The serpentine steps, also called the serpentine,[1][2] are stairs within the Red Keep in King's Landing.
Layout
The twisting serpentine steps connect upper and lower areas of the Red Keep on Aegon's High Hill. There are hidden doorways along the staircase.[1] The steps can be strenuous to climb.[3][1][4]
Maegor's Holdfast,[1] the small council chambers,[5] Pycelle's chambers,[6] the lower bailey,[6] a small sunken courtyard,[2] and the black cells[7] are located below the steps.
The Great Hall with the throne room[8] and the Tower of the Hand[4] are found above the steps, and the outer yard is found near the main gate.[6][4][7] Also above the steps are the godswood, the river walk, the small kitchen, and the pig yard.[1] The royal sept and the Maidenvault are located above the serpentine steps as well.[9]
History
Queen Alysanne Targaryen broke her hip after slipping and falling on the serpentine steps in 95 AC.[10]
Grand Maester Mellos collapsed and died while climbing the steps in 127 AC.[11]
Queen Alicent Hightower was arrested on the serpentine steps by Velaryon men during the downfall of her son, King Aegon II Targaryen.[12]
Lord Corlys Velaryon died after collapsing on the steps in 132 AC.[3]
Prior to the Maiden's Day Ball, Falena Stokeworth broke her leg from a tumble down the steps.[13]
Targaryen loyalists defended the serpentine steps during the Sack of King's Landing.[14]
Recent Events
A Game of Thrones
Arya Stark chases a black tomcat down the serpentine steps.[15]
A Clash of Kings
While Tyrion Lannister is traveling from the small council chambers to the Tower of the Hand, Lady Tanda Stokeworth calls to him from the top of the stairs; Tyrion pretends not to hear her.[5] Tyrion, a dwarf, has difficulty with the steps.[6]
Sansa Stark sneaks out of Maegor's Holdfast in the night and climbs the serpentine steps on her way to the godswood of the Red Keep, where she finds Ser Dontos Hollard waiting for her.[1] When Sansa races back down the stairs, Sandor Clegane emerges from a hidden doorway and escorts the girl back to Maegor's.[1]
A Storm of Swords
Tyrion, wounded from the Battle of the Blackwater, has Bronn carry him up the steps when he travels from Maegor's Holdfast to the Tower of the Hand.[4]
Sansa ascends the serpentine steps in the company of Ser Loras Tyrell of the Kingsguard.[9]
Tyrion and Shae, his secret paramour, pass each other on the serpentine steps. Tyrion dislikes it when a young knight helps Shae carry a heavy pail of water up the staircase.[16]
A drunken Dontos wretches on the serpentine steps during his flight from the Red Keep with Sansa after the the death of King Joffrey I Baratheon.[2] Varys later informs Tyrion, who has been imprisoned for Joffrey's murder, that Dontos and Sansa were last seen on the steps.[17]
A Feast for Crows
Queen Regent Cersei Lannister has Loras escort her down the steps.[8]
Quotes
The serpentine steps twisted ahead, striped by bars of flickering light from the narrow windows above.[1]
—thoughts of Sansa Stark
It's a long roll down the serpentine, little bird.[1]
I will never climb those by myself, he confessed to himself. Swallowing his dignity, he asked Bronn to carry him, hoping against hope that at this hour there would be no one to see and smile, no one to tell the tale of the dwarf being carried up the steps like a babe in arms.[4]
—thoughts of Tyrion Lannister
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 18, Sansa II.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 61, Sansa V.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Fire & Blood, Under the Regents: The Hooded Hand.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 4, Tyrion I.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 15, Tyrion III.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 17, Tyrion IV.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 70, Tyrion X.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 24, Cersei V.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 6, Sansa I.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, Jaehaerys and Alysanne: Policy, Progeny, and Pain.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, Heirs of the Dragon: A Question of Succession.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons: The Short, Sad Reign of Aegon II.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, Under the Regents: War and Peace and Cattle Shows.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 11, Jaime II.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 32, Arya III.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 12, Tyrion II.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 77, Tyrion XI.