The twelve maps in the set are entitled "The Known World", "The West", "Central Essos", "The East", "Westeros", "Beyond The Wall", "The Free Cities", "Slaver's Bay", "The Dothraki Sea", "King's Landing", "Braavos", and "Journeys".

Only the defiant Dorne remained independent for almost another two hundred years through asymmetric guerrilla resistance, until it was finally absorbed under the Iron Throne through a marriage-alliance by King Daeron II in 187 AC.

[17][18] The Neck's difficult wetland terrain is infested by predatory lizard-lions, restricting the only dryland passage to a causeway commanded by the almost impenetrable stronghold of Moat Cailin, which protected the North from land invasion from the south for thousands of years.

[23] To depict Winterfell, both the pilot and season 1 of the television adaptation used the 16th century clock tower and ancient courtyard of Castle Ward in County Down, Northern Ireland.

[S 21] This experience was so profound that a decade later, in 1991, he wanted to "write a story about the people guarding the end of the world",[S 22] and ultimately "the things that come out of the [fictional] north are a good deal more terrifying than Scotsmen or Picts".

"Primary filming for these scenes, which encompass both the Frostfangs and the Fist of the First Men, occurred at the Svínafellsjökull calving glacier in Skaftafell, Iceland, followed by shooting near Smyrlabjörg and Vík í Mýrdal on Höfðabrekkuheiði.

Lysa refused to align herself with any of the claimants during the War of the Five Kings, but eventually pretends to a possible alliance with House Lannister after Lord Petyr Baelish agrees to marry her.

[44] For the CGI compositions of the Vale of Arryn in the TV series, as seen in the establishing shot of the Eyrie and from the sky cells, the visual effects team used images and textures from the Greek rock formations of Meteora.

The most prominent population center in the Reach is Oldtown, Westeros's oldest and second largest city and port as well as the home to the Maesters' Citadel and the former religious seat of the Faith of the Seven, situated at the mouth of the Honeywine estuary.

In a rage her parents sent vast storms to shatter his keep and kill his wedding guests and family; whereupon Durran declared war against the gods and raised several castles over Shipbreaker Bay, each larger and more formidable than the last.

During the War of the Usurper, Storm's End was besieged for a year by the host of Lord Mace Tyrell, who commanded the landward forces, while Paxter Redwyne's fleet of the Arbor kept the castle cut off by sea.

A smuggler named Davos ran the blockade to resupply the castle and Stannis rewarded him by knighting him and giving him lands, thus founding House Seaworth, but he also cut off the fingertips of his left hand as punishment for all his previous smuggling.

Another century later, Aegon Targaryen and his sisters Rhaenys and Visenya launched a massive campaign of conquest from the island and eventually conquered all of Westeros except for Dorne, and North of the Wall.

The castle is unique in that the builders and sorcerers of Valyria carved its towers and keeps into the shapes of dragons and made ferocious gargoyles to cover its walls using both magic and masonry.

Since the city was built in a rush, most of it is made of slums called Flea Bottom, where residents are so poor they regularly subsist on "bowls of brown", a mystery stew that can include the meat of puppies and murder victims.

"[S 16] "In season two, filming for King's Landing and the Red Keep shifted from Malta to the historic parts of Dubrovnik and the Minčeta, Bokar, and Lovrijenac fortresses in Croatia, which allowed for more exterior shots of an authentic walled medieval city.

Described as tropical in climate by George R. R. Martin,[S 15] Dorne has the highest temperatures of any kingdom in Westeros, and is arid, with a rocky, mountainous, terrain that includes the only desert on the continent.

[58] From their port city named Tall Trees Town,[59] the Summer Isles export rare goods to Westeros such as wine,[60] spices,[61] feathers,[62] but also a special kind of wood from which bows are made that have a longer range than most others.

[65] Samwell Tarly, who spends two chapters in A Feast for Crows aboard a swan ship, describes the Summer Islander women as wanton, and their gods as strange; they "revered the elderly and celebrated their dead" through sexual intercourse.

Unlike in most other Free Cities, slavery is outlawed and Pentos is forbidden from participating in the slave trade due to terms set by the victorious Braavosi in a past war.

[S 20] The production redressed and repainted the Jerusalem sets of Kingdom of Heaven near Ouarzazate, Morocco, to serve as the courtyard of Illyrio's mansion where Daenerys first meets Khal Drogo.

This section covers the Essos locations east of the Free Cities that Daenerys Targaryen passes through on her travels in A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings before moving on to Slaver's Bay.

George R. R. Martin said "The Dothraki were actually fashioned as an amalgam of a number of steppe and plains cultures ... Mongols and Huns, certainly, but also Alans, Sioux, Cheyenne, and various other Amerindian tribes ... seasoned with a dash of pure fantasy.

[82] After a first mention in A Game of Thrones in relation to slavery,[83] Daenerys Targaryen conquers the three great Slaver's Bay port city-states Astapor, Yunkai, and Meereen in A Storm of Swords.

[87] The Plaza of Pride, which has a red-brick fountain and a huge bronze harpy statue in its center, serves as an open air slave market and a marshaling area for the Unsullied, elite eunuch spearmen known for discipline and effectiveness.

The city is also the wealthiest, as besides slaves it produces wine, with a metallic taste, the lands surrounding it have massive deposits of copper, and it grows olives, before the slavers burned the trees to starve out Daenerys's army.

[S 29] Upon Daenerys' first visit to Qarth in A Clash of Kings, the warlock Pyat Pree describes his city as the center of the world and as a gateway of commerce and culture between the east and west, and the north and south.

The reader learns through Daenerys's eyes that the city is surrounded by three graded walls of thirty to fifty feet in height, respectively engraved with portraits of animals, war, and lovemaking.

[S 16] The Qartheen are described as "tall pale folk in linen and samite and tiger fur", with the women wearing gowns that leave one breast bare, while the men sport beaded silk skirts.

[S 54] Ibben is unmapped in the books as of A Dance with Dragons, but similar to Martin's descriptions,[S 54] the HBO Viewer's Guide world map gives the island's location as to the north-east of Essos.