Military strength

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Daenerys Targaryen on the march - by Tomasz Jedruszek. © Fantasy Flight Games

Armies are land-based military forces raised by different powers in the Known World. Some powers also have their own fleets.

Known World

Westeros

According to the semi-canon A Game of Thrones RPG and Resource Book by Guardians of Order from 2005, the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros might be able to raise the following forces:

  • The mainland lords of the Crownlands can raise ten thousand to fifteen thousand troops, while the gold cloaks of King's Landing usually number two thousand.[1] The city also has a fleet of fifty ships. Dragonstone can raise three thousand men-at-arms and four hundred knights. The island's fleet consists of a hundred and sixty ships, including eighty galleys.
  • Dorne could raise fifty thousand Dornishmen, according to Daeron I Targaryen's Conquest of Dorne, during his reign (157 AC-161 AC). However, Daeron exaggerated the quantity of his opponents to enhance his victory. The Martells have not corrected the claim in order to make Dorne appear stronger.[2] Prince Lewyn Martell led ten thousand Dornishmen in the Battle of the Trident.[3] More recently, Prince Quentyn Martell has told Queen Daenerys Targaryen that Dorne could provide her with an army of fifty thousand.[4][5]
  • The Iron Islands can raise approximately twenty thousand men and five hundred longships. The Iron Fleet alone consists of one hundred ships which are three times larger than the standard longship,[6] however, and George R. R. Martin has indicated that the major lords of the ironborn can each float around a hundred ships.[7] A longship such as Sea Bitch has fifty oars, while Great Kraken and Iron Victory are larger.[8] The only fleets comparable to those of the Iron Islands are the royal fleet in the Crownlands and the Redwyne fleet at the Arbor.[9]
  • The North can perhaps raise forty-five thousand soldiers, although it would take a long time to gather them from such a large region.
  • The Reach can raise an army of between eighty thousand and hundred thousand soldiers. The Reach's navy consists of two hundred ships, including those of the Redwynes, the Shield Islands, and coastal lords.
  • The Riverlands can raise forty-five thousand soldiers.
  • The Stormlands can raise thirty thousand soldiers.
  • The Vale of Arryn can raise forty-five thousand soldiers.
  • The Westerlands can raise up to fifty thousand troops. The Lannister fleet at Lannisport consists of twenty or thirty cogs, carracks, galleys, and dromonds, while lesser lords have two or three ships for patrolling. In total, the westerman float fifty or sixty larger ships, while longships are used for coastal defense. Lord Tywin Lannister commanded twelve thousand Lannister men during the Sack of King's Landing.[10]

During the War of Conquest, the combined army of fifty-five thousand from the Reach and the Westerlands was defeated by Aegon the Conqueror's army only a fifth its size, as the Targaryens had three dragons.[11] The Night's Watch numbered ten thousand swords at that time.[12] The North marched south with an army of thirty thousand,[13] but Torrhen Stark instead chose to kneel to Aegon.[14]

Essos

Recent Events

A Game of Thrones

The Night's Watch has dwindled in strength to less than a thousand men, with six hundred at Castle Black, two hundred in the Shadow Tower, and fewer at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.[18]

Robb Stark gathers near twelve thousand northmen to Winterfell, including two thousand foot and three hundred horse from Karhold. Robb's force includes three hundred or four hundred knights among the other three thousand northern cavalry. Others wait to join them when Robb marches south along the kingsroad.[19] With the addition of near fifteen hundred Manderlys, the northern force numbers eighteen thousand men at Moat Cailin.[20] When they arrive at the Twins, Catelyn Tully warns Lord Walder Frey that Robb has twenty thousand troops against Walder's four thousand, but the Starks and Freys agree to an alliance,[21] with the Freys contributing 1,000 knights and near three thousand foot.[22] While Lord Roose Bolton leads the northern foot and a tenth of the cavalry south along the eastern shore of the Green Fork, Robb takes the majority of the northern cavalry west to Riverrun.[21] Robb's host is augmented by House Mallister and other forces as they travel near the Blue Fork. Their six thousand defeat Ser Jaime Lannister and three-quarters of his two or three thousand horse in the Battle of the Whispering Wood, and Jaime's twelve thousand foot are then defeated in the Battle of the Camps.[23][24]

Tyrion Lannister brings near three hundred mountain clansmen for House Lannister to join Lord Tywin Lannister's army of twenty thousand from the Westerlands, which defeats Roose Bolton's northern foot in the Battle of the Green Fork.[25]

Khal Drogo's khalasar, which is said to be 100,000 strong,[26] includes forty thousand mounted warriors.[27] It splinters into smaller groups after his death, however.[28]

A Clash of Kings

Tywin brings his twenty thousand men to Harrenhal. Ser Stafford Lannister begins raising another Lannister host, but it is routed by Robb's cavalry in the Battle of Oxcross.

Stannis Baratheon's host includes three thousand men along the shore of Dragonstone.[29] Ser Jacelyn Bywater augments the City Watch of King's Landing to six thousand.[30]

Supported by Highgarden and Storm's End, the host of Renly Baratheon is said to number a hundred thousand.[31] At Bitterbridge, Renly tells Catelyn Tully that Robb's twenty thousand northmen may now be supported by twenty thousand rivermen; Catelyn thinks to herself that Robb does not have forty thousand soldiers. Renly claims to have eighty thousand with him at Bitterbridge, with Lord Mace Tyrell with another ten thousand at Highgarden.[32]

During the siege of Storm's End, Renly claims his cavalry will soon be reinforced with a hundred thousand swords and spears, while Stannis only has five thousand with less than four hundred horse.[33] After Renly's assassination, Catelyn thinks that Renly's ten thousand horse will go over to Stannis.[34] Stannis later tells Ser Cortnay Penrose that he now has 20,000 men. Renly's foot, near sixty thousand, remains at Bitterbridge, however, and some—especially those of House Florent—are put to death by Lord Randyll Tarly.[35][36]

Petyr Baelish tells Joffrey Baratheon's small council that a marriage with Renly's widow, Margaery Tyrell, would bring her father Mace's fifty thousand swords.[37]

Ser Edmure Tully gathers eight thousand foot and 3,000 horse for the Battle of the Fords, while his opponent, Tywin, will have near twice the rivermen's numbers. Edmure orders Roose Bolton and his remaining ten thousand men to take Harrenhal.[38]

Ser Guyard Morrigen leads Stannis's vanguard of near five thousand prior to the Battle of the Blackwater.[39] Stannis's host numbers near twenty thousand knights, light horse, and freeriders.[40]

Ser Rodrik Cassel raises an army of near two thousand northmen to retake Winterfell from Theon Greyjoy. However, they are betrayed by six hundred Boltons in the battle at Winterfell.[41]

A Storm of Swords

Through the fall of Astapor, battle of Yunkai, and siege of Meereen, Queen Daenerys Targaryen acquires eight thousand Unsullied, 1,000 sellswords, and a vast horde of freedmen.[42]

Tyrion tells Prince Oberyn Martell that there are near 5,000 gold cloaks in King's Landing, that Tywin Lannister has twenty thousand Lannister swords, and that there are up to seventy thousand Tyrells in the city's vicinity.[43]

Robb leads thirty-five hundred veterans north from Riverrun to the Twins,[44] where Roose Bolton joins them with another three thousand foot and five hundred horse, mostly Boltons and some Karstarks. Roose left six hundred men under Ser Kyle Condon and Ronnel Stout to defend the Trident.[45] Robb's men are betrayed by the Boltons and Freys in the Red Wedding, however. Ryman Frey then leads two thousand Freys against Riverrun.[46]

Mance Rayder's horde of possibly a hundred thousand free folk are defeated by Stannis and the Night's Watch in the Battle of Castle Black.[47] Afterward, Samwell Tarly observes more than a thousand southron soldiers at Castle Black.[48]

A Feast for Crows

Lord Yohn Royce and his allies in the Lords Declarant are able to raise twenty thousand against Lord Baelish.[49] They later bring six thousand men to the Gates of the Moon, which is held by Lord Nestor Royce's garrison of less than three hundred.[50]

While most of the Lannister soldiers return to the Westerlands with the body of Tywin, two thousand veterans remain in the Crownlands for the siege of Dragonstone.[51] Jaime leads less than a thousand men to aid Ryman's rivermen and Ser Daven Lannister's westermen in the siege of Riverrun.[52]

Tommen Baratheon's small council hears reports that the ironborn have attacked the Shield Islands with a thousand ships. In response, Ser Loras Tyrell says Highgarden can raise ten thousand men in a fortnight and twenty thousand in a month.[53]

A Dance with Dragons

The khalasar of Khal Pono is reported to be thirty thousand near Selhorys.[54]

Lord Commander Jon Snow informs Stannis he might be able to gain two thousand or three thousand men from the northern mountain clans.[55] Following the retaking of Deepwood Motte, Stannis army numbers five thousand.[56] It dwindles as it becomes snowbound at a crofter's village in the wolfswood, however.[57][58]

Tormund Giantsbane leads four thousand free folk in helping the Night's Watch fortify the Wall.[59]

During the siege of Moat Cailin, Theon Greyjoy recalls that Robb had marched south with near twenty thousand men. He notices that Roose is returning north with only two in ten from Robb's host, and most of them are Boltons on foot. They are accompanied by a vanguard of four hundred mounted Freys, while the rearguard is another eleven hundred Freys.[60]

Prince Quentyn Martell tells Daenerys that Dorne can provide fifty thousand spears and swords to her cause,[4] while Prince Doran Martell of Sunspear tells his daughter and heir, Princess Arianne Martell, that King Daeron I Targaryen had originally made the dornish army sound bigger than it actually was, in his book about the Conquest of Dorne.[2] Whether Quentyn informs Daenerys of the actual number, or of such an exaggeration, is currently unknown.

The Golden Company is cut off from the delta road near Volantis by Triarch Malaquo with five thousand foot and one thousand horse.[61] Jon Connington and Prince Aegon Targaryen lead the Golden Company in invading the Stormlands, with half of their ten thousand sellswords scattered along the southern narrow sea.[62][63]

The Winds of Winter

Stannis sends Ser Justin Massey to recruit twenty thousand sellswords in Braavos. Theon tells Stannis that Roose has 6,000 men or more at Winterfell.[64]

References and Notes

  1. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 47, Eddard XIII.
  2. 2.0 2.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 40, Princess In The Tower.
  3. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 37, Jaime V.
  4. 4.0 4.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 43, Daenerys VII.
  5. With a hundred and forty years having passed between King Daeron I writing his book with exaggerated numbers, and with Quentyn Martell making his claim, it is possible, though not confirmed, that Dorne currently holds a bigger army than during the Conquest of Dorne
  6. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 56, The Iron Suitor.
  7. So Spake Martin: Re: Greyjoy Fleet
  8. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 24, Theon II.
  9. So Spake Martin: The Lannister Fleet
  10. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 12, Daenerys I.
  11. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 13, Tyrion II.
  12. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 60, Jon VIII.
  13. So Spake Martin: Chicon 7 Reading
  14. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 11, Jaime II.
  15. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 5, Tyrion II.
  16. 16.0 16.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 8, Daenerys I.
  17. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 27, Daenerys III.
  18. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 21, Tyrion III.
  19. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 53, Bran VI.
  20. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 55, Catelyn VIII.
  21. 21.0 21.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 59, Catelyn IX.
  22. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 14, Catelyn II.
  23. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 63, Catelyn X.
  24. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 69, Tyrion IX.
  25. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 56, Tyrion VII.
  26. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 3, Daenerys I.
  27. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 36, Daenerys IV.
  28. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 72, Daenerys X.
  29. A Clash of Kings, Prologue.
  30. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 8, Tyrion II.
  31. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 17, Tyrion IV.
  32. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 22, Catelyn II.
  33. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 31, Catelyn III.
  34. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 33, Catelyn IV.
  35. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 42, Davos II.
  36. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 44, Tyrion X.
  37. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 36, Tyrion VIII.
  38. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 39, Catelyn V.
  39. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 52, Sansa IV.
  40. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 58, Davos III.
  41. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 66, Theon VI.
  42. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 16, Daenerys III.
  43. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 38, Tyrion V.
  44. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 45, Catelyn V.
  45. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 49, Catelyn VI.
  46. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 60, Tyrion VIII.
  47. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 73, Jon X.
  48. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 75, Samwell IV.
  49. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 10, Sansa I.
  50. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 23, Alayne I.
  51. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 16, Jaime II.
  52. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 27, Jaime III.
  53. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 32, Cersei VII.
  54. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 8, Tyrion III.
  55. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 17, Jon IV.
  56. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 35, Jon VII.
  57. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 42, The King's Prize.
  58. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 62, The Sacrifice.
  59. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 53, Jon XI.
  60. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 20, Reek II.
  61. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 24, The Lost Lord.
  62. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 61, The Griffin Reborn.
  63. A Dance with Dragons, Appendix.
  64. Theon I (The Winds of Winter)