Bhakaz zo Loraq is a child from the House of Loraq, one of the noble ruling families of Meereen. He is kin to Hizdahr zo Loraq.
With the Sons of the Harpy killings continuing, Queen Daenerys Targaryen has every noble family of Meereen who is of dubious loyalty send her a child as a hostage. These children are made her cupbearers.
Daenerys hopes having noble children as hostages will halt the killings, but it does not. However, Daenerys refuses to allow any harm to come to the children. She grows fond of them all, and ignores Skahaz mo Kandaq's counsel to kill one for every death done by the Sons of the Harpy. Ser Barristan Selmy instructs the boys in the ways of Westerosi chivalry.
When Daenerys disappears on Drogon's back, the cupbearers continue to serve her husband, King Hizdahr zo Loraq.
Ser Barristan Selmy plots with Skahaz mo Kandaq to seize control of Meereen in the queen's name. Although Skahaz wants to kill the cupbearers in return for the deaths of the hostages Daenerys had granted to the besiegers of Meereen, Barristan also refuses to allow any harm to come to the children.
After the death of Prince Quentyn Martell, Barristan enters the queen's chambers and finds Bhakaz and five other cupbearers playing a child's game, sitting in a circle on the floor as they take turns spinning a dagger. Barristan has Bhakaz bring him wine and water.
Bhorash
Slaver's Bay and the location of Bhorash
Bhorash is a ruined city on the northern coast of Slaver's Bay in Essos. It lies south of the Painted Mountains and northeast of the Black Cliffs. Bhorash is connected by Valyrian roads to Mantarys and Tolos..
Big Belly Ben was a famous member of the Kingswood Brotherhood. During battle against the forces of King Aerys II Targaryen, Ben was about to smash in the head of Lord Sumner Crakehall. Jaime Lannister rescued Lord Sumner, but Ben was able to escape.
Tom Sevenstrings sings a silly song about Big Belly Ben and the High Septon's goose.
Big Boil is a member of the free folk.
Big Boil has a a boil on his arse, which he often complains about.
Big Boil is one of the wildlings under Styr's command who passes the Wall to attack Castle Black from behind. During Summer's attack in Queenscrown, Big Boil is injured by the direwolf. During the attack on Castle Black, Big Boil is injured again and taken into custody by the Night's Watch.[*citation needed*]
The Big Willow is one of the feeder streams that flow into the Trident. It lies between Harrenhal and Riverrun. The Little Willow is a tributary stream.
Billy Burley was a longbowman in the service of House Blackwood during the Dance of the Dragons..
Following the Second Battle of Tumbleton, Lord Benjicot Blackwood had Billy, his best archer, mercy kill the dragon Tessarion. From one hundred yards away Billy fired three shafts through the eye of the wounded dragon.
Bird of Thousand Colors is a Lysene trade ship owned by Salladhor Saan.
Bird of Thousand Colors brings news from King's Landing to Dragonstone.
Bite
The north and the location of the Bite
Bite
The Vale of Arryn and the location of the Bite
*Storm Dancer* by Ryan Barger © Fantasy Flight Games © Fantasy Flight Games
The Bite is a long bay of eastern Westeros, located between the north and the Vale of Arryn.
To the west the Bite reaches the Neck, and the landscape between the kingsroad and the bay is a bleak and barren shore.
White Harbor is located at the mouth of the White Knife in the bay's north, while Oldcastle is found farther to the southeast along the northern coast.
Pirate kings of the Three Sisters controlled the Bite and neighboring waters in antiquity.
After the outbreak of Robert's Rebellion, Lord Eddard Stark attempted to return to the north with the aid of a fisherman from the Fingers. The fisherman drowned during a storm, but his daughter was able to transport Ned to the Three Sisters. Some say Lord Stark impregnated the daughter, who gave birth to Jon Snow.
During his coma, Bran Stark has a dream of *Storm Dancer* carrying his mother, Catelyn Stark, through the Bite from White Harbor to King's Landing.
Stannis Baratheon tasks Ser Davos Seaworth with sailing on *Black Betha* north from Dragonstone to the Bite, delivering the king's letters to settlements along the way.
While sailing for Braavos, *Sloe-Eyed Maid* is blown by a gale into the Bite, and the ship is wrecked at Sweetsister.
The remnants of Salladhor Saan's fleet sails toward White Harbor with Davos. Tired of storms and Stannis's inability to pay, Salladhor sets Davos loose in a rowboat near Sisterton and sails for the Stepstones.
*Lionstar* transports three Freys to Sisterton and then White Harbor.
For thousands of years, these islands had boasted their own cruel kings, pirates and raiders whose longships sailed the Bite, the narrow sea, and even the Shivering Sea with impunity, plundering and reaving as they would and returning to the Sisters laden with gold and slaves. These depredations finally led the Kings of Winter to send their own war fleets to seek dominion over the Sisters—for whoever holds the Three Sisters holds the Bite.
- writings of Yandel
The Three Sisters were islands in the Bite. Dunk had heard septon say that the isles were sinks of sin and avarice.
- thoughts of Duncan the Tall
Biter is one of the criminals Yoren recruits to the Night's Watch when he cleans out the dungeons of King’s Landing.
See also: Images of Biter
Biter is enormous and bald, with soft, doughy flesh. His tongue had been cut and he does not speak, except to hiss. His teeth have been filed into points.
Biter was found as an orphaned child by Rorge, who raised him ferally to fight in Rorge's dog and bear fighting pit in Flea Bottom.
Biter is one of three known criminals imprisoned in the black cells.
When Yoren's band is attacked at the the Gods Eye by raiders led by Ser Amory Lorch, Biter and his companions find themselves trapped in the wagon in the middle of a fire, but Arya Stark, before escaping herself, throws an axe into the wagon so that they could break free and save themselves.
At Jaqen H'ghar's request, Biter and Rorge reluctantly agree to help Arya free some northmen prisoners taken by the Brave Companions, because she has saved their lives. Afterwards, they join the Brave Companions, staying in Harrenhal.
Rorge tells Jaime that Biter chewed the breasts and nipples off of a septa sometime during their foraging and pillaging as part of the Brave Companions.
After the death of Vargo Hoat, leader of the Brave Companions, Biter travels with Rorge alongside remnants of the Companions and participates in the sacking of Saltpans.
At the inn at the crossroads, after Rorge duels with and is slain by Brienne of Tarth, Biter quickly overpowers Brienne and begins savagely biting her face. He is stopped by Gendry, who drives a spear through the back of his neck, killing him.
The Bitter River is a river in the riverlands. It was the site of the Battle of Bitter River, in which Andals defeated Houses Blackwood and Bracken.
Bitterbridge
The Reach and the location of Bitterbridge
Bitterbridge, formerly known as Stonebridge, is the seat of House Caswell in the Reach.
Bitterbridge is situated where the river Mander meets the Roseroad. It takes its name from an ancient stone bridge that crosses the Mander. The castle is small, made of stone and timber. The keep is not that tall, but the land is low and flat and makes it seem taller.
The ironborn of old would raid the Mander as far as Stonebridge in their longships.
The Battle of Stonebridge was one of many battles during the Faith Militant uprising against King Maegor I Targaryen. The savagery of that particular battle made the Mander run red with blood for twenty leagues. The bridge and castle that commanded it was forever known as Bitterbridge thereafter.
During the Dance of the Dragons, Hugh Hammer was named Lord of Bitterbridge by Prince Daemon Targaryen for his service in the Battle in the Gullet. Troops from Bitterbridge participated in the First Battle of Tumbleton and Hugh was killed at Second Tumbleton.
Rolly fled Bitterbridge after attacking Lorent Caswell.
Bitterbridge Host by Tomasz Jedruszek © Fantasy Flight Games
King Renly Baratheon's army is camped beneath the walls of Bitterbridge when Lady Catelyn Stark comes to meet with him. A great melee is hosted beneath the castle.
Following Renly's death, Lord Petyr Baelish hurries from King's Landing to Bitterbridge to meet with Ser Loras Tyrell,
Bitterweed Bay
Western Essos and the location of Bitterweed Bay
Bitterweed Bay is a large bay of the Shivering Sea located along the northern shore of Essos, east of the Axe and west of the delta of the Sarne. It is known for its deep blue waters, crabs, and numerous sunken ships.
Bitterweed Bay has long been disputed by numerous peoples. The Lorathi refer to it as Bloody Bay, while the Ibbenese call it Battle Bay. The Sealord of Braavos sank the last great fleet of the Kingdom of Sarnor in Bitterweed Bay.
Black-barked trees are found near the House of the Undying, the seat of the warlocks of Qarth. Shade of the evening is made from the trees' inky blue leaves..
Daenerys Targaryen observes the ruins of the House of the Undying coiling through a grove of black-barked trees, and she finds it darker than expected when she walks among the trees.
Black Balaq is a sellsword in service to the Golden Company, in command of the company's archers.
Balaq is a white-haired Summer Islander with skin as dark as soot. He wears his worldly wealth upon his person, including a feathered cloak of green and orange which is magnificent to behold. He wears a lord’s ransom in golden arm rings.
Black Balaq is present during Jon Connington's rendezvous with the Golden Company three miles south of Volon Therys. Like the rest of the company, Balaq swears his allegiance to Aegon Targaryen before they invade Westeros.[*citation needed*]
For the long voyage to Westeros Jon insists that Harry Strickland break Balaq's command into ten companies of a hundred men and place each company upon a different ship. Six of the ships stay together well enough to deliver their passengers to the shores of Cape Wrath, which leaves the company with six hundred bows until the lagging ships turn up. For the taking of Griffin's Roost two hundred bows are sufficient.[*citation needed*]
During the victors' feast in the castle's great hall, Jon presides from the Griffin's seat while Black Balaq shares the high table with Homeless Harry Strickland, Franklyn Flowers, and the three young Conningtons they had taken captive. Balaq is one of nine men present during the company's war council.
The Black Bargeman is an inn or tavern located in Braavos.
Dareon plays at the Black Bargeman. Samwell Tarly unsuccessfully searches for Dareon at the Black Bargeman.
The Blind Girl has begged at the Black Bargeman. She recalls that it has a briny smell.
Black Bernarr is a ranger of the Night's Watch.
Black Bernarr is part of the great ranging by the Night's Watch and survives the fight at the Fist. He breaks his ankle in a deep hole on the march south from the Fist, however, and is then carried on a horse.
Black Bernarr stays loyal to the Watch during the mutiny at Craster's Keep and is one of the few survivors of the ranging to make it all the way back to Castle Black.
Black Bernarr serves at Castle Black under First Ranger Black Jack Bulwer.
Black Betha by Ignacio Bazán Lazcano © Fantasy Flight Games
Black Betha is a galley captained by Ser Davos Seaworth. His son, Matthos, is one of the crew.
Ser Davos Seaworth sails Black Betha north from Gulltown to White Harbor to distribute Stannis Baratheon's claim against the legitimacy of Cersei Lannister's children with King Robert I Baratheon.
Black Betha is part of Stannis's fleet that sails into Blackwater Bay during the Battle of the Blackwater. It rams and sinks *Lady's Shame* with the aid of *Lady Marya, which is commanded by Davos's son Allard. *Black Betha successfully boards *White Hart. After *Swordfish rams the hulk filled with wildfire, Black Betha is engulfed by flame and destroyed.
Black Bog is a place in the stormlands.
During the Andal invasion, the Weirwood Alliance between First Men and children of the forest defeated Andals at Black Bog.
The Black Brides. By Magali Villeneuve
The Black Brides were three wives of King Maegor I Targaryen, who wed them in a single ceremony held in 47 AC,
The women's children were brought as hostages to the wedding ceremony to enforce their compliance. Many strange stories were told of the wedding night, but it is difficult to know the truth from the legends.
Lady Elinor Costayne was the youngest of the three Black Brides, who had been married to Ser Theo Bolling, and had birthed him three children. Ser Theo had been arrested by the Kingsguard, accused of conspiring with Dowager Queen Alyssa Velaryon, and executed - all on the same day. Elinor, now nineteen years of age, was summoned to marry Maegor two weeks later. Elinor became pregnant with Maegor's child, but it was stillborn, eyeless with small wings. Elinor survived Maegor's reign.
Lady Jeyne Westerling,
Princess Rhaena Targaryen, widow of Prince Aegon Targaryen. When Tyanna of the Tower found her twin daughters, Aerea and Rhaella, Rhaena was forced to marry Maegor. Maegor named Aerea as his heir (disinheriting Prince Jaehaerys). Rhaena, after learning that her brother Prince Jaehaerys had made his claim, fled King's Landing on the back of Dreamfyre, stealing Blackfyre on the way. She was the second wife of Maegor to survive him.
The Black Canal is one of the canals in the lagoon city of Braavos. The Black Canal, which may be near the Isle of the Gods, is crossed by a carved stone bridge which links the twin temples of Semosh and Selloso.
Leaving the Isle of the Gods in the center of the city, Arya Stark crosses the Black Canal and makes her way to the Ragman's Harbor.
Black Cliffs
Slaver's Bay and the location of the Black Cliffs
The Black Cliffs are a series of cliffs that are situated on the northwest coast of Slaver's Bay, south of the Painted Mountains. They lie between Tolos and the ruined city of Bhorash, south of the Demon Road.
The Black Ears are one of the Vale mountain clans of the Mountains of the Moon. They take their name from their custom of taking the ears of men they defeat in battle as trophies,
The Black Ears are among the clans that follow Tyrion Lannister out of the Mountains of the Moon and accept the offer to fight for House Lannister.
The Black Ears accompany Tyrion to King's Landing, where he is to serve as Hand of the King. He puts them in the Broken Anvil to guard Shae. Three of them drink wine at the inn's common room with Chella, Shae, and Varys. Tyrion also has Bronn secure them a place in the barracks beneath the Tower of the Hand with the rest of the clans.
Tyrion is escorted by mounted Black Ears during his first visit to Chataya's brothel.
In preparation for Stannis Baratheon's arrival to the gates of King's Landing, Tyrion sends the Black Ears and the Moon Brothers into the kingswood to harass and harry Stannis's army on its march to the capital.
After the Battle of the Blackwater, Chella and the Black Ears attempt to return to King's Landing, but are chased off and mocked by the Kingslanders.
Black Fist is an Unsullied sworn to Daenerys Targaryen.
Black Fist patrols with another Unsullied, Cetherys. The pair are slain by crossbow bolts while walking Mazdhan's Maze.
Black Gerrold is a sellsword and a member of the Windblown. He is so named to differentiate from Gerrold Redback.
Gerrold takes part in the siege of Astapor.
The Black Goat is a god of the Free City of Qohor.
The Black Goat demands daily blood sacrifice. The Qohorik often bring calves, bullocks, and horses before the Black Goat's altars. However, on holy days it is condemned criminals who go beneath the knives of the god's cowled priests, and, in times of danger and crisis it is written that the high nobles of the city offer their own children to placate the Black Goat, that he might defend the city.
The Faceless Men consider the Black Goat one of the faces of the Many-Faced God.
The Black Goat is represented in the banner of the Brave Companions,.
Qohor was founded by worshippers of the Black Goat who abandoned Valyria in rejection of the Freehold's tenet of religious tolerance.
After arriving at the House of Black and White, Arya Stark sees the statue of a shaggy black goat the size of an aurochs.
It is reported that followers of R'hllor have tried to burn the Black Goat in Qohor.
Black Knife is one of the children of the forest in service to last greenseer. He/she does not speak the Common Tongue. His/her true name is too long for the human tongue according to Leaf, so Meera Reed and Bran make up the name Black Knife.
Black Knife has nut-brown skin that is dappled like a deer's with paler spots, large ears and large eyes slitted like a cat's eyes and three fingers and a thumb with sharp black claw instead of nails.
Black Knife, along with the other remaining children of the forest, serves the last greenseer in his cave beyond the Wall.
Black Maris is a spearwife of the free folk.
Black Maris is one of the spearwives under the command of Iron Emmett at Long Barrow. When Jon Snow asks Eddison Tollett how he enjoys serving under Emmett, Edd replies that mostly it's Black Maris "serving" under Iron Emmett.
Black Pearl of Braavos is a traditional title or name born by a descendant of Bellegere Otherys, the first Black Pearl, a pirate queen who became a mistress of Aegon IV Targaryen. The eldest bastard daughter of King Aegon IV and Bellegere, Bellenora Otherys, became a courtesan under the same name. Bellenora's descendants became courtesans as well, each eventually bearing the name "Black Pearl".
The first Black Pearl was a pirate queen. A Westerosi prince took her for a lover and got a daughter on her, who grew up to be a courtesan. Her own daughter followed her, and her daughter after her, until you get to this one.
"Black Pines" is a song about the Northern mountains and their inhabitants, the Northern mountain clans. Their liege lords, the Starks of Winterfell, have often sent men into the mountains to settle feuds, which are remembered in songs such as "Black Pines" and "Wolves in the Hills".
Black Pudding is a famous pirate lair in the Basilisk Isles. It can't be found on any map because there has been many lairs named Black Pudding throughout the Basilisks. Whenever one is destroyed or abandoned, another is founded, only to be destroyed or abandoned in turn.
Before the Black Walls. © Fantasy Flight Games
The Black Wall or Black Walls is a great oval of fused black stone built two hundred feet high in the eastern half of Volantis, often called "Old Volantis".
Built by the Valyrian Freehold when Volantis was no more than an outpost of their empire,
The Black Wall is so thick that six four-horse chariots can race around its top abreast, which is done annually to celebrate the founding of Volantis.
The Black Wall protects a large labyrinth of:
For two generations Lys, Myr and Volantis were ruled from within the Black Wall by triarchs, but that endeavor ended when the "tiger" faction tried to conquer Tyrosh and were defeated by a coalition.
No outlander, freeman, or foreigner is allowed inside the Black Wall unless they are invited by the Old Blood. Women of good birth who dwell in ancient palaces behind the Black Wall are allowed to vote. Many inside the Black Walls keep the old gods of Valyria, but R'hllor is favored outside the Black Walls, both by slaves and freedmen.
Thirty-three years ago the widow of the waterfront was compelled to sell her deceased husband's manse as no freedman may dwell within the Black Wall.
As he is heading to the western end of the Long Bridge, across the wide blue expanse of the Rhoyne Quentyn Martell espies the Black Wall.
While writing dragonlore on the *Shy Maid, Tyrion Lannister wishes for Galendro's *The Fires of the Freehold and hopes that Volantis has a copy in a library. He thinks he may find a copy if he can find a way inside the Black Wall to the city's heart.
While playing *cyvasse* with Tyrion in Selhorys Qavo Nogarys reveals that Daenerys Targaryen's smashing of the slave trade in Slaver's Bay has deeply affected those that dwell behind the Black Wall and beyond:
Behind the Black Wall, lords of ancient blood sleep poorly, listening as their kitchen slaves sharpen their long knives. Slaves grow our food, clean our streets, teach our young. They guard our walls, row out galleys, fight our battles. And now they look east, they see this young queen shinning from afar, this breaker of chains. The Old Blood cannot suffer that. Poor men hate her too. Even the vilest beggar stands higher than a slave. This dragon queen would rob him of that consolation.
During his sermon Benerro points at the Black Wall behind the Temple of the Lord of Light, gesturing up at its parapets, where a handful of armored guardsmen stand gazing down.
While chained to a wall in a room in the Merchant's House Tyrion sees that one of the two windows looks towards the Long Bridge and the black-walled heart of Old Volantis across the river.
The Black Wind - by Igor Kieryluk © Fantasy Flight Games
The Black Wind - by Rick Sardinha © Fantasy Flight Games
The Black Wind is the longship captained by Asha Greyjoy.
Three or four years ago, during the reign of King Robert I Baratheon, Asha traded at various ports, including Fair Isle, Lannisport, and the Arbor. She slept with Qarl the Maid during the voyage.
Asha Greyjoy aboard the Black Wind - by Amok © Fantasy Flight Games
Asha takes the Black Wind to Great Wyk with messages from her father, Lord Balon Greyjoy.
After Balon's death at Pyke, Asha returns to the Iron Islands from the north and visits her uncle, Lord Rodrik Harlaw, at Ten Towers. During the journey, the longship stops at the Stony Shore in search of a wet nurse for young Erena Glover. A goat is used for milk instead.
Arriving at Old Wyk for the kingsmoot, Asha beaches the Black Wind near the castle of Lord Norne Goodbrother.
After Euron Greyjoy is chosen King of the Isles and the North at the kingsmoot, Asha flees Old Wyk, sailing first for Ten Towers on Harlaw and then returning to Deepwood in the north. She has only four longships left, including Black Wind and Tristifer Botley's ship.
When Deepwood comes under attack by northern mountain clans, Asha abandons the castle and leads her men through the wolfswood toward the strand. They are defeated by Stannis Baratheon in the fight by Deepwood Motte, however.
The crew of her Black Wind took a perverse pride in the deeds of their woman captain. Half of them loved her like a daughter, and other half wanted to spread her legs, but either sort would die for her.
- thoughts of Asha Greyjoy
Black Wings, Swift Words is a book written by Archmaester Walgrave. There is a passage in the book where Walgrave goes into detail about the folly of Baelor the Blessed in trying to replace delivery ravens with doves.
The title is a reference to the common saying regarding messages delivered through ravens: "Dark wings, dark words."
The black cells are in the third level of the dungeons of the Red Keep in King's Landing.
The Red Keep has four levels of dungeons. The third level has small cells with no windows and solid wooden doors, which leaves the prisoners in darkness. Because of this, they are called the "black cells".
There are no windows or beds in the black cells, and not even a bucket for waste. The straw on the floor smells of urine and feces. The doors are made of wood, four inches thick and studded with iron. The dark is absolute. The only light the prisoners receive is when the door is opened to feed them, or if they receive a visitor with a torch.
King Maegor I Targaryen ordered four levels of dungeons when he completed the construction of the Red Keep, including the third level of the black cells.
During the Dance of the Dragons between the blacks and the greens, the master of coin, Lord Lyman Beesbury, was killed by the greens, the first death of the war.
Grand Maester Orwyle advised King Aegon II Targaryen of the greens to parlay with Queen Rhaenyra of the blacks, but the king was angered at the suggestion and threatened to have Orwyle thrown into the black cells with his black friends. Others on the green council also supported the idea to parlay, and Orwyle's imprisonment was avoided.
Rhaenyra also imprisoned Lord Corlys Velaryon in the black cells, for treasonously warning Addam Velaryon to escape her arrest order.
Eddard Stark is held in the black cells when he is arrested for treason.
Yoren, a wandering crow for the Night's Watch, has taken several men from the dungeons of the Red Keep, to bring to the Wall. Three of them—Rorge, Biter, and Jaqen H'ghar—were found in the black cells. Yoren keeps them fettered hand and foot in the back of a wagon, and vows that they will stay in irons all the way to the Wall.
The acting Hand of the King, Tyrion Lannister, arrests Grand Maester Pycelle for treason, and has him thrown into the black cells.
Tyrion is held in a tower cell after his arrest for the murder of King Joffrey I Baratheon. After the death of Oberyn Martell, Tyrion's champion in his trial by combat, Tyrion is taken to the black cells.
Ser Jaime Lannister has Varys help Tyrion escape the black cells. Varys, in disguise as Rugen, doses the guards' wine with sweetsleep, so that they fall asleep. After a conversation with Jaime, Tyrion walks with Varys down past the fourth level of the dungeons and into a secret passageway.
Cersei Lannister learns that Tyrion has escaped the black cells, and that the guards were found asleep. She orders their deaths,
Cersei tells the former maester Qyburn, who was dismissed from the Citadel for vivisection and necromancy, that he may experiment on the dying Ser Gregor Clegane. However, Qyburn must confine his studies to the black cells.
Jaime Lannister speaks with the chief undergaoler, Rennifer Longwaters, who says that the black cells are not often used. Rennifer says that the only recent prisoners have been Tyrion Lannister, Grand Maester Pycelle, Lord Eddard Stark, and three common men that were given to the Night's Watch. Rennifer says he recommended against freeing those three men.
The secret passages in the Tower of the Hand are explored, and a passage to the black cells is discovered.
Cersei tells the small council that Gregor has died and she is sending his head to Dorne.
After the puppeteers die, Cersei tells Qyburn to take Lady Falyse Stokeworth for his experiments, to make her disappear.
Cersei has Qyburn torture the Blue Bard in the black cells, to convince him to give evidence against Margaery Tyrell. Cersei later dreams that she is in chains in the black cells, being tortured by Tyrion.
Falyse Stokeworth has died screaming in the black cells.
The black council was a version of the small council which advised Rhaenyra Targaryen during the Dance of the Dragons. Formed at the start of the civil war, the black council's main composition was:
Also a dozen lesser lords, bannermen and vassals of Dragonstone, among them:
And so the dance began, as the princess called a council of her own "black council" setting it against the "green council" of King's Landing.
A black stone of unknown origin has been used in the construction of several structures throughout the known world. Some of it is described as oily or greasy, in contrast to the similar but "drier" constructions of Valyrian dragonstone.*]
According to the ironborn, the Seastone Chair was found on the shore of Old Wyk and had been carved from a block of oily black stone.
The Isle of Toads, one of the Basilisk Isles, contains the Toad Stone, a large statue of a toad made of a greasy black stone. It is said the people of the island are reminiscent of fish and have webbed appendages.
Yeen, an ancient ruined city in Sothoryos, is made out of massive blocks of oily black stone. Despite being surrounded by jungle and having been empty for thousands of years, no plant creeps into Yeen.
The buildings of Asshai by the Shadow Lands are said to consist of black stone with a greasy, unpleasant feel. It is claimed the stone drinks light, which makes Asshai a dark and foreboding city.
The Bloodstone Emperor rejected the traditional gods of Yi Ti and instead encouraged the worship of a black stone said to have fallen from the sky. This emperor is said to have founded the Church of Starry Wisdom and possibly caused the start of the Long Night.
The foundation of the Hightower on Battle Isle at Oldtown is a square, labrynthine fortress of fused black stone. Its appearance is reminiscent of the dragonroads of the Valyrian Freehold and the Black Walls of Volantis, a Valyrian colony, but there is no archaeological evidence of Valyrians at Oldtown, save for the settlers atop Whispering Sound - Valyrians, Ghiscari and Summer Islanders - who set up a place to trade and repair their ships. However, the fortress is plain and unadorned, unlike the fused stone constructions of the Valyrians, who twisted and shaped the fused stone to ornament their buildings.
Archmaester Quillion suggests a connection between the fortress and the mazemakers of Lorath.
The Five Forts along the northeastern edge of Yi Ti are made of great slabs of single-fused black stone, similar to that of Valyrian construction. Like the Hightower, however, there is no known connection between Valyria and the Five Forts.
The ruined curtain wall of Moat Cailin in the Neck is composed of blocks of black basalt.
Kayakayanaya near the Bone Mountains has walls of black basalt, black iron, and yellow bone.
Maester Aemon cries aboard the Blackbird.
Art by zippo514
Blackbird is a ship in service to the Night's Watch at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. It is the largest of the galleys in service with the Night's Watch. Its sails are faded grey.
Captained by Old Tattersalt, Blackbird carries Samwell Tarly, Dareon, Maester Aemon, and Gilly to Braavos.
Maester Harmune reports to Lord Commander Jon Snow that Blackbird and all hands have been lost during Cotter Pyke's expedition to Hardhome.
Blackbottom Bend is a place near Acorn Hall in the riverlands.
Lady Ravella Smallwood believes that a group of Karstarks went to Blackbottom Bend after failing to find Ser Jaime Lannister at Acorn Hall.
Blackbuckle is a village in the Riverlands. It is disputed land between House Bracken and House Blackwood. It is currently held by House Blackwood.
Blackbuckle was burned by the dragon Vhagar during the Dance of the Dragons.
Lord Jonos Bracken unsuccessfully asks Ser Jaime Lannister for Blackbuckle for subduing Lord Tytos Blackwood.
Blackcrown
The Reach and the location of Blackcrown
Blackcrown is the seat of House Bulwer in the southwestern Reach..
This article is about the Valyrian steel sword. For the family, see House Blackfyre.
Blackfyre, as depicted by Velvet Engine in *The World of Ice and Fire*
Blackfyre is the fabled hand-and-a-half longsword of Valyrian steel once wielded by Aegon the Conqueror. It is the most famous of the several Valyrian swords once owned by House Targaryen,
Aegon the Conqueror and Blackfyre, by Amok©
In the aftermath of Aegon's Conquest, Aegon I Targaryen used Blackfyre to kill Qhorin Volmark.
Blackfyre passed from Targaryen king to king after Aegon's death. Maegor I Targaryen used the blade to behead Grand Maester Gawen and to cut the heart from Tyanna of the Tower. When the realm began to unite against Maegor, Queen Rhaena Targaryen stole the sword for Prince Jaehaerys Targaryen.
Daeron I Targaryen wielded Blackfyre during his conquest of Dorne, and he was eventually killed by Dornishmen with the sword in hand..
Aegon IV Targaryen passes Blackfyre to Daemon Waters. Art by Marc Simonetti, for *The World of Ice and Fire*.
In 182 AC, King Aegon IV Targaryen chose to bestow Blackfyre on his bastard son Daemon Waters, a born warrior, instead of his scholarly legitimate son, the future Daeron II Targaryen. Daemon, who had been known by the bastard surname Waters until then, took the name "Blackfyre" thereafter, creating House Blackfyre.
Daemon I Blackfyre wielded the sword during the First Blackfyre Rebellion in 196 AC, and he fought an epic duel with Ser Gwayne Corbray of the Kingsguard at the Redgrass Field, pitted against Gwayne's own Valyrian blade, Lady Forlorn. Aemon Blackfyre briefly wielded the sword after the Raven's Teeth slew Daemon, but Aemon was also killed in the battle.
With Daemon and his twin sons dead at the Redgrass Field, Bittersteel took Blackfyre with him in exile to the Free Cities, where he eventually founded the sellsword Golden Company. Aegor refused to give the Valyrian sword to Daemon II Blackfyre in the failed Second Blackfyre Rebellion.
The sword's current whereabouts are unknown.
Eustace: Because Daemon was the better man. The old king saw it, too. He gave the sword to Daemon. Blackfyre, the sword of Aegon the Conqueror, the blade that every Targaryen king had wielded since the Conquest ... he put that sword in Daemon's hand the day he knighted him, a boy of twelve.
Egg: My father says that was because Daemon was a swordsman, and Daeron never was. Why give a horse to a man who cannot ride? The sword was not the kingdom, he says.
- Eustace Osgrey and Egg
The Blackfyre Pretenders were a series of claimants to the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, flying the banner of House Blackfyre in several Blackfyre Rebellions. The Blackfyres opposed the reign of House Targaryen from the reign of King Daeron II until they were extinguished in the male line during the reign of King Jaehaerys II.
King Aegon IV Targaryen legitimized all of his bastard children on his deathbed. Aegon's legitimate son, Prince Daeron II Targaryen, succeeded his father, and did all he could to keep his half-siblings close. However, rumours about Daeron's parentage, once started by King Aegon IV himself, claimed that Daeron was the illegitimate son of Aegon IV's brother, Ser Aemon Targaryen, the Dragonknight, and those rumours were not forgotten when Daeron took the throne.
King Aegon IV's reign had been corrupt, and when Daeron II ascended the throne in 184 AC, the royal court was reformed. All the members of the small council were dismissed and replaced by men of Daeron's choosing. The City Watch was likewise "repaired", though it took more than a year to do so. Most importantly, Daeron sought to unify all of the Kingsdoms, by bringing Dorne under the authority of the Iron Throne. It took two years of negotiations before Prince Maron Martell, Daeron II's good-brother and the Prince of Dorne, agreed to be betrothed to Princess Daenerys Targaryen. Their wedding, which occured in 187 AC,
Maron had won a few concessions for Dorne during the negotiations, and the lords of Dorne held significant rights and privileges that the other greater houses in the Seven Kingdoms did not. In addition, Daeron brought many Dornishmen to his court, who held important offices, causing others to believe that the Dornishmen held too much influence over the King. Over time, men began to long back to the times when the Dornish had been the enemies to battle against. In addition, Daeron was not at all a warrior. While his heir, Prince Baelor, was as much a warrior as could be desired, he had the appearance of a Martell. With the memory of the Dornish as enemies still in their minds, many of the Dornish Marches came to mistrust King Daeron II and Prince Baelor.
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
These same people looked at Daemon Blackfyre, the bastard son of King Aegon IV Targaryen and his cousin, Princess Daena Targaryen, and saw in him a warrior, grown tall and powerful, with the hallmarks of Old Valyria (deep purple eyes, silver-gold hair down to his shoulders), who was described as having had an "almost inhumane beauty", being "half a god among mortal men".
It is claimed by Daemon's supporters that Daemon had desired to marry his younger half-sister, Daenerys, and that King Aegon, who had desired Daemon to marry the daughter of the Archon of Tyrosh, had promised Daemon that he could have more than one wife. However, upon King Aegon's death, King Daeron II paid the dowry to the Archon, seeing Daemon wed to Rohanne of Tyrosh.
Those lords and knights dissatisfied with Daeron II's reign began to seek Daemon out, but following Daenerys's wedding, it took eight more years before the rebellion bloomed. In 196 AC, Daemon Blackfyre, the bastard son of Princess Daena and King Aegon IV, began his rebellion, which would last nigh on a year. For his sigil, Daemon took the Targaryen sigil with the colors reversed, a black dragon on red, giving him the nickname "the Black Dragon" (with Daeron being referred as the Red Dragon).
Main article: First Blackfyre Rebellion
In 196 AC, Daemon Blackfyre, the bastard son of the late King Aegon IV Targaryen and his cousin, Princess Daena Targaryen, attempted to usurp the throne from King Daeron II Targaryen, the legitimate son of King Aegon IV Targaryen and his sister-Queen, Naerys. This caused the the second major civil war in the history of the Targaryen reign. The war lasted nigh on a year. Battles were fought in the Reach, the westerlands, the riverlands, and more places. During the final battle of the war, the Battle of the Redgrass Field, Daemon and his two eldest sons, Aegon and Aemon, were killed, and his allies defeated. However, five of Daemon's sons and several daughters survived and were carried into exile to the Free Cities by Aegor Rivers, known as "Bittersteel", Daemon's half-brother, who had been one of Daemon's biggest supporters. They ended up in Tyrosh, the former home of Daemon's widow, Rohanne, where Daemon's descendants and Aegor Rivers continued plotting.
Main article: Second Blackfyre Rebellion
In 211 AC, Daemon I Blackfyre's third son, Daemon II Blackfyre, disguised as "Ser John the Fiddler", and other Blackfyre loyalists attempted to launch a second rebellion under the pretense of gathering for the a wedding tourney at Whitewalls. They were exposed by Hand of the King Brynden Rivers, who ended the rebellion before it began. Rivers arrested Daemon and either executed or punished those lords who had been willing to support the Blackfyre cause. Daemon was kept alive and imprisoned to prevent Aegor Rivers from crowning Daemon's younger brother, Haegon, as his successor.
Ser Aegor Rivers and his Golden Company.
Main article: Third Blackfyre Rebellion
In 219 AC, Aegor "Bittersteel" Rivers launched a new invasion, after crowning Haegon I Blackfyre. Prince Maekar Targaryen, as well as two of his sons, Prince Aegon and Prince Aerion, fought in this conflict. Hand of the King Brynden Rivers once again duelled his half-brother, Aegor Rivers (their first duel having been during the Battle of the Redgrass Field, during the First Blackfyre Rebellion). The Third Blackfyre Rebellion ended with the death of Haegon I, and the arrest of Aegor. While Prince Aerion and Lord Brynden both argued that Aegor Rivers should be put to death, King Aerys I Targaryen agreed to send him to the Wall instead, to join the Night's Watch.
Main article: Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion
In 236 AC, as a cruel winter was ending, Daemon III Blackfyre and Aegor Rivers launched the Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion. Their army landed at Massey's Hook. While Daemon had the support of the Golden Company, there were only few lords who flocked to their banners. The Rebellion ended with Daemon's death during the Battle of Wendwater Bridge, where Ser Duncan the Tall of the Kingsguard slew him. Aegor Rivers once more retreated across the Narrow Sea, where he died several years later.
Main article: War of the Ninepenny Kings
The Band of Nine swore their oath of mutual aid and support in carving out kingdoms for each of their members. Amongst them was the last Blackfyre, Maelys the Monstrous, who had command of the Golden Company, and the kingdom they pledged to win for him was the Seven Kingdoms. Prince Duncan, when told of the pact, famously remarked that crowns were being sold nine a penny; thereafter the Band of Nine became known as the Ninepenny Kings in Westeros. It was thought at first that the Free Cities of Essos would surely bring their power against them and put an end to their pretensions, but nonetheless preparations were made, should Maelys and his allies turn on the Seven Kingdoms. But there was no great urgency to them, and King Aegon remained intent on his reign.
In 258 AC, nine outlaws, exiles, pirates and sellsword captains formed the Band of Nine in the Disputed Lands on Essos. Their goal was to carve out a kingdom for each of them. Maelys I Blackfyre, also known as "Maelys the Monstrous", the last Blackfyre, was amongst this Band of Nine. He commanded the Golden Company, having previously slain his own cousin, Daemon Blackfyre, and the Band of Nine promised him the Seven Kingdoms. King Aegon V Targaryen, however, saw no great urgency to the threat they posed, and while preparations were made, it was hoped that the Band of Nine would founder in Essos, or perhaps be defeated by the Free Cities.
The Band of Nine did not founder, however, and captured Tyrosh and taken control of the Stepstones. In 260 AC, Westeros was their next target. King Jaehaerys II Targaryen responded swiftly to the threat, dispatching an army to the Stepstones to meet the Band of Nine in battle, instead of waiting for the threat to reach Westeros. The ensuing conflict was dubbed the War of the Ninepenny Kings. The threat to Targaryen rule was ended when Ser Barristan Selmy slew Maelys the Monstrous in single combat. As Maelys died, House Blackfyre died with him.
After five generations, the Blackfyre Pretenders had all been killed.
History records five Blackfyre Pretenders:
Despite not being a Blackfyre Pretender, the fifth son of Daemon I, Aenys Blackfyre, put his name forward in the Great Council of 233 AC. Invited to King's Landing to present his claim, he was dishonorably killed by Lord Brynden Rivers, despite the previous promise of safe passage.
Blackhaven
The stormlands and the location of Blackhaven (red)
Blackhaven is the seat of House Dondarrion in the southwestern stormlands. Part of the Dornish Marches, it is located in the northern Red Mountains near the Dornish border, north of the Wyl and south of the Cockleswhent.
Blackhaven has black basalt walls and a dry moat said to be bottomless.
Blackhaven was burned by the first Vulture King, who mutilated Lord Harmon Dondarrion. Harmon participated in the Vulture Hunt which defeated the Vulture King and his rebels.
Ser Criston Cole was the son of the steward of Blackhaven.
King Baelor I Targaryen was treated by the castle's maester during his return from Dorne.
When Ser Barristan Selmy was ten years old, he borrowed armor and entered as a mystery knight a tourney that took place at Blackhaven, where he was eventually defeated and unmasked by Prince Duncan Targaryen. For that, Barristan earned the nickname "the Bold".
Beric Dondarrion, Lord of Blackhaven, is reported slain by Ser Gregor Clegane in the battle at the Mummer's Ford.
Beric is revealed to be the still-living leader of the brotherhood without banners, as he was revived by Thoros of Myr.
Thoros tells Brienne of Tarth that Lord Beric finally died when he, rather than Thoros, revived the murdered Catelyn Stark. The heir to Blackhaven is unknown.
Blackmont
Dorne and the location of Blackmont
Blackmont is the seat of House Blackmont in Dorne.
Blackpool is the seat of House Slate in the north, although its location has not been published.
Blackpool was the royal seat of the Slates when they were petty kings.
The blacks carried the personal sigil of Rhaenyra Targaryen: the normal Targaryen red dragon sigil, quartered with the moon-and-falcon sigil of House Arryn (for her mother Aemma Arryn), and the silver seahorse on sea green of House Velaryon (for her first husband Laenor Velaryon, as well as for the Velaryons in general, who were among her major supporters).
The blacks were the faction of House Targaryen and their loyalists who supported the ascent of Rhaenyra Targaryen as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms during the Dance of the Dragons. They were opposed by the greens.
The title derives from a great tournament held in 111 AC at King's Landing on the fifth anniversary of King Viserys I’s marriage to Queen Alicent Hightower, his second wife.
At the opening feast, Queen Alicent wore a green gown, whilst Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, Viserys’s daughter by his first wife, dressed dramatically in Targaryen red and black. Note was taken, and thereafter it became the custom to refer to “greens” and “blacks” when talking of the queen’s party and the party of the princess.
Blackshield was the identity taken by a mystery knight at a tourney held at Oldtown sometime between 278 AC and 281 AC. He was unhorsed by Barristan the Bold, who unmasked him and revealed him as the Bastard of Uplands.
Blackshield's given name is unknown. His surname is presumably Flowers, the bastard name of the Reach, as that is where House Mullendore's seat of Uplands is located.
Blacktyde
The Iron Islands and the location of Blacktyde
Blacktyde is one of the islands that form the Iron Islands. The major noble house of the island is House Blacktyde from Blacktyde Castle. The northernmost of the isles, Blacktyde is north of Orkmont and northwest of Harlaw.
Blacktyde
The Iron Islands and the location of Blacktyde
Blacktyde.
Blackwater refers to:
"Blackwater" is the ninth and penultimate episode of the second season of HBO's medieval fantasy television series *Game of Thrones. The episode is written by George R. R. Martin, the author of the *A Song of Ice and Fire novels of which the series is an adaptation, and directed by Neil Marshall. It aired on 27 May 2012.
The entire episode revolves about the climactic Battle of the Blackwater, where the Lannister army fight for their lives as Stannis Baratheon's fleet stages an attack on King's Landing at Blackwater Bay.
Ser Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham), with his son Matthos (Kerr Logan), lead Stannis Baratheon's (Stephen Dillane) fleet into Blackwater Bay. Before their arrival, Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) and Shae (Sibel Kekilli) discuss the possibility of the Lannister defeat. Queen Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) is given a powerful poison by Grand Maester Pycelle (Julian Glover), to be used should the city fall, as she believes most noble women will be attacked by Stannis's army. Outside the Red Keep, Bronn (Jerome Flynn) drinks and sings with his men, but the mood is soured by the arrival of the Hound Sandor Clegane (Rory McCann). Tensions rise between Bronn and the Hound, but before they can fight, the bells ring, indicating Stannis's fleet has been spotted. Lord Varys (Conleth Hill) brings Tyrion a map of the tunnels beneath King's Landing, should they need to escape the city. Cersei and Prince Tommen Baratheon (Callum Wharry) arrive in Maegor's Holdfast, where the noble ladies will be staying during the battle. Cersei calls for Sansa Stark, and the two discuss the impending battle, and the need for Ser Ilyn Payne (Wilko Johnson), the royal executioner, to which Cersei claims is for their protection should Stannis's men breach the Holdfast.
As the battle is set to begin, King Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) demands to know where the royal fleet is, as only one ship has arrived for the battle. The ship slowly lurches toward the Baratheon fleet, confusing Davos, who is at the front of the fleet. As it passes his ship, he realizes there is no crew aboard, and sees a green fluid flowing from the back of the ship, quickly deducing the substance is wildfire. On the walls of King's Landing, Pyromancer Hallyne (Roy Dotrice) hands Tyrion a torch, which he uses to signal Bronn to fire a flamming arrow at the ship. Bronn hits the trail of wildfire left by the ship, which causes a massive explosion, destroying many of Stannis's ships and men, among them Ser Davos and his son Matthos. Having been far enough back from the explosion to be unharmed, Stannis orders the men to land, and begin the assault. Tyrion orders the Hound to form a party and meet the Baratheon army at the Mud Gate. Lancel Lannister (Eugene Simon, injured during the confrontation, runs back to Maegor's Holdfast, where he informs the Queen that Baratheon men have landed. Cersei orders Lancel to bring Joffrey back from the battlements and into the safety of the Red Keep. Lancel says this will cause morale to suffer, but Cersei does not care. Cersei also tells Sansa that she lied about Ser Ilyn's purpose in the hold, and that he is actually there to kill them if Stannis takes the city.
The Hound continues the battle outside the Mud Gate, but loses his nerve after seeing a soldier burn alive. He retreats to behind the walls, where Joffrey orders him back to the battle, which the Hound refuses to do. Meanwhile, Stannis leads his men on the field, climbing a ladder onto the walls of King's Landing and battling several soldiers. The Baratheon men outside the Mud Gate set up a battering ram to knock down the gate, and are met with a weakening resistance. Lancel arrives at the Mud Gate and tells Joffrey that Cersei has ordered him to return to the castle. Tyrion tries to convice Joffrey to remain on the battlements to set an example for his men, but Joffrey refuses him, and returns with Lancel. Tyrion takes charge of the remaining men, telling them there is a tunnel which will take them around the Mud Gate and behind the Baratheon men. Lancel reports to Cersei that the battle is lost, and she departs the hold with Prince Tommen, leaving the other noble ladies alone. Sansa rallies the panicking ladies with prayer, and soon departs the hold as well. When she arrives at her chambers, she is startled by the Hound, who offers to take her north with him. Sansa, believing this is a trick by Cersei to see if she will betray Joffrey, initially refuses his offer, but her final decision remains unclear.
Tyrion, having lead his men through the tunnel, attacks the Baratheon men from behind, defeating them with ease. They stop to celebrate their victory, but soon return to fighting as a large group of Stannis's men arrive from nearby. As Tyrion fights, he is unexpectedly attacked by Ser Mandon Moore (James Doran), a member of Joffrey's Kingsguard. Tyrion is wounded, but before he can be killed, his squire, Podrick Payne (Daniel Portman), kills Ser Mandon. As Tyrion lays dying, a large Lannister army arrives to save the Mud Gate force, just as he loses consciousness. Cersei, having run to the great hall with Tommen for safety, is startled by the arrival of Ser Loras Tyrell (Finn Jones) and her father, Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance), who informs her that they have won the battle.
"Blackwater" is to depict the series's first large-scale war sequence, the confrontation between the Baratheons and the Lannisters that the whole season builds towards. In the episode's first drafts, the battle took place offscreen for budgetary reasons, and viewers would have experienced it mostly through the eyes of Cersei Lannister and Sansa Stark, ensconced in Maegor's Holdfast while the battle rages outside. Eventually, showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss convinced HBO to approve a "considerable" increase in the series's budget in order to stage the battle on screen.
With their still limited resources, the show's producers nonetheless decided not to attempt recreating spectacular mass scenes similar to that of *The Lord of the Rings*'s Battle of Helm's Deep, but rather to focus on the infantryman's perspective, hampered as he is by the fog of war. They said that this also allows the series to draw on its viewers' empathy for the battle's participants, with whom viewers are already much more familiar than the audience of a typical two-hour movie. They nonetheless resisted pressure to stage the battle on land, which would have been much easier to shoot, because they considered the naval confrontation to be essential to the series's principal storyline.
About a week before shooting was to start, the episode's director had to leave the production because of a personal emergency, and a replacement had to be found quickly. Benioff and Weiss settled on English director Neil Marshall (who hadn't seen the series before) on the basis of his work on *Centurion* and *Dog Soldiers*, where he created intensive action sequences on a limited budget.
Benioff and Weiss described the episode's filming as "pretty much a month straight of night shoots". The cold and wet climate of Belfast taxed actors and extras so much, they said, that their battle-weariness was no act, and neither were weather machines required to simulate the wind and rain. The episode also has far more visual effects shots than any other.
"Blackwater" featured the fewest members of the principal cast of any episode, 11 out of 25. The episode is focused on the royal court, which includes Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson), Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner, Shae (Sibel Kekilli), Varys (Conleth Hill), Bronn (Jerome Flynn) and Sandor Clegane (Rory McCann). The episode also features their opponents Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane) and Ser Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham) in the attacking fleet, as well as Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance), who arrives with his army to save the city.
Main article: Soundtrack
The song played over the end credits, "The Rains of Castamere", was adapted from the *A Song of Ice and Fire* novels. Performed by the American indie rock band *The National*, it is sung by their vocalist Matt Berninger. of the song that is reproduced in the novels and adapted for the series tells of the vassals' defiance – "And who are you, the proud lord said / That I must bow so low?" – and the subsequent obliteration of their houses: "But now the rains weep o'er his hall / With no one there to hear."
Blackwater Bay
The crownlands and the location of Blackwater Bay
Blackwater Bay, illustrated by Ryan Barger. © Fantasy Flight Games
Blackwater Bay is a large body of water along the crownlands in eastern Westeros. King's Landing, the capital of the Seven Kingdoms, sits where the Blackwater Rush pours into the bay.
Blackwater Bay is an inlet of the narrow sea, separated from it by the Gullet, held between the arms of Crackclaw Point to the north and Massey's Hook to the south, with the island of Dragonstone guarding the entrance to the bay. Massey's Hook shields against the rougher narrow sea, so Blackwater Bay has calmer waters. patrol the bay and ensure it is kept free from piracy.
Aside from King's Landing and Dragonstone, the largest port on the bay is Duskendale, which serves as a secondary port for King's Landing when the main port is overwhelmed with traffic. Rook's Rest is located on the northern shore of the bay and Sharp Point is to the east at the tip of Massey's Hook. The kingswood extends along the southern shore of Blackwater Bay, with the Wendwater flowing into the bay.
The largest island is Driftmark, on which is located Hull. House Velaryon, the Masters of Driftmark, are a historical naval power who style themselves the Lords of the Tides.
A unique geological feature called the spears of the merling king sits within the bay. Within the spears, the currents are strong and treacherous.
The shores of Blackwater Bay were historically disputed by river kings,
Prior to Aegon's Conquest, House Targaryen of Dragonstone and House Velaryon of Driftmark prospered from their control of the Gullet, which divided the bay from the narrow sea.
During the Dance of the Dragons, the blacks blockaded Blackwater Bay by closing the Gullet with the fleet of Lord Corlys Velaryon. The greens eventually defeated the blockade in the Battle of the Gullet, however, and sacked Spicetown so severely it was never rebuilt.
The Battle of the Blackwater occurs at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush where it meets the bay. This battle pits the forces loyal to Stannis Baratheon against those loyal to Joffrey Baratheon. Tyrion Lannister, the acting Hand of the King at the time, devises a system with a chain boom pulled across where the river widens into the bay. This chain is raised once the majority of Stannis's fleet is up river and wildfire is deployed to ignite many of the ships. The current pulls these burning ships towards the mouth of the river and against the chain, which results in the destruction of much of the fleet. Salladhor Saan's galleys remain outside of the chain in the bay.
Salladhor is named the Lord of Blackwater Bay by Alester Florent, the Hand of the King of Stannis.
After the death of King Joffrey I Baratheon at his royal wedding, Sansa Stark and Petyr Baelish escape King's Landing by sailing aboard the *Merling King* into the fog of Blackwater Bay.
The Redwyne fleet transports two thousand westermen across Blackwater Bay for the siege of Dragonstone.
Queen Margaery Tyrell sometimes eats shells along the bay while traveling the Rosby road.
Salladhor, titular lord of the bay, abandons the cause of Stannis to return to the Stepstones.
Blackwater Rush
The crownlands and the location of the Blackwater Rush
Blackwater Rush
The riverlands and the location of the Blackwater Rush
Blackwater Rush
The westerlands and the location of the Blackwater Rush
The Blackwater Rush, commonly called the Blackwater, is a river in the southern riverlands and the crownlands with some headwaters in the westerlands..
A deep, swift river,
With headwaters near Stoney Sept,
In the video game *Game of Thrones*, Riverspring in the westerlands is located near the source of the Blackwater, and Castlewood in the riverlands is found on the banks of the river.
In the days of the Hundred Kingdoms, the mouth of the Blackwater was claimed by the Darklyns of Duskendale, the Masseys of Stonedance, and the river kings of Houses Mudd, Fisher, Bracken, Blackwood, and Hook.
Prior to Aegon's Conquest, the southern shore of the river was claimed by Argilac Durrandon, the Storm King, and the northern shore by Harren Hoare, the King of the Isles and the Rivers.
King Maegor I Targaryen achieved a great victory over the Warrior's Sons at the Great Fork of the Blackwater during the Faith Militant uprising.
Princess Gael Targaryen drowned herself in the river in 99 AC.
Prior to the First Blackfyre Rebellion, King Daeron II Targaryen granted land near the Blackwater to his half-brother, Daemon Blackfyre.
During the terrible summer drought of 211 AC the Blackwater Rush and the Mander were running low,
Displeased with King's Landing in 265 AC, King Aerys II Targaryen once considered building a new city of marble on the southern shore of the river.
After being stopped at the Red Fork in the Battle of the Fords, Lord Tywin Lannister joins Lord Mathis Rowan and Lord Randyll Tarly near the headwaters of the Blackwater. At Tumbler's Falls they meet Lord Mace Tyrell, who has brought barges and a large host with him. From there they sail down the Blackwater and land a half day's ride outside of King's Landing.
During the Battle of the Blackwater, many of the ships of Joffrey Baratheon and his uncle Stannis Baratheon are set ablaze by wildfire after a great chain divides the river from Blackwater Bay.
Before the port of King's Landing can be reopened, the Blackwater must be dredged of sunken ships. Three out of every four quays are damaged.
Blackwood Vale
The riverlands and the region of Blackwood Vale, including Raventree Hall
Blackwood Vale is a broad, fertile valley north of the Red Fork and west of the Blue Fork in the riverlands., is in Blackwood Vale. There have been no woods in it for several thousand years, as the oaks were cleared for homes, mills and holdfasts.
Lord Tytos Blackwood sweeps the Lannisters from his lands, but the invaders leave him with nothing but Raventree Hall and a scorched desert.
Ser Jaime Lannister travels to Raventree to negotiate the surrender of Lord Tytos and to end the siege of Raventree. Jaime sees that little remains of the fields, farms, and orchards of the valley, which he attributes to the campaign of his father, Lord Tywin Lannister, during the War of the Five Kings.
The besieger, Lord Jonos Bracken, desires to gain the east bank of the Widow's Wash, from Crossbow Ridge to Rutting Meadow, Grindcorn Mill, Lord's Mill, Muddy Hall, the Ravishment, Battle Valley, Oldforge, Buckle, Blackbuckle, Cairns, Claypool, Mudgrave, Waspwood, Lorgen's Wood, Greenhill, the Teats, and Honeytree. Jonos omits Pennytree, as it is a royal fief. However, Tytos only agrees to transfer Woodhedge, Crossbow Ridge, Buckle, Lord's Mill, and Honeytree.
Blane is an officer of the Night's Watch assigned to the Shadow Tower.
Blane is part of the great ranging beyond the Wall led by Lord Commander Jeor Mormont, where he is Qhorin Halfhand's second.
Blane is chosen to die by the conspirators who wish to leave the Night's Watch due to his position as the leader of the Shadow Tower men in Qhorin Halfhand's absence. it is unknown if he survives the battle.
Blazewater Bay. © FFG
Blazewater Bay
The North and the location of Blazewater Bay
Blazewater Bay is a large bay of the Sunset Sea along the western coast of the North. It sits north of Cape Kraken and south of the Rills. It extends east into the Saltspear, which is fed by the Fever River. is located along Blazewater Bay.
Bleeding Sea
The known world and the location of the Bleeding Sea
The Bleeding Sea is a large inland sea in eastern Essos. It is named for its blood-red waters, which are caused by a blooming plant.
The Bleeding Sea lies along the southeastern border of the plains of the Jogos Nhai and south of N'Ghai. There is a small island in the northern part of the sea. Roughly five rivers connect to the Bleeding Sea; one runs south through to Jinqi and the Jade Sea. Just south of the Bleeding Sea is a marshy region.
To the east of the Bleeding Sea is the Shrinking Sea, and beyond that the Land of the Shrykes and the city of K'Dath. The Five Forts stretch along the southeastern tip of the sea, while the the Cannibal Sands lie at the northwestern edge of the sea.
The Bleeding Tower is a tower which overlooks the harbor of the Free City of Tyrosh.
During the voyage to Oldtown, the *Cinnamon Wind* sails past the Bleeding Tower and stops at Tyrosh.
Blind Doss is a free folk leader.
Doss is among the wildling leaders who accompany Tormund Giantsbane to the Wall in declaring a truce with the Night's Watch. He is present in the Shieldhall when Jon Snow announces the letter purportedly from Ramsay Bolton entitled 'Bastard'.
Not to be confused with the Blind God, Boash.
The Blind Lord was a noble of the North who lived near the Flint Cliffs. When he was ten, Balon Greyjoy scaled the cliffs to the Blind Lord's haunted tower., the most powerful house in the region.
Blind Sybassion the Eater of Eyes is a resident of Qarth.
After the destruction of the House of the Undying, Xaro Xhoan Daxos informs Daenerys Targaryen that Blind Sybassion has regained his sight, according to his slaves.
Two characters named Blood are mentioned:
Ramsay Bolton astride Blood, hunting with his pack of feral dogs © Thrumugnyr
Blood is Ramsay Bolton's steed.
See also: Images of Blood (horse)
Blood is a red stallion with a temper to match his master’s.
Ramsay has "Reek" see to Blood when he returns to Barrowton after searching for the missing Jared, Rhaegar, and Symond Frey. As Reek leads him to the stables, he has to hop aside when the stallion tries to kick him.
Blood is the alias of a butcher who, during the Dance of the Dragons, slew six-year-old Prince Jaehaerys, King Aegon II Targaryen's firstborn son and the heir to the Iron Throne.
See also: Images of Blood (the butcher)
Blood was a big, brutal hulking swordsman and most likely a rapist.
Blood was an serjeant in the City Watch. He lost his gold cloak for beating a whore to death whilst in a drunken rage. He spent time in Flea Bottom. After the death of Prince Lucerys Velaryon, Blood, along with Cheese was employed by Mysaria, Prince Daemon Targaryen's spymaster, to slay one of Aegon II Targaryen' sons.
Once Blood and Cheese confronted Queen Helaena Targaryen in the Tower of the Hand they told her to name which son she wanted them to kill. Helaena offered herself but they refused, stating it had to be a son. Although Helaena eventually named her youngest son Maelor (after Cheese threatened that Blood would rape her daughter Jaehaera if she did not choose one now), they killed Jaehaerys instead. It was Blood who slew Jaehaerys, striking the boy's head off with a single blow. After killing Jaehaerys, Blood and Cheese did no further harm to Helaena or her surviving children and fled with the prince's head in hand.
It has to be a boy.
- Blood to Helaena Targaryen
Blood-blooms are pale flowers with plump petals found in Westeros.
Reek observes blood-blooms growing from the gaping wounds of corpses at the siege of Moat Cailin.
The Blood Betrayal was an event in YiTish myth that ushered in the Long Night and the subsequent fall of the Great Empire of the Dawn.
The Opal Emperor was the seventh ruler of a line that began with the God-on-Earth, the son of the Maiden-Made-of-Light and the Lion of Night. He was succeeded by his daughter, the Amethyst Empress, but her younger brother, envious, cast her down and slew her, taking the crown and proclaiming himself the Bloodstone Emperor. He turned his back on the gods of Yi Ti and began worshiping a black stone that had fallen from the skies, took a tiger-woman as wife, practiced cannibalism and necromancy, and enslaved his own people. Horrified at the Blood Betrayal, the Maiden-Made-of-Light turned her back upon the world and the Lion of Night came forth in all his fury to punish the wickedness of man.
Blood and Fire is a fragmentary, anonymous, blood-soaked tome containing information about dragons. It is sometimes called The Death of Dragons. The only surviving copy is supposedly hidden away in a locked vault beneath the Citadel.
Blood of Dragons is an online text-based roleplaying game based on the *A Song of Ice and Fire* fantasy book series. It is set just after the Conquest of Dorne, approximately 140 years prior to the events described in the Song of Ice and Fire series and 50 years prior to the *Dunk and Egg* series. Gameplay takes place in King's Landing and in Sunspear. Blood of Dragons has been approved by author George R. R. Martin.
Blood of the Dragon is a Novella published in the July 1996 issue of the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, based on the *Daenerys* chapters from *A Game of Thrones*.
It received the 1997 Hugo Award for Best Novella.
In the Free City of Pentos, Magister Illyrio Mopatis and the exiled Prince Viserys Targaryen conspire to sell Viserys' thirteen-year-old sister Daenerys in marriage to Khal Drogo of the Dothraki. Drogo commands an clan of forty thousand mounted warriors whom Viserys plans to use to reclaim his homeland from the usurper Robert Baratheon. Among the wedding gifts are three stone dragon eggs from Illyrio. Unexpectedly, Daenerys and Drogo find love as they journey east into the vast grasslands of the Dothraki sea, and Daenerys becomes pregnant with a son, to be named Rhaego after her dead brother. Ser Jorah Mormont, son of the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch and a knight exiled from Westeros for dealing in slaves, joins Viserys' entourage as an advisor on the current state of the Seven Kingdoms.
Viserys becomes angry about how long he must wait before Drogo decides to invade Westeros and, in a drunken rage, insults Drogo grievously. Drogo decides to crown him right there— with molten gold. Daenerys picks up her brother's quest to reclaim the Iron Throne, but Drogo is just as obstinate with the moon of his life as he was with the Beggar King. The tables turn when a Westerosi assassin, in the pay of King Robert, nearly kills her and their unborn child; a furious Drogo agrees to invade Westeros. However, during a warm-up raid on the peaceful Lhazareen, Drogo takes a wound which festers. Daenerys loses both Drogo and her unborn son to the machinations of a Lhazareen witch, and has her burned in a pyre. Daenerys had previously felt the eggs and found them warm to her touch, but not to others'. Before she had placed them in a small fire and thought that the flames made something in the eggs alive. While the witch was being burned she placed the eggs in the very hot fire. Incredibly, the eggs hatch, and Daenerys Targaryen, the Stormborn, becomes mother to the first three dragons seen in the world for one hundred and sixty years.
Bloodbeard is the commander of the Company of the Cat.
See also: Images of Bloodbeard
He is a huge man with a great bush of a beard with fiery red whiskers and long braids. He is described as a savage commander, with a ferocious appetite for slaughter, and no taste for peace. At table he is raucous, and enjoys both wine and women abundantly.
Bloodbeard and the Tattered Prince, commander of the Windblown, despise each other.
Bloodbeard accepts Yunkai's contract and is present at the Siege of Astapor and later Meereen.
Bloodbeard is disappointed when peace is declared after Daenerys Targaryen marries Hizdahr zo Loraq, as he was looking forward to sacking Meereen. Daenerys observes Bloodbeard during the festivity in the Great Pyramid hall celebrating peace with the Yunkai.
After Daenerys Targaryen's disappearance on Drogon, Tyrion Lannister, while a slave under Yezzan zo Qaggaz, overhears Bloodbeard recommend they send the hostages Daenerys sent to them back to Meereen via catapult.
Bloodbeard, along with the new commanders of the Yunkai army, present the head of captain Groleo to Hizdahr in retaliation for the death of the Yunkai commander Yurkhaz zo Yunzak, who was trampled by a mob in panic when Drogon attacked the fighting pits.
If it please Your Grace, we want no part of him. Your Grace is too young to remember the Ninepenny Kings, but this Bloodbeard is cut from the same savage cloth. There is no honour in him, only hunger … for gold, for glory, for blood.
– Barristan Selmy, counselling Daenerys Targaryen
Bloodbeard … that one has no taste for peace.
– Skahaz mo Kandaq, to Barristan Selmy
Give me half a reason to dance with you, and we will see who is laughing at the end.
– Barristan Selmy's thoughts
Bloodflies are bloodsucking glistening purple insects found in Essos. They can grow as large as bees, live in marshes and stagnant pools and lay their eggs in the dead and dying.
Wine of Courage is made of bloodfly larva.
Bloodmages are practitioners of bloodmagic. The shadowbinders and bloodmages of the Further East are said to work their terrible sorceries at night.
Bloodmages were prominent in the Valyrian Freehold.
Mirri Maz Duur, a *maegi*, was taught by a bloodmage from the Shadow Lands.
Fire and Blood – by Kerry Barnett © FFG
Bloodmagic*.
According to legend, Azor Ahai succeeded in forging Lightbringer by working on it for a hundred days and a hundred nights and tempering the steel by plunging the blade into the heart of his beloved wife, Nissa Nissa.
The magic practiced by the Valyrians was rooted in blood and fire magic. Septon Barth, in his *Dragons, Wyrms, and Wyverns: Their Unnatural History*, speculated that the bloodmages of the Freehold employed wyvern stock to create dragons.
Bloodmagic, along with necromancy and divination, is rumored to be practiced in Qohor.
According to Old Nan, Harren Hoare, King of the Isles and the Rivers, included human blood in the mortar of Harrenhal,
Samwell Tarly tells Jon Snow that warlocks from Qarth bathed him in aurochs blood in an attempt to make him brave.
Mirri Maz Duur tells Daenerys Targaryen that she knows spells capable of saving a man from death, but warns her that only death may pay for life and death may be cleaner. Mirri sacrifices Drogo's stallion and,
Daenerys has a funeral pyre built and a horse killed. Mirri believes she will try to bring resurrect him through bloodmagic and insists that without the spells the blood is nothing. She even offers assistance in exchange for release. Daenerys has the horse, Drogo's body, her three dragon eggs and Mirri Maz Duur placed in the pyre. After the pyre is lighted and Mirri dies, Daenerys walks into the inferno. After the fire dies, not only Daenerys is found alive, with only her clothes and hair burned, but also her eggs have hatched and the first three dragons in more than a hundred years have been born.
Melisandre pleads to Stannis Baratheon into giving her Edric Storm, bastard son of the late King Robert I Baratheon, as there is power in king's blood and he can be sacrificed to "wake the stone dragon." Stannis refuses, but she is able to leech some of Edric's blood. Stannis casts the leeches into the flames while stating the names of the "three false kings" Balon Greyjoy, Robb Stark, and Joffrey Baratheon.
Queen Regent Cersei Lannister recalls that during her youth, she, Jeyne Farman, and Melara Hetherspoon visited Maggy the Frog outside Lannisport. Although Jeyne fled in terror, Maggy tasted the blood of Cersei and Melara and told the girls their futures.
Yna, a one-eyed prostitute, is reputed for telling the future by tasting a drop of blood.
When Stannis's army sails for the Wall, Melisandre sacrifices Lord Alester Florent to R'hllor to gain favorable winds for the voyage north.
This is bloodmagic, lady. Only death may pay for life.
- Mirri Maz Duur to Daenerys Targaryen
Bloodmagic is the darkest kind of sorcery. Some say it is the most powerful as well.
- Taena Merryweather to Cersei Lannister
What feeds a dragon's fire? All Valyrian sorcery was rooted in blood or fire.
- Marwyn to Samwell Tarly
Rakharo pledges to Daenerys as her bloodrider. Art by Victor Garcia
A bloodrider are confidants of the *khal* of Dothraki *khalasars*.
Part guardian, brother and companion, the bloodriders guard and accompany the *khal* in his daily routine. They share what is his, sometimes even his wives, but never his horse. Sometimes a bloodrider may also be a *ko, one of the leaders in charge of the *khalasar's component parts. The bloodriders and their khal refer to each other as "blood of my blood".
Only a khal can ask a man to become his bloodrider, by saying "I ask your oath, that will live and die as blood of my blood, riding at my side to keep me safe from harm."
Ancient traditions proclaim that when a khal dies, his bloodriders die with him. Should the khal die in battle, the bloodriders live only long enough to avenge him. Once done, the last service the bloodriders must perform is to escort the *khaleesi* to Vaes Dothrak to join the *dosh khaleen, and then they are to join their *khal in death.
Traditionally only a *khal* may have bloodriders. After the deaths of Khal Drogo and Rhaego and the disintegration of Drogo's *khalasar, Daenerys Targaryen asks Aggo, Jhogo, and Rakharo to be her bloodriders, asking for their oaths, using the same words that a *khal would. At first all three refuse, but after witnessing the extraordinary birth of her three dragons they swear allegiance to her, declaring her "blood of my blood" just before Daenerys rises amidst the ashes cradling her three newly-hatched dragons.
to Drogo
to Jhaqo
They were the khal's brothers, his shadows, his fiercest friends. "Blood of my blood," Drogo called them, and so it was; they shared a single life.
- thoughts of Daenerys Targaryen
The Bloodroyal is an ancient title traditionally held by the head of House Yronwood. Prior to Nymeria's War, the Yronwoods were rulers of an independent kingdom in Dorne, styling themselves High Kings of Dorne, among many other titles.
When the Yronwoods bent the knee to House Martell, they were allowed to keep their title of the Bloodroyal.
Bloodstone is one of the islands that make up the Stepstones. It is the largest of the islands, lying the furthest to the northwest and north of Grey Gallows.
Bloodstone was the seat of Daemon Targaryen when he was the self-declared King of the Stepstones and the Narrow Sea.
The Bloodstone Emperor was a the legendary ninth and last ruler of the mythic Great Empire of the Dawn. He was the son of the Opal Emperor and the younger brother of the Amethyst Empress, who succeeded their father. Envious, he slew his sister and proclaimed himself the Bloodstone Emperor.
The Bloodstone Emperor's reign was a reign of terror. His usurpation became known as the Blood Betrayal in the annals of the Further East, which claim that the act of usurping his sister's throne ushered in the Long Night. He practiced torture, dark arts, and necromancy. He enslaved his own people, took a tiger-woman for wife, feasted on human flesh and cast down the true gods of Yi Ti to worship a black stone that fell from the sky.
The Bloody Caltrops was an inn in Tumbleton in the Reach.
The Bloody Caltrops survived the First Battle of Tumbleton during the Dance of the Dragons. Its cellar was where thirteen nobles from the Reach met to discuss killing the Two Betrayers and claiming their dragons. The conspirators became known as the Caltrops because of the inn..
Bloody Gate
The Vale and the location of the Bloody Gate
The Bloody Gate is a series of battlements placed across the mountain road that leads into the Vale of Arryn from the Mountains of the Moon.
Bloody Gate by Cris Urdiales ©
There are two long parapets built into the stone of the mountains. The pass, narrow where it meets the gate, is watched over by twin watchtowers, which are joined by a covered bridge of grey stone that arches above the road.
The gate has its own commander who is given the title the Knight of the Gate. This commander traditionally asks the question, "Who would pass the Bloody Gate?" to all who would pass through.
Originally a rough-hewn unmortared wall built in the fashion of the ringforts of the First Men, the Bloody Gate was constructed anew during the rule of Osric V Arryn, King of Mountain and Vale.
Halleck Hoare, King of the Isles and the Rivers, failed to conquer the Bloody Gate three times.
During the War of Conquest, Visenya Targaryen was charged with subduing the Vale of Arryn for her brother, Aegon I Targaryen. Sharra Arryn, Queen Regent of the Vale, who ruled in her son's name, the boy-king Ronnel Arryn, amassed the Vale's army at the Bloody Gate. Visenya, however, simply bypassed the gate and flew on her dragon Vhagar straight up to the courtyard of the Eyrie to obtain the surrender of House Arryn.
After Robert's Rebellion, which led to House Targaryen's downfall, Lord Jon Arryn named Ser Brynden Tully the Knight of the Gate.
When Catelyn Tully brings Tyrion Lannister to the Vale of Arryn, Ser Brynden Tully meets her at the Gate after a sortie led by Ser Donnel Waynwood saves her party from the Vale mountain clans. Brynden resigns his title of Knight of the Gate to return to Riverrun.
At some point, Donnel replaces Brynden as the new Knight of the Gate at the Bloody Gate.
The pale mare arrives. © FFG
The bloody flux, also known as the "pale mare" in Meereen, is the name given to dysentery in *A Song of Ice and Fire*. Its symptoms are fever, intestinal hemorrhages, and diarrhea.
It is a well-known disease with little treatment beyond prevention (mainly quarantine and avoiding contact with carriers) and it has a very high mortality rate, having been described as killing three of each four men in armies.
Ser Barristan Selmy states that the bloody flux had been the bane of every army since the Dawn Age and that he has known the bloody flux to destroy whole armies when left to spread unchecked. Even hard men like the Second Sons are terrified of "mounting the pale mare," and they will drive out anyone suspected of having it without a moment’s hesitation.
See also Medicine.
After the riot of King's Landing, Jacelyn Bywater reports that the bloody flux was spreading through the pot shops of Pisswater Bend in King's Landing.
During the siege of Meereen, the troops of Daenerys Targaryen face starvation and disease. Ser Jorah Mormont reports three cases of bloody flux among their men.
The bloody flux spreads through Astapor
The first known case in Meereen was brought over by a dying Astapori rider atop a pale mare, which gave the plague its nickname.
The Blue Bard is a young singer in service with House Tyrell. His real name is Wat. He is a notably handsome young man.
Wat was the son of a chandler and was raised in the trade, however he found he had more talent for making lutes. When he was twelve years old he ran away to join a musician troupe. He had wandered half the Reach before coming to King's Landing in search of patronage.
As part of the Tyrell entourage, the Blue Bard sings at the wedding of Tommen I and Margaery Tyrell.*]
The Blue Bard also names Ser Loras Tyrell and the Redwyne twins, Horas and Hobber, but Cersei has him recant the three; Loras because the accusation is not credible and the twins because she needs the support of House Redwyne and their ships to deal with the ironborn.
The Blue Bard is still held by the Faith. According to Kevan Lannister, he appears to have gone mad.[*citation needed*]
Blue Fork
The riverlands and the location of the Blue Fork
The Blue Fork is one of the three main rivers of the Trident in the riverlands, the other two being the Green Fork and the Red Fork. It is named for the purity of its waters.
The Blue Fork has its source in pure springs
Storm King Arrec Durrandon watches the battle at Fairmarket. © Marc Simonetti
Tristifer IV Mudd, the Hammer of Justice, ruled from a castle, now called Oldstones, which overlooked the Blue Fork.
Harwyn Hoare, King of the Iron Islands, began his conquest of the riverlands by landing one hundred longships south of Seagard and marching them overland to the Blue Fork. His ironborn then used rivers to conquer the region from the Storm King, Arrec Durrandon, with their greatest victory being the battle at Fairmarket.
The army of Robb Stark sweeps around the headwaters of the Blue Fork and travels to the Whispering Wood.
Robb's army travels north from Riverrun toward the Twins for the wedding of Lord Edmure Tully to Roslin Frey. The Blue Fork is flooding its banks, however, with rising waters washing out the bridges at Fairmarket and Oldstones and preventing crossing at Ramsford. Instead, they ride around the Blue Fork, passing the ruins of Oldstones, rills and brooks near Sevenstreams, and the bogs of Hag's Mire.
Following the Red Wedding, Merrett Frey rides to Oldstones to ransom his kinsman Petyr, but both Freys are killed by the brotherhood without banners.
Lucias Vypren and Black Walder Frey hunt the outlaws of the brotherhood along the Blue Fork.
All the way up the Blue Fork they rode, past Sevenstreams where the river unraveled into a confusion of rills and brooks, then through Hag's Mire, where glistening green pools waited to swallow the unwary and the soft ground sucked at the hooves of their horses like a hungry babe at its mother's breast.
- thoughts of Catelyn Tully
The Blue Graces are healers that dwell in the Temple of the Graces.[*citation needed*]
After the murder of Stalwart Shield, Queen Daenerys Targaryen gives an order to send men to the Temple of the Graces to ask if any man has come to the Blue Graces with a sword wound.
When Galazza Galare returns to Daenerys she is accompanied by three Blue Graces from the temple. They bring news of a sick and wounded rider who arrived on a pale horse. Grey Worm adds that he gave orders for the rider to be brought to the Blue Graces. One of the Blue Graces takes up the tale and tells Daenerys that the Unsullied brought the man to the temple, where they attended to him, though he died within the hour.
A Blue Grace named Ezzara informs Daenerys that the man's fever was not brought on by the arrow in his thigh and that it may be that Meereen has more to fear than the arrows of the Yunkai'i.
As the flux called the pale mare spreads, Daenerys sends healers, including Blue Graces, outside the walls of Meereen to aid the sick, but some of the healers sicken as well.
When Strong Belwas is poisoned by the honeyed locusts he lingers near death in the Temple of the Graces, under the care of the Blue Graces … though Ser Barristan Selmy half suspects that they are trying to finish the job those honeyed locusts had begun.
The Blue Lantern is a mummers playhouse in Braavos, located near the waterfront of the Purple Harbor in the north of the city.
The Blue Lantern's neighborhood is more fashionable than that of the Gate, and the offerings of the Blue Lantern are considered subtler and more poetic than the Gate's.
The mummers of the Blue Lantern intend to put on a performance of *The Lord of the Woeful Countenance*.
Blueburn
The Reach and the location of the Blueburn river
The Blueburn is a river in the Reach. It flows from the border with the Stormlands in the east into the Mander at Longtable. Grassy Vale also sits along its shores.
Bluetooth is a tall ironborn captain. He is dressed in a bearskin vest and wears a helmet with raven wings.
Theon and Asha meet Bluetooth in Lordsport while riding towards Pyke. He tells them that his wife is about to give birth to twins. Theon thinks about offering Bluetooth a job on his new longship, the *Sea Bitch*, but he reconsiders when Asha tells him that Bluetooth has his own longship and that it would only insult him.
Blushing Bethany is a prostitute at the Happy Port whorehouse in Braavos.
Arya Stark considers Blushing Bethany to be nice. Arya overhears Dareon telling Bethany that he does not intend to return to the Night's Watch.
*"Blind God" redirects here. For the northern noble, see Blind Lord.*
Boash, also called the Blind God, is a deity that was once worshiped in the Valyrian Freehold. His followers settled on the main isle of Lorath.
The eunuch priests of the Blind God, as depicted by Jordi Gonzales Escamilla in *The World of Ice & Fire*
The followers of Boash ate no flesh and drank no wine. They went about barefoot, clad only in hair shirts and hides. Their priests were eunuchs, who wore eyeless hoods in honor of their god, as they believed that only in darkness their third eye would open, allowing them to see the "higher truths" of creation that lay concealed behind the illusions of the material world.
The followers of Boash held the belief that all life was sacred and eternal. They further believed that all on earth were equal creatures of god; men and women, lords and peasants, rich and poor, slave and master, and even man and beast.
Part of their doctrine was the extreme abnegation of the self, for only by freeing themselves of vanity could men hope to become one with the godhood. Thus, the Boash'i put aside their own names and spoke of themselves as "a man" or "a woman", rather than say "I" or "me". This habit of speech endures in Lorath to this day, where the nobility regards it as terribly vulgar to speak of one's self directly.
One thousand three hundred and twenty-two years before the Doom of Valyria, a sect of religious dissidents left the Valyrian Freehold to establish a temple on the Lorathi main isle,
Bobono is a dwarf mummer in Braavos. He is part of the mummer's troupe at the Gate. He fancies Mercy. He has a big voice for such a little man, when on stage he can make it ring off the highest rafters.
Cersei Lannister gets a report claiming that her brother Tyrion is hiding with a group of mummers in Braavos.
As the mummers prepare to perform *The Bloody Hand* Mercy helps them with their wardrobe, Bobono included.
Mercy, Mercy, come to my room tonight and make a man of me.
- Bobono to Mercy
Bodger is a young raider of the free folk.
Bodger is part of Jarl's group of raiders who climbs the Wall to take Castle Black from behind. He is injured when Jon Snow flees from the free folk raiders.
Bokkoko is a sellsword of the Second Sons. He is an axeman of formidable repute.
As the battle outside the walls of Meereen is commencing, Tyrion Lannister emerges from the tents of the Second Sons. As he looks about he sees the sellswords saddling their horses and spies Bokkoko kissing his boy lover shamelessly.
Bold Laughter is a war galley in service to House Velaryon.
The Bold Laughter is part of Stannis Baratheon's royal fleet commanded by Ser Imry Florent during the Battle of the Blackwater. It is destroyed when a boulder thrown from trebuchets in King's Landing tears through its hull during the battle.
The Bold Voyager is a ship.
On the first day of their stay in Volantis, Prince Quentyn Martell, Ser Gerris Drinkwater, and Ser Archibald Yronwood seek passage on the Bold Voyager to sail to Queen Daenerys Targaryen in Meereen. A mate on the ship laughs in their faces.
The Bold Wind is a war galley in service to the royal fleet at King's Landing.
The Bold Wind is part of the fleet Tyrion Lannister sends to bring Princess Myrcella Baratheon to Braavos. If the fleet spots any lone ship they are to run it off or destroy it. Should an enemy fleet give battle the Bold Wind will escort the *Seaswift* to safety while the rest of the fleet, consisting of the *King Robert's Hammer, *Lionstar and *Lady Lyanna*, gives battle.
Bone Mountains
The known world and the location of the Bone Mountains
The Bone Mountains, commonly called the Bones, are a colossal mountain range in central Essos.
The Bone Mountains stretch longitudinally across five hundred leagues,
The Dothraki sea and the red waste lie to the west of the Bone Mountains while the Great Sand Sea, the plains of the Jogos Nhai, and Yi Ti lie to the east.
The Bones contain rivers, canyons, caverns, and subterranean seas.
While there are hundreds of visible and hidden paths through the Bones, there are only three routes large enough for armies. The Steel Road, the most northerly route, cuts between the Krazaaj Zasqa to Kayakayanaya, then skirts around the top of the Great Sand Sea and south to Trader Town. The Stone Road is the middle route from Vaes Jini to Samyriana. The Sand Road, the southerly route, begins at Qarth, heads north through the red waste, and cuts through the Dry Bones to Bayasabhad and Tiqui. The old Silk Road once reached Yinishar.
The ancestors of the Dothraki crossed the Bone Mountains, eventually settling in what is now the Dothraki sea.
The Realm of the Jhogwin in the northern Krazaaj Zasqa contained the giant Jhogwin a thousand years ago,
When he reached the Bone Mountains, Lomas Longstrider believed he had reached the ends of the earth.
The bones of men, the bones of horses, the bones of giants and camels and oxen, of every sort of beast and bird and monster, all can be found amongst these savage peaks.
- writings of Yandel
A thousand roads lead into the Bones, but only three lead out.
- saying of wise men
Not to be confused with the Bone Mountains, also called "the Bones".
The Bones are a group of small islands in the Summer Islands. They are at the southern end of Parrot Bay south of Jhala. It is east of Xon.
Bonetown is a rumored town in far eastern Essos.
Bonetown is situated just north of the Dry Deep, southwest of the Cannibal Sands, and east of the Land of the Shrykes. The city of K'Dath is to the northwest.
Bonetown may be named after its trade in strange, aged bones found in the nearby Dry Deep.
Bonetown has not yet been mentioned in the *A Song of Ice and Fire* novels, only appearing in the map collection *The Lands of Ice and Fire* and *A World of Ice and Fire*.
Riders make their way through the Boneway. © Fantasy Flight Games
The Boneway
Dorne and the location of the Boneway
The Boneway. © Fantasy Flight Games
The Boneway is a major pass that runs through the Red Mountains, connecting Dorne and the Stormlands. The name is a colloquial name, with the Stone Way being its official name.
Its Dornish side is guarded from the castle Yronwood, the seat of House Yronwood, which holds the title Warden of the Stone Way. is located along or near the pass.
During the conquest of Dorne, King Daeron I Targaryen used a goat track to evade the watchtowers of the Boneway.
A Dornish soldier at the Boneway. © Fantasy Flight Games
Tyrion Lannister requests Doran Martell send his armies to the Boneway to keep the marcher lords in their castles as part of the political betrothal of Myrcella Baratheon and Trystane Martell.
Two Dornish hosts have massed in the Boneway and the Prince's Pass. The hosts sit encamped, waiting for Prince Doran Martell to loose them on the enemies of House Martell.
Ser Bonifer Hasty, also known as Bonifer the Good,.
Bonifer is tall, thin and known for his piety. Ser Jaime Lannister thinks Bonifer is a withered, solemn stork of a man, with a stern, sad face, prone to salting his speech with appeals to the Seven.
Ser Bonifer was a promising tourney knight in his youth, but when the love of his life married someone else, he turned away from seeking glory to devote himself to the Faith of the Seven.
Bonifer and Princess Rhaella Targaryen were infatuated with one another prior to the princess's official betrothal to her brother, Aerys, who was then prince..
When Rhaella married Aerys, the knight found solace in religion, finding only the Maiden could replace Rhaella in his heart.
Bonifer joins King Renly Baratheon at the beginning of the War of the Five Kings.
Bonifer and the Holy Hundred accompany Ser Jaime Lannister to take Riverrun. On the way, they stop at Harrenhal, where Jaime announces that Bonifer will hold Harrenhal in the crown's name during the absence of Petyr Baelish, Lord of Harrenhal.
Jaime considers it probable that Orton Merryweather had convinced Queen Regent Cersei Lannister to choose Bonifer as castellan of Harrenhal, as Bonifer had once served Orton's grandsire, Lord Owen Merryweather, though Jaime also notes Bonifer hails from the stormlands and has neither any enemies to feud with nor any allies to reward along the Trident, and he and his Holy Hundred have an excellent reputation for justice, sobriety and discipline.
Jaime takes his supper in Harrenhal's Hunter's Hall with Bonifer. Jaime thinks of Bonifer in jest as "Baelor Butthole" in a mocking reference to King Baelor the Blessed. Bonifer tells Jaime he will not suffer Pia or Gregor Clegane's men remaining at Harrenhal. Jaime obliges and takes Pia and the mountain's men with him.
During her wedding procession in Meereen, on her way to marry Hizdahr zo Loraq, Ser Barristan Selmy takes Daenerys Targaryen's mind off things by telling her a bit about her mother, Rhaella. Barristan says Rhaella was once briefly smitten with a young landed knight from the stormlands. He tells her the knight put away his lance the day her mother wed her father, Aerys II Targaryen, and become very pious. The knight's passion for Rhaella had no hope of fulfillment. Barristan chooses his words carefully and does not mention the name of the knight to Daenerys, and she does not ask for the identity of the knight who had fallen so deeply in love with her mother.
Jaime: Can you hold Harrenhal with just your Holy Hundred?
Bonifer: I anticipate no difficulty. The Crone will light our way, and the Warrior will give strength to our arms.
- Jaime Lannister and Bonifer
Sins may be forgiven. Crimes require punishment.
- Bonifer Hasty to Jaime Lannister
Ser Bonifer himself had been a promising knight in his youth, but something had happened to him, a defeat or a disgrace or a near brush with death, and afterward he had decided that jousting was an empty vanity and put away his lance for good and all.
- Jaime Lannister's thoughts
His passion was impossible of course. A landed knight is no fit consort for a princess of royal blood.
"Book of the Stranger" is the fourth episode of the sixth season of HBO's fantasy television series *Game of Thrones*, and the 54th overall. The episode was written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss and directed by Daniel Sackheim. It aired on May 15th, 2016,
For books and scrolls of the known world, see Category: Books and scrolls. For the books of A Song of Ice and Fire, see Category: Books.
Books is a Volantene sellsword and member of the Windblown. He is a notorious reader; he always seems to have his nose poked in some crumbly scroll.
Books is part of the Siege of Astapor. He plays dice with Old Bill Bone, Beans and Archibald Yronwood after the siege. is both murderous and mad.