This content provides a historical overview of prominent noble houses in Westeros, detailing their origins, rise to power, significant contributions, and eventual fates, primarily within the context of the "Game of Thrones" narrative.
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House Targaryen is one of the most
influential and powerful houses in all
of Westeros. Even well before their rule
in Westeros ever began, they were still
extremely powerful. They were able to
master using dragons to fight for them.
And because of this, they were an
unstoppable force. That is until the
Doom of Valyria came where many
different natural disasters occurred,
wiping out pretty much all life on this
land. Fortunately for the Targaryenss,
their bloodline didn't end here. As
Denise, the dreamer, was able to foresee
this event happening before it ever
occurred. She managed to convince her
father to leave the capital and head to
the island known as Dragonstone. He
brought her, their family, and some
dragons to this island, even though they
were mocked for doing so by the other
nobles. 12 years after packing up their
bags and moving, the doom of Valyria
finally came, and everyone that doubted
the decision for them to move inevitably
died. Here on Dragonstone, the
Targaryenss lived and tried building a
new life. It wasn't until a couple of
generations later where their new reign
would truly begin with the birth of
Aegon the Conqueror. He went west to the
seven kingdoms of Westeros with the goal
of ruling over all of them as one
unified realm. He managed to accomplish
this goal with the aid of his dragons as
well as his sisters who were also his
wives. And history was then made. The
Targaryenss ruled the seven kingdoms for
nearly 300 years until one house came
and put a stop to all of that. Well
before House Baratheon took the iron
throne from the Targaryenss. This house
was ironically founded thanks to Aegon
the Conqueror himself. Orus Baratheon,
who was a general in Aegon's army, was
given the land known as Storm's End for
his accomplishments in battle. Here, he
became the lord of Stormz and founded
his very own house. For centuries, the
Baratheians managed to maintain their
rule in this land, never falling once,
no matter how many sieges occurred,
mostly due to the defenses that the
fortress offered. When Robert's
rebellion against the Iron Throne
occurred, Storm Zen was almost lost for
the very first time. House Tyrell, who
remained loyal to the mad king, besieged
the remaining Baratheon forces, in which
Stannis was the commanding leader here.
This occurred for over a year in which
everyone inside of Storm's inn, all
nearly starved to death. Thankfully, the
war came to an end. Robert, of course,
took the throne for himself, and to
Stannis's displeasure, he was made the
lord of Dragonstone. Their youngest
infant brother, Renley, was made Lord of
Storm's End. Unfortunately, as we all
know, all three of these brothers will
inevitably die, and none of them
fathered any legitimate children to
continue on the legacy of House
Baratheon. In season 8 of the show, one
of Robert's bastards was made the Lord
of Storm's End and formerly recognized
as Gendry Baratheon. In the books, it's
not yet clear what House Baratheon's
legacy will become. So, for now, we just
have to accept the ending that the show
gave us as canon. House Stark is one of
the oldest and strongest houses in all
of Westeros. Before Aegon the Conqueror
came and unified the seven kingdoms as
one, House Stark were the rulers of the
north. Thousands and thousands of years
before the events of the show and books,
House Stark was founded by Bran the
Builder, a legendary first man who
created Winterfell and apparently even
built the wall. After years of fighting
other northern houses for control, House
Stark proved to be the strongest and
every other house eventually either
kneelled or lost to them in battle. This
is how they were recognized as the kings
of the north for millenniums to come.
When Aegon the Conqueror came to
Westeros, King Torren Stark marched his
army down to the south to face him, but
surrendered when they witnessed the
dragons he had and the many victories
under his belt. The houses that didn't
surrender to Aegon quickly were wiped
out, and Torren didn't want the same
fate for his house. Although it was
controversial for Torin to surrender,
and he was critiqued by many, those who
did critique him were only able to be
alive to do so because of Torin's
actions. Instead of House Stark going
extinct, they were allowed to keep their
power in Winterfell, serving under the
Targaryenss for hundreds of years to
come. That is until, of course, Lady
Lyanna, sister to Edard Stark, who was
also supposed to be wed to Robert
Baratheon, was taken by Prince Rhaegar
Targaryen. Eddard's father and brother
the man of justice, but were instead
viciously executed by the Mad King. This
is where Robert's rebellion took place,
and Eddar joined his side as the new
Lord of Winterfell. We all know the
suffering that the Starks will have to
endure after these events, but
thankfully their family still continues
on strong. And in the show, most of
Edard's children survive and continue on
the legacy of House Stark. Like most of
the people living in Westeros at the
time of the series, House Lannister are
descendants of the Andals, a race of
people who came from the western side of
Essos. 6,000 years ago, they came to
Westeros, overrunning and conquering
most of the continent, which was at the
time only inhabited by the first men.
The Lannisters became one of the most
prominent houses in Westeros due to Lan
the Clever, who was a legendary
trickster swindling Castrly Rock from
House Casterly. Here, House Castly went
extinct and House Lannister came to be,
now being recognized as the lords of
Castly Rock. Just like most of the
surviving houses at the time of the
series, House Lannister bent the knee
and swore allegiance to Aegon the
Conqueror. Because of the gold that
Castly Rock has to offer, the Lannisters
became the wealthiest family in all of
Westeros. This of course brought them a
lot of power and is the reason that the
saying a Lannister always pays his debts
exists. Taitos Lannister, the father of
Tywin, was at one point the head of the
house and because of his actions brought
a decline to the house itself. This
caused a rebellion to happen and if it
wasn't for Tywin stepping up, House
Lannister might not have been around for
much longer. Tywin was a very strong and
ruthless leader which reestablished fear
into the other houses in which House
Lannister started to lose for quite some
time. time. Tywin rebuilt the house to
the powerful state we see it in during
the series and made sure it stayed that
way, making arrangements for his
children to be in positions of power. At
least the children he deemed as worthy,
that is. By the end of the show, all the
Lannisters from the main family besides
my goat Tyrion had passed away. It is
unclear what the future of this great
house looks like, especially in the
books, but we can assume that their
legacy might continue on. House Tyrell
has quite a few similarities to House
Lannister. The Tyrells are the second
wealthiest family at the time of the
series, just barely behind the
Lannisters. And they also are
descendants of the Andals. Alistister
Tyrell, who was an Andal Knight, is who
founded House Tyrell. But unlike the
Lannisters, they became a strong house
in a much more respectable way. The
Tyrells originally served House
Gardener, who were the lords of High
Garden. And over a period of time, House
Tyrell was able to rise in prominence
and become a very strong house. However,
the Tyrells didn't become anywhere near
as strong as we see them in in the
series until around Aegon's conquest.
King M the 9inth, the final leader of
House Gardener, did not kneel to Aegon
the Conqueror, resulting in him being
burned alive. After this happened,
Harland Tyrell, who was M's steward at
the time, surrendered High Garden to
Aegon. Because of this, Aegon rewarded
Harlland by making him the Lord of High
Garden. Although the Tyrells rose to
becoming a powerful house in a more
respectable way compared to the
Lannisters, that doesn't mean they are
much better overall. They are about as
cunning as the Lannisters are,
especially when it comes to politics.
However, they typically mask this by
being more subtle. The Tyrells are kind
of in a weird middle ground when it
comes to ethics, having many
similarities to the Lannisters, but also
still representing some of the honor
that House Stark has. The dynamic that
they have with other houses is typically
really interesting to learn about, as
they usually try to pursue what would be
the most morally right thing to do, but
also being open to go about it in pretty
unethical and shady ways. When it comes
to war, they are completely okay with
switching sides depending on who is most
likely to win. Unfortunately, by the end
of the show, all the Tyrells have
unfortunately died. So if the books
follow a similar path, their legacy will
no longer be able to continue on. The
rulers of the veil and the legendary
fortress known as the eerie. House Aaron
is a very strong and prominent house.
Although no one has ever come close to
being able to take the eerie from house
Aaron, it is unknown what would have
happened if the Arenss decided to not
been the need Aegon the Conqueror. I
mean, I'm sure Aegon would have been
able to eventually take it from them,
but it probably wouldn't have been very
easy as the Erie is one of the most, if
not the most impregnable fortresses in
all of Westeros. Anyways, Aegon allowed
them to stay the lords of the eerie due
to them surrendering and they have
remained a strong house since. John
Aaron, who is actually the main reason
why the events in the series takes
place, was the most recent head of House
Aaron and he was a very respected and
noble person when the mad king demanded
Eddard to be turned over to the king's
justice after he had killed Eddard's
brother and father. John Aaron rebelled,
which is what directly caused House
Stark and House Baratheon to come
together against the throne. When Robert
took the throne for himself, he
appointed Jon as the hand of the king,
in which he served the realm for many
years to come. He sadly passed away,
which made his six-year-old son, Robin,
the soon to be new lord of the eerie and
head of house Aaron. At the end of the
show, Robin has taken on his role, and
House Aaron still continues on.
Thousands of years ago, Dorne was
divided into multiple sections with many
different houses having kings for each
said area. House Martell were one of
these many houses. It wasn't until
around a thousand years ago where they
really started a rise in power, though.
At this time, Reiner refugees were
fleeing Essos, in which they migrated
across the narrow seat of Dorne. These
refugees were led by the warrior queen
known as Nimriia. And here on Dorne, she
met Moors Martell, and they formed an
alliance with one another through
marriage. Together, they conquered and
unified the rest of Dorne. And instead
of calling themselves the king and
queen, they would take on the royer
tradition of referring to themselves as
the prince and princess. House Martell
remained a very strong house and still
is by the end of the series. This house
was so strong that they were the only
ones to successfully fight off Aegon the
Conqueror and stay independent during
and after his conquest. Their weaponry
and military tactics were extremely
advanced and they even managed to slay
the legendary dragon known as Maraxis
which was Rainey's Targaryen's dragon
and this was also how she was killed as
at the time she was flying a top of it.
About a century before the events that
take place in the series, House Martell
joined the seven kingdoms through a
matrimonial alliance. But their words,
unbowed, unbent, unbroken, still remain
true, meaning they have never
successfully been conquered by
outsiders. Because of the strength they
showed, they were still allowed to refer
to themselves as the princes and
princesses of Dorne, rather than being
forced to call themselves lords like
every other house in Westeros. Right
before the events of the series, Ia
Martell, who was the princess of Dorne,
was to be wedded to Rhaegar Targaryen. I
stayed in King's Landing rather than
returning to Dorne, and she birthed two
of Rhaegar's children. Sadly, during
Robert's rebellion, she alongside her
two children were murdered by the
mountain, who was a member of Tywin
Lannister's army. Peace was restored
after these events, but her brothers
Doran and Oberin were of course
outraged. We obviously know Doran would
eventually pass away, as well as Oberin
when he seek vengeance against the
mountain for what he had done. But
fortunately for House Martell, the
legacy doesn't end here, as another
member of the Martell family took on
power in Dorne. House Greyjoy are the
rulers of the Iron Islands, which are
harsh and bleak pieces of land. They
have always had plans to conquer the
mainland, but they of course have never
gotten anywhere close to these goals.
This doesn't mean they aren't a strong
house, and they are in fact one of, if
not the strongest houses when it comes
to the water. The people that they rule
over, who are known as the Ironborn, are
about as bleak as the land that they
live on. They are fierce, ruthless, and
strong individuals who only follow those
that are stronger than them. Not long
before the events of the series, Lord
Balon Greyjoy led a rebellion against
King Robert Baratheon. His brother Euron
burned the Lannister fleet, which made
them an unstoppable force on the water.
Two of Balon's sons, Rodri and Meron,
were killed during the rebellion, and it
eventually was put to a stop as Stannis
Baratheon's royal fleet finished them
off. Balon's only surviving son, Theon,
was taken in by the Starks and made into
a ward, which forced Balon to submit to
King Roberts. His daughter, Yara, was
the only surviving child that remained
on the Iron Islands after this defeat.
Eventually, Balon exiled Euron from the
Iron Islands in which he became a feared
pirate that terrorized the seas until he
ultimately returned in the show to kill
Balon and become the new lord of the
Iron Islands. During the final season,
Theon and Euron are both killed off and
Yara remains the only surviving Greyjoy
in which he becomes the new ruler of the
Iron Islands and the legacy of House
Greyjoy seems to continue on. In the
central part of Westeros, there is a
territory known as the Riverlands which
is ruled by House Toli. The Ties rose in
prominence during Aegon's conquest when
Lord Edmund Toli rebelled against the
king of the iron islands to support the
Targaryen invaders. During the war of
the nine penny kings, a short-lived
attempted invasion of Westeros by House
Blackfire. The Tullies fought on the
side of the Iron Throne, coming to House
Targaryen's aid yet again. The two
brothers, Hosture and Brendan Tulli,
both fought together in this conflict,
but later on parted ways after a
disagreement had happened between the
two. Brendan was given the name
Blackfish, which he willingly took on,
and he would continue to fight in battle
until his very last moments where the
Lannisters launched a siege on Riverrun
in season 6 of the show. Hoster did not
continue to fight in any battles and
instead married Lady Manissa of House
went in which they had three children,
Catelyn, Liza, and Edmure. Since the
beginning of House Tully, they had
always remained loyal to House
Targaryen. That is up until Robert's
rebellion where Catelyn was married to
Lord Eddard Stark and Liza was married
to Lord John Aaron to form a powerful
alliance against the Mad King. This
alliance is actually a major reason why
Robert's rebellion was even a success.
Of course, we all know that Catelyn and
Liza are eventually killed off and in
season 8 of the show, Edmure is the only
surviving Tully and is now currently the
lord of Riverrun and they still remain a
powerful house in Westeros. House Bolton
is yet another one of the oldest houses
in the seven kingdoms with their origins
rooting all the way back to the first
men. For centuries, the Boltons refused
to accept House Stark as their ruler.
Even after pretty much every house in
the north did. They successfully killed
many Starks and apparently would keep
their skin as trophies and even wear it
as a cloak. The Boltons are one of, if
not the most ruthless houses in all of
Westeros. I mean, their house sigil is
literally a flayed man, which is a
practice that they have taken part in
for thousands of years, where they would
torture prisoners, removing several
layers of skin, which would expose nerve
and muscle tissue and leave them in
perpetual agony. These [ __ ] are
vile. Anyways, the Boltons are one of
the strongest houses in the north,
pretty much being the only house that
could successfully fight against House
Stark. Eventually, the Boltons were
defeated and bent the knee, in which
they were also forced to give up the
practice of flaying. That being said,
they still remain the second most
powerful house in the north. We of
course all know that Roose Bolton
eventually betrayed House Stark,
resulting in the death of Robin Catelan,
and he was then named the Lord of
Winterfell and Warden of the North,
being the only house to ever
successfully dethrone House Stark. The
Boltons were all thankfully killed off
by season 6 of the show, meaning their
legacy definitely will not continue on.
Thank God. House Frey are the lords of
the twins, a castle with two nearly
identical towers and a fortified bridge
stretching over a body of water to
connect the two towers. This bridge is
the only crossing point over this river
for hundreds of miles in either
direction. And according to Catelyn
Stark, no one in history has ever been
able to avoid paying the toll that is
required to pass this bridge. We
actually explicitly see what happens
when you do try to avoid the cost that
comes with crossing during the Red
Wedding. House Frey have only been
around for about 600 years before the
war of the five kings and they are
located in the Riverlands. They had
gotten pretty wealthy thanks to the toll
that they enact on travelers and for
most of their history they were vessels
of House Tully. House Frey was never
treated with much respect and Lord
Walder Frey highlights this to Robin
Cateland when they visit him. With that
being said, Walder got the final laugh
when he had them both killed due to them
not keeping the promise that they made.
That is until season 7 of the show where
Arya comes and gets revenge killing him
off. But this does not result in the end
of House Frey. As Walter had more than
100 descendants, so it's safe to say
their legacy, for better or worse, will
continue on. House Mormont are the lords
of Bear Island, a remote island in the
north of Westeros. There aren't many
valuable resources here, so the Mormonts
are a relatively poor house. With that
being said, the people that come from
this island tend to be very strong and
loyal individuals. The Mormonts are one
of the oldest and proudest houses in the
north. But unfortunately, their
reputation was hurt due to the actions
of Sir Jorah Mormont, the previous lord
of Bear Island. In Westeros, slave
trading is an inexcusable crime, and
Jorah took part in it. At one point, he
was exiled from Westeros, never to
return again, and that is where he found
Daenerys Targaryen, in which he decided
to loyally follow. Jorah's father,
Jorah, who was the Lord Commander of the
Night's Watch, felt disgraced by his
son's actions of being a slave trader.
Jorah is eventually killed and in season
8 of the show, Jorah dies protecting
Daenerys. Jorah's cousin Lyanna was made
the head of House Mormont, but that
didn't last long as she dies in season 8
as well. Unfortunately, House Mormont
goes extinct and their legacy sadly no
longer continues on. House Charlie is an
old house having origins back to the
first men and are the lords of Hornhill,
a castle southeast of High Garden. This
house has a militarist tradition and
they are one of the few to possess a
Valyrian steel short which is known as
Heartsbane. During Robert's rebellion,
Lord Randall Tarly commanded the
Vanguard at the Battle of Ashford and
they managed to make Robert Baratheon
retreat. With that being said, Lord Mace
Tyrell took credit for this victory
since Randall was serving under the
Tyrells. After the extinction of House
Baratheon, they swore allegiance to
House Lannister and they eventually
betrayed House Tyrell. Lord Randall
fights alongside Sir Jaime Lannister.
Unfortunately for Randall, he and his
son Diggon were executed by Daenerys
Targaryen after the Battle of the Gold
Road. because his son Samuel is a sworn
brother of the Night's Watch, the only
person who can take on being the head of
House Tarly is Samuel's sister Tala. But
because she is married to a member of
House Fossaway, we can now only assume
that this house will become the new
lords of Hornhill. House Beish was a
pretty new house, and it all didn't last
very long whatsoever. This house was
founded by a cell sword who traveled
from Braavos to Westeros to serve House
Corbre, located in the Veil of Aaron.
His son became friends with Lord
Hostster Toli and he had his son Peter
fostered at Riverrun. Here Peter fell in
love with Catelyn and her sister Liza
fell in love with him. Catelyn was to be
wedded to Brandon Stark who was Eddard's
older brother and Peter was not happy at
all about this. He challenged Brandon to
a duel for Catelyn's hand, but because
he was not wellversed in combat
whatsoever, he lost. Peter left for home
in disgrace. And here his bitter
feelings would only continue to grow.
Years later, Lord John Aaron took Peter
in to do financial work for him as he
was suggested by Jon's wife Liza who was
still secretly in love with Peter and
here he was really able to shine and
distinguish himself. Peter then made a
name for himself through this and Jon
eventually made him the master of coin
in King's Landing after he himself
became hand of the king. Peter quickly
became a powerful player in royal
politics in spite of all odds being
against him, especially since he did not
come from a noble or great house. We all
of course know that Peter is a very
morally wrong person and just does
whatever he can to get even more power.
But the things he was able to accomplish
should still in my opinion be talked
about. He is eventually killed by Arya
Stark in season 7 of the show. And
because he had no offspring, House
Beaish became extinct. Although House
High Tower is not around anymore in the
main series, the power that they had was
extremely surprising to learn about
after I discovered them in House of the
Dragon. So I without a doubt think they
are worth mentioning in this video.
House High Tower was one of the most
ancient, wealthy, and powerful houses in
Westeros. They were at the front and
center of politics in Westeros for
centuries, and they ruled over Oldtown,
which was the biggest city in Westeros
for thousands of years before the
Targaryenss came. Lord Hbert High
Totower was the head of the house before
the reign of King Viserius I. And his
younger brother, Otto, served Viserius
as hand of the king. As we saw in season
1 of the show, Otto had his daughter
Allison wedded to Viserius, and she
birthed four Targaryen children. I don't
want to spoil myself or you guys for
what happens in the following seasons of
House of the Dragon, so I won't discuss
any more here about House High Tower.
Finally, I have made sure to save the
absolute best house for last. Of course,
I'm talking about the most legendary
house of them all, House Bronn. All
jokes aside, there are multiple other
houses that I wanted to cover, but I
just wasn't able to in this video. So, I
apologize to the like five House Umber
fans out there. Anyways, that's pretty
much all for this video. If you want to
see more like this, please subscribe and
leave a like to let me know. I plan on
making a lot more videos like this in
the future, so make sure to stick around
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