The daughters of Valyria, and the one that never was

The Free Cities of Essos

Nine cities crowd the western coast of Essos, rich, proud, and forever at one another's throats. Eight are the daughters of dead Valyria and still keep its blood and its slave-chains; the ninth, Braavos, was founded by slaves who fled that same Freehold, and keeps none. Here they are side by side — who rules them, what they are known for, and where they came from.

The nine at a glance

The Free Cities compared — government, character, exports, and origin
City	Government	Character	Known for	Origin
Braavos	A Sealord, chosen for life; power held by the keyholders of the Iron Bank	Foggy, proud, and free — the bastard daughter that keeps no slaves	The Iron Bank, the Titan, the courtesans, the water dancers, moonsinger faith	Founded in secret by escaped slaves — the one Free City Valyria never made
Pentos	A prince chosen by the magisters — a figurehead who may be sacrificed in a bad year	Fat, mercantile, and quietly cowed by Braavos	Cheese, spice, wine, slaving hidden behind a legal fiction	A former Valyrian colony on the western coast
Myr	A conclave of magisters — a mercantile oligarchy	Fractious, crafty, and famous for fine work	Myrish lace, glass, lenses (the far-eyes), tapestries, crossbows	A former Valyrian colony, one of the Three Daughters
Lys	A wealthy few — merchant princes and magisters of the old blood	Languid, lovely, and utterly for sale	Pleasure houses, perfumes, and poisons — the tears of Lys and the strangler	A former Valyrian colony on a warm island
Tyrosh	An Archon and a ruling council of the wealthy	Garish, grasping, and gloriously vulgar	Bright dyes, fabrics, sellswords, and the trade of the Stepstones	A former Valyrian fortress guarding the Stepstones
Volantis	Three triarchs elected yearly, all of pure Valyrian descent	Ancient, decadent, and drowning in slaves	The eldest blood, R'hllor's great temple, wine and river trade	The eldest and proudest daughter of Valyria
Norvos	The bearded priests, who keep the people in thrall to the Wisdoms	Pious, austere, and rung by bells	Bearded axemen, hardy horses, and a great deal of prayer	A former Valyrian colony in the hills
Qohor	A ruling council, in the shadow of a dark faith	Secretive, sorcerous, and steeped in blood	Reforged Valyrian steel, dark magic, trade with the far east	A former Valyrian colony at the forest's edge
Lorath	Three princes drawn from its leading families	Poor, cold, and easily forgotten	Fish, whale oil, and salt — little else worth the sailing	A later Valyrian settlement on bleak northern islands

City by city

Braavos
The Secret City, hidden for a century
Founded in secret by escaped slaves — the one Free City Valyria never made
Government
A Sealord, chosen for life; power held by the keyholders of the Iron Bank
Character
Foggy, proud, and free — the bastard daughter that keeps no slaves
Known for
The Iron Bank, the Titan, the courtesans, the water dancers, moonsinger faith
Alone among the Free Cities, Braavos was not founded by Valyria but against it — raised in secret in a hidden lagoon by slaves who had fled the Freehold's galleys, and kept hidden for a hundred years until it was strong enough to reveal itself. It bows to no dragonlord's memory and suffers no slavery within its canals, a point of fierce civic pride. The Iron Bank funds kings and topples them when they default; the Titan of Braavos straddles the sea gate; and somewhere in the mist stands the House of Black and White, where the Faceless Men serve the Many-Faced God.
Explore Braavos
Pentos
Colony of the Freehold
A former Valyrian colony on the western coast
Government
A prince chosen by the magisters — a figurehead who may be sacrificed in a bad year
Character
Fat, mercantile, and quietly cowed by Braavos
Known for
Cheese, spice, wine, slaving hidden behind a legal fiction
Pentos is a city of spicers, cheesemongers, and merchant magisters, ruled in name by a prince who cuts the first furrow each spring and deflowers the maids of the fields and the seas by ritual — and who may have his throat opened by the magisters should the harvests fail or a war go badly. Beaten in old wars by Braavos, Pentos is forbidden by treaty to keep slaves or raise an army, prohibitions it observes with a wink, keeping 'servants' and hiring sellswords. It is the sort of soft, rich city where an exile like Illyrio Mopatis can grow very fat indeed.
Myr
Colony of the Freehold
A former Valyrian colony, one of the Three Daughters
Government
A conclave of magisters — a mercantile oligarchy
Character
Fractious, crafty, and famous for fine work
Known for
Myrish lace, glass, lenses (the far-eyes), tapestries, crossbows
Myr is a city of craftsmen without rival, its artisans turning out lace so fine it seems woven of air, tapestries that clothe the halls of Westerosi lords, and above all its lenses — the ground-glass Myrish eyes that let a watchman see a distant sail or a maester read the stars. It is one of the Three Daughters whose endless squabbling keeps the Disputed Lands soaked in blood, and its skilled hands are matched by an equally practised trade in slaves and poisons.
Lys
Colony of the Freehold
A former Valyrian colony on a warm island
Government
A wealthy few — merchant princes and magisters of the old blood
Character
Languid, lovely, and utterly for sale
Known for
Pleasure houses, perfumes, and poisons — the tears of Lys and the strangler
Lys is the pleasure-garden of the Free Cities, a sunny island of pillow houses and perfumed courtesans where beauty is a crop and the old Valyrian blood — silver hair and lilac eyes — is bred and sold like fine wine. Behind the scent and the sweetness lies a colder trade: the poisoners of Lys are the most accomplished in the world, and a discreet vial of the tears of Lys or the strangler has ended more than one great man far from any battlefield.
Tyrosh
Outpost of the Freehold
A former Valyrian fortress guarding the Stepstones
Government
An Archon and a ruling council of the wealthy
Character
Garish, grasping, and gloriously vulgar
Known for
Bright dyes, fabrics, sellswords, and the trade of the Stepstones
Founded as a Valyrian fortress to hold the Stepstones, Tyrosh grew rich on the trade that passes through those pirate-haunted isles and on the extravagant dyes for which it is famed — the deep purples and vivid greens that Tyroshi grandees smear even into their beards. It is a loud, gaudy, money-hungry place, the third of the Three Daughters, forever quarrelling with Myr and Lys over the Disputed Lands, and forever ready to sell its swords to whichever side is paying best.
Volantis
First and grandest colony of the Freehold
The eldest and proudest daughter of Valyria
Government
Three triarchs elected yearly, all of pure Valyrian descent
Character
Ancient, decadent, and drowning in slaves
Known for
The eldest blood, R'hllor's great temple, wine and river trade
Volantis calls itself the First Daughter, eldest and grandest of Valyria's colonies, and it wears its age like a dowager wears jewels — richly, and to hide the decay beneath. Within the ancient Black Walls dwell the Old Blood, families of pure Valyrian descent who alone may be chosen triarch, and who split into tigers who crave conquest and elephants who crave trade. Beyond the walls sprawls a teeming city where slaves outnumber the free five to one, marked on the face, and where the largest temple of R'hllor in all the world lights the night with its fires.
Norvos
Colony of the Freehold
A former Valyrian colony in the hills
Government
The bearded priests, who keep the people in thrall to the Wisdoms
Character
Pious, austere, and rung by bells
Known for
Bearded axemen, hardy horses, and a great deal of prayer
Set high in the hills of the north, Norvos is a city ruled not by magisters or merchants but by its bearded priests, who hold the true power and keep the common folk obedient with faith and fear. Its life is measured by three great bells — Noom, Narrah, and Nyel — whose voices tell the city when to rise, to pray, to eat, and to sleep. The Norvoshi are a stern, whiskered people, and their axemen, trained from boyhood as Areo Hotah of Dorne was, are prized guardsmen across the narrow sea.
Qohor
Colony of the Freehold
A former Valyrian colony at the forest's edge
Government
A ruling council, in the shadow of a dark faith
Character
Secretive, sorcerous, and steeped in blood
Known for
Reforged Valyrian steel, dark magic, trade with the far east
Qohor is the city of sorcerers, sitting at the edge of a great forest on the road to the distant east, and it keeps a reputation for dark arts that its neighbours would rather not examine too closely. Its patron is the Black Goat, a god said to demand blood — beasts by custom, and in hard times, the whispers run, worse. Yet Qohor holds one secret no other city can match: its smiths alone have kept the art of reforging Valyrian steel, and its Unsullied once stood three thousand strong against a Dothraki horde to save it.
Lorath
Least and last of the Free Cities
A later Valyrian settlement on bleak northern islands
Government
Three princes drawn from its leading families
Character
Poor, cold, and easily forgotten
Known for
Fish, whale oil, and salt — little else worth the sailing
Northernmost and least of the Free Cities, Lorath clings to a scatter of bleak, foggy islands where few care to trade and fewer to stay. Its rocky shores hide the labyrinths of the vanished mazemakers who ruled before any Valyrian came, and once housed the grey monks of Boash, the Blind God, who forswore all pride and property. Today it is a poor and isolated place, ruled by three princes, remembered chiefly by the maesters who must count it to reach nine.

What are the nine Free Cities?

The nine Free Cities of Essos are Braavos, Pentos, Myr, Lys, Tyrosh, Volantis, Norvos, Qohor, and Lorath. They lie along the western coast and interior of Essos, nearest to Westeros across the narrow sea, and each is an independent city-state with its own government and rivalries.

Why is Braavos different from the other Free Cities?

Braavos was not founded by Valyria but against it. Where the other eight cities began as colonies or outposts of the Valyrian Freehold, Braavos was raised in secret by escaped slaves and hidden for a century. Alone among the Free Cities it forbids slavery outright — a matter of fierce civic pride — and it bows to no dragonlord's memory.

Which Free Cities keep slaves?

Most of them. As heirs of slaveholding Valyria, Pentos, Myr, Lys, Tyrosh, Volantis, Norvos, Qohor, and Lorath all trade in and keep slaves to varying degrees — Volantis most heavily, with slaves said to outnumber the free five to one. Pentos keeps the practice behind a legal fiction to satisfy an old treaty with Braavos. Only Braavos itself keeps no slaves at all.

Which is the oldest and greatest of the Free Cities?

Volantis claims the honour, styling itself the First Daughter as the eldest and grandest of Valyria's colonies, ruled by triarchs of the pure Old Blood behind its Black Walls. Braavos is younger, but grew mighty in secret and now wields the Iron Bank, whose coin can raise or ruin kings across the world.