After the death of King Robert Baratheon, the unity and peace of the Seven Kingdoms
was shattered, as factions, long waiting in the shadows, at last emerged to claim the
Iron throne for themselves.
Although the reasons for the conflict were numerous and complex, to most, the core of
the issue seemed to be the illegitimacy of Robert’s children, with many believing Joffrey,
Myrcella and Tommen Baratheon were not of the royal line, but rather were the bastard
born children of incest between the Queen Cersei Lannister and her brother Jaime Lannister
of the Kingsguard.
And so in 298 AL, the realm fractured in the War of the Five Kings.
In the capital of King’s Landing, despite the rumors about his parentage, Joffrey Baratheon
inherited the iron throne, supported by his mother’s family in House Lannister.
Lord Eddard Stark, hand of the king, learning that the Lannister were attempting to usurp
power through an illegitimate son, organized a coup, in the name of the true heir, Robert’s
younger brother Stannis Baratheon.
However Lord Stark was betrayed by Petyr Baelish, leading to his arrest.
Although a deal was made to spare his life in exchange for confession and repentance,
the young, cruel, and impulsive king ordered his execution, making all-out war inevitable.
In response, Eddard’s eldest son Robb Stark led an army south, allying with House Frey
of the Twins and the Tullys of the Riverlands to fight against the Westerland armies of
House Lannister.
Robb earned respect through his skills as a general and warrior and so his bannermen
chose to name him King in the North and the Trident.
In Highgarden, Renly Baratheon, the well-loved and amiable youngest brother of Robert Baratheon,
was proclaimed King with the support of House Tyrell and some of the Stormlands.
While on Dragonstone, Renly’s elder brother Stannis, the man with the best legal claim
to the throne also declared himself king though he was largely disliked because of his serious
and antisocial personality, and so was supported only by a small portion of the Stormlands.
Taking advantage of the chaos unfolding, Balon Greyjoy declared himself King of the Iron
Islands and the North, sending his forces to invade the lands beyond the neck, while
Robb was away with his armies in the south.
Dorne and the Vale of Arryn remained neutral.
In addition to the five kings battling for control of Westeros, the Night’s watch of
the far north faced their own crisis, with rumors of White Walker sightings and a king
beyond the wall named Mance Rayder, gathering wildlings for an invasion of the south.
Across the narrow sea, Daenerys Targaryen became the last known heir to King Aerys II,
the mad king who ruled the seven kingdoms before the fall of their house in Robert’s
Rebellion.
Although she spent some time as Khaleesi to a powerful Dothraki Khalasar, her true rise
to power began with the hatching of 3 dragon eggs.
Dragons were believed to be extinct and so they proved powerful tool for gathering support.
She eventually came to rule the city of Meereen in Slaver’s bay, conquering the entire region,
and freeing the slaves.
Back in Westeros, rumors of the Mother of Dragons spread throughout the continent, but
the warring factions prove far too preoccupied with their civil war to worry about what was
happening across the sea, or even beyond the wall.
The conflict proved so devastating, that by the end of 303 AC * All 5 of claimants for
the throne were dead along with many other prominent figures of note, leaving several
new rulers to continue to the war of their predecessors.
Although the Lannister’s had intiital success in the conflict, the death of Tywin Lannister
saw their fortunes quickly turn.
Young King Tommen proved a weak ruler, easily manipulated by the religious Sparrow movement,
resulting in the arrest of his mother, wife and brother in law.
After suffering the humiliation of being a prisoner and walking naked in the streets
like a criminal, Cersei and her adviser Qyburn made a plan to ignite barrels of wildfire
discovered under the city, during the trial of Loras Tyrell, with the city leadership,
faith officials and royal court in attendance.
The plan succeeded and the sept of Baelor was ignited into a fiery green explosion,
killing many, including the High Sparrow, Lancel Lannsiter, Mace Tyrell, Loras Tyrell,
Queen Margaery Tyrell and the Hand of the King Kevan Lannister.
King Tommen, who was kept in the Red Keep under Cersei’s protector, did not die in
the blast, instead forced to watch as his wife, advisers and allies were all murdered
by his mother.
Tommen, overwhelmed by the devastation, removed his crown and threw himself from a window.
With all her rivals gone, her children dead and the throne vacant, Cersei took the crown
for herself, proclaimed Queen of the Seven Kingdoms.
The Lannisters were now in a difficult position, with Jaime having retaken the weakened Riverlands,
while Cersei lost their powerful allies in the Reach.
This means that the Westerland forces will be their primary army as they defend from
enemies all around them.
After the death of King Robb, House Stark was all but destroyed.
However the faction found new life in the daughter of Eddard Stark, Sansa and his bastard
son Jon Snow.
Jon originally joined the Night’s watch, and after proving himself a worthy leader
was elected as Lord Commander.
Jon then focused his attention on establishing an alliance between the remaining Wildling
and the Night’s Watch, while also balancing the political situation at the wall.
He was betrayed however, by Ser Aliser Thorne and a group of conspirators, who believed
his alliance with the Wildlings a violation of their oaths.
Although they stabbed Jon Snow several times, leaving him dead in the Castle black courtyard.
He was revived in a magical ceremony by the Red Priestess Melisandre.
Jon, back from the dead, found support from the free folk, hanging the traitors who’d
turned against him.
He then quit his position as Lord Commander and led a wildling army south alongside his
half sister Sansa Stark, who’d escaped from King’s Landing and was married off to Ramsay
Bolton by Petyr Baelish, only to escape yet again from the torture and cruelty of her
new husband.
Jon and Sansa travelled around the North gathering what little support they could and prepared
to advance against the Lannister allied Boltons at Winterfell.
Badly outnumbered and pulled out of proper position, the battle was all but lost, until
the Knights of the vale rode in to destroy the Bolton lines, allowing Jon Snow, to lead
a final charge against castle, restoring House Stark to Winterfell.
Sansa who’d secretly arranged for reinforcements from Petyr Baelish without telling her brother
Jon Snow, then took her revenge against that man who abused her so viciously, unleashing
his own hounds against their prisoner Ramsay and watching him die screaming.
After the battle, Davos Seaworth, friend and advisor to the deceased King Stannis, confronted
Melisandre, having learned that she burned the princess Shireen alive and so Jon banished
her as punishment, promising to hang her if she ever returned to the North.
Melisandre, then journeyed south, possibly to seek out her contacts in the Riverlands
or else perhaps may travel to Dragonstone to meet Daenerys Targaryen and bring her into
the faith of R’hllor.
Petyr Baelish meanwhile, continued to plant ideas into Sansa’s head, revealing that
he desired to sit on the Iron Throne with Sansa as Queen by his side.
Attempting to distance her from Jon, he implied that he was a threat to her power, and that
Sansa’s status as a legitimate child of House Stark should supersede the claim of
a bastard son, thereby planting a seed of jealousy when the Houses of the North proclaimed
Jon Snow as King in the North.
Jon and Sansa are then left to consolidate their power and raise their banners both to
face enemies to the south as well as the approaching white walkers to the North.
After throwing King Balon of the Iron Islands from a bridge.
Euron Greyjoy made his case at the Kingsmoot and was elected as their new ruler.
He then proclaimed that they must construct a thousand ships and attempt to make a marriage
alliance with Queen Daenery, mother of Dragons.
Meanwhile Balon’s children Yara and Theon escaped from the Islands with many of their
supporters, and made their way to Slaver’s Bay, pledging themselves to the Mother of
Dragons before Euron had a chance.
Although she remained Queen of Meereen, Daenerys also recruited the Dothraki to her cause when
they witnessed her survive a fiery inferno that killed all the Khals.
The Queen then led her new army back to Meereen, finding the city under siege.
After a demonstration of the power of her dragons, the invading army surrendered and
Daenerys took control of their ships, further bolstered by 100 Iron Islands ships, offered
by Asha and Theon Greyjoy.
Daario Naharis was then left in charge of Meereen as Daenerys and her army set sail
for Westeros.
Along the way they are met by Varys the Spider, who had gone to Dorne and the Reach, forging
an alliance with Elaria Sand* and Olenna Tyrell.
The factions of House Martell, Tyrell, Targaryen and part of House Greyjoy then joined together,
sailing their fleet towards the Seven Kingdoms.
This powerful new alliance was formed to follow the Mother of Dragons Daenerys Targaryen,
who may choose to lead her fleet to Dragonstone, the place of her birth and original home of
House Targaryen, before their invasion of Westeros.
After the fall of House Stark and the burning of Winterfell, Bran escaped to the north with
several faithful companions, carried by Hodor to seek the 3 eyed raven beyond the Wall,
a mysterious figure which appeared to him in his dreams.
In a cave protected by magic, Bran trained under a 1000 year old Greenseer who lived
with the last of the Children of the Forest, an ancient race that once inhabited the continent.
With this power Bran was able to see into the past but unfortunately made the mistake
of experimenting with Weirwood magic on his own and as a result was confronted by the
Night King, who marked Bran, allowing the White Walkers to attack the cave.
The onslaught led to the deaths of the 3 eyed raven, the children of the forest, the direwolf
Summer and Hodor, all dying so that Bran might escape alive.
Bran and Meera then encountered a mysterious rider revealed to be Benjen Stark who escorted
them to a weirwood tree near the Wall before disappearing once more into the forest.
Bran used his abilities once again, seeing into the past, where he learned that his aunt
Lyanna gave birth to a child, fathered by Rhaegar Targaryen, which may in fact be his
supposed half-brother Jon Snow.
The significance of another Targaryen child in Westeros has the potential for drastic
repercussion should the truth even be learned.
For if Jon Snow is the child of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen, an argument can be
made for his claim to the iron throne.
Although he would still be a bastard, this might be overlooked by those in need of an
alternative to the Dragon Queen across the sea, however if Rhaegar and Lyanna were been
married beforehand, Jon may in fact have a stronger claim to the iron throne than Daenerys
Targaryen, who would be his aunt, a younger sister of his father Rhaegar.
Although Rhaegar was already married to Elia Martell of Dorne, there is precedent in Targaryen
history for a man to have multiple wives like King Maegor the Cruel who had up to 6 wives
at one time.
In the Reach, Samwell Tarly, sent to become a Maester for the Night’s Watch by Jon Snow,
stopped by his family’s home of Horn Hill, presenting Gilly and little Sam as if the
child was his own in the his father would allow them to stay.
The plan succeeded, but Sam proved unwilling to leave his new family with his horrible
father, and so stole Heartsbane, the Valyrian steel sword of House Tarly, andtogether they
all left for the Citadel of Old Town, where Sam began his training as a Maester.
After seeing his friends butchered by outlaws, the hound tracked down the group and took
his revenge.
He then encountered the brotherhood without banners and with no where else to turn considered
staying with them for a time.
The brotherhood meanwhile, led by the Beric Dondarrion and the red priest thoros of myr,
continue in their mission of protecting the small folk of the riverlands, while awaiting
the larger war they believe is fast approaching, possibly referring to the impending invasion
of the white walkers.
After leaving Westeros Arya trained in the house of Black and White to become a faceless
assassin.
However she proved unwilling to discard her former life and complete the missions as ordered.
After a confrontation with a rival assassin, she demanded her freedom from the organization,
and her trainer nodded his agreement, allowing her to leave braavos.
Now free of temple restrictions, and trained as faceless assassin, Arya used her skills
to infiltrate House Frey, killing Lord Walder Frey’s sons, and using the meat from their
bodies to cook a pie.
She then served it to Lord Walder before slitting his throat and watching the man who betrayed
her family at the Red Wedding, bleed out and die.
With her siblings establishing themselves in the North, Arya may wish to seek them out,
or else may continue to track down those on her enemies list, with only two names remaining,
Cersei Lannister who played a role in the execution of her father and the Mountain Gregor
Clegane, for leading the brutal torture at Harrenhal.