ca. 12, 000 years before Aegon’s Conquest
The First Men, invaded Westeros across the land-bridge from Essos, bearing weapons of bronze. In a futile attempt to end the invasion, the children used magic to shatter that land-bridge, creating the island chain known as the Stepstones. However, the First Men were able to reinforce by ship, leading to generations of warfare over the land. The First Men were more numerous, larger, stronger, and more technologically advanced than the children, who tried to resist the invaders using their magic. It proved unsuccessful, however, and the First Men gradually pushed deeper and deeper into Westeros, establishing hundreds of petty kingdoms.
ca. 10, 000 years before Aegon’s Conquest
Signing of the Pact: After years of warfare, the First Men and children of the forest came to a standstill and finally agreed to a peaceful coexistence, signing the pact of The Isle of Faces. This pact gave the First Men dominion over the open lands and let the children keep control over the forested areas. In time, the First Men adopted the worship of the Old Gods of the Forest.
The First Men, invaded Westeros across the land-bridge from Essos, bearing weapons of bronze. In a futile attempt to end the invasion, the children used magic to shatter that land-bridge, creating the island chain known as the Stepstones. However, the First Men were able to reinforce by ship, leading to generations of warfare over the land. The First Men were more numerous, larger, stronger, and more technologically advanced than the children, who tried to resist the invaders using their magic. It proved unsuccessful, however, and the First Men gradually pushed deeper and deeper into Westeros, establishing hundreds of petty kingdoms.
ca. 10, 000 years before Aegon’s Conquest
Signing of the Pact: After years of warfare, the First Men and children of the forest came to a standstill and finally agreed to a peaceful coexistence, signing the pact of The Isle of Faces. This pact gave the First Men dominion over the open lands and let the children keep control over the forested areas. In time, the First Men adopted the worship of the Old Gods of the Forest.
ca. 10, 000 - 8,000 years before Aegon’s Conquest
An era during the history of Westeros, which would be named so later for the great men and women who live in the years of peace and prosperity following the forging of the Pact. The Pact endures for nearly four thousand years, and in that time, the children of the forest and the First Men grow closer. In time, the First Men set aside many of their cultural differences to embrace the ways and customs of the children of the forest. With the exception of the Drowned God of the Iron Islands and the Lady of the Waves and Lord of the Skies of the Three Sisters, the gods of the children become those of the First Men. Many of the noble houses of Westeros today trace their lineage back to the Age of Heroes.
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House Stark
House Stark is believed to have descended from Bran the Builder, a legendary figure from the Age of Heroes, who raised their ancestral home at Winterfell thousands of years in the past, as well as the Wall.
House Greyiron
For centuries, the High King of the Isles had been chosen between the lords and captains of the Iron Islands in a kingsmoot. Urron Greyiron descended with his axemen among the ironborn assembled on Nagga's Bones, murdering all their opponents and proclaiming himself king. Urron also made the position hereditary, so at his death the Seastone Chair passed to his heir instead of being chosen.
House Lannister
Through the female line the Lannisters boast of descent from Lann the Clever, the legendary trickster of the Age of Heroes, who became the first King of the Rock, after tricking the members of House Casterly into giving him Casterly Rock.
House Gardener
The Gardeners claimed descent from Garth Greenhand from the Age of Heroes. According to legend, he wore a crown of vines and flowers and made the land bloom.
House Durrandon
House Durrandon was the house of the Storm Kings. According to legend, in the Age of Heroes, the first Storm King, Durran, won the love of Elenei, the daughter of the sea god and the goddess of the wind. Her divine parents forbade their love, but Durran and Elenei wed despite them. The gods’ wrath was terrible to behold, destroying Durran's keep on his wedding night, killing all his family and guests. Enraged, Durran declared war on the gods, who replied by hammering his kingdom with massive storms. Each time King Durran built a castle to face the sea the gods destroyed it.
King Durran persisted building larger and more powerful fortifications, until finally, the seventh castle stayed in place and resisted the storms of Shipbreaker Bay. Some believe this is because the children of the forest took a hand in its construction; others believe that a young boy who grew up to be Bran the Builder, advised Durran on its construction. The truth of the matter is unknown.
House Mudd
The Mudds once ruled as Kings of the Rivers and the Hills from a castle along the Blue Fork whose ruins are now called Oldstones. They were the last of the First Men to rule the Trident, reigning for over a thousand years.
House Darklyn
The Darklyns had been petty kings of the First Men during the Age of Heroes. Their closest allies were their bannermen of House Hollard, who served them loyally and provided brides three times for the Darklyn kings of old.
ca. 8, 000 years before Aegon’s Conquest
In this time, night seems to last for a generation, and the longest, coldest and darkest winter descends on Westeros. The ice spreads down from the north, and under the cover of darkness, the Others invade Westeros from the uttermost north, marching, killing and raising up the dead to be their servants in unlife and nearly destroying all men in Westeros. The Long Night comes to an end with the Battle for the Dawn. The children and the First Men unite to defeat the Others with dragonglass weapons, with the Night's Watch pushing them back into the frozen reaches of the Far North. Legendary figures from this time include the last hero and Azor Ahai, who wields a great sword of fire, Lightbringer.
With the Others defeated, Bran the Builder, with the aid of giants, the First Men, and perhaps the children of the forest, raises the Wall: a monumental fortification of ice and ancient magic, to shelter the realms of men from the menaces of the north. The Sworn Brotherhood of the Night's Watch guards the Wall.
ca. 6,000 - 4, 000 years before Aegon’s Conquest
The Andals cross the narrow sea and make landfall on its eastern shore at the Fingers, on what would one day become the Vale of Arryn. They come under the banner of the Faith of the Seven, with seven-pointed stars carved into their chests, wielding weapons of steel. They fight both the First Men and the children of the forest, sweeping the land much like the First Men did thousands of years before. When the Andals crossed the narrow sea from Essos is disputed; some sources indicate six thousand years ago, the True History states it was four thousand years ago, and some maesters claim it was two thousand years ago.
For centuries the Andals war with the First Men and the children in an attempt to drive them out. One by one, the six southron kingdoms fall and the weirwoods are burned. Only the Kingdom of the North remains under the rule of the First Men, in large part due to the strategically located fortress of Moat Cailin resisting multiple attempts to take it and thereafter serving as the door between North and South. Even though the North remain secure, the children of the forest begin their slow withdrawal from the lands of men, retreating deeper into their forests and north of the Wall.
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Roynar
The Rhoynar lived in city-states along the vast network of the river Rhoyne. They taught the Andals how to work iron, although the Seven-Pointed Star of the Faith of the Seven teaches that the Andals received this gift from the Smith.
Valyria Freehold
The peaceful sheep-herding folk of the Valyrian peninsula find dragons lairing in the Fourteen Fires, an immense chain of volcanoes extending across the neck of the peninsula. The Valyrians tame the dragons with magic, which gives them the means to gain influence over the area. The Valyrian Freehold is established.
Ghiscari Empire
The Ghiscari Empire was one of the oldest known nations and cultures in the world. It reigned supreme over much of Essos. Its founding and golden age predate that of its successor, the Valyrian Freehold, by thousands of years.
ca. 5,000 - 3, 000 years before Aegon’s Conquest
On Essos, five great wars are fought between the Ghiscari Empire, the greatest empire on the eastern peninsula, and the Freehold — wars which Valyria wins with the help of its dragons. After the last war, the Freehold utterly destroys the Ghiscari capital, slaying its people, destroying the city's walls and streets with dragonflame, and salting and sulphuring the fields.
On Westeros, over the centuries following the Andal Invasion, the southern kingdoms of the first men fall, and eventually the Andals raise up six powerful kingdoms of their own. Dorne was a coalition of Andal states and petty kingdoms, with no ruler strong enough to seize control of the entire region.
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House Arryn
Ser Artys Arryn, a legendary Andal leader, slew the Mountain King and the Arryns became the Kings of Mountain and Vale. Artys renamed the Vale into the Vale of Arryn, and he was given the Falcon Crown, which was henceforth passed down his line. Usually marrying other Andal nobles, House Arryn to this day has the purest line of Andal nobility.
House Hoare
A kingsmoot gave House Hoare the Seastone Chair after the Greyiron line had been extinguished by the Andals. Instead of returning to the Old Way, the Hoares kept the title hereditary as the Greyirons had done
House Teague
House Teague became River Kings after the fall of House Mudd to The Andals.
ca. 3,000 - 700 years before Aegon’s Conquest
With the destruction of Old Ghis, the Freehold's slow westward expansion brings it into conflict with the Rhoynish cities along the great River Rhoyne, a vast waterway. Prince Garin the Great raises an army a quarter-million strong to oppose the Valyrians, but fails utterly against their dragons.
Nymeria, a Rhoynish warrior-queen, evacuates the survivors of Garin's war, mostly women and children, on ten thousand ships across the narrow sea, seeking refuge in Dorne, in southern Westeros.
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House Hoare
Under King Qhored Hoare the realm of the ironborn reached the peak of its expansion, and it was said that all the western coast of Westeros was under their control.
House Fisher
Many other kings would rule the River lands, House Fisher being one of the many.
ca. 700 - 350 years before Aegon’s Conquest
The Valyrian Freehold conquers much of what would be the area of the southern Free Cities. A religious sect, the Moonsingers, leads many thousand refugees north to a remote lagoon protected by mountains and mists, and there found the Secret City of Braavos. In Westeros, The last River king was killed by Stormland invaders about 360 years before Aegon's Landing. The next years, the power of House Hoare would diminish and many of the conquests would be lost. The possessions of the ironborn were reduced to the Iron Isles and the coast of the Riverlands.
House Martell
Seeking refuge in Dorne, Nymeria forms a marriage alliance with Lord Mors Martell and together they finally organize the land into one kingdom, establishing House Nymeros Martell as the ruling house of Dorne. Their symbols were combined into a gold spear piercing a red sun on an orange field. Mors adopted many Rhoynish customs including inheritance regardless of gender and the use of the title “prince” instead of “king”.
ca. 350 - 200 years before Aegon’s Conquest
House Targaryen was one of the forty ancient noble houses of dragonlords who ruled the Valyrian Freehold. Daenys the Dreamer, the daughter of the head of House Targaryen, Aenar, had visions of a cataclysm that would come over Valyria. Aenar led House Targaryen and their five dragons, including Balerion, to the westernmost outpost of Valyrian influence, the island of Dragonstone.
In Westeros, during a new age of expansion, the ironborn under King Harwyn Hardhand took all of the Riverlands from the Storm Kings.
ca. 200 - 2 years before Aegon’s Conquest
100 years before Aegon’s Conquest, the Doom descended on the city of Valyria, leading to the collapse of the Freehold. The Targaryens were one of the few families to survive the destruction of their home and were the only dragonriders of Valyria to survive. Thereafter four of the dragons died under unknown circumstances, possibly due to infighting among the family, but two more were born from eggs, Vhagar and Meraxes.
Following the Doom, there was pressure for the Targaryens to go east and ally themselves with Volantis, who attempted to restore the Freehold by conquering the rest of the Valyrian colonies to survive the Doom, now known as the Free Cities. However, the Targaryens remained on Dragonstone for another century.
Aegon, the Storm King and Braavos sided with Tyrosh, Lys, Myr, and in an alliance that broke Volantene hegemony at the end of the "Bleeding Years."
Harren the Black the King of the Iron Islands and the Riverlands was nearing completion of his vast castle, Harrenhal, and was said to be looking for more conquests. Argilac had grown afraid of Harren and so proposed an alliance with Aegon. It is believed he wanted to create a buffer zone between him and Harren. He offered the hand of his daughter,Argella, in marriage as well as dowry lands, though, much of the lands were in fact in the possession of Harren the Black.
Aegon refused and instead offered the hand of his best friend and rumored bastard brother, Orys Baratheon. Argilac took this as a grave insult and had the hands of the envoy cut off. He sent them to Aegon with a message of "These are the only hands you will receive". Aegon called his banners and took counsel with them and his sisters. Then Aegon sent ravens to the rulers in the 7 Kingdoms. He informed them that "There will be only one king" and that those who bent the knee would keep their lands and titles.
But those that did not would be destroyed.
The Targaryen host landed at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush next to three hills. Upon the highest hill, Aegon started construction of a wooden motte and bailey fort as his first claim to the mainland of Westeros. Visenya crowned Aegon and Rhaenys hailed him as king. He sent Visenya and Rhaenys to subdue the local lords; Rosby yielded to Rhaenys and Visenya took Stokeworth without any bloodshed. The Darklyns of Duskendale and Mootons of Maidenpool did put up a fight but were easily beaten.
Aegon first struck northwest against the King of the Iron Islands, Harren the Black. King Harren ruled both the Iron Islands and the Riverlands from his newly-completed monstrous fortress of Harrenhal, the greatest Westeros has ever known, which is considered impregnable against siege or storm.
When King Harren refused to surrender, Aegon used his dragon to overcome Harrenhal's defenses and burned Harren and his sons alive in what was later called Kingspyre Tower. The remaining ironborn fled back to the Iron Islands, Aegon hounded them all the way back with the aid of the Riverlords, where he demanded their fealty.
The Submission of Crackclaw Point
Following the death of Harren the Black at Harrenhal, Aegon had sent his sister Queen Visenya, to demand the submission of the Lords of Crackclaw Point. The lords understood that they had no chance, so they laid their swords at her feet. Visenya took them as her own men and they would owe no fealty but to the Iron Throne. They bent the knee to her without qualm, and in return she promised them that they would be direct vassals of the Targaryens.
Aegon sent Orys alongside his sister-wife Rhaenys, atop of Meraxes, to conquer the Stormlands. Even though Harrenhal had already fallen to Aegon and the dragonflame of Balerion, Argilac's men remained loyal to him. Argilac refused to die in the same manner as Harren the Black and amassed a host at Storm's End to meet Orys' host. Atop Meraxes, Rhaenys scouted Argilac's movements. As the two armies closed on each other, a massive storm, that would give a name to the battle, broke out. Argilac's knights charged but were slowed by the mud. They finally broke though but faced Rhaenys on Meraxes. The dragon was just as deadly on the ground as in the air. In the confusion, Argilac was thrown from his horse and found himself face to face with Orys Baratheon. Both took a wound but soon Argilac would get his wish and would die fighting. His death ended the battle.
After her father's death, Princess Argella barred Storm's End and declared herself Storm Queen. Nevertheless, her garrison, fearing to share the fate of Harren, revolted against Argella and delivered her to Orys, chained and naked. However, Orys treated her gently, removing the chains, covering her with his cloak and giving her food and wine.
Afterward, Orys married Argella and became Lord of the Stormlands. He took the sigil of House Durrandon, as well as his words, as his own.
After their separate engagements, the Targaryens and their dragons met at the Stoney Sept in response to the gathering of a great host in the west.
Alarmed at the sweeping success of the invaders, King Loren Lannister of the Rock and King Mern IX of the Reach made an alliance and assembled their armies to face the Targaryens. Their army, dubbed by historians 'The Host of the Two Kings', numbered 55,000; five thousand of them mounted knights, while the Targaryens had only 10,000 men, many of uncertain loyalty and reliability. The battle went badly for the Targaryen army.
With their smaller force severely weakened and in danger of routing, Aegon and his sisters deployed all three dragons at once; the only time this happened during the war. Their combined fires scoured the battlefield, immolating more than four thousand men (including King Mern and his heirs) and giving the battle its name: The Field of Fire.
After he was captured, King Loren bent the knee and was allowed to remain Lord of Casterly Rock and became the first Warden of the West. With Mern dead, Aegon accepted the surrender of Harlen Tyrell, Mern's steward, and appointed him overlord of the Reach and warden of the South.
After watching the fall of the kings in the south Torrhen Stark was marching south with 30,000 men at his back, entertaining a notion by his bastard half-brother Brandon Snow that they could assassinate the dragons by stealth. However, upon seeing Aegon's 45,000 strong army and his dragons Torrhen lost heart. He sent Brandon and three maesters to negotiate before swearing fealty and bending the knee at the spot where the Inn of the Kneeling Man now sits. He was named Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North after submitting to Aegon I.
Conquest of the Vale
After Aegon launched his invasion and made his intentions known to the rulers of the seven independent kingdoms of Westeros, Sharra sent a portrait of herself to him and offered her hand in marriage with the condition Aegon would make her son his heir. Despite being ten years older than Aegon, she was still regarded as one of the most beautiful women in the lands. Yet Aegon refused.
As other regions of Westeros fell to Aegon, Sharra amassed the Vale army at the Bloody Gate. However, Aegon sent Visenya to the Eyrie riding her dragon Vhagar. When Sharra returned to the Eyrie she found her son sitting on Visenya's lap and asking if he could ride the dragon with Visenya. Sharra afterward bent the knee. The Arryns were declared Wardens of the East and Defenders of the Vale.
Rhaenys led an invasion of Dorne in an attempt to secure the southernmost lands as well. The army was taken through the Red Mountains, but the Dornish, having learned of the mistakes made at the Field of Fire and Harrenhal, refused to give open battle or hide in their castles, instead striking supply lines and engaging in guerilla warfare and melting away before the dragons could be brought to bear.
Rhaenys captured holdfasts to no avail, as their people had already fled, leaving only the elderly and infirm. Frustrated, Rhaenys flew directly to Sunspear to demand Princess Mariya's surrender. Mariya instead informed her that, "This is Dorne. You are not wanted here, return at your peril." Rhaenys replied that she would return with "Fire and blood," but Mariya simply replied, "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken." The Targaryen army withdrew from Dorne, leaving the country untaken. A thousand pinpricks did what a single pitched battle could not, and Aegon chose to withdraw and leave Dorne an independent nation.
Now in control of six of the Seven Kingdoms, Aegon I Targaryen, now known as Aegon the Conqueror, announced the founding of a new castle, the Red Keep, and a new capital city, King's Landing, on the site where he landed on the shores of Westeros, Aegon had melted the swords of those who had opposed him into a throne, the Iron Throne, as a reminder of their submission to the Targaryens.
Dorne remained unconquered and was acknowledged as a sovereign state under the rule of the Martells of Sunspear and Aegon devoted the remainder of his life to consolidation of his realm.
Two centuries later, Young Daeron I Targaryen had long felt that the continued independence of Dorne represented unfinished business for the Targaryens, and upon his ascension he vowed to rectify his ancestor's mistake. He ascended to the throne in 157AC, and marched south, defeating the Dornishmen in battle.
After the Submission of Sunspear, the Young Dragon left Lord Tyrell of Highgarden to rule Dorne for him. The Dornishmen proved cunning and impossible to rule, as they had done before. Lord Tyrell moved with his train from one keep to the next, chasing rebels and keeping the knees of the Dornishmen bent. One night, finding himself in a bed with a heavy velvet canopy, he pulled a sash near the pillows to summon a wench. When he did so, the canopy opened and a hundred red scorpions fell upon him. The news of his death led to a rebellion throughout Dorne, and in a fortnight all the work of the Young Dragon was undone. The Conquest of Dorne lasted a summer and ended with Daeron's death at the age of 18 while trying to put down the Dornish rebellion. After the death of Daeron, Dorne successfully separated itself from the Seven Kingdoms. It is said Daeron I lost ten thousand men taking Dorne and another fifty trying to hold it.
After King Daeron’s death, the newly-crowned Baelor I Targaryen desired peace with Dorne. Baelor returned to King's Landing having negotiated a marriage between his cousin Daeron and the Dornish Princess Myriah Martell, sister to the then-ruling Prince of Dorne, as a means of making peace with Dorne.
Daeron II Targaryen, who became king in 184AC, negotiated a marriage between his sister Daenerys to Prince Maron Martell, who at the time was the ruling Prince of Dorne. It was this marriage that made Dorne an official part of the Seven Kingdoms, which took place in 197AC, according to semi-canon sources.
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