9.2. The Baratheons
- House Baratheon is the youngest of the Great Houses (I: 676)
Last revised February 28, 2007
PermaLink
9.2.1. Storm’s End
- West of Storm's End is a large, old grove of trees (II: 344)
- Between the grove and the castle there are fields and stony ridges (II: 345)
- The songs say that Storm's End was raised in ancient days by Durran, the First Storm King (II: 345)
- Storm's End is reputedly the seventh castle that Durran built at that site, made with the aid of the children of the forest or the young Brandon the Builder (II: 345)
- It's said that Storm's End has stood for tens of centuries (II: 345)
- Storm's End has a great curtain wall a hundred feet high, unbroken by arrow slits or posterns. It is rounded, curving, and smooth, its stone so well fit together that there are now crevices, gaps, or angles where the wind might enter (II: 345)
- The curtain wall was forty feet thick at its narrowest and nearly eighty feet thick on the seaward face, a double course of stones with an inner core of sand and rubble (II: 345)
- Within the walls, the kitchens and stables and yards shelter safe from wind and wave (II: 345)
- Storm's End has but one tower, a massive drum tower which is windowless where it faces the sea and so large that it was granary, barracks, feast hall, and lord's dwelling all together (II: 345)
- The top of the tower is crowned by massive battlements, so that from a distance it might seem a spiked fist atop an arm thrust up towards the sky (II: 345)
- The shore Storm's End is near is rocky (II: 453)
- Storm's End is ancient, its stones woven with spells so that no magic can pass. The spells are forgotten, but still In place (II: 455)
- Storm's End seaward face is perched upon a cliff of chalky white stone sloping up from the sea about 150 feet, half again the height of the curtain wall (II: 455)
- A tunnel in the cliff leads to a cavern under Storm's End, where the storm lords of old had built their landing (II: 455)
- The passage outside of the cliff to the cave entrance can be navigated only at high tide and was always treacherous because of jagged rocks (II: 455)
- There are even a few jagged fingers of rock just within the cave mouth (II: 455)
- Torches are generally kept lit in the cavern (II: 455)
- There are murder holes in the ceiling of the cavern (II: 455)
- A portcullis stops passage at a point after a boat has passed beneath the walls. It goes all the way to the bottom and its bars are so narrow that not even a child might squeeze through (II: 455)
- There is a godswood in Storm's End (II: 522)
Last revised February 28, 2007
PermaLink
9.2.2. Ancestors and History
- Ninety years before the events of the books, Tya Lannister and Gowen Baratheon (third son of the reigning Lord of Storm's End) were married and produced only one child, a son who died in infancy (I: 406)
- Thirty years prior to the above, a male Lannister took a Baratheon woman to wife, producing three daughters and a son (I: 406)
- House Baratheon was created in the Wars of Conquest. Its founder was Orys Baratheon, reputed to be a bastard brother of Aegon the Conqueror. Rising through the ranks swiftly, Orys became one of Aegon's fiercest commanders (I: 676)
- When Orys Baratheon slew Argilac the Arrogant, the last Storm King, Aegon gave Orys Argilac's castle, lands, and daughter. Orys wed the daughter and took the banner, honors, and words of her line. Baratheon was his own family name, however (I: 676. SSM: 1)
- King Harwyn Hardhand of the Iron Islands took the Trident from Arrec the Storm King whose ancestors had won lands up to the Neck three hundred years earlier by killing the last River King (I: 684)
- Around 199, Lord Baratheon held a hastilude to celebrate the birth of a grandson (THK: 485)
- Ser Lyonel Baratheon was a famed knight in (HK), known as the Laughing Storm (THK: 491)
- Lord Steffon Baratheon and his wife were sent by King Aerys across the Narrow Sea to the Free Cities, in search of a suitable bride of sufficiently high lineage and with some Valyrian descent for the sisterless Rhaegar. There they found a splendid young fool whom they bought and were bringing to Storm's End when their ship was smashed in sight of castle and their two eldest sons. Lord Steffon and his wife perished, along with a hundred others. The fool, called Patchface, survived (II: 5. SSM: 1)
- Storm's End has warred against Dorne for a thousand years (II: 233)
- 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 songs say that Storm's End was raised in ancient days by Durran, the First Storm King who had won the love of Elenei, the daughter of the sea god and the goddess of the wind. (II: 345)
- It's said that Storm's End has stood for tens of centuries (II: 345)
- Storm's End is ancient, its stones woven with spells so that no magic can pass. The spells are forgotten, but still In place (II: 455)
- At a tourney at Storm's End when he was young, Prince Rhaegar defeated Lord Steffon Baratheon, Lord Jason Mallister, the Red Viper of Dorne. He broke twelve lances against Ser Arthur Dayne that day, but lost to another knight of the Kingsguard in the final tilt (III: 485. SSM: 1)
- Baelor Breakspear led a host of stormlords and Dornishmen at the Redgrass Field, where they shattered the enemy by charging into the rebel rear (TSS: 112)
- As a youth, Robert Baratheon would have occasionally visited the Storm's End or travelled outside of the Vale with Jon Arryn. When he reached his majority, his stays in the stormlands were more frequent, but he would have visited the Vale often as it had become a second home to him, and Jon Arryn a second father (SSM: 1)
Last revised August 06, 2009
PermaLink
9.2.3. Bannerhouses
- House Caron is from the Dornish Marches, and has as emblem a field of nightingales (I: 248, 257)
- House Selmy, who are landed knights (I: 677. SSM: 1)
- House Wylde (I: 677)
- House Trant (I: 677)
- House Penrose (I: 677)
- House Errol of Haystack Hall (I: 677. II: 715)
- House Estermont of Greenstone. The castle is a dank and dismal castle on the mountainous little isle of Estermont, off the Cape of Wrath (I: 677. IV: 352. SSM: 1)
- House Tarth of Tarth. Their arms are silver crescent moons and gold suns on quartered red and blue (I: 677. II: 249, 715. IV: 632))
- House Connington, with at least one griffin on their arms (II: 249. III: 90. IV: 408)
- With all the power of Highgarden and Storm's End combined, about 90,000 soldiers and knights can be gotten. Given that Highgarden probably accounts for some 60,000 or more of this figure, Storm's End probably cannot muster more than 30,000 troops (II: 258, 388)
- House Morrigen, the lords of Crows Nest (II: 351. IV: 697)
- The Tarth keep is named Evenfall Hall (II: 445)
- There is a reference to the Straits of Tarth (II: 601)
- Tarth is a large, rocky, and mountains island (III: 17, 18)
- Tarth is called the Sapphire Isle (III: 18)
- Ser Harlan Grandison of the Kingsguard died of old age in the year of the false spring, passing away in his sleep. He was replaced by Ser Jaime Lannister (III: 129)
- Robert won three battles in a single day at Summerhall when Lords Grandison, Cafferen, and Fell sought to join their strength at Summerhall and march on him at Storm's End after he first came home to call his banners. He learned of their plans and rode at once with all his knights and squires. As the plotters came up on Summerhall one by one, he defeated each in turn (III: 408, 606, 607)
- Robert killed Lord Fell in single combat at Summerhall and captured his son Silveraxe. After the battles, he brought Lord Grandison, Lord Cafferen, and Silveraxe back to Storm's End as prisoners. He hung their banners in the hall as trophies and yet they would sit beneath those banners drinking and feasting with Robert. He later took them hunting, and threw axes with them in the yard, and they became fast friends. Silveraxe became his man, Lord Cafferen died at Ashford Castle, cut down by Randyll Tarly while fighting for Robert, and Lord Grandison was wounded on the Trident and died of it a year after (III: 408, 607)
- House Buckler (III: 435)
- The Selmys have their seat, Harvest Hall, in the Dornish Marches (III: 651, 752)
- Cedrik Storm, the Bastard of Bronzegate, was defeated by Ser Barristan Selmy (III: 752)
- House Hasty (III: 929. IV: 406)
- A shield of Ser Duncan the Tall, painted with his arms, resides in the armory in Evenfall Hall (IV: 132, 140)
- House Wagstaff, mentioned as having a member in service to House Grandison (IV: 142)
- 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)
- House Chyttering, ruled by a lord (IV: 697)
- Ser Willem Wylde was named to the Kingsguard by King Daeron II when a vacancy appeared in the ranks, although this place had been promised by King Aegon IV to the Red Keep's master-at-arms, Ser Quentyn Ball, the knight called Fireball (TMK: 669)
- At the battle at the crossing of the Mander during the Blackfyre Rebellion, Ser Quentyn Ball cut down Lady Penrose's sons one by one, but left the youngest alive as a kindness to her (TMK: 669)
- 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)
- Davos Seaworth smuggled his onions into Storm's End out of a belief that he'd be handsomely rewarded (SSM: 1)
Last revised February 20, 2013
PermaLink
9.2.3.1. The Dondarrions of Blackhaven
- The banner of the house is a black field powdered with stars slashed with purple lightning (I: 234)
- Ser Manfred Dondarrion was son of the ruling lord of the house (THK: 473)
- About the year 205, old Lord Dondarrion and Lord Caron burned out the Vulture King (who may have been a Blackmont) out of the Red Mountains. There were some eight hundred knights and nearly four thousand foot with them (THK: 482. SSM: 1)
- The sigil of the house was gotten when the first of the line carried a message across the Dornish Marches. An arrow killed his horse and two Dornishmen came out to confront him. His sword was broken and he thought himself doomed, but a bolt of purple lightning burst out of the sky to strike them both down. Because the message was vital to a Storm King in his campaign against Dorne, he raised the knight to lordship (THK: 483)
- The Dondarrions rule Blackhaven in the Dornish Marches (III: 383, 387, 445)
- The Vulture King died for his treason, perhaps after Lords Dondarrion and Caron fought him in Daeron II's day (III: 407)
Last revised August 07, 2009
PermaLink
9.2.3.2. The Swanns of Stonehelm
- Stonehelm is on the Cape of Wrath (THK: 493)
- Lord Gawen Swann was well past mid-fifty and by that time was not much of a knight (THK: 493, 494)
- Stonehelm is in the Red Watch (II: 32)
- The Swanns are powerful Marcher lords (II: 520)
- Ser Barristan Selmy squired for Lord Swann of Stonehelm in his youth (II: 646. III: 651)
- 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)
- Swanns have had wives from House Osgrey in the past (TSS: 112)
Last revised February 28, 2007
PermaLink