The Citadel: Concordance - 2.1. The Targaryens

2.1. The Targaryens

The Targaryen kings (and their successors) styled themselves King of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm (I: 12)
The Targaryen kings (and their successors) kept a King's Justice, a royal executioner. (I: 13-14, 122, etc.)
Aegon took both of his sisters to bride (I: 26)
For centuries the Targaryens have often wed brother to sister, following the custom of Valyria (I: 26, 692, II: 364)
The Targaryens are called the blood of the dragon, descendants of the high lords of Valyria (I: 26, 692)
The Targaryens were known as the Dragonlords. They were the only dragonriders of Valyria to survive the Doom. (I: 35. SSM: 1)
The three-headed dragon, red, on black is the emblem of House Targaryen. It represents Aegon and his two sisters (I: 36, 692)
Tywin Lannister was the Hand of the King for twenty years. Aerys came to the throne young and wanted a young court, and had known Tywin from youth (I: 103. SSM: 1)
Prince Aemon the Dragonknight's championing of Queen Naerys's honor against evil Ser Morgil and his slander is a well-known story drawn from true events (I: 123. SSM: 1)
Targaryens may feel heat from dragon eggs, where everyone else feels only cold (I: 192)
Baelor the Blessed once attempted to replace all the messenger ravens with doves, but it did not succeed (I: 552)
Aemon Targaryen, son of King Maekar I, became a maester and his brother Aegon reigned in his place. Aemon eventually became of a member of Night's Watch (I: 554)
It was rumored that Daeron II's true father was not Aegon IV but his brother, Prince Aemon the Dragonknight (I: 554, 693. TSS: 136)
At the head of the plaza beneath the steps of Baelor's Sept is a painted marble plinth with a statue of Baelor the Blessed, the septon king, at its peak (I: 605, 606)
Dorne was not joined to the Seven Kingdoms until two hundred years after Aegon, and then it was by marriage and treaty rather than war. Baelor the Blessed negotiated the marriage of Daeron to Myriah Martell as a means of making peace with Dorne after Daeron I's failed conquest. Later, when Daeron was king, he negotiated the marriage of his much younger sister Daenerys (who was born after he had already had a son of his own) to the Prince of Dorne, thereby uniting the realms. (I: 690. SSM: 1)
The Targaryens have a striking (or, as some say, inhuman) beauty: lilac, indigo, or violet eyes and silver-gold or platinum hair (I: 692)
The Targaryens were on Dragonstone for about two centuries after the Doom before invading Westeros (I: 692. SSM: 1)
Rhaenyra Targaryen was the daughter of Viserys I and mother to Aegon III the Dragonbane and Viserys II, but died a traitor's death all the same (I: 693. III: 407. SSM: 1)
The Prince of Dragonstone, the crown prince, in the time of Daeron II was his eldest son Prince Baelor, who was accounted the finest knight of his age and called Baelor Breakspear. He was Hand of the King in his time as well. His two sons were Valarr and Matarys (THK: 467, 475, 476, 486)
Daeron II had four grown sons, three of them with sons of their own (THK: 475)
In Aegon IV's time the line of the dragon-kings and almost died out, but it was said that Daeron and his sons had left it secure for all time (THK: 475)
Prince Maekar Targaryen's sons were the drunken Daeron who had pale brown hair, the skilled but cruel Aerion (known alternately as Brightflame, Brightfire, or the Bright Prince), a third son who was so unpromising they sent him to the Citadel to become a maester (Maester Aemon), and the young boy Aegon (THK: 484, 486, 496, 500, 505. II: 76. TSS: 138. SSM: 1, 2)
Prince Baelor Breakspear had dark hair, as did his son Valarr (THK: 484, 493)
The youngest of Daeron II's sons was Maekar, Prince of Summerhall who was said to be a redoubtable warrior in his own right. The middle two sons were the bookish Aerys and the mad, meek, and sickly Rhaegel (THK: 486, 496)
For striking a Targaryen, no matter the circumstances, a man of lesser nobility will be tried and punished. The last time it happened, the man who did it lost his offending hand (THK: 507, 508)
Aerion Targaryen thought himself a dragon in human form (THK: 512)
Daeron Targaryen, son of Prince Maekar, had dreams that came true (THK: 513)
Prince Baelor Breakspear died in 208 or 209, taking the part of a knight in a trial of seven against his own brother and nephews. The stroke that killed him came from his own brother, although Prince Maekar claimed he never meant it (THK: 529. SSM: 1)
The Targaryens always cremated their dead (THK: 529. IV: 523)
Prince Baelor died at the age of thirty-nine (THK: 530)
As a result of the trial of seven, Maekar sent his son Aerion to Lys and the Free Cities for a few years. He still there by 211. (THK: 530. TSS: 107)
Aegon Targaryen, son of Maekar, squired to the hedge knight Ser Duncan the Tall after the trial of seven (THK: 532, 533)
If a Targaryen prince has no sister or other female kin to wed, it's possible that men will be sent to the Free Cities to find some suitable bride. This is what happened when Prince Rhaegar, who had no sisters, needed a bride of suitable Valyrian blood with a sufficiently noble lineage. Lord Steffon Baratheon was sent to search, but it proved futile and in the end he and his wife died when their ship broke up not far from Storm's End (II: 5. SSM: 1)
House Hollard was almost entirely destroyed at King Aerys's command following the Defiance of Duskendale, except for the young Dontos Hollard who was allowed to live at Ser Barristan Selmy's request (II: 33. IV: 134)
Aerys Targaryen's last Hand was killed in the Sack of King's Landing, although he had been appointed only a fortnight earlier. The Hand before him had burned to death. The two before them had died landless and penniless in exile. Lord Tywin Lannister was the last Hand of the King to depart King's Landing safely (II: 41)
Aemon Targaryen was sent to study at the Citadel in Oldtown when he was nine or ten (II: 76)
Baelor Breakspear's sons and father died during the Great Spring Sickness (II: 77. TSS: 119)
Aerys I wed his own sister (II: 77)
King Maekar Targaryen wished Maester Aemon to be part of his councils, but he refused. Instead he served his elder brother Prince Daeron at his keep, until he died of some disease he got from a whore. Daeron left a feeblewitted daughter as his heir (II: 77)
Prince Aerion Brightflame, known as Aerion the Monstrous later on, was drunk when he drank a cup of wildfire while claiming it would turn him into a dragon. He died, leaving an infant son. The story, "The Prince Who Thought He Was A Dragon", recounts his death (II: 77)
King Maekar died a year after his son, fighting an outlaw lord who was not one of the Blackfyre Pretenders (II: 77. SSM: 1)
In the year of Maekar's death, the Great Council was convened to decide who should rule. Maester Aemon refused the throne because of his vows. They passed over Aerion's infant son for fear of madness and Daeron's lackwit daughter. This left Prince Aegon, thereafter Aegon V who was known as Aegon the Unlikely (II: 78)
Maester Aemon took vows in the Night's Watch when he realized that those who disliked his brother would try to use him against him (II: 78)
Aegon Targaryen knelt to pray in Dragonstone's sept the night before sailing to conquer Westeros (II: 109)
The idols of the Seven on Dragonstone were carved from the masts of the ships that had carried the first Targaryens from Valyria (II: 109)
The Targaryens rode their dragons, and were carried by them even in flight (II: 144)
Aerys II was known for roasting his enemies over fires with the aid of the pyromancers that he was patron to (II: 228)
There are blood ties between Storm's End and the Targaryens, related to marriages some hundred year's past. Most recently, they have Targaryen blood from their descent from Aegon V's daughter, Rhaelle, who was mother to Lord Steffon. These ties were used as justification for Robert Baratheon's ascension to the throne after the rebellion (II: 258. IV: 522. SSM: 1)
The Targaryens had to train their dragons, to keep them from laying waste to everything around them in their wildness (II: 427)
It is said that Prince Aemon the Dragonknight wept the day his sister Naerys wed their brother Aegon (II: 432)
Aerys Targaryen was descended from Aegon and Rhaenys through their son Aenys and their grandson Jaehaerys (II: 640)
Aerys required applause (III: 51)
Baelor the Blessed put his sisters in a keep, that afterwards became known as the Maidenvault, for fear that sight of them would lead him to sinful thoughts. There is a children's story of three princesses locked in a red tower by the king for the crime of being beautiful which may be drawn from this event (III: 65, 814. IV: 420)
Lady Olenna of House Redwyne almost wed a Targaryen prince, but put an end to that (III: 65)
King Aerys II could be very harsh to those he thought his enemies (III: 90)
It was said that no man ever knew Prince Rhaegar (III: 90)
Myles Mooton was Prince Rhaegar's squire, and Richard Lonmouth after him. When they won their spurs he knighted them himself, and they remained his close companions (III: 90)
Young Lord Jon Connington was a dear friend of Rhaegar's (III: 90, 752. SSM: 1)
Price Rhaegar's oldest friend was Ser Arthur Dayne (III: 90)
Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning, was said to be the only knight in the realm who was Rhaegar's peer (III: 90)
Prince Rhaegar was a most puissant warrior (III: 90)
Prince Rhaegar was able, determined, deliberate, dutiful, and single-minded (III: 91)
As a young boy, Prince Rhaegar was bookish to a fault. He was reading so early that it was said that the Queen had swallowed some books and a candle while he was in the womb. Rhaegar had no interest in the play of other children. While the maesters were awed by wit, the King's men jested sourly that he was Baelor the Blessed come again (III: 91)
One day, while still a boy, Prince Rhaegar supposedly found something in his scrolls that changed him. None know what it might have been, but one early morning he appeared in the yard as the knights were donning their steel. He went to Ser Willem Darry, the master-at-arms, and said, "I will requier sword and armor. It seems I must be a warrior" (III: 91)
Rhaenys and Visenya were Aegon's wives at the same time (III: 99)
Being caught smuggling by the sea watch about Dragonstone was death in the days of Aerys (III: 110)
Prince Rhaegar's wife, Elia Martell, was never the healthiest of women (III: 128)
King Aerys tore out the tongue of Lord Tywin the Hand's captain of guard, Ser Ilyn Payne, for boasting that it was the Hand who truly ruled the realm (III: 128. IV: 394)
By choosing Ser Jaime Lannister for the Kingsguard, King Aerys lost his Hand of twenty years. In a fury, Lord Tywin gave up his office and removed himself and his daughter to Casterly Rock (III: 128)
King Aerys was always cutting himself upon the Iron Throne (III: 130)
Maegor the Cruel had three of his Grand Maesters executed (III: 133)
Aegon II had Grand Maester Gerardys fed to his dragon (III: 133)
King Maegor wanted the means to make a secret escape from the Red Keep should his enemies ever trap him (IIII: 136)
Maegor the Cruel had a queen named Jeyne of House Westerling (III: 162)
Prince Aemon the Dragonknight is said to have protected his sister Naerys night and day (III: 183)
Aegon the Unworthy had never harmed Queen Naerys, perhaps for fear of their brother the Dragonknight (III: 184)
When a knight of the Kingsguard, a Toyne, had fallen in love with one of Aegon the Unworthy's mistresses, King Aegon had both their heads taken off (III: 184. SSM: 1)
There was no higher honor than receiving knighthood from Rhaegar, Prince of Dragonstone (III: 272)
The Knight of the Laughing Tree was a mystery knight who appeared at the great tournament at Harrenhal, fighting for the honor a young Howland Reed of Greywater Watch (and may well have been Lord Howland himself). He won King Aerys's enmity (III: 279, 283)
The Dragonknight once won a tourney as the Knight of Tears, so he could name his sister the queen of love and beauty In place of the king's mistress (III: 282)
The Targaryens and perhaps others have sought a way to bring dragons into the world once more. There have been incidents with the nine mages and the alchemists, and a dark incident at Summerhall it seems. No good has ever come of the attempts (III: 292. IV: 535)
Aegon IV had as many as nine mistresses, and many bastards. Supposedly, he had any woman he wanted whether they were married or not (III: 322. SSM: 1)
After Ser Jaime Lannister donned the white cloak of the Kingsguard at the great tournament at Harrenhal, King Aerys sent him away to King's Landing before he could take part in the jousting (III: 345)
The brothers Toyne died for treason - this may be the Kingsguard who was executed for coveting King Aegon the Unworthy's mistress and his brothers, or perhaps Simon Toyne and some sibling(s) who were part of the Kingswood Brotherhood (III: 369, 407)
Daemon Blackfyre died for his treason, as did Grand Maester Hareth and Rhaenyra Targaryen (III: 407)
Proud Lord Belgrave was famously commanded by King Baelor the Blessed to wash a beggar's ulcerous feet (III: 408)
Aerys cut himself so often on the Iron Throne that men took to calling him King Scab (III: 410)
Aegon commanded the Painted Table to be painted accurately to represent the Seven Kingdoms as they then were, but without any borders to signify that it should be one realm alone instead of many (III: 412)
Robert Baratheon and his allies were the greatest threat to House Targaryen since Daemon Blackfyre (III: 418)
Queen Rhaella's eyes were closed for years to what Aerys was (III: 418)
King Daeron I, the Young Dragon, was the first to observe that there were three types of Dornishmen (III: 430)
Thousands of years after the creation of Brandon's gift, Good Queen Alysanne visited the Wall on her dragon Silverwing some two hundred years ago, and she thought the Night's Watch was so brave that she had the Old King (who followed after her on his own dragon) double the size of their lands to fifty leagues, making the New Gift (III: 453. IV: 73)
King Jaehaerys the Concilliator was young when he came to the throne, but ruled for a very long time. In the first years of his reign it was his wont to travel all over the realm. When he came to Winterfell, he brought his queen, six dragons, and half his court. He had matters to discuss with his Warden of the North, however, and Queen Alysanne grew bored and took her dragon Silverwing northwards. Good Queen Alysanne slept in a holdfast in the North, so the folk of the village painted the holdfast's merlons gold in her honor and their village was named Queenscrown (III: 454, 468)
One of the castles on the Wall was named after Good Queen Alysanne, being called Queensgate. It was once Snowgate (III: 468)
Prince Rhaegar's prowess as a warrior was unquestioned, but he seldom entered tourneys, never loving fightng as much as Robert Baratheon or Ser Jaime Lannister did. It was simply something he had to do, a task set for him, and he did it well as he did everything well as was his nature. But he took no joy of it (III: 485)
Men said that Rhaegar loved his harp much better than his lance (III: 485)
When Rhaegar was young, he rode brilliantly in a tourney at Storm's End, defeating Lord Steffon Baratheon, Lord Jason Mallister, and the Red Viper of Dorne. He broke a dozen lances against Ser Arthur Dayne that day, but he lost the tournament to another knight of the Kingsguard (III: 485. SSM: 1)
It had been long years since King Aerys had last left the Red Keep when he went to Harrenhal for Lord Whent's tourney (III: 485)
There was a melancholy to Prince Rhaegar, a sense of doom. It was the shadow of Summerhall and the tale of his birth that haunted him. And yet, Summerhall was the place he loved best, going there from time to time with only his harp for company. He liked to sleep in the ruined hall, beneath the moon and stars, and whenever he came back he would bring a song. When one heard him sing of twilights and tears and the death of king, one could not but feel that he was singing of himself (III: 486)
Thoros of Myr was sent to the Seven Kingdoms because of his gift of tongues and his ability to sometimes see visions in flame. It was hoped that he might convert King Aerys, with his love fire, but he preferred his pyromancers and their tricks (III: 490)
There was a great grief at Summerhall (III: 492)
There is a song about Jenny of Oldstones, with the flowers in her hair, and her Prince of Dragonflies. There is a brief lyric (III: 492, 520, 920)
Duncan, the Prince of Dragonflies and Prince Duncan the Small are one and the same person (III: 520, 752. SSM: 1)
Aegon IV legitimized all his bastards, both the Great Bastards gotten on noble mothers and the baseborn, on his deathbed, and the pain, grief, war, and murder that wrought lasted five generations because of the Blackfyre pretenders (III: 521. TSS: 132)
Aerys felt the need to remind men that he was the king, and was passing fond of ripping tongues out (III: 591)
Nine mages crossed the sea to hatch Aegon the Third's cache of eggs, but failed (III: 598)
Baelor the Blessed prayed over his cache of eggs for half a year, but the prayers went unanswered (III: 598)
Aegon IV built dragons of wood and iron, but they burned (III: 598)
The Targaryens often chose Hands from their own blood, with results as various as Baelor Breakspear and Maegor the Cruel (III: 604)
Septon Barth, the blacksmith's son plucked from the Red Keep's library by the Old King Jaehaerys I, gave the realm forty years of peace and plenty. He understood that that the gender of dragons was changeable. (III: 604. IV: 520)
King Daeron I was very brave in battle (III: 606)
The Young Dragon never won three battles in a day (III: 606)
King Daeron I wrote Conquest of Dorne with elegant simplicity (III: 607)
The Nightfort was the first castle abandoned by the Watch, back in the time of the Old King. Even then it had been three-quarters empty and too costly to maintain. Good Queen Alysanne had suggested that the Watch replace it with a smaller, newer castle at a spot seven miles to the east, where the Wall curved along the shore of a beautiful green lake. Deep Lake was paid for by the queen's jewels and built by the men the Old King had sent north (III: 628)
There's a story of an old lord of House Plumm who wed a Targaryen princess in the day of one of the Aegon's (not the Fifth). He was a famous fellow, for the story goes that his member was six feet long (III: 647)
Grand Maester Kaeth wrote Lives of Four Kings, a history of the reigns of Daeron the Young Dragon, Baelor the Blessed, Aegon the Unworthy, and Daeron the Good. Kaeth scants Viserys II terribly, however, as his short reign as king came after Baelor's (III: 662, 664)
Viserys II is a controversial figure in history. Some point towards the peace and propserity he brought the realm while he was Hand for Daeron I and Baelor the Blessed for some fifteen years, and a year as king on how own right, but others say he poisoned Baelor to steal his throne. This is countered with the claim that King Baelor died by starving himself to death because of his fasting (III: 664. IV: 456)
Baelor the Blessed is not seen as a great king and would have ruined the realm with his follies were it not for his uncle (III: 664)
Baelor the Blessed walked the Boneway barefoot to make peace with Dorne and rescued the Dragonknight from a snakepit. Legend says the vipers refused to strike him because he was so pure and holy, but the truth is that he was bitten half a hundred times and should have died from it. Some say that he was deranged by the venom (III: 664, 665)
Barristan Selmy won the name of "the Bold" in his 10th year when he donned borrowed armor to appear as a mystery knight at a tourney in Blackhaven, where he was defeated and unmasked by Duncan, Prince of Dragonflies (III: 752)
Barristan Selmy was knighted in his 16th year by King Aegon V Targaryen after performing great feats of prowess as a mystery knight in the winter tourney at King's Landing, defeating Prince Duncan the Small and Ser Duncan the Tall, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard (III: 752)
Ser Barristan brought King Aerys II to safety during the Defiance of Duskendale despite an arrow wound in his chest (III: 752)
It is said that every child knows that the Targaryens had always danced too close to madness, and King Jaehaerys II once said that with the birth of a new Targaryen the gods would throw a coin to decide whether the child would be great or mad (III: 811)
Queen Rhaella sheltered her young son Viserys from the truth about his father Aerys II as much as possible (III: 815)
King Aerys II always had a little madness in him, it seems, but he was charming and generous as well, so his lapses were forgiven. His reign began with much promise, but as the years passed the lapses grew more frequent (III: 815)
There are those who say there is some good to say of the Mad King, as well as of his grandfather Jaehaerys II and his brother, their father Aegon V, Queen Rhaella, and of Rhaegar most of all (III: 815)
Maegor the Cruel called for four dungeon levels beneath the Red Keep. The lowest of them was set aside for torment (III: 875)
After the Great Spring Sickness, the summer following brought a drought that lasted nearly two years and displaced thousands of smallfolk, most who disobeyed edicts to return to their lands (TSS: 79, 81, 99, 118)
Many blamed the drought following the Great Spring Sickness on King Aerys and his Hand, Brynden Rivers (more commonly known as Lord Bloodraven), because of his status as a kinslayer (TSS: 81, 121)
A riddle was said regarding Lord Bloodraven, concerning his network of spies and informers: "How many eyes does Lord Bloodraven have A thousand eyes, and one." (TSS: 81. TMK: 650)
Lord Bloodraven was an albino, marked with a blotch of discolored skin on his chin and across one cheek which some claimed to resemble a raven. His personal guard were called the Raven's Teeth, and he carried the Valyrian steel sword Dark Sister on his hip. He lacked an eye, which he lost to Bittersteel on the Redgrass Field. He was the bastard son of Aegon the Unworthy by his sixth mistress, Lady Mylessa Blackwood, who was known as Missy. His personal arms were a white dragon with red eyes (TSS: 81. SSM: 1)
Lord Bloodraven was named Hand to King Aerys I on his ascension to the throne (TSS: 81)
Lords in Westeros once had the right to the first night (the custom of bedding newlywed common women before their husbands), but Queen Alysanne convinced King Jaehaerys I to abolish it (TSS: 94)
Coldmoat was taken from Lord Osmond Osgrey following his speaking out against King Maegor's supression of the Poor Fellows and the Warrior's Sons (TSS: 105)
Lord Bloodraven's paramour was Lady Shiera, who was alleged to bathe in blood to keep her beauty. She was the daughter of Aegon the Unworthy by his ninth and final mistress, Lady Sereni of Lys, who was the last of an ancient but impoverished Valyrian line. "Sweet Sereni" died giving her birth, but not before naming her Shiera, Star of the Sea. Shiera was born with one blue eye and one green eye, and was considered the most beautiful woman of her age.She wore her silver-gold hair very long, and preferred to wear cloth-of-silver and ivory; she found gold vulgar. She had a silver necklace with alternating emerald and star sapphires. Men killed themselves at her rejection, fought duels for her favor, and Bloodraven himself asked her to marry him half a hundred times but she never agreed as she preferred to keep him jealous. She was very learned, speaking a dozen languages and reputed to practice dark arts as her mother before her was said to have done (TSS: 107. SSM: 1)
Maekar I had at least two daughters, one known as Rhae (probably a diminutive) and another as Daella (TSS: 107)
Daemon Blackfyre reversed the colors of the Targaryen arms for his own banner, as many bastards did. In the years following his rebellion, asking if someone had followed the red dragon or the black was considered a dangerous question (TSS: 110)
Daemon Blackfyre was also known as Daemon the Pretender. He was the bastard son of Aegon the Unworthy by his cousin, Daena Targaryen, sister and briefly wife of Baelor the Blessed. She and her two sisters were placed in the Maidenvault when he ascended to the throne, and it is there that she conceived Daemon despite Baelor's efforts to isolate he from the corruption of men. She refused to divulge the father and became known as Daena the Defiant because of this. It was only years afterwards that Aegon IV acknowledged him after he bested a score of squires in a melee (TSS: 110. SSM: 1)
Aegon IV the Unworthy gave his Valyrian steel sword, Blackfyre, which had been carried by Aegon the Conqueror and all the Targaryen kings after him, to his bastard Daemon when he knighted him at the age of 12, instead of to his his heir, Daeron; talk of Daemon becoming Aegon's heir began after this point.. Daemon was his son by one of his cousin's, one of the princesses in the Maindenvault who were sisters to King Baelor the Blessed.(TSS: 111, 137. SSM: 1, 2)
Blackfyre was the most famous Valyrian steel sword that the Targaryens possessed. It would be long lost by the time of the battle of the Trident (TSS: 111. SSM: 1)
Lord Bloodraven and his Raven's Teeth used longbows to kill Daemon Blackfyre and his twin sons, Aegon and Aemon, at the Redgrass Field (TSS: 111-112)
It was rumored that King Aerys I was ensorceled by his Hand, Lord Bloodraven, who was thought to be the true power behind the throne (TSS: 112)
Those who died during the Great Spring Sickness, of which there were many tens of thousands, were said to have died in the spring (TSS: 118-119)
Bittersteel and Daemon Blackfyre's surviving sons fled to Tyrosh, where they plotted their return (TSS: 121)
King Aerys was considered to be too uninterested to try and put a halt between a private war between the Brackens and Blackwoods, while his Hand would at best do nothing and at worst help his Blackwood cousins (TSS: 122)
Brynden Rivers' father was Aegon IV (TSS: 122)
Lord Bloodraven controlled the throne for a number of reasons. King Aerys I kept to his apartments by 211 and no man could see him without Bloodraven's leave. Aerys's queen, Alienor, prayed daily that the Mother might bless her with a child. Prince Maekar Targaryen sulked at Summerhall, nursing grievances against his brother King Aerys, while Prince
When Lord Bloodraven was named Hand, Prince Maekar refused to be a part of the king's small council (in part because he felt he should have been named to that office) and removed himself to Summerhall (TSS: 132)
Prince Maekar was regarded by some as the finest battle commander in the Seven Kingdoms, after Baelor (TSS: 132)
Brynden Rivers was a lord only by courtesy (TSS: 132)
Aegon IV's bastards gotten on noble mothers were called the Great Bastards. These were Brynden Rivers, Bittersteel, and Daemon Blackfyre (TSS: 132)
King Daeron II was called Daeron the Falseborn by Daemon Blackfyre's followers (TSS: 136)
Some disdained Daeron II because he was a spindly man with a pot belly and little ability for martial feats but who surrounded himself with maesters, septons, and singers. His court was filled with Dornishmen, thanks to his marriage to a princess of Dorne and his arranging the marriage of his sister to the Prince of Dorne. (TSS: 137. (SSM: 1)
Daemon Blackfyre was a great warrior, and some claimed that with Blackfyre in his hand no knight who ever lived could have matched him, even Ulrik Dayne with Dawn or Aemon the Dragonknight with Dark Sister (TSS: 137)
It was said that Daeron II's sister and Daemon Blackfyre were in love when Daeron married her to the Prince of Dorne (TSS: 137)
Bittersteel seems to have been considered the greatest of the knights and champions who flocked to Daemon Blackfyre's banner (TSS: 137)
When Daeron the Good married the Dornish princess Myriah and then brought Dorne into the realm, it was agreed that Dornish law would always rule in Dorne (IV: 43)
The Defiance of Duskendale occurred approximately in the year 270, give or take five years. The Lord of Duskendale refused to pay taxes, demanding certain rights and the town charter following the influence of his wife from the Free Cities (IV: 65. SSM: 1, 2)
Prince Maekar's son Aemon was sent to the Citadel over the objections of his father, at the behest of King Daeron II. Daeron had sired four sons and three had sons of his own. Given the Blackfyre Rebellion and ensuing troubles, Daeron felt that too many Targaryens was as dangerous as too few (IV: 84)
It's said that the great admiral Lord Oakenfist, Alyn Velaryon, had a bastard son named Jon Waters (as well as a daughter, Jeyne Waters) by one of King Baelor's sisters in the Maidenvault, Elaena. This son had a trueborn son in turn, who gave himself the surname Longwaters to mark his legitimacy (IV: 120-121. SSM: 1)
The Darklyns no longer exist, destroyed by Aerys following the rebellion of Lord Denys Darklyn known as the Defiance of Duskendale. The rebellion was urged by his wife Lady Serala, a Myrish woman who became known as the Lace Serpent. Lord Denys and all of his family, including women and children, were executed. His wife was burned alive, but not before having her tongue and female parts torn out (IV: 133, 134)
It’s said that Lord Denys Darklyn’s rebellion was urged by his wife, Lady Serala, (IV: 134)
Like the Darklyns, the Hollards were destroyed by King Aerys. Their lands were seized, their castle was torn down, and their villages were put to the torch (IV: 135)
Archmaester Marwyn's Book of Lost Books, containing among other things information concerning three pages from Signs and Portents, a book of visions written down by the maiden daughter of Aenar Targaryen before the Doom (IV: 162)
When the Young Dragon was killed, a Kingsguard knight named Ser Olyvar Oakheart, known as the Green Oak, died at his side (IV: 185)
Ser Terrence Toyne was found abed with the mistress of Aegon the Unworthy. Toyne and the mistress were executed, and it led to the downfall of his house and the death of Aegon the Dragonknight, considered by some the noblest knight who ever lived (IV: 192-193)
It's claimed that the rumors of Daeron the Good being the son of the Dragonknight were false, put about by Aegon the Unworthy when he considered putting aside his son for one of his bastards (IV: 193)
Ser Lucamore Strong, in later days known as Lucamore the Lusty, kept three wives and sixteen children in secret. When this was discovered, King Jaehaerys I had his Sworn Brothers castrate him, and then sent him to the Wall to serve out his days in the Night's Watch (IV: 193)
The Golden Company has never broken its contract, boasting that its word is as good as gold since the days of their founder Bittersteel. They were founded approximately 200 AC. (IV: 197. V: 78)
The Golden Company is a brotherhood of exiles, united by the dream of Bittersteel to return to Westeros (IV: 198. V: 78)
Bittersteel rode in at least three of the Blackfyre Rebellions (IV: 198)
Maester Aemon joined the watch at the age of thirty-five. He was escorted by Ser Duncan the Tall, and arrived with pomp that the Watch had not seen since Nymeria sent them six kings in golden fetters. His brother, King Aegon V, emptied the dungeons to send an "honor guard" with him, and one of the released prisoners was none other than Brynden Rivers, known as Bloodraven (IV: 218-219)
Bloodraven was eventually chosen as lord commander of the Night's Watch (IV: 219)
A song about Bloodraven exists called, "A Thousand Eyes, and One" (IV: 219)
Relations between Aerys II and his sister and queen Rhaella were poor in the last years of his reign. The two slept apart and avoided one another as much as possible. The king forced himself on her after giving men to the flames, however, and was known to abuse her at those times (IV: 232)
Queen Visenya personally received the homage of the men of Crackclaw Point, who submitted to her after having seen what was done to Harren the Black. She promised them that they would be vassals to no one but the Targaryens, a mark of distinction that the people are proud of (IV: 283)
While Hand, Tywin Lannister planned to wed his daughter to Prince Rhaegar, and promised her this when she was six. When Rhaegar was a new-made knight, he visited the west with King Aerys. Lord Tywin hosted a grand tourney, which Rhaegar won, and it was at the feast afterwards where the betrothal was to be announced. King Aerys rejected the proposal, however, saying that kings do not wed their sons to their servants (IV: 360-361)
The Targaryens created the office of Lord Confessor, who resided in the prison tower and oversaw questioning and torture of prisoners. This office was abolished by Daeron II (IV: 396)
During the reign of Baelor the Blessed, King Baelor caused a stone mason to be made High Septon because he thought the man's work was so beautiful that he must be the Smith made flesh. The mason could neither read nor write, and could not remember even the simplest prayers. It's rumored Baelor's Hand, the future Viserys II, had the man poisoned to spare the realm humiliation. After him, Baelor saw an eight-year-old boy raised to High Septon, believing he could work miracles, but the boy High Septon could not save Baelor during his final fast (IV: 412)
Aegon the Conqueror dated the beginning of his reign from the day the High Septon anointed him as king in Oldtown. Since then, it has been traditional for the High Septon to give their blessing to every king (IV: 413, 421)
It's said that King Baelor forgave those who conspired against him (IV: 420)
Jaehaerys the Conciliator swore upon the Iron Throne that the crown would always defend the Faith (IV: 420-421)
King Maegor's decree prohibited the Faith from arming itself (IV: 422)
The ancient blessed orders known as the Swords and the Stars comprised the Faith Militant, until Maegor's decree. The proper name of the Swords is the Warrior's Son, and it's said they wore fabulous armor over hair shirts and carried swords with crystal stars in their pommels. The Stars were named for their sigil, the red seven-pointed star on white, and were properly called the Poor Fellows. They were far humbler than the other order, for the most part, and were often little more than armed begging brothers who protected the faithful as they travelled from sept to sept and town to town (IV: 422-423)
The Kingswood Brotherhood's downfall was Ser Arthur Dayne's winning the love of the smallfolk of the kingswood, expanding their grazing lands, winning them the right to fell more trees, and so on. Once they saw Ser Arthur and the king protected them better than the outlaws did, the Brotherhood was lost (IV: 453)
Baelor the Blessed never consummated his marriage to his sister Daena, and set her aside as soon as he was crowned (IV: 457)
Aegon the Conqueror treaded lightly with the Faith, so that the militant orders would not oppose him. When he died, however, they were in the thick of the rebellions that his sons faced (IV: 500)
King Maegor put a bounty on members of the Faith Militant: a dragon for the head of a Warrior's Son, and a stag for the scalp of a Poor Fellow. Thousands were killed, but as many still roamed the realm defiantly until Maegor's death and Jaehaerys the Conciliator's agreement to pardon all those who gave up their swords (IV: 500)
The Black Pearl, Bellegere Otharys, was a pirate queen some four generations ago who was taken as a lover by a Targaryen prince. She gave him a daughter, who became a famed courtesan in Braavos, and her daughter and granddaughter have been courtesans in turn (IV: 512)
The Dragonknight is said to have been a hero who died too young (IV: 519)
A fire devoured Summerhall on the day of Rhaegar Targaryen's birth (IV: 520)
Baelor the Blessed ordered the writings of Septon Barth to be burned (IV: 522)
A comet was seen above King's Landing on the day that Rhaegar's son Aegon was conceived (IV: 520)
Jaehaerys the Conciliator had the kingsroad built (IV: 548)
Of old, the High Septons might appoint seven judges to try a case, and if a woman was accussed, three of them might be women, representing maidens, mothers, and crones (IV: 645, 651)
In Oldtown, there is a statue of King Daeron the First in the Citadel, along a path from the Scribe's Hearth. He sits upon a tall stone horse, his sword pointed towards Dorne (IV: 677)
Bloodraven was reputed to be able to change the appearance of his face, turn himself into a one-eyed dog, turn into a mist, command packs of grey wolves to hunt down his enemies and carrion crows to spy on the people of the realm (TMK: 650-651)
Goods were more expensive in 211 than they were a few years before, in some part due to the Great Spring Sicknes and the long drought that followed it (TMK: 652)
The roads during King Aerys I's reign were not so safe as they were under his father, Daeron the Good (TMK: 653)
The Seven Kingdoms were seemingly left to fend for themselves against Lord Dagon Greyjoy and his ironborn reavers troubling all the lands on the western coast, as King Aerys I ignored the trouble so he could be closeted with his books, while Prince Rhaegel was said to be so mad as to dance naked in the halls of the Red Keep and Prince Maekar so angry at his brother and his advisors that he sat and brooded at Summerhall. Some blamed Lord Bloodraven, the Hand of the King, for this state of affairs, while others claimed his attention was focused on Tyrosh where the sons of Daemon Blackfyre and Bittersteel plotted another attempt to seize the Iron Throne (TMK: 664)
Prince Rhaegel stood as heir to Aerys I, despite being mad, and his twin children after him. (TMK: 665)
It was a custom of the Targaryens to place dragon eggs in the cradles of their children (TMK: 668)
The last dragon had a clutch of five eggs, and the Targaryens had others on Dragonstone that had been laid before the Dance of the Dragons. One of the eggs is gold and silver with veins of fire running in it, and another is swirled with white and green (TMK: 668)
King Aerys I read a prophecy that he believed indicated that the dragons would return (TMK: 668)
Ser Quentyn Ball was called Fireball for his hot temper and red hair. He had been promised a place in the Kingsguard by Aegon the Unworthy, and forced his wife to become a silent sister so he could take up the honor. By the time a place was open, however, it was Aegon's son Daeron who ruled and he preferred to give the cloak to another man (TMK: 668-669)
Fireball would go on to help convince Daemon Blackfyre to claim the crown, and rescued him when King Daeron sent the Kingsguard to arrest him (TMK: 669)
Prince Maekar was considered a kinslayer by many after the death of his brother at Ashford (TMK: 686)
There have always been Targaryens who dreamed of things to come, since long before the Conquest, and it was no surprise that the same gift appeared among their descendants such as the Blackfyres (TMK: 735)
Bloodraven believed that Daemon Blackfyre's dream that a dragon would hatch at Whitewalls came true, but that it was Prince Aegon whom he dreamed of (TMK: 735)
Aerion Brightflame did not remain exiled in Lys all his life, and probably fathered a few bastards there (SSM: 1)
The Targaryens were heavily interbred because of centuries of marriages between close kin, even brothers and sisters. This accentuated both flaws and virtues, pushing the line towards extremes. Further, some of the great kings (such as Daeron I, the Young Dragon, and Baelor I, the Blessed) of the line could be seen as mad in a certain light. (SSM: 1)
It has never been the case that all Targaryens are all immune to all fires at all times (SSM: 1)
Viserys II was a younger brother of Aegon III (SSM: 1)
Aegon the Conqueror was married to his sisters Rhaenys and Visenya at the same time (SSM: 1)
Summerhall was a lightly fortified castle that Daeron II built on the Dornish marches, roughly where Dorne, the Reach, and the Stormlands come together. It was a Targaryen castle and a royal residence, especially when Daeron was young, but as he grew older he left King's Landing less frequently, and Summerhall passed to his youngest son, Maekar (SSM: 1)
The only fleets comparable to the Greyjoy fleet in the Seven Kingdoms are the royal fleet and the Redwyne fleet based at the Arbor (SSM: 1)
The largest and most famous sellsword company on the eastern continent is the Golden Company, that was founded by one of Aegon the Unworthy's bastards (SSM: 1)
The most notable rebellions against the Targaryens came from the Blackfyre pretenders (SSM: 1)
Aerion Brightflame was also known as Aerion Brightfire (SSM: 1)
Rhaegar's daughter Rhaenys looked more a Martell, while his son Aegon looked more Targaryen (SSM: 1)
There were tensions between King Aerys and Prince Rhaegar (SSM: 1)
The War of the Ninepenny Kings was fought on the Stepstones (SSM: 1)
Maegor the Cruel had eight or nine wives, all or most from other houses, some of whom he was married to at the same time. He executed a number of them for failing to provide him an heir, a test which all of them ultimately failed (SSM: 1, 2)
The Targaryens had many weapons of Valyrian steel (SSM: 1, 2)
Targaryen bastards have had various last names (SSM: 1)
The first Targaryen kings attempted to control their realm more directly.After Jaehaerys the Conciliator, however, they tended to delegate and rule through the great lords (SSM: 1)
Jaehaerys II was only 39 when he died. His son Aerys II was 19 when he assumed the throne (SSM: 1)
The role of the wardens are to defend their assigned regions from invaders, and are in theory the supreme generals of their area so as to avoid disunity (SSM: 1)
Prince Duncan was Aegon V's heir at some point, but his younger brother Jaehaerys became heir at least for a time for unknown reasons (SSM: 1)
The Targaryens are not immune to fire, although they can stand somewhat more heat than most. (SSM: 1), 2)
Bittersteel was Ser Aegor Rivers, the bastard son of Aegon the Unworthy by his fifth mistress, Lady Barba Bracken. Angry at his lot as a bastard, he was dark-haired, lithe, and hard. He wore a horsehead crest upon his helm and his arms featured a red stallion with black dragon wings, snorting flame against a golden field (SSM: 1, 2)
Daemon Blackfyre was about 26 at the time of his rebellion, Bittersteel 24, and Bloodraven 21. Daemon's eldest sons, Aegon and Aemon, were 12 (SSM: 1, 2)
Blackfyre was a larger sword than either Dark Sister or Lady Forlon (SSM: 1)
Aegon Targaryen was tall, broad-shouldered, and powerful. His battle armor included a suit of black scale armor with greaves and gauntlets. His hair was cut very short, and he wore a crown featuring a simple circle t of Valyrian steel set with square rubies (SSM: 1)
Aegon's Valyrian steel crown was worn by Maegor the Cruel, Aegon II, and Daeron I (SSM: 1)
Aenys Targaryen was a weakling, as tall as his father but soft and slender. He had a silky beard and a pointed mustache. He wore many jewels, and his golden crown was large and elaborate (SSM: 1)
Maegor the Cruel was huge and powerfully built, with a beard following his jawline. His armor was plate, covered with a surcoat blazoned with the Targaryen arms (SSM: 1)
Jaehaerys the Conciliator ruled for fifty-five years. In his old age he was not stooped, and had a long white beard to his waist. Wearing robes of black and gold, his crown was a simple golden circlet set with seven stones of different colors (SSM: 1)
Viserys I was a plump and pleasant king, always jesting, who ruled at a time of peace and plenty. He had a bushy silver-gold mustache, and wore Jaehaerys's crown (SSM: 1)
Aegon II resembled his father strongly, but his manner was petulant rather than pleasant. He acted the warrior, but it did not suit him. He only had a faint whisp of a mustache (SSM: 1)
Aegon III always wore black, and rarely smiled. Slender and somber, he wore a plain gold circlet with no ornamention (SSM: 1)
Daeron I was young, clean-shaved, and very handsome with long hair. He wore an elaborate suit of black-and-gold plate armor (SSM: 1)
Baelor the Blessed was a thin, reedy young man with a nearly beatific way about him. He wore a simple septon's robe bound with a rope, and a crown of vines and flowers. His long hair and beard were the typical Targaryen coloring (SSM: 1)
Viserys II came late to the throne in his fifties. He was clean-shaved, long-haired, and bushy-browed with a prominent nose and a shrewd manner. He wore Viserys I's unornamented crown (SSM: 1)
Aegon the Unworthy began his reign young and handsome, but at its end he was old and corrupt, his body bloated and fat. His legs could not support his weight, and his eyes and mouth were small and mean. He ornamented and dressed himself richly, and unsuccessfully tried to hide his double-chins with a big beard. He wore a massive crown of red gold, each of its points a dragon's head with gemstones for eyes (SSM: 1)
Daeron II was no warrior, kindly and round-shouldered, with a pot belly. He was dignified and had a quiet strength to him, however. He wore Aegon the Unworthy's crown (SSM: 1)
Aerys I was bookish, spindly, and stooped. His hair was long, his face was long, his pointed mustaches were thin and long, and his beard was pointed and long. He wore Aegon the Unworthy's crown (SSM: 1)
Maekar I's crown was of black iron and red gold, and was sharply pointed. He used his personal arms during his reign, the Targaryen dragon repeated four times (SSM: 1)
Aegon V was tall and slender, with hair falling to his shoulders. He was handsome, strong, yet approachable. He wore the crown of Aegon III, a simple gold circlet (SSM: 1)
Jaehaerys II was amiable, clever, but sickly and died young. He was pale and frail,with very large purple eyes. His hair was shoulder-length and he had a silky beard. He concealed one arm behind a cloak (SSM: 1)
Aerys II, the Mad King, was in his forties at his death, but looked much older. He wore the elaborate crown of Aegon the Unworthy (SSM: 1)
Visenya Targaryen was a year or two older than her brother Aegon the Conqueror, while Rhaenys was a year or two younger. Both had long silver-gold hair, but Visenya's often braided hers and bound it with rings, while Rhaenys wore hers long and loose. Both were warriors and dragonriders in their own right. Visenya was sterner and more passionate, but she could be cold and unforgiving while Rhaenys was more playful and cheerful. Visenya was likelier to don a warrior's arms and armor, and often carried Dark Sister (SSM: 1)
Dark Sister was somewhat more slender than a typical longsword and was better-suited to a woman's hand (SSM: 1)
Naerys Targaryen was beautiful, but she was frail and delicate, almost unworldly. A small wisp of a woman, her skin was very pale, almost translucent, and she large purple eyes. She was sickly as a child and almost died as an infant. She found most physical activities taxing, but loved music and poetry and enjoyed sewing and embroidery. She was very pious, and dressed simply and modestly. Her marriage was an unhappy one, and Aegon refused to release her from her marriage to him after she gave him his son Daeron. It was said only Daeron or her brother Aemon the Dragonknight could make her laugh (SSM: 1)
Queen Alysanne was sister and wife to Jaehaerys I. Like him, she lived a long life. She was straight and unbowed in her old age, and in her youth was a fine archer and hunter. She was Jaehaerys's right hand and councillor, and often worn a slimmer, more feminine version of his crown. She was much loved by the people of Westeros for her charity (SSM: 1)
Rhaenyra Targaryen was the first-born child of Viserys I, and was almost ten years older than her next sibling, Aegon II. She was Viserys's only living child by his first wife of House Arryn. When her second brother died, Viserys began to treat her as his heir. Many flocked to her, looking for favor. But Viserys's second wife, a Hightower, promptly gave him three healthy sons and a daughter in rapid succession. At her father's death, she was stout, wearing many rings which she often twisted on her fingers when anxious. She was proud and stubborn, generally charming but quick to anger and unable to forget slights. She wore her hair similarly to Visenya, Aegon the Conqueror's sister, though she was no warrior. She wore her father's crown during the Dance of Dragons (SSM: 1)
Daena the Defiant was beautiful, wilfull, and fearless. With long, thick silver-gold hair, she was very outgoing and athletic. She was a skilled archer and very good at riding at rings. She worshipped her father and idolized her brother Daeron. As a child, she affected all black, as her father did. When Baelor failed to consummate their marriage, she changed to white to try and shame him, but he preferred her in such an innocent color. When confined to the Maidenvault at the age of sixteen, she made several escapes, often disguised as a washerwoman or serving girl; her cousin Aegon IV assisted her on one occason. She always wore a three-headed dragon pendant that her father gave her. 1)
Rhaena Targaryen, sister to Daeron I and Baelor the Blessed, was two years younger than her elder sister Daena., Dutiful, meek, and pious under Baelor's influence, she did not chafe at being confined in the Maidenvault, and in her later years she became a septa. At fourteen she had an innocent, gentle beauty, and often passed her time with sewing and embroidery, often decorating her garments with religious scenes and images (SSM: 1)
Elaena Targaryen was the youngest of Aegon III's children, and was only eleven when her brother placed her in the Maidenvault. Her hair was platinum white with a bright gold streak, very unusual for the Targaryens. She often dressed in black, in emulation of Daena, and like Daena she was very wilfull. She cut off her long braid of hair in hopes that Baelor would decide she was no longer so beautiful as to tempt men to sin, but he did not release her. After that, she kept her hair short. Her prized possession was a stony dragon's egg, its colors matching her hair. She lived a long and tumultuous life. Her greatest love was her cousin Alyn Velaryon, known as Oakenfist, by whom she bore twin children named Jeyne and Jon Waters. She married three times, twice at a king's behest and once for passion. She gave birth to seven children. Though never a great beauty, her features improved with age. Her intellect was keen, especially with money, and it was said that she did most of the work of her second husband, who sat on the small council as master of coin (SSM: 1)
The Targaryens had been happy to sit on Dragonstone until Aegon developed his ambitions. There had also been pressure for Aegon to go east instead of west, with the Volantenes trying to convince Aegon and his sisters to join a grand alliance against other Free Cities. This offer was made when Aegon was quite young (SSM: 1, 2)
Baelor the Blessed was a peace-loving king, and never considered rearming the Faith (SSM: 1)
Daeron I was not homosexual. He was married, but died without issue (SSM: 1)
Targaryen polygamy was accepted largely because of their dragons, which gave them enough power to do as they pleased (SSM: 1)
Aegon the Conqueror followed the Faith for political reasons (SSM: 1">

Last revised February 21, 2016
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2.1.1. Dragons

The Targaryens were known as the Dragonlords. They were the only dragonriders of Valyria to survive the Doom. (I: 35. SSM: 1)
Dragonbone is light and flexible, but very strong. It has a high iron content, and is black because of it. Dragonbone bows are prized by the Dothraki (I: 101)
The three dragons of Aegon and his sisters were named after the old gods of Valyria (I: 102. II: 141)
Balerion the Black Dread was Aegon's dragon. It could have swallowed an aurochs or a mammoth whole, its fire was black as its scales, and when it flew whole towns were darkened by its shadow (I: 102. II: 141)
Vhaghar was Visenya's dragon. Vhagar's breath could melt a knight's armor and cook the man inside, and it could swallow a man on horseback whole (I: 102. II: 141)
Meraxes was Rhaenys's dragon. Meraxes was larger than Vhaghar (I: 102. II: 141)
The two last Targaryen dragons had skulls no larger than mastiffs and were misshapen. They were born on Dragonstone. The last, a stunted green female whose eggs never hatched, was said to have been poisoned by Aegon III Dragonbane after seeing his mother eaten by one in the Dance of the Dragons (I: 102, 682; THK: 465)
Dragon eggs are huge, patterned in brilliant colors that make them seem almost jewelled. They are very heavy, as if of solid stone. The surface of the shell is covered with scales (I: 86)
Dragon eggs may have many colors, such as a deep green with bronze flecks, pale cream streaked with gold, and black alive with scarlet ripples (I: 86)
Books exist concerning the properties of dragons (I: 101)
Dragons are largely believed to be dead and gone from the world, although some disagree (I: 106. IV: 2)
Targaryens may feel heat from dragon eggs, where everyone else feels only cold (I: 192)
Some hold that dragons came first from the east, from the Shadow Lands beyond Asshai and the islands of the Jade Sea (I: 197)
There appear to be no more dragons, all dead or killed over the centuries, although some maesters believe they may still exist in unkwown lands (I: 197. IV: 2)
One legend in the eastern continent, repeated by a Qartheen, is that dragons were hatched from a second moon that came too close to the sun and cracked. The dragons drank up the fire of the sun, which is why they breathe flame. One day the remaining moon will come to close as well, and dragons will be reborn (I: 198)
Balerion's teeth are as long as swords (I: 287)
Aegon the Conqueror had the Iron Throne made from the swords of his enemies, saying that a king should never rest easy (I: 386)
Balerion is supposed to have heated the swords that were used to make the Iron Throne (I: 388)
Dragons have long, sinuous necks (I: 674)
Newly-hatched dragons already have streams of smoke coming from their mouths. Their wings are translucent (I: 674)
Since the last dragon died, summers are believed to be shorter and winters longer and harsher (THK: 465)
Aegon the Conqueror had knelt to pray in Dragonstone's sept the night before he sailed (II: 109)
Dragon eggs are more precious than rubies, and living dragons are beyond price (II: 139)
Newly hatched dragons are no larger than scrawny cats, but their translucent wings are large and marvellously colored (II: 140)
New dragons are mostly neck, tail, and wing (II: 140)
Dragons will not eat raw meat. It must be cooked and seared (II: 141)
New dragons will gulp down several times their own weight each day (II: 141)
Heat pours out of dragons, so palpable that in a cool night they steam (II: 141)
The horns, wing bones, and spinal crests of dragons are differently colored from the scales, having such hues as gold, bronze, or scarlet (II: 141. III: 87, 88)
The Targaryens rode their dragons, and were carried by them even in flight (II: 144)
The bones of a dragon, so immense that a man on horseback can ride through the jaws (II: 148)
At least some people from the Shadow (including shadowbinders) say that dragons are fire made flesh (II: 313)
Dragons have eyes like molten gold (II: 316)
Newborn dragons have wings too weak to fly (II: 317)
The maesters believe that the dragons are no more (II: 325)
It takes years before dragons are large enough to be useful in war (II: 427)
The Targaryens had to train their dragons, to keep them from laying waste to everything around them in their wildness (II: 427)
Certain steps in making wildfire work better and more efficiently now. A pyromancer speculates that this could have something to do with dragons, as an old Wisdom said to him once that the spells for making wildfire were not as effectual as they once were because dragons had gone from the world (II: 523)
Young dragons will eat rats and even flying fish (III: 87, 88)
Dragons always preferred to attack from above, especially if they are between the sun and their prey (III: 88)
Young dragons practice diving and attacking one another, and do not fear tumbling into the sea as they can fly right out of it again (III: 88)
Young dragons can fly many miles (III: 88)
Growing dragons are often hungry, and the larger young dragons seem to be nearly always hungry (III: 88)
A dragon at two or three years could be large enough to ride (III: 88)
Grown dragons have an impressive range, able to fly the distance across the narrow sea and perhaps even further without pause (III: 88)
Dragons some half a year old can range to the size of small dogs, or a little larger (III: 88)
Dragons are lighter than they look (III: 88)
Dragons can fly high enough to lose themselves amidst the clouds (III: 88)
There are tales of dragons grown so huge as to be able to pluck giant krakens from the seas (III: 88)
Tales tell of wise old dragons living a thousand years (III: 89)
A dragon's natural span of days is many times as long as a man's (III: 89)
The dragons of House Targaryen were bred for war, and in war they died. It is not easy to kill a dragon, but it can be done (III: 89)
Balerion the Black Dread was two hundred years old when he died during the reign of Jaehaerys the Conciliator (III: 89)
A dragon never stops growing so long as he has food and freedom (III: 89)
The Targaryens raised an immense domed castle, the Dragonpit, to keep the royal dragons. It was a cavernous dwelling, with doors of iron so wide that thirty knights could ride through them abreast (III: 89)
None of the pit dragons ever reached the size of their ancestors. The maesters said it was because of the walls around them and the great dome above (III: 89)
Different dragons seem to breathe flames of different colors. A young black breathes orange, scarlet, and black flame, and a young cream-colored dragon breathes pale golden flames (III: 93, 94)
Dracarys means dragonfire in High Valyrian (III: 94)
The spinal crest seems to extend down the tail (III: 270)
A dragon's talons are black (III: 270)
The Targaryens and perhaps others have sought a way to bring dragons into the world once more. There have been incidents with the nine mages and the alchemists, and a dark incident at Summerhall it seems. No good has ever come of the attempts (III: 292. IV: 535)
Dragons coil into balls, wings and tails tight and eyes hidden, when they sleep (III: 311)
Horses are frightend of dragons (III: 312)
Good Queen Alysanne, wife to the Old King, had a dragon named Silverwing that she rode to visit the Wall at one time (III: 453)
King Jaehaerys and Good Queen Alysanne brought six dragons north with them to Winterfell (III: 468)
Nine mages crossed the sea to hatch Aegon the Third's cache of eggs, but failed (III: 598)
Baelor the Blessed prayed over his cache of eggs for half a year, but the prayers went unanswered (III: 598)
Aegon IV built dragons of wood and iron, but they burned (III: 598)
Dragons may be partial to those with Targaryen or Valyrian blood (III: 647)
It's said in Ironborn legend that Nagga was the first sea dragon (IV: 268)
The dragonlords of old used enchanted dragon horns to call and command their dragons, it's claimed (IV: 277, 279)
Creatures called firewyrms, possibly akin to dragons, are said to exist in the mines and caverns beneath the Fourteen Flames of Valyria. They breathe flames, but have no wings, instead boring through soil and stone. The youngest are as skinny as a girl's arm, but they can grow to monstrous size (IV: 321)
Dragons are neither male nor female, but changeable like flame, shifting between genders. This truth was understood by Septon Barth (IV: 520. SSM: 1)
It's claimed that the Citadel is behind the deaths of the last Targaryen dragons, because of a conspiracy against magic and prophecy (IV: 683)
During Daemon Blackfyre's rebellion, one of his followers, known as Quickfinger, was caught with stolen dragon eggs (TSS: 136)
After guesting at Lord Butterwells's castle for a night and allegedly impregnating his host's three maiden daughters, King Aegon IV the Unworthy gave him the gift of a dragon's egg (TMK: 663)
It was a custom of the Targaryens to place dragon eggs in the cradles of their children (TMK: 668)
The last dragon had a clutch of five eggs, and the Targaryens had others on Dragonstone that had been laid before the Dance of the Dragons. One of the eggs is gold and silver with veins of fire running in it, and another is swirled with white and green (TMK: 668)
The dragon's egg King Aegon IV gave to Lord Butterwell is described as having fine red scales, smooth to the touch and with a shummering quality with flecks of gold and whorls of midnight black. It is said to be heavy enough to smash in a man's skull (TMK: 681)
A young dragon of about two years of age is capable of eating a sheep a day (V: 44)
Dragons had lifespans much longer than humans. However, because so many were involved in wars -- the Dance of the Dragons in particular -- many of them died young (SSM: 1)
There were dragons all over the world once, including Westeros (SSM: 1)
Dragonlore has been accumulated in Valyria, the Citadel, Dragonstone, some of the Free Cities, and perhaps Asshai as well (SSM: 1)
Dragons could be large enough to ride in five years or less (SSM: 1)
Dragonbone was not used in the process of making Valyrian steel (SSM: 1)
All the Targaryen dragons were descended from the three great dragons of Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters (SSM: 1)
Dragons have two legs and wings only -- they do not have forelimbs as well (SSM: 1, 2)

Last revised March 15, 2013
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2.1.2. Dragonstone

The Targaryens were on Dragonstone for about two centuries after the Doom before invading Westeros (I: 692. SSM: 1)
A thousand gargoyles sit on the walls of the ancient Valyrian fortress, each some twelve feet high. Among them are hellhounds and wyverns (II: 1)
The stones of the fortress are black (II: 1)
Behind the castle is the Dragonmont, an active volcano (II: 2)
Dragonstone was the westernmost outpost of the Freehold of Valyria (II: 3)
The towers of the citadel of Dragonstone are shaped by some art lost to the Seven Kingdoms, to seem like dragons so that they would appear more fearsome, just as the gargoyles around the walls replaced crenelations (II: 3)
One of the fortress towers is named the Sea Dragon Tower (II: 6)
The Chamber of the Painted Table is within the Stone Drum (II: 6)
The Stone Drum is the central keep of Dragonstone, named such because its walls boom and rumble during storms (II: 6-7)
Going down the stairs of the Sea Dragon Tower, one must then cross the gallery, pass through both the middle and inner walls with their gargoyles and black iron gates, and climb even more steps to reach the Chamber of the Painted Table (II: 7)
The gallery has a row of tall arched windows from which the outer bailey, the curtain wall, the fishing village beyond, and the practice yard can be seen (II: 7)
The Chamber of the Painted Table is a great round room with walls of black stone and four narrow windows that looked out to the four points of the compass. In the midst of chamber is a huge table of carved wood fashioned at the behest of Aegon Targaryen before the Conquest (II: 9)
The painted table is more than fifty feet long, perhaps half that wide at its widest, but less than four feet across at its narrowest. Aegon's carpenters had shaped it after the land of Westeros, its surface painted with the Seven Kingdoms as they then were; rivers, mountains, castles, cities, lakes, and forests were all marked (II: 9)
There is a single chair in the room, raised up and sitting precisely where Dragonstone would have been off the coast of Westeros (II: 9)
Dragonstone, though old and strong, commands the allegiance of only a few lesser lords whose islands are too thinly populated to provide any great numbers of troops (II: 11)
The doors to the Great Hall are set in the mouth of a stone dragon (II: 16)
Dragonstone's sept contains carved statues of the Seven. The Crone had pearl eyes, the Father a gilded beard, and the Stranger looks more animal than human. Many layers of paint and varnish has been applied to them over the centuries (II: 108, 109)
Aegon the Conqueror had knelt to pray in Dragonstone's sept the night before he sailed (II: 109)
The idols of the Seven on Dragonstone were carved from the masts of the ships that had carried the first Targaryens from Valyria (II: 109)
Over the centuries the statues had been painted, repainted, gilded, silvered, and/or jewelled (II: 109)
An old inn at the end of the stone pier of the port, a waist-high gargoyle so weathered as to be nearly obliterated standing outside (II: 112, 113)
The Gullet is a stretch of water beyond Blackwater Bay, between Massey's Hook and Driftmark (III: 109)
Driftmark has a long point, and by the time one passes it the island of Dragonstone has begun to come into view (III: 109)
The citadel of Dragonstone is wrought all of black stone (III: 110)
Being caught smuggling by the sea watch about Dragonstone was death in the days of Aerys (III: 110)
It is said that there are shafts and secret stairs leading from the citadel to the heart of the Dragonmont (III: 114)
The castle gates are made of iron-studded wood (III: 116)
From the citadel gates one can go through an arch named the Dragon's Tail and enter Aegon's Garden (III: 117)
Aegon's Garden has a pleasant pine scent, with tall dark trees on every side. Wild roses grow there, and towering thorny hedges, and there is a boggy spot where cranberries grow (III: 117)
Cells in the dungeons beneath the citadel are warmer than they ought to be, and as dank as one might expect for an isle such as Dragonstone (III: 285)
The passages beneath the mass of Dragonstone are smooth and stony and always warm. It's often said that they grow warmer the further down one goes (III: 285)
Old tales say that Dragonstone was built with the stones of hell (III: 285)
No windows pierce the thick stone walls of the dungeons (III: 286)
The houses sworn to Dragonstone are known as the lords of the narrow sea (III: 291)
At the third turn up the turnpike stairs from the deep dungeons one will encounter an iron gate, and another at the fifth turn nearer the surface as the dark, rough stone grows cooler to the touch. The door after that is wooden, but still the turnpike stairs climbs as it continues past the ground (III: 405)
A high stone bridge arches over emptiness to the massive central tower called the Stone Drum, connecting it to the dungeon tower (III: 405)
The bridge has a waist-high side (III: 406)
Four tall pointed windows look out to the north, south, east, and west in the Chamber of the Painted Table (III: 406)
Claw Isle is a few hours' sail from Dragonstone (III: 408)
Aegon commanded the Painted Table to be painted accurately to represent the Seven Kingdoms as they then were, but without any borders to signify that it should be one realm alone instead of many (III: 412)
Dragonstones grotesques and gargoyles are shaped in many fashions, each different from all the others. There are wyverns, griffins, demons, manticores, minotaurs, basilisks, hellhounds, cockatrices, and a thousand queerer creatures on the battlements (III: 602)
There are dragons everywhere at Dragonstone. The Great Hall is a dragon lying on its bellow, men entering it through its open mouth. The kitchens are a dragon curled in a ball, the smoke and steam of the ovens vented through its nostrils. The towers are dragons hunched above walls or poised for flight; the Windwyrm seems to scream defiance, while the Sea Dragon Tower gazes serenly out across the waves. Smaller dragons frame gates, and dragon claws emerge from walls to grasp at torches, great stone wings enfold the smithy and armory, and tails form arches, bridges, and exterior stairs (III: 602)
It is often said that the old wizards of Valyria did not cut and chisel stone, but worked it with fire and magic as one might work clay (III: 603)
From the cellar of the Sea Dragon Tower, one can exit through a door, walk across a courtyard and take steps down under the tail of a dragon, and arrive at a postern gate which is not far from the sea (III: 708, 709)
There is much obsidian to be found in the old tunnels beneath the mountain, in chunks, boulders, and ledges. The great part is black, but some is green, some red, and some even purple (III: 885)
Dragonlore was once accumulated on Dragonstone (SSM: 1)
Dragonstone is the least populous region in the Seven Kingdoms (SSM: 1)
The Valyrians settled Dragonstone not long before the Doom (SSM: 1)

Last revised August 05, 2009
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2.1.3. King’s Landing and its Environs

If the wind's are good, a person might sail from White Harbor to King's Landing and arrive well ahead of a party that have had two or more weeks on horseback from Winterfell (I: 115)
Three hundred years before, the site of King's Landing was hills and forests, with only a handful of fisherfolk living north of the Blackwater Rush (I: 141)
King's Landing is where Aegon the Conqueror first landed, and on the highest hill the first fortress of wood and earth was made (I: 141)
King's Landing sprawls across the shore with arbors, granaries, manses, storehouses, inns, graveyards, brothels, taverns, merchant stalls, etc. A person at sea would see that the city would cover the shore as far as the eye can see (I: 141)
King's Landing has a fish market (I: 141)
Visenya's Hill is crowned by the marble-walled Great Sept of Baelor and its seven crystal towers (I: 141. II: 549)
Rhaenys's Hill is peaked by the collapsed ruins of the Dragonpit dome, its bronze doors shut for a century (I: 141)
The Street of the Sisters runs straight as an arrow between the hills of Visenya and Rhaenys (I: 141)
A hundred quays line the waterfront (I: 141)
Ferrymen pole back and forth across the Blackwater (I: 141)
Trading galleys from the Free Cities come to trade at King's Landing (I: 141)
Whalers from the Port of Ibben might trade at King's Landing (I: 142)
Halfway up Visenya's Hill is Eel Alley, where an inn may be found (I: 143)
The City Watch wear golden cloaks and black armor (I: 143)
The City Watch is led by its Commander (I: 229)
The Great Sept of Baelor has a rainbow pool (I: 229)
The Street of Steel is where most smiths have their forges. It begins on the market square besides the River Gate and climbs up Visenya's hill. The higher up one goes, the more expensive the shops (I: 234)
The River Gate is better known as the Mud Gate (I: 234)
Large tournaments are held outside of the city, beside the Blackwater (I: 246)
The King's Gate leads tourney goers back into the city (I: 255)
A network of tunnels under the city are part of the Targaryen secrets. One can reach the Blackwater Rush through one that exits into a sewer pipe (I: 290)
The spears of the City Watch are topped by black iron heads (I: 440)
Some members of the City Watch wear mail and plate (I: 448)
The Street of Flour is named so for holding numerous bakeries (I: 599)
The cloaks of the City Watch are wool dyed a golden hue (I: 600)
The seven towers of the Great Sept of Baelor each have bells. All of them ringing for a day and a night mark the death of a king (I: 600)
The other gates of King's Landing are the Dragon Gate, the Lion Gate, the Old Gate, the Gate of the Gods, and the Iron Gate (I: 601)
The Blackwater Rush is wide and deep, its currents treacherous (I: 601)
In Flea Bottom there are pot-shops along the alleys where huge tubs hold simple stews. For half a pigeon one can get a heel of yesterday's bread and a bowl of the stew (I: 601)
It is said that the pot-shops will pay a fistful of coppers for a litter of puppies (I: 602)
Below the Street of Flour, as one makes one way down Rhaenys's Hill, the maze of twisting alleys and crossing streets that make up Flea Bottom are encountered (I: 602)
The buildings of Flea Bottom lean in so closely over the narrow alleys that they nearly touch (I: 602)
The River Gate leads to the docks (I: 602)
Flea Bottom's streets are narrow, crooked, and unpaved (I: 603)
Flea Bottom stinks of pigsties, stables, tanneries, and winesinks (I: 603)
When the king dies, all the bells in the city are rung (I: 604)
One tower tolling from Baelor's Sept is a summoning for the city (I: 604)
No one is taken to the Great Sept of Baelor to be executed (I: 605)
A white marble plaza atop Visenya's Hill is before the Great Sept (I: 605)
At the head of the plaza beneath the steps of Baelor's Step is a painted marble plinth with a statue of Baelor the Blessed, the septon king, at its peak (I: 605, 606)
Around the doors of the Great Sept is a raised marble pulpit (I: 606)
The gatehouse of the Gate of the Gods is carved exquisitely with figures, their eyes done so that they might seem to follow those who pass through (II: 49)
An officer of the City Watch wears a black enamelled breastplate ornamented with four golden disks (II: 65)
Officers of the City Watch captain the gates of the city (II: 91)
There are stone-and-timber manses in King's Landing with their own wells, stables, and gardens (II: 96)
Shadowblack Lane leads to the foot of Aegon's High Hill (II: 173, 330)
From the Red Keep to a place behind the hill of Rhaenys, a litter can take an hour to be carried the distance should the streets be busy (II: 174)
Behind the hill of Rhaenys, the Street of Silk is lined with brothels of various expense (II: 174. III: 437)
Rosby and Stokeworth are near the city, not far north from it (II: 193)
A claim that there are a hundred whore houses in the city of the cheapest sort, where a clipped copper is enough to buy as much sex as one could want (II: 194)
The entrance to the Guildhall is atop broad curving steps that front the Street of the Sisters, not far from the foot of Visenya's hill (II: 229)
The gatehouse of the Gate of the Gods has a windowless guard room (II: 230)
A postern gate in the north wall of the Red Keep leads to Shadowblack Lane (II: 330)
From the foot of Aegon's High Hill one can take Pigrun Alley past rows of tall timber-and-stone buildings whose upper stories leaned out so far over the streets that they nearly touch those of the buildings across from them (II: 330)
A manse in the city would be fenced, its gates having some way for someone within to look out such as an ornate eye that opens (II: 332)
The City Watch has men who can act as mounted lancers (II: 433)
From the Mud Gate, one crosses Fishmonger's Square to reach the Muddy Way before turning onto the narrow, curving Hook which leads up Aegon's High Hill (II: 433-434)
Flea Bottom is relatively near to the Guildhall of the Alchemists (II: 438)
A bell is rung in the city to mark evenfall (II: 438)
The wealthier neighborhoods of King's Landing might be found near the Old Gate (II: 439)
There is a street named Sowbelly Row (II: 439)
Pisswater Bend is probably in the area of Flea Bottom (II: 439-440)
Coppersmith's Wynd is another street (II: 466)
Fishwives sell their catches about the quays, in stalls or with just a barrel or two to mark their place (II: 518)
Behind the quays outside of the walls, there tend to be ramshackle buildings which extend to the walls. The buildings are bait shacks, pot shops, warehouses, merchant's stalls, alehouses, and the cribs where the cheaper sort of whores do their business (II: 519)
The Dragonpit has been abandoned for a century and a half (II: 523)
Along the riverfront there are brothels, homes, and warehouses (II: 548)
There is room for thousands of people inside of the Great Sept of Baelor (II: 595)
Merling Rock is apparently an island in Blackwater Bay (II: 601)
There's a sally port at the King's Gate (II: 616)
The Iron Gate exits to the north (II: 633)
Barren spires, sea monts, jut out of the water of Blackwater Bay, some standing as much as a hundred feet above the sea. Sailors know them as the spears of the merling king. For every one that breaks the surface, a dozen more are just beneath the surface to rend a ships hull, and ships stay far away from them (III: 55, 56)
Some spears of the merling king are barren of anything but lichen, with even seabirds shunning them, but larger ones provide safe nesting places for the birds (III: 55)
While honest sailors stay away from the spears of the merling king, smugglers have made use of them the better to stay unseen (III: 57, 58)
The Targaryens raised an immense domed castle, the Dragonpit, to keep the royal dragons. It was a cavernous dwelling, with doors of iron so wide that thirty knights could ride through them abreast (III: 89)
The Gullet is a stretch of water beyond Blackwater Bay, between Massey's Hook and Driftmark (III: 109)
The Sharp Point watch tower, belonging to the Bar Emmons, has a great fire kept lit atop it. Sharp Point is at the end of Massey's Hook (III: 108)
Water fowl teem in the marshes across the Blackwater Rush from the city (III: 183)
Someone may reach King's Landing from Maidenpool by taking the Duskendale road southwards (III: 236)
There are various guilds in King's Landing who are consulted with concerning matters in the city, such as rebuilding after some catastrophe (III: 352)
King's Landing is the realms principle harbor, rivaled only by Oldtown (III: 353)
A maze of small streets cluster about the foot of Visenya's High Hill (III: 355)
Duskendale has a port, lying as it does on the narrow sea (III: 356, 397)
The Kingswood Brotherhood was almost legendary as an outlaw band. Its members included Simon Toyne and the Smiling Knight, Oswyn Longneck the Thrice-Hanged, the young and comely Wenda the White Fawn, Fletcher Dick (who some say was the finest archer that ever lived), Big Belly Ben, and others (III: 369. IV: 452)
Simon Toyne was infamous, the chief of the Kingswood Brotherhood. He once took part in a tourney as a mystery knight. He was killed by Ser Barristan Selmy (III: 485, 752. SSM: 1)
The Great Sept of Baelor has two towering gilded statues of the Father and the Mother, between which a royal bride and groom place themselves for their wedding vows (III: 660, 667)
King's Landing is many times larger than White Harbor (III: 694)
Brindlewood may is a village or town along the kingsroad (III: 695)
From the Gate of the Gods one can take the Street of Seeds to get to the Red Keep, passing brothels, bakers, and alleys, and going through Cobbler's Square (III: 696, 697)
There are so many hiding places in the deep of the kingswood that outlaws often evaded capture for decades (III: 739)
Kings are laid to rest in tombs in the Great Sept of Baelor (III: 751)
Barristan Selmy was knighted in his 16th year by King Aegon V Targaryen after performing great feats of prowess as a mystery knight in the winter tourney at King's Landing, defeating Prince Duncan the Small and Ser Duncan the Tall, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard (III: 752)
Ser Barristan rescued Lady Jeyne Swann and her septa from the Kingswood Brotherhood, defeating Simon Toyne and the Smiling Knight, and slaying the former (III: 752)
Big Belly Ben of the Kingswood Brotherhood nearly killed Lord Sumner Crakehall, but his squire Jaime Lannister defended him and sent him fleeing (III: 753)
The Smiling Knight was a madman, chivalry and cruelty all jumbled together, but he did not know the meaning of fear. When Ser Arthur Dayne broke the Kingswood Brotherhood, he fought against the squire Jaime Lannister and then against the Sword of the Morning with Dawn in his hands. The outlaw's sword had so many notches by the end that Ser Arthur had stopped to let him fetch a new one. When the robber knight told Dayne that it was Dawn that he wanted when the fight resumed, Ser Arthur responded that he would have it and made an end of it, killing him (III: 753)
Kingslanders have a certain way of speaking that can make them distinctive (TSS: 120)
Fires to destroy the remains of the dead during the Great Spring Sickness changed King's Landing. A quarter of the homes were gone, and another quarter stood empty (TSS: 121)
By 211, drought had left the kingswood so dry that fires raged through it by day and night (TSS: 121)
The sort of "teasing" that can go on between the children of Flea Bottom could include the cutting off of a toe (TSS: 124)
King's Landing roads are unpaved and muddy, with many of its buildings are of daub-and-wattle or of wood with thatched roofs, in contrast to Oldtown's cobbled streets and primarily-stone construction (IV: 12)
The shortest road from Kings Landing to Duskendale passes through Rosby and moves in a northeastern direction. (IV: 56, 57)
Perhaps a day's ride past Rosby one can come to the Old Stone Bridge, a tall, timbered inn sitting astride a stone bridge over a river junction (IV: 67)
On entering the Great Sept of Baelor, one passes beneath colored globes of leaded glass in the Hall of Lamps (IV: 101)
Past the inner doors of the Great Sept is its cavernous center, with seven broad aisles which meet beneath the dome (IV: 101)
The Great Sept's dome is lofty and made of glass, gold, and crystal (IV: 101)
The Great Sept has high windows (IV: 116)
The altars of the Seven in the Great Sept feature towering likenesses set in transpets, and are surrounded by lit candles. The floors are of marble and the transepts alone are larger than many septs (IV: 116, 124)
The Great Sept can be accessed via the Father’s Door, the Mother’s Door, the Stranger’s Steps, and other entryways (IV: 124)
Weasel Alley (IV: 125)
Crackclaw Point is a dismal land of bogs, wild hills, and pine barrens (IV: 141, 213)
The Whispers is a castle in Crackclaw Point, ruined for a thousand years, which was once associated with the Crabbs. It was once a smuggler's cove, but has been abandoned for thirty years or more (IV: 213-214)
The Gate of the Gods is grander and more magnificent than the Lion Gate (IV: 226)
East of Maidenpool, the hills are wilder and covered with pine (IV: 280)
The coast road east from Maidenpool is the shortest, easiest way towards the Whispers. It is seldom out of sight of the bay. There are towns and villages along it, growing progressively less populace the further one travels into Crackclaw Point (IV: 280)
The coast road that starts east of Maidenpool eventually gives out in the northern reaches of Crackclaw Point (IV: 280)
The people of Crackclaw Point know their bogs and forests like no other, and when hard-pressed will disappear into the caves that can be found throughout the hills (IV: 282)
Limestone hills rise beyond the Dyre Den, the castle of Lord Brune in Crackclaw Point (IV: 286-287)
The Whispers are roughly three days' ride from the Dyre Den (IV: 288-289)
The Whispers is an ancient ruined castle at the edge of a cliff above the narrow sea. Built of unmortared stones, its name comes from the whispering sound the sea makes as it rumbles through caves and tunnels the water has worn through the cliff. The castle is triangular in shape, with ruined square towers, but the keep and bailey have been swallowed up by growth; the gate has rotted, but a rusted portcullis remains behind it and there is a postern in the north wall. The castle is overgrown, its godswood engulfing its stones. There was once a beacon tower, and steps down to the ocean, but when these collapsed with the cliff they were on some decades past, smugglers no longer made use of the cove as they once had (IV: 289-291)
The hilltop castle of the Hayfords is a day's ride north from King's Landing. A stream runs along the foot of the hill (IV: 396-397)
Travelling north from Hayford castle over the next five days, riders might come across a stable, an inn, an old stone barn, a small wooded island in a stream, and an open field in succession at each night's rest (IV: 399)
Sow's Horn, a towerhouse held by knights of House Hogg, is at least 5 days north of Hayford (IV: 400)
The boundary between the lands sworn to King's Landing and those sworn to Riverrun, marked by a stream, is only a day north of Sow's Horn (IV: 400)
The Great Sept of Baelor has large gardens, capable of holding hundreds (IV: 414)
There are cells for pentinents in the Great Sept of Baelor (IV: 418)
The vaults of the Great Sept hold costly vestments, rings, crystal crowns, and other treasures of the Faith (IV: 419)
The sept-proper of the Great Sept is reached through double-doors in the Hall of Lamps. The floors are of marble, light enters through great windows of leaded, colored glass, and the seven altars are set about with candles (IV: 419)
In autumn, the leaves of trees in the kingswood turn their color, and autumn flowers and chestnuts can be found in plenty (IV: 425)
The Kingswood Brotherhood's downfall was Ser Arthur Dayne's winning the love of the smallfolk of the kingswood, expanding their grazing lands, winning them the right to fell more trees, and so on. Once they saw Ser Arthur and the king protected them better than the outlaws did, the Brotherhood was lost (IV: 453)
A comet was seen above King's Landing on the day that Rhaegar's son Aegon was conceived (IV: 520)
There are small cells atop the slender towers of Baelor's Sept, eight feet by six feet, with a single window barely wider than an arrow slit (IV: 649)
There are rooms and cells beneath Baelor's Sept, dug into the heart of Visenya's Hill. Among them is a seven-sided audience chamber of the High Septon. The room is plain, with bare walls, but the faces of the Seven have been carved into. Though they are crude, there is power to them, and their eyes are of malachite, onyx, and yellow moonstone (IV: 651)
The only fleets comparable to the Greyjoy fleet in the Seven Kingdoms are the royal fleet and the Redwyne fleet based at the Arbor (SSM: 1)
King's Landing is a much bigger city than Lannisport (SSM: 1)
The City Watch were likely known as gold cloaks even before Robert's ascension, and seem to have used gold and black before his reign (SSM: 1)

Last revised November 30, 2009
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2.1.3.1. The Red Keep

The Iron Throne is the seat of kings in the Seven Kingdoms (I: 26, 39)
The Red Keep was raised by the Targaryens (I: 64)
19 dragons skulls were kept in the Red Keep after the death of the last dragon. Many, if not all, decorated the throne room of the Targaryen kings (I: 101-2)
The Red Keep sits on Aegon's high hill (I: 142)
The Red Keep consists of seven huge drum-towers with iron ramparts, an immense barbican, vaulted halls and covered bridges, barracks and dungeons and granaries, massive curtain walls with archers' nests, all in pale red stone (I: 142)
Aegon the Conqueror commanded the raising of the keep, his son Maegor the Cruel saw it completed and slew every living person who worked on it to keep its secrets to the Targaryens alone (I: 142)
Narrow postern doors are near the great bronze gates and portcullis (I: 144, 160)
The gate and portcullis into the Red Keep are kept closed during the night (I: 144)
The Tower of the Hand is reserved for the use of the Hand of the King (I: 160)
The chambers of the King's small council are richly furnished with Myrish carpets, carved screens painted with a hundred fantastic beasts from the Summer Isles, tapestries from the Free Cities, and a pair of Valyrian sphinxes (I: 161)
The small council chambers are near the great outer gate. One crosses the courtyard and enters into the inner bailey to make his way towards the Tower of the Hand (I: 164)
The Red Keep is a castle-within-a-castle (I: 164)
Relics of the Targaryens, dusty suits of black armor with dragon scales cresting their helms, sit in halls (I: 165)
There is a secret way to get out of the Red Keep onto the cliffs facing the sea. Narrow handholds, impossible to see from the ground, have been cut into the rock so one may climb down to a trail beside the Blackwater (I: 165)
The throne room is large enough to seat a thousand people for feasts (I: 181. III: 214)
The Small Hall of the Tower of the Hand is a long room with a high vaulted ceiling and bench space for two hundred (I: 181)
Doors are made of oak banded with black iron (I: 184)
The heart tree of the Red Keep's godswood is an ancient oak (I: 214)
The Red Keep is full of cats (I: 284)
The Red Keep is smaller than Winterfell (I: 286)
The Red Keep has a network of secret tunnels under it. One, a shaft twenty feet wide with steps leading down into the darkness, can be sealed away by a huge stone sliding down to stop it (I: 289)
Some tunnels are of stone, others are earth supported by timbers (I: 290)
The throne room of the Red Keep has high narrow windows and is cavernous (I: 386)
The Iron Throne is a monstrosity of spikes and jagged edges and twisted metal, made of the swords of conquered foes. It is uncomfortable, and the back is fanged with steel which makes leaning back impossible. Aegon the Conqueror had it made, saying that a king should never sit easy (I: 386)
When the king is presiding, only he, his family, and his council may sit. All others must stand or kneel (I: 386)
Smallfolk can be present at royal petitioning sessions. They stand in the gallery, among lesser nobles and merchants who are not part of the regular court (I: 387, 390)
The court stands in the throne room, to the sides (I: 387)
The throne on its dais sits high above the floor of the hall (I: 388)
The Iron Throne is supposed to have taken a thousand blades to make, heated in the breath of Balerion the Black Dread. The hammering had taken fifty-nine days. The chair still has sharp points and edges, and can kill a man; and story has it that it has (I: 388)
The king or his Hand might hear disputes between rival holdfasts, petitions, and the adjudicating of the placement of boundary stones (I: 390)
The steps of the throne dais are of iron, and are both steep and narrow (I:393, 440)
The royal apartments are in Maegor's Holdfast (I: 429)
Maegor's Holdfast is a massive square fortress inside the heart of the Red Keep behind walls twelve feet thick and a dry moat lined with iron spikes. It is a castle-within-a-castle (I: 420)
The king's bedchamber has twin hearths (I: 420)
The throne room is oriented north to south, with windows on the eastern and western walls (I: 516)
A hundred lords both great and small might be accustomed to wait upon a king when he holds audience (I: 517)
To the rear of the throne room, there is another exit with tall doors (I: 517)
The doors of the throne room are oak-and-bronze (I: 521)
The doors of the Red Keeps' dungeons are four-inch thick gray wood with iron studs. The walls are of the same red stone the entire Keep is made of, but untended so that nitre grows in patches and the rushes are unclean (I: 524)
Thick stone parapets, some four feet high, protect the outer edge of the wall ramparts. Crenelations are cut into it every five feet for archers (I: 626)
Between the crenels at the gatehouse, atop the wall, are iron spikes on which the heads of traitor's are traditionally placed (I: 626)
There is a well in the Red Keep's lower bailey (II: 194)
From the godswood, one can take a river walk past a small kitchen and through the pig yard to reach the serpentine steps that lead down to the drawbridge of Maegor's Holdfast (II: 207)
Supplicants to the crown cluster about the high oak-and-bronze doors of the throne room (II: 294)
Rushes are used on the floors as the weather cools, even in the Tower of the Hand (II: 326)
A postern gate in the north wall leads to Shadowblack Lane, which itself leads to the foot of Aegon's High Hill (II: 330)
A cobbled square fronts the Red Keep's barbican (II: 435)
The secret entrance into the Hand's chambers in the Tower of the Hand is reached by a strange passage. One goes down a ladder (from some unknown beginning point), walks a long distance that turns in many directions, meets an iron gate. Past the iron gate is a room in which a dragon is done in a mosaic of red and black tiles on the floor. Then another ladder is taken, this time going up, with a tunnel to left being reached after climbing 230 rungs in which a full-grown man must crawl. Sixty feet on is a secret door (II: 472, 570. III: 876. IV: 118)
There are chestnut trees in the godswood (II: 548)
The sept of the Red Keep has high windows set with crystals which break the light into rainbow hues. Candles burn at every side. There are altars to each of the Seven and benches where people may pray and sing and listen to sermons (II: 595)
The Red Keep's sept is in the outer castle (II: 596)
The Queen's Ballroom is not a tenth of the size of the Red Keep's Great Hall (which can seat more than 1,000 people) and only about half the size of the Small Hall of the Tower of the Hand (which can seat two hundred people.) Beaten silver mirrors back every wall scone so that light is reflected into the room, the walls are paneled in richly carved wood, and sweet-smelling rushes are scattered on the floor. Musicians use a gallery above it. Arched windows with heavy velvet drapes run along the south wall (II: 597)
Long trestle tables are used in the Queen's Ballroom (II: 597)
The tall doors at the end of the Queen's Ballroom can be closed and barred (II: 598)
The Red Keep sits on steep and rocky bluffs spotted with lichen and gnarled thorny trees (II: 604)
The Queen's Ballroom has a back door (II: 617)
It's said that the Iron Throne can be dangerous to those not meant to sit in it (II: 668)
There is a bedchamber on the floor above the Queen's Ballroom (II: 687)
There are many small inner yards within the castle (III: 63)
A long slate-roofed keep behind the royal sept has been named the Maidenvault since King Baelor the Blessed confined his sisters there, so that sight o them might not tempt him into sinful thoughts (III: 64, 65)
King Aerys was always cutting himself upon the Iron Throne (III: 130)
There are snug, windowless chambers beneath the north wall (III: 133)
King Maegor wanted the means to make a secret escape from the Red Keep should his enemies ever trap him (IIII: 136)
There are kennels in the Red Keep, where men might sometimes set dogs to fighting (III: 137)
One of the chambers beneath the north wall contains a large flat stone meant for a bed. By the use of counterweights, it can be made to float upwards to reveal secret steps after pushing at a secret place (III: 140)
Aerys cut himself so often on the Iron Throne that men took to calling him King Scab (III: 410)
The royal nursery in Maegor's holdfast is on the floor below the royal apartments (III: 594)
The Kitchen Keep is outside of Maegor's Holdfast. It has spacious apartments at the top, with a large bedchamber and adequate solar, a bath and dressing room, and small adjoining chambers for serving men and women. Some of those cells even have windows, though mostly they're little more than arrow slits (III: 655)
The Kitchen Keep is only across the courtyard from the castle's main kitchen (III: 655)
Much of the castle is connected underground, and the Kitchen Keep is no exception with passages leading from its vaulted cellar (III: 655)
The Kitchen Keep has a roof garden (III: 659)
Traitor's Walk (III: 659)
The throne room has a long carpet stretching from the great bronze doors to the Iron Throne (III: 740)
A round white room, its walls whitewashed stone hung with white woolen tapestries, forms the first floor of White Sword Tower, a slender structure of four stories built into an angle of the castle wall overlooking the bay. The undercroft holds arms and armor, the second and third floors the small spare sleeping cells of the six brothers of the Kingsguard, and the topmost floor is given over to the Lord Commander's apartments. His rooms are spare as well, but spacious, and they stand above the outer walls (III: 750)
The tunnels beneath the Red Keep are supposedly full of traps for the unwary (III: 875)
Maegor the Cruel decreed four levels of dungeons for his castle. On the upper level are cells with high narrow windows where common criminals are confined together. The second level has smaller cells without windows for highborn captives, torches in the halls casting light through the bars. The third level cells, the black cells, are smaller still and have doors of wood so that no light enters them. The lowest level is the fourth, and once a man is taken down there he never sees the sun again, nor hears a voice, nor breathes a breath free of agonizing pain, for the fourth level is set aside for torment (III: 875)
It is supposedly safer to go through the fourth level of the dungeons in darkness, because there are things one would not wish to see (III: 875)
In the chamber of the five doors beneath the castle, one of the doors will lead the way to the river. It has not been opened in a long time (III: 876)
In 211, the Red Keep was garrisoned by the Raven's Teeth, the private guard of Brynden Rivers, Lord Bloodraven (TSS: 122)
The Red Keep’s dungeons are managed by the King’s Justice and the gaoler. Under them is the chief undergaoler, the undergaolers, and the turnkeys. There are wages paid for a score of turnkeys and six undergaolers, but in Robert’s reign there were no more than twelve and three respectively (IV: 121-122)
There are said to be more than half a hundred secret passages. Among them are crawlways too small for an adult, a passage to the black cells, a stone well with no bottom. Also found is a room full of skulls and bones (IV: 174)
At the end of Traitor's Walk are the dungeons and prison cells of the Red Keep, in a squat, half-round tower. The upper levels are divided into cells for prisoners afforded some comfort. At ground level is the entrance to the dungeons, behind a splintery grey and iron door. Inbetween are chambers for the King's Justice, the Chief Gaoler, and the Lord Confessor in the days when the Targaryens kept such an office. The King's Justice serves not only as a headsman, but as the man in charge of the dungeons and the men who labored there (IV: 396)

Last revised July 07, 2009
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2.1.3.2. The Kingsguard

The Kingsguard wear snow-white cloaks (I: 32)
Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning, was the deadliest of the Kingsguard in the time of Aerys II (I: 55)
It was said that Eddard Stark slew Ser Arthur Dayne in single combat (I: 55)
The Kingsguard are said to be the finest knights in the Seven Kingdoms (I: 64)
There are only seven Kingsguard, who wear white armor and have neither wives nor children. They live only to serve the king (I: 64)
Famous Kingsguard include Serwyn of the Mirror Shield, Ser Ryam Redwyne, Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, the twins Ser Erryk and Ser Arryk who died on each other's swords during the Dance of the Dragons, Ser Gerold Hightower the White Bull, Ser Arthur Dayne the Sword of the Morning, and Ser Barristan Selmy the Bold (I: 65)
The Kingsguard split during the Dance of the Dragons, some supporting Aegon II and others supporting Rhaenyra (I: 65. IV: 232. SSM: 1)
Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer, breaks tradition and wears gold-plated armor with a helm shaped like a lion's head and blazons his shield with the emblem of his house (I: 97, 262)
The Kingsguard wear intricate suits of white eenamelledscales, their fastenings for breastplate and other pieces made of silver (I: 120, 520)
The shields of the Kingsguard are pure, unblazoned white (I: 257)
Ser Barristan Selmy was the best sword in the realm during his youth (I: 266)
The days that men like Ryam Redwyne and Prince Aemon the Dragonknight wore the white is seen as dead and gone. Only Barristan the Bold is judged to be of the true steel (I: 270)
Ser Arthur Dayne, Ser Gerold Hightower, and Ser Oswell Whent were ordered by Rhaegar to stand guard at the 'tower of joy' near Dorne. All three died there (I: 354-356)
Queen Naerys was supposed to have loved Prince Aemon the Dragonknight greatly (I: 399)
Prince Aemon and his love for his brother's queen was doomed (I: 461)
A member of the Kingsguard gives up his inheritance and any chance at children when he swears his vows (I: 519)
The Kingsguard is a Sworn Brotherhood, vowing to serve for life. Only death may relieve one of his sacred trust (I: 520)
A Kingsguard swears to ward the king with all of his strength and to give his blood for his ruler's (I: 520)
The Sworn Brothers of the Kingsguard are always knights (I: 521)
The rite for making a new member of the White Swords can vary. In common there seems to be the fact that it is a solemn and formal event, in which the knight kneels as he makes his vows before the kings, and that he receives the white cloak of the Kingsguard from the Hand of the king or the Lord Commander himself (I: 526. II: 520)
It was rumored that Daeron II's true father was not Aegon IV but his brother, Prince Aemon the Dragonknight (I: 554, 693. TSS: 136)
Ser Roland Crakehall, Ser Willem Wylde, and the knight Ser Donnel of Duskendale (who might have been a hedge knight) were among the Kingsguard of King Daeron II (THK: 476, 512)
House Hollard was almost entirely destroyed at King Aerys's command following the Defiance of Duskendale, except for the young Dontos Hollard who was allowed to live at Ser Barristan Selmy's request (II: 33. IV: 134)
The White Swords take turns at shielding the king and the royal family (II: 211)
Prince Aemon the Dragonknight was said to have a wept when his sister Naerys wed their brother Aegon (II: 432)
The twin brothers Ser Arryk and Ser Erryk were said to have wept when they dealt mortal wounds to each other in the Dance of the Dragons (II: 432)
The Kingsguard do not marry (II: 577)
Jaime Lannister was the youngest knight to ever wear the white cloak of the Kingsguard at the age of 15 (II: 581. SSM: 1)
Ser Barristan Selmy was born on the Dornish Marches and squired for Lord Swann of Stonehelm in his youth (II: 646. III: 651)
Cersei Lannister seems to have had much to do with the chosing of her brother Jaime for the Kingsguard (III: 128)
Ser Jaime was chosen to the Kingsguard only a little over a month after the death of old Ser Harlan Grandison, who passed away in his sleep (III: 128)
Ser Ilyn Payne had been captain of Lord Tywin's guard while he was Hand. He once boasted that it was the Hand who truly ruled the realm, and Aerys ripped his tongue out for it (III: 128)
Lord Tywin was furious that he had lost his heir to the Kingsguard. He gave up the Handship on a thin pretext and returned to Casterly Rock, taking Cersei with him (III: 129)
Ser Arthur Dayne rode against the Kingswood Brotherhood, and knighted Jaime Lannister on the battlefield for his valor (III: 129, 130)
Ser Mandon Moore was brought from the Vale by the Hand, Lord Jon Arryn, and made one of Robert's Kingsguard (III: 134)
Prince Aemon the Dragonknight is said to have protected his sister Naerys night and day (III: 183)
Aegon the Unworthy had never harmed Queen Naerys, perhaps for fear of their brother the Dragonknight (III: 184)
When a knight of the Kingsguard, Ser Terrence Toyne, had fallen in love with one of Aegon the Unworthy's mistresses, King Aegon had them executed. Toyne was dismembered piece by piece, while the mistress was forced to watch before meeting her own death. His brothers attempted to avenge him by killing Aegon, but Prince Aemon the Dragonknight died defending him instead, and they paid for their treason with their lives
The Dragonknight once won a tourney as the Knight of Tears, so he could name his sister the queen of love and beauty In place of the king's mistress (III: 282)
Barristan the Bold twice donned a mystery knight's armor, the first time when he was only ten (III: 282)
After Ser Jaime Lannister donned the white cloak of the Kingsguard at the great tournament at Harrenhal, King Aerys sent him away to King's Landing before he could take part in the jousting. The White Bull offered to take his place, but Aerys refused (III: 345, 502)
A former member of the Kingswood Brotherhood, Ulmer, claimed to have put an arrow through the White Bull's hand to steal a kiss from a Dornish princess, as well as her jewels and a chest of gold (III: 369)
Growing frantic, Aerys gracelessly reminded Prince Lewyn Martell that Princess Elia was in his power and sent him to take command of 10,000 Dornishmen coming up the kingsroad (III: 418)
Jon Darry and Barristan Selmy of the Kingsguard were sent towards to Stoney Sept to rally what they could of Lord Connington's scattered men (III: 418)
King Aerys kept Ser Jaime Lannister close, not trusting him, and so Ser Jaime learned all of his plans before the Sack of King's Landing (III: 419)
Jon Arryn came to Sunspear the year after Robert took the throne to return Prince Lewyn's bones and speak with Prince Doran (III: 436, 593)
Barristan Selmy slew the last of the Blackfyre Pretenders, Maelys the Monstrous, in single combat on the Stepstones during the War of the Ninepenny Kings (III: 521, 752)
Ser Ryam Redwyne was the greatest knight of his day, and one of the worst Hands ever to serve a king (III: 604)
Ser Barristan Selmy was born on the Dornish Marches and squired for Lord Swann of Stonehelm in his youth (II: 646. III: 651)
The Dragonknight was saved from a snakepit by Baelor the Blessed, who had walked the Boneway barefoot to make peace with Dorne (III: 665)
Crippled or whole, a Kingsguard serves for life. If crippled, they'll be allowed to serve out their life with honor while other White Swords take up the burden in their place (III: 703. SSM: 1)
Supposedly, a suitable gift to the Faith would persuade the High Septon to release a Kingsguard from his vows (III: 703)
The first floor of the White Sword Tower contains a white book on a white table. (III: 750)
A round white room, its walls whitewashed stone hung with white woolen tapestries, forms the first floor of White Sword Tower, a slender structure of four stories built into an angle of the castle wall overlooking the bay. The undercroft holds arms and armor, the second and third floors the small spare sleeping cells of the six brothers of the Kingsguard, and the topmost floor is given over to the Lord Commander's apartments. His rooms are spare as well, but spacious, and they stand above the outer walls (III: 750)
The winter raiment of the Kingsguard are a tunic and breeches of white wool and a heavy white cloak (III: 750)
The Round Room has white wool hangings covering the walls anda white shield and two crossed longswords mounted abov the hearth. Behind the table is a chair of old black oak with cushions of blanched cowhide, the leather worn thin (III: 751)
Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, Ser Ryam Redwyne, the Demon of Darry, Ser Duncan the Tall, and the Pale Griffn Alyn Connington were all past Lord Commanders (III: 751)
The table in the Round Room is carved of old weirwood, pale as bone, shaped as a huge shield supported by three white stallions. By tradition, the Lord Commander sits at the top of the shield and the brothers three to a side on the rare occcasions when all seven were assembled (III: 751)
The book atop the table in the Round Room is massive, two feet tall and a foot and ahalf wide, a thousand pages thick, fine white vellum bound between covers of belached white leather with gold hinges and fastenings. It is called The Book of the Brothers but is most often simply called the White Book (III: 751)
Every knight who has ever served in the Kingsguard has a page in the White Book, to recod his name and deeds for all time. On the top left-hand corner of each page was drawn the shield the man had carried at the time he was chosen, inked in rich colors. In the bottom right corner is the pure white shield of the Kingsguard. In the space between the shields were written the facts of each man's life and service (III: 751)
The drawings and illuminations in the White Book are done by septons sent from the Great Sept of Baelor three times a year (III: 751)
It is the duty of the Lord Commander to keep the entries in the White Book up to date (III: 751)
Barristan Selmy won the name of "the Bold" in his 10th year when he donned borrowed armor to appear as a mystery knight at a tourney in Blackhaven, where he was defeated and unmasked by Ducan, Prince of Dragonflies (III: 752)
Barristan Selmy was knighted in his 16th year by King Aegon V Targaryen after performing great feats of prowess as a mystery knight in the winter tourney at King's Landing, defeating Prince Duncan the Small and Ser Duncan the Tall, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard (III: 752)
Ser Barristan the Bold defeated Lormelle Long Lance and Cedrik Storm, the Bastard of Bronzegate (III: 752)
Barristan Selmy was named to the Kingsguard in his 23rd year by Lord Commander Ser Gerold Hightower (III: 752)
Ser Barristan brought King Aerys II to safety during the Defiance of Duskendale despite an arrow wound in his chest (III: 752)
Ser Barristan avenged the murder of his Sworn Brother, Ser Gwayne Gaunt, who was cut down by Ser Symon Hollard, master-at-arms at Duskendale, when Lord Darklyn seized King Aerys (III: 752. IV: 134)
Ser Barristan rescued Lady Jeyne Swann and her septa from the Kingswood Brotherhood, defeating Simon Toyne and the Smiling Knight, and slaying the former (III: 752)
Ser Barristan served in the honor guard that brought Lady Cersei Lannister to King's Landing to wed King Robert (III: 752)
Barristan the Bold led the attack on Old Wyk during Balon Greyjoy's Rebellion (III: 752)
Ser Jaime Lannister served in the honor guard that brought his sister the Lady Cersei to King's Landing to wed King Robert, and was champion in the tourney held at King's Landing on the occasion of their wedding (III: 753)
The Smiling Knight was a madman, chivalry and cruelty all jumbled together, but he did not know the meaning of fear. When Ser Arthur Dayne broke the Kingswood Brotherhood, he fought against the squire Jaime Lannister and then against the Sword of the Morning with Dawn in his hands. The outlaw's sword had so many notches by the end that Ser Arthur had stopped to let him fetch a new one. When the robber knight told Dayne that it was Dawn that he wanted when the fight resumed, Ser Arthur responded that he would have it and made an end of it, killing him (III: 753)
When the Kingsguard meets in the Round Room, the Lord Commander formally asks, "Sers, who guards the king?" They reply with what other knights have been asked to see to his protection. "Will they keep him safe?" asks the Lord Commander after, and when they respond in the affirmative he replies, "Be seated, then" (III: 754)
There have been times during its history where the Kingsguard has been divided against itself, most notably and bitterly during the Dance of the Dragons (III: 754)
The Kingsguard are sworn to obey the king, but the first duty laid on them is to protect him (III: 757)
The vows of the Kingsguard require them to protect the king's secrets as they would his life (III: 815)
Ser Gwayne Corbray was a knight of the Kingsguard during Daeron II's reign. He wielded a Valyrian steel sword named Lady Forlorn, and fought against Daemon Blackfyre on the Redgrass Field for nearly an hour before being defeated. Daemon dismounted to make sure he was not accidentally trampledand ordered that he be helped to the rear (TSS: 111)
Aemon the Dragonknight carried the Valyrian steel sword named Dark Sister (TSS: 137. IV: 69)
Knights of the Kingsguard have a ceremonial suit of scale armor made of mother-of-pearl chased with gold (IV: 101)
A shield of Ser Duncan the Tall, painted with his arms, resides in the armory in Evenfall Hall (IV: 132, 140)
No house had as many knights in the Kingsguard as House Darklyn's seven (IV: 132)
Ser Barristan the Bold’s rescue of King Aerys from captivity at Duskendale led to Lord Denys’s immediate surrender (IV: 134)
Ser Symon Hollard, master-at-arms of Duskendale under Lord Denys Darklyn, killed Ser Gwayne Gaunt of the Kingsguard when King Aerys was seized. He was killed in turn by Barristan Selmy when he rescued the king (IV: 134-135)
When the Young Dragon was killed, a Kingsguard knight named Ser Olyvar Oakheart, known as the Green Oak, died at his side (IV: 185)
It's claimed that the rumors of Daeron the Good being the son of the Dragonknight were false, put about by Aegon the Unworthy when he considered putting aside his son for one of his bastards (IV: 193)
Ser Lucamore Strong, in later days known as Lucamore the Lusty, kept three wives and sixteen (or perhaps thirty) children in secret. When this was discovered, King Jaehaerys I had his Sworn Brothers castrate him, and then sent him to the Wall to serve out his days in the Night's Watch (IV: 193, 236)
It's claimed that Prince Lewyn Martell kept a paramour, a great beauty in her day, while he was in the Kingsguard (IV: 193)
Ser Criston Cole, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard at the time of the death of Viserys I, convinced his son Aegon II to claim the rule of the Seven Kingdoms as his father lay dying. This led to the war between Aegon and his elder sister Rhaenyra, whom Viserys had long groomed as his successor. Ser Criston became known as the Kingmaker, and ultimately died because of his actions. It was later claimed that he acted from ambition, or to defend ancient Andal custom giving precedence to sons over daughters, or because he had once had an affair with Rhaenyra until she spurned him (IV: 194)
Some of King Aerys's Kingsguard, such as Jonothor Darry, believed that though their vows included protecting the queen, it did not mean that they could protect her from her husband despite his abuses (IV: 232)
A famed knight of the Kingsguard, known as the Greatheart (IV: 236)
Oriel Greycloak was a knight of the Kingsguard who became a traitor (IV: 236)
Orivel the Open-handed was a knight of the Kingsguard who became known for his cowardice (IV: 236)
Long Tom Costayne served as a knight of the Kingsguard for sixty years (IV: 236)
Ser Addison Hill and Red Robert Flowers rose to command the Kingsguard despite being bastards (IV: 236-237)
Ser Michael Mertyns, known as the White Owl, and Ser Jeffrey Norcross, called Neveryield, were two knights of the Kingsguard who were famed in their day but were less well-known in later days (IV: 236)
Ser Rolland Darklyn was the youngest man to serve in the Kingsguard until Ser Jaime Lannister. He was made a knight of the Kingsguard on the battlefield, and died within the hour, but his king survived (IV: 237)
The arms of Ser Criston Cole before he donned the white cloak were ten black pellets on scarlet (IV: 237)
A number of knights from Crackclaw Point have served in the Kingsguard: a knight each from House Hardy, House Cave, and House Pyne, and no less than three from House Crabb by the names of Ser Clement, Ser Rupert, and Ser Clarence the Short (a tall man, but shorter than his legendary ancestor) (IV: 283)
It's said that Prince Lewyn Martell of the Kingsguard was killed at the Trident by Ser Lyn Corbray, although it's reported Prince Lewyn was already sorely injured at the time (IV: 331)
Though court protocol suggests many must bend the knee when the king or queen enter a place, the Kingsguard do not do so, standing guard as is their duty (IV: 349)
It is generally the Lord Commander who decides who will lead the Kingsguard in his stead when he is called to some other duty (IV: 392)
Knights of the Kingsguard do not give up their swords, even in the presence of their king (IV: 417)
The Kingswood Brotherhood's downfall was Ser Arthur Dayne's winning the love of the smallfolk of the kingswood, expanding their grazing lands, winning them the right to fell more trees, and so on. Once they saw Ser Arthur and the king protected them better than the outlaws did, the Brotherhood was lost (IV: 453)
The Dragonknight is said to have been a hero who died too young (IV: 519)
The valiant death of a Kingsguard might lead to a statue or other monument being raised to him (IV: 532)
Only a knight of the Kingsguard can champion a queen in a trial by battle if she has been accused of treason (IV: 647, 652)
Ser Quentyn Ball was called Fireball for his hot temper and red hair. He had been promised a place in the Kingsguard by Aegon the Unworthy, and forced his wife to become a silent sister so he could take up the honor. By the time a place was open, however, it was Aegon's son Daeron who ruled and he preferred to give the cloak to another man, Ser Willem Wylde. (TMK: 668-669)
Daemon II dreamed that Ser Duncan the Tall would be a knight in his Kingsguard (TMK: 682-683)
Three knights of the Kingsguard were part of the army that appeared at Whitewalls when the conspiracy to crown Daemon II was revealed (TMK: 731)
Ser Roland Crakehall was one of the Kingsguard knights at Whitewalls (TMK: 732)
It's said Barristan Selmy cut a bloody path through the Golden Company before slaying Maelys the Monstrous (V: 79)
Prince Lewyn of Dorne was an uncle of Doran Martell and died fighting on the Trident (SSM: 1)
If a member of the Kingsguard is seriously crippled but survives, he wouldn't be forced out of the White Swords but allowed to live out his life with honor while other members take up the burden (SSM: 1)
The Kingsguard are sworn to celibacy along with giving up their wives and inheritance, but no doubt some have lapsed (and one White Sword was killed for sleeping with the mistress of a king (SSM: 1)
The oaths of the Kingsguard do not envision rebellion, so there is nothing which says that a successful rebel is an improper king to serve. In the case of Jaime Lannister and Barristan Selmy, they were pardoned by Robert Baratheon and were allowed to choose whether they would remain as part of the White Swords (SSM: 1)
The Kingsguard are not necessarily always the best knights, as sometimes the best knights are not interested in taking such stringent vows. Further, politics, favoritism, rewards for past service, and other factors play a part as being a member of the Kingsguard is a fine position for younger son of a lord (SSM: 1)
Robert Baratheon's need to fill five positions in the Kingsguard at once was highly unusual (SSM: 1)
Ser Jonothor Darry, brother to Ser Willem Darry, was the second member of the Kingsguard to die at the Trident (SSM: 1)
Kingsguard often commanded forces for the Targaryen kings (SSM: 1)
The king chooses the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. Seniority may be a factor, but it is not decisive (SSM: 1)
The Kingsguard are bound to follow the orders they receive, generally, and cannot pick and choose orders to follow (SSM: 1)

Last revised February 21, 2016
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2.1.3.3. The Hand of the King

The Hand is the second most powerful man in the kingdom. He speaks with the king's voice and wields his authority, leads his armies and drafts his lays, and can sit on the Iron Throne to pass judgement when the king is absent. (I: 39)
It is said 'What the king dreams, the Hand builds.' The lowborn put it: 'The king eats, and the Hand takes the shit.' (I: 39)
Tywin Lannister was Hand of the King for twenty years (I: 103)
The Hand is quartered in the Tower of the Hand in the Red Keep (I: 160)
The Small Hall of the Tower of the Hand is a long room with a high vaulted ceiling and bench space for two hundred (I: 181)
The household guard of the Hand bear the emblem of the hand on their garb (I: 181)
The Hand has a solar (I: 182)
The Hand wears a badge of office, fashioned in the shape of a hand (I: 297)
Aerys Targaryen's last Hand was killed n the Sack of King's Landing, although he had been appointed only a fortnight earlier. The Hand before him had burned to death. The two before them had died landless and penniless in exile. Lord Tywin Lannister was the last Hand of the King to depart King's Landing safely (II: 41)
The Hand's private audience chamber is not so large as the king's, nor anywhere near the size of the throne room, but its Myrish rugs, wall hangings, and golden-tinted round window give it a sense of intimacy (II: 172)
The Tower of the Hand has rushes on the floors at need (II: 326)
The Hand's rooms include a garderobe (II: 326)
The secret entrance into the Hand's chambers in the Tower of the Hand is reached by a strange passage. One goes down a ladder (from some unknown beginning point), walks a long distance that turns in many directions, meets an iron gate. Past the iron gate is a room in which a dragon is done in a mosaic of red and black tiles on the floor. Then another ladder is taken, this time going up, with a tunnel to left being reached after climbing 230 rungs in which a full-grown man must crawl. Sixty feet on is a secret door (II: 472, 570. III: 876)
It seems that the Hand picks his own particular way of showing his office - a chain made up for a Hand is called his chain of office, while an earlier Hand used a less extravagant badge to show the same rank (II: 564)
While Hand, Lord Tywin had had hopes to make a royal marriage between his daughter Cersei and one of the Targaryen princes, either Prince Viserys when he matured or Prince Rhaegar should his wife have died in childbed. He kept her with him at court to further this end (III: 128)
Lord Tywin gave up his office on a thin pretext and removed himself and his daughter to Casterly Rock because of his anger at King Aerys for choosing his son and heir Ser Jaime for the Kingsguard (III: 128)
Of Aerys's Hand's after Lord Tywin Lannister, Lords Owen Merryweather and Jon Connington had been exiled, Lord Qarlton Chelsted had been dipped in wildfire and burned alive, and Lord Rossart the Pyromancer was gutted by the Kingslayer (III: 129, 130, 327, 418, 752. IV: 184. SSM: 1)
The Hand of the King, Lord Jon Connington led the royalists at Stoney Sept during the Battle of the Bells, personally wounding Lord Hoster Tully and killing Ser Denys Arryn, cousin to Lord Jon Arryn and the darling of the Vale. He lost the battle however and was forced to flee. Aerys then exiled him for his failure (III: 327, 418, 752. SSM: 1)
Jon Arryn came to Sunspear the year after Robert took the throne, and was questioned closely, along with a hundred others, about what happened during the Sack and who was responsible for deaths of Elia and her children (III: 436)
Ser Ryam Redwyne was the greatest knight of his day, and one of the worst Hands ever to serve a king (III: 604)
Septon Murmison's prayers are said to have worked miracles, but as Hand he soon had the whole realm praying for his death (III: 604)
Lord Butterwell was renowned for wit, Myles Smallwood for courage, Ser Otto Hightower for learning, yet every one of them failed as Hands (III: 604)
The Targaryens often chose Hands from their own blood, with results as various as Baelor Breakspear and Maegor the Cruel (III: 604)
Septon Barth, the blacksmith's son plucked from the Red Keep's library by the Old King Jaehaerys I, gave the realm forty years of peace and plenty. He understood the changeable genders of dragons (III: 604. IV: 520)
Lord Tywin became Hand when he was no more than 20 years of age (III: 745)
Lord Rivers, better known as Bloodraven was named Hand to King Aerys I on his ascension to the throne (TSS: 81, 121)
Lord Hayford was a noted loyalist who was appointed Hand by King Daeron II just before the Redgrass Field, as Lord Butterwell had done such a terrible job in that office that some questioned his loyalty. Lord Hayford was killed during the battle (TSS: 110)
It was rumored that King Aerys I was ensorceled by his Hand, Lord Bloodraven, who was thought to be the true power behind the throne (TSS: 112)
Brynden Rivers, Lord Bloodraven, was considered unlikely to put a halt to a private war between the Blackwoods and Brackens that was formenting in 211. In fact, he was a Blackwood on his mother's side and was thought capable of assisting his cousins against the hated Brackens (TSS: 121)
Bloodraven ordered the pyromancers to burn the many bodies that had collected in the Dragonpit during the Great Spring Sickness. The light of their wildfire could be seen as a glow throughout the city during the night (TSS: 121)
Lord Bloodraven controlled the throne for a number of reasons. King Aerys I kept to his apartments by 211 and no man could see him without Bloodraven's leave. Aerys's queen, Alienor, prayed daily that the Mother might bless her with a child. Prince Maekar Targaryen sulked at Summerhall, nursing grievances against his brother King Aerys, while Prince Rhaegel was both meek and mad and children were too young to be of any use in dislodging Brynden Rivers (TSS: 122)
Baelor Breakspear was known to argue that rebels should have the hope of recieving a pardon, so as to encourage them to bend the knee. Lord Bloodraven, on the other hand, believed that pardoning rebels sowed the seeds for future rebellions (TSS: 131)
When Lord Bloodraven was named Hand, Prince Maekar refused to be a part of the king's small council (in part because he felt he should have been named to that office) and removed himself to Summerhall (TSS: 132)
Brynden Rivers was a lord only by courtesy (TSS: 132)
House Butterwell, whose lord had been Hand to King Daeron I before being dismissed for his suspicious incompetence, kept a foot in both camps during Blackfyre's Rebellion (TSS: 135)
A grand funeral for a Hand of the King might include morning services for the deceased with nobles in attendance, afternoon prayers for the commons, and evening prayers open to all (IV: 100)
A dead Hand might be shown in full armor on the stepped marble bier of the Great Sept, with knights standing vigil (IV: 101-102)
Lord Merryweather appears to have been on the small council before he succeeded Lord Tywin as King Aerys's Hand (IV: 102)
The Tower of the Hand has crenellated battlements and looms over the outer ward (IV: 183)
After burning Lord Chelsted, Aerys visited Queen Rhaella's bedchambers and abused her (IV: 232)
Tywin Lannister was not even twenty-one when Aerys named him his Hand (IV: 235)
While Hand, Tywin Lannister planned to wed his daughter to Prince Rhaegar, and promised her this when she was six. When Rhaegar was a new-made knight, he visited the west with King Aerys. Lord Tywin hosted a grand tourney, which Rhaegar won, and it was at the feast afterwards where the betrothal was to be announced. King Aerys rejected the proposal, however, saying that kings do not wed their sons to their servants (IV: 360-361)
Lord Jon Connington was sent into exile by King Aerys, with his castle, wealth, lands, and more stripped from him. When Robert became king, he restored the castle and a small portion of the lands to a cousin who had remained loyal, but did not name him a lord while also retaining the gold and gave most of the rest of the land away to other supporters (IV: 408)
During the reign of Baelor the Blessed, King Baelor caused a stone mason to be made High Septon despite his being utterly unable to carry out the duties, being unable to read, write, or even remember simple prayers. It's rumored Baelor's Hand, the future Viserys II, had the man poisoned to spare the realm humiliation. (IV: 412)
Baelor the Blessed ordered the writings of Septon Barth to be burned (IV: 522)
Bloodraven was reputed to be able to change the appearance of his face, turn himself into a one-eyed dog, turn into a mist, command packs of grey wolves to hunt down his enemies and carrion crows to spy on the people of the realm. Hated and feared, there were those who spoke treason against him and the king, and some of these were executed (TMK: 650-651)
Lord Butterwell was Master of Coin when Aegon IV sat the throne, and then was made Hand for a time by Daeron II, but not for long. During the first Blackfyre Rebellion, his second son fought with the rebels, his eldest with the king, while he kept out of the fighting (TMK: 658)
Lord Butterwell's own grandfather had also been Hand of the King at one time, serving Aegon IV, and apparently gave him great leeway in the use of both his property and his daughters (TMK: 662-663)
The Seven Kingdoms were seemingly left to fend for themselves against Lord Dagon Greyjoy and his ironborn reavers troubling all the lands on the western coast, as King Aerys I ignored the trouble so he could be closeted with his books, while Prince Rhaegel was said to be so mad as to dance naked in the halls of the Red Keep and Prince Maekar so angry at his brother and his advisors that he sat and brooded at Summerhall. Some blamed Lord Bloodraven, the Hand of the King, for this state of affairs, while others claimed his attention was focused on Tyrosh where the sons of Daemon Blackfyre and Bittersteel plotted another attempt to seize the Iron Throne (TMK: 664)
The initial replacement for Lord Tywin as Hand as the elderly, amiable Lord Merryweather, famed for throwing lavish feasts and flattering the king shamelessly. When the rebellion began, he declared the rebels outlaws and sent commands to various minor lords to deliver them or their heads but he himself never stirred from King's Landing. His methods proved so ineffectual that he was exiled by the king and stripped of all his lands and wealth. Robert later restored the title of lord and the castle and the lands, but not most of the wealth. (SSM: 1, 2)
Lord Jon Connington was Aerys's second hand after Tywin, and was chosen for his youthful vigor, courage, and fame as a warrior (SSM: 1)
Lord Jon Connington was stripped of lands, titles, and wealth before being exiled across the narrow sea. A cousin of his, however, supported Robert and after the war was rewarded by having the castle given to him to hold as Knight of Griffin's Roost, less most of the lands and treasury (IV: 408. SSM: 1)

Last revised September 04, 2012
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2.1.3.4. The Small Council

The King's Spider is styled lord, and sits on the council. He is master of whisperers (I: 93, 145, 161, 677)
The Lord Commander of the Kingsguard has a seat on the small council (I: 145, 677)
The master of coin sits on the council (I: 145, 677)
The Hand is part of the small council (I: 160)
The chambers of the king's small council are richly furnished (I: 161)
The Grand Maester of the Seven Kingdoms has a place on the council (I: 162, 676)
The Hand sits to the right of the king (I: 162)
The small council chambers are near the great outer gate (I: 164)
The master of ships and the master of laws hold council seats (I: 676)
The master of coin oversees many of the king's officials: the four Keepers of the Keys, the King's Counter and the King's Scales, the officers in charge of mints, harbormasters, tax farmers, customs sergeants, wool factors, toll collectors, pursers, wine factors, and so on (II: 200)
There are three royal mints overseen by the Master of Coin (II: 200)
Officials in the past have been highborn, and those of middling birth or even foreigners have been rare of non-existent in such positions (II: 200)
Some say the rot in King Aerys's reign began with Varys, the Master of Whisperers (III: 411)
The small council was said to lick the hand of Lord Bloodraven, Hand of King Aerys I in 211 (TSS: 122)
Lord Merryweather appears to have been on the small council before he succeeded Lord Tywin as King Aerys's Hand (IV: 102)
Lord Rykker appears to have been on the small council in the latter half of King Aerys's reign (IV: 102)
Lord Butterwell was Master of Coin when Aegon IV sat the throne, and then was made Hand for a time by Daeron II, but not for long. During the first Blackfyre Rebellion, his second son fought with the rebels, his eldest with the king, while he kept out of the fighting (TMK: 658)
It was said that Elaena Targaryen, sister of Baelor the Blessed, she did most of the work of her second husband, who sat on the small council as master of coin (SSM: 1)

Last revised October 09, 2011
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2.1.4. Bannerhouses

House Celtigar of Claw Isle (I: 677. II: 718)
House Velaryon of Driftmark (I: 677. II: 600)
House Seaworth (I: 677)
House Bar Emmon of Sharp Point (I: 677. II: 718)
House Sunglass of Sweeport Sound (I: 677. II: 718)
House Hayford (II: 30. III: 49. IV: 396)
House Hollard was an ancient and noble house, who had three daughters wedded to Darklyn kings during the Age of Heroes. They were almost entirely destroyed at King Aerys's command following the Defiance of Duskendale, except for the young Dontos Hollard who was allowed to live at Ser Barristan Selmy's request (II: 33. IV: 134)
The lord of House Velaryon is styled Lord of the Tides and Master of Driftmark (II: 110, 718)
The Velaryons have the blood of ancient Valyria and have thrice provided brides for Targaryen princes (II: 110)
House Rosby's lands and castle are north of King's Landing. Their castle is found at the village of Rosby, where there are daub-and-wattle huts, a sept, and a well. (II: 193. IV: 56)
House Stokeworth's lands and castle are north of King's Landing (II: 193)
At best, the bannerhouses and wealth of Dragonstone might allow 5,000 men-at-arms, sellswords, and knights to be gathered, of which less than 400 would be mounted (II: 351)
Duskendale is eastwards from Harrenhal. Its lands are rich (II: 653)
Claw Isle is the ancient seat of House Celtigar (III: 408)
The Celtigars are reputedly quite wealthy, their castle said (probably unreliably) to be stuffed with Myrish carpets, Volantene glass, gold and silver plate, jeweled cups, magnificent hawks, an axe of Valyrian steel, a horn that could summon monsters from the deep, chests of rubies, and more wines than a man could drink in a hundred years (III: 408)
The Rosbys have never been robust (III: 561)
The Stokeworths are accounted a minor house (III: 738)
Lord Hayford was a noted loyalist who was appointed Hand by King Daeron II just before the Redgrass Field, as Lord Butterwell had done such a terrible job in that office that some questioned his loyalty. Lord Hayford was killed during the battle (TSS: 110)
The shortest road from Kings Landing to Duskendale passes through Rosby and moves in a northeastern direction. (IV: 56, 57)
Duskendale has a port (IV: 57)
The Defiance of Duskendale occurred approximately in the year 270, give or take five years. The Lord of Duskendale refused to pay taxes, demanding certain rights and the town charter following the influence of his wife from the Free Cities (IV: 65. SSM: 1, 2)
House Rosby is considered wealthy in comparison to its peers (IV: 113)
The town of Duskendale is surrounded by a pale stone wall. It’s southern gate opens into a market square (IV: 130-131)
The Seven Swords in the largest inn in Duskendale, being four stories high. Seven painted white swords hang above its doors, commemorating the seven Darklyn knights who served in the Kingsguard (IV: 131-132)
Duskendale is built around its harbor. Chalk cliffs rise north of it, while to the south a rocky headland shield ships from storms coming from the narrow sea (IV: 131-132)
Duskendale's castle is known as the Dun Fort. It overlooks the port and can be seen from every part of town. It features a square keep and large drum towers (IV: 132)
Duskendale's streets are cobbled (IV: 132)
No house had as many knights in the Kingsguard as House Darklyn's seven (IV: 132)
The Darklyns no longer exist, destroyed by Aerys following the rebellion of Lord Denys Darklyn known as the Defiance of Duskendale (IV: 133)
There are a number of families claiming descent from the Darklyns in Duskendale, including the Darkes, Darkwoods, and Dargoods (IV: 133)
The Darklyns were petty kings before the Andals came, during the Age of Heroes (IV: 133)
House Rykker was given Duskendale following the destruction of House Darklyn (IV: 133)
House Leek, serving House Rykker (IV: 133)
The Hollards served the Darklyns first as subjects and then as vassals, all the way through to the Defiance (IV: 134)
Ser Symon Hollard, master-at-arms of Duskendale under Lord Denys Darklyn, killed Ser Gwayne Gaunt of the Kingsguard when King Aerys was seized. He was killed in turn by Barristan Selmy when he rescued the king (IV: 134-135)
Like the Darklyns, the Hollards were destroyed by King Aerys. Their lands were seized, their castle was torn down, and their villages were put to the torch (IV: 135)
House Crabb, a family from Crackclaw Point (IV: 213)
Ser Rolland Darklyn was the youngest knight to join the Kingsguard, until Ser Jaime Lannister. Given the white cloak on a battlefield, he died within the hour, but his king survived (IV: 237)
It's said every valley in Crackclaw Point has its lord, and the lords are united against outsiders (IV: 281)
The Darklyn kings and the Mootons and Celtigar lords have all tried to impose their rule over Crackclaw Point in the past, but to no avail (IV: 282)
When not fighting outsiders, the lords and knights of Crackclaw Point fight among one another. Occasionally some champion manages to enforce peace over the point, such as Lord Lucifer Hardy, the Brothers Brune, Crackbones, or Ser Clarence Crabb (IV: 282)
The lords and knights of Crackclaw Point were made vassals to the Targaryens by Queen Visenya when she accepted their homage after the defeat of Harren the Black. Despite this, the Mootons, Celtigars, and Lords of Duskendale have occasionally attempted to impose their taxes and claims there, to no avail (IV: 283)
House Hardy, House Pyne, and House Cave of Crackclaw Point have had a knight each serve in the Kingsguard. House Crabb had three (IV: 283)
Lord Brune rules the Dyre Den, a small castle with three crooked towers above bleak cliffs. It is sited above the end of the coast road. There is a narrow path carved up the cliffside (IV: 286)
The Stokeworth motto is "Proud to be Faithful" (IV: 358)
The hilltop castle of the Hayfords is a day's ride north from King's Landing. A stream runs along the foot of the hill (IV: 396-397)
The arms of House Hayford are pale green fretty and a wavy pale over gold (IV: 397)
A towerhouse held by the Knights of Sow's Horn, of House Hogg, who are sworn to the Hayfords, is at least 5 days north of Hayford castle. They command only a small force, perhaps half a score men-at-arms and crossbowmen and a score of peasants. The towerhouse is of stone, with walls eight feet thick (IV: 400, 738)
The boundary between the lands sworn to King's Landing and those sworn to Riverrun, marked by a stream, is a mere day's ride north of Sow's Horn (IV: 400)
House Brune, the Knights of Brownhollow, vassals to the senior branch. They are an old family (IV: 612, 738)
House Brune, the Lords of the Dyre Den (IV: 738)
An army appeared outside Whitewalls, a host raised at Lord Bloodraven's command. Lord Mooton and Lord Darklyn were among its leaders, and there were Hayfords, Rosbys, Stokeworths, and Masseys involved (TMK: 731)
The bannerhouses of Dragonstone present the weakest military force on land in the Seven Kingdoms (SSM: 1)
Elaena Targaryen was the youngest of Aegon III's children, Her greatest love was her cousin Alyn Velaryon, by whom she bore twin children named Jeyne and Jon Waters. (SSM: 1)

Last revised March 09, 2013
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