Game Of Thrones - Cultures and Peoples

Cultures and Peoples

This article is a condensed guide to the numerous and diverse cultures and peoples living in the Known World, across the three known continents of Westeros, Essos, andSothoryos. It is a navigation portal, meant to give a brief description of each group and its relationship to other groups, but more extensive information can be found by following the links to the main article devoted to each.

None of the inhabitants of the world that Westeros is set on can say with certainty how old it is, nor how long the human race has lived on it. Different religions offer different supernatural origin myths for the human race, though it isn't clear which - if any - is correct. It is unknown if humans were literally created by supernatural forces, such as how the races in Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium were created, or if they evolved from simpler life-forms as on real-life Earth (though the concept of biological evolution has never been developed by the inhabitants of Westeros's medieval setting).

Within the known Timeline, written historical records stretch back about 6,000 years before the time of the TV series, around the time that the Andal invasion introduced a full writing system to Westeros. Several of the older civilizations in Esssos (such as Old Ghis and Yi Ti) have written records that stretch back to the Long Night cataclysm, about 8,000 years ago. Humans were still active before the time of written records, in theDawn Age, stretching back to at least 12,000 years ago when the First Men became the first humans to migrate to Westeros - though humans were living in Essos long before that. There were several older lost civilizations in the Dawn Age but they left only ruins behind. It is unknown if humans originated (by whatever means) in Essos, Sothoryos, or some other now-unknown continent, as even oral history does not extend that far back, instead fading into folklore and religious explanations.

The dividing line between "ancient" cultures and peoples and "contemporary" ones in this article is defined as before or after the Targaryen Conquest of the Seven Kingdoms, which took place three hundred years before the War of the Five Kings. The last major migration to Westeros was made by the Rhoynar, about seven hundred years before the Targaryen Conquest (the Targaryens themselves were Valyrians but their numbers were so few that they did not have a significant impact on the continent's overall ethnic makeup). The cultures of the Free Cities and other lands of Essos in the present were largely shaped by the Doom of Valyria, which occurred one century before the Targaryen Conquest, during which the Valyrian Freehold collapsed and its surviving colonies reformed into independent city-states and realms.

Therefore, the Targaryen Conquest makes a convenient cutoff point (it is also used to mark Year 1 of thedating system used in Westeros). Some of the "ancient" cultures, however, simply evolved into modern ones gradually: the Andals who invaded the Westerlands 6,000 years ago initially formed many small petty kingdoms, and only coalesced into the "Kingdom of the Rock" many centuries later. Yet by the time of the Targaryen Conquest, they had been unified under their own Lannister kings, and had thought of themselves as "Westermen", for many centuries. Still, for the purposes of the Game of Thrones TV series, this provides a fairly reliable break between "ancient" and "contemporary" or ("modern") cultures and peoples.

Ancient Cultures and Peoples of Westeros

 

First Men

The First Men are the original human inhabitants of Westeros, who first migrated to the continent 12,000 years ago. They ruled the continent for millennia before the Andals invaded from the eastern continent of Essos. The Andals overran most of southern Westeros, but failed to take the North. While the blood of the First Men and the Andals has intermingled over thousands of years of dynastic marriages, the inhabitants of the North have the greatest amount of First Men blood in their veins and keep their traditions.^[1][2]

To be clear: the "First Men" are not the first humans who lived in the entire world. Humans were already living on the eastern continent of Essos for untold millennia (and probably also on Sothoryos, the Africa-like continent south of Essos). The exact origins of the human race are not known, because just as in real life, written history does not extend that far back. Even oral history eventually fades into varying fables, legends, and religious explanations for the origins of humans. The "First Men" are simply the first humans that migrated to the western continent of Westeros.

 

Andals

The Andals are a race of men who invaded Westeros six thousand years prior to the events of the series. In the present day, they are the dominant ethnic and cultural group in the continent.

The original homeland of the Andals is a region on the west coast of Essos which was called Andalos, located north of the modern Free City of Pentos, across the Narrow Sea from Westeros. Six thousand years ago, after allegedly receiving visions from the "Seven-faced God", the Andals were spurred on by their new Faith to migrate to Westeros, where they overran and conquered most of the continent, then inhabited by the First Men. The Andals brought the concept of chivalry and iron-wrought weapons and armor with them from Essos.

In many cases the Andals did intermarry with the First Men they conquered, so that even House Lannisterclaims at least some minor descent from the First Men. Still, the overwhelming influence on the bloodlines of the continent are from the Andals, to the point that the Seven Kingdoms are often called "the Land of the Andals" by peoples in Essos (such as the Dothraki).

The exceptions are the North, which the Andals never conquered and where the blood of the First Men is still strong, and Dorne, where the Andal inhabitants later intermingled with the refugees from the east.

 

Ironborn

 

The ironborn^[3] (or rarely, ironmen) are the natives of the Iron Islands off the west coast of Westeros. They are a fiercely independent seafaring people who chafe at the rule of the Iron Throne.

The ancient ironborn were apparently First Men who colonized the islands, but their culture radically diverged from their cousins on the mainland. The modern ironborn are an intermingling of the blood of the original First Men settlers of the islands and the Andals who followed six thousand years later. While the Andals and the Faith of the Seven came to dominate everywhere else below the Neck, they found less purchase on the Islands. While a few converts to the Faith of the Seven may be found there even in the present day, most of the Andal invaders converted to the native deity, theDrowned God, instead. The Andal invaders completely acculturated to the distinct "ironborn" culture, and their invasion had relatively little impact upon the Iron Islands.

Thus the ironborn are ethnically composed of the same First Men/Andal mix as most of the rest of Westeros: they are culturally, not ethnically distinct. Even so, their culture developed so radically differently from societies on the mainland that the ironborn essentially form the fourth major cultural group in Westeros, besides the First Men, Andals, and Rhoynar.

One of the few notable changes was that the ironborn switched to speaking the Common Tongue of the Andals. On the other hand, the independent First Men of the North also eventually took up using the language of their Andal neighbors through cultural proximity, not because it was imposed upon them, and therefore it might be wrong to say that the Andals even "forced" the ironborn to speak their language.

Rhoynar

The Rhoynar were a people from the eastern continent who migrated Dorneone thousand years ago, fleeing conquest by the Valyrian Freehold after losing a series of major wars to the dragonlords. Their migration to Westeros was led by the warrior-queen Nymeria, who married into House Martell, and with their combined forces conquered and unified Dorne for the first time. Afterwards, the Rhoynar intermingled with the local First Men and Andal inhabitants of Dorne to produce the modern Dornishmen. Their descendants in Dorne keep some of the customs and laws of their Rhoynar ancestors alive.

 

Ancient Cultures and Peoples of Essos

Ghiscari

 

The Ghiscari Empire was one of the oldest - if not the oldest - civilizations known to have existed. It ruled much of the continent of Essos, centered around the region known as Slaver's Bay. It was already thriving and building vast cities with massive pyramids when the Valyrians were still humble shepherds tending their flocks on hillsides. Like the Valyrians, theAncient Ghiscari extensively practiced slavery, refining it into a well-developed discipline. While the Valyrians rode dragons into battle, the Ghiscari fielded vast lock-step legions of slave-soldiers.

After the Valyrians discovered and learned to ride dragons as beasts of war, they began their own expansion, and eventually came into conflict with the Ghiscari Empire. The Valyrian Freehold and Ghiscari Empire fought a series of five great wars, contesting which would be the dominant power in Essos. At the end of the last war the Valyrians finally defeated the Ghiscari Empire when their armies and their dragons attacked the Empire's capital city of Ghis. The buildings and streets were burned to ash, and the Valyrians sowed the earth with salt so that nothing would grow again. Five thousand years later, Old Ghis is still a ruin.

Some of the ancient bloodline and traditions of the Ghiscari Empire lived on in their colony-cities in Slaver's Bay, which were conquered and ruled by the Valyrians for the next five thousand years, until reasserting their independence after the Doom of Valyria.

Valyrians

The Valyrians created the largest empire the world has ever seen, which lasted for five thousand years, only to be destroyed in a single day when a volcanic cataclysm known as "the Doom" ruined their capital city, four hundred years before the War of the Five Kings. At its height their empire, known as the Valyrian Freehold, encompassed nearly half of the continent of Essos.

Originally a community of shepherds, the Valyrians rose to prominence after discovering dragons in the volcanic area known as the Fourteen Fires. After taming the mighty beasts, they established the city of Valyria and became skilled in both magic and metallurgy - creating a unique type of steel. [[File:Daenerys_and_Viserys.jpg|thumb|The Valyrians With their dragons and weapons, the Valyrians conquered their surrounding lands and began their westward expansion. However, they came into conflict with the Rhoynar as well as the Ghiscari peoples. The Ghiscari Empire fought five wars against the Valyrian Freehold and was eventually defeated, their capital destroyed, and its people enslaved.

 

Valyrians are known for having very pale skin, silver (platinum blonde) hair, and brightly colored violet or deep blue eyes. To keep their traits "pure", Valyrian nobles often practiced incest, wedding brother to sister, cousin to cousin, uncle to niece and aunt to nephew.

In the novels, Valyrians typically have purple-colored irises. The TV series originally tried to do this using colored contacts in the early days of filming, but it was quickly dropped entirely. As the producers explained, "actors act with their eyes", so having unusual purple-colored eyes just seemed too distracting, and they felt it was affecting the actors' performances. In the TV series, Daenerys and Viserys still at least have light blue eyes (which was not unknown among the Valyrians).

For nearly five thousand years, Valyrian hegemony was uncontested, until "the Doom" destroyed much of the Valyrian peninsula. Not only dragons, but also the Valyrians' spells, knowledge and recorded history, were lost.

The cause of the Doom remains unknown, with some believing the Valyrians themselves caused it with their reckless use of magic. In any event, the power of the Valyrians was broken, the ruling dragonlords dead, and soon their colonies throughout Essos declared their independence and a period of constant warfare began: theCentury of Blood.

Rhoynar

The Rhoynar were a people from the eastern continent, named for their homeland along the immense Rhoyne River and its numerous tributaries, near the modern Free Cities. One thousand years ago, their territories were conquered by the Valyrian Freehold in a series of massive wars. The survivors fled west across the Narrow Sea, led by the warrior-queenNymeria, and settled in Dorne. There they intermingled with the local population (a mixture of First Men and Andals), giving rise to their descendants, the modern Dornishmen.

Contemporary Cultures and Peoples of Westeros

Descendants of the First Men

Over the millennia, the ancient First Men diversified into several different groups: the Northmen, the Crannogmen, the wildling tribes (or "Free Folk" as they call themselves) who live beyond the Wall, and the hill tribes of the Vale.

Northmen

 The Northmen are the proud descendants of the First Men who dwell in the region of Westeros known as the North, between the isthmus of the Neck andthe Wall. When the Andals invaded Westeros six thousand years ago, only the First Men in the North were able to repulse their advance, stubbornly defending the narrow choke point of the Neck at the ancient fortress Moat Cailin. [[File:Rodrik-cassel.jpg|thumb|left|Ser Rodrik Cassel, a northman knight, and proud Northern men-at-arms.]]

 

South of the Neck, the majority of people from the other kingdoms of Westeros are all descended from the Andals, intermixed with the conquered local First Men, but the defiantly independent First Men remained the dominant ethnic group north of the Neck. The blood and traditions of the First Men remain strong in the North to the present day, and belief in the Old Gods of the Forest - worshiped by their First Men forbearers - remains the dominant religion.

For many centuries, the Northmen formed their own independent Kingdom of the North ruled by House Stark ofWinterfell, who were known as the Kings in the North (and earlier, the Kings of Winter). Three hundred years ago, however, the Northmen submitted to Aegon the Conqueror during Targaryen Conquest. "The North" became one of the constituent regions of the unified Seven Kingdoms, and the Starks were retained as the Lords Paramount of the North, under the Targaryen kings.

The years-long winters that Westeros experiences hit the North the hardest. For millennia, the Northmen have also faced raids by wildlings coming over and around the Wall, and sometimes full-scale invasions when the wildlings were united by a King-Beyond-the-Wall. The North also has vast coastlines on both sides of the continent, vulnerable to attack by ironborn on the west coast, and pirates from the Free Cities on the east coast. As a result, Northmen have a reputation for being dour, stern, battle-hardened warriors. With every winter a fight for survival, Northmen take the burden of leadership very seriously as a matter of life and death.
As a result, they still firmly believe in the tradition handed down by their First Men ancestors, that the man who passes the sentence of death must personally swing the sword used in the execution. The reasoning is that if a lord is not steadfast enough in his convictions to look a man he has sentenced in the eye and then kill him personally, there will be doubt that the condemned man was guilty.

Northmen are sometimes collectively referred to as "wolves", in reference to the sigil of House Stark. Northmen are also called "Northerners", interchangeably.

Crannogmen

 The crannogmen are the inhabitants of the swamps of the Neck, the southernmost part of the North which borders the Riverlands, in central Westeros. They are a unique offshoot of the First Men, who branched off from their Northmen cousins. They are ruled by House Reed as vassals loyal to House Stark. The crannogmen are so-called because they live in small villages in the deep swamps, formed of thatch and woven reeds which sit atop artificial floating islands made out of logs, which are known as crannogs.

Hardy and reclusive swamp-dwellers, the crannogmen are derisively referred to by outsiders as "mudmen" and "frog-eaters". They are a poor people, mostly subsisting on fishing and frogging, as well as eating any game they can hunt. By the standards of some of their neighbors their culture is somewhat primitive, but they are very woodcrafty, with great knowledge of their terrain as well as of poisons made by local plants and animals in the swamps, which they often coat their weapons with. Crannogmen are typically short in stature.

The crannogmen are a different offshoot of the First Men, separate from the Northmen who also descend from the First Men. However, the crannogmen do consider themselves to politically be "Northmen", in a general sense, because they have been ruled by the Starks of Winterfell for centuries.

Wildlings (Free Folk)

 The "Free Folk" is the name used to refer to themselves by the people who live in the lands beyond the Wall, still on the continent of Westeros but beyond the northern border of the Seven Kingdoms. The name they employ makes reference to their society, which recognizes no political authority and no claim of ownership over the land. The people of the Seven Kingdoms refer to the Free Folk derogatorily as "wildlings".

 The Free Folk are descended from the First Men, as are the inhabitants of the North. They were, essentially, the people unlucky enough to be living north of the Wall when it was constructed eight thousand years ago. Besides this shared ethnic heritage, their common descent means that there are also many cultural similarities between the wildlings and the Northmen. The wildlings are much closer in lifestyle and habits to how the First Men lived thousands of years ago, as the North has come under some cultural influence from their Andal neighbors who invaded southern Westeros six thousand years ago, and particularly since the Seven Kingdoms were united into a single realm by the Targaryen Conquestthree hundred years ago.

 The Free Folk worship the Old Gods of the Forest, like their distant cousins in the North. Even in the lands of House Stark, there are some followers of the Faith of the Seven, often southern noblewomen who come to the North to secure marriage alliances. Beyond the Wall, however, the Old Gods are the only gods that are worshiped.

 The Free Folk consist of a wide variety of many fractious tribes and village-dwellers, some reasonably refined, others savage and hostile. Different wildling factions have very different cultures and practices, and may speak different languages. They spend much of their time fighting one another over petty squabbles, aside from the times when they are unified by a King-Beyond-the-Wall - as they are now under Mance Rayder.

 

Some of these clans or groups include:

• Numerous clans from the vast Haunted Forest, immediately north of the Wall but east of the Frostfang Mountains. These tend to be semi-nomadic hunters and homesteaders, though some of them form villages of their own.
• Thenns
• Hornfoots
• Ice-river clans
• Cave people

Hill tribes of the Vale

The hill tribes (or "mountain clans") are clans who live in the foothills of theMountains of the Moon on the western fringes of the Vale of Arryn. They reject and resist the rule of House Arryn, and harass travelers along the Eastern Road through the mountains.

They are descendants of the First Men who originally occupied the Vale during the Age of Heroes and before. They were driven into the hill by the Andalinvaders.

Prominent hill tribes include:

• Stone Crows - led by Shagga
• Burned Men - led by Timett
• Black Ears - led by Chella
• Moon Brothers - led by Ulf
• Painted Dogs

The hill tribes are also sometimes derisively referred to as "wildlings", but out of context the term is usually understood to refer to the peoples living beyond the Wall, who refer to themselves as the "Free Folk" ("wildlings" is used as a generic synonym for "barbarians" or "savages").^[8]

Contemporary Andal kingdoms

After many centuries, the Andals intermingled with the local First Men inhabitants of the lands they had conquered. Even major Houses such as the Lannisters, Tyrells, and Tullys have at least some First Men blood in their ancestry. Still, they became culturally "Andal", speaking their language and following the new religion the Andals introduced to Westeros, the Faith of the Seven, which became the dominant faith on the continent. The Andals carved out their own rival petty kingdoms when they conquered the First Men, and these tiny Andal kingdoms continued to fight each other for thousands of years. Over time these tiny local kingdoms aggregated into larger ones, as the stronger ones absorbed the weaker ones, eventually dividing Westeros south of the Wall into seven large kingdoms - which became geographically known as "the Seven Kingdoms", even after they were unified by the Targaryen Conquest three centuries ago.

The people of each of these modern Andal kingdoms have their own unique traits.

 

Valemen

The Vale of Arryn (often known as just "the Vale") was the first region of Westeros that the Andals invaded in their migration to the continent 6,000 years ago, and today the noble Houses of the Vale boast the purest Andal bloodlines. In other regions, the Andals heavily intermarried with the local First Men, so the Lannisters, Tyrells, and Tullys all have at least some First Men ancestry.

The Vale is self-sufficient but not as rich as the Westerlands or as bountiful as the Reach. Their major advantage is their isolation: the Mountains of the Moon along the border prevent any major army from approaching by land, save through a few very narrow and heavily defended mountain passes which can repulse any attack. As a result, Valemen place great pride in their lineages, while maintaining a certain arrogance born of isolation. They may not possess the large armies of the Reach or expensively equipped armies of the Westerlands, but throughout the centuries those armies have broken like water on rock against the narrow choke points of the Vale's mountain passes.

Reachmen

The Andals may have begun their invasion in the Vale, but the fertile lands ofthe Reach soon became their cultural heartland, and remained so for thousands of years. The High Septon, leader of the Faith of the Seven, used to be based in the major city of Oldtown for centuries (until moving to King's Landing about 150 years ago). The Reach is considered the heartland of chivalry in Westeros: the traditions of Knighthood and chivalry are therefore taken very seriously in the Reach, as are associated cultural elements such asTournaments, as well as courtly love and romantic intrigue. The noble courts of the Reach are the most sophisticated in Westeros.

The Reach is also the most fertile region of Westeros, meaning that the Reach has the largest population and can field the largest army, nearly twice the size of any other kingdom (though this balances out because the Reach also has twice as many bordering kingdoms as any other). Unlike the other major kingdoms, however, their rulers House Tyrell were never kings, but raised up by the Targaryens as the new regional rulers - ahead of other families in the Reach who actually had better claims toHighgarden. The result is that there has always been a considerable amount of court intrigue in the Reach, and negotiation of marriages to secure political alliances. Reachmen pride themselves on the knightly values of martial prowess and honorable conduct (though of course, this varies from individual to individual).

Westermen

The Westerlands are very mountainous and by far the richest of the Seven Kingdoms in terms of precious metals and gemstones. Their gold mines enrich the realm, and are famous even far across the Narrow Sea. While Valemen pride themselves on their lineages and isolation, and Reachmen pride themselves on knightly conduct and valor from their large armies, Westermen pragmatically value whoever has the most gold. For thousands of years, the wealthiest family in the Westerlands have been their rulers, House Lannister ofCasterly Rock.

 Because their kingdom is the richest in precious metals, and also useful metals such as iron, Westermen armies tend to be the best equipped in Westeros, with even their infantry wearing large amounts of plate armor and full-visor helmets (in contrast to the resource-poor Northmen, who often have to make do with chainmail). Because they do not value lineage or knightly conduct so much as they value wealth, Westermen nobles such as the Lannisters have come to be calculating and pragmatic in politics, often defeating their enemies not through valor but simply hiring larger armies.

Stormlanders

The Stormlands have neither the gold of the Westerlands nor the fertile fields of the Reach - nor do they even have the defensive mountains that protect the Vale from attack by land. As a result, to defend their territories Stormlanders have had to develop the strongest martial tradition of any of the Andal kingdoms. Some of the greatest warriors in the history of the Seven Kingdoms have been Stormlanders, such as Robert Baratheon, who slew Rhaegar Targaryen in single combat during the Battle of the Trident. The warrior-womanBrienne of Tarth is also a Stormlander (though her behavior is unusual even for noblewomen from the Stormlands).‚Stormlanders are also often skilled and battle-hardened commanders of armies on land and fleets at sea, such as Robert's younger brotherStannis.

The borderlands in the southwest of the Stormlands are known as the Dornish Marches, because they are along the mountainous border with Dorne to the south, though they have also been contested by the Reach from the west. The Marcher lords of the Stormlands have always been the first line of defense in constant border disputes over the centuries, resulting in them possessing an even stronger martial tradition than the rest of the Stormlands. The living legend Ser Barristan Selmy is a Stormlander from a Marcher House, as is Ser Beric Dondarrion. The champion archer Anguy is also a Stormlander from the Dornish Marches.

Rivermen

Located in the middle of the continent, the Riverlands have long been a contested borderland between the more powerful kingdoms. Before theTargaryen Conquest, the Riverlands were conquered and held by the Stormlands for three centuries. Three generations before the Targaryen Conquest, the Iron Islands in turn drove out the Stormlanders and conquered the Riverlands themselves. When Aegon Targaryen and his sisters invaded Westeros, the Rivermen saw them as liberators from brutal ironborn rule, and assisted them in a popular uprising led by House Tully. For this reason the Riverlands didn't have a king at the time of the invasion, and the Riverlands are not technically counted as one of the "Seven" Kingdoms (instead essentially making up the eighth "kingdom") . However, for administrative purposes, the Riverlands and their rulers are equal to any other region of the realm.

Because the Riverlands had not ruled themselves as a unified independent kingdom for thousands of years, but were border territories which shifted between control of neighboring kingdoms, the Rivermen are more diverse than other Andal kingdoms, with less of a unified identity. House Blackwood and House Bracken loathe each other, and have been feuding for thousands of years. While the other major Rivermen Houses follow the Faith of the Seven, the Blackwoods still worship the Old Gods of the Forest. House Frey is a newer House that rose about six centuries ago by exacting tolls on their bridge crossing, but are looked down upon by the other older Rivermen Houses as greedy and selfish upstarts.

  In the other Andal kingdoms vassal Houses generally try to emulate the lead House, often in clothing styles and manners. Because House Tully never ruled as kings and the Riverlands were not unified for thousands of years, however, some of their vassals see no particular reason why they should be ruled by the Tullys of Riverrun and do not respect them as much (the only comparable situation was with how the Tyrells were raised to rule the Reach despite never being kings, but at least the Reach had been a unified kingdom for thousands of years before that).
Therefore, there really is no set appearance or clothing style for Rivermen - the Freys in particular dress nothing

Culturally and historically, the Crownlands were primarily an extension of the Riverlands for thousands of years, but with cultural influences from neighboring regions which periodically captured territory in the region. The greatest of these was the conquest of all the Riverlands by the Stormlands, which lasted for three centuries. The Stormlanders were ultimately driven out when the ironborn invaded the Riverlands from the west, underHarren Hoare's grandfather. Harren's father then conquered the area of the future Crownlands, though Harren later died during the Targaryen Conquest. like the Tullys, instead of emulating them, because they chafed under Tully rule. Different Rivermen Houses can also have very distinct local customs, such as how the Tullys conductfunerals by ceremonially burning their dead on pyre-boats in the Trident River.

Therefore, if the defining characteristics of Reachmen are their fertile fields and chivalry, of Westermen their gold and riches, of Stormlanders their martial prowess, and Valemen their proud lineages and isolation, the defining characteristic of the Rivermen is their diversity.

Crownlanders

 

The Crownlands are the newest region in the Seven Kingdoms, created only three hundred years ago as a result of the Targaryen Conquest, carved out of territory from neighboring kingdoms to make a new capital region. As a result, it does not have much of a distinct "cultural identity", so much as it is shaped by its distinction as the region containing the capital city, King's Landing, whichAegon I Targaryen ordered built there after his conquest.

The Crownlanders are an ethnically disparate mix of former Rivermen, former Stormlanders, holdout First Men, and even some Valyrians, divided into basically five geographic sub-sections: King's Landing itself, the main farmlands north of the Blackwater River and west of Crackclaw Point, the pine barrens of Crackclaw Point, the strip of land on the southern coast of Blacwater Bay running from the Blackwater River to Massey's Hook, and the islands in Blackwater Bay. The main section's rich farmlands feed the capital city, and were originally Rivermen who had long been ruled by the Stormlanders, generally the same First Men/Andal mix as most other regions of the south.Rosby, Duskendale, and Stokeworth are part of this group. Crackclaw Point is a wooded backwater that was rarely held for long by outsiders, and thus has a greater descent from the First Men, though they have intermarried with powerful Andal families over the centuries. The southern strip including Massey's Hook was actually still part of the Stormlands during the Targaryen Conquest, but the Stormlords of the region had already developed closer ties to the Targaryens and openly joined them at the beginning of the invasion. These former Stormlanders include House Massey and House Bar Emmon. In Blackwater Bay, the large islands of Dragonstone, Driftmark, and Claw Isle were actually settled by Valyrian families from Essos, the Targaryens, Velaryons, and Celtigars (respectively). These began as Valyrian trading outposts, and later became refuges after the Doom destroyed Valyria.

King's Landing itself, meanwhile, is practically another category unto itself. When the Targaryens built their new capital city from the ground up, it was a boom town quickly populated by artisans, merchants, and commoners who came from all over the rest of the Seven Kingdoms. As the largest port on the east coast of Westeros, a large number of foreigners from the Free Cities and beyond also live in the city (such as the master-blacksmithTobho Mott, from the Free City of Qohor). Above them all for three hundred years were the Targaryens, who were ethnically Valyrian, though in such small numbers that they did not constitute another demographic group. Due to their presence there is not so much one custom "Crownlander" style of clothing and appearance, so much as local lords and courtiers imitate the fashions set by the royal family. For example, when Eddard Stark arrives at court, most of the ladies at court dress in a style imitating the styles worn by Queen Cersei.

Ironborn

"We are ironborn. We're not subjects, we're not slaves. We do not plow the field or toil in the mine. We take what is ours."

―Balon Greyjoy

In the present day, the Ironborn are composed of the same Andal/First Men mix as the rest of southern Westeros. However, the few Andals that invaded the isles actually converted to their way of life and worship of the Drowned God, and heavily intermarried with the local population. The Andal invasion really had only a minimal impact on the Iron Islands. In modern times, the ironborn generally think of their distinct culture as stretching back without interruption to the Dawn Age, long before the Andals arrived. Even back then, however, their culture had developed so differently from their First Men cousins who were on the mainland that the ironborn only consider themselves to have truly "originated", culturally, on the Iron Islands themselves.

Dornishmen: contemporary inhabitants of Dorne

Fleeing defeat and enslavement by the Valyrians in Essos, thousands of the Rhoynar fled by ship, migrating across the Narrow Sea to Dorne, a large and arid peninsula in the southeast of the continent. They were the third and last major ethnic group to migrate to Westeros, arriving in Dorne about one thousand years before the War of the Five Kings.

The Rhoynar allied with local rulers in Dorne and combined forces to conquer and unite the rest of Dorne for the first time, which had previously been divided between multiple rival petty kingdoms. The Rhoynar intermingled with the local First Men and Andal inhabitants over the centuries, resulting in the modern "Dornishmen".

For the next thousand years, the Dornishmen remained physically isolated from the rest of Westeros by the Red Mountains along their western border, and the harsh rolling-sands deserts of central Dorne. This allowed their culture to remain very distinct from the rest of the Seven Kingdoms. While they were separated from everyday contact, the Dornishmen have had frequent border wars and skirmishes with the fertile lands of the Reach to the west, and with the Stormlands to the north. For centuries, the main flashpoint in these conflicts have been in the hills and valleys of the Dornish Marches, a rough border region in the southwestern Stormlands.

The Rhoynar did not settle evenly across Dorne when they migrated to Dorne: instead, they primarily focused around the coasts and river valleys in the east, with their numbers gradually thinning out proceeding west towards the interior deserts and mountains of the west. As a result, there are actually said to be three kinds of Dornishmen in modern times:

• "Salty Dornishmen", who live along the coasts, and the densely populated river-valleys of eastern Dorne. These Dornishmen are dark-featured, with smooth olive skin and black hair. They tend to be short and lithe in build. House Martell, the ruling family of Dorne, are considered Salty Dornishmen.
• "Sandy Dornishmen", who live in the harsh deserts of central Dorne. Their faces burned brown by the hot Dornish sun, their features are even darker than the salty Dornishmen, even though they have a little less Rhoynar ancestry. Conversely, they are slightly taller than Salty Dornishmen. House Uller, of which Ellaria Sand is a bastard daughter, are considered Sandy Dornishmen.
• "Stony Dornishmen", who live in the passes and heights of the Red Mountains in western Dorne, the only part of Dorne which has a land border with the rest of the Seven Kingdoms. They have the most Andal and First Men blood, because few Rhoynar settled that far into the interior of Dorne. As a result they mostly resemble the other people of the Seven Kingdoms in look, customs, and traditions. They are brown-haired or blonde and fair-skinned, with faces that are freckled or burned by the sun. House Dayneis a family of Stony Dornishmen: perhaps their most famous member was the legendary Ser Arthur Dayne, who served in the Mad King's Kingsguard until his death.

• Dorne is loosely inspired, in part, by real-life medieval Spain, and has a similar ethnic continuum running across the region, except that they run from south-north instead of east-west. Islamic conquests and migrations in medieval Spain pushed up from the south, while holdout Visigothic kingdoms clung to the Pyrenees Mountains in the north. Similarly, the Rhoynar mostly settled in eastern Dorne, while "Stony Dornishmen" of the western mountains are holdout First Men/Andal Houses. The distinction between "Salty/Sandy/Stony" Dornishmen is really more of a general trend than official, rigid categories. In-universe, King Daeron I Targaryen coined this categorization scheme in the book he wrote about his attempt to conquer Dorne, and Daeron was making some sweeping generalizations. In truth, Rhoynar settlement patterns and centuries of intermingling resulted in an ethnic continuum across the region. Having grown up in the North, Arya Stark didn't even know that there were Stony Dornishmen, until she met the squire Edric Dayne among the Brotherhood Without Banners, who has blonde hair and blue eyes. Admittedly, most of Dorne's population is densely settled in the eastern river valleys, so "Salty Dornishmen" make up the bulk of its inhabitants (and their rulers the Martells themselves have a classic Salty Dornishmen/Rhoynar appearance).

  There is actually a fourth, very small group of Dornishmen, quite distinct from the rest, known as the "Orphans of the Greenblood". When the Rhoynar first settled in Dorne, some refused to give up the old river-boating trade lifestyle that they used to have on the Rhoyne River in Essos. Feeling that they were "orphaned" from their homeland in Essos, they clung to the old lifestyle of the Rhoynar, living on merchant poleboats plying their way up and down the Greenblood River, the main waterway in Dorne. They are relatively few in number, and would seem to be closer to the original Rhoynar in appearance than even the "Salty" Dornishmen.

  The Rhoynar ancestors of the Dornishmen did convert to the Faith of the Seven when they migrated to Westeros, but in many ways they simply picked and chose which rules they wanted to follow while ignoring those they disagreed with. As a result the religion is interpreted more loosely in Dorne than in the other Seven Kingdoms (though they are no less devout), with several unique variations and local customs.
  The Rhoynar also abandoned use of their original language and adopted the Common Tongue of the Andals when they migrated to Westeros. However, the lingering influence of their old language has given Dornishmena distinctive accent to their speech.

  The novels mention that Dornishmen speak with a very distinctive accent but make no attempt to represent it in the text. The accent is consistently described as a "Dornish drawl". The Dornish accent used in the TV series is based on a Hispanic accent, because Dorne is inspired by medieval Spain. Because Pedro Pascal(Oberyn Martell) was the first major Dornish character cast, he established what the accent sounded like and subsequently cast actors based their "Dornish accents" on his performance. Specifically, Pascal explained he had an instinct that Oberyn sounded like his own father's real-life Chilean-Spanish accent: Pascal's family immigrated to the United States from Chile and Spanish was his first language growing up.

  In the rest of the Seven Kingdoms, the Dornish have a reputation for being hot-blooded and sexually licentious. Indeed, Dornishmen have more "relaxed" views towards sexuality and love than the rest of Westeros.Paramours are not shunned or kept in secret: instead they are held in a similar status as a lawful wife or husband, and it is not unusual for noblewomen to have paramours. The Dornish also have no particular stigma against homosexual behavior. Similarly, bastards do not carry the stigma of being born out of wedlock and are raised along their trueborn siblings and cousins, though they are still considered poor matches for marriage due to their inability to receive inheritance.
  
  

Dorne was the only one of the Seven Kingdoms that managed to maintain its independence during the Targaryen Conquest, three centuries before the War of the Five Kings, during which Aegon I Targaryen forged the other six kingdoms into one unified realm under the Iron Throne. The Dornishmen achieved this by resorting to guerrilla warfare: realizing they could not fight the Targaryendragons or hold out in siege, the Dornish melted away into the deserts to hide when a dragon arrived at one of their castles, then as soon as it left, ambushed Targaryen soldiers and harassed their supply lines. Eventually the Targaryens lost so many men from attrition that they had to abandon their invasion, and focus on reining in the other six kingdoms. Dorne eventually did come under the authority of the Iron Throne - but they joined the realm through peaceful marriage-alliance, only one century before the War of the Five Kings. As a result the Dornishmen were allowed to keep various local laws and privileges, such as referring to their regional ruler as a "Prince" instead of a "Lord Paramount". The combined effects of this geographic, ethnic, and political isolation has made the culture of the Dornishmen very unique in Westeros.

The novels clearly describe the Dornishmen as non-white in appearance (except for the few Stony Dornishmen up in the mountains). They are said to have dark eyes and hair, and the Martells are often described as olive-skinned. Given that Dorne is partially inspired by medieval Muslim Spain, the TV series producers generally seem to have attempted to cast actors with a "Mediterranean" appearance, often Hispanic. Pedro Pascal (Oberyn Martell) is a Chilean-American, while Indira Varma (Ellaria Sand) half South Asian Indian and half Swis, and Alexander Siddig (Doran Martell) is half Sudanese and half English. Exactly what Dornish facial features look like is never commented upon, but this might indicate that they are not drastically different from the rest of Westeros i.e. given that Joffrey at one point says he thinks Oberyn's skin looks like the color of a cowpie, if Oberyn's facial features were also particularly different (African, East Asian, etc.) Joffrey wouldn't have hesitated to mock them too. Dorne is relatively near both the Free Cities and the Summer Islands, with sea trade connecting it to each of them, so there might be numerous individuals from both regions living in Dorne, if not intermarrying and settling there (the Rhoynar refugees, in fact, originally attempted to settle in the Summer Islands before moving on to Dorne). Indeed, one ofOberyn's bastard daughters, Sarella, is the product of a liason he had with a Summer Islander woman who was captain of her own trading ship, and Sarella takes after her mother in appearance. In Season 5 of the TV series, the TV series production team outright went to Spain itself to film scenes set in Dorne. Apart from casting calls using actual inhabitants of Spain, the show also filmed in many medieval Islamic palaces which are famous world heritage sites.

Valyrian survivors: The Targaryens and their vassals

"I am Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, of the blood of Old Valyria. I am the dragon’s daughter!"

―Daenerys Targaryen

 

 

The only family of Valyrian Dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria was House Targaryen, which settled onDragonstone island in Blackwater Bay, off the east coast of Westeros. They were accompanied by several minor vassal families who also settled on nearby islands. The Targaryens also possessed the world's only surviving dragons. For the next hundred years, while the former Valyrian Freehold tore itself apart in the Century of Blood, the Targaryens remained on Dragonstone, consolidating their strength. Then, three hundred years before the War of the Five Kings, Aegon I Targaryen and his two sister-wives Rhaenys and Visenya, set out to conquer and unite the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros in the War of Conquest. At the end of the Targaryen Conquest, Aegon took the swords of his fallen enemies and forged them into the Iron Throne using dragonflame. The Targaryens then founded a new capital city, King's Landing, and carved out territory from the neighboring kingdoms to form a new administrative region: the Crownlands, to be ruled directly by the Iron Throne. Over time the tradition was established that while the current monarch ruled in King's Landing, the heir apparent to the throne would rule the ancestral Targaryen territory on Dragonstone, holding the title "Prince of Dragonstone".

The two main vassal families who accompanies the Targaryens to Westeros were House Velaryon and House Celtigar, who settled on other islands in Blackwater Bay. The Velaryons settled on Driftmark (the largest island in the bay), while the Celtigars settled on Claw Island. The Velaryons were among the Targaryens' most loyal vassals, who served as admirals of their fleets: under the Targaryen kings a Velaryon was named Master of Ships so often that the office was practically hereditary.

 

The Targaryens and their vassals actually had a minimal impact on the ethnic makeup of Westeros: their numbers were and remained so low that they are not even considered a major ethnic group (after the First Men, Andals, and Rhoynar, or even the ironborn). A major reason for this is that the Targaryens maintained their Valyrian ancestors' traditions of heavily incestuous marriages, marrying brother to sister whenever possible in order to "keep the bloodline pure". As a result they did not heavily intermingle with other major noble families in Westeros, and their numbers remained quite small - and also severely reduced whenever civil wars broke out amongst the Targaryens themselves. There were a few intermarriages over the centuries - so as withHouse Martell and later House Baratheon - but on the whole, except for a fewdistant cousins, by the time of Robert's Rebellion, the Targaryen family solely consisted of the Mad King, his sister-wife, and their three children (and also Rhaegar's children, later murdered, and the Mad King's daughter Daenerys who was born after his death). Following the war, and subsequent death of the Mad King's second son Viserys, the sole surviving member of the family isDaenerys Targaryen (not counting the Mad King's uncle Maester Aemon, who joined the Night's Watch decades ago and took an oath of celibacy).

Due to their heavy inbreeding, the Targaryens retained the classic Valyrian features of very pale skin, silver (platinum blonde) hair, and brightly colored eyes.

In the novels, the Valyrians and Targaryens actually have distinctive purple-colored irises. The TV series did originally attempt to portray this using colored contact lenses in the early days of filming, but it was quickly abandoned and never featured in the finished show. As the producers explained, "actors act with their eyes", and the purple-colored contacts were so distracting that they felt it was detracting from the actors' performances. Instead, Daenerys and Viserys in the TV series have blue eyes.

The Targaryens abandoned the old Valyrian religion and converted to the Faith of the Seven when they came to Westeros, largely as a political expediency - though they ignored the Faith's basic rule against incest, feeling that their royal status set them above the rules of others. Rather than try to force High Valyrian onto the entire continent, the Targaryens also shifted to speaking the Common Tongue of their subjects in Westeros (though many Targaryens still learned High Valyrian in private).