The Long Bridge is an old bridge that joins the two halves of Volantis across the mouth of the Rhoyne. Built by the Valyrian Freehold at the height of its glory,[1] it is the longest bridge in the known world and was named by Lomas Longstrider as one of the nine Wonders Made by Man.[2]
Layout
The Long Bridge is a fused stone roadway supported by massive piers.[1] The districts near both ends of the bridge are very crowded.[1]
The half of Volantis east of the Long Bridge is the older and richer part of the city, containing the Black Walls and the Temple of the Lord of Light. The Long Bridge's gateway at its eastern end is an arch of black stone carved with sphinxes, manticores, dragons, and other strange beasts. Beyond it stretches the dragonstone roadway, supported by massive piers.[1]
The road is barely wide enough for two wagons to pass side by side. There are buildings on both sides of the roadway, including shops, temples, taverns, inns, cyvasse parlors, and brothels. Most buildings are three to four stories tall, and each floor extends farther than the one beneath it. The topmost floors on both sides almost reach each other. Almost everything is sold in the shops and stalls on the Long Bridge. Merchants include weavers, lacemakers, glassblowers, candlemakers, smiths, spice merchants, leatherworkers, and fishwives, side by side. Goldsmiths and spicers keep guards at their doors to protect their merchandise.[1]
Occasionally the river Rhoyne can be glimpsed through gaps between the buildings. To the north, the Rhoyne appears to be a broad black ribbon, while south of the bridge, the river joins the briny Summer Sea.[1]
At the bridge's center span, the tiger cloaks display the heads of executed criminals, their crimes written on tablets beneath each head. The severed hands of thieves and cutpurses are hung from iron stanchions along the roadway.[1]
Traffic is thicker at the western end of the bridge, where the streets are filled with wayns, carts, hathays and slaves.[3] It is then a short walk through the teeming waterfront districts of the west bank to Fishermonger's Square and the Merchant's House. The Long Bridge can be seen from the windows of some rooms in the Merchant's House.[1] Foreigners are generally restricted to the wilder western half of the city.
History
Volantis, the eldest of the Free Cities, was the first colony of the Valyrian Freehold, and was little more than a garrison protected by the Black Walls for a hundred years.[2] Wealthy Valyrians used this military outpost to take advantage of trade along the Rhoyne,[4] and settlements quickly grew on both sides of the river. While homes and shops and inns spread along the east bank, the west bank developed into a lawless "shadow city". The triarchs of Volantis sent their slave soldiers across the Rhoyne to restore order, but strong tides and treacherous shifting currents made the crossings difficult.[2]
Eventually, Vhalaso the Munificent ordered a bridge to be built across the Rhoyne. The river's great width, as well as those tides and currents, caused the building of the bridge to be a tremendous undertaking, lasting over forty years and costing millions of honors. Triarch Vhalaso died before the bridge was completed, but when it was, there was nothing comparable except the now-ruined Bridge of Dream in the Rhoynar city of Chroyane.[2]
Recent Events
A Dance with Dragons
Prince Quentyn Martell and his companions pass by the western end of the Long Bridge while traveling from the docks to the Merchant's House.[3]
Tyrion Lannister and his captor, Ser Jorah Mormont, cross the Long Bridge from east to west in order to get to the Merchant's House and the widow of the waterfront. A third of the way down the bridge, Tyrion sees that a wagon filled with melons has tangled its wheels with one carrying silken carpets, and brought all wheeled traffic to a stop. Many pedestrians have also stopped to watch the wagon drivers fight, but Jorah grabs Tyrion's chain and pushes their way through the crowd. The two men see the heads of executed criminals at the center of the bridge, and Jorah translates the tablets to say that one was executed for killing his father. Jorah considers purchasing a jeweled tiara on a bed of purple velvet, but passes it by to haggle over a pair of gloves at a leatherworker's stall. He later gifts the gloves to the widow of the waterfront.[1]
Quotes
Strong enough to support the weight of a thousand elephants (or so it is claimed), the Long Bridge of Volantis stands today as the longest bridge in all the known world.[2]
—writings of Yandel
Buildings rose to either side of them: shops and temples, taverns and inns, cyvasse parlors and brothels. Most were three or four stories tall, each floor overhanging the one beneath it. Their top floors almost kissed. Crossing the bridge felt like passing through a torchlit tunnel. Along the span were shops and stalls of every sort; weavers and lacemakers displayed their wares cheek by jowl with glassblowers, candlemakers, and fishwives selling eels and oysters.[1]
—thoughts of Tyrion Lannister
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 27, Tyrion VII.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 The World of Ice & Fire, Beyond the Sunset Kingdom: The Free Cities (Volantis).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 6, The Merchant's Man.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Ancient History: The Arrival of the Andals.