Great War

* Gendry Baratheon succeeds Cersei and Daenerys as King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men
* The North, Riverlands, Westerlands, Crownlands, northern Reach and northern Stormlands are greatly depopulated
* Countless castles and settlements on the mainland north of Highgarden and Storm's End are either heavily damaged or completely destroyed
* Extinction of many minor houses
* Euron Greyjoy and his Iron Fleet flee to the Free Cities
* Beginning of the Great Spring, eventually leading to the Great Summer

Factions| **The Living*** House Stark
* House Targaryen †
* House Arryn House Greyjoy(under Yara and Theon)
* House Lannister(under Jaime and Tyrion)
* House Baratheon
* House Tully
* Night's Watch (disbanded)
* Brotherhood Without Banners †
* Free Folk
* Golden Company(after Cersei's death)
	+ Army of the Dead †

**Cersei's Loyalists*** **Iron Throne**/House Lannister(under Cersei)
* **Salt Throne**/House Greyjoy(under Euron, until Dragonstone)
* Golden Company(until Cersei's death)

Leaders|  Warden Jon Snow † Ser Davos Seaworth Lady Sansa Stark Arya Stark Bran Stark Queen Daenerys Targaryen †Qo Qhono †Commander Grey Worm Lord Hand Tyrion Lannister Lord Yohn Royce Lord Robin Arryn (after Winterfell) Queen Yara Greyjoy † Prince Theon Greyjoy † Ser Jaime Lannister Lord Gendry Baratheon Ser Edric Storm Lord Edmure Tully (after Winterfell) Lord Commander Eddison Tollett † Lord Commander Gared Tuttle Lord Beric Dondarrion †Chieftain Tormund Commander Addam Marbrand † (after Cersei's death) Captain Harry Strickland (after Cersei's death) | Night King †

"*There is only one war that matters. The Great War. And it is here.*"
―Jon Snow at the Dragonpit SummitThe **Great War**, also known as the **Second Long Night**, was the ultimate culmination of the long-simmering Conflict Beyond the Wall; the war between the living and the dead. The living were eventually victorious, but not before suffering through the bloodiest war in the history of the known world.

## History

### Prelude

The White Walkers first descended upon Westeros during the Age of Heroes eight millennia ago, bringing with them a cold and terrible winter and a dark night that lasted a generation. The Night King had been created thousands of years prior by the Children of the Forest, the natives of Westeros, with dragonglass to combat the invading First Men in the Dawn Age, but the Children and the First Men came together to fight against their common enemy. The White Walkers and their wights, which had been raised from those that they slaughtered, were defeated and driven back to the far north while the Wall was raised and the Night's Watch formed to prevent the White Walkers from returning. Many were trapped north of the Wall, becoming the Free Folk, while those south of the Wall began to form kingdoms.

As the many centuries passed, most of Westeros came to see the magical White Walkers and Children of the Forest as nothing more than legends and scary fairy tales, especially as the Andals and the Rhoynar had never encountered them on Westeros since their migrations came thousands of years after the Long Night. However, the White Walkers eventually rose again beyond the Wall shortly before Robert's Rebellion. While the southern Seven Kingdoms were preoccupied with their own civil war and largely did not believe in the White Walkers, the Free Folk, who were being slaughtered by the White Walkers to amass a new army of the dead, were attempting to cross the Wall while the Night's Watch was seeking out the truth and fighting against their old wildling enemies in the conflict beyond the Wall.

However, the Night's Watch, under Lord Commander Jon Snow, let the wildlings cross the Wall after realizing the existence of the White Walkers and the threat that they posed. They come south of the Wall after the attempted rescue mission at Hardhome. This decision led to a mutiny but Jon was resurrected and freed from his life long vows to the Night's Watch. Seeking to unite the North against the White Walkers, Jon, himself the alleged illegitimate son of Eddard Stark, joined with his half-sister Sansa Stark to save their younger brother Rickon Stark and reclaim their home Winterfell from House Bolton, who had previously usurped House Stark from the North after the Red Wedding. Ramsay Bolton and his allies were defeated and killed at the Battle of the Bastards, and in the aftermath of the battle, Sansa became the new Lady of Winterfell while Jon was declared the King in the North by the lords of the North and the Vale at Winterfell.

Around the same time, Daenerys Targaryen, the only known survivor of House Targaryen which had been ousted from power during Robert's Rebellion, set sail for Dragonstone with her allies, vassals, and three dragons, the first born in the world in over a century. At this time, Bran Stark discovered via greensight that Jon, unbeknownst to all including Jon himself, is of both Stark and Targaryen lineage as the secret son of Lyanna Stark, Eddard Stark's sister, and Rhaegar Targaryen, Daenerys's eldest brother, both of whom died in Robert's Rebellion.

As Daenerys prepared her campaign to take the Iron Throne from Queen Cersei Lannister, who had seized the throne herself following the extinction of House Baratheon of King's Landing, she was visited by Melisandre, who urged her to seek out Jon Snow, believing both Daenerys and Jon had a crucial role to play in the Great War to come. Around the same time, Samwell Tarly, a maester in training a best friend of Jon Snow, discovered that Dragonstone sat on vast desposits of dragonglass, a material capable of killing wights and White Walkers after being fashioned into weapons. After accepting an invitation from Daenerys, Jon met her on Dragonstone, and although he refused to bend the knee to Daenerys, she permitted his men to mine the dragonglass on the island.

Daenerys's trust in Jon slowly grew, and she agreed to fight alongside Jon against the White Walkers so long as he bent the knee, although Jon remained hesitant to submit the North to another southern ruler. Daenerys also did not wish to withdraw her forces, fearing Cersei Lannister would seize the entire realm in their absence. Daenerys's Hand of the Queen Tyrion Lannister proposed retrieving a wight from beyond the Wall and call a parlay with Cersei, in order to demonstrate to her that the Army of the Dead was real and set on ravaging the continent indiscriminately.

After assembling a team including the likes of Jorah Mormont, Beric Dondarrion, Thoros of Myr, Sandor Clegane, Tormund Giantsbane, Gendry and Edric Storm, Jon Snow embarked from Eastwatch-by-the-sea on a wight hunt. The group were ultimately successful in taking a wight, although Thoros of Myr was mortally wounded, later dying, and the group were trapped surrounded by wights, White Walkers and the Night King himself for several days, until being relieved by Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons. As the group were being rescued, the Night King killed one of her dragons, Viserion, using an ice spear, and Jon was left behind, presumed dead. Jon was ultimately saved by his uncle, Benjen Stark, and made it back to Eastwatch on horseback. Grief stricken, Daenerys pledged to fight in the Great War, and Jon bent the knee.

Upon being confronted with the wight, Cersei publicly pledged to ally with Jon and Daenerys, but in private, had no intention of marching her armies north, instead, she planned to consolidate her rule in the south, while her ally, King Euron Greyjoy of the Iron Islands, crossed the Narrow Sea to retrieve the Golden Company, a sellsword company from Essos. Upon learning of his sister's intentions to betray her pledge, Jaime Lannister abandoned Cersei and travelled north to fight alongside the the forces of the Living.

### March on Winterfell

Having reanimated Viserion as an ice dragon, the Night King used dragonfire to break through the Wall at it's easternmost point, destroying Eastwatch-by-the-sea in the process. The Army of the Dead poured into the North, and began to march on Winterfell, the regions capital and location where Jon and Daenerys's forces were to amass. During their march, the Night King sacked Last Hearth, and strung up the deceased Lord Ned Umber as a warning witnessed by Beric, Tormund and Lord Commander Eddison Tollett as they retreated southward after abandoning the Wall.

Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen soon arrived at Winterfell, bringing with them Daenerys's council, armies, and two remaining dragons, Drogon and Rhaegal, In the following days, more armies and individuals arrived at Winterfell, including Gendry, Edric Storm and Devan Seaworth (who had all witnessed the breaching of the Wall), Jaime Lannister, Beric, Tormund and Edd, and Theon Greyjoy, whom after rescuing his sister, Yara Greyjoy, from the custody of their uncle Euron Greyjoy, had brought with him a contingent of ironborn to fight alongside House Stark, while her sister sought to retake the Iron Islands from their uncle's control.

The night before the White Walker's arrival, Jon, having learned from Samwell Tarly and Bran Stark his true lineage, revealed to Daenerys Targaryen that he was indeed the son of Rhaegar Targaryen. Now knowing that Jon was technically ahead of her in the line of succession to the Iron Throne, the revelation immediately soured the blossoming romance between the two. During the subsequent feast, in an act of spite against Jon and seeking to secure her own position, Daenerys legitamised Gendry, a bastard son of King Robert Baratheon, as Gendry Baratheon, making him both Lord of Storm's End and her heir presumptive so long as she remained childless.

In a war council before the battle, Bran Stark, knowing the Night King sought his death above all others, offered himself as bait to draw the Night King into the open, where, presumably, he could be killed, destroying the entire Army of the Dead by proxy. Bran was placed within the Godswood, while the defenders amassed within and around the castle. Eventually, the White Walkers arrived outside the gates of Winterfell, and began assaulting the castle with waves of wights. Despite small victories throughout the night, such as Viserion being taken down, the White Walkers and Army of the Dead made steady progress in overtaking the castle, with it becoming clear to many that Winterfell would soon fall. While Arya Stark orchestrated the evacuation of the sheltering non-combatants southward, Jon Snow commanded a duel against the Night King. Jon eventually stabbed the Night King with his Valyrian steel sword, Longclaw, but the blow failed to destroy the Night King. With the castle overrun and seemingly no way to destroy the Night King, Drogon and Rhaegal evacuated many of the surviving combatants from Winterfell and flew southward.

### Retreat from the North

The survivors of Winterfell fell back to the nearby Castle Cerwyn, where a more organised retreat was planned. Most of the non-combatants split off from the armies and sailed down the White Knife to be evacuated at White Harbor, while the main force continued down the Kingsroad for the Inn at the Crossroads in the Riverlands, intending to meet reinforcements from House Tully and House Arryn. A small force remained at Moat Cailin to hold the Army of the Dead at the Neck for as long as possible.

As the forces of the Living regrouped at the Crossroads, Daenerys Targaryen sent an envoy led by Gendry Baratheon to Storm's End to raise further forces from the Stormlands, planning to meet at King's Landing. Many of the remaining non-combatants were also sent further south to the relative safety of the Reach. Daenerys, incandescent at Cersei for her betrayal, could no longer tolerate her sitting on the Iron Throne, and planned to march on the capital to bring an end to her reign.

Gendry raised a substantial force at Storm's End, boarded his men on the moored former Royal Fleet of Stannis Baratheon, and set sail for Blackwater Bay. As they passed Dragonstone, thinking it was still under the control of forces loyal to Daenerys, the fleet approached the island, only to be attacked by ironborn and Golden Company troops under the command of Euron Greyjoy, who had in fact taken the island in their absence. Gendry landed his men on the island and made progress towards the castle, before being reinforced by Daenerys Targaryen riding Drogon. However, Viserion, who had been reanimated by the Night King a second time, flew in from the north and engaged Drogon above Dragonstone. As the aerial fight intensified, Baratheon and Greyjoy forces abandoned the island, before Viserion and the Night King were sent crashing into the castle. In a desperate effort to destroy the Night King, Edric Storm fired a flaming arrow into an open cache of wildfire brought to the castle by Cersei's Alchemist Guild, obliterating Dragonstone and Viserion, but failing to kill the Night King. Upon witnessing the apparent invincibility of the Night King, Euron decided to abandon Cersei to her fate and flee Westeros for the Free Cities.

### Downfall of Cersei Lannister

Daenerys returned to her forces ahead of the Baratheon fleet, which had begun laying siege to King's Landing. Daenerys eventually agreed to allow Davos Seaworth to sneak Jaime Lannister into the Red Keep to try and convince Cersei to surrender peacefully, although threatened a full-scale attack should she refuse. Arya Stark wished to assassinate Cersei, and snuck out of the siege camp after confiding in Sandor Clegane her intentions.

Jaime reunited with Cersei, who was growing increasingly fraught and paranoid with the White Walkers fast approaching. The couple were then attacked by Arya Stark, who was subsequently engaged by Gregor Clegane, the Lord Commander of Cersei's Queensguard. Arya was nearly killed by Gregor, but was saved by Sandor, who began dueling his brother as Arya fled.

Shortly after, the Baratheon fleet arrived, and Daenerys attacked, easily rolling over the city's defenses with her dragons and the replenished allied armies. In a final act of madness, Cersei ordered her Hand of the Queen, Qyburn, to "burn them all" by igniting the cache's of wildfire beneath the city placed by King Aerys II Targaryen during Robert's Rebellion. Jaime, who had killed the Mad King for issuing the same command to his own Hand during the Sack of King's Landing, killed both Qyburn and Cersei, with the latter dying in his arms.

### Final stand at King's Landing

The remaining Lannister and Golden Company forces soon surrendered and agreed to join the army of the Living to make a final stand against the Dead. Daenerys Targaryen, having now siezed the Iron Throne, hastily ordered preparations be made to defend the city. Every able bodied fighter was armed, while the remaining population of the city was hidden underground or in the Red Keep.

The dead soon surrounded King's Landing, but refrained from attacking for some time until the Night King returned from Dragonstone, having become trapped there during the prior battle. In the meantime, the Army of the Dead ravaged Westeros, including the Riverlands, Crownlands, Westerlands, northern Reach and northern Stormlands. The dead, having previously sacked Riverrun, attacked Lannisport and the Bloody Gate, and laid siege to Storm's End.

Bran Stark, through the power of greensight, had slowly come to the realisation that the Night King had attempted to conquer Westeros a generation ago, when he attempted to remotely take over the body of Rhaegar Targaryen, and that Rhaegar had unknowingly aided this with his own actions, driven by his increasing obsession with prophecy and the Old Gods in his final years. The Night King had been stopped short of taking full control of Rhaegar by the latter's death by the hand of Robert Baratheon during the Battle of the Trident, but had none-the-less entrenched a deep and lasting connection to the dragon prince.

As the battle of King's Landing commenced, the dead soon breached the walls of the city, tore through the streets, and massacred all in their path. Daeenrys, who was riding Rhaegal due to Drogon's injuries sustained at Dragonstone, landed to save Jon Snow from being overrun, but a wave of wights washed over Rhaegal, tearing at the dragon's wings and sending both dragon and rider crashing into the Red Keep's throne room. Rheagal was killed, but Daenerys survived, where she found Bran sat on the Iron Throne in a warged state.

Jon dueled the Night King for a second time in the Red Keep's courtyard, but was fatally injured and left to bleed out, as the White Walkers entered the castle itself. Fights took place throughout the halls of the Red Keep. Among those killed was Yara Greyjoy; having returned to fight the dead following her successfully reconquest of the Iron Islands, she was in fact killed by the reanimated corpse of her own brother, Theon Greyjoy, who had died fighting in the Fall of Winterfell.

As the Night King entered the Throne Room, Daenerys hopelessly charged the White Walker with a dragonglass spear, but was fatally stabbed herself. Just as the Night King reached Bran, Jon, bleeding profusely, rushed in to save his brother. As the Night King touched the Iron Throne, Bran latched onto the connection and forced the Night King to warg back in time with him; to the fateful duel on the Trident. Bran completed the connection between the Night King and Rhaegar, while Bran himself warged into Robert Baratheon. As fate dictated, Bran brought Robert's Warhammer down on Rhaegar, and the action was mirrored in the present. The Night King thrown backwards, landing at Jon's feet with his chest shattered open. Jon impaled the Night King with Longclaw, killing him. The Night King's entire army followed, crumbling wherever they stood.

Bran, having regained his old personality following the death of the Night King, crawled over to Jon, who had collapsed from his injuries. Bran and his sister Arya comforted Jon as he passed away.

### Aftermath

Although the White Walkers had been defeated, millions had been killed, and most of the continent had been devastated. The Great War ended up being the deadliest war in the history of the known world, and Westeros took the better part of a century to fully recover.

As Daenerys had commanded, Gendry Baratheon succeeded her to the Iron Throne. In his place, Gendry legitimised his half-brother, Edric Storm, as Edric Baratheon, and named him Lord of Storm's End and Warden of the South. Gendry named Bran as his Hand of the King, and married Arya Stark some months later, both for his own personal love for her, as well as to prevent the North from seceding from the realm.

With the extinction of House Tyrell and the last remaining Greyjoy in dishonourable exile, House Hightower were named the new overlords of the Reach, while House Harlaw were installed as Lords of the Iron Islands following a brief occupation. With the White Walkers defeated and the Free Folk allied, the Night's Watch was disbanded and Wall left to ruin. With the Treaty of Long Lake, the North formally annexed the lands beyond the Wall, and the Free Folk established themselves in the former Gift and lands beyond, agreeing to swear fealty to House Stark and remain vigilant against any resurgent threats from the distant north.

The extinction of the White Walkers also marked the end of their influence over the climate of Westeros, which had been responsible for the phenomenon of the years-long winters which had plagued the continent for millennia. Spring broke shortly after the war ended, and the Great Summer began in earnest some ten years later.

Nine years after the Battle of King's Landing, with the weather improving, Bran Stark briefly resigned as Hand of the King to lead an expedition beyond the Wall to confirm the extinction of the White Walkers. While he was away, the War of the Narrow Sea broke out.