Bran: In the Dawn Age of Westeros, before the coming of man
and the raising of castles and cities,
there were only the Children of the Forest.
Little is known of them now,
but it is said they were small in stature, dark and beautiful,
and no taller than children when grown to manhood.
They lived in the depths of the forests and hidden villages,
crannogs and caves.
They hunted with weirwood bows
and armed themselves with blades of obsidian.
Their wise men were called greenseers,
and were possessed of a powerful magic.
They worshiped nameless, faceless gods of the forest,
stream and stone.
According to legend, it was they who carved faces
in the great white trunks of the majestic weirwoods -
their deep-cut eyes were red with sap, and ever watchful.
12,000 years ago, the First Men came from the eastern continent,
crossing a land bridge called the Arm of Dorne.
Riding their great horses and wielding weapons of bronze,
they cut down the Children's forests and weirwoods.
A terrible war raged between the Children and the First Men
that lasted for centuries.
At long last, the two races sought an end to the years of horror and bloodshed.
They met on a small isle in the center of a great lake called the God's Eye.
It was there they forged the Pact.
The First Men would be granted dominion over the coastland,
the mountains, the high plains and the bogs,
but the deep forest would forever belong to the Children,
and no weirwood tree would ever again fall to man's ax.
To seal the pact before the gods,
the Children carved a face in every weirwood tree on the island,
which came to be known as the Isle of Faces.
But the pact could not withstand the coming of the Andals -
a race of tall, fair-haired warriors.
They attacked with fire and weapons of steel,
slaughtering the Children of the Forest wherever they could find them,
burning out their weirwood groves,
hacking away at the faces of the old gods,
and spreading their own religion through the land.
Centuries of war followed,
and the Andals conquered every kingdom in Westeros, save one -
the North.
The Kings of Winter were able to withstand the Andal invasion.
The descendents of the First Men dwell there to this day
and continue to worship the old gods.
As for the Children of the Forest,
those who survived the slaughter were said to have fled far north
and have not been seen again.
Most assume they're long dead,
and some don't believe they ever existed.
They live on only through song and legend,
and in the faces of the weirwood trees.
Bran: When Aegon the Conqueror invaded Westeros,
he had seven kingdoms to contend with -
the Kingdom of the North,
the Kingdom of the Mountain and the Vale,
the Iron Islands, the Kingdom of the Rock,
the Kingdom of the Reach, the Stormlands,
and Dorne.
These regions had been established by the First Men thousands of years before,
in the Age of Heroes.
One hero of this fabled age was Bran the Builder.
Bran raised the Wall and built the stronghold of Winterfell,
establishing House Stark
and reigning as the first king in the North.
Other legends tell of the Grey King in the Iron Islands.
Grey King took a mermaid to wife and defeated Nagga,
the first sea dragon.
House Greyjoy of Pyke - the current rulers of the region -
claim to descend from him.
House Casterly ruled the gold-rich Westerlands
from their mighty seat of Casterly Rock.
But their lands and power were swindled from them
by the legendary trickster Lann the Clever.
The noble house of Lannister is said to have descended from him.
The verdant and fertile lands of the Reach
were first ruled by House Gardener.
Its founder, known as Garth Greenhand,
wore a crown of flowers and vines.
He ruled from Highgarden as the first King of the Reach,
and was said to have made the land bloom.
Many noble houses trace their bloodlines back to him,
including the current lords of Highgarden, House Tyrell.
In the Stormlands, according to ballads of the age,
a warrior named Durran fell in love with Elenei,
whose father was God of the Sea
and mother was Goddess of the Wind.
She gave her maidenhead to him,
committing herself to a mortal life.
In rage, her parents called upon the winds and waters,
destroying Durran's bayside keep
and wiping out his wedding gift.
Durran declared war on the gods and rebuilt his keep,
which was also destroyed.
Four more castles he raised, each stronger than the last.
All fell to the power of the gods.
But Durran's seventh castle, Storm's End, withstood the gods' rage.
Durran became known as Durran Godsgrief
and reigned as the first Storm King.
There are countless other tales from the Age of Heroes,
too many to count.
These histories weren't recorded in a book,
but passed down from generation to generation
through story and song.
And while some of them may be dismissed as fairy tales,
every one of the Seven Kingdoms is defined by them.
Catelyn: In the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros,
the dominant religion is the Faith of the Seven,
first brought to its shores by the Andals
some 6,000 years ago.
Bran: But there are some who still keep to the old way,
worshiping the faceless gods
of the Children of the Forest and the First Men.
The old gods are countless, nameless spirits of nature.
In ancient times, the Children of the Forest
carved faces in the trunks of the weirwood trees,
which became sacred symbols of their faith.
In time, the First Men adopted the Children's gods as their own.
Most castles at that time contained a godswood
with a weirwood or a heart tree at its center.
Catelyn: Meanwhile, across the Narrow Sea,
a new religion was born in the hills of Andalos.
According to legend, the God of Seven revealed itself to the Andals,
and the invasion of Westeros followed soon after.
The Andals sailed across the sea
on ships armed with weapons of steel.
Some warriors carved a seven-pointed star into their skin
as a symbol of their new faith.
The invaders destroyed most of the weirwoods in the southern land,
slaughtered the Children of the Forest wherever they could find them,
and conquered every kingdom of the First Men, save the North.
In time, the Faith of the Seven spread like wildfire throughout the land.
The Seven is a single deity with seven aspects,
each symbolizing a different area of life,
though most people refer to the Seven as separate gods.
The Mother is prayed to for mercy
and watches over fertility, childbirth and peace.
The Father sits in judgment over souls.
The Warrior is prayed to for protection, valor and skill in battle.
The Crone is the symbol of wisdom and foresight.
The Smith watches over creation and craftsmanship.
The Maiden symbolizes purity, love and beauty.
Finally, there is the Stranger - rarely prayed to -
who represents death.
The Faith is highly organized and deeply influential
in Westerosi politics and culture
as the official religion of the monarchy.
Worshipers gather in temples of the Faith called septs.
The seat of the Faith is the Great Sept of Baelor,
which is located in the capital city of King's Landing.
Bran: Still, in the North, where descendants of the First Men dwell,
worship of the old gods continues to this day,
and the sacred faces of the weirwood trees
keep close watch over the faithful.
Mormont: Night gathers, and now my watch begins.
It shall not end until my death.
I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children.
I shall wear no crowns and win no glory.
I shall live and die at my post.
I am the sword in the darkness.
I am the watcher on the walls.
I am the shield that guards the realms of men.
I pledge my life and honor to the Night's Watch,
for this night and all the nights to come.
Legend tells of a winter that lasted a generation,
and of a vast and terrible darkness that fell across the land.
It came to be known as the Long Night.
In the midst of this darkness,
the white walkers emerged from the Far North.
With their armies of the dead,
they waged war against the living,
laying waste to villages and holdfasts,
leaving terror and destruction in their wake.
After years of brutal conflict and unbearable loss,
an alliance of the First Men and the Children of the Forest
managed to drive the walkers and their minions
back into the frigid northern wastelands from whence they came.
To prevent another invasion,
the First Men erected the Wall -
a massive fortification 700 feet in height,
stretching from the Frostfang Mountains in the West
to the Bay of Seals in the East.
It was a structure unlike any ever built.
Indeed, some maintain it could only have been completed
with the aid of giants,
or using the powerful magic of the ancient Children of the Forest.
Men were required to guard and maintain it,
and thus the Night's Watch was born -
a sworn brotherhood tasked with defending the realms of men
against the dark forces that lay beyond.
Upon taking his vows,
a Brother of the Night's Watch serves for life.
It is a life of hardship and great sacrifice,
so the oath must not be taken lightly.
The punishment for desertion is death.
The Night's Watch is divided into three vital branches -
the rangers, the builders, and the stewards.
While all Black Brothers are expected to take up steel should the need arise,
the rangers are the true warriors of the Watch.
Centuries come and gone,
and although the white walkers have yet to return,
another threat has emerged -
barbarian tribes known as wildlings.
The rangers are charged with defending the realm
against these lawless savages.
The builders are carpenters, masons, miners and woodsmen,
tasked with maintaining the Wall,
as well as its various keeps, towers and structures,
which have fallen into disrepair over the years.
The stewards serve as cooks, butchers and hunters.
They tend to the horses and messenger ravens,
sew clothing, gather firewood,
and bring supplies up from the South.
The Night's Watch is a diverse group -
proud volunteers from noble houses
stand side by side with petty thieves conscripted from dungeons.
Class distinctions are left behind, as are past misdeeds.
A man gets what he earns on the Wall.
And even the lowliest guttersnipe can rise up in rank
if he proves himself worthy.
For thousands of years,
the Brothers of the Night's Watch have stood their lonely vigil.
As the seasons changed,
as brutal wars raged in the South,
as dynasties rose and fell,
the Night's Watch endured.
We are the swords in the darkness.
We are the watchers on the Wall.
We are the shields that guard the realms of men.
Luwin: Joining the Night's Watch, or taking the black,
is a singular honor for any northerner.
For it was in the North, some 8,000 years ago,
that the First Men drove back the white walkers,
erected the Wall,
and established the sworn brotherhood
that would guard the realm and its people from the dangers beyond.
Regrettably, the Night's Watch no longer commands the widespread respect
and admiration it once did.
While House Stark and other houses in the northern regions
continue to recognize its vital importance
to the safety and stability of the realm,
this view is not shared by the powerful houses
of the southern kingdoms, or their subjects.
Most regard the Watch as a misguided, obsolete order
made up of useless outcasts.
Admittedly, the current Night's Watch is a shadow of its former glory.
Their numbers have dwindled to less than a thousand.
Of the 19 castles along the Wall,
only three are functional -
the Shadow Tower, Castle Black, and Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.
And the Watch's mandate of adding to the Wall
has been abandoned entirely.
There are barely enough resources to maintain it.
Recruiting officers - known as wandering crows -
scour the dungeons and slums of the realm
in hope of finding men to fill the ranks.
While there is still the occasional high-born volunteer,
the newest recruits are almost entirely made up of lowly criminals -
thieves, rapists and murderers -
sentenced to the Wall as punishment for their crimes.
The decline of this once-fabled order is troubling,
as the danger it guards against is all too real.
While the white walkers haven't been seen or heard from in ages,
and may very well be the stuff of myth,
barbarian tribes that dwell beyond the Wall -
known as wildlings -
have been a menace to the North and its people for generations.
At certain points in history, the disparate wildling tribes
have united behind a single leader -
a king beyond the Wall -
and attempted large-scale attacks against the Realm.
But, thanks to the resourceful and courageous men of the Night's Watch,
these so-called kings were soundly defeated.
While many have lost faith in the Night's Watch,
the people of the North are steadfast in their belief
that the Black Brothers will answer the call of duty.
But with winter coming,
diminished numbers, and a lack of widespread support,
will they be ready?
Tywin: Long ago, in the wintry North,
an army of demons emerged from beneath the icy ground
and spread darkness and despair across the land.
Astride their monstrous spiders, flanked by giants,
they wreaked havoc on the innocent, slaughtering thousands.
All hope was lost until the fearless warriors
of the first Night's Watch
drove them back into the wintry mountains
and built a magic wall to keep them from ever invading again.
These stalwart Brothers in Black continue to protect us even to this day
from the evils that lurk in the shadows.
An absurd lie,
a fairy tale spun by many a wet nurse in the North.
To be sure, a giant wall does exist-
a triumph of engineering, perhaps, but not of magic.
As for the Night's Watch,
there may have been a time, centuries ago,
when there was prestige and honor
in the miserable, monastic life of a Black Brother.
But now the Wall has become a glorified penal colony,
full of outcasts, criminals and assorted ne'er-do-wells.
Today, a typical man of the Night's Watch
most likely started out a lowly beggar,
or a rapist, or a village idiot.
As for the few high-born Watchmen,
they either fought on the losing side of a war,
or were disowned by their parents for one reason or another.
Those who persist in defending the Night's Watch
will claim the Seven Kingdoms need protection
from the wildling tribes of the Far North.
But there's little to fear from those primitives.
They're a nuisance,
but not sophisticated or powerful enough to be a significant threat to the realm.
And any talk of White Walkers returning with their armies of the dead
and their giant spiders and their snarks,
is just that - talk.
Luwin: In the far southwest of Westeros,
at the mouth of the River Honeywine,
lies the great stone city of Oldtown.
It is home to the Citadel,
where men and boys from throughout the kingdoms
come to receive their training as maesters.
Maesters play an integral role in Westerosi society,
serving as scholars, healers, and advisers
to the nobility of the Seven Kingdoms.
This venerable order of learned men
dedicate their lives to serving the realm,
and are sworn to occupy a neutral position
when it comes to power and politics.
Upon completing his training at the Citadel and taking his vows,
a maester renounces his family name and takes a vow of celibacy.
He is assigned to a castle or keep,
and duty-bound to serve as its counselor and healer,
even if control of the castle changes hands.
A maester's allegiance is to the realm,
not to any one family.
His badge of office is a great chain,
forged from links of different metals, which he wears around his neck.
It is a reminder of his role as a servant of the realm
and is never to be removed.
A maester forges his chain with study,
and each link represents the mastery of a different kind of learning.
For instance, a silver link signifies mastery of the medicinal arts.
A golden link represents the study of money and accounting.
An iron link indicates knowledge of war craft.
Ravenry is an especially important skill for a maester,
as it is he who breeds, trains, and maintains carrier ravens
for the delivering of messages throughout the land.
There are some maesters who have earned a link forged of Valyrian steel.
This signifies knowledge of the higher mysteries,
commonly known as magic.
Only one maester in a hundred possesses such a link,
as this field of study is frowned upon by many in the order.
It is possible magic may have existed for a time long ago,
but most consider the higher mysteries to be long gone from this world.
Service as a maester is a noble calling,
one of vital importance to a prosperous realm.
It is little wonder there are some who refer to the order
as the Knights of the Mind.
Viserys: East of Westeros lies the Smoking Sea,
where no ship dare sail.
There are those who swear it to be demon-haunted,
and who's to say they're wrong?
For it was there, thousands of years ago,
that a cataclysmic event occurred,
destroying one of the great civilizations in history.
The precise details of their origins are lost to us,
but it is said the Valyrians were once a modest community of shepherds,
tending their flocks on a small peninsula
of the great eastern continent.
One fateful day, in a volcanic area known as the Fourteen Fires,
they made a shattering discovery -
dragons.
They were monstrous scaled creatures,
with massive wings, sharp claws and fiery breath.
They were also said to have a deep-rooted connection to magic.
In time, the Valyrians were able to tame the beasts.
Harnessing their immense power, they established a city of wonder
unlike any before or since.
They became skilled at sorcery and metallurgy,
creating uncommon weapons of spell-forged steel.
Wielding these weapons, astride their dragons,
the Valyrians conquered the surrounding lands
and slowly expanded west.
At the time, the Ghiscari Empire dominated much of the great eastern continent,
and tried to stop Valyria's expansion.
The Ghiscari legions attacked the Valyrians five times,
but could never defeat them.
Finally, the Valyrians marched on their capital - Old Ghis -
and obliterated it,
turning its streets and buildings to ash with dragon flame,
and wiping the Ghiscari people and their culture off the face of the earth.
The Freehold of Valyria, as it came to be known,
became the most advanced civilization in the known world,
with its own language, gods and culture.
The Valyrians' reach extended far and wide,
covering most of the continent.
Great cities were built and roadways paved,
all of which led back to Valyria.
The Freehold would prosper for nearly 5,000 years.
But it was not to last.
An event that became known only as the Doom
laid waste to the Valyrians,
their capital city and its surrounding lands.
The peninsula itself was shattered,
becoming what is now the Smoking Sea.
Every dragon was thought to be lost,
as were the Valyrians' spells, knowledge and recorded history.
Thus the mighty empire collapsed.
What caused this cataclysm?
No one knows for certain.
Some say it was a volcanic eruption.
Others say the Valyrians' own sorcery got the better of them.
In any event, the Doom's devastation of the Valyrian people was total...
with the exception of a small rocky island in the Narrow Sea -
Dragonstone.
For it was there that the Targaryens - the last of Old Valyria - dwelled.
They would lie in wait for another hundred years
before unleashing the fury of the dragon on another continent-
Westeros.
Viserys: The days of the Andals were numbered.
One by one, their so-called kings were bending the knee
or facing the wrath of Aegon Targaryen.
Aegon of old Valyria, Aegon who was blood of the dragon.
After defeating the lronmen at Harrenhal
and slaying the last of the Storm Kings,
Aegon and his sisters, Rhaenys and Visenya,
set their sights on other prizes -
the gold mines of the Rock
and the fertile lands of the Reach.
King Loren Lannister of the Rock
and King Mern Gardener of the Reach
foolishly thought their combined armies
could beat back the Targaryen host.
They rode forth together,
their proud banners flapping in the wind,
and faced off against Aegon in a vast golden field of wheat.
The two kings commanded a massive force of nearly 60,000,
and it appeared the day was theirs.
Until Aegon unleashed all three of his dragons,
for the first and only time.
Each beast was named after the Valyrian gods of Aegon's forefathers.
Visenya rode Vhagar,
whose fiery breath could melt armor.
Rhaenys rode Meraxes,
whose jaws were big enough to swallow a horse whole.
The greatest of all... was Balerion the Black Dread,
with fire dark as night and wings so huge,
whole towns were covered in shadow when he flew overhead.
This magnificent creature was ridden by Aegon himself.
4,000 men were bathed in glorious dragon flame that day,
on what came to be known as the Field of Fire.
King Mern was among the dead,
and House Gardener died with him.
His stewards, the Tyrells,
surrendered his ancestral stronghold of Highgarden to Aegon,
and were appointed Lords Paramount of the Reach
and Wardens of the South.
When Loren Lannister witnessed Mern's fate,
he wisely bent the knee.
Aegon spared Loren's life
and the Lannisters were made Lords Paramount of the Westerlands
and Wardens of the West.
After his triumph on the Field of Fire,
Aegon's conquest was assured.
In a short time, the so-called Seven Kingdoms
were melted down in the heat of the dragons' flame
and transformed into a single realm.
Aegon would forever be known...
as Aegon the Conqueror.
Robb: The ascension of Aegon Targaryen was confirmed,
and the fate of the Seven Kingdoms sealed on the Field of Fire.
Kings Loren Lannister of the Rock and Mern Gardener of the Reach
stood against Aegon's invasion.
They commanded a united force of 600 banners,
5,000 mounted knights and 50,000 men-at-arms.
Aegon's host was vastly outnumbered,
and when the army of the two kings charged,
the invaders turned heel and ran.
But Andal might was no match for dragon flame.
When Aegon unleashed all three of his dragons,
4,000 souls were horrendously burned alive on the battlefield,
King Mern among them.
Realizing all hope was lost,
King Loren surrendered.
The Starks of Winterfell had no intention of submitting to Targaryen rule.
They had reigned as kings in the North since the days of the First Men,
and were determined to resist the Targaryen invaders,
just as they had resisted the Andals thousands of years before.
King Torrhen Stark led his army to the Red Fork just east of Riverrun,
hoping to succeed where Loren and Mern had failed.
But when Torrhen saw the size of Aegon's now mighty host
along with his monstrous dragons,
he knew he couldn't subject his followers to the horror of another field of fire.
He bent the knee, and swore fealty to Aegon,
who allowed the Starks to maintain their lordship over the region
as Lords Paramount and Wardens of the North.
Without question, Torrhen Stark saved thousands of lives that day.
He was ever after known as the King Who Knelt.
Robert: Aerys Targaryen was the last of his name to sit on the Iron Throne.
Known far and wide as the Mad King,
his was a reign of instability and terror.
The Seven Kingdoms are well rid of him and his kind.
Oh, he may have appeared to be a capable ruler at first,
but that was due in no small part to his councilors,
led by the Hand of the King, Tywin Lannister.
There may have been years of peace and prosperity during Aerys' reign,
but it was Tywin who was really running the country,
as Aerys spiraled further and further into insanity.
The dragon spawn were famous for losing their minds.
It was the price they paid for centuries of keeping the bloodlines pure.
And Aerys more than happily continued
the noble sister-fucking tradition of his forefathers.
As the years passed, Aerys' behavior became increasingly erratic.
He cut himself so often on his Iron Throne,
many referred to him as King Scab,
though never to his face.
It was rumored he had developed an obsession with wildfire,
and was known to inflict horrific punishments
on those he considered enemies,
including burning them alive.
As his paranoia and blood-lust grew,
he had a bitter falling-out with Lord Tywin
who had served the Crown faithfully for 20 years.
At least Tywin was able to leave the job with his life and fortunes intact.
Subsequent Hands of King Aerys weren't so fortunate.
Then the Targaryens went too far.
The Crown Prince Rhaegar abducted Lyanna Stark,
daughter of Rickard Stark, the Lord of Winterfell.
She was my betrothed. She was my beloved.
Beautiful and spirited woman.
And I loved her more than life itself.
Rhaegar went south with Lyanna,
hiding her away in Dome.
What harm he inflicted on the poor girl, the gods only know.
Brandon Stark, Lyanna's eldest brother, was outraged.
He rode to King's Landing to confront the king
and demand his sister's safe return.
Instead, Aerys had him executed.
His father, Rickard Stark, as well.
There wasn't much left to discuss after that.
Aerys feared their loved ones would seek revenge for what he did.
He was right to be afraid.
Aerys wasted no time in calling for the heads of Brandon's younger brother,
my friend Eddard Stark,
and my head, too, of course.
I'm sorry he didn't come looking for it himself.
Alongside Jon Arryn of the Vale -
the man who fostered Ned and I as children -
Baratheons, Starks and Tullys all called their banners.
Once our rebellion began,
the Mad King's days were numbered.
Luwin: As word of King Aerys' erratic and troubling behavior
spread throughout the Seven Kingdoms,
Lord Rickard Stark continued to serve his king faithfully
as Warden of the North.
The proud father of four children,
his daughter Lyanna was engaged to Robert Baratheon,
the young lord of Storm's End.
Centuries of peace between the North and the Iron Throne
ended the day Rhaegar Targaryen, Prince of Dragonstone,
abducted Lyanna.
Enraged, Brandon Stark rode to King's Landing
demanding the release of his sister
and the death of Rhaegar.
Aerys arrested him for treason
and called his father
to come to the capital to ransom him.
When Lord Rickard complied,
Aerys, now utterly mad, arrested him for treason as well.
Lord Rickard demanded a trial by combat.
Aerys declared fire the champion of House Targaryen
and had Lord Rickard suspended from the rafters of the throne room
while pyromancers lit a blaze beneath him.
As he burned,
Brandon was brought into the throne room,
a leather cord attached to a strangulation device was wrapped around his neck.
Aerys told Brandon his father was a dead man...
but there was a chance to save him.
A longsword was placed on the floor just out of Brandon's reach.
And the more he struggled to reach it,
the more the cord tightened around his throat.
Brandon Stark strangled himself,
trying to free his father...
who was roasted alive in his own armor.
The entire court stood and watched this atrocity take place...
Ser Jaime Lannister and the Kingsguard among them.
The Mad King was reported to have laughed hysterically
as these two noble men were tortured and brutally killed before him.
Seeking to rid the world of all his supposed enemies,
Aerys called for the head of Rickard's youngest son, Eddard Stark,
and Lyanna's betrothed - Robert Baratheon.
He sent word to Lord Jon Arryn -
who had fostered both young men at the Eyrie -
to apprehend them.
Instead...
Lord Arryn joined Houses Stark and Baratheon in rebellion.
Robert vowed to kill Rhaegar Targaryen
and get his beloved Lyanna back.
Tywin: As Aerys Targaryen's behavior grew more and more erratic,
the task of ruling the Seven Kingdoms fell to me, Tywin Lannister.
I had served Aerys for nearly 20 years
and as a result the realm had prospered.
The royal coffers were full, the land was at peace.
But Aerys grew increasingly hostile -
jealous of the success many credited to me.
My power and influence unnerved him.
The captain of my personal guard, Ser llyn Payne,
was once overheard making offhand comments
regarding who was the true ruler of Westeros.
When the king was given this information,
he had llyn Payne's tongue ripped out with hot pincers.
It was my desire to unite the Houses of Lannister and Targaryen
through marriage.
My daughter, Cersei, would marry Aerys' eldest son, Prince Rhaegar.
Such a union made perfect sense for all parties.
However, Aerys' senses had begun to leave him quite some time earlier.
Instead of uniting the royal family with its most loyal and powerful ally,
Aerys chose instead to insult my family,
indicating that such a match was beneath Rhaegar.
Instead, he chose Elia Martell of Dorne to be Rhaegar's wife.
As if to rub salt in my wounds,
Aerys appointed Jaime, my son, to the Kingsguard.
The Kingsguard may be an honor for lesser families than ours,
but it is a lifetime appointment
that forces him to renounce all family holdings.
This creates a difficulty in naming an heir to Casterly Rock.
But Aerys knew all that.
I had grown tired of the king's constant provocation.
Thus I resigned my post as Aerys' Hand
and returned to Casterly Rock
with my considerable forces.
When Robert Baratheon rebelled against the throne,
Aerys grew fearful that I would join with Robert's forces
and rise against him.
He thought himself clever, and kept Jaime very close, as if warning me.
He sunk deeper and deeper into delusion, paranoia and violence.
I've heard it said he became obsessed with wildfire -
a substance which, once lit, cannot be extinguished.
Convinced he had enemies all around him,
he wouldn't allow blades in his presence,
save for those of his Kingsguard.
Alas, that proved to be his undoing.
Viserys: The Targaryens, blood of the dragon, and the last of old Valyria,
were loved by their subjects
and admired far and wide
as the greatest dynasty in the history of the western world.
But the peace and prosperity of nearly three centuries of Targaryen rule
were shattered by the Usurper, Robert Baratheon,
and his band of traitors.
House Baratheon owed its very existence to the Targaryens.
Was it not Aegon the Dragon himself
who elevated the bastard Orys Baratheon in the War of Conquest?
And what of the Starks?
The Lannisters?
The Arryns of the Vale?
All had been spared and allowed to keep their lands
when Aegon could easily have wiped them out.
Centuries later, the Usurper and his lackeys
repaid Aegon's benevolence with treachery.
There are some who dare to claim
Robert and his allies had reason to rebel.
They say the crown prince stole the Usurper's lady love.
They say my father, King Aerys,
murdered Rickard Stark and his son without just cause.
Whether these charges are true or not, it doesn't matter.
The dragon answers to no one.
Aerys' good name has been besmirched in the years since the rebellion.
He has been called a dangerous madman, a monster,
a tyrant that brought his tragic end upon himself.
Lies!
My father was a victim of weaklings in his council,
lack-wits who failed him in his hour of need
and let the rebellion spin out of control.
But it was not enough.
The royal army was crushed at the Battle of the Trident.
It was there the valiant Rhaegar met Robert in single combat,
but the gods betrayed him...
and he perished by the Usurper's hand.
As the Field of Fire had marked the end of the Andals centuries before...
the Battle of the Trident seemed to herald the end of the dragon kings.
When word reached the capital of my brother Rhaegar's death,
my father Aerys moved to protect me,
as I was the surviving heir to the throne.
He sent me to the island fortress of Dragonstone,
along with my mother, Queen Rhaella, who was great with child.
But as my father, my king... Aerys Targaryen...
prepared to defend his throne to the bitter end...
little did he know of the horrors and betrayals
that awaited him and our family.
Robert: Rebellion!
The crimes of House Targaryen were too heinous to go unanswered.
The noble Houses of Baratheon, Stark, and Arryn,
united to oppose and overthrow the line of the cursed dragon kings.
While Ned Stark and Arryn secured an alliance with the Tullys of Riverrun,
I called the banners of Storm's End
and rode out in force against the Mad King and his minions.
Gods, those were some battles!
Our first victory occurred at Summerhall
where I faced off against an army of dragon loyalists
and won three battles in a single day -
three in one day!
Seven hells, that was a glorious day!
We tried to take Ashford Castle in the Reach,
but the Tyrells beat us back.
We had to regroup.
My army was pursued north by Aerys' army
and took refuge in the Stoney Sept in the riverlands.
When the Targaryen army entered the town,
the sept bells tolled,
a signal to the townspeople of the battle that was to come.
As the Targaryens searched from house to house for me,
the combined forces of Ned Stark and the Tullys swept into the city.
Gods, what a day that was!
It's now known as the Battle of the Bells.
We overwhelmed the Mad King's forces
and sent them scampering back to King's Landing.
Aerys' son, Rhaegar, who started the whole damn thing,
finally emerged from hiding in the South,
and assembled his own army to face us.
As for the Mad King, he must have been pissing himself.
The battle that would decide the fate of the Seven Kingdoms
occurred at the crossing of the Green Fork of the Trident river.
Rhaegar commanded the royal host, which was some 40,000 strong.
My forces were outnumbered by nearly 5,000 men,
but that didn't matter.
They were fresh,
but we were battle hardened and had justice on our side.
As the battle raged around us, I faced off with Rhaegar -
the stag and the dragon right there in the ford of the river.
I fought with the fury of ten men,
raining blow after blow upon that vile prince
before burying my war hammer in his chest.
I hit him so hard, the rubies on his armor broke free,
flinging them into the stream.
They call it the Ruby Ford now.
With that scum Rhaegar dead and the royal army shattered,
our next move was to make for King's Landing.
But I'd sustained a few wounds in the battle and was unable to ride.
I sent Ned Stark to the capital
to face the Mad King and make him pay for his crimes.
Viserys: The Battle of the Trident
may have been an important victory for the Usurper,
but it was the treachery and barbarism of Tywin Lannister
that sealed the fate of the Targaryen dynasty.
My father, King Aerys,
had ever been a friend to the Lions of the Rock.
Aerys graciously brought Tywin to court,
making him the youngest Hand of the King in history.
He gave him power.
He gave him respect.
He made it possible for Tywin to restore House Lannister to glory.
Aerys and Tywin governed side by side for 20 prosperous years.
Still, when the Usurper called his banners in rebellion,
Tywin Lannister ignored his king's pleas for help,
and stayed holed up in his stronghold of Casterly Rock.
In time, my brother Prince Rhaegar was dead.
The realm was in turmoil...
and the Usurper's forces were said to be riding for King's Landing.
What a glorious sight it must have been
when a force of 10,000 Lannister men
showed up at the gate of the capital
with Lord Tywin at their head,
pledging support to his beleaguered king.
Aerys opened the gates for his old friend.
Instead, Lannister and his men
proceeded to plunder and destroy
the city that he had called home for decades.
As the capital was ravaged
and its people terrorized,
Jaime Lannister, son of Lord Tywin,
proved every bit as treacherous.
He killed my father, the king, at the foot of the Iron Throne.
The Lannisters entered the Red Keep
and Tywin ordered the deaths of the rest of the royal family.
It is said Princess Rhaenys was found cowering under her father's bed
and put to the sword.
She was only a child.
As for Rhaegar's widow, Elia,
she was forced to watch
as Lannister thugs dashed her baby son's head against a wall,
before being raped and murdered herself.
As I was the heir to my father's throne,
I had been spirited away to Dragonstone
with my mother, Queen Rhaella, who was with child.
As a raging summer storm battered the island fortress
and destroyed the Targaryen fleet as it lay at anchor,
my sister Daenerys was born.
My mother, the queen, died giving birth.
Now, some 17 years later,
the rightful king still lives in exile.
But a day of reckoning is coming.
I will sail west, as Aegon the Dragon did centuries before.
I will take back my father's throne with blood and fire.
And I will punish the treacherous dogs who sought to destroy my family.
And the people shall rejoice.
Robert: For our rebellion to succeed,
King's Landing had to be taken forcefully.
No one was foolish enough to believe
that Aerys was gonna hand his crown over peacefully.
The Mad King's reign needed to end.
What Tywin Lannister's forces did was unfortunate,
but it was necessary to secure the Iron Throne
and bring peace and justice to the Seven Kingdoms.
My glorious victory at the Trident left me wounded,
but I sent my personal maester to attend to Ser Barristan Selmy instead.
His wounds were more severe.
Even though Ser Barristan was a member of Aerys' Kingsguard
and fought on the opposing side,
that man's bravery and loyalty were something to behold.
But this meant my wounds would take longer to heal
and I couldn't ride to King's Landing myself.
I sent the one man I trusted over anyone else in this world,
Ned Stark, in my place.
Had I been able to ride,
perhaps I could have reached King's Landing sooner
and prevented some of the violence that occurred
when the Lannisters entered the city.
Still, what Lord Tywin did was for the greater good.
Even what happened to Princess Elia and her children.
Babies or no,
theirs was the same cursed blood
that flowed within the Mad King's veins.
They were dragon spawn
and couldn't be allowed to survive.
What would they grow to be?
Loyal subjects?
Ned, with his damn northern honor.
He and I had our first major fight
over the deaths of the Targaryen children.
Ned called it murder.
Murder?
It was war.
Lord Stark demanded that the Lannisters
be held responsible for their crimes.
Was it a crime to put an end to a family of lunatics born of incest?
I wouldn't - and still won't - blame Tywin.
Instead, I sent Ned Stark south
to finish off the remaining Targaryen loyalists.
It was only Lyanna Stark's death that reconciled us.
Ned had lost his sister.
I had lost my betrothed and beloved.
We shared that sad bond together, Ned and I.
Through it, our friendship was made strong again.
As for the Mad King's surviving heirs...
those that were able to scurry away in the face of my fury
now live somewhere across the Narrow Sea.
They had best stay there.
If they ever set foot in Westeros again,
they will face the king's justice.
Luwin: Robert Baratheon's victory at the Trident
was a turning point in the war for the Iron Throne.
While it was clear the gods were smiling on the rebel forces,
Aerys Targaryen still held the Red Keep at King's Landing.
As Robert was wounded and unable to ride,
it was up to Eddard Stark to make for the capital
and force the Mad King to give up the throne.
Lord Stark reached the city gates
to find that Tywin Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock,
had already sacked the city in Robert's name.
House Lannister had remained neutral up to this point,
ignoring requests for help from both the crown and the rebels.
Now that Robert's eventual victory was assured,
it seemed Lord Tywin had finally chosen a side.
Lord Eddard was horrified by what he saw when he entered the city -
homes looted and burned, women raped,
scores of innocent citizens killed.
Disgusted, he led his force up Visenya's hill to the Red Keep.
Upon entering the throne room,
he found King Aerys lying in a pool of blood...
dead, by the hand of his own sworn Kingsguard,
Jaime Lannister,
who sat brazenly upon the throne.
Demanding to know the whereabouts of Queen Rhaella,
Lord Eddard was informed the queen and her son Viserys
had been spirited away to Dragonstone before the Lannisters arrived.
But other members of the royal family were not as fortunate.
Elia Martell of Dorne, who was the wife of Prince Rhaegar,
had been raped and murdered by Ser Gregor Clegane
on Lord Tywin's orders.
Ser Gregor and his men had also butchered Rhaegar's young children.
When Robert was well enough to reach the capital,
Lord Eddard demanded the Lannisters answer for their heinous crimes.
Robert refused,
and sent himself to relieve the Baratheon stronghold of Storm's End,
which was still under siege by forces loyal to the crown.
Whatever words passed between the two old friends are known only to them,
but Lord Eddard is said to have left King's Landing in anger.
Later, when Robert was crowned,
he appointed Jon Arryn as Hand of the King.
Lord Arryn's first order of business
was to broker a truce with the Martells of Dorne,
who were outraged by the brutal murder
of Princess Elia and her children.
Following the death of Lyanna Stark,
who had been betrothed to Robert,
Houses Baratheon and Lannister were joined in marriage
when the new king took Tywin Lannister's eldest daughter, Cersei,
as his queen.
As for Eddard Stark, he returned to his stronghold of Winterfell,
forever haunted by his sister's death,
and the shameful way that Robert had secured his throne.
Tywin: Rhaegar Targaryen lay dead on the banks of the Trident,
his royal army shattered and in retreat.
The days of the dragon kings were clearly numbered.
Until that moment, it would have been foolish to commit Casterly Rock
to either the Crown or the rebellion.
What would our family have to gain in supporting a raving madman?
Or in entering a crusade to put Robert Baratheon on the Iron Throne?
But chaos benefits no one.
It was time for House Lannister to do what it could
to ensure a return of peace and prosperity to the land.
I, Tywin Lannister, brought 10,000 Lannister troops
to the gates of King's Landing,
in order to bring the bloodshed to a quick and decisive conclusion.
King Aerys had been sending ravens for months,
begging for my support to end the uprising.
In a way, his pleas had been answered.
As I had suspected, Aerys opened the city gates and welcomed my men.
Our plan was clear -
crush Aerys' remaining bannermen
and remove the remnants of the royal family
as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Any alternative meant years of further war
and a fragmented Seven Kingdoms.
Our means were bloody,
but the results speak for themselves.
As for Aerys, it is true he met his fate at the hands of my son.
Aerys had kept Jaime close during the rebellion,
thinking himself clever in keeping my son as a hostage
should I decide to pledge support to the rebel cause.
This proved to be his greatest mistake,
for, when the time came, Jaime did his duty as a Lannister...
and drove his sword into the Mad King's back.
With that, Robert Baratheon's crown was secured.
The new king recognized our role in his ascension to the throne,
just as he recognized how useful
the might and riches of Casterly Rock would be...
if he wanted to keep it.
To that end, I offered my daughter Cersei as his queen.
Had Aerys not spurned this same offer years earlier...
perhaps things would have worked out differently.
With Robert and Cersei crowned as king and queen of the Seven Kingdoms,
it was a new day.
The dragon was vanquished
and the Seven Kingdoms would thereafter belong to the Stag.
And the Lion.
Bran: The Starks of Winterfell trace their descent
to the First Men in the Age of Heroes.
The family's founder was Brandon the Builder
who, in the aftermath of the Long Night,
helped establish the Night's Watch.
Legend has it he enlisted the aid of giants
and the powerful magic of the Children of the Forest
to raise the mighty Wall,
which has protected the realm for generations.
He went on to build the ancestral seat of Winterfell
and reigned as the first King in the North.
Robb: The Starks reigned as kings for thousands of years,
even withstanding the invasion of the Andals.
As the southern kingdoms fell,
and the children of the forest were driven away,
the North stood strong,
maintaining its religious customs and its way of life.
Eventually, the reign of the Kings of Winter came to an end
with the coming of Aegon the Conqueror.
After Aegon and his dragons
destroyed the combined armies of the Reach and the Rock
at the Field of Fire,
King Torrhen Stark bent the knee and swore fealty to the Targaryen dynasty
in order to spare the destruction of Winterfell and his people.
He was forever after known as the King Who Knelt.
As a reward for his submission,
Aegon named Torrhen Lord of Winterfell
and Warden of the North.
Bran: The Starks take great pride in their history and traditions.
It is one of the few noble houses that still keeps the old gods.
The sacred weirwood tree looms large in Winterfell's godswood.
Its ancestral sword - Ice -
was forged in ancient Valyria,
and has been passed down through the generations.
House Stark remains steadfast in its support of the Night's Watch,
even as the once illustrious order has fallen on hard times.
Much like their sigil - the grey direwolf -
House Stark is the stuff of legend in the North
and throughout the Seven Kingdoms.
Bran and Robb: And their family words - "Winter is coming" -
serve as a reminder of their beginnings in the wake of the Long Night...
Robb:..and a grim portent of things to come.
Tywin: On the far western coast of the continent,
high atop a rocky promontory overlooking the Sunset Sea,
sits Casterly Rock -
ancestral seat of House Lannister.
Below it lies Lannisport - one of the great cities of Westeros -
a center for trade, culture, and the great Lannister fleet.
There are a number of gold and silver mines in the Westerlands,
making it the richest region in all of Westeros.
One of the most productive mines lies beneath Casterly Rock itself,
making House Lannister the wealthiest of all the noble houses.
This allows House Lannister to finance many endeavors
of other noble houses.
Even the king himself has sought credit from Casterly Rock from time to time.
We Lannisters claim our descent from the Andal invaders
and through the female bloodline Lann the Clever.
According to the legend,
Lann, using only his wits,
won Casterly Rock from the noble house of Casterly
during the Age of Heroes.
The Lannisters reigned as Kings of the Rock
for thousands of years,
and worked to make it the envy of the rest of the Seven Kingdoms.
Our time as kings ended, however,
when Aegon Targaryen -
otherwise known as Aegon the Conqueror -
arrived in Westeros with his army.
The last King of the Rock, King Loren Lannister,
joined forces with King Mern Gardener, the King of the Reach.
Together, with 60,000 men,
they met the Targaryen host in open battle.
History tells us that Aegon unleashed all three of his dragons,
slaughtering 4,000 men,
at what came to be known as the Field of Fire.
King Mern himself was burned alive that day,
and House Gardener turned to ash with him.
Seeing both the threat and opportunity the Targaryens represented,
Loren wisely surrendered,
and aided Aegon in his further conquest of Westeros.
The Lannisters were thus appointed Lords Paramount of the Westerlands
and Wardens of the West-
titles we hold to this day.
Let us be clear, though -
it is neither luck, nor royal favor,
that makes our house prosperous.
There have been times in our history
where some have thought us weak, lazy or opulent.
My father, Tytos Lannister,
nearly bankrupted our house with his poor investments,
and allowed himself to be mocked openly at court.
When our vassal, the Reynes of Castamere,
dared to rise up against the Lannisters,
they learned how dangerous it can be to taunt a lion.
I, Tywin Lannister, led the assault on Castamere
to put down this rebellion.
I made an example of them,
to anyone who doubts our might.
They even made a quaint song about the fates of the Reynes of Castamere.
Sadly, there are no Reynes left to hear it.
Today, the Golden Lion of Lannister
is rightly admired and feared throughout the Seven Kingdoms.
Our words are...
"Hear me roar."
But there are other words that should be remembered
when crossing a Lion of Casterly Rock -
"A Lannister always pays his debts."
Viserys: The Targaryen dynasty united the Seven Kingdoms
and lasted nearly three centuries.
It was a dynasty forged in fire, sealed in blood,
and destroyed by rebellion.
The Targaryens are blood of the dragon,
descended from the nobility of ancient Valyria,
a once mighty empire in the East.
When the cataclysmic Doom laid waste to Valyria and its people,
the Targaryens survived,
having settled on the island fortress of Dragonstone years before.
They remained there for a century,
until the rise of Aegon the Conqueror.
Instead of attempting to reclaim the eastern lands of his ancestors,
Aegon sailed west for the Seven Kingdoms,
his sisters Visenya and Rhaenys at his side.
To keep the bloodlines pure,
Aegon continued the custom of his Valyrian ancestors
and took both of his sisters to wife.
Together, they came ashore on the eastern coast of Westeros.
Their blazon - a dragon with three heads,
representing Aegon and his sister wives.
And their words...
"Fire and Blood."
While their host was small
in comparison to the armies of Westeros that awaited them,
Aegon and his sisters had a secret weapon -
the last of the dragons.
He conquered every kingdom, save Dorne,
which eventually bowed to Targaryen rule a century later.
He had the swords of his enemies melted down
by the fiery breath of his dragon, Balerion the Black Dread,
and forged into the Iron Throne.
The capital city of King's Landing was built on the eastern coast,
where Aegon and his sisters first came ashore.
And Aegon ordered the construction of a royal castle on its highest hill -
the Red Keep.
For 300 years, the Targaryen dynasty stayed strong
in the face of rebellion, civil war and plague.
But the line of dragon kings was broken
when my father, Aerys Targaryen, the second of his name,
was overthrown in rebellion.
My father was betrayed and slaughtered by Ser Jaime Lannister,
a member of his own Kingsguard.
His son and heir, my brother Rhaegar,
perished on the field of battle at the hands of Robert Baratheon,
who claimed the Iron Throne for himself.
And so, today.
The only surviving members of the storied Targaryen dynasty
are myself - Prince Viserys, rightful King of the Andals
and Ruler of the Seven Kingdoms -
and my sister Daenerys.
We were spirited away to the free cities of the East by loyalists.
Here we have lived in exile ever since,
dreaming of a day when we will cross the narrow sea
and take back my father's throne.
Catelyn: In the snow-capped Mountains of the Moon,
standing high above the rich lands of the Vale,
stands the Eyrie -
a storied and impregnable fortress
said to have been built by the legendary mountain kings
in the Age of Heroes.
It is the stronghold of House Arryn,
one of the oldest noble families in Westeros -
their sigil, a soaring falcon over a crescent moon,
their words, "As high as honor".
The Arryns are direct descendants of Andal invaders,
who sailed across the Narrow Sea and came ashore at the Fingers.
According to legend, Ser Artys Arryn - known as the Winged Knight-
soared through the sky atop a giant falcon,
landing on the peak of the highest mountain,
where he defeated the Griffin King in battle.
It was the Andals' first great victory over the First Men,
and Ser Artys was duly rewarded.
He was declared King of the Mountain and the Vale,
and the region was renamed the Vale of Arryn.
Thousands of years later
Aegon the Conqueror arrived in Westeros.
House Arryn bent the knee to Aegon and his dragons
and were allowed to maintain their control of the region
as Lords Paramount of the Vale and Wardens of the East.
Over the centuries, House Arryn remained loyal to the Targaryen dynasty,
until Lord Jon Arryn joined with Houses Baratheon and Stark
in rebellion against Mad King Aerys.
Upon winning the Iron Throne,
Robert named Lord Jon Hand of the King -
a position he held until his mysterious death.
Robert: "Ours is the fury."
These are the words of the black stag of Baratheon,
a battle cry echoed throughout the land in rebellion
when I, Robert Baratheon, the first of his name,
seized the Iron Throne from the Mad King, Aerys Targaryen,
ending a dynasty nearly 300 years old.
House Baratheon was born in the Wars of Conquest,
when Aegon the Dragon invaded Westeros.
Aegon sent his commander, Orys Baratheon, to take Storm's End.
Argilac the Arrogant, the last of the Storm Kings,
foolishly left the safety of his stronghold
and met the Baratheon warlord in open battle.
Argilac was soundly defeated,
and Orys took his lands, his holdings, and his daughter.
Orys was said to be a half-brother to Aegon Targaryen.
If this were true, a little blood of the dragon
mingled with that of the stag in those days.
The seat of House Baratheon is Storm's End -
a legendary keep raised in the Age of Heroes.
It overlooks Shipbreaker's Bay
where legend has it that Durran, the first Storm King,
raised the keep with the aid of Bran the Builder of House Stark,
forging a centuries-long connection
with the Stormlands and the North.
After Aegon's conquest of the Seven Kingdoms,
the Baratheons remained loyal enough to the crown
while Targaryen kings came and went.
But loyalty has its limits.
When Rhaegar Targaryen, Aerys' vile son and heir,
abducted Lyanna Stark...
my betrothed, my beloved...
it was time to act.
We raised our banners - Baratheon, Stark,
Jon Arryn and the Tullys -
united in rebellion against Rhaegar and his father, the Mad King.
We were victorious and took the Iron Throne.
That bit of dragon blood in my veins came in well,
as it made me a distant relation
to the Targaryen dynasty blood of my long-lost ancestor Orys.
The truth of it is...
I took it.
I sit on the Iron Throne.
I rule the Seven Kingdoms from the Red Keep.