A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for princes. Unlike a castle, palaces are not fortified, or only lightly fortified at best.
Culture
Mermaid's Palace is a small isle off the coast of the Arbor.[1] Highgarden has a palatial keep, which is decorated with statues and colonnades.[2]
Several major cities in Essos have palaces, such as Volantis,[3] Meereen,[4] and Asshai.[5] Qartheen spice ships can be as big as palaces.[6]
Sealord's Palace in Braavos has domes and towers,[7] and contains the Sealord's menagerie,[8] while the Palace of Truth, also in Braavos, has green copper domes.[9] Satin Palace is a brothel located in Braavos.[10]
The Pearl Palace is the seat of the Princes of Koj on Koj, one of the Summer Isles. The palace has a famed collection of charts and maps.[11]
According to legend, the floating palace made its way endlessly around the shores of the Silver Sea. Kings, lords, and wise men are said to have made their way to the palace to seek counsel from the esteemed Fisher Queens.[12]
History
Antiquity
The Palace With a Thousand Rooms was the residence of the High King of Sarnor in the city of Sarnath.[13]
Allegedly inspired by his wife Teora Hunter, King Roland I Arryn decided to build the Eyrie, a new royal palace on the Giant's Lance, high in the mountains above his castle, the Gates of the Moon.[14] The Eyrie was inhabited as a pleasure palace.[15]
Im Dorne, the Old Palace was built after the union of the Rhoynar with the Dornishmen, with both its towers (Tower of the Sun and Spear Tower) built in the Rhoynish fashion.[16]
On the day of the Doom of Valyria, earthquakes destroyed palaces, temples, and towns, while a wall of water three hundred feet high destroyed Velos, including its palaces of cedar and pink marble.[17]
Targaryen Era
Before Elissa Farman departed Braavos on Sun Chaser, the Sealord called her to his palace and advised her to sail away quickly and cautiously.[18]
According to records set down by Corlys Velaryon in his letters, the Isle of Elephants is ruled by a shan, who rules from a palace made of ivory.[19]
In 135 AC, Marilda of Hull built a palatial manse at Hull that Mushroom dubbed the Mouse House.[20]
When King Baelor I Targaryen visited Dorne after the death of his predecessor, King Daeron I Targaryen, he was hosted by the Prince of Dorne in the Old Palace.[21]
In 188 AC, King Daeron II Targaryen built Summerhall in the Dornish Marches to celebrate the peaceful joining of Dorne with the rest of the Seven Kingdoms. It was more palace than castle, and only lightly fortified.[22]
The Water Gardens were raised by Maron Martell, Prince of Dorne, as a gift for his new bride, Princess Daenerys Targaryen, to mark the union of Dorne with the realm.[23] The palace has since been used as a private retreat for House Martell.
Recent Events
A Game of Thrones
Daenerys Targaryen visits the palace of Khal Drogo, located near the Eastern Market of Vaes Dothrak. The palace is a massive, cavernous wooden feasting hall of rough-hewn logs that rise forty feet high. It has a silk roof which can be raised or lowered. Surrounding the palace are horse yards fenced with high hedges, firepits, and hundreds of grass-covered round earthen houses.[24] Dothraki can also raise 'palaces' of woven grass.[25]
A Clash of Kings
Daenerys Targaryen visits the House of the Undying,[26] also known as Palace of Dust.[27] She also considers Xaro's home a palace, which easily accommodates her little khalasar and their horses. An entire wing of the palace is given over to her, and she has slaves to tend to her every need.[27]
A Feast for Crows
Disguised as the Braavos street urchin and fish peddler "Cat of the Canals", Arya Stark travels south on the Long Canal to the fishmarket in southern Braavos, passing beneath the Palace of Truth on the way, and later selling shellfish on the steps of the palace.[9] Deserting from the Night's Watch, Dareon intends to one day perform at the Sealord's Palace, the seat of Ferrego Antaryon, the Sealord of Braavos. However, Dareon is killed by Arya.[9]
Mermaid's Palace is attacked and conquered by the ironborn, along with the Isle of Pigs and Stonecrab Cay. It is now used as one of their bases.[1]
A Dance with Dragons
Travelling down the Rhoyne, the Shy Maid and her crew pass the ruins of Nymeria's palace in Ny Sar, which was made of pink and green marble,[28] and later also pass the ruins of the Palace of Love, now called the Palace of Sorrow, which had graceful buttresses, delicate arches, fluted columns, terraces and bowers. The palace's towers and fallen stones are covered in thick, grey moss and black vines. The fog allows Tyrion Lannister to see only a quarter of the palace, but he believes it must have been ten times the size of the Red Keep and a hundred times more beautiful.[29]
Doran Martell hosts a feast for Ser Balon Swann in the Old Palace's feast hall, after which he meets with the Sand Snakes and Arianne Martell in his solar.[30]
In Meereen, Prince Quentyn Martell tells Queen Daenerys Targaryen that Prince Maron Martell had built the Water Gardens for his bride, though Daenerys admits to never having heard of the palace before.[23]
When Victarion Greyjoy and his scattered Iron Fleet hunt at the Isle of Cedars, the ironborn see the broken palaces and shattered statues of drowned Velos, half a league north of the point where the fleet lies at anchor.[17]
Known palaces
- Eyrie[15]
- Floating palace (legend)[12]
- Highgarden[2]
- House of the Undying[27]
- Mouse House[20]
- Nymeria's palace[28]
- Old Palace[16]
- Palace of Khal Drogo[24]
- Palace With a Thousand Rooms[13]
- Pearl Palace[11]
- Sealord's Palace[7]
- Palace of Sorrow[29]
- Summerhall[22]
- Palace of Truth[9]
- Water Gardens
- Xaro's home[27]
Quotes
The most splendid work ever built by the hands of men, a palace worthy of the gods themselves. Surely even the Father Above does not have such a seat.[14]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 45, Samwell V.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The Reach: Highgarden.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Free Cities: Volantis.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 71, Daenerys VI.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Beyond the Sunset Kingdom: The Bones and Beyond (Asshai-by-the-Shadow).
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 6, The Merchant's Man.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 26, Samwell III.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Free Cities: Braavos.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 34, Cat Of The Canals.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 45, The Blind Girl.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 The World of Ice & Fire, Beyond the Free Cities: The Summer Isles.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 The World of Ice & Fire, Beyond the Free Cities: The Grasslands.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The Grasslands.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The Vale: The Eyrie.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, The Eyrie.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 The World of Ice & Fire, Dorne: Sunspear.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 56, The Iron Suitor.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, Jaehaerys and Alysanne - Their Triumphs and Tragedies.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Beyond the Bones: Leng.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Fire & Blood, The Lysene Spring and the End of Regency.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Baelor I.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Daeron II.
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 50, Daenerys VIII.
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 36, Daenerys IV.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 11, Daenerys II.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 48, Daenerys IV.
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 27, Daenerys II.
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 14, Tyrion IV.
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 18, Tyrion V.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 38, The Watcher.