Massey's Hook, sometimes simply called the Hook, is a peninsula in the crownlands that defines the eastern extent of Blackwater Bay.[1] Ships must sail around the Hook in order to get to King's Landing from the south.[2]
The Gullet separates Massey's Hook from Dragonstone and Driftmark to the north, while southwest of the peninsula are the kingswood and the Wendwater.[3]
Geography
Massey's Hook is a stony peninsula with a rugged mountainous spine that runs along its interior, home to numerous defiles and ridges.[4]
Sharp Point, the seat of House Bar Emmon, sits at the northern end of the Hook.[5] Farther south on the eastern shore lies Stonedance, the seat of House Massey, from which the land gets its name.[1]
History
Antiquity
During the Dawn Age, the stony spine of the Hook was inhabited by giants that lived in the defiles and ridges of the peninsula.[4]
Storm Kings
Stonedance, the seat of House Massey, was built on Massey's Hook by Lord Maldon Massey, a vassal of the Storm King Durran the Ravenfriend. The Masseys broke away during the reign of Durwald the Fat, however.[6]
At the time of the coming of the Andals, the Storm King Erich the Unready battled the pirate king Justin Milk-Eye for control of Massey's Hook; this was eventually resolved when Qarlton II Durrandon defeated Josua Massey. Soon after the Andal warlord Togarion Bar Emmon traveled south of the Blackwater Rush and established a new kingdom on Massey's Hook with Sharp Point as his seat. The peninsula was eventually reclaimed by the Storm Kings, however.[7]
Some Storm Kings kept war fleets at Massey's Hook.[8]
Iron Throne
Prior to Aegon's Conquest, Massey's Hook was part of the stormlands owing allegiance to the Storm Kings from House Durrandon of Storm's End. The Bar Emmons and Masseys had developed closer ties with the Targaryens of Dragonstone, however. In search of an ally against King Harren Hoare, King Argilac Durrandon reached out to Lord Aegon Targaryen, offering lands east of the Gods Eye. Since that part of the riverlands was actually held by Harren the Black, Aegon countered by asking for lands under Durrandon control, including Massey's Hook; Argilac the Arrogant refused. Instead of supporting Argilac, the Bar Emmons and Masseys allied with the Targaryens when they invaded the Seven Kingdoms.[9] After Aegon the Conqueror's victory, Massey's Hook became part of the new crownlands owing allegiance to the Targaryens reigning in King's Landing.
The Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion began when Daemon III Blackfyre and Aegor Rivers landed on Massey's Hook, but they were defeated in the Battle of Wendwater Bridge.[10]
Recent Events
A Clash of Kings
While sailing from Storm's End to King's Landing before the Battle of the Blackwater, Stannis Baratheon's fleet regroups along Massey's Hook after being scattered across the narrow sea by a storm.[11]
Quotes
Maldon Massey built the castle Stonedance and established his lordship over Massey's Hook under another King Durran, called the Ravenfriend, but his dates and number remain in dispute as well.[6]
—writings of Yandel
The winds had not used them kindly on the voyage up from Storm's End. They had lost two cogs to the rocks of Shipbreaker Bay on the very day they set sail, a poor way to begin. One of the Myrish galleys had foundered in the Straits of Tarth, and a storm had overtaken them as they were entering the Gullet, scattering the fleet across half the narrow sea. All but twelve ships had finally regrouped behind the sheltering spine of Massey's Hook, in the calmer waters of Blackwater Bay, but not before they had lost considerable time.[11]
—thoughts of Davos Seaworth
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Massey's Hook.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 52, Sansa IV.
- ↑ The Lands of Ice and Fire, Westeros.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The Stormlands: The Coming of the First Men.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 10, Davos II.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The Stormlands: House Durrandon.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Stormlands: Andals in the Stormlands.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Stormlands: The Men of the Stormlands.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, Aegon's Conquest.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon V.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 58, Davos III.