Difference between revisions of "Sack of King's Landing"

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==Quotes about the Sack==
 
==Quotes about the Sack==
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{{Quote|The lion of [[Lannister]] flew over the ramparts, not [[Baratheon|the crowned stag]]. And they had taken the city by treachery. {{Ref|aGoT|12}}}} - [[Eddard Stark]]
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{{Quote|It was I who bid [[The Mad King|Aerys]] open his gates ...{{Ref|ACOK|25|301}}}} - Grand Maester [[Pycelle]] admission to [[Tyrion Lannister]]
 
{{Quote|It was I who bid [[The Mad King|Aerys]] open his gates ...{{Ref|ACOK|25|301}}}} - Grand Maester [[Pycelle]] admission to [[Tyrion Lannister]]
  
  
{{Quote|I saw King's Landing after the sack. Babes were butchered that day as well, and old men, and children at play. More women were raped than you can count.{{ref|ASOS|23}}}} - [[Jorah Mormont]]
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{{Quote|I saw King's Landing after the sack. Babes were butchered that day as well, and old men, and children at play. More women were raped than you can count. {{ref|ASOS|23}}}} - [[Jorah Mormont]]
  
  
{{Quote|There was no honor in that conquest.{{Ref|aGoT|12}}}} - [[Eddard Stark]]
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{{Quote|There was no honor in that conquest. {{Ref|aGoT|12}}}} - [[Eddard Stark]]
  
 
{{Robert's Rebellion}}
 
{{Robert's Rebellion}}

Revision as of 22:16, 1 August 2013

Sack of King's Landing
Sack of King's Landing.jpg
Lannister forces sack the city
Conflict Robert's Rebellion
Date 283 AC
Place King's Landing
Result Rebel victory
Combatants
Army of the Westerlands Remaining army of the Crownlands
Commanders
Tywin Lannister Aerys II
Strength
12,000 unknown
Casualties
unknown Aerys II+
Rossart+
Manly Stokeworth+
Princess Elia+
Rhaenys+

The Sack of King’s Landing occurred one year into Robert's Rebellion.

The Battle

Lord Tywin Lannister, who had remained neutral until the Battle of the Trident, marched to the gates of King's Landing with a force of 12,000 men, claiming loyalty to King Aerys II and asking to be let in. It was Grand Maester Pycelle who convinced the Mad King to open his gates to the Lannisters, which was done over the objections of his spymaster Varys. Pycelle felt the realm needed a new king after Rhaegar's death, and hoped it would have been Tywin.[1][2] The Lannister forces then began to sack the city in Robert's name. Aerys ordered his most recent Hand, the pyromancer Rossart, to ignite the wildfire caches throughout the city, saying, "Let him [Robert] be king over charred bones and cooked meat. Let him be the king of ashes."

Aerys then ordered Jaime Lannister, one of his Kingsguard, to hold the Red Keep and kill his father Lord Tywin. Instead, Jaime slew Lord Rossart and then murdered Aerys himself on the Iron Throne. At approximately the same, other Lannister soldiers fought Targaryen loyalists on the steps and in the armory of the Red Keep, and Eddard Stark was leading Robert's vanguard through the city gates. Lord Crakehall asked Jaime if they should proclaim a new king. Left unsaid was a clear implication, asking whether Jaime would proclaim Tywin Lannister, Robert Baratheon, or a member of House Targaryen. Jaime told Crakehall to proclaim whichever king he wished. [3]

Tywin sent his knights Ser Gregor Clegane and Ser Amory Lorch to scale Maegor's Holdfast and deal with the rest of the royal family, securing the throne for Robert and proving that House Lannister had forsaken the Targaryens forever. Gregor killed the infant crown prince Aegon Targaryen while his mother watched, and then proceeded to rape and murder Princess Elia herself. Amory dragged Princess Rhaenys from under her father's bed and stabbed her half a hundred times. When Eddard Stark arrived shortly thereafter at the head of the main rebel army, he found Jaime seated on the Iron Throne and Aerys' corpse slumped below it. Tywin Lannister presented the bodies of Rhaegar's wife Elia and the children Aegon and Rhaenys, as tokens of his fealty, laid out beneath the Iron Throne, wrapped in crimson cloaks.[4] The resulting argument between Ned and Robert led to Ned riding out alone to finish the war in the south.[1]

Aftermath

Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon argued over the killing of Rhaegar's family, Eddard believing it unjustified murder, Robert satisfied with the deaths of Rhaegar's children; even Jon Arryn couldn't calm their anger. Eddard Stark went south and lifted the Siege of Storm's End and finally to the Tower of Joy, and they were only reconciled by shared grief over the death of Lyanna. [1]

Survivors of the sack, such as Ser Jaremy Rykker and Ser Alliser Thorne were given by Tywin the choice of joining the Night's Watch or death.[5]

Quotes about the Sack

The lion of Lannister flew over the ramparts, not the crowned stag. And they had taken the city by treachery. [1]

- Eddard Stark


It was I who bid Aerys open his gates ...[6]

- Grand Maester Pycelle admission to Tyrion Lannister


I saw King's Landing after the sack. Babes were butchered that day as well, and old men, and children at play. More women were raped than you can count. [7]

- Jorah Mormont


There was no honor in that conquest. [1]

- Eddard Stark

References and Notes