Characters of the Realm

The fifth Targaryen king, a gregarious ruler whose refusal to settle the succession turned a courtly feud into a civil war.

King Viserys's named heir, crowned on Dragonstone in answer to her half-brother Aegon's claim in King's Landing.

The realm's most dangerous prince — a dragonrider, gold-cloak commander and schemer who became Rhaenyra's fiercest champion.

The king raised up by the Green council, whose coronation converted a disputed succession into open war.

Aemond One-Eyed, who claimed the great Vhagar as a boy and became the war's most feared dragonrider — and its cruellest.

A gentle queen beloved of the smallfolk, whose loss broke something in King's Landing long before the city fell.

Daemon and Laena's elder daughter — a fearless young dragonrider on Moondancer who met Sunfyre in the skies.

The quieter twin of Daemon and Laena, a Targaryen princess who survived the war that consumed her family.

Viserys's second queen and the heart of the Green cause, who pressed her children's claim against Rhaenyra's.

Hand to three kings and architect of the Green faction, who spent a quarter-century engineering his daughter's claim.

A Marcher knight of no great house who rose to the Kingsguard's first rank and crowned Aegon II — the Kingmaker.

The Sea Snake — Westeros's greatest sailor and lord of its richest house, whose fleet and gold banked the Black cause.

The Queen Who Never Was — the realm's most experienced dragonrider, slain above Rook's Rest in the war's first great battle.

Corlys and Rhaenys's daughter and the last rider of Vhagar before Aemond, who died before the civil war her house helped start.

Rhaenyra's first husband and heir to Driftmark, a celebrated dragonrider whose convenient death was never quite believed.

Corlys's brother, who pressed his own claim to Driftmark and called Rhaenyra's sons bastards — and died for it.

Lord of Storm's End, whose late arrival gave the Green cause one last army — and cost him his life.

The last Targaryen: an exiled queen who hatched three dragons and returned to Westeros to press her family's claim.

Ned Stark's boy, a Night's Watch brother who became King in the North — and whose blood runs back to Old Valyria.

The silver prince: warrior, harper and student of prophecy whose abduction of Lyanna Stark lit the realm on fire.

Lord of Winterfell and Hand of the King, a man of honor undone by the intrigues of the southern throne.

The Young Wolf — he called the North to war, never lost a battle, and lost everything at a wedding.

The elder Stark daughter, schooled in survival by King's Landing and the Vale, who grew into a ruler of the North.

A Stark girl who traded a sword for a faceless mask and carried a list of names like a prayer of death.

The Stark boy who fell from a tower, learned to see through time, and returned to claim a crown.

Lady of Winterfell and the fire of the Stark cause — a mother whose choices shaped a war and outlasted her death.

The Lion of Casterly Rock: Hand, kingmaker and the coldest political mind in Westeros, feared even by his own.

The Kingslayer: sworn to the Kingsguard at seventeen, forever defined by the one oath he broke to save a city.

Queen, mother and Lannister to the core, who met every threat with pride, suspicion and a little more wildfire.

The Imp — despised by his own family, he answered scorn with wit, wine and a mind fit for councils and sieges.

The Demon of the Trident, who won the Iron Throne by force and spent his reign drinking, hunting and looking away.

The rightful king by law — unbending, joyless and merciless, who burned what he loved chasing a crown that never came.

The youngest Baratheon brother: handsome, beloved, and backed by the Tyrells, he claimed a throne the law never gave him.

The Queen of Thorns — who outplayed every hand in King's Landing and paid her family's debts in poison.

The Little Rose of Highgarden, three times a queen, who played the game of thrones with a smile and a sharper mind.

The Red Viper of Dorne: prince, poisoner and champion, who fought the Mountain for justice and died an inch from revenge.

A disgraced knight of Bear Island, exiled for slaving, who became Daenerys Targaryen's most steadfast counselor.

The aged Lord of the Crossing — a man who kept a thousand kin and a single loyalty: his own house.