The Red Keep

The **Red Keep**, a castle succeeding the **Aegonfort**, is the residence of the King of the Andals and the First Men, his family and his court, located within King's Landing, the capital of The Seven Kingdoms. It dominates the skyline of the city, and serves as the city's primary fortress and redoubt. It also houses the Government of The Seven Kingdoms.

Located in the south-eastern corner of King's Landing, the Red Keep overlooks Blackwater Bay and The Narrow Sea. It is currently the seat of King Rhaegar I, of House Targaryen.

## **Locations:**

The Red Keep is made of pale red stone and overlooks the mouth of the Blackwater Rush. The Red Keep has seven massive drum-towers crowned with iron ramparts. The castle is smaller than Winterfell and is patrolled by gold cloaks. Much of the Red Keep is connected underground.

Massive curtain walls surround the castle, with nests and crenulations for archers. Thick stone parapets, some four feet high, protect the outer edge of the wall ramparts. The walls have great bronze gates and portcullises, with narrow postern doors nearby. The castle also has great corner forts. The immense barbican has a cobbled square in front of it. Behind the walls are small inner yards, vaulted halls, covered bridges, barracks of The City Watch of King's Landing, dungeons, granaries, kennels, and stables.

The inside of the Red Keep is decorated with relics of the Targaryen dynasty, such as artwork, armour and statues of former Targaryens and Kingsguard from history, such as, Aegon the Conqueror, Aemon the Dragonknight, Queen Rhaenys Targaryen, Queen Visenya Targaryen, Dareon the Good and many others from the past.

* **The Great Hall** -    contains the throne room of the king. **The Iron Throne** sits on a raised iron dais with high and narrow steps. A long carpet stretches from the throne to the Great Hall's great oak-and-bronze doors. The cavernous Great Hall can feast a thousand people.
* **Maegor's Holdfast -** is a massive square fortress inside the heart of the Red Keep. The castle-within-a-castle is situated behind walls twelve feet thick and a dry moat lined with iron spikes. Maegor's Holdfast includes the royal apartments, and the king's bedchamber contains a canopied bed and twin hearths. Maegor's Holdfast contains the Queen's Ballroom, a hall only half as big as the Small Hall in the Tower of the Hand. The ballroom seats one hundred and has beaten silver mirrors behind the wall sconces which makes the torch's light seem twice as bright.
* **The Tower of the Hand -** contains the chambers of the Hand of the King. Its Small Hall is a long room with a high-vaulted ceiling and bench space for two hundred. The private audience chamber is not as large as the king's, but has Myrish rugs, wall hangings, and a golden-tinted round window that give it a sense of intimacy. Below the tower is the Chamber of the Dragon Mosaic.
* **The Council Chamber** -

   hosts meetings of the small council. It contains a long table, at the head of which may sit the king. The chamber's door is flanked by two Valyrian sphinxes. The door can be guarded by a knight of the Kingsguard when the council is in session.

* **White Sword Tower** - is one of the towers of the Red Keep in King's Landing. It contains the chambers of the Kingsguard. The first floor contains the common room for the Kingsguard, the Round Room, a circular white room. The room contains a large weirwood table carved in the shape of a shield supported by three white stallions, and three knights sit on each side. The chair of the Lord Commander, old black oak with blanched cowhide cushions, sits at the top of the shield. The common room also contains The White Book. The undercroft holds arms and armor, while the second and third floors hold the small sparse sleeping cells for six brothers of the Kingsguard. The topmost floor contains the apartments of the Lord Commander.
* **The Maidenvault -** is a long, slate-roofed building located behind the royal sept. The Maidenvault was built under orders of King Baelor Targaryen to imprison his sisters Daena, Rhaena, and Elaena to prevent them from inciting any carnal thought in the pious king, it is know used, if needed as a sort of luxury prison for the Royal Family or other Noble Houses.
* **The Royal Sept** - inside the Red Keep is located in front of the Maidenvault. There are seven altars, one for each of the aspects of the Faith of the Seven, and crystal windows are placed high in the walls.
* **The Godswood of the Red Keep** - is an acre of elm, alder and black cottonwood trees that overlook the Blackwater Rush. The heart tree is a great oak with limbs overgrown with smoke berry vines.
* **The Kitchen Keep -** is located at a courtyard across from the castle's main kitchen.
* **The Rookery** - is the home of the ravens used by maesters of The Citadel. The Grand Maester has his chambers beneath the rookery.

* **The Traitor's Walk** - is an outer corridor on one of the sides of the Red Keep with view to one of its outer walls. The heads of criminals and traitors are placed on spikes over said wall, visible both to the exterior of the Red Keep and whoever passes through the corridor.

### **The Dungeons:**

The Dungeons of the Red Keep are divided in four levels:

* On the upper level are cells with high narrow windows where common criminals are confined together.
* The second level has smaller, personal cells without windows for highborn captives and valuable hostages.
* The Black Cells are the third level. Prisoners accused of treason and other high crimes are kept within the Black Cells.
* The fourth level is spoken of only in rumors. Once a man is taken here, he never sees the light of day again and is subjected to the most painful torments.

### **Secret Passages:**

The Red Keep, according to rumors, is full of miles of secret passages running behind the walls and below the floors. Maegor the Cruel had the builders of the Red Keep executed after the castle was completed to keep the secret of the passageways.