Beginner’s Guide to A Song of Ice and Fire (After Conquest)

Having survived the Doom of Valyria in 102 BC, the Targaryens of Dragonstone, also known as the last of the Valyrian ruling families, became a major power in the Narrow Sea, controlling trade with the threat of dragonfire until 2 BC, when their patriarch Aegon Targaryen and his dragon Balerion invaded the Westerosi continent. Nearing the end of the Century of Blood, Westeros was divided into seven kingdoms, including the Kingdom of the North, Kingdom of the Mountain and Vale, Kingdom of the Isles and Rivers, Kingdom of the Rock, Kingdom of the Reach, Kingdom of the Storm and Dorne.

Defeating nearly every kingdom alongside his sister-wives, Visenya and Rhaenys as well as their dragons Vhagar and Meraxes, Aegon was crowned King of Westeros in 1 AC, forging the Iron Throne from the swords of his defeated enemies. In the North, they remained under House Stark, as did the Vale under House Arryn, and the Westerlands under House Lannister, while House Hoare of the Kingdom of Isles and Rivers was destroyed, with their territory split into the Iron Islands ruled by House Greyjoy and the Riverlands ruled by House Tully. The newly created crownlands, meanwhile, became the personal domain of the king who ruled from the capital of King’s Landing. Further south, the Targaryens destroyed House Gardener and so left the Reach under House Tyrell, while House Durrandon was defeated in the Stormlands, but lived on through their successors, as the new lord of the territory Orys Baratheon, the best friend and rumored half brother of King Aegon, married the daughter of the fallen Durrandon king, in addition to adopting their stag sigil and house words, “Ours is the Fury”. Yet while these mighty realms fell, the mixed Rhoynar-Andal population of Dorne resisted under House Martell, fighting a brutal guerrilla war over the first decade of Aegon’s rule, ultimately ending with the conqueror admitting defeat and signing a peace treaty that recognized the independence of this southern-most realm.

Over the next three centuries, House Targaryen ruled the continent of Westeros as absolute kings thanks to the overwhelming might of their dragons. Though these monarchs varied in wisdom and aptitude, one of the most notable of Aegon’s descendants was King Jaehaerys the Conciliator who ended two civil wars to preside over a golden age of peace and prosperity. Unfortunately his descendants squandered these accomplishments and the realm was torn apart in the Dance of the Dragons civil war, fought from 129 to 131 AC. A viscous conflict between the chosen heir Rhaenyra Targaryen, and her younger brother Aegon, who claimed the crown against his father’s wishes but was backed by tradition and precedent which favored male heirs. This conflict not only killed thousands but also wiped out nearly all the dragons, leading to their eventual extinction and a significant loss in power and prestige for House Targaryen.

Even so, the descendants of Valyria continued to rule for many years, with Daeron the Good standing out as another exceptional king, able to bring Dorne into the realm through a marriage alliance, before winning a civil war against his half brother Daemon Blackfyre. For many of these years, Daeron the Good was aided by his loyal half brother Brynden Rivers, nicknamed Bloodraven, serving as Hand of the King, the second most powerful position in the realm, but he eventually ended up as Lord Commander of the Nights Watch until he disappeared during a ranging beyond the wall. Over the next few decades, House Targaryen continued to defend their throne against House Blackfyre, winning all five wars until their enemies were seemingly destroyed, though in truth they survived through the female line.

The last great Targaryen King, Aegon V, had a fascinating life, as he was so far down the line of succession no one expected him to take the throne, and so was allowed more freedom in his youth, serving as a squire to the Hedge Knight Ser Duncan the Tall. As a result of travelling across the continent and getting to know the small folk, he became their advocate as King, earning love from the commoners and hatred from the nobility threatened by his reforms. Yet Aegon V’s reign was cut short when he died in a failed attempt to hatch dragon eggs, causing a terrible fire which killed the king and many others.

Yet while these notable kings performed great deeds worthy of praise, their dynasty ultimately met it’s end under Mad King Aerys II, a cruel, incompetent monarch who’s son and heir Rhaegar Targaryen disappeared with Lyanna Stark, a daughter of House Stark betrothed to Lord Robert Baratheon of the Stormlands. Believing her kidnapped, House Barartheon of the Stormlands allied with House Stark of the North, House Arryn of the Vale and House Tully of the Riverlands to fight a rebellion which defeated and deposed House Targaryen. After the death of Rhaegar in combat and the assassination of Aerys II by his Kingsguard Ser Jaime Lannister, Robert Baratheon was crowned King of Westeros, presiding over 15 years of relative peace through his personal ferocity as a warrior and the strength of his alliances. Although Lyanna Stark died in Dorne, the Targaryens were almost entirely wiped out, save for Viserys and Daenerys Targaryen, the youngest children of the Mad King who escaped to Essos. Years of poverty and struggle turned Viserys into a foolish, impulsive young man, but he never gave up his mission to retake the Iron Throne, finally finding an opportunity when his ally Ilyrio Mopatis of Pentos arranged for his sister Daenerys to marry Khal Drogo, a powerful Dothraki Horselord they hoped would invade Westeros for the Targaryens.

Meanwhile, in the far north of Westeros, White Walkers were spotted for the first time in thousands of years. It was at this point the A Song of Ice and Fire series began in 297 AC.

After years of peace, the realm was torn apart when political scheming and greedy ambition led to the assassination of the Hand of the King Jon Arryn, followed by the death of King Robert Baratheon and execution of Lord Eddard Stark, the three longtime friends whose alliance maintained stability in the Seven Kingdoms. Yet now with all three gone, chaos erupted, allowing House Lannister of the Westerlands to directly influence the Iron Throne through Joffrey Baratheon, the eldest son and heir of Robert Baratheon and his wife Cersei Lannister, though in reality all three of their children were fathered by Jaime Lannister, the queen’s twin brother and incestuous lover.

As both Jon Arryn and Eddard Stark uncovered this secret before their deaths, word had spread, allowing for various claimants to rise, like King Stannis Baratheon, Robert’s eldest brother and the Lord of Dragonstone, who by tradition was the true heir to the iron throne. Yet his younger sibling Renly also put forth a claim, as he had the backing of the Stormlands, which he ruled, and the reach, through his allies in House Tyrell. Seeing the realm divided and weak, The Iron Islands declared independence under King Balon Greyjoy, while King Rob Stark of the North and Riverlands, declared independence as well, gathering armies to wage war against the Lannisters in retaliation for the execution of the Robb’s father Eddard Stark. The Vale meanwhile remained neutral, as did southern Dorne.

Known as the War of the Five Kings, this conflict devastated Westeros and killed thousands during a time when the White Walker threat grew larger in the north, with the pleas and warnings from the Night’s Watch largely ignored.

In the east, Viserys Targaryen was killed but his sister Daenerys proved shrewd and fearsome, undergoing a great journey and metamorphosis, from the property of her brother, to the Khaleesi wife of a great Khal. Yet it was only after the death of her husband, that her destiny truly revealed itself, when she accidentally performed a magic ritual allowing three dragon eggs to hatch, thereby becoming the Mother of Dragons. With Viserion, Rhaegal and Drogon by her side, Daenerys made her way to Slaver’s Bay where she purchased an army of Unsullied Slave soldiers, eunuchs who trained all their lives for combat and drank an elixir which lessened pain. Knowing what it was to be a slave, Daenerys liberated her army and asked them to fight as freedmen, launching a campaign to end slavery in the region by conquering Astapor, Yunkai and Meereen where she ruled as Queen. Yet despite her best intentions, both Yunkai and Astapor rebelled and gathered a great alliance to oppose her rule.

Back in Westeros, as the war progressed nearly every claimant king was killed, with Renly defeated by Stannis who took the Stormlands, while the Reach went to the Lannisters in the capital, though they lost volatile king Joffrey to assassination, allowing for the succession of his younger brother Tommen Baratheon. In the Iron Islands, Balon fell from a bridge, likely assassinated by his younger brother Euron Greyjoy, who succeeded as King before leading a fleet east to marry and ally with Daenerys Targaryen. Though King Robb Stark never lost a battle, he ultimately made political mistakes which led to his assassination and betrayal by the Houses Frey and Bolton, which took power in the Riverlands and North under the Lannisters in the capital. With enemy kings falling and the power of House Lannister and Tyrell behind him, Tommen Baratheon had great potential as a monarch, yet after the murder of his grandfather Tywin Lannister and great uncle Kevan Lannister, the young king lost his most cunning and wise advisors, greatly weakening his chances to stabilize the realm.

King Stannis meanwhile, initially won the Stormlands with the aid of the Red Priestess Melisandre, a sorceress follower of the red god R’hllor from Asshai who believed Stannis was Azor Ahai reborn. Yet he steadily lost power until making the drastic decision to retreat with his army to the northern wall, where they aided the Night’s Watch against a massive army of Wildlings invading the south to escape the White Walkers. Establishing a foothold at the wall, Stannis then embarked upon a campaign to conquer the north, and take Winterfell from House Bolton.

By 300 AC and the End of book 5 in the A Song of Ice Fire Series, the remaining kings vying for the Iron Throne, also faced several outside powers threatening the realm, not only from Daenerys Targaryen in Slaver’s Bay, but also from young Aegon Targaryen, yet another possible candidate, supported by Ilyrio Mopatis of Pentos, the mercenary Golden Company, the former Lord Jon Connington and the former Westerosi spymaster Varys, who claimed he was the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and his wife Elia Martell that was supposedly killed during Robert’s Rebellion but was actually smuggled away to Essos.

Another threat to the realm came from the brilliant strategist Petyr Baelish, also known as Littlefinger, who orchestrated many of the most consequential events of the war, in order to facilitate his rise to power, which included marrying and then killing Lady Lysa Arryn so he could directly influence her son Lord Robert Arryn, thereby controlling the entire Vale, while still possessing further plans to expand his power. Then there were two branches of House Martell in Dorne, who stayed out of the conflict thus far, while making their own plans in secret, with the ruling Prince’s faction seeking a marriage alliance with Daenerys Targaryen, while the Sand Snake nieces of the Prince wanted outright war against the Lannisters.

Finally, there was Bran Stark, a younger child of Eddard Stark, who travelled north with a group of companions following prophetic dreams, until he reached the cave of the three eyed crow, where some surviving Children of the Forest lived with Brynden Rivers, the brother of King Daeron the Good, who survived the long years since his disappearance and was now a decrepit old man whose body was intertwined with a weirwood tree. Yet he possessed great magical powers, teaching Bran greenseeing and skinchanging, so he could see the past and present through the eyes of heart trees across the continent, as well as enter the minds of humans and animals. Bran was training to become the new three eyed crow, as there was a larger destiny he must fulfill.