When the cataclysmic event known as The Doom took place, the Targaryens, along with the last of the dragons, escaped Valyria to the island stronghold of Dragonstone. A century later, the remnants of the Valyrian Empire dispersed and it lead to the formation of the Free Cities and Aegon Targaryen and his sister-wives, Rhaenys and Visenya, led a small army in landing at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush. They established a redoubt that eventually became the city of King's Landing.
Aegon's forces made war upon the infamous Harren the Black of House Hoare, the ruler of the Iron Islands and Riverlands. Aided by House Tully, Aegon confronted Harren up in his castle of Harrenhal. When Harren refused to surrender, Aegon had his dragon, Balerion the Black Dread, burn the castle with such ferocity that the towers melted like candles, roasting Harren and the other remaining members of House Hoare alive. Afterwards, Aegon raised the Tullys to become the Lords Paramount of the Trident and commanded the Ironborn to elect a new ruling house, which would eventually be House Greyjoy of Pyke, who swore fealty to Aegon and became the rulers of the Iron Islands.
At the same time, Aegon's bastard half-brother, Orys Baratheon, led an army against Argilac the Arrogant of House Durrendon, the Storm King. Argilac chose to give battle in the field and was defeated and killed, eliminating House Durrendon. Orys took his castle of Storm's End, his sigil and words, and Argilac's daughter Argalia to wife. Aegon rewarded him by naming him Lord of Storm's End and allowing him to found House Baratheon.
The forces of House Lannister and House Gardener attempted to combine their armies and marched to meet Aegon's army in battle. A field in the Reach would become known as the Field of Fire, as Aegon unleashed all three dragons and decimated the enemy host within minutes. House Gardener was destroyed. Their stewards, the Tyrells, surrendered the Reach to Aegon and were named Lords Paramount of the Reach. The Lannisters also bent the knee and became Lords Paramount of the Westerlands.
Both the Starks and Arryns prepared for war, but through diplomacy and the demonstration of Aegon's superior forces they both eventually chose the path of peace and surrendered peacefully. The High Septon declared that the Faith of the Seven would also support Aegon, ending much of the last resistance to the invaders.
Aegon's forces made an abortive attempt to conquer Dorne, but the Dornish chose to melt away into the mountains and deserts and pursue guerrilla tactics rather than give open battle, where they would be vulnerable to dragonfire. Aegon eventually decided to allow Dorne to retain its independence, ending the War of Conquest.
About 12,500 years before Robert Baratheon took the Iron Throne, the Children of the Forest were the first known inhabitants of Westeros. Little is known of them, but lore describes them as small, druidic and magical creatures. They worshiped the gods of nature and are believed to have carved faces in the weirwood trees found across the continent. Meanwhile, a group of settlers crossed a land bridge from the eastern continent of Essos into Westeros. Known as the First Men, these new arrivals' taming of the wilderness put them at odds with the Children of the Forest and began a war that lasted hundreds of years. After years of fighting, the Children of the Forest and the First Men eventually reached an agreement known as The Pact. After forging the alliance on the Isle of Faces, the First Men adopted the gods of their former enemies and lived in harmony with the Children for many years.
The Age of Heroes
Each land of the Seven Kingdoms was defined by great legends of the past, which were told from generation to generation, story and song. One of the most privitol events of the age was known as the Long Light. After one winter lasted an extremely long time and cold settled across Westeros, creatures known as the White Walkers descended from the northern reaches of the continent. They attacked with ferocity, forcing the Children and the First Men into the South, where the two peoples finally rallied and drove their enemies back north, into the Lands of Always Winter. As a future protection against the White Walkers, Brandon Stark – known as Bran the Builder – built a massive ice wall across the northern boundary of Westeros. The Night's Watch was founded to man the massive structure's many strongholds. Brandon also erected Winterfell, and began to rule as King in the North as men elsewhere on the continent proclaimed themselves kings. Soon, the people of the Stormlands, the Iron Islands, the Rock, the River and the Hills, the Mountain and the Vale, the Reach and the land of Dorne all lived under their own kings.
The Andal Invasion
About 6,000 years later, a new group of invaders crossed the Narrow Sea from Essos. Known as the Andals, these settlers carried steel weapons and brought a new religion: the Faith of the Seven. Once again, war came to Westeros as the Andals eliminated the Children of the Forest, who were derided as evil, and severely battered the First Men. The remaining First Men fled North, where their worship of the "Old Gods" is still followed.
The Rise and Fall of Valyria
In the next millennium on Essos, people in a land named Valyria discovered dragons in a volcano and managed to train the beasts. Backed by the dragons' immense power, the Valyrians amassed a great empire, which quickly became the most sophisticated civilization in the world. Over thousands of years, the Valyrians' expansion reached to Westeros and the Free Cities of Essos. One Valyrian family known as the Targaryens established their home on Dragonstone, an island in the Narrow Sea. Not long after, a catastrophic event known as the Doom struck Valyeria, destroying the empire along with most of the world's dragons. The Targaryens, the only surviving Valyrians and in control of the last three dragons in the world, launched a conquest of Westeros from their fortress at Dragonstone.
War of Conquest
The Targaryens, descendents of the only survivors of the Doom of Valyria, were based in Dragonstone, a former Valyrian outpost. Having felt forsaken by their own gods, the first Targaryens converted to the dominant religion of the area, the Faith of the Seven. Aegon the Conqueror left Dragonstone with his wives Rhaenys and Visenya, who were also his sisters. (Inbreeding was regularly practiced in the family, sometimes with tragic results.) The trio landed on Westeros with a small army and Aegon's secret weapon -- the last three remaining dragons in the world. Aegon handily defeated six of the seven kingdoms of Westeros.
War of the Usurper
The city of King's Landing was established at the place where Aegon first began his conquest and became the familys seat of power. After more than 250 years of Targaryen rule, King Aerys II was dubbed the "Mad King" for his bouts of insanity and increasingly violent and unpredictable behavior. After the king brutally executed Lord Rickard Stark and his son Brandon, many houses in the realm rose up against him, under the leadership of Robert Baratheon of Storm's End. Robert and his friend Ned Stark defeated the army of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen -- who had ridden off with Ned's sister Lyanna -- and King Aerys himself was killed when his ally House Lannister betrayed him in his home of King's Landing. Only two Targaryens survived the war, children named Viserys and Daenerys, who were spirited away to the continent of Essos, where they grew up in exile. Robert ruled from the Iron Throne until his untimely death.
Greyjoy Rebellion
Eight years after King Robert Baratheon wrested the Iron Throne from the Targaryens, Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Islands initiated his own rebellion and declared his independence from the Seven Kingdoms. In a failed assault that claimed the life of Balon's heir Rodrik, the Ironmen attacked Seagard. The Ironborn were dealt another blow when the Crown's forces, including Ned Stark, Barristan Selmy, Jorah Mormont and the King himself, launched a siege against Pyke. Balon's second son was killed during this attack, and after his family stronghold was devastated, the Lord of the Iron Islands bent the knee to Robert. As punishment and to ensure there would be no other uprisings, Lord Greyjoy was forced to surrender his only surviving son, Theon, for Ned Stark to raise as his ward at Winterfell.
The Game of Thrones
The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros are currently enduring the War of Five Kings. While the remaining kings are fighting to secure their crowns, the civil war is destroying the common people. In the North, a large host of wildlings are marching toward the Wall with only the small force of the Night's Watch in its path. Meanwhile in the distant east, Daenerys Targaryen is gathering an army to retake the Iron Throne. Unfourtunately many are completely unaware of the upcoming disaster: Winter is Coming...and the dead along with it.
Where the North has its honor and South its chivalry, Ironborn has its strength. House Greyjoy had always been the greatest houses of the Iron Islands. Their legacy is traced back to the Age of Heroes and the Legendary Grey King who took a mermaid to wife and made war upon the Storm God for a thousand years. Blessed by the Drowned God, the Grey King fought and slew Naga great sea dragon and took her fire for his own. Those who reside in the Iron Islands call ourselves the Ironborn, and are warriors feared throughout the Seven Kingdoms…or so they used to be.
Unlike their mainland cousins, the first men of the Iron Islands never bowed to the Old Gods. Theirs was the Drowned God, who made the Ironborn to reave and sack and write their names in salt, steel, and stone for his enemy, the Storm God, could not wash away. They raised their kings within their own ranks and used beaten foes as servants to work the mines to farm their land. Such was the old way for which the Ironborn followed as they swayed whatever the waves were heard.
Before Aegon Targayren came demanding featly, King Harren the Black ruled as far east as the Trident. During the Age of Conquest other kings, like the Starks, could kneel. But Harren was Ironborn, and the Ironborn must be beaten. In Harrenhal, he had the mightiest castle in Westeros and the army to defend it. But Aegon did not intend a siege. He mounted his dragon and roasted Harren and all his sons in their tower and the old way with him. Because of Harren's defiance, Aegon pushed back the Ironborn back to their islands and gave the Riverlands to the Tullys, but he did allow the Ironborn to choose who would lead them. The legend of the Grey King made the Greyjoys’ ancestor Victon Greyjoy, the natural choice to lead the Ironborn after Aegon’s conquest.
For 300 years, House Greyjoy ruled the Ironborn. They styled ourselves Lords of the Iron Islands, King of Salt and Rock, Son of the Seawind, and Lord Reaper of Pike. In truth they were frauds, their people still chanting “What is Dead May Never Die”, but the old way have died. But once the Targaryens followed their dragons to the grave the current ruler of the Ironborn, Balon Greyjoy, rose against the new king, Robert Baratheon. He seized their ancient crown and sent the Iron Fleet against the Lannisters at Lannisport burning all their ships before any could weigh anchor. Though Robert and Eddark Stark would later defeat him they underestimated the Ironborn's willpower like Aegon did.
House Greyjoy's sigil is the Kraken; once it grasps its enemy it never surrenders. Their house words are "We Do Not Sow", for they are Ironborn. They’re not subjects, nor are they slaves. They do not plow the field or toil in the mine. They take what is theirs.
What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger...
"Ours is the Fury", are the words of the black stag of Baratheon. A battle cry that echoed throughout the land and in rebellion, when he seized the Iron Throne from the Mad King, Aerys Targaryen, ending a dynasty nearly three hundred years old.
House Baratheon was born in the Wars of Conquest, when Aegon the Dragon invaded Westeros. Aegon sent his commander, Orys Baratheon to take Storm's End. Argilac the Arrogant, the last of the Storm Kings, foolishly left the safety of his stronghold and met the Baratheon warlord in open battle. Argilac was soundly defeated, and Orys took his lands, holdings and daughter. Orys was said to be a half-brother of Aegon's. Who would have thought that the "blood of the dragon" mingled with that of the stag in those days?
The seat of House Baratheon is Storm's End, a legendary keep raised in the Age of Heroes. Storm's End overlooks Shipbreaker Bay, where legend tells that Durran, the first Storm King, raised the keep with the aid of Bran the Builder of House Stark, thus forging a centuries-long connection between the Stormlands and the North.
After Aegon's conquest of the Seven Kingdoms, the Baratheons remained loyal enough to the crown while Targaryen kings came and went. But loyalty has its limits. When Aerys’ son and heir, Prince Rhaegar, rode off with Lyanna Stark, King Robert betrothed and beloved, it was time to act.
Baratheon, Stark, Jon Arryn and the Tullys raised their banners and united in rebellion against Rhaegar and his father, the Mad King. They were victorious and took the Iron Throne. It seemed convenient that a bit of dragon blood in Robert’s veins came in well as it made him a distant relation to the Targaryen dynasty through his distant ancestor, Orys. The truth, however, is that Robert took power. Though Robert boasts that he alone rules the Seven Kingdoms from the Red Keep, only time will tell when his reign will come to an end…
On the far western coast of Westeros, atop a rocky promontory overlooking the Sunset Sea sits Casterly Rock, ancestral seat of House Lannister; below Casterly Rock lies Lannisport, one of the great cities of Westeros, a center of trade, culture and the Lannister fleet.
A number of gold and silver mines are located in the Westerlands, making it the richest region in the whole continent. One of the most productive gold mines lies beneath Casterly Rock itself, making House Lannister the wealthiest of all the noble houses and allowing it to fund many endeavors of other noble houses. Even the King himself has sought credit from Casterly Rock from time to time.
The Lannisters claim descent from the Andal invaders and, through the female bloodline, to Lann the Clever. According to legend, Lann, using only his wits, swindled Casterly Rock from its previous owners, House Casterly, during the Age of Heroes.
The Lannisters ruled as Kings of the Rock for thousands of years. Their time as Kings ended with the arrival of Aegon the Conqueror. The last King of the Rock, Loren Lannister, joined forces with Mern Gardener, King of the Reach, and, commanding sixty thousand men met the Targaryen army in open battle. According to history, Aegon unleashed his three dragons, slaughtering four thousand men, in a battle that came to be known as the Field of Fire. King Mern perished and, with him, House Gardener became extinct. Seeing both opportunity and threat in the Targaryens, Loren surrendered and aided Aegon in his further conquest of Westeros. The Lannisters were thus appointed Lords Paramount of the Westerlands, and Wardens of the West.
Many years later, Tytos Lannister nearly bankrupted the House with his poor investments and allowed himself to be openly mocked at court. However, when their vassals, the Reins of Castamere, rose in rebellion, they learned the price of defiance. Tywin personally led the assault on Castamere to put down the upstart vassals, and made an example of them to anyone who would doubt the Lannister might. Even a "quaint song" about the fate of the Reins was made, but there are no one left to hear it.
It is neither luck nor royal favor that makes House Lannister so prosperous. There have been times when they have been considered weak, lazy or opulent. But anyone who underestimates even the most unlikely members of the Lannister family could prove to be their undoing. The golden Lion of Lannister is rightly admired and feared throughout the Seven Kingdoms. The Lannister words are "Hear me Roar"; yet there are other words that should be remembered when crossing a "Lion" of Casterly Rock:
The Targaryen dynasty unified the Seven Kingdoms and ruled for nearly three centuries. A dynasty forged in fire, sealed in blood, and brought down by rebellion.
Targaryens are "blood of the dragon", descended from the nobility of ancient Valyria, a once mighty empire in Essos. When the Doom destroyed Valyria and its people, House Targaryen survived, having settled in the island fortress of Dragonstone for a century, until the rise of Aegon the Conqueror.
Aegon sailed west for the Seven Kingdoms along with his sister Rhaenys and Visenya. To keep their bloodline pure, Aegon took both of his sisters as wives, following the custom of their Valyrian ancestors. Together, they landed on the eastern coast of Westeros with their blazon: a three-headed dragon, representing Aegon and his sister-wives. While their host was small when compared to the armies of the Seven Kingdoms, Aegon and his sisters had a secret weapon: the last of the dragons. Thus represents their house words: "Fire and Blood".
Aegon conquered every kingdom except for Dorne, which bowed to Targaryen rule a century later, and had the swords of his enemies melted down by the fire of his dragon, Balerion the Black Dread, and forged into the Iron Throne. The capital city of King's Landing was built where Aegon and his sisters first came ashore. Aegon also ordered the construction of a royal castle, the Red Keep, on the city's highest hill.
For three hundred years the dynasty stood strong in the face of rebellion, civil war and plague. But the line of the "dragon kings" was broken when Aerys Targaryen, the Second of His Name, was overthrown in rebellion. Aerys was betrayed and slaughtered by Ser Jaime Lannister, a member of his own Kingsguard. Aerys' son and heir, Rhaegar, perished on the field of battle, at the hands of Robert Baratheon, who claimed the Iron Throne for himself.
And so today, the sole survivors of the storied Targaryen dynasty are Viserys and his sister, Daenerys. They were spirited to the Free Cities of the east by loyalists. There, they have lived in exile ever since, dreaming of the day they will cross the Narrow Sea and take back their father's throne.
The Starks of Winterfell trace their descent to the First Men in the Age of Heroes. The family's founder was Brandon the Builder who, in the aftermath of the Long Night helped establish the Night's Watch. According to legend, Bran the Builder enlisted the aid of giants and the magic of the Children of the Forest to raise the Wall, which has protected the realm for generations. Then, he went on to build Winterfell and reign as the first King in the North.
The Starks reigned as Kings for thousands of years, resisting even the invasion of the Andals as the southern kingdoms fell and the Children of the Forest driven north. Under the rule of the Starks, the North kept its religion and its way of life.
However, the reign of the Kings of Winter came to an end with the coming of Aegon the Conqueror. After Aegon and his dragons destroyed the armies of the Reach and the Rock in the Field of Fire, King Torrhen Stark bent the knee and swore loyalty to House Targaryen in order to spare his people. He was forever after known as "the King Who Knelt". As a reward for his submission, Torrhen was declared Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North.
The Starks take great pride in their history and traditions, being one of the few noble houses that still keeps to the Old Gods, and mentions the large weirwood tree growing in the godswood of Winterfell. Their ancestral greatsword, Ice, forged in ancient Valyrian steel has been passed down through generations. The Starks are also in constant support of the Night's Watch, even as the ancient order has fallen on hard times.
The family has taken the sigil of a grey direwolf, to that of the family itself in the North and throughout the Seven Kingdoms. Their family words, "Winter is Coming", serves as a reminder of their beginnings, in the wake of the Long Night and the grim portion of life to come…
There are three continents in the world of Game of Thrones. Westeros serves as the westernmost continent whereas Essos is the easternmost and Sothoryos is to the south of both. Between Westeros and Essos runs the Narrow Sea.
The locations near the Wall and Beyond are what truly separate north from south. What lies beyond The Wall is a mystery, but not to those of the Night’s Watch, who defends it either way.
The Narrow Sea is all that stands between the western continent of Westeros and the eastern continent of Essos. The Free cities are nine powerful city-states located just east of Westeros, across the Narrow Seas, around western coast of Essos. They trade with the Seven Kingdoms with spices, resources, and sellswords.
Sothoryos is an unexplored and remains a mystery. It is said to have deserts and “jungly plague-ridden” areas. North of Sothoryos was the ancient city of Valyria. During an ancient time, the city of Valyria was one of the greatest cities in the world, until it was destroyed by an event known as the Doom. The catastrophe resulted in the loss of many mystical secrets, including the process of forging Valyrian steel; though the last royal family known as the Targaryens would survive, along with several dragons.
Anywhere in this world is filled with wonder, mystery, and danger. Mostly danger!
Hey followers, your resident Saint here! I’ve been having problems on this site ever since the change and it seem like this is going to be a long time before it can be fixed. There are some videos I would like to post, but can’t. I can’t add any items to my list, yet alone create one. Lastly, I can’t even edit for remove some images from my personal gallery. I’ve been using the same brower and operating system I’ve been using ever since I signed on to this site, but it doesn’t seem to be working. I understand the moderators are trying their best, but really making this difficult for people who log on to this site to really enjoy it. I’m not talking about myself, but to others who’ve been having the same problem as well.
Anyways, now that I’m done calling the moderators and their highly trained monkeys for this, I would like to post this update. I’m going to work on the Game of Thrones blogs featuring the history and lore. There will be a narrative and (once my problems have been fixed) visual presentations on certain topics so look out for those. I’ll do at least one book recommendation sometime in the summer. I will also continue doing Remember the Cartoons, featuring classics I’m sure you’ll be happy to see posted. Blog of Badass will also return as will Voice of a Generation. Finally, I’ll be working on creating Crossover Fan-Fics that will leave you curious for more. So until then, may the Force make you live long and prosper! Yeah I’m freaky that way. XD
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