Riverlands
No other land in the Seven Kingdoms has seen so many battles, nor so many petty kings and royal houses rising and falling. The waters of the Trident make the lands ripe for settlement, farming, and conquest, whilst the river's three branches stimulate trade and travel during peacetime, and serve as both roads and barriers in times of war. - The World of Ice and Fire[1]
The Riverlands describes the area of Westeros that stretches from the boundaries of the Neck to the north, the mountain ranges to the west and the east, and south down to the mouth of the Trident and the Gods' Eye. In the past, the boundaries of the Riverlands have spread even further, including all the lands between the Bay of Crabs and the Blackwater Rush. Due to its position in relation to other realms and regions, the Riverlands are famed for their long history of conflicts and upheaval.
Terrain and Culture
The Riverlands are defined by the great river Trident and its three major branches: the Red Fork, the Green Fork, and the Blue Fork. These waterways stretch across the region, shaping not only its terrain but also the daily lives of its inhabitants. Navigating the rivers has thus become a key part of Riverman culture, not only for transporting goods and people, but also in religious rites and ceremonies.
Geographically, the Riverlands span from the swampy expanses of the Neck in the north to the southern banks of the Blackwater. Eastward, the region reaches the foothills bordering the Vale, and westward it brushes against the mountainous highlands. The terrain is generally open and lacks prominent natural borders, with rolling hills, plains, and numerous river crossings. The climate is temperate and the soil fertile, making the Riverlands particularly well-suited for farming and settlement. [2]
Each of the Trident’s three forks contributes to the distinct character of the region. The Red Fork carries reddish silt from the western uplands, tinting its waters a murky colour. The Green Fork flows from the bogs of the northern Neck, with moss-laced water and a darker current. The Blue Fork has its source in pure springs and flows southeast past Oldstones. [2]
The lack of natural defenses has historically contributed to a great deal of unrest in the Riverlands. The region has been shaped by frequent and often violent shifts in power, with various local leaders and ruling houses rising and falling over the centuries. As a result, the Riverlands are often seen as one of the most unstable regions, where the political landscape changes as swiftly as the currents of its rivers. [3]
The Rivers and the Hills
The realm of the Rivers and the Hills has shrunk and now it runs from the swampy Neck in the north down to the lands of House Darry in the south; forests can be found at the Cape of Eagles, especially around Seagard. Elsewhere the terrain is kinder: fertile river-vales carved by the Green Fork and the Blue Fork lie at its heart, while eastward the land rises into rolling foothills beneath the Vale and northward dissolves into bog and morass with scant arable ground. Amid these shifting borders stands Oldstones, the ancestral seat of the Mudd kings: a great castle perched atop a wooded hill above the Blue Fork, reached by overgrown trails flanked by ash, elm, oak, pine, and sentinel trees. Blackberry thickets, bracken, gorse, sedge, and thistle crowd its undergrowth, and from the summit one surveys the winding river below and the dense woodland beyond—a fitting stronghold for the rulers of the Rivers and the Hills.[4]
Notable Houses
Blackwood Vale
The Blackwood Vale lies between the Red Fork and the Blue Fork of the Trident, its western flank cut off by the foothills and mountains of the Westerlands. The vale is cloaked in towering forests, while the lands where the Trident’s three arms divide are especially green and fertile. Much of the terrain is gently rolling, yielding to rich river-vales in the south and rising to wooded hills toward the east.
Once the Blackwood Kings ruled these lands from their seat at Raventree Hall. Raventree Hall is renowned for its towering stone walls, flanked by lofty square towers and encircled by a deep, stone-lined moat. Its most striking feature is the godswood: a vast, ancient grove dominated by a massive dead weirwood tree. Each dusk, hundreds of ravens descend to roost on its skeletal branches, a ritual that has endured for generations. [5]
Notable Houses
Southron Stones
The Southron Stones was once a Kingdom along the Red Fork of the Trident, characterized by rolling hills and scattered woodlands. One of its most important landmarks is High Heart, a solitary, steep-sloped hill once crowned by thirty-one carved weirwoods and revered as a sanctuary of both the Children of the Forest and the First Men. It was destroyed by King Armistead Vance. Its prominence above the surrounding lowlands grants clear sight for leagues in every direction, giving rise to the saying “no enemy can approach unseen,” a feature that lends the site quiet safety even in troubled times.[6]
Southstone is ruled by House Bracken from Stone Hedge, a fortress just south of the Red Fork. Nestled between the wooded rise of High Heart and the open fields around Acorn Hall, Stone Hedge commands both the hill and the river, making it a vital stronghold for House Bracken’s control of the region. [7]
An row of carved stones lines the approach to Stone Hedge. Known as the Bracken Markers, each stone is said to commemorate a significant event in the house’s history, including victories, betrayals, rivalries, and acts of retribution.
Notable Houses
Maidenpool
Maidenpool stretches along the Trident to the Bay of Crabs. Blessed with both fertile fields and stands of forest, it ranks among the most prosperous regions of the Riverlands. At its heart lies the walled town of Maidenpool, which takes its name from Jonquil’s Pool—a famed freshwater spring. Legend holds that during the Age of Heroes, Florian the Fool first beheld Jonquil and her sisters bathing in its clear waters, an encounter later immortalised in the song “Six Maids in a Pool.”[8] Maidenpool belongs now to the Kingdom of Duskendale.
Notable Houses
Misty Isle
Misty Isle is a small rocky island at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush in the Bay of Crabs. Dominated by marshlands and salt flats, its poor soil and scant tree cover leave the terrain largely barren and saline. A solitary stone keep guards the river’s entrance, serving as the lone stronghold of House Fisher. In recent years, the isle’s thin defenses and isolated settlements have made it a tempting target for raiders seeking easy plunder.
Notable Houses
Rivermark
The southern reaches of the Riverlands have already fallen to Andal warriors, led by King Armistead Vance. After failing to take Duskendale, he landed at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush with a host of warriors and marched north into the fractured petty-kingdoms. This land is now called Rivermark and his seat was once Atranta but is now called Vancemark.[9]
Not far from these contested lands lies the Gods’ Eye, the great inland lake of the Riverlands, famed for the Isle of Faces at its center. Here the Pact between the First Men and the children of the forest was signed, and the Green Men were sworn to guard its weirwoods.[10] In summer its waters gleam blue-green in the sun; in winter they harden to a pewter hue “like cold steel.”[11] Travellers warn of odd, shifting currents and “hungry fish” lurking in the deep.[12]
Notable Houses
History
The Dawn Age
Perhaps as a consequence of forming the centre part of Westeros, the Riverlands have been a site of considerable significance since the Dawn Age. Two of the most important sites to the Children of the Forest remain in the Riverlands - one being High Heart, a unique and mysterious weirwood grove atop a hill to the South of Stone Hedge, and the Gods' Eye itself, an island upon a strange and sorcerous lake that drives away any who seek to land upon it uninvited. Weirwoods run around the outer edge of the lake as well, as though to guard against trespass.
The Age of Heroes
The earliest kingdoms of men in the Riverlands are shrouded in myth and mystery, but the first known dynasty to have claimed to be King of Rivers and Hills are House Fisher of Misty Isle. House Fisher hailed from a tidal island where the Trident estuary meets the Bay of Crabs. Their realm included both the Riverlands as it was at the time of the Coming of the Andals, as well as the lands later considered the Blackwater Marches.
Nonetheless, as the centuries past the Fishers began to decline in their power. Their power relied on their ability to control the rivers, and when that fell into question - their rule did likewise. A few poor kings at the wrong time did the rest, and House Fisher passed from the heights of renown, into the long decay of obscurity.
The downfall of House Fisher created new opportunities, and led to the rise of new kingdoms. House Blackwood had been driven from the North due to the incessant wars over the great primordial forests, and arrived in the Riverlands in search of new opportunities. What precisely followed is in question. House Bracken would tell you they offered protection to the Blackwoods and were betrayed, whereas the Blackwoods would say that the Brackens were their vassals who turned on them. Whatever the case, the Houses of Blackwood and Bracken would both claim the titles of River Kings during this period, along with certain lost kings from House Hook. At times, they restored the Kingdom to what it had been, but forever fleeting. It was not until the rise of House Mudd approximately a thousand years before the Andal Invasions, that a renewed stability would return to the Riverlands.
During this time the Mudds were greatly afflicted by an expanding High Kingdom of the Iron Islands. The Cape of Eagles remained in their hands until by chance a company of Andal Adventurers pledged their service to the King of the Rivers and the Hills, and drove the Ironmen back into the sea. Seeing an opportunity, the Mudds gave the Cape of Eagles to their leader, and thus House Mallister was created.
The Coming of the Andals
The Arrival of the Andals in earnest shattered the integrity of the Mudd realm. The feud between House Blackwood and House Bracken had flared up every few generations, but a strong united Mudd realm could quench the flames and make a peace. When Armistead Vance shattered the outer reaches of the River King's realm however, the ensuing chaos led to the Blackwoods and Brackens both renouncing Mudd rule and declaring themselves river kings. The realms that lay on the far side of Blackwood Vale and Stone Hedge no longer had any overland connection to Oldstones, and thus looked to themselves for defence as well, whether from Andals to the East, or the Western Mountain Clans.
Armistead Vance came west into the Riverlands after failing to breach the allied defences of King Staun Darklyn and Florian Mooton, along with the aid of the Robber King Baurgard Hogg. Whilst Togarion Bar Emmon remained in the region out of Stubbornness, Armistead sought to try his fortunes elsewhere. He shattered the power of the remnants of House Hook and their bannermen, and gathered to himself seven warlords, with the intend to overrun the fractured Riverlands, igniting the Clash of Six Kings. This two-year war saw the allied kings of the First Men, Mudd, Blackwood, Mooton, and Darklyn, stand against the growing Andal kingdom of Vance.
Despite initial victories, the alliance suffered severe losses, including the capture and execution of King Florian Mooton. Soon after, Armistead Vance declared himself King of the Rivermark, and imposed his rule from the newly renamed Vancemark (formerly Atranta).
In the Spring War, King Armistead Vance launched a devastating invasion of Blackwood Vale. The final coalition of the First Men mustered at Raventree Hall, Fisher, Mudds, Mallisters, Strongs, Brackens of Whiskermoor, and other loyal houses. Outnumbered and outmaneuvered, they were ultimately defeated.
Rather than destroy them entirely, Vance offered terms: Blackwood Vale would become his vassal, granted religious exemptions; the Tully lands were awarded to House Lydden; and the Mudds were forced to swear peace. With this, the last free southern kingdoms of the Riverlands fell to the Andals.
The Kingdom of Maidenpool eventually fell under the dominion of the Kingdom of Duskendale, after King Aldhelm Darklyn forced his nephew Seth Mooton to bend the knee, surrender his crown, and accept vassalage. Weakened by the death of Florian the Brave, the ineffectual rule of his son, and the constant raids from the Clawmen, Maidenpool was in no position to resist—and the conquest went unchallenged.
References
- ↑ George R.R. Martin. (2014). The World of Ice and Fire - The Riverlands. London: HarperVoyager. p.151
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 George R. R. Martin, The World of Ice and Fire, (London: HarperVoyager, 2014) p. 151.
- ↑ George R. R. Martin, The World of Ice and Fire, (London: HarperVoyager, 2014) p. 153.
- ↑ George R. R. Martin, The World of Ice and Fire, (London: HarperVoyager, 2014) p. 152.
- ↑ George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire: A Dance with Dragons (HarperCollins, 2012) Jaime I
- ↑ George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire: A Storm of Swords, Arya IV (2002).
- ↑ George R. R. Martin, The World of Ice and Fire, (London: HarperVoyager, 2014) p. 152–153.
- ↑ George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire: A Storm of Swords, Arya III (2002).
- ↑ George R. R. Martin, The World of Ice and Fire, (London: HarperVoyager, 2014) p. 151–152.
- ↑ George R. R. Martin, The World of Ice and Fire, (London: HarperVoyager, 2014) p. 8–9.
- ↑ George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire: A Storm of Swords, Arya I (2002).
- ↑ George R. R. Martin, Fire and Blood, (Random House LLC US, 2018) p. 567–569.