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{{Infobox Settlement
 
{{Infobox Settlement
 
| name = Sunspear
 
| name = Sunspear
| image =
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| image = [[File:Ted Nasmith A Song of Ice and Fire Sunspear.jpg|350px]]
| image_caption =
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| image_caption = Sunspear by [http://www.tednasmith.com/ Ted Nasmith] ©
 
| location = [[Westeros]], [[Dorne]]
 
| location = [[Westeros]], [[Dorne]]
 
| settlement_type= Fortress, Regional Capitol
 
| settlement_type= Fortress, Regional Capitol
| seat = [[House Martell]]
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| seat = [[House Martell|House Nymeros Martell]]
 
| seat_type =
 
| seat_type =
 
| religion = [[Faith of the Seven]]
 
| religion = [[Faith of the Seven]]
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| founded =
 
| founded =
 
| destroyed =  
 
| destroyed =  
| named_for =
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| named_for = The sigil of House Nymeros Martell{{Ref|TWOIAF| Dorne: Sunspear}}
| places = [[Sandship]], Tower of the Sun, Spear Tower, shadow city
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| places = [[Old Palace]], [[Sandship]], Winding Walls, shadow city
 
| organizations =
 
| organizations =
 
}}
 
}}
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| label = Sunspear
 
| label = Sunspear
 
| label_size = 100
 
| label_size = 100
| lat = -17
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| lat = -23
| long = 134
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| long = 138
| position = right
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| position = top
| marksize = 15
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| marksize = 10
 
| width = 350
 
| width = 350
 
| float = below
 
| float = below
| caption =
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| caption = Dorne and the location of Sunspear
 
| alt = Dorne and the location of Sunspear
 
| alt = Dorne and the location of Sunspear
 
}}
 
}}
  
'''Sunspear''' is the seat of [[House Martell]] and the capital of [[Dorne]]. The castle is located on the far southeastern coast of [[Westeros]] and is surrounded on three sides by the sea. The princely [[Water Gardens]] lie three leagues away on the coastal road.
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'''Sunspear''', also known as the '''Old Palace''',{{Ref|AWOIAF| Sunspear}} is the seat of [[House Martell|House Nymeros Martell]] and the capital of [[Dorne]]. The castle is located on the [[Broken Arm]], north of the [[Greenblood]] on the far southeastern coast of [[Westeros]] and is surrounded on three sides by the sea, and by the shadow city on the fourth side.{{Ref|AFFC|13}}{{Ref|TWOIAF| Dorne: Sunspear}} The palace of the [[Water Gardens]] lies three leagues away on the coastal road.{{Ref|AFFC|2}}
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==Househould==
 +
[[Areo Hotah]] is the [[House Martell guards|captain of guards]] for [[Doran Martell]], while [[Caleotte]] and [[Myles]] are [[maesters]] serving [[House Martell]]. [[Ricasso]] is the castle's seneschal and Ser [[Manfrey Martell]] is its castellan. [[Alyse Ladybright]] is Sunspear's lord treasurer.{{ref|ADWD|Appendix}}
  
 
==Layout==
 
==Layout==
Sunspear is a walled settlement, protected by three massive winding walls encircling one another. Entry to the city is by means of the Threefold Gate, where the gates are lined up one behind the other allowing straight passage, leading all the way up to the Old Palace. Otherwise one must travel through miles of narrow alleys, hidden courts, and noisy bazaars. Outside of the walls one can find mud-brick shops and windowless hovels.{{Ref|aFfC|2}}
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===Sunspear===
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[[File:Sunspear by jonathanguzi-d89ziph.jpg|350px|thumb|Sunspear and the Shadow City by jonathanguzi]]
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Sunspear is a walled settlement, protected by three massive Winding Walls, encircling one another and containing miles of narrow alleys, hidden courts, and noisy bazaars. The Threefold Gate, where the gates are lined up one behind the other, avoids the labyrinth, instead allowing straight passage on a brick path to the [[Old Palace]].{{Ref|aFfC|2}}
  
Clinging to and overshadowed by the castle's massive walls, the so-called shadow city spreads westwards. Mud-brick shops and windowless hovels are closest to the walls, then west of those are stables, inns, winesinks, pillow houses, some with walls of their own. More hovels and buildings then spread beyond those walls. The shadow city is no more than a town when compared to the [[Free Cities]], but it is the closest thing to a true city that the Dornish have.
+
One of Sunspear's chief structures is the original stronghold of House Martell, the [[Sandship]],{{Ref|TWOIAF| Dorne: Sunspear}} which is a large, ugly, dun-colored building that looks like a dromond.{{Ref|AFFC|2}} Over time, towers in [[Rhoynish]] fashion sprung up around the keep. Two other chief structures are the tall and slender Spear Tower and the great, domed Tower of the Sun.{{Ref|AFFC|2}}{{Ref|AWOIAF| Sunspear}} The Spear Tower is a hundred and a half feet high, and can house noble prisoners;{{Ref|AFFC|2}}{{Ref|AFFC|40}} In the Tower of the Sun, the high seats of the [[Prince of Dorne]] can be found: two twin seats, one with the Martell spear inlaid in gold upon its back, the other bearing the blazing Rhoynish sun.{{Ref|AFFC|2}}{{Ref|AFFC|40}} These two towers are the first things visitors see when they arrive at Sunspear, whether by land or by sea.{{Ref|TWOIAF| Dorne: Sunspear}}
  
The path through the Threefold Gates is paved with bricks.  
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===Shadow city===
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The closest thing to a true city that the [[Dornishmen]] have, the shadow city is no more than a queer, dusty town.{{Ref|AFFC|2}}{{Ref|TWOIAF| Dorne: Sunspear}} Built against a wall of Sunspear, the shadow city spreads westwards. Closest to Sunspear's walls, mud-brick shops and windowless hovels can be found. Stables, inns, winesinks and pillow houses are found west of those, with walls of their own. More hovels have been build against those walls, which in has led to the city becoming a labyrinth of narrow alleys, homes, and bazaars.{{Ref|AFFC|2}}{{Ref|TWOIAF| Dorne: Sunspear}}
  
==Sunspear Towers==
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Around {{date|-400}}, the three Winding Walls were raised,<ref name="winding walls" group="N">The Winding Walls were raised some 700 years prior to {{Date|300}} (''[[The World of Ice & Fire]]'', Dorne: Sunspear)</ref> running through the shadow city, forming a defensive curtain. Only the Threefold Gate provides a straight path to the Old Palace, allowing visitors to pass all three of the Winding Walls  directly, without having to pass through the labyrinth of the shadow city.{{Ref|AFFC|2}} If need be, these gates can be heavily defended.{{Ref|TWOIAF| Dorne: Sunspear}}
[[File:Sunspear.jpg|thumb|350px|right|© Fantasy Flight Games]]
 
[[File:Yann Tiseron The Old Palace.JPG|thumb|350px|right|The Old Palace. © Fantasy Flight Games]]
 
* The '''Spear Tower''', a massive tower of stone, thrusts up from the surrounding community, stretching one hundred and fifty feet tall, with a spear of gilded steel atop that adds a further thirty feet. Highborn prisoners might be confined in cells at the top of the Spear Tower.{{Ref|aFfC|2}}
 
* The '''Tower of the Sun''' has a dome of gold and leaded glass. Beneath the dome sits the throne room, a large round room with thick windows and many colored glass. The floors are made of pale marble. Within the throne room there are two seats on a dais, near twins to one another, the only difference being that one is inlaid with the Martell spear on its back and the other features the blazing [[Rhoynar|Rhoynish]] sun that flew from the masts of Nymeria's ships. The spear seat is used by a ruling prince.{{Ref|aFfC|2}}
 
* The '''[[Sandship]]''' is a large building that looks like a dromond. It is dun-colored.{{Ref|aFfC|2}}
 
  
 
==History==
 
==History==
The [[Sandship]] was the ancient keep of the Martells, minor Dornish lords prior to the arrival of the [[Rhoynar]] in their [[ten thousand ships]]. Lord [[Mors Martell]] wed Princess [[Nymeria]], however, and the alliance of the Martells and the Rhoynar led to the conquest of Dorne in [[Nymeria's War]]. The seat of the ruling Princes and Princesses of Dorne was Sunspear, the new castle which developed near the Sandship and was named after the union of the Martell spear with the sun of the [[Rhoyne]]. It contains beautiful towers built in the Rhoynish fashion, such as the Spear Tower and the Tower of the Sun.{{ref|TWOIAF| Sunspear}}
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The [[Sandship]] was the ancient keep the [[House Martell]], minor Dornish lords. When [[Rhoynish]] warrior-queen [[Nymeria]] arrived in Dorne with her ten thousand ships around {{date|-700}},<ref group="N">The Dornish joined "[...] a thousand years ago [...]" with the Rhoynar (''[[The World of Ice & Fire]]'', Dorne: Queer Customs of the South) following Nymeria's flight after the end of the Rhoynish Wars, which "[...] reached a bloody climax a thousand years ago in the Second Spice War [...]" (''[[The World of Ice & Fire]]'', Ancient History: Ten Thousand Ships). After the Second Spice War, the city Chroyane was destroyed, and has been known as the Palace of Sorrow ever since ("[...] but for a thousand years this has been the Palace of Sorrow." (''[[A Dance with Dragons]]'', [[A Dance with Dragons-Chapter 18|Tyrion V]]))</ref> Lord [[Mors Martell]], the [[Lord of the Sandship]], wed her, and this alliance of the Martells with the Rhoynar led to the unification of [[Dorne]] in [[Nymeria's War]].{{ref|twoiaf| Ancient History: Ten Thousand Ships}}
 +
 
 +
The seat of the ruling [[Prince of Dorne|Princes and Princesses of Dorne]] became Sunspear, the new castle which developed around the Sandship. It was named after the union of the Martell spear with the sun of the [[Rhoynar]]. It contains beautiful towers built in the Rhoynish fashion, such as the Spear Tower and the Tower of the Sun of the [[Old Palace]]. The Winding Walls of the castle were built around 400 BC.{{ref|TWOIAF| Dorne: Sunspear}}<ref name="winding walls" group="N"/>
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 +
During [[Aegon's Conquest]], Queen [[Rhaenys Targaryen]] confronted Princess [[Meria Martell]] at Sunspear, where the Dornish Princess defied the Targaryen invasion.{{Ref|TWOIAF| The Reign of the Targaryens: The Conquest}} During the [[First Dornish War]], the Dornishmen abandoned their castles, allowing the [[House Targaryen|Targaryens]] to take them without fighting. Amongst the castles taken in those early years was Sunspear. [[Lord Rosby (Warden of the Sands)|Lord Rosby]] was named [[Warden of the Sands]] and Castellan of Sunspear, but he was killed in the [[Defenestration of Sunspear]] after the Dornishmen swarmed back into the castle from the shadow city. Later on in the war, during the two years of the [[Dragon's Wroth]], the Targaryens burned the Dornish castles with [[dragonfire]], with the exception of Sunspear. ''[[Conjectures]]'' by Archmaester [[Timotty]] suggests the Targaryens did so to encourage the Martells' bannermen to turn against their overlords, although the Dornish remained loyal.{{ref|TWOIAF| Dorne: Dorne Against the Dragons}}
 +
 
 +
[[Rickon Stark (son of Cregan)|Rickon Stark]], the son of Lord [[Cregan Stark]], was killed in battle outside of Sunspear in one of the final battles of the [[conquest of Dorne]].{{ref|TWOIAF| The North: The Lords of Winterfell}} The Dornishmen surrendered to King [[Daeron I Targaryen]], the Young Dragon, in the [[Submission of Sunspear]] in {{date|158}}, but they rebelled in the following years.{{ref|TWOIAF| The Targaryen Kings: Daeron I}} Daeron's successor, King [[Baelor I Targaryen]], walked barefoot from [[King's Landing]] to Sunspear to forge a peace with Dorne.{{ref|TWOIAF| The Targaryen Kings: Baelor I}}
  
 
==Recent Events==
 
==Recent Events==
 
===''A Feast for Crows''===
 
===''A Feast for Crows''===
 +
Princess [[Myrcella Baratheon]], ward of Prince [[Doran Martell]] and betrothed to Prince [[Trystane Martell]], has quarters in the Tower of the Sun.{{ref|AFFC|13}}
  
Prince [[Doran Martell]] orders [[Areo Hotah]] to round up the [[Sand Snakes]], with the older sisters confined in the Spear Tower and the younger ones at the [[Water Gardens]]; [[Sarella Sand|Sarella]] remains in [[Oldtown]].{{ref|AFFC|2}} After plotting to crown [[Myrcella Baratheon]] as queen, [[Arianne Martell]] is imprisoned for some time within the Spear Tower.{{ref|AFFC|40}}
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Following the death of his brother, Prince [[Oberyn Martell|Oberyn]], at the hands of Ser [[Gregor Clegane]] in [[King's Landing]],{{ref|ASOS|70}} Prince [[Doran Martell]] orders [[Areo Hotah]] to round up the [[Sand Snakes]],{{ref|AFFC|2}} with the older sisters confined in the Spear Tower and the younger ones at the [[Water Gardens]].{{Ref|AFFC|40}}{{Ref|ADWD|38}} [[Sarella Sand|Sarella]] remains outside of Dorne, however.{{Ref|AFFC|2}}
 +
 
 +
After plotting to crown Myrcella as queen, Princess [[Arianne Martell]] is imprisoned for some time within the Spear Tower.{{ref|AFFC|40}}
  
 
===''A Dance with Dragons''===
 
===''A Dance with Dragons''===
 
+
Doran releases Arianne and the older Sand Snakes from the Spear Tower. Ser [[Balon Swann]] brings the [[Mountain's skull]] to the court of Doran in Sunspear.{{ref|AFFC|38}}
Ser [[Balon Swann]] brings the skull of Ser [[Gregor Clegane]] to the court of Doran in Sunspear.{{ref|AFFC|38}}
 
  
 
==Chapters that take place at Sunspear==
 
==Chapters that take place at Sunspear==
*[[A Feast for Crows-Chapter 2|''A Feast for Crows'': 2. The Captain of the Guards]]
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*[[A Feast for Crows-Chapter 2|''A Feast for Crows'': 2. The Captain of Guards]]
 
*[[A Feast for Crows-Chapter 13|''A Feast for Crows'': 13. The Soiled Knight]]
 
*[[A Feast for Crows-Chapter 13|''A Feast for Crows'': 13. The Soiled Knight]]
 
*[[A Feast for Crows-Chapter 40|''A Feast for Crows'': 40. The Princess in the Tower]]
 
*[[A Feast for Crows-Chapter 40|''A Feast for Crows'': 40. The Princess in the Tower]]
 
*[[A Dance with Dragons-Chapter 38|''A Dance with Dragons'': 38. The Watcher]]
 
*[[A Dance with Dragons-Chapter 38|''A Dance with Dragons'': 38. The Watcher]]
  
==References and Notes==
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==Notes==
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{{Notes}}
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==References==
 
{{references|2}}
 
{{references|2}}
  
{{Template:Region Dorne}}
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{{Region Dorne}}
  
 
[[Category:Sunspear| ]]
 
[[Category:Sunspear| ]]
[[Category:Places in Dorne]]
 
 
[[Category:Castles]]
 
[[Category:Castles]]
 
[[Category:House Martell]]
 
[[Category:House Martell]]
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[[Category:Places in Dorne]]
  
 
[[es:Lanza del Sol]]
 
[[es:Lanza del Sol]]

Revision as of 15:49, 7 September 2018

Sunspear
Fortress, Regional Capitol
Ted Nasmith A Song of Ice and Fire Sunspear.jpg
Sunspear by Ted Nasmith ©
Location Westeros, Dorne
Government House Nymeros Martell
Religion Faith of the Seven
Named for The sigil of House Nymeros Martell[1]
Notable places Old Palace, Sandship, Winding Walls, shadow city
Dorne and the location of Sunspear
Dorne and the location of Sunspear
Sunspear
Dorne and the location of Sunspear

Sunspear, also known as the Old Palace,[2] is the seat of House Nymeros Martell and the capital of Dorne. The castle is located on the Broken Arm, north of the Greenblood on the far southeastern coast of Westeros and is surrounded on three sides by the sea, and by the shadow city on the fourth side.[3][1] The palace of the Water Gardens lies three leagues away on the coastal road.[4]

Househould

Areo Hotah is the captain of guards for Doran Martell, while Caleotte and Myles are maesters serving House Martell. Ricasso is the castle's seneschal and Ser Manfrey Martell is its castellan. Alyse Ladybright is Sunspear's lord treasurer.[5]

Layout

Sunspear

Sunspear and the Shadow City by jonathanguzi

Sunspear is a walled settlement, protected by three massive Winding Walls, encircling one another and containing miles of narrow alleys, hidden courts, and noisy bazaars. The Threefold Gate, where the gates are lined up one behind the other, avoids the labyrinth, instead allowing straight passage on a brick path to the Old Palace.[4]

One of Sunspear's chief structures is the original stronghold of House Martell, the Sandship,[1] which is a large, ugly, dun-colored building that looks like a dromond.[4] Over time, towers in Rhoynish fashion sprung up around the keep. Two other chief structures are the tall and slender Spear Tower and the great, domed Tower of the Sun.[4][2] The Spear Tower is a hundred and a half feet high, and can house noble prisoners;[4][6] In the Tower of the Sun, the high seats of the Prince of Dorne can be found: two twin seats, one with the Martell spear inlaid in gold upon its back, the other bearing the blazing Rhoynish sun.[4][6] These two towers are the first things visitors see when they arrive at Sunspear, whether by land or by sea.[1]

Shadow city

The closest thing to a true city that the Dornishmen have, the shadow city is no more than a queer, dusty town.[4][1] Built against a wall of Sunspear, the shadow city spreads westwards. Closest to Sunspear's walls, mud-brick shops and windowless hovels can be found. Stables, inns, winesinks and pillow houses are found west of those, with walls of their own. More hovels have been build against those walls, which in has led to the city becoming a labyrinth of narrow alleys, homes, and bazaars.[4][1]

Around 400 BC, the three Winding Walls were raised,[N 1] running through the shadow city, forming a defensive curtain. Only the Threefold Gate provides a straight path to the Old Palace, allowing visitors to pass all three of the Winding Walls directly, without having to pass through the labyrinth of the shadow city.[4] If need be, these gates can be heavily defended.[1]

History

The Sandship was the ancient keep the House Martell, minor Dornish lords. When Rhoynish warrior-queen Nymeria arrived in Dorne with her ten thousand ships around 700 BC,[N 2] Lord Mors Martell, the Lord of the Sandship, wed her, and this alliance of the Martells with the Rhoynar led to the unification of Dorne in Nymeria's War.[7]

The seat of the ruling Princes and Princesses of Dorne became Sunspear, the new castle which developed around the Sandship. It was named after the union of the Martell spear with the sun of the Rhoynar. It contains beautiful towers built in the Rhoynish fashion, such as the Spear Tower and the Tower of the Sun of the Old Palace. The Winding Walls of the castle were built around 400 BC.[1][N 1]

During Aegon's Conquest, Queen Rhaenys Targaryen confronted Princess Meria Martell at Sunspear, where the Dornish Princess defied the Targaryen invasion.[8] During the First Dornish War, the Dornishmen abandoned their castles, allowing the Targaryens to take them without fighting. Amongst the castles taken in those early years was Sunspear. Lord Rosby was named Warden of the Sands and Castellan of Sunspear, but he was killed in the Defenestration of Sunspear after the Dornishmen swarmed back into the castle from the shadow city. Later on in the war, during the two years of the Dragon's Wroth, the Targaryens burned the Dornish castles with dragonfire, with the exception of Sunspear. Conjectures by Archmaester Timotty suggests the Targaryens did so to encourage the Martells' bannermen to turn against their overlords, although the Dornish remained loyal.[9]

Rickon Stark, the son of Lord Cregan Stark, was killed in battle outside of Sunspear in one of the final battles of the conquest of Dorne.[10] The Dornishmen surrendered to King Daeron I Targaryen, the Young Dragon, in the Submission of Sunspear in 158 AC, but they rebelled in the following years.[11] Daeron's successor, King Baelor I Targaryen, walked barefoot from King's Landing to Sunspear to forge a peace with Dorne.[12]

Recent Events

A Feast for Crows

Princess Myrcella Baratheon, ward of Prince Doran Martell and betrothed to Prince Trystane Martell, has quarters in the Tower of the Sun.[3]

Following the death of his brother, Prince Oberyn, at the hands of Ser Gregor Clegane in King's Landing,[13] Prince Doran Martell orders Areo Hotah to round up the Sand Snakes,[4] with the older sisters confined in the Spear Tower and the younger ones at the Water Gardens.[6][14] Sarella remains outside of Dorne, however.[4]

After plotting to crown Myrcella as queen, Princess Arianne Martell is imprisoned for some time within the Spear Tower.[6]

A Dance with Dragons

Doran releases Arianne and the older Sand Snakes from the Spear Tower. Ser Balon Swann brings the Mountain's skull to the court of Doran in Sunspear.[15]

Chapters that take place at Sunspear

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 The Winding Walls were raised some 700 years prior to 300 AC (The World of Ice & Fire, Dorne: Sunspear)
  2. The Dornish joined "[...] a thousand years ago [...]" with the Rhoynar (The World of Ice & Fire, Dorne: Queer Customs of the South) following Nymeria's flight after the end of the Rhoynish Wars, which "[...] reached a bloody climax a thousand years ago in the Second Spice War [...]" (The World of Ice & Fire, Ancient History: Ten Thousand Ships). After the Second Spice War, the city Chroyane was destroyed, and has been known as the Palace of Sorrow ever since ("[...] but for a thousand years this has been the Palace of Sorrow." (A Dance with Dragons, Tyrion V))

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 The World of Ice & Fire, Dorne: Sunspear.
  2. 2.0 2.1 George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Sunspear.
  3. 3.0 3.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 13, The Soiled Knight.
  4. 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 2, The Captain Of Guards.
  5. A Dance with Dragons, Appendix.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 40, Princess In The Tower.
  7. The World of Ice & Fire, Ancient History: Ten Thousand Ships.
  8. The World of Ice & Fire, The Reign of the Targaryens: The Conquest.
  9. The World of Ice & Fire, Dorne: Dorne Against the Dragons.
  10. The World of Ice & Fire, The North: The Lords of Winterfell.
  11. The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Daeron I.
  12. The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Baelor I.
  13. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 70, Tyrion X.
  14. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 38, The Watcher.
  15. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 38, Jaime VI.