House Arryn

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House Arryn of the Eyrie
House Arryn.svg
As High as Honor
Coat of arms A sky-blue falcon soaring against a white moon, on a sky-blue field
(Bleu celeste, upon a plate a falcon volant of the field)
Seats
Head Robert Arryn
Region Vale of Arryn
Titles
Heir Ser Harrold Hardyng
Overlord House Baratheon of King's Landing
Cadet branch House Arryn of Gulltown
Founder Ser Artys Arryn
Founded Coming of the Andals

House Arryn of the Eyrie is one of the Great Houses of Westeros, and is the principal noble house in the Vale of Arryn. Their main seat is the Eyrie, which is considered impregnable, but they have many other holdings, including their winter castle at the Gates of the Moon, which was once their main seat. Both of these fortifications sit astride the Giant's Lance, the tallest mountain in the Vale, the Gates of the Moon at its foot, the Eyrie at its top.

The Arryn sigil is a sky-blue falcon soaring against a white moon on a sky-blue field, and their words are "As High as Honor".[1] Usually marrying other Andal nobles, House Arryn has the oldest and purest line of Andal nobility. The Arryn kings proudly traced their lineage to Andalos, with some claiming descent from Hugor of the Hill.

The Arryns of the Eyrie have a collection of distant relatives located throughout the Vale. Although they are much poorer than their cousins from the main branch, aside from the Arryns of Gulltown, they are described by Petyr Baelish as proud due to their name and heritage.[2]

History

Kings of Mountain and Vale

The Arryns claim descent from the oldest and purest line of Andal nobility, which they say reaches back to Andalos and possibly Hugor of the Hill.[3]

When King Robar II Royce began to unite the First Men and defeat some of the petty Andal kings during the Andal invasion, the Andals of the Vale united behind Ser Artys Arryn, the Falcon Knight, a native Valeman esteemed amongst his peers as the finest warrior of his day. Robar was slain in the Battle of the Seven Stars, possibly by Artys. The First Men houses who remained bent the knee and swore fealty to Artys Arryn, the First of His Name, new-crowned King of Mountain and Vale. From that day, the Vale became known as the Vale of Arryn.[4] Songs of the Vale conflate Artys with the legendary Winged Knight, who is said to have slain the Griffin King atop the Giant's Lance.[2][3] The First Men who did not accept Artys as their king were forced into the Mountains of the Moon, becoming the Vale mountain clans.

The Arryns initially lived at the Gates of the Moon, but over generations they constructed the Eyrie.[5] They often used the Eyrie as a summer pleasure palace,[6] descending to the Gates of the Moon before winter made the Eyrie inaccessible.[2]

The Arryn kings added Pebble, the Paps, and the Witch Isle to their realm. They battled with the Stark Kings of Winter over the Three Sisters in the War Across the Water, which featured King Osgood Arryn and his son and successor, Oswin Arryn, who burned the Wolf's Den. There were bloody battles wherein the Arryn fleet turned back slavers from Volantis, ironborn reavers, and pirates from the Stepstones and the Basilisk Isles.[4] Lady Alyssa Arryn gave her name to Alyssa's Tears, a waterfall on the Giant's Lance, when she did not shed a tear for her murdered husband, brothers and children.[5]

War of Conquest

During the War of Conquest the Arryn and Targaryen fleets fought in a battle in the waters off Gulltown, which resulted in the destruction of the Targaryen fleet and the death of its commanding officer, Daemon Velaryon. Visenya Targaryen, on her dragon Vhagar, burned the Arryn fleet in response. Since both fleets were destroyed, the battle was considered a tactical draw, but a strategic defeat for the Targaryens as they were unable to take Gulltown. For House Arryn the trouble did not end there, since the Sistermen on the Three Sisters revolted against after the destruction of its fleet.

In a later stage of the War of Conquest, Visenya was charged with subduing the Vale. Sharra Arryn, Queen Regent of the Vale, ruling in the name of her son, the boy-king Ronnel Arryn, amassed the Vale's army at the Bloody Gate. Visenya. however, flew on her dragon Vhagar up to the courtyard of the Eyrie to obtain the surrender of the Vale of Arryn. When Sharra returned to the Eyrie she found her son sitting on Visenya's lap asking if he could ride the dragon with her. Sharra yielded and bent the knee and Ronnel would get to fly with Visenya and Vhagar twice.[7] Since then, the Arryns remained Defenders of the Vale and were also named Wardens of the East, a title that they have held since.[8]

Targaryen Era

The Arryns were involved in the Targaryen civil war, the Dance of the Dragons. It was a contest of claims between Viserys I Targaryen's elder daughter, Rhaenyra Targaryen, by Aemma Arryn and his younger son, Aegon II Targaryen by Alicent Hightower. The head of House Arryn at that time, Lady Jeyne Arryn, supported the blacks and her kinswoman Rhaenyra. At the start of the civil war, Prince Jacaerys Velaryon, Rhaenyra's eldest son, came to the Eyrie to secure aid for his mother's cause. Jeyne kept true to her promise and sent men by sea by way of Gulltown to join Rhaenyra's hosts.

Decades later, during yet another Targaryen civil war, the First Blackfyre Rebellion, the house remained loyal to King Daeron II Targaryen. At the climactic Battle of the Redgrass Field Lord Donnel Arryn's van was smashed by Daemon I Blackfyre, who had been unstoppable that day.

Lord Arryn was defeated by Ser Humfrey Hardyng at the tourney of Maidenpool the year before the tourney at Ashford Meadow.

Robert's Rebellion

In more recent times the descendents of Lord Jasper Arryn have experienced a variety of calamities that have left the house with few trueborn members. Jasper's successor, Lord Jon Arryn, married several times to try to sire heirs. His first wife, Jeyne Royce, died in childbirth, their daughter stillborn. His second wife, Rowena Arryn, a cousin, died childless of a winter chill. His younger brother Ronnel died of a bad belly at roughly the same time as his son Elbert was born. Their sister, Alys, birthed nine children by her husband, Ser Elys Waynwood, dying soon after the last one. Eight died or took religious orders before they could reproduce; their youngest daughter died shortly after giving birth to a son, Harrold Hardyng.

The war that became Robert's Rebellion started when Jon Arryn refused to surrender his wards, Robert Baratheon and Eddard Stark, to the Mad King, Aerys II Targaryen. The battle against Marq Grafton at Gulltown saw Lord Arryn defeat his royalist bannermen. During the war, Jon was one of the principal leaders and his marriage to his third wife, Lysa Tully, helped secure Lord Hoster Tully as an ally. Unfortunately, casualties mounted among the few remaining Arryns. Jon's nephew and heir Elbert Arryn had been part of Brandon Stark's doomed party that went to King's Landing, and his distant cousin Ser Denys, the "darling of the Vale", was killed at the Battle of the Bells. After the war, Nestor Royce ruled as High Steward of the Vale as Jon became Robert's Hand of the King.

Lord Jon's marriage to Lysa remained a distant one. At first the union produced only miscarriages, but finally she gave him a son, Robert, the last Arryn. Robert has been spoiled by Lysa despite the efforts of Jon, and she makes no effort to teach him the ways of lordship. Jon has served King Robert Baratheon loyally for fourteen years at the beginning of A Song of Ice and Fire.

Recent Events

A Game of Thrones

As Hand of the King to Robert Baratheon, Lord Jon Arryn is approached by Stannis Baratheon, who suspects that his brother, King Robert, has no trueborn heirs, and that Queen Cersei Lannister has cuckolded him with her own brother, Jaime Lannister. The two investigate in King's Landing, but Jon is poisoned and dies suddenly before they can reveal their revelation.

After Jon's death, Lord Tywin Lannister offers to foster Jon's young heir, Robert Arryn, at Casterly Rock, a plan which the clueless King Robert supports, but Jon's widow, Lysa Tully, flees with young Robert to the Eyrie. Meanwhile, lords sworn to the Eyrie are incensed when Robert Baratheon grants the traditional Arryn title of Warden of the East to Jaime Lannister rather than young Lord Arryn. Many of these lords court Lady Lysa; she strings them along to keep them vying for her favor.

Despite overtures from her sister, Catelyn Tully, Lysa keeps the knights of the Vale from joining the war against the Lannisters. Lysa gains the custody of Tyrion Lannister, but soon loses it when her captain of guards, Ser Vardis Egen, loses a trial by combat. When Catelyn leaves the Eyrie she offers to foster Robert at Winterfell, which provokes Lysa to threaten to throw her sister from the Moon Door. Lysa declines to provide escort for Tyrion as he leaves the Vale, hoping he will be killed by the Vale mountain clans, but Tyrion turns the clansmen to his side.

Lady Lysa and Lord Robert are among the nobles Joffrey commands to swear fealty to him or be branded traitors to the realm.

A Storm of Swords

The Vale's neutrality is a cause of contention for all sides. Lysa's nephew, King Robb Stark, bemoans his inability to march through the region, and King Stannis Baratheon wishes for their support as well. Lysa defies expectation by falling on the outskirts of the Lannister camp. She marries her lover from her youth, Petyr Baelish, nicknamed Littlefinger. Later, Lysa sees Petyr kissing her niece, Sansa Stark, and flies into a jealous rage, revealing that she secretly plotted with Littlefinger to murder her husband, Lord Jon, when it seemed Jon might send young Robert away to be fostered by Stannis on Dragonstone. Lysa is killed when Petyr shoves her through the Moon Door.

A Feast for Crows

The frail Robert Arryn remains the ward of Lord Petyr Baelish, who rules as Lord Protector of the Vale. Should anything happen to Robert, the heir presumptive of the Eyrie is Harry the Heir, Harrold Hardyng, a recently knighted squire and the great-nephew of the late Lord Jon Arryn thanks to a daughter of his sister Alys's marriage into that house. Petyr plots to wed Sansa to Harry the Heir, with the eventual goal of liberating Winterfell in her name from Bolton control using the Knights of the Vale. Several powerful nobles array themselves against Baelish's rule, calling themselves the Lords Declarant. As the Vale has been untouched by the war, they command a sizable military force; thus far their opposition has been peaceful.

Robert Arryn and his household descend from the Eyrie to the Gates of the Moon as Winter approaches.

House Arryn at the end of the third century

The known Arryns during the timespan of the events described in A Song of Ice and Fire are:

With unspecified familiar relationship to the main branch there are also:

  • Ser {Denys Arryn}, known as "the Darling of the Vale", married a distant cousin who descended from the main Arryn branch. As such was considered heir to the Vale after Elbert Arryn.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jasper
 
Unknown
wife
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rowena
Arryn
 
Jeyne
Royce
 
Jon
 
Lysa
Tully
 
 
 
Alys
 
Elys
Waynwood
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ronnel
 
Lady
Belmore
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Stillborn
daughter
 
2 stillborn
children
 
Robert
 
Daughter
 
Denys
Arryn
 
Daughter
 
6 daughters
 
Jasper
Waynwood
 
Elbert
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Son
 
 
 
Harrold
Hardyng
 


Household

Historical Members

Sworn Houses

The following are not directly sworn to House Arryn: Borrell, Longthorpe, Torrent, Shett, Coldwater, Tollett, Hardyng.

References and Notes

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at House Arryn.
The list of authors can be seen in the page history of House Arryn.
As with A Wiki of Ice and Fire, the content of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.