Editing Red Keep (section)

==Layout==
{{See also|:Category:Images of the Red Keep|l1=Images of the Red Keep}}

The Red Keep is made of pale red stone{{Ref|AGOT|18}} and overlooks the mouth of the [[Blackwater Rush]].{{Ref|ACOK|58}} The Red Keep has seven massive drum-towers crowned with [[iron]] ramparts.{{Ref|AGOT|18}} The castle is smaller than [[Winterfell]]{{Ref|AGOT|32}} and is patrolled by [[gold cloaks]].{{Ref|AGOT|47}} Much of the Red Keep is connected underground.{{Ref|ASOS|58}}

Massive curtain walls surround the castle, with nests and crenelations for archers.{{Ref|AGoT|18}} Thick stone parapets, some four feet high, protect the outer edge of the wall ramparts, where the heads of traitors are traditionally placed on iron spikes between the crenels at the gatehouse.{{Ref|AGOT|67}} The walls have great [[bronze]] gates{{Ref|AGOT|20}} and portcullises, with narrow postern doors nearby.{{Ref|AGOT|18}} The [[King's Gate (Red Keep)|King's Gate]] is one of the entrances to the Red Keep.{{ref|AGOT|27}} The castle also has great cornerforts.{{Ref|ACOK|52}} The immense barbican has a cobbled square in front of it.{{Ref|ACOK|41}} Behind the walls are small inner yards, vaulted halls, covered bridges, barracks of the [[City Watch of King's Landing]], dungeons, granaries, kennels, and stables.{{Ref|AGOT|18}}{{Ref|AGOT|32}}{{Ref|ASOS|12}}{{Ref|ASOS|54}}

The Red Keep has [[serpentine steps]] which can be strenuous to climb.{{Ref|ACOK|18}} [[Maegor's Holdfast]],{{Ref|ACOK|18}} the [[Small council chamber]],{{Ref|ACOK|15}} [[Pycelle's chambers]],{{ref|ACOK|17}} the lower bailey,{{Ref|ACOK|17}} a [[Courtyard of the Red Keep|small sunken courtyard]],{{Ref|ASOS|61}} and the [[black cells]]{{Ref|ASOS|70}} are located below the steps. The [[Great Hall (Red Keep)|Great Hall]] with the throne room{{ref|AFFC|24}} and the [[Tower of the Hand]]{{Ref|ASOS|4}} are found above the steps, and the [[Outer yard of the Red Keep|outer yard]] is found near its main gate.{{Ref|ACOK|17}}{{Ref|ASOS|4}}{{Ref|ASOS|70}} [[Littlefinger's chambers]] are across the yard from the Tower of the Hand.{{Ref|AGOT|30}} Also above the steps are the [[godswood of the Red Keep|godswood]], the river walk, the small kitchen, and the pig yard.{{Ref|ACOK|18}} The [[royal sept]] and the [[Maidenvault]] are located above the serpentine steps as well.{{Ref|ASOS|6}}

Relics of the [[House Targaryen|Targaryen]] dynasty, such as dusty suits of black armor, sit in some corridors.{{Ref|AGOT|20}} Doors are made of [[oak]] banded with black [[iron]].{{Ref|AGOT|22}} Sweet-smelling rushes can be spread on floors.{{Ref|ACOK|57}}{{Ref|ASOS|6}} The Red Keep is full of [[cat]]s, both pets as well as strays, like a [[Balerion (cat)|black tomcat]].{{Ref|AGOT|32}}

The household of the castle is led by the [[chief steward of the Red Keep]] and his understewards.{{ref|FAB|A Time of Testing - The Realm Remade}}

===Great Hall===
[[File:The iron throne.jpg|thumb|The [[Iron Throne]] in the [[Great Hall (Red Keep)|throne room]], by Marc Simonetti © Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial]]
The [[Great Hall (Red Keep)|Great Hall]] contains the throne room of the king. The [[Iron Throne]] sits on a raised iron dais with high and narrow steps. A long carpet stretches from the throne to the hall's great [[oak]]-and-[[bronze]] doors. The cavernous Great Hall can feast a thousand people.{{Ref|AGOT|22}}  The hall is oriented north to south, with high, narrow windows on the eastern and western walls. [[Skulls of the Targaryen dragons]] once adorned the walls, but King [[Robert I Baratheon]] had them moved to a cellar and replaced with hunting [[tapestries]] at the beginning of his reign.{{Ref|AGOT|13}}{{Ref|AGOT|43}} Located behind the Iron Throne is the king's door, a private exit.{{Ref|AFFC|32}}{{Ref|AFFC|43}}

The second-largest chamber in Westeros after [[Harrenhal]], more than a thousand maidens and their family members and servants overcrowded the Great Hall during the [[Maiden's Day Ball]].{{Ref|FaB|21}} [[Small council]] sessions are sometimes held in the throne room.{{Ref|ADWD|Epilogue}}

===Maegor's Holdfast===
[[Maegor's Holdfast]] is a massive square fortress inside the heart of the Red Keep. The castle-within-a-castle is situated behind walls twelve feet thick and a dry moat lined with iron spikes. Maegor's Holdfast includes the royal apartments, and the king's bedchamber contains a canopied bed and twin hearths.{{Ref|AGOT|47}} The holdfast also contains the [[Queen's Ballroom]].{{Ref|ACOK|57}}

===Tower of the Hand===
[[File:Tower of the Hand.jpg|thumb|[[Tower of the Hand]], by Ryan Barger © Fantasy Flight Games]]
The [[Tower of the Hand]] contains the chambers of the [[Hand of the King]] and the [[Small Hall]].{{Ref|AGOT|22}} The building has a [[solar]] and a garderobe,{{Ref|ACOK|29}} as well as tall windows.{{Ref|AGOT|39}} Below the tower is the [[chamber of the dragon mosaic]].{{Ref|ASOS|77}}

===Other Buildings===
The council chamber hosts meetings of the [[small council]]. It contains a long table,{{Ref|AGOT|51}} at the head of which may sit the king.{{Ref|ASOS|19}} The chamber is richly furnished with [[Myr]]ish carpet, a carved screen from the [[Summer Isles]], and tapestries from [[Lys]], [[Norvos]], and [[Qohor]]. The chamber's door is flanked by two [[Valyrian sphinx]]es.{{Ref|AGOT|20}} The door can be guarded by a knight of the [[Kingsguard]] when the council is in session.{{Ref|AFFC|17}}

[[White Sword Tower]], located near [[Blackwater Bay]], contains the chambers of the [[Kingsguard]].{{Ref|ASOS|67}}

The [[Maidenvault]] is a long, slate-roofed building located behind the [[royal sept]].{{Ref|ASOS|6}} The castle also has a library.{{Ref|ASOS|12}}

The [[Kitchen Keep]] is located in a courtyard across from the castle's main kitchen. Lord [[Gyles Rosby]] has spacious apartments above the Kitchen Keep, including a large bedchamber, a solar, a bath, a dressing room, and small adjoining chambers for servants.{{Ref|ASoS|58}} The Red Keep also has a small kitchen and a pig yard.{{Ref|ACOK|18}}

[[File:White Sword Tower.jpg|thumb|[[White Sword Tower]], by Franz Miklis © Fantasy Flight Games]]

The [[godswood of the Red Keep]] is an acre of elm, alder and black cottonwood trees that overlook the [[Blackwater Rush]]. The [[heart tree]] is a great oak with limbs overgrown with smokeberry vines.{{Ref|AGOT|25}} Princess [[Myrcella Baratheon]] has a garden at the Red Keep.{{Ref|AGoT|57}}

The [[rookery]] is the home of the [[raven]]s used by [[maesters]] of the [[Citadel]]. The [[Grand Maester]] has [[Pycelle's chambers|his chambers]] beneath the rookery.{{Ref|ADWD|Epilogue}}

[[Varys's chambers|The snug apartments]] of Lord [[Varys]], the [[master of whisperers]], are three windowless chambers with a hearth near the northern wall. Varys sleeps on a stone bed.{{Ref|ASOS|12}}

===Dungeons===
The Traitor's Walk is a pathway{{Ref|AGOT|32}}{{Ref|ASOS|59}} leading to a squat, half-round tower.{{Ref|AFFC|27}} The top floor holds cells for prisoners kept in a degree of comfort, such as [[knight]]s or [[lord]]lings who might be ransomed, while the entrance to the dungeons sits on the ground floor. The other floors between contain rooms for the [[King's Justice]], the [[Chief Gaoler]], and the [[Lord Confessor]].{{Ref|AFFC|27}}

The dungeon entrance consists of a door of hammered iron and another door of splintered grey wood.{{Ref|AFFC|27}} King [[Maegor I Targaryen]] ordered that the dungeons below the squat tower have four levels.{{Ref|ASOS|77}}

The uppermost level has cells with high narrow windows where [[smallfolk|common]] criminals are confined together.{{Ref|ASOS|77}}

The second level has smaller, personal cells without windows for [[highborn]] captives. Torches in the halls cast light through the bars.{{Ref|ASOS|77}}

The third level cells, the [[black cells]], are smaller still and have doors of wood so that no light enters them,{{Ref|ASOS|77}} but they have not been used in recent years.{{Ref|AFFC|7}}

The lowest level is used for [[torture]]. It is supposedly safer to go through the fourth level of the dungeons in darkness, because there are things one would not wish to see.{{Ref|ASOS|77}} The dungeon has twisting turnpike stairs and iron gates.{{Ref|ASOS|77}} A path from the lowest level leads to the [[chamber of the dragon mosaic]] below the [[Tower of the Hand]] and to the [[Blackwater Rush]].{{Ref|ASOS|77}}

===Secret Passages===
[[File:Red Keep tunnels.jpg|thumb|350px|Red Keep tunnels, by Jonny Klein © Fantasy Flight Games]]
The Red Keep and [[Aegon's High Hill]] have a network of secret passages and tunnels. King [[Maegor I Targaryen]] had them built to enable him to make a quick escape, should his enemies ever trap him.{{Ref|ASOS|12}} The tunnels are supposedly full of traps. Some tunnels are of stone, while others are earth supported by timbers. Some of them are so small that a grown man must crawl through them. Some pass close to other rooms in the Red Keep, allowing a hidden person to eavesdrop on conversations.{{Ref|ASOS|77}}

The bedchamber used by Lord [[Varys]] contains a mechanism that causes his stone slab of a bed to float up and reveal a hidden staircase.{{Ref|ASOS|12}} One secret passage leads from the bedchamber of the [[Tower of the Hand]] to the [[chamber of the dragon mosaic]] below.{{Ref|ASOS|77}}{{Ref|ADwD|1}} There is also a secret way to get out of the Red Keep onto the cliffs facing the sea. Narrow handholds, impossible to see from the ground, have been cut into the rock so one may climb down to a trail beside the [[Blackwater Rush]].{{Ref|AGOT|20}}{{Ref|ASOS|61}} Another passage out of the Red Keep passes by the cellar of the [[skulls of the Targaryen dragons]], and leads to a sewer that empties into the river.{{Ref|AGOT|32}}

Maegor's Holdfast is the only building in the Red Keep that has no secret passages, as Maegor "wanted no rats in his own walls". There is one escape door, but it does not connect to any other passage in the Red Keep.{{Ref|ASOS|12}} 

People familiar with the secret passages have included Maegor himself, [[Cheese (the rat-catcher)|Cheese]], Lord [[Larys Strong]], Varys and his [[little birds]], and Lord [[Petyr Baelish]].