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1. Ancient History (pre-Targaryen)

Some maesters of the Citadel claim the world is 40,000 years old, while others argue that it is 500,000 years old (IV: 7)

The oldest histories in Westeros were written after the Andal's came to Westeros, because the First Men only used runes for carving on stone. Everything written about the Age of Heroes, the Dawn Age, and the Long Night originates from stories written down by septons thousands of years later. There are archmaesters who question all these histories, noting the kings who seem to live for centuries and knights who fought a thousand years before there were knights (IV: 80)



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1.1. The Freehold of Valyria

It is held that the ironsmiths worked with spells as well as hammer (I: 20)

Valyria suffered a Doom (I: 20)

The writing of Valyria was in glyphs (I: 27)

Depictions of the Doom of Valyria exist (I: 29)

Ayrmidon's Engines of War is quite rare, and written on scrolls (I: 72)

The Free Cities speak a bastard version of Valyrian, as most have their origins as colonies of Valyria (I: 84. SSM: 1)

The Valyrians carved sphinxes with garnet eyes and black faces (I: 161)

Valyria left many roads, as old as a thousand years, that run straight as arrows on the eastern continent. These roads show no sign of wear or tear despite their age. Made of magically fused stone and raised half a foot off the ground to allow rain and snow to melt off their shoulders, the roads are broad enough to allow three wagons to pass abreast. (I: 193. V: 76, 77)

Magic had died away when the Doom fell on Valyria and the Lands of the Long Summer (I: 197)

Some claim to still know the spells that must be used to rework Valyrian steel (I: 235. III: 359. SSM: 1)

The topless towers of Valyria were reputedly very beautiful (I: 313)

Old Valyria is now old ruins (I: 374)

High Valyrian is still used by some (I: 603)

The Targaryens were on Dragonstone for about two centuries after the Doom before invading Westeros (I: 692. SSM: 1)

Dragonstone was the westernmost outpost of the Freehold of Valyria (II: 3. V: 76)

The Valyrians had great skill in shaping stone, although much of their knowledge is now lost (II: 3)

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 maesters say that Valyria was the last ember of magic, and even that is now destroyed (II: 325)

The Valyrians commonly wed brother to sister (II: 364)

Valyria produced items known as glass candles, at least as of a thousand years before the Doom. They are said to burn with a light that does not flicker and casts strange shadows only under the influence of magic, or perhaps during portentous times. They are made of obsidian, twisted in shape with razor-sharp edges, and can be green or black in color (II: 638. IV: 9)

Dracarys means dragonfire in High Valyrian (III: 94)

North of Valyria the Smoking Sea is demon-haunted (III: 98)

The cities of Slaver's Bay are descended from Old Ghis, which was destroyed by the might of young Valyria 5,000 years ago. Its legions were shattered, its brick walls were pulled down, its streets and buildings turned to ash and cinder by dragonflame, its fields sown with salt, sulfur, and skulls (III: 257)

The gods of Ghis were destroyed with its fall, and so were its people. The inhabitants of the slaver cities are mongrels, and the Ghiscari tongue is largely forgotten; the slave cities speak the High Valyrian of their conquerors, or what they made of it (III: 257)

Old Ghis ruled an empire while the Valyrians were still savage, or so it's said (III: 265)

The Ghiscari lust for dragons. Five times had Old Ghis fought with Valyria when the world was young, and five times it lost because the Freehold of Valyria had dragons and the Empire had none (III: 307)

Valar morghulis is a well-known phrase in High Valyrian, and means "All men must die" (III: 308, 748)

Valyrian steel blades are scarce and costly, especially since the Doom, yet thousands of them remain in the world, perhaps some two hundred in the Seven Kingdoms alone (III: 359. SSM: 1)

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)

There is a haunting ballad about two dying lovers amidst the Doom of Valyria, sung in High Valyrian (III: 676)

Most people in Westeros, even among the nobility, do not know High Valyrian (III: 676)

Obsidian was known as "frozen fire" in High Valyrian (III: 885)

Valonqar is a word in High Valyrian, meaning "little brother" (IV: 55, 533, 584)

Braavos was discovered by the Moonsingers, who led refugees there to a place where the dragons of Valyria could not find them (IV: 89)

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)

The dragonlords of old used enchanted dragon horns to call and command their dragons, it's claimed (IV: 277, 279)

Prince Garin the Great is called the wonder of the Rhoyne. It's said he made Valyria tremble, leading an army of a quarter of a million men strong against them, but he and his followers were destroyed (IV: 299)

The Fourteen Flames were the fourteen volcanoes of Valyria. In blisteringly hot mines underneath them, thousands of slaves from across the continent toiled, burned, and died to find gold and silver (IV: 321)

Firewyrms, creatures that lived in the caverns and mines beneath the Fourteen Flames, were a danger to miners (IV: 321)

When there was war, the Valyrians took thousands of slaves, and when there was peace they bred them (IV: 321)

Slave revolts were common in the mines, but the Valyrians were strong in sorcery and able to put them down (IV: 321)

It's said the first Faceless Man existed in Valyria. There he brought death to the slaves who lived horrid lives toiling in the heat of the Fourteen Flames, praying for an end. He came to realize that the many gods they prayed to were one god, and that he was an instrument of the gods (IV: 321-322)

The Faceless Men may have had a role in the Doom of Valyria (IV: 322)

The very existence of Braavos was a secret for a century, and its location was hidden for three centuries more (IV: 506)

Braavos was founded by people from many different lands, with half a hundred different gods between them, who fled there to find safety from the Valyrians. It's said that the Nine Free Cities are the daughters of Valyria, but that Braavos is a bastard (IV: 506-507)

The gates of the Citadel are flanked by a pair of towering green Valyrian sphinxes. They have the bodies of lions, the wings of eagles, and the tails of serpents. One has a man's face, the other a woman's (IV: 677)

All Valyrian magic was rooted in blood and fire. They could set dragonglass candles to burning with strange, unpleasantly-bright light. With the obsidian candles, they could see across vast distances, look into a man's mind, and speak with one another though they were half the world apart (IV: 682)

Dragonlore was once accumulated in Valyria (SSM: 1)

The Freehold of Valyria was neither a kingdom nor an empire. Instead, all "free holders" -- freeborn landowners -- had a say in its governance. In practice, however, families of great wealth, high birth, and strong sorcerous ability tended to dominate (SSM: 1)

Dragonbone was not used in the process of making Valyrian steel (SSM: 1)

There are descendants of the Valyrians scattered across the world. Many are in the Free Cities, most of which had their origins as Valyrian colonies, although they have become intermarried and mixed with other peoples (SSM: 1)

The Valyrians settled Dragonstone not long before the Doom (SSM: 1)

Valyrian steel must be made, as it cannot be found as a raw material (SSM: 1)

Valyrian steel was mostly used for weapons, although there were probably non-weapons made with it as well (SSM: 1)



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1.2. The Children of the Forest

The children first worshiped the nameless gods which the First Men later adopted (I: 19)

The children are said to have carved the faces in the weirwoods during the dawn centuries before the coming of the First Men across the narrow sea (I: 19)

The children have not been seen in thousands of years (I: 209)

The Dawn Age was long before the time of the Andals and their new religion (I: 432)

The children are said to have once called the nameless gods to send the hammer of the waters from the Children's Tower (I: 498)

The children are said to have known much of dreams, knew the songs of trees and the speech of animals, could fly like birds and swim like fish. Their music was so beautiful it would make one weep to hear it (I: 616)

The children used obsidian (also called dragonglass by smallfolk) arrowheads and blades. The Children worked no metal, wearing shirts of woven leaves and bark leg-bindings (I: 616. IV: 10)

The children of the forest were people of the Dawn Age, the very first before kings and kingdoms. There were no cities, castles, or holdfasts, not even towns. (I: 617)

The children of the forest are considered to be different from men, no larger than children at their tallest, dark and beautiful (I: 617)

The children lived in the woods, in caves, crannogs, and secret tree towns (I: 617)

Male and female would hunt together using bows made of weirwood and flying snares (I: 617)

The gods of the children were those of forest, stream, and stone whose names were secret (I: 617)

The wise men of the children were named greenseers. It is said they carved the faces in the weirwoods to keep watch on the woods (I: 617. II: 323)

No one knows how long the children reigned in the lands that would become the Seven Kingdoms, nor where they came from (I: 617)

The children went to war with the First Men because of the destruction of the carved weirwoods (I: 617)

The greenseers were supposed to have a used powerful magic to make the seas rise and sweep away land, shattering the Arm. It was too late, however (I: 617)

The wars between the children and the First Men went on, in the favor of the larger, stronger, and more technologically advanced First Men, until the wise men of both races forged the Pact at the Isle of Faces (I: 617)

The greenseers and wood dancers met with the First Men on the Isle of Faces (I: 617)

The Pact gave the children the deep forests forever, and the First Men promised not to cut down any more weirwoods (I: 617)

The sacred order of green men that tended the Isle of Faces was created after the making of the Pact, when all the weirwoods on the isle were carved with faces to witness the agreement (I: 617)

The Pact began four thousand years of friendship between the children and the First Men (I: 617)

The Pact ended the Dawn Age and began the Age of Heroes (I: 617)

The Andals burned out all the weirwood groves, hacked down the faces, and slew the children when they found them (I: 618)

Some of the children of the forest reputedly had the greensight and that these wise men were the greenseers (II: 323)

Maesters believe that the greensight was not magic, simply another kind of knowledge. They believe that their wisdom had something to do with the faces in the trees (II: 323)

The First Men believed that the greenseers of the children of the forest could see through the eyes of the carved weirwoods, which is why they cut down the trees when they warred upon them (II: 323)

Supposedly, the greenseers had power over the beasts of the wood, the birds in the trees, and even fish (II: 323)

The maesters believe that the children of the forest are now forgotten, just as their lore is (II: 325)

Histories say the crannogmen grew close to the children of the forest when the greenseers tried to bring the waters down upon the Neck (II: 534-535)

All greenseers had the greensight and were wargs as well, and the greatest of them could wear the skins of any beast that flies, swims, or crawls. They could also see through the eyes of the weirwoods and see the truth that lies beneath the world (III: 107)

High Heart is a huge hill a day's ride from Sallydance in the Riverlands. About its top stand the stumps of thirty-one once-mighty weirwoods, so wide around that a child could use one for a bed (III: 249)

High Heart was sacred to the children of the forest, and their magic is said to linger, protecting anyone who sleeps there from harm (III: 249)

The smallfolk shun High Heart, saying it was haunted by ghosts of the children who had died there when the Andal king Erreg the Kingslayer had cut down the grove (III: 249)

The green men, the guardians of the Isle of Faces, are said to have dark green skin and leaves instead of hair, and sometimes they have antlers as well (III: 283)

The green men are said to ride on elks (III: 636)

It is recorded that the children of the forest used to give the Night's Watch a hundred daggers of dragonglass each year during the Age of Heroes (IV: 80)



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1.3. The First Men

The First Men believed that a man who passes sentence should swing the blade. (I: 14)

The barrows of the First Men are spread throughout the North (I: 93)

The First Men used runes, which they carved on rocks and into metal, but these are not sufficient to illuminate their history (I: 246. IV: 80)

Some 12,000 years ago the First Men arrived from the east by crossing the Broken Arm of Dorne before it was broken. They came with bronze swords and great leather shields and they rode horses (I: 617)

No horse had ever been seen on the continent of Westeros before the coming of the First Men (I: 617)

As the First Men built farms and holdfasts, they cut down the carved weirwoods and burned them. The children went to war because of this (I: 617)

The wars between the children and the First Men went on, in the favor of the larger, stronger, and more technologically advanced First Men, until the wise men of both races forged the Pact at the Isle of Faces (I: 617)

The Pact gave the coasts, high plains, meadows, mountains, and bogs to the First Men. In turn, they gave the children the forests and promised to cut down no more weirwoods (I: 617)

The Pact began 4,000 years of friendship between the children and the First Men. Eventually the First Men put aside the old gods they brought with them from east across the sea, and took up those of the children of the forest (I: 617)

The Pact ended the Dawn Age and began the Age of Heroes (I: 617)

The Pact endured through the Age of Heroes, the Long Night, and the birth of the Seven Kingdoms. Yet centuries later other peoples began to arrive in the land (I: 618)

The wars between the First Men and the Andals lasted hundreds of years, but eventually the six southron realms fell to them. Only the Kings of Winter remained in the North (I: 618)

The First Men built the Wall (I: 654)

The First Men believed that the greenseers of the children of the forest could see through the eyes of the carved weirwoods, which is why they cut down the trees when they warred upon them (II: 323)

The Fist of the First Men is a hill beyond the Wall that juts above a dense tangle of forest. Its windswept heights are visible from miles away. It is an ancient ringfort used by the First Men in the Dawn Age (II: 371)

For some reason, a direwolf warg refuses to enter the enclosure of the Fist, but domesticated animals such as a raven and horses don't object (but later caged ravens show disquiet) (II: 372, 374)

Syggerik means "deceiver" in the language of the First Men, which the giants still speak (II: 544)

Magnar means lord in the Old Tongue (III: 80)

The laws of hospitality are as old as the First Men. The guest right protects a guest who has eaten his host's food from harm, at least for the length of the stay (III: 83)

The Old Tongue is a harsh, clanging language (III: 167)

There are songs in the Old Tongue among the wildlings, and they make for strange and wild music (III: 172)

The green men, the guardians of the Isle of Faces, are said to have dark green skin and leaves instead of hair, and sometimes they have antlers as well (III: 283)

Tristifer, the Fourth of his Name, King of the Rivers and the Hills, ruled from the Trident to the Neck thousands of years before Jenny of Oldstones and her prince, in the days when the kingdoms of the First Men were falling one after the other before the Andals. He was called the Hammer of Justice, and the singers say that he fought a hundred battles and won nine-and-ninety. When he raised his castle, now a ruin known only as Oldstones, it was the strongest in Westeros (III: 520)

Tristifer IV was killed in his hundredth battle, when seven Andal kings joined forces against him. His son, Tristifer V, was not his equal, and soon the realm was lost, and the castle, and then the line. With Tristifer V died the First Men line of House Mudd, that had ruled the riverlands for a thousand years before the Andals came (III: 520. SSM: 1)

The most proper way of receiving the guest right is to eat bread and salt (III: 556, 562)

Legend says that King Sherrit called down his curse on the Andals at the Nightfort on the Wall (III: 624)

The Fingers were one of the places where the Andals first landed, to wrest the Vale from the First Men (III: 770)

In ancient days, wrongful deaths could be addressed by the paying of a blood price, and in the Age of Heroes a man's life might be reckoned at being worth no more than a sack of silver (TSS: 104, 126)

The Darklyns were petty kings before the Andals came, during the Age of Heroes (IV: 133)

The blood of the First Men runs strong in Crackclaw Point, as the inhabitants fought off the Andals but eventually accepted Andal brides (IV: 282)

Legends claim that the Winged Knight, Ser Artys Arryn, drove the First Men from the Vale and fle to the top of the Giant’s Lance on a huge falcon to slay the Griffin King. There are hundreds of stories about his adventures (IV: 150, 606)

Houses descended of the First Men tend to have short, simple, descriptive names (SSM: 1)



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1.4. The Andals

The Andals brought the Seven with them from across the narrow sea (I: 432)

When the Andals crossed the narrow sea and swept away the kingdoms of the First Men, the sons of fallen kings held to their vows in the Night's Watch (I: 553)

The Andals were the first new invaders after the First Men had settled their peace with the Children and lived in harmony with them for 4,000 years. They were tall and fair-haired warriors who carried steel weapons and the seven-pointed star of the new gods painted on their bodies. This was at least 6,000 years ago (I: 361, 617-618)

The wars between the First Men and the Andals lasted hundreds of years, but eventually the six southron realms fell to them. Only the Kings of Winter remained in the North (I: 618)

The Andals burned out all the weirwood groves, hacked down the faces, and slew the children when they found them (I: 618)

The Brackens and the Blackwoods have been feuding for thousands of years, from the time of the Age of Heroes when they were rivals as kings over the riverlands at various points in time. Matters were not helped when the Brackens abandoned the old gods in favor of the Seven (I: 662. THK: 43. SSM: 1)

The Andals came some 4,000 years ago to the Iron Islands (I: 688. II: 137)

The trial of seven is seldom used, coming across with the Andals and their seven gods. The Andals believed that if seven champions fought on each side, the gods thus honored would be more likely to see justice done. If a man cannot find six others to stand with him, then he is obviously guilty (THK: 509)

If the accused is killed in a trial of seven, it is believed that the gods have judged him guilty and the contest then ends. If his accusers are slain or withdraw their accusations, the contest ends and he is decreed innocent. Otherwise, all seven of one side must die or yield for the trial to end (THK: 521)

The smallfolk shun High Heart, saying it was haunted by ghosts of the children who had died there when the Andal king Erreg the Kinslayer had cut down the grove (III: 249)

Tristifer, the Fourth of his Name, King of the Rivers and the Hills, ruled from the Trident to the Neck thousands of years before Jenny of Oldstones and her prince, in the days when the kingdoms of the First Men were falling one after the other before the Andals. He was called the Hammer of Justice, and the singers say that he fought a hundred battles and won nine-and-ninety. When he raised his castle, now a ruin known only as Oldstones, it was the strongest in Westeros (III: 520)

Tristifer IV was killed in his hundredth battle, when seven Andal kings joined forces against him. His son, Tristifer V, was not his equal, and soon the realm was lost, and the castle, and then the line. With Tristifer V died House Mudd, that had ruled the riverlands for a thousand years before the Andals came (III: 520)

Legend says that it was at the Nightfort where the Rat Cook served the Andal king his prince-and-bacon pie (III: 624)

The legend has it that the Rat Cook had cooked the son of the Andal king in a big pie with onions, carrots, mushrooms, lots of pepper and salt, a rasher of bacon, and a dark red Dornish wine. Then he served him to his father, who praised the taste and had a second slice. Afterward the gods transformed the cook into a monstrous white rat who could only eat his own young. He roamed the Nightfort ever since, devouring his children, but still his hunger was not sated. The moral of the story is that the gods did not curse him for his murder or for his serving the Andal king his son in a pie, for a man has a right to vengeance, but he was cursed for slaying a guest beneath his roof and that the gods cannot forgive (III: 631)

The Fingers were one of the places where the Andals first landed, to wrest the Vale from the First Men (III: 770)

In ancient days, wrongful deaths could be addressed by the paying of a blood price, and in the Age of Heroes a man's life might be reckoned at being worth no more than a sack of silver (TSS: 104, 126)

When the Andals first invaded Westeros, some of their warriors had the seven-pointed star of the Faith carved into their flesh (IV: 63)

The oldest histories in Westeros were written after the Andal's came to Westeros, because the First Men only used runes for carving on stone. Everything written about the Age of Heroes, the Dawn Age, and the Long Night originates from stories written down by septons thousands of years later. There are archmaesters who question all these histories, noting the kings who seem to live for centuries and knights who fought a thousand years before there were knights (IV: 80)

The Darklyns were petty kings before the Andals came, during the Age of Heroes (IV: 133)

The blood of the First Men runs strong in Crackclaw Point, as the inhabitants fought off the Andals but eventually accepted Andal brides (IV: 282)

Legends claim that the Winged Knight, Ser Artys Arryn, drove the First Men from the Vale and fle to the top of the Giant’s Lance on a huge falcon to slay the Griffin King. There are hundreds of stories about his adventures (IV: 150, 606)

Andalos, the ancestral land of the Andals, lies to the east of Pentos. It is said the Andals took it from the hairy men who were there before men, cousins to the Ibbense. The heart of that realm lies to the northeast of Pentos, but the southern regions are known as the Flatlands in Pentos (V: 79)

The Faith teaches that the Seven once walked in Andalos in human form (V: 79)

Further east beyond the Flatlands lie the Velvet Hills (V: 79)

Andalos is said to have been the realm of Hugor of the Hill, and the Faith teaches in The Seven-Pointed Star that the Seven themselves crowned him with a glowing crown made of stars (V: 79, 80)

The Seven-Pointed Star refers to the Smith making suits of iron plates for the sons of Hugor of the Hill. It is claimed in Essos that the Andals learned iron-working from the Rhoynar who dwelt along the river (V: 80)

There exists an ancient melee format which uses seven teams (SSM: 1)

Maps still mark out the lands of the Andals on the eastern continent, but the area has seen so many invasions and migrations that very little of the Andal people remains there (SSM: 1)



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1.5. The Rhoynar

Nymeria was a warrior queen who led her people across the narrow sea 1,000 years ago (I: 59. II: 233)

A story (probably false) has it that Nymeria led women who fled from their cities on the Rhoyne river (I: 203. SSM: 1)

Nymeria was the warrior queen of the Rhoyne who brought ten thousand ships to land in Dorne, taking Mors Martell as her husband and aiding him in vanquishing all rivals for the rule of Dorne (I: 690)

The Rhoynar influence led to the rulers of Dorne to style themselves "Prince" rather than "King" (I: 690)

Rhoynar law also led to lands and titles being passed to the eldest child, regardless of gender (I: 690)

It is said that the Dornishmen have warred against the Reach and Storm's End for a thousand years, which is likely dating from the unification of Dorne under Mors Martell and Nymeria (II: 233)

Beldecar's History of the Rhoynish Wars makes mention of elephants (III: 136)

There are three sorts of Dornishmen, as King Daeron I had observed. There are salty Dornishmen who live along the coasts, lithe and dark with smooth olive skin and long black hair; sandy Dornishmen who live in the deserts and the long river valleys, who are even darker, faces burned brown by the hot Dornish sun; and stony Dornishmen who live in the passes and heights of the Red Mountains, the biggest and fairest, sons of the Andals and the First Men, brown-haired or blond with faces that freckled or burned in the sun (III: 430)

Rhoynish influence in Dornish customs gives a special status to mistresses, or paramours as they name them, that places them above mistresses in the rest of the Seven Kingdoms but beneath wives (III: 431. SSM: 1)

Prince Garin the Great is called the wonder of the Rhoyne. It's said he made Valyria tremble, leading an army of a quarter of a million men strong against them, but he and his followers were destroyed (IV: 299)

The orphans of the Greenblood are considered Rhoynar in Dorne. When Nymeria wed Mors Martell, she ordered the boats that carried them across the narrow sea burned so that they would know there was no going back. Those Rhoynar who wept at the thought of never seeing Mother Rhoyne again hammered boats out of the burned hulks and became the orphans of the Greenblood (IV: 306)

The Rhoynar worshipped the great Rhoyne river, calling it their Mother. There were lesser gods as well, such as the turtle-god known as the Old Man of the River, Mother Rhoyne's son. The Old Man of the River fought the Crab King for dominion of those who dwelled below the water (IV: 306)

There is bad blood between the Fowlers and the Yronwoods since the Fowlers chose Martell over Yronwood during Nymeria's War (IV: 594)

The Seven-Pointed Star refers to the Smith making suits of iron plates for the sons of Hugor of the Hill. It is claimed in Essos that the Andals learned iron-working from the Rhoynar who dwelt along the river (V: 80)

The Rhoyne lies between the Dothraki Sea and the Flatlands (V: 80)

On leaving the Flatlands, a road leads into the Velvet Hills and to the ruin of the Rhoynish city of Ghoyan Drohe upon the Little Rhoyne (V: 81)

Ghoyan Drohe was razed by Valyria and its dragons (V: 81)

Rhoynish customs impacted Dorne in a number of ways, especially in the rights of women, but it did not extend to women taking active part in battles (SSM: 1)

The Rhoynar brought various old gods with them, but they have largely disappeared and been replaced by the Faith of the Seven (SSM: 1)

The Martells name themselves prince or princess after the Rhoynar custom. The Rhoynar rulers of the various cities along the Rhoyne river followed the same convention (SSM: 1)

There is a stigma attached to homosexuality everywhere in the Seven Kingdoms, save in Dorne (SFC)



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2. Westeros

Summer's heat can be stifling in the lower six parts of the kingdom (I: 34)

Peasants have been known to sell misshapen offspring into slavery, or leave them to die (I: 103)

Small communities have holdfasts of wood or stone to defend them (I: 99)

The oversight of the daily needs of castles is generally given over to stewards (I: 107)

Castles keep captains of the guard and masters of horse (I: 108)

Silver coins are named stags (I: 112)

Golden coins are named dragons (I: 128)

A silver stag as a gift to each oarman for rowing quickly is very generous (I: 139)

A royal tournament might have a purse of 40,000 dragons to the winner of the joust, 20,000 dragons to the man who comes in second, 20,000 dragons to the winner of the melee, and 10,000 dragons to the winner of the archery competition (I: 163)

The crown is more than six million dragons in debt. Three million to the Lannisters is the largest part of it, but the Tyrells, the Iron Bank of Braavos, Tyroshi trading cartels, and the Faith are also involved (I: 163)

Some twenty-five years before, there was a short and cruel three year winter. Since then, there have been eight or nine summers (I: 175)

Summer has lasted nine years at the outset of the book (I: 175)

Maekar's summer lasted seven years. It broke suddenly and led to a short autumn and a terrible long winter (I: 211)

A hundred dragons make a typical wager for high lords (I: 261)

Freeriders are mounted mercenaries who are not knights (I: 22, etc.)

Sellswords are swords for hire, unmounted mercenaries (I: 29, etc.)

Hedge knights are knighted men of no particular house with no lands to their name (I: 247, etc. )

Not all people are literate. Of those, some hold writing in disdain, while others reverence the written word as if it were magical (I: 349)

The hot, humid days towards the end of a summer are called spirit summers, (I: 467)

In the Seven Kingdoms, it is seen as looking for death to bare steel against one's liege lord (I: 480)

The armies of Westeros are made largely of smallfolk, lleavenedwith undisciplined freeriders and sellswords (I: 504)

There can be false springs and spirit summers which present unusual variations in the seasons (I: 526. II: 189. SSM: 1)

A man might ask three coppers for a tart if he was suspicious of the prospective buyer (I: 599)

Red lamps hung outside buildings indicate brothels (I: 648. II: 174)

A silver coin can buy four mugs of ale, bread, lamb, roast duck, and butter pease and still get back a fistful of coppers in change (THK: 461)

Since the last dragon died, summers are believed to be shorter and winters longer and harsher (THK: 465)

A copper can buy a sausage (THK: 465)

A new hauberk of mail, gorget, greaves, and greathelm made by a good smith can cost 800 silver stags (THK: 466)

Offering to trade old armor to be salvaged for metal can lower the price by 200 stags (THK: 466, 467)

A riding palfrey of good quality might sell anywhere in the range of 700 stags (THK: 476)

700 stags plus the bargained cost of a good saddle convert to three gold pieces and a handful of stags (THK: 477)

Golden dragons bear the face of the king in whose time they were minted in, as well as his name (THK: 477)

Shaving gold from the edge of a coin means another few silvers and a fistful of coppers to make up the weight lost (THK: 477)

One can live well for a year on three gold dragons (THK: 477)

A Lysene pirate prince with two dozen ships under his command might command 23,000 gold dragons a month for his service as a sellsail (II: 115, 116)

Goods such as jewelry can be pawned (II: 146)

There are sometimes bountiful spirit summers before the cold fully sets in in autumn (II: 189)

There are hedge wizards who attempt to divine the future, including how the weather shall be (II: 189)

The cheapest sort of whores can provide their services for a clipped copper (II: 194)

There are three royal mints (II: 200)

Admirals of fleets in Westeros are given the title Lord Captain or Lord High Captain (II: 284, 600)

A lord might show give a warrant to a servant who has to carry out some important action, often using a ribbon in the color or colors of a house bearing a wax seal (II: 326)

The Ice Dragon (its name may be different outside of the North) is a constellation used to help mark direction, because the blue star in the rider's eye points the way north (II: 381)

A soldier's tent would be of heavy canvas (II: 449)

Men living near bogs and mires can sell leeches they collect at twelve for a penny (III: 5)

The narrow sea is often wet and rainy in the autumn (III: 55)

Freeriders and hedge knights are always attaching themselves to royal processions, seeking employment (III: 83)

The narrow sea is often stormy (III: 87)

Commoners who have turned to outlawry because of harsh circumstances, such as war, are known as broken men. Many are deserters (III: 122. IV: 374-375)

The autumn storms on the narrow sea make sea travel hazardous, so much so that most travel seems to end. Winter storms on the narrow sea are even worse, but less frequent (III: 213, 286. IV: 217)

Shires exist (III: 252)

There have been no slaves in Westeros for thousands of years (III: 264)

Six coppers for a melon, a silver stag for a bushel of corn, and a gold dragon for a side of beef or six skinny piglets are all shockingly high prices (III: 354)

Thirty golden dragons is enough to take passage to the Free Cities and make a long, comfortable sojourn there, at least for a singer (III: 356)

Three hundred dragons is a fair ransom for a knight (III: 503)

The Ice Dragon's tail points the way south (III: 530)

The sea voyage from the Arbor around Dorne and through the Stepstones is a long one (III: 671)

Most people in Westeros, even among the nobility, do not know High Valyrian (III: 676)

Markets and fairs are places where news and gossip is often swapped (III: 733)

The drought that troubled the realm for nearly two years, following the Great Spring Sickness, ended in 211 (TSS: 155)

A virgin whore might be had from an inn for the price of a golden dragon (IV: 1)

A donkey can be bought for 9 silver stags or less (IV: 2)

There are copper coins known as stars (IV: 67, 345)

The brother of a great lord, if well-rewarded for his service and remembered in the will of his father, may well have wealth enough to feed two hundred knights, and have the means to double that number, support freeriders, and purchase sellswords at need (IV: 114)

A coin known as a groat (IV: 175)

Serjeants serve in the hosts of lords and kings (IV: 203. V: 58)

Before the Conquest, the golden coins of the Reach were known as hands. They still exist in some number, with each coin roughly half the value of a dragon (IV: 233)

A hide, a measure of land (IV: 404)

It's said 900,000 gold dragons could feed the hungry and rebuild a thousand septs (IV: 422)

In autumn, the leaves of trees in the kingswood turn their color, and autumn flowers and chestnuts can be found in plenty (IV: 425)

It's suggested that a journey from the Shield Islands to the far side of the narrow sea is so hazardous in autumn that two-thirds of a fleet might be lost in the attempt (IV: 440)

The Seven Kingdoms has no significant banks (IV: 535)

Summer continued at least through the year 211 or perhaps the early part of 212 (TMK: 649)

A small tent would cost a silver stag, in King Aerys I's day (TMK: 652)

The cost to cross a river on a ferry was a few coppers around the year 205, although prices may well have risen in the intervening years (TMK: 652)

Mounted crossbowmen (TMK: 653)

Hedge knights are nearer to common servants than noble knights in the eyes of most lords, and are rarely invited to ride beside them (TMK: 656)

A knight and his squire could "feast like kings" for a year on the ransom won at a tourney (TMK: 658-659)

In the reign of Aerys I, a ferry across a narrow part of the God's Eye cost 2 coppers a man, and then was raised to 3 coppers each. Three horses cost 10 coppers to carry across (TMK: 659)

Misty Moor, probably in the Reach, mentioned by the hedge knight Ser Kyle the Cat (TMK: 661, 663)

A small tourney thrown by Lord Butterwell has a very rich grand prize of a dragon's egg, but the other prizes are much smaller, being 30 dragons for the knight who came second and 10 dragons to each of the knights defeated the previous round (TMK: 672)

In the reign of King Aerys I, 10 gold dragons could buy a palfrey, a suit of plate for a young squire, a proper pavilion, and good food for a time (TMK: 672)

Most of the roads in Westeros are little more than narrow, muddy tracks (V: 77)

The Lannisters and the Tyrells are the two most powerful houses in Westeros; the Lannisters are wealthier than the Tyrells, while the Tyrells command more troops than the Lannisters (SSM: 1)

The unpredictable nature of the seasons and the harshness of long winters, combined perhaps with the past strength of magic, undoubtedly played a part in the slow progress and advancement of technology in Westeros (SSM: 1)

A sellsword is a mercenary, either mounted or unmounted, who fight for wages. Most are experienced professional soldiers. Freeriders are always mounted, but they include anyone who is not part of a lord's retinue or a feudal levy. They generally do not collect wages, but instead fight for plunder or to impress a lord and become a permanent part of his retinue (SSM: 1)

There are five cities in Westeros. In order of size they are King's Landing, Oldtown, Lannisport, Gulltown, and White Harbor (SSM: 1)

There have been attempts in the past to lay claim to the Stepstones, a chain of large islands in the narrow sea east of Dorne and Storm's End (SSM: 1)

No one has ever successfully crossed the Sunset Sea to learn what lives on its other side (SSM: 1)

The journey from Dorne to the North is a long one, taking months (SSM: 1)

Infantry outnumbers cavalry in Westeros. However, with few exceptions, infantry is largely made up of feudal levies and town militias with poor training and equipment (SSM: 1)

Westeros is more strongly affected by winters than the eastern continent, because it extends further north while the eastern continent's boundary is the icy polar sea (SSM: 1)

There are twelve turns of the moon to the year (SSM: 1)



PermaLink Last revised February 21, 2016

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">



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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 touc