Law & custom

How succession works

The realm's rules for who inherits — with the councils, and the one great war, that settled the question whenever the rules themselves ran short.

The three ways a seat is passed

Worked examples — the Great Councils

The counter-example

Король Визерис I назвал свою дочь Рейениру наследницей и заставил своих лордов преклонить колени и присягнуть ей, отвергнув тот самый прецедент, на который его вознёс его же Великий Совет. Когда он умер, зелёные короновали его старшего сына, Эйегона II, в считаные дни. Два притязания, каждое законное по некоему счёту и ни одно — по всякому, — и поколение драконов и людей, погибших, чтобы доказать самую горькую истину вестеросского наследования: мир державы держится не на пергаменте и не на законе, но на том, согласны ли между собой её великие лорды.

SourcesF&BTWOIAF

How does succession work in Game of Thrones?

Across most of the Seven Kingdoms, and for the Iron Throne itself, inheritance follows male-preference primogeniture: a lord's eldest trueborn son takes everything, younger sons follow before any daughter, and a woman inherits only when no trueborn brother survives. Dorne and the Iron Islands each keep older customs of their own.

Can a woman inherit the Iron Throne?

The realm has never firmly settled it. Twice — at the Great Councils of 101 and 233 AC — the lords favoured a claim through the male line over one through a woman, and those choices hardened into precedent without ever becoming written law. Dorne is the exception, where a daughter inherits on equal footing with a son.

How is Dornish inheritance different?

Dorne practises absolute primogeniture: the eldest child rules, daughter or son alike, and a younger brother never steps over an elder sister. The Rhoynar brought the custom over the narrow sea with Nymeria, and a thousand years of Martell rule have kept it unchanged.

What is a kingsmoot?

The kingsmoot is the ironborn's ancient custom of choosing a king rather than inheriting one: the captains of the Iron Islands gather on Old Wyk and raise up whichever reaver they judge worthiest of the driftwood crown. Father-to-son succession later crept in from the green lands, but the old elective right was never wholly lost.