A World of Ice and Fire Analysis VIb (The Seven Kingdoms from the Westerlands to Dorne)

Moving from the North to the heart of the South this week. Some really interesting stuff…

The Westerlands:

• BTW, I welcome any corrections by Joanna Lannister on this section. My grasp of Westerlands history is not the best.
• the map: gold and silver, duh. I’m surprised there aren’t more castles along the southern border with the Reach, tho.
• Lots of caves in the Westerlands…
• First Men Houses: Hawthornes, Footes, Brooms, Plumms, Farmans, Greenfields, Reynes, Westerlings.
• Houses from legend: Crake the Boarkiller from Crakehall, the Hooded Man of the Baneforts, The Blind Bowman Alan o’the Oak of the Yews, and Pate the Plowman of the Morelands. Those are some awesome figures.
• Corlos son of Casterly bearding the lion in the den. Hmmm…I wonder if the Casterlys were lion-wargs?
• The Rock of Casterly Rock as a hollowed-out gold mine. We knew that already, but you do have to wonder how subterranean it is.
• Lann the Clever:
  • everyone agrees he came out of the east.
  • Lann very much in the trickster role from myth and fairy tale – coating himself with butter the comedic touch, psychological warfare as the darker side, gory deaths, and sexual assault. The whole gamut of human emotion and probability.
  • Achmaester Perestan suggests a lucky retainer.
  • Lived to 312, 100 sons and 100 daughters. Reminds me a lot of Hugor. I wonder if Lann was a god at some point?
• So the Lannisters started with the cadet branch model immediately, which explains why there’s so many of them.
• Surprising that Lannisport got so big, given that it’s on the wrong side of the damn continent.
• So the Lannister Kings started in Lannisport! Or did they?
• King Loreon the Lion using both peace (marrying into the Reynes, which means Tywin was killing kinfolk), and war (defeating the Hooded King of the Banefort).
• King Tybolt the Thunderbolt fighting off the Andals – probably when the mountain castles were built. Or at least some of them.
• Kings Tyrion III and Gerold II marry the Andals into their lesser houses, but take ward-hostages to keep the peace. Clever.
• Nothing here about religion. Odd.
• Gerold III died without issue, and so we pass from First Men Lannisters to mixed FM/Andal Lannisters.
• So the Jasts, Leffords, Parrens, Droxes, Marbrands, Braxes, Serretts, Sarsfields, and Kyndalls are Andal hybrids.
• Who were the lesser kings that King Cerion (Gerion?) defeated?
• Tommen I built the first Lannister fleet and brought Fair Isle and the Farmans into the fold. Odd, since they’d been fighting Ironborn since the time of the Lannisters of Lannisport.
• Loreon II held the first tourney in the west, but not the first ever.
• Lancel I (the Lion) conquered as far as Old Oak before dying, and Loreon the Limp lost it all. Except that Old Oak is pretty far north in the Reach, so maybe the gains and losses were exaggerated.
• Gerrold the Great again, messing up the Ironborn. It took 20 of them to realize he wasn’t kidding?
• Lancel IV seems like an impressive warrior at Lann’s Point (although I doubt he beheaded two people with one stroke of a sword, even a Valyrian sword), but overreached himself.
• Norwin the Niggardly. Loreon the Lackwit. Queen Lorea! Our first trans/gay King!
• Tyrion the Tormenter…ew. And hey, he and Tyrion Halfman both like axes.
• Fluid boundaries in the south make sense, but shouldn’t you see more castles?
• Why don’t the Farmans of Fair Isle have a navy?
• I love that Westeros creates its own legends in the East, with Casterly Rock as the Golden Mountain of Planetos.
• You’d think that given how much the Lannisters paid for Brightroar, they’d have taken care of it.
• I like Tommen II’s gumption, but no one makes it out of Valyria alive. And certainly not Euron Greyjoy!
• Sidebar:
  • well, the Valyrian prophecy could be a misunderstood foretelling of the Sack of King’s Landing.
  • A reverse at Oldtown…well, given the nature of the High Tower, I’m saying squishers/Deep Ones got ’em.
• House Lannister under the Dragons:
  • Lord Lyman Lannister breaking isolationist tendencies.
  • Love the detail of Tymond Lannister getting shown up by the Tyrells.
  • Ser Tyland and Lord Jason paid a high price for Targaryen patronage. You have to be impressed by Ser Tyland’s endurance.
  • The Fireball taking out Lord Lefford and defeating Lord Damon…with which Houses supporting him? The Blackfyre Rebellion still doesn’t make sense when it comes to numbers!
  • Gerold the Golden – a proto-Tywin? Murdered his own brother and niece? And then suffering tragedies in return.
  • There’s Rohanne Webber!
  • The Peake Uprising – so should this be categorized as one of the Blackfyre Rebellions?
  • So Tywald Lannister dies and sets off Ellyn Reyne, who persuades Tion Lannister to ditch the Rowans, and marry her. I wonder if Cersei modeled her strategy in King’s Landing on the Reynes?
  • The Battle of Wendwater Bridge is a disaster for the Blackfyres, and takes out Tion, but rouses Gerold.
  • Very much a Greens vs. Blacks with the reign of the Reynes vs. Lady Jeyne.
  • Hah! Tytos couldn’t get it up.
  • And so the Reynes and Tarbecks unite. Poor bastards.
  • The War of the Wombs! Awesome. I love that Tywin bit his grandfather’s finger.
  • Tytos reminds me a lot of Viserys I. Poor guy would have been a great third son, but a lousy lord.
  • Wow, you can really see why Tywin preferred to be feared than loved, if wanting to be loved did that to Tytos.
  • Kevan squired for the Reynes? Yeesh, being Tywin’s brother never was easy.
  • All that money to restore Tarbeck Hall…sad.
  • Aegon V had to send men in three times? Good lord.
  • wait…I’m confused. Tytos was the third son of Gerold, who never married again. So where did Ser Jason come from?
  • Tywin, Kevan, and Tygett, all young together.
  • I like the illustration of young Tywin – he has a very Wellingtonian look about him.
  • AHA! So Tywin uses his fellow veterans of the Ninepenny Kings as collections agents. Sensible, logical.
  • I knew about the three prisoners, but I didn’t realize Tywin had provoked it by arresting a lord, who had in the end come peacefully to discuss matters with his liege lord. An early case of Tywin not really caring about the rules.
  • The feast of all eternity really reminds me of Love Day.
  • The numbers here are a bit weird. Yes, I get that Tywin struck first…but only 3,500 men were enough to take out House Tarbeck? And then suddenly Tywin’s got 6,000 men? Or maybe 10,000? The Westerlands have 45,000 men normally, and the two most powerful Houses can barely scrape 2,000 men together?
  • And here we go again, killing every last Tarbeck, putting their heads on spikes, and parading them before his army.
  • Wow, Ellyn and Tion died so randomly…
  • Tarbeck Hall is burnt to the ground. Irony!
  • Roger Reyne was a bit too aggressive there.
  • So Castamere is like a mini-Casterly Rock. Very much echoing the two lions theme.
  • And House Reyne’s mine is flooded. I really wonder how Kevan dealt with all of this.
  • As I said on Twitter, it says a lot about Westeros that Tywin’s reputation afterwards was dangerous but effective leader and not murderous supervillain.
  • Wow…I didn’t realize Kevan married his hostage. That’s hilarious.
  • Casterly Rock:
    • beautiful illustration. Seems like the castle would be incredibly dark inside.
    • Huge caverns beneath. So that’s where the Deep Ones will invade from!
    • Note: not tapped out at all.
    • Oh come on, GRRM! Three times as tall as the Wall?! 2,100 feet? That’s taller than the damn World Trade Center!
    • Seven miles long?! This is crazy!
    • The Rock has its own port inside, complete with shipyards. So it really is a Bond villain lair.
    • The Lion’s Mouth seems cool.
    • So…why not just blockade the damn thing and starve them out?

The Reach:

• map: there’s a castle at Red Lake that wasn’t there before. Odd little dogleg there up in the north. Also, the east-west axis is REALLY squished. I say again, the Reach could become even richer if it just built two small canals linking the Mander to the Blackwater and the Mander to the Honeywine.
• So…the Reach was once four kingdoms: Oldtown, the Arbor, the Western Marches (although you’ll note that if it went as far east as Nightsong, a good bit of the Stormlands was once in the Reach), and the Reach Proper bounded by the Mander.
• I don’t ever want to live in Westeros, but if I had to, Oldtown is definitely the place to be.
• Garth Greenhand:
  • AHA! I knew it! Garth Greenhand is a life-rebirth-death god, a virtual Dionysus! And for that matter, a Green Man/Horned God! And apparently Johnny Appleseed too. Although Johnny Appleseed never demanded human sacrifice/was a human sacrifice. GRRM really did reach into the pagan nature god hat and pull out a fistful, didn’t he?
  • I love that the Reach says that Garth is the father of all the other Heroes of legend. Typical cultural imperialism.
  • High King of the First Men…well, the Barrow Kings would disagree with that, but the First Men probably stopped in the Reach long before they got to the North.
  • Garth invented farming – I love him trying to each the other races.
  • So it’s possible the Starks, Lannisters, and Gardeners were all relatives? Hilarious.
  • The Children of Garth the Greenhand:
    • John the Oak – the first knight, sired on a giantess! Founded the Oakhearts. Don’t recall Arys as being described as tall though.
    • Gilbert of the Vines – taught wine-making, founded the Redwynes, natch.
    • Florys the Fox – an awesome lady and impressive bigamist, possibly Lann’s mom. Interesting that the Peakes and Florents are related. Which makes me think the Florents were Blackfyre supporters. And ironically, the Florents descend from Garth by the female line, the exact thing they hate about the Tyrells.
    • Maris the Maid – I love this one, reminds me a lot of Tyndareus and Helen’s suitors. Argoth Stone-Skin – a Titan?
    • Foss the Archer – hello, William Tell!
    • Brandon of the Bloody Blade – yeah, killing the giants and the COF doesn’t sound like Brandon the Builder’s dad to me.
    • Ellyn Ever Sweet – I liked this one too.
    • Rowan Gold-Tree – got a real Decameron vibe from that one.
  • The Gardener Kings:
    • “there was a difference, in degree if not in kind, for almost all the noble houses of the Reach shared a common ancenstry, deriving as they did from Garth Greenhand…it was that kinship, many scholars have suggested, that gave House Gardener the primacy.” Sounds reasonable.
    • The Oakenseat is a pretty damn cool throne in a world not exactly lacking in cool thrones. I’m guessing the Lannisters sat on pure gold, but what about the Starks? I don’t remember any mention.
    • Roland of the Horn! Can’t leave Roland out when discussing the home of knighthood. And Serwyn of the Mirror Shield is confirmed as Reacher in origin. I wonder who the Knight Without Armor was?
    • The Kings – Garth V (Hammer of the Dornish), Gwayne I (The Gallant), Gyles I (The Woe), Gareth II (the Grim), Garth VI (the Morningstar), and Gordan I (Grey-Eyes). Hmm, the Gardeners really liked their numbers, didn’t they?
    • So the first enemy was the Ironborn, sometimes allying with the Lannisters and the Hightowers. Here’s Qhored again.
    • Gareth the Grim and Garth the Morningstar both died in battle, and Gyles II died badly.
    • Garth III (the Great), Garland II (the Bridegroom), Gwayne III (the Fat), and John II (the Tall) were peacemakers. Garth the Great brought in Old Oak, Red Lake, and Goldengrove with mutual defense pacts, Garland brought Oldtown into the Reach by marrying into House Hightower (so the Queen of Thorns clearly not the First), Gwayne acted as judge between the Peakes and Manderlys (AHA! First mention of the Brackens and Blackwoods of the Reach, but no clue yet as to where the Manderlys came from), and John did some classic colonizing. Hmmm…who brought in the Arbor?
    • Garth VII, the Goldenhand. My personal favorite. Stopped a Dornish invasion, pushed the Ironborn out of the islands and turned them into the military colonies of the Shield Islands (although where’s their navy?), and then not only won the Battle of Three Armies by trickery but won a long-term peace by marrying his daughters to the sons of the men he killed. And ruled for 75 years. So long-living kings we’ve heard of so far – Edrick Snowbeard, Lann the Clever, the Grey King, Garth Greybeard, Jaehaerys. Am I missing any?
  • Andals in the Reach:
    • We’ve got such a better sense of the Andal invasion now – first the Vale, then the Riverlands, then the Iron Islands and the Stormlands, then only later the Reach and the Westerlands, and never to the North.
    • The Gardeners handled this well (As did the Redwynes and Hightowers). I wonder if Gwayne IV ever found the COF? Mern the Mason was sensible. Mern the Madling was crazy and crazy-awesome.
    • The Three Sage Kings all following accord and assimilation (definitely getting a theme of peace>war):
      • Garth IX converted to the Faith. I love his quote: “when a wolf descends upon your flocks, all you gain by killing him is a short respite, for the other wolves will come…if instead you feed the wolf and tame him and turn his pups into your guard dogs, they will protect the flocks when the pack comes ravening.”
      • Merle I build septs everywhere.
      • Gwayne V was the first knight, and everything before him was rewriting history.
    • So the Gardeners married Andals, another case of FM/Andal mixing. Tyrells as Andals!
    • And we see the benefits of working together – you get the iron, you can fight the Andals better.
    • Andal Houses: Ormes, Parrens, Graceford, Cuys, Roxftons, Ufferings, Leygoods, and Varners. Never heard of any of them.
    • So after the Three Sage Kings, the Reach gets way too over-reaching.
      • Gyles III does some impressive job conquering the Stormlands, but then has to run back to fight the westermen.
      • Then has to fight three Dornish Kings and two Riverlander Kings, and everything goes back to status quo ante bellum. Pointless.
      • Garth X split between Peakes and Manderlys’ civil war – second mention of this feud.
      • Then the Storm Kings and Kings of the Rock take gobs of territory.
      • Note: the Dornish invade, besiege Oldtown, sack Highgarden, burn the Oakenseat, and murder the King. There’s a reason why the Reach hates Dorne, and it’s not just racism.
      • Osmund Tyrell the High Steward – you begin to see why the Tyrells took over, rebuilding Highgarden, putting an end to the Peake/Manderly feud, and restoring the position of the Reach.
      • Garth XI, the Painter of the Red Mountains. Not a man to fuck with.
  • Oldtown:
    • Wow…some real Lovecraftiana going on here.
    • So men have lived there since the Dawn Age…
    • Maester Jellicoe lived among the Children of the Forest? Cool.
    • So it could be an old Valyrian trading post…or it could be the Deep Ones/Squishers. Or both.
    • Battle Isle – Battle for the Dawn? Battle against the Deep Ones?
    • Septon Barth again! Some great historiography/archaeology here.
    • Weird black stone…we’ve seen that before in the Iron Islands and the Velayrons. And now Lorath, too.
    • Maester Theron’s Strange Stone reminds me a lot of the G’harne Fragments or the Eltdown Shards or the Zanthu Tablets from Lovecraft and his pastichers.
    • So the Hightowers have always been on Battle Isle, living in their creepy fortress. And they might be part-Deep One.
    • I like the idea of Brandon the Builder as a jobbing architect, fielding calls from Uthor of the High Tower and Durran Godsgrief. “Look mate, I can do fast, cheap, or magical, but not all three.” 
    • Five separate towers were built – and just in time, because it allowed House Hightower to survive three sacks in a century, one by a Dayne, one by Qhored, and once by Gyles the Woe, who seems like a real bastard.
    • No wonder Otho II went into bankruptcy to build the walls.
    • AHA! So that’s how the Arbor was brought in – the last king was “lost at sea” and King Meryn III inherited.
    • Lymond the Last, the Sea Lion, was a clever bugger, building the biggest navy in all of Westeros.
    • So how big is the Hightower fleet?
    • Prince Peremore the Twisted – founder of the Citadel! King Urrigon seems like a good brother, if not a well-educated one.
    • Dorian Hightower may have been pragmatic, but that’s cold.
    • So here at long last, we have the Faith being dominant in politics – with the first High Septon acting as Regent, and the presence of the Starry Sept and its armies giving it a huge regional power base.
    • Huh…the High Septon under Maegor was kin to the Hightowers. So highborn people do enter the church.
    • Everyone killed the High Septon!
  • House Tyrell:
    • does have royal blood?
    • Interesting the shift from badass knights to bureaucrats.
    • Regents of the Reach under Garland VI.
    • Mern VI, the man who Ser Osmund Tyrell put on the throne, gave a daughter to the Tyrells. Shocking.
    • Nine more unions – all of them on the female side?
    • So the Oakhearts, Florents, Rowans, Peakes, and Redwynes all have closer blood ties. How can these houses not have risen for the Blackfyres?
    • Lord Harlan did very well for himself…right until the First Dornish War.
    • I’m sure Theo made damn sure the council of septons and maesters decided the right way.
    • The Tyrells stayed out of the Dance of the Dragons.
    • Lord Lyonel also ended badly.
    • Lord Leo Longthorn – ok, this is the part that makes no damn sense to me. Peake, Costayne, Strickland, half of Hightower, and half of House Oakheart backed the Blackfyres; the Reach, along with the Marches (and the Yronwoods) were the most antagonistic to the King’s pro-Dorne policies, and must have been the core of his support (how else to explain how Daemon managed to defeat the Lannisters and almost win Redgrass against an army with the Arryns, Baratheons, and Martells supporting Daeron?) Given the march of battle and his minting of coins, it’s clear that Daemon must have made his temporary capitol in the Reach. I see no way in hell that Lord Leo was a staunch Targaryen supporter when most of his bannermen were on the other side. My guess (which is supported by “his forces were unable to gather quickly enough to arrive in time for the Battle of the Redgrass Field”) – Lord Leo stayed out of it until after Redgrass, and then attacked the losers on their way home.
  • Highgarden:
    • a hedge maze as castle defenses! I love it! It’s like the bocage but so much prettier!
    • Garth Greenhand planted weirwoods, eh?
    • The Order of the Green Hand! Ok, huge nerdy confession here: I created a pen and paper RPG character from ASOIAF – Ser Konstanz Gardener, formerly of the Golden Company and Captain of the Band of the Green Hand. My idea was that the Oakhearts who followed Daemon Blackfyre would have copied his taking of a new name, to emphasize their right to Highgarden, and followed Bittersteel into exile when the other half of the family grabbed Old Oak. Hence, a mercenary knight raised as both Westerosi and Essosi, who decides to create his own mercenary force and train them to be experts in training armies (a bit of a lift from Francis Crawford of Lymond in the Disorderly Knights). And of course he’d name his outfit after the famous order of knights created by the Gardeners!
  • Still don’t know when the Manderlys were kicked out. Sigh.

The Stormlands:

• map: the Stormlands produce lumber and amber. Lumber I can see, but amber isn’t that useful. Man, you can really see what the Stormlands would have been, back before it lost it’s lands to the west and to the north, to say nothing of the Riverlands.
• Aha! I knew there had to be a port in the Stormlands, it doesn’t make sense otherwise. So Weeping Town is it. I wonder why it never got a city charter?
• Tarth sounds really, really beautiful.
• “the realms of the Durrandons and their successors have always been thinly peopled when compared to the Reach, the Riverlands, and the west.” So how did they take the Riverlands? Or hold against their enemies? Guess we’ll find out.
• The Coming of the First Men:
  • interesting, the First Men went from Dorne to the Stormlands…and then into the Reach?
  • So the Stormlands also produces furs, eh?
• House Durrandon:
  • little archaeological records, eh.
  • Oy…way too many King Durrans.
  • So Durran Godsgrief also ruled for a thousand years. Or the Durrandons are just not very imaginative.
  • Durran Godsgrief takes the Rainwoods.
  • Durran the Devout gives it back.
  • Durran Bronze-Axe takes it again. Yeesh, make up your mind.
  • Durran the Dour, giant killer!
  • Durran Ravenfriend (warg?) occupies Massey’s Hook.
  • Duran the Young, the Butcher Boye, murders the hell out of the Yronwoods, marries his niece, and then get’s killed by Erich Kin-Killer. (And what was the deal with Erreg the Kinslayer?)
  • Durran the Fair marries into Tarth. So Brienne and Renly were kin.
  • Erich the Sailmaker, not another Durran! Takes Estermont and the smaller isles, probably built a navy.
  • Durran X pushes the border up tot he Blackwater.
  • Monfryd the Mighty (seriously, it couldn’t be Manfryd?) takes Duskendale and Maidenpool.
  • Durran the Dim, Barron the Beautiful, and Durwald the Fat throw it all away.
  • Ooh…the Green Queen, a woods witch! Cool.
  • Morden II and Ronard – what a weird family relationship.
  • Ronard the Bastard, magnificent bastard.
• Andals in the Stormlands:
  • ouch, Erich the Unready really dropped the ball.
  • Qarlton the Conqueror, conquered himself.
  • Whoah! The Bar Emmons are Andals? Not with a name like Togarion.
  • I feel bad for Qarlton III and Monfryd V. Good soldiers, but it’s like trying to hold back the tide.
  • King Baldric the CUNNING! I love it!
  • What did Durran XXI (seriously, guys, stop it) learn from the Weirdwood Alliance?
  • Cleodon I and the Dornish allied against Drox the Corpse-Maker. That’s a metal name in a book full of them.
  • Seven sieges, seven failures.
  • King Maldon IV and Durran Half-Blood does the smart thing and marries into the Andals.
  • Ormun the III converts to the Seven.
  • Arlan the Avenger retakes the whole of the Stormlands all the way west and north.
  • Arlan III grabs the Trident.
  • And then the overreach kicks in.
• House Baratheon:
  • Once again, I feel sorry for Orys Baratheon.
  • The Wyl of Wyl takes his sword hand, and Orys resigns to he can pursue vengeance. Yep, he’s a Baratheon alright.
  • Gyldane’s sidebar – that’s how Baratheons take vengeance. And already there’s an association with Davos and onions and missing body parts!
  • Robar Baratheon, the Second Baratheon Hand. And married the Dowager Queen! So that’s another Targaryen link.
  • AHA! Rhaenys was half-Baratheon.
  • Wait, what? Borros captured King’s Landing? And had a pretty bloody end.
  • Bloody Ben Blackwood and Black Aly Blackwood – I love House Blackwood. No wonder Cregan picked her over a Targ.
  • Wow, Lord Lyonel did not fuck around. Cross him, he crowns himself.
  • Ser Raymont Baratheon saved the royal family. Who’s the Stormbreaker?
  • Aha! Steffon’s father died in the War of Ninepenny Kings. Didn’t know that.
• The Men of the Stormlands:
  • Aha! So this is how the Stormlands kept their land – they’re really good archers. And the marchers are hard men.
  • And sailors – aha! Apparently there are harbors at Massey’s Hook, Estermont, and Tarth. Ok, that makes sense.
  • Ser Galladon of Morne carried Just Maid given to him by the Seven. Precedent for Brienne!
  • The Tarths are First Men! And linked to the Targs?
  • House Caron, House Swann, House Dondarrion (bottomless dry moat?) – I would not want to mess with them.
• Storm’s End:
  • we knew most of this.
  • So who actually built it? Someone with magic did, we know that.
  • “some common smuggler.” I’d say a very uncommon smuggler.

Dorne:

• map: olives. But what about citrus fruits? Wine grapes? Silk? This is insufficient!
• If Maester Yandel is going to go the Full Lawrence with Dorne, “he” might as well admit the Dornish are people of color.
• Why did no one build artificial harbors around the south coast? You’d think it’d be in the interests of Sandstone or Hellholt or Salt Shore or Starfall to get some trade going.
• Planky Town is cool. Although, if you’re going to go the Full Lawrence, I’d point out that the Middle East historically had high degrees of urbanization, precisely because there was so little agriculture to be done.
• I like the Dorne/North comparison.
• The Children of the Forest called it the Empty Land.
• AHA! The Reach claims Garth led the First Men from Dorne to the Reach. Interesting.
• So the First Men stayed in the east of Dorne. Interesting. Hmm…House Dayne’s a bit odd then.
• Lords of the Wells. Lovely name.
• Man, House Uller has a bad rep.
• Someone really should tap the Torrentine into irrigation canals.
• Oy. This illustration – why is the sandy Dornishman lighter than the salty, when it’s supposed to be the other way around?
• The Breaking:
  • Whoah…a thousand men sacrificed on the Isle of Faces.
  • Archmaester Cassander, evolutionary geologist!
• Kingdoms of the First Men:
  • Interesting parallels – as the Reach is perhaps the most harmonious, Dorne is the least.
  • House Dayne, the Torrentine Kings. And their magic stone!
  • House Fowler, the Kings of Stone and Sky.
  • House Yronwood, the High Kings of Dorne – ah, no wonder they could fight the Martells so long, their lands actually produce stuff.
  • Elected Kings along the Greenblood. Interesting…parallel to the Night’s Watch?
• The Sword of the Morning:
  • That’s an absolutely beautiful painting. And sword.
  • A not-Valyrian Valyrian sword. Huh. Meteoric iron isn’t usually pale as milkglass.
• The Andals Arrive:
  • fewer Andals than anywhere else in Westeros save the North. Makes sense.
  • Andal Houses: the Ullers, Qorgyles, Vaiths, Allyrions, Jordaynes, Santagars, and the Martells. INteresting.
• The Coming of the Rhoynar:
  • so a soldier queen, rather than a warrior queen.
  • Still not digging the illustrations of Dornish people. Nymeria and Mors do not look like they’re from different ethnicities.
  • The Six Kings:
    • Yorick of House Yronwood, natch.
    • Vorian of House Dayne. Wha? What happened to Ser Davos Dayne? I’m so confused.
    • Garrison of House Fowler, the Blind King. I like him.
    • Lucifer of House Dryland, Last of His Ilk. Oooh…who was he?
    • Benedict of House Blackmont. Now you see why I thought the Vulture King was a Blackmont.
    • And House Manwoody is crazy. Not surprised.
• Queer Customs of the South:
  • The Stony Dornish – ironic that the least Rhoynish cause the most trouble with the outside world.
  • The Sandy Dornish – the chief breeders of sand steeds.
  • The Salty Dornish – aha, a different accent of the Common Tongue. (Surely, given the distance, you’d have regional accents everywhere in Westeros, no?)
  • Female inheritance. And it sounds like bastard inheritence to.
  • Gay, lesbian, bi, and poly – the most progressive of Westeros.
  • Why did the Martells ban speaking Rhoynish? You’d think given their relations with the Stepstones, it might come in handy.
• The Yronwoods rode in 3/5 Rebellions. This is so confusing – so, leaving aside the abortive second, which one didn’t they fight in? Are there five proper Rebellions and the Ninepenny Kings, or is the Ninepenny the fifth? A whole damn worldbook and I still don’t understand the Blackfyre Rebellion!
• Gaemon Palehair and his paramour Sylvenna Sand instituting gender equality, poor relief, and disability insurance! I like them!
• Dorne Against the Dragons:
  • really wish I hadn’t eaten before covering this.
  • So Lord Tyrell’s forces got all the way to the Hellholt before disappearing.
  • House Toland are clever as hell.
  • See what I mean about Orys getting the hard work?
  • The Defenstration of Sunspear! Man, if that’s a pleasant end…
  • Man, the Dornish like torture. Gruesome.
  • Aha! So the Tyrell army disappears between Hellholt and Vaith.
  • the Dornish burn the Rainwood, burn Nightsong, and burn the fields of Oldtown.
  • And then the Targaryens torch Starfall, Skyreach, and Hellholt…so when were they rebuilt?
  • The “Demise” of Rhaenys is icky.
  • The Dragons Wroth – so the whole damn country burns. And the marcher lords begin to differ from the Martells.
  • And then it descends into assassinations.
  • Man, no wonder Dorne’s military forces declined by half thereafter.
  • Prince Nymor makes peace. What was in that letter?
  • “Raiders out of Dorne continued to descend from the Red Mountains in search of plunder in the richer, greener lands to the north and west.” Yeah, Dorne is not innocent of aggressive warfare.
  • Prince Qoren aids the Triarchy but stays out of the Dance. Smart man.
  • So Princess Aliandra – before or after the peace treaty?
• Sunspear:
  • man, that is a beautiful castle.
  • The Winding Walls and the Threefold Gate. Good architecture there.
• I feel a bit unsatisfied. There’s a huge gap there between Nymeria and the Dornish War, and we learnt nothing about it.

And we’re done with the Seven Kingdoms! On to Essos!