The seven kingdoms, counted honestly as nine
The Regions of Westeros
Men speak of the Seven Kingdoms, but a maester counts nine regions south of the Wall, each with its own weather, its own gods and grievances, and its own great house to answer for it. Here is the lay of the land, region by region — the geography that shaped each people, and the banners that hold them.
The North
Cold, vast, and thinly peopled
- Ruling house
- スターク家
- Seat
- ウィンターフェル
- Words
- “冬来たる”
The land
The largest of the seven kingdoms and near as wide as all the rest together, the North runs from the Neck's black bogs to the Wall's shadow. It is a land of pine and sentinel, of stony moors and the wolfswood, of the White Knife and the barrowlands where old kings sleep. Winters here are true winters, and snow may fall in any month the gods please.
The people
Northmen are a grave and stubborn folk, slow to laugh and slower to forgive, who keep the old gods and the weirwoods where the Andals and their Seven never took root. Guest right is held sacred, hospitality a bond that only the basest men would break, and the lords still remember they were kings before a dragon came.
Notable houses
- Bolton of the Dreadfort
- Karstark of Karhold
- Umber of Last Hearth
- Mormont of Bear Island
- Manderly of White Harbor
- Reed of Greywater Watch
The Vale of Arryn
Mild valleys ringed by killing mountains
- Ruling house
- アリン家
- Seat
- 巣城
- Words
- “気高きは誉れのごとし”
The land
A green and fertile bowl cupped within the Mountains of the Moon, the Vale is reached only through the Bloody Gate and the high road, where clansmen and worse things wait. Above it all sits the Eyrie, a slender castle among the clouds that no army has ever taken, warmed in summer and abandoned to snow and cold when winter climbs the mountain.
The people
The Vale holds some of the oldest and purest Andal blood in Westeros, and its lords are proud of both their chivalry and their honor, which they wear as openly as the falcon-and-moon. Sheltered by their peaks, the Valemen have a way of holding aloof from the realm's quarrels, arriving late to wars and later to their consequences.
Notable houses
- Royce of Runestone
- Corbray of Heart's Home
- Redfort
- Waynwood of Ironoaks
- Grafton of Gulltown
- Belmore of Strongsong
The Riverlands
Green, watered, and endlessly fought over
- Ruling house
- タリー家
- Seat
- リヴァーラン
- Words
- “家族、義務、名誉”
The land
The rich green heart of Westeros, laced by the Trident's three forks and centred on the God's Eye with its drowned Isle of Faces. Fertile beyond measure and open on every side, the riverlands have no natural bounds to defend, and so they have been the realm's battleground since the First Men, crossed by every army with somewhere else to be.
The people
Ruled from Riverrun by the Tullys, the riverlords are a fractious pack — Freys, Blackwoods, Brackens, and the rest — bound less by loyalty than by the accident of geography and the memory of old feuds that outlast the men who began them. They have been Storm Kings' subjects, Ironborn thralls, and Hoare vassals in their turn, and trust no crown for long.
Notable houses
- Frey of the Twins
- Blackwood of Raventree Hall
- Bracken of Stone Hedge
- Mallister of Seagard
- Darry
- Mooton of Maidenpool
The Iron Islands
Bleak, storm-lashed, and barren
- Ruling house
- グレイジョイ家
- Seat
- パイク
- Words
- “我ら種を撒かず”
The land
Seven sea-battered islands off the western coast, all salt and stone and blowing rain, where little grows and less thrives. The land gives nothing, but beneath it lie the iron and lead that gave the islands their name, and around it the grey sea that the ironborn take for a birthright and a road.
The people
The ironborn hold to the Old Way and the Drowned God, who bids them take by force what the green lands are freely given. They reckon a lord by the thralls at his oar and the salt wife at his hearth, pay the iron price rather than the gold, and count reaving no crime but a calling. What is dead may never die.
Notable houses
- Harlaw of Ten Towers
- Botley of Lordsport
- Goodbrother of Hammerhorn
- Blacktyde of Blacktyde
- Drumm of Old Wyk
- Merlyn of Pebbleton
The Westerlands
Rugged hills veined with gold
- Ruling house
- ラニスター家
- Seat
- キャスタリー・ロック
- Words
- “我が咆哮を聞け！”
The land
A country of rolling hills and rocky highlands hard against the Sunset Sea, from Casterly Rock's great headland down to the bustling port of Lannisport. It is not the richest soil in the realm, but what lies beneath it is richer still: the gold and silver mines that have made House Lannister the wealthiest in Westeros, and their bannermen fat upon the leavings.
The people
The westermen are proud, prickly of their honor, and keenly aware of the weight of a Lannister's coin. Two great houses that thought themselves the Rock's equals — Reyne and Tarbeck — learned the cost of that presumption, and the rains still weep in Castamere as a lesson to any who would forget who pays the realm's debts.
Notable houses
- Marbrand of Ashemark
- Crakehall
- Westerling of the Crag
- Lefford of the Golden Tooth
- Payne
- Clegane
The Reach
Warm, fertile, and golden with grain
- Ruling house
- タイレル家
- Seat
- ハイガーデン
- Words
- “力強く育つ”
The land
The garden of the realm, watered by the Mander and its tributaries, where the fields run gold with wheat and the orchards heavy with fruit. Its bounds reach from the Shield Islands and the wine-rich Arbor to the marches of Dorne, and at its western edge stands Oldtown — the oldest and, after King's Landing, the greatest city in Westeros, with its Citadel and Hightower both.
The people
The Reach prizes chivalry, courtesy, and the arts of the singer and the septon above the plainer virtues, and reckons itself the fount of all that is gentle and knightly in the Seven Kingdoms. It fields the most swords of any region, and would field the most vanity as well; the Tyrells came to Highgarden as stewards, a fact their rivals are forever too polite to let them forget.
Notable houses
- Hightower of Oldtown
- Redwyne of the Arbor
- Tarly of Horn Hill
- Florent of Brightwater Keep
- Rowan of Goldengrove
- Oakheart of Old Oak
The Stormlands
Wet, wooded, and beaten by the sea
- Ruling house
- バラシオン家
- Seat
- ストームズ・エンド
- Words
- “我らのものは激怒なり”
The land
A hard, storm-wracked country between King's Landing and the marches of Dorne, from the deep green tangle of the rainwood to Cape Wrath and the broken chain of the Stepstones beyond. Storm's End guards it against the fury of Shipbreaker Bay — a castle, the tales say, raised by Durran Godsgrief and the children of the forest, that no storm has ever brought down.
The people
The stormlanders are counted among the fiercest warriors in the realm, strong of arm and hotter of temper, forged by a land that gives them little peace. They kept their own Storm Kings for thousands of years before Orys Baratheon won their crown, and something of that old defiant pride weathers on in the men who follow the crowned stag.
Notable houses
- Dondarrion of Blackhaven
- Tarth of Evenfall Hall
- Swann of Stonehelm
- Selmy of Harvest Hall
- Caron of Nightsong
- Connington of Griffin's Roost
Dorne
Hot, arid, and unforgiving
- Ruling house
- マーテル家
- Seat
- サンスピア
- Words
- “屈せず、撓まず、折れず”
The land
The southernmost kingdom and the strangest, a country of red mountains, deep desert, and dry rivers, walled off from the realm by the Red Mountains and their few guarded passes. Only along the Greenblood and the coast does the land soften; elsewhere the sun is an enemy, and the Dornish have learned to make an enemy of any host foolish enough to march into it.
The people
Rhoynish blood, brought west by Nymeria's ten thousand ships, sets Dorne apart from all the realm: here daughters inherit equally with sons, paramours sit openly beside lords, and old slights are nursed for generations. Salty, sandy, or stony, the Dornish share a stubbornness dragons could not burn out of them — unbowed, unbent, unbroken, and joined to the realm at last by marriage, not the sword.
Notable houses
- Yronwood of Yronwood
- Dayne of Starfall
- Fowler of Skyreach
- Uller of Hellholt
- Blackmont
- Santagar of Spottswood
The Crownlands
Temperate, coastal, and crowded
- Ruling house
- ターガリエン家
- Seat
- ドラゴンストーンと赤の城
- Words
- “炎と血”
The land
The lands about Blackwater Bay that the Targaryens held for themselves, ruled directly from the Iron Throne rather than granted to any Lord Paramount. Here stand King's Landing, the realm's greatest and dirtiest city, and offshore the Targaryen strongholds of Dragonstone and Driftmark, where the dragonlords first set foot in Westeros a century before the Conquest.
The people
No single people or ancient kingdom binds the crownlands; it is a made region, its lords — Velaryons and Celtigars of Valyrian stock, Rosbys and Stokeworths of older Westerosi blood — united only by proximity to the throne and the court's endless appetite. Its true character is King's Landing itself: a million souls, the stink of the Blackwater, and the shadow of the Red Keep over all.
Notable houses
- Velaryon of Driftmark
- Celtigar of Claw Isle
- Rosby
- Stokeworth
- Massey of Stonedance
- Bar Emmon of Sharp Point
What are the nine regions of Westeros?
South of the Wall, Westeros divides into nine regions: the North, the Vale of Arryn, the Riverlands, the Iron Islands, the Westerlands, the Reach, the Stormlands, Dorne, and the Crownlands. Each is held by a great house that answers, in theory, to the Iron Throne.
Why is it called the Seven Kingdoms if there are nine regions?
The name is older than the map. When Aegon the Conqueror landed there were seven independent realms, though their borders never matched neatly to the regions we count today — the Riverlands were held by the ironborn, and the crownlands did not exist until Aegon carved them out for himself. The realm kept the tally of seven even after Dorne made ten, because a maester's arithmetic has never troubled a herald's tradition.
Which is the largest region of Westeros?
The North, by a wide margin. It is said to be as large as all the other regions combined, running from the Neck to the Wall — vast, cold, and thinly peopled, which is why so few hosts have ever managed to conquer it.
Who rules each region of Westeros?
As Lords Paramount: Stark holds the North from Winterfell, Arryn the Vale from the Eyrie, Tully the Riverlands from Riverrun, Greyjoy the Iron Islands from Pyke, Lannister the Westerlands from Casterly Rock, Tyrell the Reach from Highgarden, Baratheon the Stormlands from Storm's End, and Martell Dorne from Sunspear. The crownlands the Targaryens kept for themselves, ruled directly from King's Landing.