.
- Prince Rhaegar's abduction of Lyanna Stark and Aerys's brutal execution of demanding nobles triggered Robert's Rebellion.
- The Starks ruled large portions for eight thousand years as Kings of Winter while House Tully rose to become Lords Paramount of the Trident under Aegon I.