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Game of Thrones: Created by David Benioff, D.B. Weiss. With Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Kit Harington, Emilia Clarke. Nine noble families fight for control over the lands of Westeros, while an ancient enemy returns after being dormant for millennia.
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- 2011-04-17
- Action, Adventure, Drama
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May 20, 2019 · Someone finally won the throne in the Game of Thrones series finale. Here's what happened and what it all means.
- 2 min
- Megan McCluskey
- Overview
- History
- Aftermath
- Legacy
- Combatants
- In the books
- References
"The Seven Kingdoms are at war with one another... false kings destroying the country... the Usurper is dead. The Starks fight the Lannisters, the Baratheons fight each other."
―Daenerys Targaryen to Ser Jorah Mormont
The War of the Five Kings, or simply the War of Five Kings, was a major multi-theater civil war in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros that erupted in the wake of the death of King Robert I. In essence, the war was a three-way battle for the Iron Throne fought alongside two independence movements. The five kings in question were Robert's heir apparent, Joffrey Baratheon, Robert's younger brothers, Stannis and Renly Baratheon, the "King in the North" Robb Stark, and the "King of the Iron Islands" Balon Greyjoy. The conflict was orchestrated by Petyr Baelish, the Master of Coin, with the help of Lysa Arryn, who poisoned her husband Jon Arryn, Hand of the King to Robert Baratheon, and sent a letter to her sister Catelyn Stark claiming that it was the Lannisters who had poisoned her husband. Petyr, from the small House Baelish, ignited the war in order to gain more power for himself.
Upon Robert's death, his heir apparent Joffrey takes the Iron Throne. However, the revelation that he, along with his brother and sister, are bastards born of incest between Queen Consort Cersei and her twin brother Jaime, leads both Stannis and Renly to claim the throne for themselves. Stannis sees himself as the rightful heir by right of blood, being Robert's heir with the removal of Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen from the line of succession, due to them being bastards born of incest. Renly claims the throne on the basis that he would be a better king, despite being second to Stannis in the lawful line of succession.
Meanwhile, Robb Stark, the Lord of Winterfell, is declared the King in the North by his bannermen in the wake of the execution of his father, on false charges of treason by Joffrey. Robb had been in command of a host marching south to free his then-imprisoned father and to relieve a Lannister attack on the Riverlands. As the King in the North, Robb declares that the North and the Riverlands, ruled by his maternal grandfather Hoster Tully, are a sovereign Kingdom of the North no longer subject to the rule of the Iron Throne.
With the attention of the North and the Iron Throne diverted, Balon Greyjoy, Lord Reaper of Pyke and ruler of the Iron Islands, seizes the opportunity to declare the Iron Islands independent once more. He then styles himself King of the Iron Islands and launches raids in the North, while most of the Northern armies are distracted south of the Neck fighting the Lannisters in the Riverlands and the Westerlands.
Opening moves The rise of kings
"That bit of theater will haunt our family for a generation." ―Tyrion to Cersei, on Eddard's execution By this time, news of Renly and Stannis gathering armies had reached both the Stark and Lannister camps. Both men had claimed the Iron Throne: Stannis as the legitimate heir after his brother's death, and Renly on the claim that he could be a better king than his brother. Meanwhile, in King's Landing, Eddard falsely confessed to treason and recognized Joffrey as the king in an effort to protect his daughter Sansa, who was being held as a hostage by the Lannisters. However, instead of exiling him to the Night's Watch as Cersei intended, the sadistic Joffrey instead ordered Eddard's execution. Eddard's death caused the vengeful Northmen to reject the authority of the Iron Throne. After considering joining forces with one of the Baratheon brothers, the Northmen and the riverlords instead chose the path of independence, declaring their own independent Kingdom of the North and swearing fealty to Robb as the King in the North. Robb followed up on his success at Whispering Wood with several minor skirmishes against Lannister forces. Barely days after Joffrey was declared king, the Lannisters in reality only held their own domain, the Westerlands, and most of the Crownlands, as well as a small conquered strip of the southern Riverlands. Meanwhile, the Starks controlled the North and most of the Riverlands. Renly commanded the full might of the Stormlands, as well as the Reach with the backing of House Tyrell and their vassals. Stannis, on the other hand, only had the backing of the outlying houses along the shores of the Narrow Sea sworn to Dragonstone. At this time, the other three kingdoms—the Vale of Arryn, Dorne and the Iron Islands—had not yet declared their support for any side in the conflict.
The War of the Five Kings officially concluded in a hollow victory for the forces of the Iron Throne, controlled by House Baratheon of King's Landing, a puppet of House Lannister. All five kings died, including Joffrey, who was succeeded by Tommen. Despite the War of the Five Kings ending, the Lannisters' victory ended almost as soon as it began an...
The War of the Five Kings severely weakened the Iron Throne; specifically, the Baratheon dynasty, which had, after Robert's death, essentially become a Lannister puppet. It was the largest civil war since the Dance of the Dragons, resembling the endless internal conflicts that the Seven Kingdoms used to face before Aegon's Conquest unified the Seven Kingdoms into one realm under the rule of the Targaryen dynasty, which had been overthrown less than two decades before the War of the Five Kings in Robert's Rebellion.
The war devastated the countryside of Westeros, leaving villages and towns burnt to the ground. Tens of thousands of smallfolk were killed in the conflict, and the bloody acts of war created great rift between the nobility and the commoners.
Furthermore, for the first time since the Targaryen conquest of Westeros, the lineup of the Great Houses was dramatically shaken and altered. Tensions continued to remain between the great and noble families even after the war came to a formal close.
Ultimately, these continued tensions would go on to impact the Last War, which commenced only a couple years after the War of the Five Kings ended, as well as the Great War between the living and the army of the dead, controlled by the White Walkers, an ancient and long forgotten enemy to all that lives in the world.
The King on the Iron Throne
Joffrey Baratheon is said to be the eldest son of King Robert. After Robert's death, Joffrey was crowned as the new King, and his mother was named Queen Regent in defiance of Robert's will. As Joffrey actually sat on the Iron Throne, however, he was referred to as "the King on the Iron Throne." Joffrey was primarily backed by House Lannister, the lords of the Westerlands and the de facto controllers of the Iron Throne. After the Battle of the Blackwater, he was also supported by House Tyrell. He was later assassinated during the Purple Wedding in 301 AC, becoming the third of the five kings to die in the war.
The King in the Narrow Sea
Stannis claimed the Iron Throne on the basis that he was the rightful heir to his late brother Robert, since Robert's three "children" were in fact fathered by Jaime. Though technically the rightful heir, Stannis found himself with little support due to his blunt nature and lack of charm and charisma. He did, however, have the support of Melisandre, who believed Stannis to be the Prince That Was Promised, as well as his vassals sworn directly to Dragonstone. He was killed in the battle in the ice in 302 AC, becoming the fourth of the five kings to die in the war.
The King in Highgarden
Renly laid claim to the Iron Throne just as his elder brother Stannis did, as well as his alleged nephew Joffrey. Although the youngest Baratheon brother, Renly believed that he would be a better king than Stannis, noting how the line of succession did not matter when Robert usurped the Iron Throne from Aerys II Targaryen during Robert's Rebellion. Renly also had the backing of the vassals of the Stormlands, plus the wealthy House Tyrell and its vassals in the Reach. Assassinated on the orders of Stannis in 299 AC, he was the first of the five kings to die in the war.
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the War of the Five Kings is one of the major storylines which the narrative revolves around.
The name is first mentioned in the third novel: shortly before Joffrey's wedding, Tyrion muses that the struggle that the maesters are calling the War of the Five Kings - is all but at an end.
In the TV series, it is first named in dialogue in Season 2's episode "A Man Without Honor", when Tywin Lannister says that people are calling it the "War of Five Kings". Apparently he was just speaking loosely, and the formal name is still the same in the TV continuity, because Joffrey later prominently refers to it as the "War of the Five Kings" during his wedding in Season 4 episode "The Lion and the Rose".
While it is popularly known as the War of the "Five" Kings, in the fourth novel an archmaester named Benedict points out that this is somewhat inaccurate, as Balon openly declared himself King of the Iron Islands only slightly after Renly died, so there were never five kings actively fighting each other at one time. Nonetheless the name has stuck, and it does still refer to the fact that five kings were involved. For the TV series, however, it might be somewhat accurate, depending on when Balon Greyjoy's secession of the Iron Islands "officially" began. Renly was killed at the beginning of the fifth episode of Season 2. Balon explains to Theon that he intends to make himself a king by force in the second episode of Season 2, but this isn't followed by a polite declaration: the ironborn make a surprise attack against the North at the beginning of the sixth episode of Season 2, taking Torrhen's Square and Winterfell. Thus Balon briefly claimed the title of King while Renly was still alive, but the first the other factions knew about this was when ironborn raiders were at their doorsteps, after Renly died.
It is generally a four-sided war, between the Lannisters, Starks, Baratheons, and Greyjoys. Renly's brief time as a claimant, controlling most of the armies of the Stormlands and the Reach, did affect the strategic position of the Lannisters, but he didn't set out to engage them on the battlefield. Instead the Tyrells had cut off the Roseroad, effectively blockading resources and foodstuffs from reaching the capital, and Renly was content to sit back and let the Lannisters exhaust themselves against the Starks while he built up his own strength to overwhelming levels, at which point he intended to march directly on King's Landing. Also while there are four "sides", this does not include political machinations and large territories changing sides, i.e. the Vale of Arryn or Dorne, and particularly House Tyrell, which considerably tipped the balance of the war when they switched their allegiance to the Lannisters. Due to simple geography, of course, any one faction isn't actively fighting three others all the time. Simply due to the fact that they are located on opposite coasts of the continent the Greyjoys (off the west coast) and Stannis (off the east coast) aren't actively fighting each other while he's on Dragonstone. Stannis does nominally consider the North to be in rebellion against him, but in practice doesn't actively fight the North, because he's more concerned with retaking the capital city from the Lannisters. As seen in the TV series, the Starks do send peace overtures to the Baratheons, but Stannis refuses to allow the North to secede and take away vast territories which he feels are rightfully his. While the Greyjoys aren't actively fighting Stannis, they are not on the side of the Starks or the Lannisters, and are truly looking out only for their own interests.
By the point the novels reached, only one of the five titular leaders in the War of the Five Kings is still alive - Stannis.
1.Game of Thrones: Season 4, Episode 2: "The Lion and the Rose" (2014).
2.Game of Thrones: Season 2, Episode 7: "A Man Without Honor" (2012).
3."First of His Name"
4."Fire and Blood"
5.HBO viewers guide, season 2 map, special features - Areas of Control
6."Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things"
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Game of Thrones is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire, a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the first of which is A Game of Thrones.
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