8.2.3.6. The Hightowers of Oldtown
- Lord Hightower is styled as Voice of Oldtown, Lord of the High Tower, Lord of the Port, and Protector of the Citadel (I: 687. IV: 11, 715)
- Ser Abelar Hightower was the first of the challengers in Ashford's tourney, challenging and losing to Prince Valarr. Their arms are a stepped white tower crowned with flame against smoke. (THK: 490, 492. IV: 673)
- Oldtown woodharps are desirable (II: 127)
- The Hightowers are an ancient family, among the oldest in the Seven Kingdoms, both very rich and very proud. They trace their descent to the First Men, and were once kings. They welcomed the Andals and later bent the knee to the Kings of the Reach, giving up their crowns but retaining their privileges. (II: 145. IV: 715)
- The Hightowers were loyal to the Targaryens during the War of the Usurper (II: 145)
- Oldtown has a Lord Commander for is City Watch (II: 728)
- There is a motherhouse at Oldtown (III: 251)
- House Costayne of Three Towers, vassals of the Hightowers. Their seat stands on the cliffs of the Whispering Sound (III: 357. IV: 672, 716)
- Hightower is the tallest structure in the Seven Kingdoms and one of the oldest, a massive stepped tower with a great beacon at its top to show ships the way to port. It stands in the center of Oldtown, which grew around it (III: 461. SSM: 1)
- Ser Otto Hightower was renowned for his learning, but he was a failure as Hand to his king (III: 604)
- Lord Commander Runcel Hightower tried to bequeathe the Watch to his bastard son (III: 612)
- Hightowers have had wives from House Osgrey in the past (TSS: 112)
- During Daemon Blackfyre's rebellion, House Hightower kept a foot in both camps, lending part of its strength to each side (TSS: 135)
- The Quill and Tankard is an inn and brothel frequented by every kind and class of patron that comes through Oldtown, especially novices and acolytes of the Citadel. It's 600 years old and has never closed its doors. It's set on a terraced island (lit by torches at early morning and night) on the Honeywine river. Many of the patrons will sit outside on its grass lawn to drink. The Hightower and its beacon can be seen downriver (IV: 1, 3, 4)
- The Quill and Tankard is renowed for its very strong cider (IV: 3, 6)
- The Quill and Tankard is large and made of timber. Its upper stories lean towards the south (IV: 4)
- An old plank bridge connects the Quill and Tankard's island to the rest of Oldtown (IV: 7)
- The Checkered Hazard is another inn of Oldtown (IV: 7)
- There are small temples to foreign gods in Oldtown, primarily for the use of foreign sailors (IV: 8)
- The Quill and Tankard is not far from the Citadel as the raven flies, but Oldtown is a veritable labyrinth of wynds, criss-crossing alleys, and crooked streets (IV: 11)
- Oldtown's streets and roads are cobbled (IV: 11)
- There are a number of septs in Oldtown: the Sailor's Sept by the harbor, the Lord's Sept, the Seven Shrines in gardens across the Honeywine from the Quill and Tankard, the Starry Sept which was the seat of the High Septon for a thousand years until the Targaryens came (IV: 12)
- There is a modest, wharfside temple to R'hllor (IV: 12)
- Oldtown is largely built of stone. Palaces, guildhalls, and manses are all of stone, the Starry Sept is made of black marble, and the towers and domes of the Citadel rise on both sides of the river with stone bridges crowded with buildings (IV: 12)
- The Hightower is the tallest structure in the Seven Kingdoms and one of the oldest, a massive stepped tower with a great beacon at its top to show ships the way to port. It stands more-or-less in the center of Oldtown, on the bluffs of Battle Island at the mouth of Whispering Sound (IV: 12-13. SSM: 1)
- Inhabitants of Oldtown can tell the time of day by where the shadow of the Hightower falls (IV: 13)
- The old Thieves Market leads to Ragpicker's Wynd (IV: 14)
- Lord Quenton Hightower and his young son were murdered by rioters some sixty or seventy years ago, following Lord Quenton's violently enforced quarantine of the city when the grey plague struck Oldtown. If it was not for his actions, the plague might have spread to through the Reach and beyond (IV: 120)
- When news arrived in Oldtown of the landing of Aegon and his sisters, the High Septon fasted and prayed for seven days and nights under the dome of the Starry Sept in Oldtown. He then announced that the Faith would take not oppose the Targaryens, because the Crone had shown him that to do so would mean the destruction of Oldtown in dragonflame. Lord Hightower, a pious man, kept his forces at Oldtown and would later freely open his gates to Aegon when he came to be anointed by the High Septon (IV: 421)
- The Hightowers can command three times the men of any other Tyrell bannermen, and even more if they sweep Oldtown for every serviceable conscript (IV: 675)
- There is a river road leading from the docks of Oldtown, following the winding Honeywine through the heart of the city and on to the Citadel (IV: 676-677)
- The Isle of Ravens is not far from the Seneschal's Court, linked by a weathered drawbridge on the east bank of the Honeywine. On it is the castle called the Ravenry, the oldest building at the Citadel. It's said that in the Age of Heroes, a pirate lord robbed ships as they came down the slow-moving river. An ancient weirwood fills it (IV: 680)
- The Hightowers have generally preferred trade to battle, seldom playing a significant part in the wars of the Seven Kingdom despite their great power and immense wealth (IV: 715)
- The Hightowers were instrumental in the founding of the Citadel (IV: 715)
- The Hightowers are great patrons of learning and the Faith, and it's said that some have dabbled in alchemy, necromancy, and other sorcerous arts (IV: 715)
- Bannermen of the Hightowers include Lord Costayne of theThree Towers, the Bulwers who are Lords of Blackcrown, Lord Mullendore of Uplands, Lord Beesbury of Honeyholt, and Lord Cuy of Sunflower Hall (IV: 716)
- The Hightowers can be legitimately referred as being "from Hightower" (their castle) or "from Oldtown" (which sprung up around Hightower) (SSM: 1)
- Oldtown is thousands of years old and was the largest city in the Seven Kingdoms prior to the advent of King's Landing (SSM: 1)
- The Hightowers are one of the oldest families in the Seven Kingdoms (SSM: 1)
- The Hightowers have only a few war galleys, but they control Oldtown which is home to numerous trading vessels (SSM: 1)
- Oldtown is one of the five cities of Westeros, comparable to King's Landing in size, much larger than Lannisport and very much larger than either Gulltown or White Harbor (SSM: 1)
- The Citadel is financed by the lords who pay for having their maesters, and from certain taxes that the Citadel collects at Oldtown (SSM: 1)
- The second wife of King Viserys I was of House Hightower. She promptly gave him three healthy sons and a daughter, among which was Aegon II who would fight the Dance of Dragons with his elder half-sister Rhaenyra (SSM: 1)
Last revised August 07, 2009
PermaLink