Qarth guards the strait where western ships pass into the Jade Sea and the stranger waters beyond, and its citizens style it, without any evident self-doubt, the finest city the world has produced or ever will. Three vast gates of carved stone, bronze, and gemstone admit travelers into streets of a wealth to match the boast, though the men who actually hold power in Qarth are rarely the same men whose names appear on its ceremonial rolls.
Qarth
Qarth
The greatest city that ever was or ever will be — by its own citizens' modest estimate
- Region
- Qarth
- Kind
- city
A wealthy trading city at the gateway between the Summer Sea and the Jade Sea, ruled outwardly by ancient bloodlines and, more quietly, by warlocks who claim their sorcery is not as spent as it looks.
Trade, faith, and rule
The Pureborn sit in the Hall of a Thousand Thrones and are treated, mostly, as figureheads; real influence is split between merchant fellowships such as the Thirteen and the Ancient Guild of Spicers, the secretive Tourmaline Brotherhood, and the pale, blue-lipped warlocks of the House of the Undying, whose magics the rest of Qarth had assumed, until recently, to be a spent and harmless tradition.
Qarth in the novels
This carries the place's part in the published novels. Read on only if you do not fear to know.
These partings name deaths, endings, and roads not yet ridden in the books. Unveil them only if both roads are known to you — or if you do not fear to know.
SourcesACOK
Where is Qarth?
A wealthy trading city at the gateway between the Summer Sea and the Jade Sea, ruled outwardly by ancient bloodlines and, more quietly, by warlocks who claim their sorcery is not as spent as it looks.
Is Qarth from the books or the show?
Book canon. This entry follows George R. R. Martin's novels and histories, and notes where the television series diverges rather than following it.