Fire Upon the Grass is a chronicle of Terrio Erastes, the great Braavosi adventurer. He wrote his chronicle during his time amongst the Dothraki. Being a guest of Khal Dhako, Terrio witnessed the fall of Ib. In his chronicle he describes how Khal Dhako and his *khalasar* were eventually defeated by Khal Temmo in battle.
A firemage conjures a dragon made of fire
Firemages are magic practitioners that conjure and control flames.
During her stay in Qarth, Daenerys Targaryen and Jhogo see the performance of a firemage that conjures a ladder of swirling flame in the air, rising unsupported from the floor of a bazaar. The mage urges the flames reach higher with the sweeps of his arms until it rises forty feet high and then climbs it, each rung he touches dissolving after him. After he reaches the top, the ladder dissappears along with the mage. The shadowbinder Quaithe reveals that it is not a trick, and that, half a year before, the man could barely wake fire from dragonglass and had some skill with wildfire and powders as well as walk on hot coals and make burning roses bloom in the air; Quaithe then adds that his powers have grown thanks to Daenerys hatching her dragons.
Firemilk is a medical ointment, often used to clean a wound. It is poured directly onto open wounds and burns on contact.
Osha pours pale red firemilk over the wounds of Maester Luwin after he is bitten by Shaggydog.
Firepods are plants found in the continent of Essos.
Jhiqui roasts goat with sweetgrass and firepods.
A firewyrm, by Kevin Catalan©
Firewyrms are creatures that breathe fire but have no wings, and are possibly related to dragons. They can bore through rock, soil, and stone.
Firewyrms were encountered by slaves of the Valyrian Freehold in the mines of the Fourteen Flames. Burnt and blackened corpses were often found in shafts where the rocks were cracked or full of holes.
Septon Barth's book, *Dragons, Wyrms, and Wyverns: Their Unnatural History*, discusses firewyrms.
The First Battle of Tumbleton was a battle fought between the greens and the blacks at Tumbleton in the Reach during the Dance of the Dragons. It was known for the Treasons of Tumbleton, in which the Two Betrayers burnt the town with dragonfire. It was followed by another battle, the Second Battle of Tumbleton.
Lord Ormund Hightower led an army of greens from the Reach toward King's Landing, which at the time was held by Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen and the blacks. Ulf White and Hard Hugh Hammer were sent with their dragons, Vermithor and Silverwing, to Tumbleton, the last leal stronghold of Rhaenyra's between the capital and Ormund's advancing army. The Tumbleton of that era was a thriving market town. The blacks defending it numbered nearly 9,000, including troops from Bitterbridge, Longtable, and the Riverlands, as well as the Winter Wolves. However, they were greatly outnumbered by the host commanded by Lord Hightower. Prior to the start of the battle, members of the greens infiltrated the town disguised as refugees.
At the start of the battle, 6,000 blacks fought against the troops of Lord Hightower, but his archers thinned their ranks and his heavy horse sent the blacks retreating to Tumbleton. Lord Roderick Dustin then lead the Winter Wolves out a postern gate against the Hightowers. Although the northmen were outnumbered ten-to-one, the Winter Wolves managed to reach the commander of the greens. Roderick managed to slay Lord Ormund and his cousin, Ser Bryndon Hightower, before succumbing to his wounds.
The dragon Tessarion, mount of Daeron the Daring, was present at the battle, but her appearance across the field did not dismay the defenders, as they had Vermithor and Silverwing on their side - each much larger than Tessarion herself. Apparently, both sides held their dragons in reserve, waiting to react to how the other side committed its dragon(s).
The defenders of Tumbleton thought the battle was won when the Hightowers were killed, but Ulf and Hugh betrayed the blacks and turned their dragons upon the town. Buildings throughout Tumbleton burned to ash. Thousands burned to death or drowned trying to cross the Mander. men yielded, but were beheaded by the greens. Girls as young as eight were raped by the victors.
After hearing of the Battle of Tumbleton, Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower is said to have laughed, promising, "All they have sowed, now shall they reap." Many in King's Landing tried to flee, fearing that the same would happen to the capital, but Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen had the gold cloaks seal the city's gates. Ser Hobert Hightower took command of the greens at Tumbleton, which later saw a second battle.
The Two Betrayers scourged the town with whips of flame from one end to the other. The sack that followed was as savage as any in the history of Westeros.
- Archmaester Gyldayn.
*"Blackfyre Rebellion" redirects here. For the other Blackfyre Rebellions, see Blackfyre Pretenders.*
The First Blackfyre Rebellion,
After King Baelor I Targaryen made peace with Dorne, he returned to King's Landing and annulled his marriage to his eldest sister, Daena. He then locked Daena with his other sisters, Rhaena and Elaena, in the Maidenvault, so they could not tempt the lusts of men. However, Daena contrived to escape her imprisonment on several occasions, and towards the end of her brother's reign became pregnant by her cousin, Prince Aegon.
In addition to his unacknowledged bastard son by Daena, King Aegon IV Targaryen had by his marriage to his sister, Naerys, a trueborn son named Daeoron, born in 153 AC, and a daughter, Daenerys, born in 172 AC. Aegon often clashed with Prince Daeron during his reign, with Daeron opposing the ideas and the corrupt style of rule of his father. Aegon, on the other hand, despised his sister-wife, Naerys, and his younger brother, Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, to both of whom Prince Daeron was close. When Aegon, in 174 AC, planned to launch an unprovoked attack against Dorne, the homeland of his daughter-in-law Mariah Martell, Daeron opposed his ideas. Around the same time, rumors began to circulate, instigated by King Aegon himself, that Daeron was a bastard born of adultery between his siblings, Naerys and Aemon. For the first time, though not the last, Aegon threatened to name one of his bastard sons (Aegor Rivers and Balerion Otherys being the only sons Aegon had, at this point, acknowledged) as his heir over Daeron.
In 182 AC, Aegon knighted his bastard son, Daemon Waters, after the boy won a squire's tourney at the age of twelve. Aegon publicly bestowed Blackfyre, one of the Valyrian steel swords of House Targaryen, on Daemon as well,
King Aegon IV Targaryen knights his bastard son, Daemon, publicly acknowledging him as his own son, and grants him the Targaryen sword Blackfyre - by Marc Simonetti.
In early 184 AC, King Aegon IV Targaryen legitimized all of his bastards on his deathbed. Prince Daeron ascended the throne as King Daeron II Targaryen, and did all he could to keep the nobly-born Great Bastards close. He paid the dowry his late father had promised to the Archon of Tyrosh, seeing his half-brother Daemon I Blackfyre wed to Rohanne of Tyrosh, as per the late Aegon's desire.
Daeron was a cultured and scholarly man, and swept the court clear of Aegon the Unworthy's corruption, depriving several people of their advantageous positions. Daeron placed men of his own in the positions of power, and began negotiations with his brother-in-law, Maron Martell, the Prince of Dorne, which resulted in the wedding of Maron to Daeron's younger sister, Princess Daenerys, in 187 AC, and the joining of Dorne into the Seven Kingdoms.
Meanwhile, Daemon Blackfyre had grown into a great warrior of his own, trained by Ser Quentyn Ball,
The Dornish concessions and influence, the sudden change of Dornish enemies to Dornish allies, Daeron's rumored illegitimacy, and Aegon IV's public gift of the sword of kings to Daemon, all were part the seeds from which the first Blackfyre Rebellion grew. Still, it took many years for the actual rebellion to begin.
The First Blackfyre Rebellion finally broke out in 196 AC.
Daemon reversed the colors of House Targaryen, taking for his own sigil a black dragon on a red field, which led to his nickname, the "black dragon" (with Daeron becoming known as the "red dragon"),
Half the realm declared for Daemon, but not all houses were eager to pledge their full support. Notably, Houses Hightower, Butterwell, Oakheart and Tarbeck gave support to both Daemon and Daeron, while others (e.g., Manfred Lothston) were willing to betray Daemon for Daeron. The thief Quickfinger attempted to steal dragon eggs for Daemon, but was caught.
Ser Quentyn Ball attacked the westerlands, killing Lord Lefford at the gates of Lannisport and then defeating Lord Damon Lannister in turn. At the crossing of the Mander, Ser Quentyn slew all of Lady Penrose's sons, except for the youngest, whom he spared as a favor to the lady.
During the war, King Daeron II came to consider his Hand of the King, Lord Ambrose Butterwell, to be ineffectual, and in the end, Butterwelll's loyalty was questioned. Shortly before the battle of the Redgrass Field, the final battle of the war, Butterwell was replaced by Lord Hayford, a noted loyalist.
A key general, Fireball was slain on the eve of the battle of the Redgrass Field by a common archer.
Main article: Battle of the Redgrass Field
The final battle of the First Blackfyre Rebellion was the battle of the Redgrass Field, in late 196 AC. Lord Leo Tyrell's forces could not gather quickly enough to arrive in time for the battle of the Redgrass Field.
In the meantime, Brynden Rivers with his archers, the Raven's Teeth, had captured and assumed a position atop the Weeping Ridge, which overlooked the battlefield and allowed them to rain arrows down among Daemon and his commanders. Daemon’s heir Aegon died first, followed by Daemon himself. When Daemon’s second son, Aegon’s twin brother Aemon took up Blackfyre, he was slain as well.
The rebels began to rout, but Aegor Rivers claimed Blackfyre and rallied the rebels by leading a charge against the Raven's Teeth. In the ensuing duel, Aegor took out Brynden’s eye. However, Prince Baelor arrived with a host of Dornish spearmen and stormlanders, while his younger brother, Prince Maekar, rallied what remained of the van. As such, Baelor crushed the rebel army against Maekar’s shield wall, a move later called “the hammer and the anvil”.
The size of the armies participating in the battle of the Redgrass Field is not known; However, ten thousand men died, and many more were maimed and wounded.
King Daeron's punishment of the rebels was harsher than had been previously expected of him.
Aegor Rivers was able to recover the sword Blackfyre from the battlefield and escaped to the Free Cities, together with Daemon's widow and remaining children, eventually ending up in Tyrosh.
Singers immortalized the battle of Redgrass Field in a song about the hammer and the anvil, referring to Baelor and Maekar's strategy.
The Great Spring Sickness, which began in 209 AC, created the possibility for a Second Blackfyre Rebellion to arise. Many of those who had been taken hostage by King Daeron II had died,
While not every house supporting the loyalists and the rebels respectively is known, this list provides an overview of the loyalties that have been revealed thusfar:
Loyalist (Targaryen supporters):
Rebels (Blackfyre supporters):
So many ifs, ser ... had any one come out differently, it could all have turned t'other way. Then we would be called the loyalists, and the red dragons would be remembered as men who fought to keep the usurper Daeron the Falseborn upon his stolen throne, and failed.
– Eustace Osgrey to Duncan the Tall
Some old dead king gave a sword to one son instead of another, that was the start of it.
– thoughts of Duncan the Tall
The First Builder is a senior officer of the Night's Watch, commanding the order of builders..
Othell Yarwyck serves as First Builder for the Watch.
The First Dornish War was the second of the Wars of Conquest. House Targaryen began the war in an attempt to conquer Dorne, the only one of the Seven Kingdoms that had successfully resisted the Targaryens during Aegon's Conquest.
During Aegon's Conquest, Queen Rhaenys Targaryen was sent to conquer Dorne in her brother's name. Instead of confronting the Dornish spearmen guarding the Prince's Pass in the Red Mountains, Rhaenys flew over the pass on her dragon Meraxes to Vaith and Godsgrace. She found the castles abandoned an continued her journey to the Planky Town, where only women and children remained. At Sunspear, the seat of House Martell, she found Meria Martell, the aged Princess of Dorne, waiting in her otherwise abandoned castle. Meria defied Rhaenys, stating that they would neither fight nor kneel. Rhaenys warned the Princess of Dorne that the Targaryens would return "with fire and blood", but Meria replied simply with *"You may burn us, my lady, but you will not bend us, break us, or make us bow. This is Dorne. You are not wanted here. Return at your peril."* Rhaenys departed, but the Targaryens subsequent made no direct attempt to conquer the harsh deserts of Dorne, instead focusing on their main conquests in the heart of Westeros.
As such, Dorne was the only kingdom not to be conquered by Aegon I Targaryen in his initial conquest.
In 4 AC, King Aegon I Targaryen launched an invasion of Dorne, intend on completing his conquest of the Seven Kingdoms. However, although House Wyl led an assault against the Targaryen forces in the Boneway, the other Dornish lords abandoned their castles, neither willing to defend them nor willing to bend the knee.
The first assault was led by Queen Rhaenys Targaryen. On her way to Sunspear, she seized the Dornish seats she encountered and had her dragon Meraxes burn the Planky Town. Meanwhile, King Aegon I and Lord Harlan Tyrell fought in the Prince's Pass, facing heavy resistance as their forces were ambushed by Dornish defenders who fled and hid as soon as the dragons took to the air, and Lord Orys Baratheon led a force through the Boneway. Lord Harlan Tyrell, while leading his army to Hellholt, saw many of his soldiers die of thirst and due to the heat. Those who finally managed to reach Hellholt found the castle to be deserted.
King Aegon briefly besieged Yronwood, which was defended by a few handful of old men, boys, and women. He found Skyreach abandoned, but at Ghost Hill was challenged to single combat by Lord Toland's champion. After Aegon had killed the man with Blackfyre, he discovered that the "champion" had in truth been Lord Toland's mad fool. Worse, Ghost Hill turned out to be deserted as well.
Lord Orys Baratheon fared worse in his assault up the Boneway. His army was pelted with rocks, arrows, and spears from above, while his men were murdered in the night. Towards the end, the Dornishmen blocked the Boneway both in front of Orys's army and behind, and the Wyl of Wyl managed to capture Lord Orys and many of his bannermen and knights. They would remain captives of House Wyl until 7 AC.
When the Targaryens finally arrived at Sunspear, they discovered that Princess Meria had vanished. Declaring themselves victorious, King Aegon and Queen Rhaenys placed Dorne under the rule of the Iron Throne. They returned to King's Landing, leaving Lord Rosby as castellan of Sunspear and charged Lord Harlan Tyrell with putting down any revolts that might arise.
Meraxes and Rhaenys Targaryen are killed during the First Dornish War, as depicted by Chase Stone in *The World of Ice and Fire*.
Aegon and Rhaenys had only just returned to King's Landing when the Dornish rebelled against the Targaryens. From Sunspear's shadow city Dornishmen came forth, retaking the castle. Lord Rosby was captured, and thrown from a window atop the Spear Tower by Princess Meria Martell.
Elsewhere, entire garrisons were put to the sword. The knights who had been in charge of the garrisons were horrifically tortured and mutilated.
Intent on revenge, King Aegon I unleashed his dragons. The castles who remained defiant were burned time and time again, whereupon the Dornishmen retaliated in 8 AC by setting half the rainwood on Cape Wrath ablaze and sacked half a dozen towns and villages.
In 9 AC, the dragons struck again, burning several seats. The next year, Lord Fowler attacked Nightsong, taking its defenders hostage, while Ser Joffrey Dayne marched an army to Oldtown and razed the fields and villages nearby. The Targaryens unleashed their dragons a third time, this time upon Starfall, the seat of House Dayne, Skyreach, the seat of House Fowler, and Hellholt, the seat of House Uller. At Hellholt, the dragon Meraxes was shot down from the sky, with Queen Rhaenys Targaryen upon her back, when a bolt from a scorpion pierced the dragon's eye. Although Meraxes destroyed the castle's highest tower and part of its curtain wall in its fall, the death of both dragon and queen was the greatest success the Dornish had against the Targaryens.
The grief Aegon and Visenya felt at the death of Rhaenys was great; the next two years would later be called the years of the Dragon's Wroth. The Targaryens burned every Dornish stronghold at least once, with the exception of Sunspear and its shadow city. The Dornish believed that the Targaryens refused to attack Sunspear because they were afraid that Princess Meria might have purchased a device from Lys to slay dragons with. Archmaester Timotty offers a different explanation, suggesting in his *Conjectures* that Aegon hoped this would instead turn the Dornish against the Martells. Indeed, letters have been discovered in which Marcher lords urge Dornish lords to surrender, while claiming that House Martell had purchased their safety from the dragons. Regardless of the truth, the Dornish lords and smallfolk remained loyal.
Aegon and Visenya also placed bounties on the heads of Dornish lords, who, in turn, placed bounties on the Targaryens and their allies. Half a dozen Dornish lords were successfully assassinated, though only two of their killers ever lived to collect their bounties.
Although Dorne was a blasted, burning ruin from the Red Mountains to the mouth of the Greenblood, the Dornish continued to fight.
The First Dornish War came to an end in 13 AC, when, following the death of Princess Meria Martell, her elderly son Nymor, now the ruling Prince of Dorne, sent his daughter Deria to King's Landing with an escort as an peace envoy. She brought with her the skull of Rhaenys's dragon Meraxes and a letter from Prince Nymor. The sight of the dragon's skull angered many at the royal court, such as Queen Visenya Targaryen and Lord Orys Baratheon, but Aegon refused to act against the delegation. Instead, Deria was allowed to deliver her father's terms. Prince Nymor wanted peace, but would not submit to the Iron Throne. Aegon was determined to refuse this offer, until Deria handed him her father's letter.
Atop the Iron Throne, Aegon read the message. When he was done, he burned the letter, after which he left for Dragonstone upon Balerion's back. He returned the next morning, agreed to the peace terms of Prince Nymor and signed a treaty. The contents of the letter are unknown, although many have speculated: some believe it said that Rhaenys survived her fall at Hellholt, but was being kept captive in extreme torment, and the Dornish promised to end her suffering Aegon agreed to end the war; others suspect the letter stated that Nymor was willing to spend all of Dorne's gold to hire the Faceless Men of Braavos to assassinate Aegon's young son and heir, Aenys, if Aegon did not sign the peace.
Whatever had been in the letter, the result was an end to the nine-year war.
Although other Dornish wars would come, the peace treaty Aegon had signed lasted throughout his own reign. Aegon kept up good relations with Princess Deria, and visited Sunspear together with his eldest son, Aenys, on the tenth-year anniversary of the peace in 23 AC for a "feast of friendship". Father and son came to Sunspear upon their dragons, Balerion and Quicksilver.
In 48 AC, as King Maegor I Targaryen's tyrannical reign was falling apart, reports came in from the Dornish marches in the last months of his reign suggesting that the Dornishmen were gathering their forces in the mountain passes, preparing to invade the realm.
During the reign of King Viserys I Targaryen, King Viserys's brother Daemon and Lord Corlys Velaryon became involved in a struggle with the Triarchy over the Stepstones. Prince Qoren Martell gave his support to the Triarchy in this struggle.
Several decades later, Daeron I Targaryen decided to complete the Conquest with his own conquest of Dorne. And although he succeeded, his success did not last long, and it came at a high price.
Bran Stark atop a gargoyle © 2012 John Picacio
The First Keep is an abandoned fortress and the oldest part of Winterfell.
Located near the broken tower, the First Keep is a squad and round drum tower
The First Keep has been rebuilt numerous times, so its origin is uncertain.
The fortress is empty
Bran Stark leaping near the First Keep and the broken tower © Marc Simonetti
While climbing the gargoyles, Bran Stark discovers Queen Cersei Lannister and her brother, Ser Jaime Lannister, cavorting in the First Keep. Jaime tosses Bran from a window,
Rickon Stark looks at the gargoyles using the far-eye in Maester Luwin's turret.
Bran has trouble remembering his fall, but he is disconcerted when he sees the First Keep's gargoyles.
Following the sack of Winterfell, Bran discovers that one side of the First Keep has fallen away, shattering gargoyles and crushing at least one body. Its floors and beams have burned away, allowing Bran to see the privy.
Sansa Stark includes the First Keep when she builds a snow castle of Winterfell at the Eyrie.
When they visit the crypt of Winterfell, Theon Greyjoy and Barbrey Dustin pass the ruins of the First Keep, finding it filling with snow.
Bran was moving from gargoyle to gargoyle with the ease of long practice when he heard the voices. He was so startled he almost lost his grip. The First Keep had been empty all his life.
- thoughts of Bran Stark
They stood in the shadow of the First Keep, or what remained of it. One whole side of the building had torn loose and fallen away. Stone and shattered gargoyles lay strewn across the yard. They fell just where I did, Bran thought when he saw them. Some of the gargoyles had broken into so many pieces it made him wonder how he was alive at all.
- thoughts of Bran Stark
The First King was the legendary sovereign of the First Men when they first arrived in Westeros around 12,000 years before Aegon's Landing, according to the people of the North. It was under his leadership that the First Men travelled to Westeros from Essos.
The First King was the first of the line of kings of the First Men to rule in the land of Westeros. House Dustin claims decent from the First King and his successors, the Barrow Kings. According to folklore the Great Barrow in Barrowton contains the grave of the First King. *Passages of the Dead* by Kennet mentions a curse placed on the Great Barrow which prevents any living man from rivaling the First King.
The First Law of Braavos is that no man, woman or child will ever be a slave, thrall or bondsman. This law was set down by the founders of Braavos, escaped slaves from Valyria themselves. It is upheld to this day, and in A Dance with Dragons Arya Stark (at the time Blind Beth) learns of a ship that is carrying wildlings from Hardhome that has been commandeered by the Sealord of Braavos.
First Magister for Life was a self-styled title assumed by Lysandro Rogare, a powerful Lysene banker and head of House Rogare, at the height of his power.
First Men cut down weirwood trees and burned them, leading to war. Screenshot from *Game of Thrones* Blu-ray content.
The First Men are one of the three major ethnic groups from which the humans of Westeros descend, the others being the Andals and the Rhoynar. The First Men were the culture of humans who first set foot on the continent. The influence of the First Men is still felt in Westeros, most strongly in the north. The Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, the king on the Iron Throne, claims to be the King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men.
Main article: Old Tongue
The original language of the First Men was the Old Tongue, a harsh, clanging language.
The First Men had a runic writing system.
Main article: Old gods
The First Men practiced worship of several gods prior to their arrival in Westeros.
However, following the Pact between the First Men and the children of the forest, the majority of the First Men eventually set aside their own gods and adopted the gods of the children as their own..
The worship of the old gods is not accompanied by priests, holy texts, songs of worship, and barely any rites.
Although the views of the First Men on polygamy are not known, thralldom used to be a common practice amongst the First Men before the arrival of the Andals.
The exact laws of inheritance followed by the First Men have not been stated. Several of the groups that descended from the First Men practiced rule by consensus or election among several lords and chieftains in council. The ironborn often chose their kings through a kingsmoot, where each man who owned and captained a ship might cast a vote for the new king.
The free folk beyond the Wall are led by chieftains. At several times during history, they have united behind a non-hereditary over-chief known as the King-Beyond-the-Wall.[*citation needed] The Vale mountain clans are led by chieftains as well. In council, they insist that every man or woman must be allowed to have their voice heard.[citation needed*]
According to Archmaester Eyron, the ancient Marsh Kings of the crannogmen of the Neck were considered to be a "first among equals", often thought to be touched by the old gods.
The First Men wielded bronze swords
Although not a seafaring people, the First Men did use fishing boats and trading cogs, though these were no match for longships with great sails and banks of oars.
When the First Men first settled in Westeros, they cut down the forests, began to plow the fields, and constructed roads through the hill country.
Some of the barrow fields contain monuments.
The custom of guest right is both a sacred rule and an ancient one.
The most common way of receiving the hospitality called "guest right" is by eating "bread and salt".
The First Men believed that the person who condemned another to die should be the one who wields the sword.
The First Men interred their dead in barrows, which can be found everywhere in the north, e.g., the Great Barrow of Barrowton, where the First King of the First Men is said to have been buried.
Some maesters believe that the First Men originated in the grasslands of Essos, in the lands now known as the Dothraki Sea.
The First Men supposedly found the Seastone Chair upon the shores of Old Wyk when they first came to the Iron Islands.
Main article: War of the First Men and the children of the forest
The First Men came with bronze swords and great leathern shields, riding horses. As the men settled in the new land, carving out holdfasts and farms, they chopped down the carved weirwoods that were sacred to the children of the forest's gods and burned them. This provoked a war between the children and the First Men.
Moat Cailin was raised roughly ten thousand years ago
The wars against the children of the forest went in the First Men's favor until the two sides reached a peace agreement, called the Pact, on the Isle of Faces. The First Men gave dominion of the deep woods to the children and promised not to put any weirwood trees to the axe anywhere in the realm. In return, they received claim to the rest of the Westeros.
The Pact began four thousand years of friendship and peace between the two peoples.
When the Long Night came to pass and the Others began to invade from the far north of Westeros, the First Men and the children joined forces. The legendary last hero is said to have led the coalition against the Others. which still stands to this day.
Main article: Andal invasion
Thousands of years after the Long Night,[N 2] the Andals crossed the narrow sea and began their invasion of Westeros.
While much of their culture was lost over the millennia, the people of the north retained the spirit of the First Men and many carry the blood of the First Men in their veins, including those of House Stark. South of the Neck there are people that still proudly claim the blood of the First Men, such as the Blackwoods and Brackens,
During Aegon's Conquest, Aegon I Targaryen was proclaimed King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men by the High Septon in Oldtown,
Beyond the Wall the Thenns consider themselves the last of the First Men.
The blood of the First Men still flows in the veins of the Starks, and we hold to the belief that the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.
– Eddard Stark to Bran Stark
Some twelve thousand years ago, the First Men appeared from the east, crossing the Broken Arm of Dorne before it was broken. They came with bronze swords and great leathern shields, riding horses.
– Luwin to Bran Stark
First Ranger of the Night's Watch - Illustrated by Lucas Soriana. © Fantasy Flight Games.
The First Ranger is a senior officer of the Night's Watch, commanding the order of rangers..
A Stane of Skagos once briefly served as First Ranger.
With First Ranger Benjen Stark missing during a ranging beyond the Wall, Ser Jaremy Rykker commands the rangers in Benjen's absence.
Thoren Smallwood declares he is First Ranger, but Lord Commander Jeor Mormont insists that Benjen will remain First Ranger until his fate is confirmed.
Thoren is killed during the fight at the Fist.
Black Jack Bulwer serves as First Ranger,
First Ranger Stane was a member of House Stane who briefly served as First Ranger of the Night's Watch over a thousand years ago. His given name has not been revealed.
First Servant of the Lord of Light is one of the many titles of Benerro, the High Priest of the Red Temple of Volantis.
The title refers to his status as High Priest.
The First Sword of Braavos is the chief protector of the Sealord of Braavos (the ruler of Braavos). Thought to be the finest swordsman in Braavos, however he is often chosen because he is the most observant of the Bravos, and most able to protect him from threats seen, and unseen.
The First Turtle War was a war fought between the Valyrian Freehold city Volon Therys and the Rhoynar city Sar Mell. It was the first of the Rhoynish Wars, a series of conflicts which would last for about two and a half centuries.
The First Turtle War was a bloody, but short war, lasting less than a moon's turn.
The war was fought between Volon Therys and Sar Mell. According to legend, the war began when the Valyrians killed a gigantic turtle, one of those called the Old Men of the River by the Rhoynar. The Rhoynar hold these turtles sacred, viewing them as the consorts of Mother Rhoyne herself.
During the course of the war, Sar Mell was raided and burned. They emerged victorious when Rhoynish water wizards called up the power of the river, and proceeded to flood Volon Therys. If the tales can be believed, half the city was washed away.
The first night is a mostly extinct marriage tradition in Westeros. Under this tradition, when commoners or peasants marry, their lord or king might bed the bride on the first night. This tradition sometimes even allows kings to bed the wives of nobles on their wedding night, although this rarely takes place, as a shrewd ruler would be aware of the resentment this would cause and how easily it could make enemies.
The tradition of the lord's right to the first night led some commoners to marry in secret or not inform their lords of the marriage, as they had no wish to share their brides, nor did the bride often wished to be shared. In Westeros, it was practiced for centuries until the reign of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen who, under the advice of his adored Queen Consort Alysanne, banned the tradition., though some lords resented it.
Although it is now against the law, some houses in Westeros, such as House Bolton and House Umber (although they deny it), as well as the inhabitants of Skagos and some northern mountain clans, are rumored to still illicitly uphold the first night.
Late in the reign of King Aegon I, Lord Gargon Qoherys of Harrenhal was infamously known as "Gargon the Guest", for inviting himself to weddings throughout his holdings to invoke his lordly right of first night with the brides as frequently as possible. Gargon became much hated, and was eventually murdered by the rebel Harren the Red, who after capturing Gargon cut off his genitals and fed them to dogs, while Gargon bled to death.
The moment I set eyes on her I wanted her. Such was my due. The maesters will tell you that King Jahaerys abolished the lord s right to the first night to appease his shrewish queen, but where the old gods rule, old customs linger. The Umbers keep the first night too, deny it as they may. Certain of the mountain clans as well, and on Skagos... well, only heart trees ever see half of what they do on Skagos... The miller's marriage had been performed without my leave or knowledge. The man had cheated me. So I had him hanged, and claimed my rights beneath the tree where he was swaying.
"First of His Name" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of HBO's fantasy television series *Game of Thrones*, and the 35th overall. The episode was written by series co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss and directed by Michelle MacLaren. It aired on May 4, 2014.
Tommen Baratheon is crowned as King at his coronation. At the reception, Cersei and Margaery talk about Joffrey's nature, and how Tommen may be a truly deserving King. In council with her father, Tywin, Cersei decides that Tommen and Margaery will marry in a fortnight. They also make plans for Cersei's wedding to Loras Tyrell, and discuss how the gold mines underneath Casterly Rock have run dry. Tywin tells Cersei that the crown is deeply indebted to the Iron Bank of Braavos, and that the union of Lannister and Tyrell will help rectify this problem. In the gardens, Cersei speaks to Oberyn Martell about her daughter, Myrcella. She asks him to bring a ship back to Sunspear with him as a gift for Myrcella, which he obliges.
Lord Petyr Baelish and Sansa Stark arrive in the Vale of Arryn. At the Bloody Gate, he tells Ser Donnel Waynwood that Sansa's name is Alayne, hiding her true identity as she is still wanted in King's Landing for Joffrey's murder. Upon their arrival they are received by Lady Lysa Arryn and her son, Robin. Lysa is aware of Sansa's true identity, and has Robin show her to her chamber. When they have gone, Lysa expresses her desire to marry Petyr that day, and speaks of what she has done for him, including poisoning her previous husband, Lord Jon Arryn. In order to quiet her, Petyr agrees to marry her as soon as possible. At night, Lysa and Sansa talk about Catelyn, and how Petyr loved her. Their conversation grows tense, with Lysa accusing Sansa of having seduced Petyr, but is eventually convinced by Sansa that she is a virgin. Lysa tells Sansa that, once Tyrion has been executed, she will be married to Robin.
News of Joffrey's death reaches Daenerys. At a meeting with her council, Daario Naharis announces that his forces have taken the Meereneese navy, and Daenerys expresses her desire to use the ships to invade Westeros. While her advisers are optimistic about her chances of seizing King's Landing, Ser Jorah warns her that may not be enough to win the loyalty of the Seven Kingdoms. He also informs Daenerys that both Astapor and Yunkai have fallen back into old habits, with Yunkai again being ruled by slavers, and Astapor now being ruled by a self-declared King. After seeking advice from Jorah after dismissing her other advisers, she tells him that she intends to rule Slaver's Bay.
Brienne of Tarth and her squire, Podrick Payne, ride toward the Wall, believing they may find Sansa there with Jon Snow. At camp, Brienne scolds Podrick for not knowing how to cook, but eventually relents when he offers to assist her with her armor. When asked what he did for Tyrion, Podrick tells her that he once killed a knight of the kingsguard to protect Tyrion during the Battle of the Blackwater, which impresses her.
Arya and Sandor "the Hound" Clegane discuss her ritualistic reciting of the names of people she intends to kill, relating over Gregor "the Mountain" Clegane's appearance on the list. Arya also reveals that the Hound's name is on her list as well. In the morning, the Hound finds Arya training with her sword. He insults her swordplay, and challenges her to demonstrate her abilities by attacking him. His armor easily repels her jab and he knocks her to the ground, telling her that her fighting style is useless against armored opponents.
Locke scouts Craster's Keep, and witnesses Rast beating one of Craster's former wives. When he sneaks inside the encampment, he sees Bran and his group held captive in a small hut. When Locke returns to the group led by Jon, he tells them that they should strike soon, as the mutineers are drunk, and Jon informs his group that they will attack the Keep at sundown. Later, Karl enters the hut and moves to rape Meera, but, after a warning from Jojen, they are attacked by Jon's group. A battle ensues in which several mutineers are killed. Locke slips away from the fight unnoticed to see to Bran and his friends. As he cuts Bran's ties and picks him up, Bran uses his warg abilities to enter Hodor's mind, and pull free of his chains. Bran, using Hodor's body, chases down Locke and kills him. Though Bran wishes to see Jon, Jojen tells him that Jon will try to stop his journey north, and the group departs the encampment unseen.
Jon enters the Keep and fights Karl, and though he is injured in the fight, is able to kill Karl with the help of one of Craster's former wives. While counting the dead, Edd notices that Rast is missing. Rast flees through the woods before being killed by Ghost, Jon's direwolf. Jon asks Craster's wives to come to the Wall, but they decline his offer, and the group burns Craster's Keep and the bodies of the dead before departing.
The First sack of Maidenpool is part of the first Lannister invasion of the riverlands during the War of the Five Kings.
Many of the riverlords return to their lands after the battle under the walls of Riverrun. The Lannister army, led by Lord Tywin Lannister and Ser Kevan Lannister, marches on each stronghold in turn.
Maidenpool is later sacked by northmen.
The Fisher Queens were a legendary dynasty that ruled an equally legendary realm, the Realm of the Fisher Queens, in Essos. Their kingdom is said to have covered the lands adjoining the Silver Sea, a great inland sea located in what today is the Dothraki Sea, of which only three great lakes remain. This is one of the first civilizations of which there is any sort of record, even though these records are only legends transmitted through oral tradition, as their supposed existence predates written word.
The Fisher Queens ruled from a floating palace that made its way endlessly around its shores. They were wise and benevolent, and favored of the gods. Kings and lords and wise men sought their floating palace for their counsel. The last of the Fisher Queens gave birth to Huzhor Amai, who would become the ancestor of the Tall Men.
The Fisherman's War is one of the Rhoynish Wars, fought between the Valyrians and the Rhoynar.
Fishermonger's Square in Volantis is where fishmongers sell their catches.
There is a tangle of wayns, palanquins, and foot traffic in the square. In the center of the square stands a cracked and headless statue of a dead triarch. The Merchant's House inn is located on Fishermonger's Square.
There is cod, sailfish, sardines, barrels of mussels and clams for sale in the square. There are eels hanging along the front of one stall. Another stall displays a gigantic turtle, strung up by its legs on iron chains, heavy as a horse. Inside casks of brine and seaweed are crabs. Quentyn Martell sees several vendors frying chunks of fish with onions and beets, or selling peppery fish stew out of small iron kettles.
The square can also be busy at night.
When Quentyn Martell and his two companions return from the docks, heading back to the Merchant's House, Quentyn sees that the fishmongers are out in strength, crying the morning catch. Quentyn understood one word in two at best, but he did not need to know the words to know the fish. He also sees some dwarfs putting on a show. The little men are done up in wooden armour, miniature knights preparing for a joust. Quentyn sees one mount a dog, as the other hops onto a pig.
While chained to a wall in a room in the Merchant's House Tyrion sees that one of the room's two windows opens on Fishermonger’s Square below. players waging war outside a tavern with a slave standing beside their table, holding a lantern over the board. Tyrion also hears a woman singing with strange words, the tune is soft and sad. Closer to hand, he sees a crowd gathering around a pair of jugglers throwing flaming torches at each other.
Old Fishfoot - by Marc Fishman ©
Fishfoot Yard is a cobbled square in White Harbor located just inside the Seal Gate with a fountain at its center. The square is named for some dead lord, but no one ever calls it anything but Fishfoot Yard.
A stone merman rises from the fountain's waters, 20 feet tall from tail to crown. The statue is called "Old Fishfoot" by the locals. Old Fishfoot's curly beard is green and white with lichen and one of the prongs of his trident broke off a long time ago, yet he still looks impressive.
Down past where Old Fishfoot’s trident points is an alley where they sell fried cod, crisp and golden brown on the outside and flaky within. There is also a brothel nearby, where a sailor can enjoy a woman without fear of being robbed or killed.
Off the other way, there used to be a brewhouse where they made black beer so thick and tasty that a cask of it could fetch as much as Arbor gold in Braavos and the Port of Ibben, provided the locals left anything to sell. Across the yard and down a flight of steps is a winesink called the Lazy Eel. Oil lamps light the yard at night.
When Davos Seaworth arrives at White Harbor he visits Fishfoot Yard in the afternoon. He finds the yard teeming with people. A woman is washing her smallclothes in Fishfoot’s fountain and hanging them off his trident to dry. A young girl is selling cups of fresh milk from her nanny goat.
Beneath the arches of the peddler's colonnade the scribes and moneychangers have set up for business along with a hedge wizard, a herb women, and a very bad juggler. A man is selling apples from a barrow, and a women is offering herring with chopped onions. Chickens and children are everywhere underfoot.
Davos stops beneath the colonnade and trades a halfpenny for an apple and chats with the apple seller to try and catch up with tidings in White Harbor..
© Fantasy Flight Games
The Fist of the First Men is a hill found beyond the Wall in the haunted forest.
The Fist was built by the First Men in the Dawn Age. Some of its stone ringwall still remains.
The Fist is located next to the Milkwater, surrounded by the haunted forest.
The Night's Watch make their camp here while searching for the wildling masses during the great ranging. From here they hoped to stop any march on the Wall.
In spite of the Watch's best efforts to mount a defense, they are attacked and easily swept by wights during the fight at the Fist.
In the aftermath of the battle, Jon Snow and Mance Rayder discover the bodies of at least a hundred horses, but none of men.
An old place, and strong.
– Thoren Smallwood to Jon Snow
The Five Forts are massive fortresses along the northeastern boundaries of the Golden Empire of Yi Ti, situated between the Bleeding Sea and the Mountains of the Morn. Northeast of the Five Forts are the Land of the Shrykes, K'Dath, Bonetown, the Grey Waste, and the Cannibal Sands.
The forts' walls are slabs of fused black stone almost a thousand feet high. Some think the walls are Valyrian in origin, although there is no record of Valyrians having visited the area and they even predate the rise of the Freehold. Each fort can house ten thousand men.
The Five Forts predate the Golden Empire of Yi Ti. Some suggest they were built by the Pearl Emperor at the time of the Great Empire of the Dawn to defend against the demons of the Lion of Night. They currently guard the Golden Empire from raiders out of the Grey Waste.
Flame was a female blood bay courser owned by Lady Rohanne Webber. She had some Dornish sand steed blood in her.
Lady Rohanne attempted to give the horse to Ser Duncan the Tall as a gift for his service, but he refused her.
Flame of Truth is one of the many titles of Benerro, the High Priest of the Red Temple of Volantis.
Flatlands
Western Essos and the location of the Flatlands
The Flatlands is part of southern Andalos in western Essos.
The Flatlands are bordered by the upper reaches of the Rhoyne to the east, the Velvet Hills to the north, and the Golden Fields to the southeast. A Valyrian road runs through the Flatlands from the Free City of Pentos to Ghoyan Drohe.
The Flatlands is a fertile area of open fields and plains, located around Pentos and responsible for feeding it.
The Dothraki can easily access and ride through the Flatlands, so Pentoshi magisters, like nobles of the other Free Cities, pay them heavy tribute so as to ensure they do not loot or sack any of the estates or villages in the area.
Drogo's *khalasar* marching east from Pentos through the Flatlands in *Game of Thrones*
The Flatlands used to be part of the southern marches of Andalos, the kingdom of the Andals, before they invaded Westeros several millennia ago.
Daenerys Targaryen travels with Khal Drogo's *khalasar* through the Flatlands to Ghoyan Drohe.
Tyrion Lannister and Illyrio Mopatis travel through the Flatlands en route to Ghoyan Drohe.
The House Bolton sigil, a flayed man, from his head to his heels.
Flaying, also called skinning, is a method of slow and painful torture or execution in which skin is removed from the body.
The best known practitioners of flaying in Westeros is House Bolton where they are known for their practice of flaying their enemies. According to the Bolton servant "Reek", Lord Roose Bolton believes a naked man has few secrets, but a flayed man has none.
The Boltons are said to have flayed the skins of several Stark lords and hung them in the Dreadfort. According to rumor, some Bolton lords wore the flayed skins of their enemies—including Starks, such as the son of Bael This practice has given the Boltons a sinister reputation.
*The Chronicles of Longsister* state that during the Rape of the Three Sisters by the Kings of Winter, which occurred two thousand years ago,
Approximately a thousand years ago, the Boltons bent their knees to Winterfell and agreed to abandon their practice of flaying their enemies.
Ramsay Snow is fond of the old Bolton custom of flaying their enemies alive.
Flaying is looked upon with disfavor by most people in the Seven Kingdoms. For example, when Roose Bolton presents Catelyn and Roob Stark with skin from Theon Greyjoy's pinky finger as small token of revenge Ser Wendel Manderly turns his face away, Robin Flint and Smalljon Umber exchange a look and the Greatjon snorts like a bull. Part of Catelyn wants to clutch the grisly trophy to her heart but she makes herself resist and asks Roose to put it away.
Robb tells Bran that when Roose Bolton looks at him all he can think of is that room the Boltons have in the Dreadfort where they hang the skins of their enemies. Bran tries to tell him that that is just one of Old Nan's stories but a note of doubt creeps into his voice.
Jojen reveals that he has seen the bodies of Bran and Rickon at the feet of the man they call Reek and he is skinning off their faces with a knife.
With Winterfell under his control, Theon Greyjoy takes Bran and Rickon Stark hostage. Bran and Rickon manage to escape with the help of Osha, Hodor, Meera and Jojen Reed. Theon fails to track the boys down, however following the advice of "Reek", he kills two peasant boys around the same age from the Acorn Water mill and presents their flayed corpses as the Starks'.
Lord Roose Bolton delivers a piece of skin from the little finger of Theon's left hand to King Robb Stark and his mother, Catelyn Tully, shortly before the Red Wedding. Theon is reportedly being flayed alive by Ramsay Snow, the Bastard of Bolton, at the Dreadfort.
In the House of Black and White when the Kindly Man asks Arya Stark if she can stand very still she tells him yes, remembering that she had served as Roose Bolton's cupbearer at Harrenhal and he would flay you if you spilled his wine.
Theon convinces the ironborn garrison of sixty-three men at Moat Cailin to surrender. The ironborn are escorted to the Bolton camp, where Ramsay Snow has them flayed alive despite his promise of safe passage. The next day their skinless bodies, still dripping fresh blood, are impaled on pikes and displayed along the causeway.
When Lord Roose Bolton, the new Warden of the North, arrives at Winterfell he finds the ruined castle a refuge of more than two dozen squatters. He tells them he will be merciful if they serve well, and they are used as labor to partially restore Winterfell. After the work is completed Roose has them all hanged; true to his word he is merciful and does not flay a one.
After Yellow Dick is found dead Ramsay Bolton promises that when they find the man who killed him he will flay the skin off him, cook it crisp as crackling and make him eat every bite of it.
It is reported in a letter to Jon Snow that six women were flayed and Mance put in a cage in the winter elements with their skins to act as cloaks to keep him warm from the cold.
It is not happenstance that they put a flayed man on their banners.
- Jon Snow to Stannis Baratheon
Reek has been whipped and racked and cut, but there was no pain half so excruciating as the pain that followed flaying.
- Theon
If Abel's scheme went awry, Ramsay would make their dying long and hard. He will flay me from head to heel this time, and no amount of begging will end the anguish. No pain Theon had ever known came close to the agony that Skinner could evoke with a little flensing blade. Abel would learn that lesson soon enough.
- Theon's thoughts
When we find the man who did this, I will flay the skin off him, cook it crisp as crackling, and make him eat it, every bite.
- Ramsay Bolton's promise to Yellow Dick's killer
© Fantasy Flight Games
Flea Bottom is the poorest area of King's Landing.
See also: Images of Flea Bottom
Flea Bottom is a down-trodden area of town. It has pot-shops along the alleys where one can get a 'bowl o' brown.' It has a stench of pigsties and stables, tanner's sheds mixed in with the smell of winesinks and whorehouses.. The buildings lean over the narrow alleys, almost touching.
Ser Flement Brax is a knight of House Brax. He is married to Morya Frey and they have three children.
Flement wears silver armor inlaid with amethysts and a striped purple-and-silver cloak. His horsehead helmet has a spiral horn two feet long, and his shield displays the unicorn of House Brax.
Ser Flement is part of the force commanded by Lord Tywin Lannister in the riverlands.
Flement leads a party of mounted horsemen to challenge Tyrion Lannister and the clansmen accompanying him when they approach the camp of Tywin's army. He tells Tyrion that Lord Tywin has taken the inn at the crossroads for his quarters, leading Tyrion there.
Flement rides under the command of Ser Addam Marbrand in the right flank during the battle on the Green Fork.
News arrives at Lord Tywin's camp of the defeat of the Lannister forces in the Battle of the Camps. The messenger was part of Lord Andros Brax's camp on the west side and tells of Lord Brax's fateful attempt to cross the Tumblestone on rafts to come to help to the north camp when it came under attack by a force led by Ser Brynden Tully. An incredulous Flement is told Andros drowned under the weight of his armor., becomes the new Lord of Hornvale.
When Lord Tywin orders Tyrion to act as Hand of the King in his place in King's Landing, Tyrion asks why Tywin is not choosing someone else, mentioning Flement in this context, among others. Tyrion receives the answer that Tywin has chosen him, because he is his son.
Ser Flement is among Lord Tywin's army as it attempts to cross the Red Fork of the Trident, leading to the Battle of the Fords. Early in the engagement, Tywin commands him to force a crossing six miles south of Riverrun, but his attempt is repulsed when Mallister bowmen reign high arcing shots over the shields of the Lannister soldiers and scorpions send heavy stones on them to break up the formation.
Ser Flement is among the nobles sent with Tyrion Lannister to greet the Dornish party, headed by Prince Oberyn Martell, when they arrive at King's Landing. Tyrion presents him as the heir to Hornvale.
Flement is called as a witness for the prosecution in the trial of Tyrion Lannister for the death of King Joffrey I Baratheon. He tells of how he heard Tyrion threaten the king.
Ser Flement leads two hundred heavy horse that are a part of the force to take Riverrun, commanded by Ser Jaime Lannister. He joins Jaime and others for supper at Castle Hayford on the first night of their ride. During the meal, he annoys Jaime with admiration for the golden hand, prompting Jaime to suggest that, if Flement chops off his own sword hand, he can have it. This silences further comments on Jaime's artificial limb.
While at Harrenhal, Flement engages in a training fight with Ser Lyle Crakehall in the yard, cheered on by soldiers. Jaime thinks the Strongboar will have the upper hand in the fight.
For other articles sharing the same title, please see this disambiguation page.
Fletcher Dick was a famous member of the Kingswood Brotherhood. Hailing from a village near Stonehelm, he taught Ulmer how to use a bow
Fletcher Will is an inhabitant of the Riverlands.
Fletcher Will is slain by the forces of House Lannister during the War of the Five Kings.
Flint's Finger
The north and the location of Flint's Finger
Flint's Finger is the seat of House Flint of Flint's Finger in the north. It is located on the southern shore of Blazewater Bay, north of the Flint Cliffs and east of Cape Kraken.
A weak King of the Iron Islands lost Flint's Finger in the century after Gerold Lannister, King of the Rock, raided the Iron Islands.
Lords Manderly and Flint are to join the army of Robb Stark along the kingsroad when he marches south from Winterfell.
The Flints of Flint's Finger contribute men to Lord Roose Bolton's army at Barrow Hall
Flint Cliffs
The North and the location of the Flint Cliffs
The Flint Cliffs are a series of cliffs in the North along the Sunset Sea, east of Cape Kraken, west of the Neck, and north of the Iron Islands.
At the age of ten, Balon Greyjoy climbed the Flint Cliffs to the Blind Lord's haunted tower.
Florian refers to:
Florian Greysteel was the personal champion of Manfryd Mooton, Lord of Maidenpool.
During the Dance of the Dragons, Florian was the personal champion of House Mooton.
Florian V Mooton, known as Florian the Brave, was a petty king of Maidenpool from House Mooton.
The boy king Florian was killed in the Fall of Maidenpool during the Andal invasion.
Dornish puppeteers perform the tale of Florian and Jonquil at the Ashford Tourney. Art by Mike S. Miller.
Ser Florian, better known as Florian the Fool, is the main character in a tale about falling in love with a maiden named Jonquil. He is one of the many legendary heroes of the riverlands from the Age of Heroes.
Florian was a great fool and a great knight.*]
According to legend, Florian was homely,
There are songs about Florian and Jonquil; "Six Maids in a Pool" may be one of them. They are favorites of Sansa Stark.
During the tourney at Ashford Meadow, Ser Duncan the Tall observed Tanselle performing a puppet show of Florian and Jonquil.
Ser Dontos Hollard claims to be Florian in his promise to get Sansa Stark out of King's Landing.
There is an as-yet-untitled famous song about Florian and Jonquil which Sansa knows. She offers to sing the song to Sandor Clegane but he declines.
Early on in her quest to find Sansa Stark, Brienne of Tarth remembers that when she was a child her nurse had filled her ears with tales of valor, regaling her with the noble exploits of many champions, among them Florian the Fool.
Aboard the *Selaesori Qhoran*, Tyrion Lannister mocks Ser Jorah Mormont's plan to get back into Daenerys Targaryen’s good graces by presenting her with Tyrion:
You think Daenerys will execute me and pardon you, but the reverse is just as likely. Maybe you should hop up on that pig, Ser Jorah. Put on a suit of iron motley, like Florian the –
Jorah cracks Tyrion's head around and knocks him sideways before he can finish.
Jonquil: You are no knight, I know you. You are Florian the Fool.
Florian: I am, my lady, As great a fool as ever lived, and as great a knight as well.
Jonquil: A fool and a knight? I have never heard of such a thing.Florian: Sweet lady, all men are fools, and all men are knights, where women are concerned.
– puppeteers playing Jonquil and Florian, at the Ashford tourney
Sweet lady, I would be your Florian.
– Dontos Hollard, to Sansa Stark
Sandor: I never got my song.
Sansa: I... I know a song about Florian and Jonquil.
Sandor: Florian and Jonquil? A fool and his cunt. Spare me. But one day I'll have a song from you, whether you will it or no.Sansa: I will sing it for you gladly.
– Sandor Clegane and Sansa Stark
I'll have that song. Florian and Jonquil, you said.
– Sandor Clegane, to Sansa Stark
Florian and Jonquil might be a tribute to the song "Jonquil & Florian" by The Starlings.
Florys the Fox is a legendary daughter of Garth Greenhand and the cleverest of his children. According to myth, she kept three husbands, each ignorant of the existence of the other two. Her sons became the founders of House Florent, House Ball and House Peake. In some tales of the Reach, Lann the Clever was a bastard born to Florys or her sister Rowan Gold-Tree.
Flowering is a euphemism for a girl’s first menstrual period. The blood is the seal of womanhood. It means that she is now fit to be wedded and bedded.
In the "general Westerosi view," girls may well be wed before their first flowerings, for political reasons, but it would be considered perverse to bed them. And such early weddings, even without sexual intercourse, remain rare. Generally weddings are postponed until the bride has passed from girlhood to maidenhood.
And I am no child, but a maiden flowered.
- Alayne Stone, to Lady Waynwood
- Illyrio Mopatis, on Daenerys Targaryen's suitability as a prospective bride for khal Drogo
For girls, the first flowering is also very significant... and in older traditions, a girl who has flowered is a woman, fit for both wedding and bedding. A girl who has flowered, but not yet attained her sixteenth name day, is in a somewhat ambigious position: part child, part woman. A "maid," in other words. Fertile but innocent, beloved of the singers.
"Flowers of Spring" is a song.
"Flowers of Spring" is performed by the musicians at the wedding of Lord Edmure Tully and Roslin Frey. The drunken Lord Greatjon Umber begins singing "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" at the same time, however.
Dagmer Cleftjaw aboard the Foamdrinker - by Amok ©
The Foamdrinker is a longship captained by Dagmer Cleftjaw, the master-at-arms for House Greyjoy of Pyke.
Foamdrinker - by Thomas Denmark © Fantasy Flight Games
Dagmer and the Foamdrinker are part of the small force under the command of Theon Greyjoy during the harrying of the Stony Shore.
Dagmer threatens Torrhen's Square,
After the sack of Winterfell, Dagmer and his men capture Torrhen's Square.
The Foghouse is a winesink located in Braavos. It is located beneath the second arch of Nabbo's Bridge. It is a small, cramped, dirty establishment with barely enough space to fit ten people.
Samwell Tarly unsuccessfully searches for Dareon at the Foghouse. Outside he sees several serpent boats tied up awaiting patrons. Sam tries to ask the polemen if they had seen a singer dressed all in black but none of them appear to understand his High Valyrian - Sam thinks to himself it is either that or they did not choose to understand him.
The Blind Girl has begged at the Foghouse. She recalls that it is always crowded with polemen off the serpent boats, arguing about gods and courtesans and whether or not the Sealord was a fool.
Fogo is the *khalakka*, or son and heir of Khal Ogo.
Fogo is with his father in the procession in Vaes Dothrak that proclaims Daenerys Targaryen's son the stallion who mounts the world.
A folly is an event held in the fighting pits of Slaver's Bay where beasts are pitted against slaves who have no means of actually fighting to save their lives, such as small children, dwarfs or crones. The Ghiscari consider these events humorous.
In Astapor, when Daenerys Targaryen is inspecting the Unsullied soldiers that she is considering purchasing, Kraznys mo Nakloz asks her if she wishes to view their fighting pits. Kraznys tells her that Douquor's Pit has a "fine folly" scheduled for the evening – a bear and three small boys. One boy is to be rolled in honey, one in blood and one in rotting fish. Dany can wager on which the bear will eat first. Dany declines the invitation.
During the reopening of Daznak's Pit in Meereen, Tyrion Lannister and Penny, slaves of Yunkish Wise Master Yezzan zo Qaggaz perform their mock joust for Queen Daenerys Targaryen. Unbeknowst to them, lions are about to be set loose on them but Daenerys forbids it after finding out.
Archmaester Fomas was an archmaester of the Citadel. He wrote the book *Lies of the Ancients*. He argues that the mythic Others were nothing more than a tribe of First Men established on the far north and forced by the Long Night to engage in conquests to the south, becoming monstrous in tales told thereafter by House Stark and the Night's Watch to give themselves a heroic background as saviors of mankind.
List of foods encountered in the world of asoiaf.
A list of beverages mentioned in the books include: Mead, Wine, Beer, & Cider
A list of food mentioned in the books include:
Apples
Blood Oranges
Limes
Plums:
Dornish Plums
Pomegranates
Strawberries
See also: Themes in A Song of Ice and Fire
George R.R. Martin has more than 160 vivid descriptions of food do not just lend color and flavor to the fictional world but almost appear as a supporting character. The meals signal everything from a character's disposition to plot developments, but also forebode the last profitable harvest before the coming winter. Inedible-sounding food was eaten at the Red Wedding in A Storm of Swords, preparing readers for the nauseating circumstances to come.
Fans seeking to immerse themselves deeper in their favorite fictional worlds have started cooking dishes from the books, see A Feast of Ice and Fire.
Moon Boy performing. © FFG
A fool, is a court jester used to entertain nobles and their guests at court. Fools are sometimes lackwits and simpletons.
They often wear brightly coloured motley. They use storytelling, japes, juggling, music, acrobatics and other skills to entertain their audiences.
Mushroom - a dwarf fool of the court at King Viserys I Targaryen in King's Landing. Lived trough the reign of King Aegon II Targaryen, and at least partly through the reign of King Aegon III Targaryen.
Lord Toad - a hunchbacked fool at Casterly Rock during the time of Lord Gerold the Golden.
Moon Boy - the royal fool of the court at King's Landing
Butterbumps - fool and jester of House Tyrell
Jinglebell - son of Ser Stevron Frey and lackwit fool
Shagwell - psychotic jester and member of the Brave Companions
Ser Dontos Hollard – a drunken knight made court fool
Wyman Manderly's fool - used by one of Betharios of Braavos's handmaids to gather information for Symond Frey
I hear all sorts of things as a fool that I never heard when I was a knight. They talk as though I am not there.
- Dontos Hollard to Sansa Stark
All men are fools, if truth be told, but the ones in motley are more amusing than the ones with crowns.
Forel is a Braavosi surname.
It is borne by:
Forest of Qohor
Western Essos and the location of the Forest of Qohor
The Forest of Qohor is a large area of woodland and forest containing the Free City of Qohor on the eastern continent of Essos. It is located east of the Free City of Norvos, and west of the Kingdom of Sarnor and the Dothraki sea. The forest stretches north to the Shivering Sea, and south to the swamps of the Selhoru. The Darkwash is to the west of the forest, while Vaes Khadokh is to the east along a Valyrian road.
The Forest of Qohor is vast and takes roughly two weeks to cross by horse.
The forest provides much of the lumber used by the eastern Free Cities for their keels and masts, as well as good fodder to trade to the Dothraki when they come off their mighty sea of grass.
When Daenerys Targaryen is newly wedded, Khal Drogo's *khalasar* rides through the Forest of Qohor for half a moon. The animals all flee at the approach of the khalasar and Daenerys has no glimpse of them.
Forktop is one of the largest mountains in the Frostfangs. It is called Forktop due to its twin peaks.
Ser Forley Prester is a knight of House Prester. He is a cousin to the head of house Lord Garrison Prester.
Forley is short and hard, with a pinched nose, a bald pate and grizzled brown beard. Despite bearing a bull on his surcoat and a bull-horned helm, Jaime Lannister thinks Forley looks more like an innkeep than a bull. However, like most innkeeps he is no man's fool.
Forley serves in Ser Jaime Lannister's host at the beginning of the War of the Five Kings, taking part in the Battle of the Golden Tooth and the Battle of Riverrun. When Robb Stark smashes Jaime's host beneath the walls of Riverrun, Forley commands the southern camp. Upon seeing that the other two besieging camps are lost, he retreats in good order, saving two thousand spearmen and as many bowmen.
Just after the Battle of the Camps a Tyroshi sellsword leading Ser Forley’s freeriders strikes his banners and goes over to Robb Stark.
Forley and the remnants of Jaime Lannister's former host are stationed at the Golden Tooth.
According to semi-canon sources, Forley sent veterans of his 4000 strong host to Ser Stafford Lannister at Oxcross, to augment and help train the mostly green levies comprising Stafford's forces.
Once Ser Daven Lannister reforms the army that had gathered in Lannisport, he is to link up with Forley at the Golden Tooth and march on the Riverlands. They are tasked with attacking Riverrun after the Red Wedding.
Forley commands one of the major forces at the Second Siege of Riverrun, which is comprised of the remnants of Ser Jaime Lannister's former command and the Riverlords who have bent the knee to King Tommen I.
Forley is later assigned to command the escort of men who take Edmure Tully and Robb Stark's widow, Jeyne Westerling, to Casterly Rock. He is told to kill the captives if they try to escape.
Forlorn Hope is an ironborn longship and part of the Iron Fleet.
Forlorn Hope is part of the Iron Fleet contingent dispatched to Slaver's Bay.
Fornio is a ranger of the Night's Watch.
Fornio survives the fight at the Fist, but is left in a delirious state afterwards at Craster's Keep..
Forrest Frey was a Lord of the Crossing and a head of House Frey during the Dance of the Dragons.
The gallant and powerful knight,
Lord Forrest sided with the blacks during the Dance of the Dragons. He brought two hundred knights and six hundred infantry when he joined Lord Roderick Dustin and Robb Rivers by the Gods Eye. Forrest died fighting the greens' army from the westerlands in the Battle by the Lakeshore.
Foss the Archer is a legendary son of Garth Greenhand and founder of House Fossoway of Cider Hall. He was renowned for shooting apples off the head of any maid who took his fancy.
Fosterage is the practice of a noble raising the child of another noble.
The custom of fosterage is common among the nobility of Westeros. It is seen as a way of establishing friendships and alliances.
According to George R. R. Martin, a child who is fostered by a lord or lady can make visits to home during the years of his fosterage, although these visits would be minimal while the child is still young. After reaching the age of majority, the fostered child is free to come to go as he or she likes.
Although the custom of fostering is common in Westeros, that cannot be said for all places in the known world. For example, in the Free City of Norvos children are usually not fostered out. When the Dornish Prince Doran Martell decided to foster out his son Quentyn, this caused a severe strain on his relationship with his Norvoshi wife, Lady Mellario.
In 129 AC, Prince Jacaerys Velaryon agreed with the Prince of Pentos to have two youngest brothers, Prince Aegon and Prince Viserys Targaryen, fostered by the prince at Pentos. Their ship, the *Gay Abandon*, was attacked by the Triarchy on route. Aegon escaped back to Dragonstone with his dragon, Stormcloud, Viserys was taken captive.
Doran Martell, the Prince of Dorne, fostered out his eldest son Quentyn with the Yronwoods to create a peace between House Yronwood and House Martell,
Lord Randyll Tarly wished to have his eldest son and heir, Samwell, be fostered by Lord Paxter Redwyne at the Arbor. Randyll brought Samwell with him on a trip to the Arbor, but after Paxter's twins Horas and Hobber, bullied him, Lord Randyll brought him back home. Samwell's mother later revealed to him Samwell had supposed to remain at the Arbor to serve as Paxter's page and squire and, if he had pleased Paxter, would have been betrothed to his daughter, Desmera.
Shortly before his death in early 298 AC, Lord Jon Arryn planned to have his young son Robert foster with Lord Stannis Baratheon at Dragonstone.
The Fountain of the Drunken God is a fountain in Tyrosh.
For years an elderly dwarf juggler known to Penny and Oppo would juggle by it everyday. His hands were not as deft as they had been, and sometimes he would drop his balls and chase them across the square, but the Tyroshi would laugh and throw him coins all the same.
One morning Penny and Oppo heard that his body had been found at the Temple of Trios. Next to the temple doors is a big statue of three-headed Trios. The old man had been cut into three parts and pushed inside the threefold mouths of Trios. When the juggler’s parts were sown back together his head was gone – he may have been mistaken as Tyrion Lannister and his severed head most likely taken to Westeros to present to Cersei Lannister who had had offered a lordship to anyone who could bring her Tyrion's head.
Fourteen Flames
Slaver's Bay and the location of the Fourteen Flames
The Fourteen Flames is an immense chain of volcanoes extending across the now-shattered Valyrian peninsula. There were deep mines beneath the Fourteen Flames, and their fires lit the Valyrian Freehold's nights of old.
Valyrians discover dragons lairing in the Fourteen Flames
The Valyrians were originally a sheepherding folk of the Valyrian peninsula. When they discovered dragons lairing in the Fourteen Flames, however, their rise to power began. The Valyrians believed that dragons were the children of the volcanoes.
The mines of old Valyria were always hot and they grew hotter as shafts were driven deeper into the earth. The slaves toiled in an oven, the rocks around them too hot to touch. The air stank of brimstone and seared the slaves' lungs as they breathed. Sometimes when they broke through a wall in search of gold, they would find steam, boiling water, or molten rock. Certain shafts were cut so low that slaves had to crawl or bend.
Sometimes firewyrms were encountered in that red darkness, in the shafts of the mines by the slaves, leaving only burnt and blackened corpses, yet still the mines drove deeper. Slaves perished by the score, but their masters did not care.
The Doom of Valyria, an eruption of all of the Fourteen Flames, destroyed the Valyrian Freehold. Great earthquakes destroyed settlements, mountains exploded, and fires burned so hot that even dragons were killed. The Valyrian peninsula became separated from the now-ruined Lands of the Long Summer by the Smoking Sea.
Most believe the Doom was a natural catastrophe, although some such as Barth believe the volcanoes ceased to be restrained by Valyrian magic.
Some of the Fourteen Flames may be submerged in the Smoking Sea.
Sailing on the *Selaesori Qhoran*, Tyrion Lannister sees a dull red glow while passing the Valyrian peninsula.
Most mines are dank and chilly places, cut from cold dead stone, but the Fourteen Flames were living mountains with veins of molten rock and hearts of fire.
- the kindly man to Arya Stark
Tyrion: So those are fires of the Fourteen Flames we're seeing, reflected on the clouds?
Moqorro: Fourteen or fourteen thousand. What man dares count them? It is not wise for mortals to look too deeply at those fires, my friend. Those are the fires of god's own wrath, and no human flame can match them. We are small creatures, men.
- Tyrion Lannister and Moqorro
The Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion was a brief conflict during the reign of King Aegon V Targaryen.
The eldest son of Haegon I Blackfyre, Daemon III Blackfyre, had been crowned by Aegor "Bittersteel" Rivers in Tyrosh, following Haegon's death during the end of the Third Blackfyre Rebellion.
Daemon III Blackfyre led his forces across the narrow sea, with Aegor Rivers and the Golden Company at his back, and landed at Massey's Hook.
His invasion had little support, though. King Aegon V Targaryen and his three sons, Princes Duncan, Jaehaerys, and Daeron, rode out themselves to face the rebels. The rebellion eventually ended at the Battle of Wendwater Bridge, where the Blackfyre army was defeated, and Ser Duncan the Tall of the Kingsguard slew Daemon III. Aegor Rivers escaped once more, fleeing back to Essos.
Ser Tion Lannister, the second son and heir of Lord Gerold Lannister, died at Wendwater Bridge, making his younger brother, Tytos Lannister, the new heir to Casterly Rock.
Aegor Rivers emerged in the Disputed Lands a few years after the rebellion, fighting with his sellswords in a skirmish between Tyrosh and Myr. Despite Aegor's death a few years after the Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion, the Blackfyre cause would remain until 260 AC.
The Fowler twins refer to:
Fralegg, better known as Fralegg the Strong, is an ironborn raider and captain.
During the kingsmoot, Fralegg offered Victarion Greyjoy his support.
Highgarden's close. I say, look for dragons there. The golden kind!
– Fralegg the Strong
Ser Franklyn Flowers, also known as the Bastard of Cider Hall, is a knight in service to the Golden Company.
Franklyn is a big-bellied, shambling hulk of a man with a seamed face crisscrossed with old scars. His right ear looks as if a dog had chewed on it and his left ear is missing entirely. He wears a lord’s ransom in golden arm rings, he may wear at least twelve of them, one for each year he has served with the company.
Franklyn claims that his mother was a washerwoman at Cider Hall who was raped by one of the lord's sons. Due to this, Franklyn loathes the Fossoways. He has been with the Golden Company for at least a dozen years. He knows Griff and remembers him from when he served with Golden Company twelve years ago. He was knighted sometime after Griff left the company.
Ser Franklyn is present during Jon Connington’s rendezvous with the Golden Company three miles south of Volon Therys. During the discussions about how to meet up with Daenerys Targaryen in Meereen, Franklyn suggests the land route but Harry Strickland replies that the demon road is death.
Franklyn is one of the first to swear his allegiance to Aegon Targaryen. He remarks that he looks forward to attacking the Reach and killing some Red-Apple Fossoways. Franklyn then takes Aegon to meet the men of the Golden Company.
Once in Westeros Franklyn takes part in the taking of Griffin's Roost. Trees had been allowed to encroach on the field beyond the castle’s gatehouse, so Flowers is able to use the brush for concealment, leading his men within twenty yards of the gates before emerging from the trees with a ram that the men had fashioned back at camp. The gate turns out to be closed—but not barred—and it gives way at the second blow. Ravens are quickly dispatched by the castle but are taken out by the Golden Company’s expert archers. When Jon tells Franklyn there are to be no more messages, the next thing to come flying from the maester’s tower is the maester.
During the victor's feast in Griffin's Roost's great hall, Jon Connington presides from the Griffin’s Seat while Franklyn shares the high table with Homeless Harry Strickland, Black Balaq, and the three young Conningtons they had taken captive. Franklyn is later present during Jon’s war council held at Griffin's Roost.
Makes me a sort o’ brown apple Fossoway, the way I see it.
- Franklyn, on being a Fossoway bastard, to Aegon Targaryen
Aegon: Why should I go running to my aunt as if I were a beggar? My claim is better than her own. Let her come to me ... in Westeros.
Franklyn: I like it. Sail west, not east. Leave the little queen to her olives and seat Prince Aegon upon the Iron Throne. The boy has stones I give him that.
- Aegon Targaryen and Franklyn
So long as I can kill some Fossoways I’m for it.
- Franklyn to Aegon Targaryen
Franklyn Fowler, called the Old Hawk, is the Lord of Skyreach and head of House Fowler. He also holds the title Warden of the Prince's Pass..
Princess Arianne Martell decides to contact Lord Franklyn for aid, for he is strong enough to threaten her father, Prince Doran, and dislikes House Yronwood. She sends a letter with Cedra, but it is intercepted before it can get to Franklyn.
Ser Franklyn Frey was a knight of House Frey and the brother to Lord Frey during the reign of King Aerys I Targaryen. He was considered a good tourney fighter.
Ser Franklyn participated in the tourney at Ashford Meadow.
The company of the Free Brothers is a company of fighting men formed in Meereen. Its members are all former slaves known as Freedmen and are loyal to Daenerys Targaryen. Their commander is Symon Stripeback.
Free Cities grouped along the western coast of Essos
Nine Free Cities on the continent of Essos:
Pentos, Braavos, Lys, Qohor, Norvos, Myr, Tyrosh, Volantis, Lorath
The Free Cities are a group of nine city-states grouped along the western coast of Essos. They trade and interact frequently with the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.
The nine city-states composing the Free Cities lie across the narrow sea, east of Westeros, on the western side of the eastern continent. Braavos, Lorath, Lys, and Tyrosh are located on islands, Myr, Pentos, and Volantis are located on the coasts, and Norvos and Qohor lie inland. There are significant differences between the geography of the various cities, from the thick forests around Qohor, to the rolling hills of Norvos, to the tiny islands of Braavos. To the east of the Free Cities lies the Dothraki sea, to the south Slaver's Bay. North of the Free Cities lie the Shivering Sea and the islands of Ibben.
With the exception of Braavos, which was founded by slaves escaping the Freehold,
When Valyria was destroyed during the Doom, their vast empire collapsed. During this chaotic time, known as the Century of Blood, Volantis, the eldest and largest of the Free Cities, attempted to seize power over the others, but eventually lost when the other eight cities united against it.
Some called the city of Gogossos on the Basilisk Isles the "Tenth Free City" when it grew rich and powerful during the Century of Blood, until it was destroyed by plague.
Over the past two centuries, Pentos has fought six wars against Braavos concerning the practice of slavery and the lands located in between the two cities. Four of these wars were won by Braavos. The last war ended in 209 AC and in the peace accords, Pentos was forced by Braavos to make several concessions, including the (nominal) termination of slavery in Pentos and their withdrawal from the slave trade, as well as a drastic reduction of the size of the Pentoshi military force.
In 96 AC, Myr, Lys, and Tyrosh united as the Triarchy after defeating Volantis at the Battle of the Borderland, driving the older city from the Disputed Lands.
During the Dance of the Dragons, the Triarchy allied with the faction of King Aegon II Targaryen against Aegon's half-sister Rhaenyra and her husband, Prince Daemon. They participated in the Battle of the Gullet, where they took major losses. By 130 AC, the "eternal alliance" between the three Free Cities had begun to tear itself apart.
During a time known as "the Lyseni Spring", the bank of the Rogare family in Lys grew more powerful than the Iron Bank of Braavos.
During the reign of the Westerosi King Daeron I Targaryen, Braavos was at war with Pentos and Lys. When King Daeron I attempted to negotiate a marriage-alliance between the Sealord of Braavos and one of his sisters, to help deal with the pirate activity in the Stepstones, Pentos and Lys responded by sending crucial aid to the rebels in Dorne.
The surviving Westerosi rebels who had fought on the side of Daemon I Blackfyre during the First Blackfyre Rebellion fled to the Free Cities, where they took work as mercenaries.
The Free Cities have had various shifting rivalries and alliances in the three centuries since the Century of Blood came to an end. In general, Myr, Lys, and Tyrosh frequently fight smaller wars over the ownership of the Disputed Lands located between them.
Braavos and Volantis are both formidable powers, with the former's main strength being at sea, whilst the latter's greatest strength is upon the land.
In most of the Free Cities money equals power. Lys and Myr are ruled by conclaves of magisters, chosen from amongst the wealthiest men of the city;
Braavos is ruled by the Sealord, who is chosen by Braavosi magisters and keyholders through a convoluted process.
Qohor's specific type of governance is currently unknown.
Main article: Braavos
Braavos, also known as Braavos of the Hundred Isles
Notable Braavosi include Syrio Forel, a former First Sword of Braavos, and Tycho Nestoris, an agent of the Iron Bank of Braavos.
Main article: Lorath
Located on the largest of three islands at the mouth of Lorath Bay, Lorath is one of the northernmost of the Free Cities. It is also the smallest, poorest, and least populous of the Nine Free Cities, as well as the most isolated. While the islands were originally inhabited by the Mazemakers, Lorath was founded when the followers of the god Boash settled on the main isle in 1436 BC.
Notable Lorathi include Jaqen H'ghar.
Main article: Lys
Lys is located on an island near the southern coast.
Notable Lyseni include Varys, a eunuch and spymaster for several Westerosi kings;, a merchant prince.
Main article: Myr
Myr is a coastal city renowned for their master glasscrafters,
Notable Myrmen include Taena, the wife of Lord Orton Merryweather; Thoros of Myr, a priest of R'hllor; and Serala, the wife of Lord Denys Darklyn, who was involved in the Defiance of Duskendale.
Main article: Norvos
Norvos sits on the main continent in two parts, one atop a high hill and the other beside a low river. The surrounding area is a land of rolling hills, terraced farms, and white-stucco villages. The city has three large bells, each with its own name and distinctive voice, that are rung to govern every aspect of city life. Norvoshi men can be recognized by their dyed and upswept mustaches. The city is run by a council of magisters, chosen by the bearded priests.
Notable Norvoshi include Areo Hotah, the captain of Prince Doran Martell's guard, and Lady Mellario, Doran's estranged wife.
Main article: Pentos
Pentos is a major trading port on a bay of the western coast, at approximately the latitude of the Westerosi city King's Landing.
Notable Pentoshi include Illyrio Mopatis, a powerful magister; and the Tattered Prince, the commander of the Windblown, a mercenary company.
Main article: Qohor
Situated on the main continent, Qohor lies in the vast Forest of Qohor.
Notable Qohoriks include Vargo Hoat, also known as the Goat, leader of the brutal mercenary company called the Brave Companions; and Tobho Mott, a master armorer in King's Landing.
Main article: Tyrosh
A coastal city, Tyrosh is ruled by an archon. The Tyroshi are known for their greed.
Notable Tyroshi include Greenbeard; Roro Uhoris; and the flamboyant Daario Naharis, one of three captains of the Stormcrows sellsword company.
Main article: Volantis
The southernmost of the Free Cities, Volantis is situated nearest Slaver's Bay, and does extensive trade in slaves, glassware and wines. The city is the oldest and proudest of the Free Cities, and only the Old Blood, those who can trace their lineage back to Valyria, may dwell within the part of the city behind the Black Wall. Volantis is ruled by an elected triarchy. Volantene sellswords are often recognizable by their fierce tattoos.
Notable Volantenes includes the triarch Belicho, the fool Patchface, and the widow of the waterfront.
In the Free Cities of the west, towers and manses and hovels and bridges and shops and halls all crowded in on one another.
– Daenerys Targaryen's thoughts
The Nine Free Cities are the daughters of Valyria that was, but Braavos is the bastard child who ran away from home.
– the kindly man to Arya Stark
It was all profit with the merchant princes of the Free Cities. "Spice soldiers and cheese lords," his lord father called them, with contempt.
– Tyrion Lannister's thoughts
Some in the Free Cities think that we're all savages on our side of the narrow sea. The ones who don't think that we're children, crying out for a father's strong hand.
– Jorah Mormont to Tyrion Lannister
*"Wildling" and "wildlings" redirects here. Not to be confused with the Vale mountain clans, who are also sometimes called "wildlings".*
The free folk
The free folk are a race of people who live beyond the Wall. They are more commonly referred to as "wildlings" everywhere south of the Wall.
There are tens, possibly hundreds of thousands of free folk split into hundreds of cultures, tribes, clans, villages, and raiding parties, some reasonably cultured, others savage and hostile.
A free folk encampment - by Marc Simonetti ©
The Wall which separates the free folk from the rest of Westeros in many ways defines them. The free folk refer to themselves as such to differentiate themselves from "kneelers," the people south of the Wall subject to lords and kings. The free folk view "kneelers" as lacking freedom, whereas the people of the Seven Kingdoms to the south view "wildlings" as lawless and primitive killers, rapists, and thieves.
Due to their isolation, the free folk remain a people free of states, nobles, kings, and laws but those of their own choosing, following whichever leader they please.
Folk folk society is made of many tribes and clans, each with their own peculiarities and customs. Some recognize chieftains, while others exist in a perpetual state of conflict, warring against each other and themselves. The free folk place importance in a man keeping his word.
Some clans live in small villages in the haunted forest, such as Whitetree, while others reside in halls such as Craster's Keep or Ruddy Hall. Thenns live in a hidden valley in the Frostfangs. Some are semi-nomadic loners, held down only by their own needs. By "kneeler" standards, strange clans include the Hornfoots, the Nightrunners, the men of the Frozen Shore, the cannibal ice-river clans, and the cave dwellers.
Skinchangers and wargs are more accepted north of the Wall than in the Seven Kingdoms.
The free folk keep to the ways of the First Men and there are many languages beyond the Wall, including the Common Tongue. The Old Tongue of the First Men is still spoken by some, such as the Thenns.
A motley gang of wildlings rushes into battle in the frozen northern tundra. - by Tomasz Jedruszek. © Fantasy Flight Games
The free folk do not hate northmen as much as they hate the "crows" of the Night's Watch, who represent the gate keepers holding them beyond the Wall. The free folk do not spare brothers of the Night's Watch, unless they break their oaths and prove it.
Nightrunners fight Hornfoots,
Most free folk worship the old gods.
In keeping with the spirit of free folk independence, women are welcome to take up arms and fight alongside men. Such women are called spearwives, and are known to be every bit as ferocious as their male counterparts.
In marriage, the men are expected to be quite forceful with women, going so far as stealing them from their home or clan. The women, in turn, are expected to put up a fight every step of the way.
Women who wed brothers, fathers, or clan kin are believed to offend the gods, and are cursed with weak and sickly children.
Because infant mortality is common in the harsh environment beyond the Wall, it is believed to be bad luck to name a child before he or she reaches two years of age.
Free folk raiders scale the Wall on one of their raids. © FFG
Free Folk Raider by Mike S Miller ©
The Wildling Horde. © FFG
Raiding south of the Wall is a large part of free folk culture. Raiders start at a young age, as little as twelve years.
To climb the Wall, the free folk use the aid of huge ladders of woven hemp, boots of supple doeskin spiked with iron, bronze, or jagged bone, small stone-headed hammers, stakes of iron and bone and horn, and antlers with sharpened tines bound to wooden hafts with strips of hide serving as ice axes.
Over the decades, with the weakening of the Night's Watch, the free folk have found it much easier to either climb the Wall or paddle small boats through the Bay of Seals, growing bolder they raid as far as the Umber lands, the northern mountain clans, or Bear Island, instead of the usual villages and holdfasts in the Gift.
Raiders cross the Wall to steal swords and axes, spices, silks, furs, and any valuables they can find. They are known to take women in any season to carry them off beyond the Wall.
See also: Armament
Most free folk warriors wield weaponry wrought of stone, wood, and bronze, such as axes and flails, fire-hardened spears and lances, and bows of wood and horn. Their bows are outranged by the yew longbows of the south, but can seemingly shoot an arrow as high as seven hundred feet.
The free folk do not mine nor smelt and there are few smiths and fewer forges north of the Wall; the only metal armor that they wear are bits and pieces looted from dead rangers. Most will wear boiled leather or sewn sheepskins and use crude round shields of skin stretched over wicker, painting them with figures such as skulls and bones, serpents, bear claws, twisted demonic faces, and severed heads.
The Thenns are more well-armed and armored than most free folk, with bronze helms, axes, short stabbing spears with leaf-shaped heads, shirts sewn with bronze discs, and plain unadorned shields of black boiled leather with bronze rims and bosses.
Free folk horses are surefooted, but scarce.
The free folk descend from the First Men.
Hardhome, the largest settlement of the free folk, was destroyed six hundred years ago.
Some Kings-Beyond-the-Wall have occasionally led hosts of free folk south of the Wall, but they have eventually been defeated by the Night's Watch or northern lords, such as House Stark and House Umber.
Mance Rayder slew three rivals and forced the submissions of Styr, Magnar of Thenn, and Tormund Giantsbane while becoming King-Beyond-the-Wall.
Mance Rayder, King-Beyond-the-Wall, is said to be massing his people in a secret stronghold.
Jeor Mormont, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, leads the great ranging in search of Mance and the missing Benjen Stark. The Night's Watch find the villages of the free folk abandoned, however.
See also: Conflict Beyond the Wall
Having gathered the free folk to the Frostfangs, Mance Rayder sets them on the move south to the Wall, fleeing from the Others.
What remains of Mance Rayder's army scatters. Some submit to Stannis Baratheon and pass through the Wall,
Among those of the free folk to submit to Stannis is Sigorn, the new Magnar of Thenn. Jon Snow arranges the wedding of Alys Karstark of Karhold to Sigorn, with the blessing of Stannis's queen Selyse Florent, thereby creating House Thenn.
Main article: King-Beyond-the-Wall
These are a free folk indeed.
- thoughts of Jon Snow
I met some wildlings when I was a boy. They were fair thieves but bad hagglers. One made off with our cabin girl. All in all, they seemed like any other men, some fair, some foul.
- Davos Seaworth to Pylos
These are wildlings. Savages, raiders, rapers, more beast than man.
- Bowen Marsh to Jon Snow
Now, a dog can heard a flock of sheep, but free folk, well, some are shadowcats and some are stones. One kind prowls where they please and will tear your dogs to pieces. The other will not move at all unless you kick them.
– Mance Rayder to Jon Snow
Free folk and kneelers are more like than not, Jon Snow. Men are men and women women, no matter which side of the Wall we were born on. Good men and bad, heroes and villains, men of honor, liars, cravens, brutes ... we have plenty, as do you.
Freedmen are former slaves. More specifically, the term refers to the slaves from Astapor, Yunkai and Meereen freed by Daenerys Targaryen. Half of Daenerys's freedmen are from Yunkai.[*citation needed*]
Frenken is the maester assigned to House Stokeworth of Stokeworth.
Frenken is plump with red hair.
Maester Frenken is one of the first to receive the letters from Stannis Baratheon declaring Cersei Lannister's children with Robert I Baratheon illegitimate. He sends his copy of the letter from Stokeworth on to King's Landing.
Later at the Red Keep, Frenken treats Sansa Stark's wounds after she is beaten by Ser Boros Blount
During the Battle of the Blackwater, Frenken treats a scared lady
After the death of the King Joffrey I Baratheon at his royal wedding, Frenken and Ballabar perform the autopsy that refutes the theory of a suffocation with the pigeon pie. During the trial of Tyrion for the death of the king, Frenken is called as a witness for the prosecution, and he agrees that poison was to blame.
Maester Frenken remains busy at Stokeworth caring for Lollys and her mother, Lady Tanda Stokeworth, who fell and broke her hip.
Frenya is a wildling spearwife.
She has a thick waist and enormous breasts.
Frenya accompanies Mance Rayder along with five other spearwives to Winterfell on a mission to free "Arya Stark" (the girl is actually Jeyne Poole) who is to wed Ramsay Snow. Mance disguises himself as "Abel", a singer and the six spearwives are his mother, wife, two daughters and two sisters who perform the instruments with him.
They play at the wedding feast and are responsible for the deaths of several Bolton men at arms. They later enlist the help of a reluctant and fearful Theon Greyjoy in freeing Jeyne.
The best pie you have ever tasted, my lords. Wash it down with Arbor gold and savor every bite. I know I shall.
- Wyman Manderly during the wedding of "Arya Stark"
The Frey Pies Theory is that Wyman Manderly killed the three Freys (Rhaegar, Symond, and Jared) who disappeared on the way from White Harbor to Winterfell and baked them into the three huge meat pies he brought for Ramsay Bolton's wedding at Winterfell.
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The Frostfangs are a mountain range in the far northwest of the continent of Westeros, beyond the Wall and north of the Seven Kingdoms.
The Frostfangs by reneaigner©
The Frostfangs lie north of the Wall, just northwest of the Shadow Tower, separating the Lands of Always Winter to their west and the haunted forest to their east. Its southern peaks and foothills transition into the northern mountains, which are part of the north within the Seven Kingdoms.
The Frostfangs are a cruel and inhospitable wilderness of stone and ice, blue-grey in color with snow-capped peaks.
The foothills of the Frostfangs have numerous winding valleys.
Hidden valleys sustaining small numbers of people exist in the Frostfangs.
Some free folk are said to worship dark gods beneath the Frostfangs.
Frostfangs peaks by Jason Caffoe © Fantasy Flight Games
Craster informs Jeor Mormont, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, that Mance Rayder, King-Beyond-the-Wall, is gathering the bulk of the free folk into the Frostfangs. Jeor does not expect the wildlings to remain in the inhospitable mountains for long.
The Night's Watch send three scouting missions to search for Mance: one up the Giant's Stair under Jarman Buckwell, one to probe the Milkwater under Thoren Smallwood, and one into the Skirling Pass under Qhorin Halfhand.
In the Skirling Pass, Jon Snow and Stonesnake are sent ahead to dispatch with lookouts; they kill two and Jon captures Ygritte, later releasing her rather than execute her.
Orell's eagle follows the black brothers.
Jon Snow is brought before Mance Rayder.
Mance is said to have found the Horn of Joramun in a glacier among the Frostfangs,
Ser Denys Mallister writes that his rangers have spotted great camps of wildlings in the mountains beyond the Shadow Tower.
The Frostfangs are cruel, inhospitable, a wilderness of stone and ice. They will not long sustain any great number of people.
- Jeor Mormont to Jon Snow
On the horizon stood the mountains like a great shadow, range on range of them receding into the blue-grey distance, their jagged peaks sheathed eternally in snow. Even from afar they looked vast and cold and inhospitable.
- thoughts of Jon Snow
Chett: It's an old man's folly, this ranging. We'll find nothing but our graves in them mountains. Lark: There's giants in the Frostfangs, and wargs, and worse things.
The Frostfangs were as cruel as any place the gods had made, and as inimical to men. The wind cut like a knife up here, and shrilled in the night like a mother mourning her slain children. What few trees they saw were stunted, grotesque things growing sideways out of cracks and fissures. Tumbled shelves of rock often overhung the trail, fringed with hanging icicles that looked like long white teeth from a distance.
- thoughts of Jon Snow
The mountain is your mother. Cling to her, press your face up against her teats, and she won't drop you.
- Stonesnake to Jon Snow
According to George R. R. Martin, the Frostfangs are reminiscent of the Himalayas.
Frostfires are a species of autumn wildflower found beyond the wall in the north of Westeros. Jon Snow sees a meadow in the mountains filled with bright scarlet frostfires while in The Skirling Pass near The Frostfangs.
The Frozen Ford was the site in the north where, according to song, House Stark met the free folk in battle when they went south of the Wall. Bael the Bard, the King-beyond-the-Wall, met his son, the young Lord Stark, at the Frozen Ford and died there rather than kill his son.
Frozen Shore
The north and the location of the Frozen Shore
The Frozen Shore. © Fantasy Flight Games
Frozen Sea © Fantasy Flight Games
The Frozen Shore is a stretch of coastline that sits on the Bay of Ice beyond the Wall.
The ironborn of antiquity controlled the Sunset Sea from the Frozen Shore to the Arbor.
Some accounts state gods of snow and ice are worshipped in the Frozen Shore.
During the reign of King Dorren Stark, Redwyn of the Night's Watch claimed he encountered giants and children of the forest while ranging from the Shadow Tower to Lorn Point.
Before Mance Rayder negotiated a peace, the men of the Frozen Shore fought with those of the ice-river clans.
Mance Rayder, the King-beyond-the-Wall, tells Jon Snow that his cloak of black wool and scarlet silk was a gift from the wildling woman who patched him up. The scarlet silk was her grandmother's most prized possession, which she found in the wreck of a cog from Asshai off the Frozen Shore.
Men of the Frozen Shore are found in Mance's army as it attacks the Wall.
Frynne is the daughter of a smith in Dorne. She has brown hair.
She played in the pools at the Water Gardens during the time that Arianne Martell spent there. They would often team up in the pools.
Fulk the Flea is a ranger of the Night's Watch. He is in his prime.
Fulk is one of the rangers Jon Snow has accompany him to meet Tormund beyond the Wall.
The Further East is the region of Essos located east of the Bone Mountains and the Great Sand Sea.
The term "Further East" is analogous to the real-life term "Far East", used by early modern Europeans to refer to East Asia.
© Fantasy Flight Games
The Fury is a triple-decked war galley of three hundred oars in the royal fleet of Blackwater Bay. It is owned by Stannis Baratheon
Stannis commanded the assault on Dragonstone from the decks of the Fury after Robert's Rebellion.
The Fury is seen berthed between the *Stag of the Sea* and *Lord Steffon* in the harbor at Dragonstone by Ser Davos Seaworth.
During the Battle of the Blackwater, Ser Imry Florent commands Stannis's fleet from the Fury, which is flanked by Stag of the Sea and Lord Steffon in the first line of battle. It engages the *Godsgrace* during the battle. It is engulfed and destroyed by wildfire after the explosion of the *Swordfish*., dies in the battle.
Princess Gael Targaryen was the thirteenth child of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen and Queen Alysanne Targaryen.
Gael was simple-minded and sweet.
Gael was the youngest of the children of Alysanne and Jaehaerys, and her mother's favorite. She disappeared from court in 99 AC, and was said to have died from a summer fever. However, she had actually committed suicide by drowning herself in the Blackwater Rush. The reason for her suicide was that she had been seduced and abandoned by a traveling singer, who had left her pregnant. In her grief, Queen Alysanne would die within a year after Gael's death.
Gaemon Palehair was a pretender king during the Dance of the Dragons. His mother Essie, a whore in the House of Kisses, claimed he was a bastard son of Aegon II Targaryen.
During the Moon of the Three Kings, after Rhaenyra Targaryen's escape from King's Landing, Gaemon gathered thousands of followers and issued a series of edicts.
His mother would later be hanged, having confessed Gaemon's father was actually a silver-haired Lysene oarsman. Gaemon was spared and taken into the royal household, befriending Aegon III Targaryen and becoming his constant companion, his whipping boy after Lord Unwin Peake came to power, and later, for some years, food taster. He died of poison that had been intended for the king or his queen Daenaera Velaryon.
Some of Gaemon's edicts, certainly the work of Essie's paramour Sylvenna Sand, were:
There have been multiple members of House Targaryen named Gaemon Targaryen:
For characters with the same name, see here.
Lord Gaemon Targaryen, known as Gaemon the Glorious, was the second Lord of Dragonstone of House Targaryen.
Gaemon was the son of Lord Aenar Targaryen and had at least one sister, Daenys Targaryen. Gaemon was married to Daenys and together they had at least two children, Aegon and Elaena, who eventually inherited the rule of Dragonstone from Gaemon.
For characters with the same name, see here.
Prince Gaemon Targaryen was a son of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen and Queen Alysanne Targaryen.
Gage is the head cook at Winterfell.
Gage eagerly awaits the return of game hunters to Winterfell.
The direwolf Shaggydog bites Gage's arm.
Osha helps Gage with cooking, baking, and cleaning in the kitchens.
To verify her identity, Mors Umber asks "Arya Stark" (actually Jeyne Poole) for the name of Winterfell's cook. The girl answers with Gage's name, and Mors assumes the cook died during the sack of Winterfell.
Well, your dreams are your business. Mine's in the kitchens, and I'd best be getting back before Gage starts to shouting and waving that big wooden spoon of his.
- Osha to Bran Stark
Mors: When last I was inside those walls, your cook served us a steak and kidney pie. Made with ale, I think, best I ever tasted. What was his name, that cook?
Jeyne: Gage. He was a good cook. He would make lemoncakes for Sansa whenever we had lemons.
- Mors Umber and Jeyne Poole
Galazza Galare is the Green Grace, the high priestess of the Ghiscari Temple of the Graces in Meereen.
See also: Images of Galazza Galare
Galazza Galare is a tall, graceful-looking woman, despite being near eighty years old. Her hair is white and her skin parchment thin, but the years have not dimmed her piercing green eyes. Daenerys Targaryen thinks they are sad eyes, full of wisdom.
Galazza Galare's counsel proves invaluable to Queen Daenerys Targaryen, as she is a voice for peace and tolerance.
As part of Daenerys's wedding to Hizdahr, the Green Grace says that she should re-open the fighting pits, which would be pleasing to the gods.
When Daenerys disappears and Ser Barristan Selmy seizes control of Meereen in his queen's absence, he sends Galazza to the Yunkai'i to offer his peace terms and gold for the three hostages held by the Yunkai'i. She returns to inform Barristan that the Yunkai'i have refused his offer, and that the only price they will accept is the death of the dragons. She tells him that Daenerys is dead, and that he should let her dragons die as well.
The Mother of Dragons must don the tokar or be forever hated. In the wools of Westeros or a gown of Myrish lace, Your Radiance shall forever remain a stranger amongst us, a grotesque outlander, a barbarian conqueror. Meereen's queen must be a lady of Old Ghis.
—Galazza Galare, to Daenerys Targaryen
Peace is the pearl beyond price. Hizdahr is of Loraq. Never would he soil his hands with poison. He is innocent.
—Galazza Galare, to Barristan Selmy
Galbart Glover is the head of House Glover and Master of Deepwood Motte. He is unwed.*, Galbart is portrayed by Mark Coney.
See also: Images of Galbart Glover
The tactful Galbart is considered a good, loyal, and steady man, if unexceptional.
The unwed is the heir.
After Lord Eddard Stark is shown the Valyrian steel dagger by his wife, Catelyn, Eddard tasks her with having Galbart and Ser Helman Tallhart fortify Moat Cailin with a hundred bowmen each.
When Robb Stark calls the banners to Winterfell, Galbart's brother, Robett, unsuccessfully asks for command.
Mark Coney as Galbart Glover in *Game of Thrones*
With Galbart and Robett campaigning in the south, Galbart's steward administers Deepwood Motte in their absence.
After the Battle of Oxcross, Galbart raids along the coast of the westerlands.
Galbart returns to Riverrun with Robb.
Galbart is among the northern lords that march with Robb to the Twins to attend the wedding of Lord Edmure Tully. With Ser Brynden Tully remaining at Riverrun as Warden of the Southern Marches, Galbart is named commander of Robb's scouts and outriders. With the Blue Fork in flood, Galbart is unable to cross at Ramsford and is rescued after clinging to rocks.
On the way to the Twins, after receiving news of the death of King Balon Greyjoy, Robb advances his plan to retake Moat Cailin while Lord Captain Victarion Greyjoy is away. Galbart is ordered by Robb to go with Lord Jason Mallister and Lady Maege Mormont to Seagard and sail up the Neck to find Greywater Watch so that the crannogmen can direct Robb's army around the rear of the ancient fortress. Though Jason later remains at Seagard, Galbart's and Maege's whereabouts are currently unknown.
Returning to Deepwood after the kingsmoot, Asha feels ill at ease in Galbart's home. Stannis Baratheon defeats Asha in the fight by Deepwood Motte
You must not do this, my lord. Lord Walder is not to be trusted.
- Galbart to Robb Stark
Ser Brynden had played a part in every victory her son had won. Galbart Glover had taken command of the scouts and outriders in his place; a good man, loyal and steady, but without the Blackfish's brilliance.
- thoughts of Catelyn Stark
Asha Greyjoy was seated in Galbart Glover's longhall drinking Galbart Glover's wine when Galbart Glover's maester brought the letter to her.
- thoughts of Asha Greyjoy
- a Flint to Asha Greyjoy
Galendro was an historian who wrote the book *The Fires of the Freehold* recording the History of Valyria.'s copy lacks 27 scrolls.
Galeo is a sausage-maker from Braavos. He is one of the Gate regulars.*]
Prior to the performance of *The Bloody Hand* Daena recognizes some of the Gate regulars in the crowd and points them out for Mercy, including Galeo.
Galladon Tarth was the only son of Lord Selwyn Tarth of Evenfall. He drowned when he was eight years old.
*"Galladon" redirects here. For the member of House Tarth, see Galladon Tarth.*
Ser Galladon of Morne, called the Perfect Knight, was a legendary knight from Morne on the isle of Tarth.
Ser Galladon is remembered as a a perfect knight whose valor was so great the Maiden fell in love with him. She gave him an enchanted sword, the Just Maid, to demonstrate her love for him. No sword could check the sword's blows, and no shield could stop them.
Galladon might have been a warrior from the Age of Heroes whom singers later immortalized as a knight, as knighthood was introduced to Westeros by Andals who arrived later.
The Perfect Knight? The Perfect Fool, he sounds like. What's the point o' having some magic sword if you don't bloody well use it?