Iron Throne

The **Iron Throne** is the seat of the Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and is often used as a metonymic device to refer to the authority of the King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men or to the polity born after Aegon's Conquest. The king often holds audiences and dispenses justice from atop it in the Red Keep's throne room, the Great Hall. The chair is cold and hard, with many jagged edges.

## Customs

In the king's absence, only his Hand may sit on the throne. Such privilege does not extend to royal regents. However, three exceptions exist: Queen Rhaenys Targaryen and Queen Visenya Targaryen, who were King Aegon I Targaryen's partners in power; and Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, who sat the throne when she took King's Landing during the Dance of the Dragons.

## Appearance

The Iron Throne is an asymmetric monstrosity of spikes and jagged edges and twisted metal. The throne was constructed by Aegon I Targaryen from the melted, twisted, beaten, and broken blades surrendered by his enemies, or wrenched from the hands of the dying. According to the songs, it took a thousand blades to make. It has been described as "massive", "ugly", and "asymmetric". The throne is a symbol of conquest.

The Iron Throne is located on a high platform in the throne room within the Red Keep. It can be reached by climbing steep iron steps in the Great Hall, and the small council has a table at the base of the throne.

Because of the fanged steel behind, it is impossible to lean back on the iron seat of the Iron Throne. Aegon I intended for it to be uncomfortable, believing that "a king should never sit easy". The points of the twisted blades fan out like talons from arms of the throne. Even aftera hundred and fifty years, some of the blades are still sharp enough to cut.

The Iron Throne is known for being dangerous to its occupants. King Viserys I Targaryen cut his left hand to the bone after stumbling, and Maester Gerardys had to remove two fingers to save his life. According to Septon Eustace, an armor-clad Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen was seen with cuts on her legs and left hand after sitting the throne for the first time, which led some to believe she had been rejected by it.

According to the stories, the Iron Throne is capable of killing a person, and has done so before. King Maegor I Targaryen, for instance, was found dead on the Iron Throne, his arms slashed open from wrist to elbow on jagged barbs, and with a blade through his neck, emerging beneath his chin. Although various culprits have been considered as having possibly murdered Maegor the Cruel, many still believe the king had been killed by the throne itself.

## History

### Aegon the Conqueror

Following his conquest of six of the Seven Kingdoms in Westeros, Aegon I Targaryen proclaimed himself their king, and was crowned by the High Septon at Oldtown. From the swords of his enemies, Aegon created the Iron Throne, and the dynasty he began would rule for nearly three hundred years. According to the songs, the throne was constructed with a thousand blades, heated by the dragonflame of Balerion, Aegon's dragon. According to history, however, the throne was forged by armorers.

The Iron Throne stood at Aegon's wooden castle, the Aegonfort, which was located at the place where he had first come to shore. The town that grew around it became King's Landing, the kingdom's new capital. Aegon reconciled the Iron Islands under his rule in 2 A.C., and continued his wars in 4 A.C. with the First Dornish War, in an attempt to subdue the seventh of the Westerosi kingdoms.

The Iron Throne kept out of war following the conclusion of the First Dornish War in 13 A.C. Other wars with Dorne would follow under Aegon's successors: the Second Dornish War in 37 A.C. at the start of Aenys I Targaryen's reign, the Third and Fourth Dornish War during the reign of Jaehaerys I Targaryen..

During Aegon's reign, one of his queens Rhaenys and Visenya Targaryen would sit on the Iron Throne while Aegon and his other sister were away from the capital for one of his progresses. In 35 A.C., Aegon had the Aegonfort where the Iron Throne stood torn down. As construction of the Red Keep began, the Iron Throne remained where it had stood.

### Aenys I and Maegor I

Aegon's immediate successor, his eldest son Aenys I, faced several rebellions at the start of his reign in 37 A.C., which were resolved by his bannermen and brother, Prince Maegor, during the course of the year. Aenys later faced problems with the Faith of the Seven, first following his brother's polygamous marriage in 39 A.C., and next after he married his son and daughter, Aegon and Rhaena, to one another in 40 A.C. The Faith rose in rebellion against the Iron Throne, eventually forcing Aenys and his family to flee King's Landing for Dragonstone. Aenys died the following year of illness.

Aenys's brother Maegor returned from his exile and claimed the throne over the late king's eldest son, Prince Aegon, who was unable to travel to King's Landing. While Maegor took the throne, Dowager Queen Alyssa Velaryon proclaimed Aegon king on Driftmark, but few came forth to support him. Called "the pretender" and "Aegon the Uncrowned", Aegon took up arms against Maegor in 43 A.C. after he slipped into the capital to claim the dragon Quicksilver. Aegon fell to Maegor during the Battle Beneath the Gods Eye later that year, however.

During his six-year rule, Maegor continued to fight the Faith and did so harshly, causing the deaths of thousands. Notably, he ordered the construction of Maegor's Holdfast within the Red Keep in 43 A.C. The Red Keep was completed in 45 A.C., after which Maegor had all the workers killed to prevent the castle's secrets being spread. Aenys I's youngest son, Prince Jaehaerys, announced his claim to the throne at Storm's End early on in 48 A.C. Maegor's main supporters flocked to Jaehaerys's side, leaving him with insufficient men to defend himself. Maegor was found dead seated on the Iron Throne by Queen Elinor Costayne hours after his last war council. The cause of Maegor's death is still debated; several potential murderers have been put forth, with some suggesting that Maegor had been killed by the throne, and others that Maegor had taken his own life.

### Jaehaerys I and Viserys I

Following his death, Maegor I was succeeded by his brother's youngest son, Jaehaerys I Targaryen. Jaehaerys reigned for fifty-five years. He recognized first his sister's eldest daughter Aerea Targaryen as his heir, followed by his own daughter Daenerys and later his son Aemon. Aemon's death in 92 A.C. resulted in a crisis in the line of succession, forcing Jaehaerys to choose between Aemon's daughter and only child, Rhaenys, and his own second son, Baelon. When Baelon was named, the pregnant Rhaenys proclaimed that the king had not only passed over her, but also her "unborn son". Upon Baelon's death in 101 A.C., Jaehaerys called the first Great Council at Harrenhal, to appoint his new heir. For thirteen days, the fourteen claims were discussed by the lords of the realm. The lords assembled eventually chose between Rhaenys's son Laenor Velaryon and Baelon's eldest son Viserys. The elder Viserys was chosen with the great majority of the votes.

Viserys's reign gave peace and plenty to the realm. In 126 A.C., after passing judgement seated on the Iron Throne, Viserys injured himself severely on the barbs. Maester Gerardys managed to save the king's life. The amputation of two of Viserys's fingers,  Following the death of his second son, Prince Baelon, Viserys officially proclaimed his daughter, Princess Rhaenyra, as his heir. Viserys remarried after the death of his first wife, but despite having three sons during his second marriage, he continued to view Rhaenyra as his heir.

### The Dance and Regency

At Viserys I's death in early 129 A.C., Aegon the Elder, his eldest son, claimed the throne, making use of Rhaenyra Targaryen's presence at Dragonstone during her pregnancy. Brother and sister fought over the throne during the two and a half years that followed, a struggle called the Dance of the Dragons. In 130 A.C., Rhaenyra took King's Landing and sat the first night on the Iron Throne to accept fealty from those present at the Red Keep. Even though Rhaenyra wore armor at that time, Septon Eustace, one of the supporters of Aegon II, claims that Rhaenyra had cuts on her legs and the palm of her left hand once she got up from the throne. Eustace claimed this was an indication that "the Iron Throne had spurned her".

Once Rhaenyra fled King's Landing half a year later after the Storming of the Dragonpit, two new "kings" declared themselves during the Moon of the Three Kings: Trystane Truefyre, a young squire who took possession of the Red Keep and sat on the Iron Throne, and Gaemon Palehair, a small child. Aegon II fed Rhaenyra to his dragon, Sunfyre, after the fall of Dragonstone. Trystane and Gaemon were eventually arrested by Lord Borros Baratheon. Since Aegon was away at Dragonstone, the Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower received the submission of Lord Corlys Velaryon from the lower steps of the Iron Throne.

The crippled Aegon was unable to climb the steps of the Iron Throne when he returned to the capital, so he instead used a carved and cushioned wooden seat below. Aegon was killed with poison half a year later after the Battle of the Kingsroad, and his body was laid upon a bier by the Iron Throne when the Lads arrived at the Red Keep. Rhaenyra's eleven year-old son, Aegon the Younger, was crowned king, and married to Aegon II's daughter and only remaining child, Jaehaera Targaryen, uniting the claims. Cregan Stark briefly served as Hand of the King during the so-called Hour of the Wolf. Although Cregan might have sat the Iron Throne as Hand, he instead used a simple wooden bench beneath it.

When Corlys Velaryon died in 132 AC during the reign of Aemond I, his body was placed beneath the Iron Throne for seven days.