The World of Ice & Fire: The Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones

This work takes the form of an in-universe history of the fictional continent of Westeros and the wider world beyond it. The text is framed as a scholarly chronicle composed by Maester Yandel, a learned scholar of the Citadel, the great center of learning in Westeros. Dedicated to King Tommen Baratheon, Yandel positions himself as one link in a long chain of maesters who have compiled knowledge over the centuries, drawing on fragmentary manuscripts, legends, and the work of prior scholars.

The history begins in the Dawn Age, when Westeros is inhabited by two elder races: the children of the forest, small beings who carve faces into sacred weirwood trees and whose wise men, called greenseers, possess mysterious abilities; and the giants, massive fur-covered creatures who work no metal. When the First Men cross a land bridge from the eastern continent of Essos into Westeros, bringing bronze weapons and horses, centuries of war follow. The conflict ends with the Pact, forged on the Isle of Faces, granting the First Men the open lands while the children retain the deep forests. During the Age of Heroes that follows, legendary figures such as Brandon the Builder, Garth Greenhand, and Durran Godsgrief establish the houses and kingdoms that become ancestors of the Seven Kingdoms.

The Long Night, a generation-long winter, brings the Others, mysterious ice creatures from the far north who raise armies of the dead. A hero seeks the aid of the children of the forest, and together with the first men of the Night's Watch, the sworn order founded to guard the realm, they win the Battle for the Dawn. Brandon the Builder raises the Wall, a massive structure of ice 100 leagues long, to defend the realms of men.

On Essos, the Freehold of Valyria, a dragonlord empire, rises to dominance by taming dragons and using them as weapons of war. Valyria destroys the Old Empire of Ghis, expands across the continent, and establishes colonies that become the Free Cities, independent city-states. The Valyrians' conquests drive two great migrations into Westeros. The Andals cross the narrow sea with iron weapons and the Faith of the Seven, a religion worshipping seven aspects of one deity, conquering all of southern Westeros except the North. The Rhoynar, a river people whose civilization Valyria destroys, flee under Princess Nymeria to Dorne, where Nymeria marries Mors Martell and unites the region as a principality with gender-equal inheritance. The Doom of Valyria, a catastrophic volcanic eruption, destroys the Freehold. Only the Targaryens survive among the dragonlords, Valyrian nobles who rode and controlled dragons, having relocated to the island of Dragonstone after a prophetic dream.

Aegon Targaryen, with his sister-wives Visenya and Rhaenys and their three dragons, lands at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush and declares himself sole king of Westeros. He incinerates Harren the Black, king of the Isles and Rivers, inside his fortress of Harrenhal, and defeats the combined armies of the Reach, the fertile southwestern kingdom, and the gold-rich westerlands at the Field of Fire. Torrhen Stark, the King in the North, bends the knee without battle. Orys Baratheon, Aegon's rumored half-brother, defeats the Storm King and founds House Baratheon at Storm's End. Only Dorne resists, its people vanishing before the dragons. Aegon is crowned in Oldtown, the Reach's greatest city, and establishes King's Landing as his capital, ruling from the Iron Throne forged from the swords of his defeated enemies.

The chronicle proceeds through the Targaryen dynasty. Aegon I rules for 37 years, establishing the Kingsguard, his sworn bodyguards, and making royal progresses to unite the realm. His son Aenys I proves weak, provoking a revolt by the Faith Militant, the armed orders of the Faith, through incestuous marriage policies. Maegor I, the Cruel, wages savage war against the Faith, completes the Red Keep, the royal castle in King's Landing, and dies mysteriously on the Iron Throne. Jaehaerys I, the Conciliator, reigns for 55 years, creating a unified legal code, building the kingsroad network linking the realm, and reconciling crown and Faith. The Great Council of 101 AC (After Conquest, the Westerosi dating system), an assembly of lords convened to decide the succession, establishes the precedent that the Iron Throne cannot pass to or through a woman.

This precedent fuels conflict during the reign of Viserys I, who names his daughter Rhaenyra as heir despite having sons by his second wife, Alicent Hightower. The court splits into factions: the "greens" (Alicent's party) and the "blacks" (Rhaenyra's party). When Viserys dies, both Rhaenyra and her half-brother Aegon II claim the throne. The resulting civil war, called the Dance of the Dragons, destroys most of the Targaryen dragons. A mob storms the Dragonpit in King's Landing and kills five dragons, hastening the end of dragonkind. Rhaenyra is fed to a dragon by Aegon II, who is then poisoned by his own men. The child king Aegon III inherits a shattered realm, and the last dragon dies during his reign.

Later reigns bring further turmoil. Daeron I conquers Dorne at 14 but loses it within three years, dying under a peace banner. Baelor I, fanatically pious, makes peace with Dorne but grows erratic, locking his sisters in the Maidenvault, secluded quarters within the Red Keep, and fasting himself to death. Aegon IV, the Unworthy, proves the worst Targaryen king; his deathbed legitimization of all his bastard children, including Daemon Blackfyre, spawns five generations of Blackfyre Rebellions. Daeron II peacefully unites Dorne with the throne through marriage. Aegon V, the Unlikely, a fourth son of a fourth son chosen by a Great Council, attempts reforms to protect the common people but faces fierce noble resistance. Believing only dragons can enforce change, Aegon attempts to hatch dragon eggs at Summerhall in 259 AC. The resulting fire kills Aegon and others even as his great-grandchild Rhaegar is born amid the flames.

Aerys II, the Mad King, ascends at 18 and names his childhood friend Tywin Lannister as Hand, the king's chief minister. The realm prospers for a decade, but Aerys grows paranoid. The Defiance of Duskendale, during which Aerys is held captive for half a year, shatters his sanity; he becomes obsessed with fire and burns perceived traitors with wildfire. At the tourney at Harrenhal, Prince Rhaegar crowns Lyanna Stark, betrothed to Robert Baratheon, as queen of love and beauty, passing over his own wife, Elia Martell. Rhaegar later abducts Lyanna, and when her family demands justice, Aerys has them killed. Robert's Rebellion follows: Robert slays Rhaegar at the Battle of the Trident, Tywin sacks King's Landing, and Ser Jaime Lannister, Tywin's son and a knight of the Kingsguard sworn to protect the king, kills Aerys, ending nearly three centuries of Targaryen rule.

The second half of the work surveys the Seven Kingdoms individually. The North, ruled by the Starks for 8,000 years, keeps the old gods, the ancient nature deities worshipped by the First Men. The riverlands, lacking natural borders, have been the most contested region. The Vale, isolated by mountains, houses the Eyrie, the Arryns' impregnable mountain castle. The Iron Islands breed harsh, sea-roving ironborn who worship the Drowned God, their sea deity. The westerlands, rich with gold, are dominated by the Lannisters of Casterly Rock. The Reach, ruled from Highgarden by House Tyrell, is the most fertile and populous kingdom. The stormlands shelter Storm's End, legendarily built to withstand the wrath of gods. Dorne, culturally distinct through its Rhoynish heritage, was the last kingdom to join the realm and the only one never conquered by dragons.

The work also surveys lands beyond Westeros: the nine Free Cities of Essos; the Summer Isles; Sothoryos, a vast southern continent; the Dothraki sea, the great grassland of central Essos, where nomadic horselords destroyed the ancient Kingdom of Sarnor; Yi Ti, the oldest civilization in the Further East; and Asshai-by-the-Shadow, a city of sorcerers at the edge of the known world.

Yandel concludes by praising King Robert's reign. In an afterword, however, he admits that events have overtaken his work: Jon Arryn, Robert's Hand, has died, unleashing chaos. Robert and his heir Joffrey have also died, pretenders contest the throne, and rumors of dragons reborn reach Westeros from the east. Yandel prays that King Tommen will see a long and just reign.