Familys

The Great Houses are the most powerful of the noble houses of the Seven Kingdoms. They exercise immense authority and power over their vassals and territories and are answerable only to the King on the Iron Throne.

Before the Targaryen Conquest, each of the Seven Kingdoms was ruled by a powerful royal family. During the Conquest these families were either destroyed and replaced, or defeated and forced to swear allegiance to King Aegon. TheGardeners, Hoares and Storm Kings were slain and replaced by the Tyrells,Greyjoys, and Baratheons respectively, whilst the Lannisters, Arryns, andStarks surrendered peacefully and were allowed to remain in control of their lands. In addition, Aegon raised up the Tullys to rule over the Riverlands, which had been under ironborn occupation prior to his arrival. Only House Martell ofDorne resisted his armies, but was later brought into the fold through a peaceful marriage alliance some two centuries later.

The territories controlled by the Great Houses: House Stark, the North (grey); House Arryn, the Vale (blue); House Tully, the Riverlands (green);House Greyjoy, the Iron Islands (dark yellow); House Lannister, the Westerlands (red); House Tyrell, the Reach (lime green); House Baratheon, the Stormlands (brown); House Martell, Dorne (violet). The Crownlands (pink) are ruled directly from the Iron Throne; having previously been the lands of House Targaryen.Wildling territories are shown in black.