A broken chain of rocky islets scattered across the narrow sea between Westeros and Essos, claimed in turn by pirates, princes, and the odd would-be king — roughly in that order of legitimacy. No one has ever held them long, and the maesters suspect no one ever will.
The oldest tales hold that the Stepstones are themselves a wound in the world, the shattered remnant of the Arm of Dorne after the children of the forest broke it apart to keep the First Men from crossing over — leaving behind a hundred miserable rocks in place of a land bridge. Whatever their true origin, the islands' only reliable export since has been trouble: wreckers, pirates, and worse have infested them for as long as ships have sailed the narrow sea.
Prince Daemon Targaryen carved out a short-lived crown for himself among the rocks early in the reign of his brother Viserys I, proclaiming himself King of the Stepstones and the Narrow Sea before abandoning the venture nearly as quickly as he had begun it. A century and a half later, an alliance of pirates and Blackfyre exiles calling itself the Band of Nine used the same islands as a staging ground for an invasion of Westeros, provoking the war that bears their number.
In the timeline
SourcesTWOIAF · The Dawn AgeF&B · The Sons of the Dragon
Where is The Stepstones?
A broken chain of rocky islets scattered across the narrow sea between Westeros and Essos, claimed in turn by pirates, princes, and the odd would-be king — roughly in that order of legitimacy. No one has ever held them long, and the maesters suspect no one ever will.
Is The Stepstones 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.