Laws of Succession

The following section on
succession was lifted from the reddit post written by /u/galanix on /r/asoiaf. Not included from the original post are
existing lines of succession.

## Types of Succession

### Andal Succession

A daughter before an uncle.

It is the same as male-preference
cognatic primogeniture. Pretty much all Houses with the exception of the Dornish and
Targaryens follow Andal succession laws. In this form the eldest legitimate son
inherits followed by that son's descendants. A daughter can inherit if she has
no living legitimate brothers, and those brothers have no heirs. A younger
sibling inherits only if his elder sibling died without any descendants.

### Targaryen Succession

An uncle before a daughter.

This is a form of agnatic
primogeniture, which greatly favors
males over females inheriting. Female lines are disinherited, so males
typically always inherit before females, even collaterally related males (i.e.
uncles/brothers over daughters). It's not entirely clear how male-driven the
Targaryen succession was, since they never had to look very far for a suitable
male heir. It's likely a female could inherit if they were the last descendant
of the patrilineal lines (male derived lines). For example, a more distant male
relation from a female line (e.g. king's sister's son) wouldn't inherit over a
daughter of a king, but a male relation from a male line (e.g. king's brother's
son) would. (credit to /u/feldman10 ) The Targaryens at first followed Andal
succession, but started following this form of succession following the "Dance
of the Dragons"when
Rhaenyra and Aegon II (half-siblings) fought over their father's crown.

### Dornish Succession

It is essentially absolute
cognatic primogeniture or equal primogeniture. This makes no distinction between gender; it
is the oldest legitimate child and his/her descendants that inherit.

## Bastards

In any of the above laws of
succession, bastards do not inherit at all. However, if a bastard is
legitimized they stand to inherit after all trueborn children, including
daughters and younger siblings (credit to /u/Axetronaut ). Although this is not always the case and can
be a point of contention and dispute. This is why Roose is convinced that
Ramsay will kill any children Fat Walda has, because those children would be
trueborn to Roose and thus come in line before Ramsay (ADWD 32: Reek III).

Typically only acknowledged
bastards (i.e. ones welcomed into the father's house) are legitimized. Ramsay
Snow, Jon Snow, Aurane Waters, Edric Storm, Joy Hill, and the Sand Snakes are
all examples of acknowledged bastards. People like Gendry and Mya Stone are
unacknowledged bastards, so it is exceedingly unlikely they would be
legitimized, as they would need proof of their lineage and they have none.
Also, only a King can legitimize a bastard, not a Lord or even Lord Paramount.

## Exceptions

These succession laws are
not set in stone. They can be amended and circumvented so long as the sitting
Lord desires it. For example, Tyrion is technically Tywin's heir at the start
of AGOT (since Jaime refuses to renounce his vows and inherit). However, Tywin
tells Tyrion in ASOS that he will not allow him to inherit Casterly Rock and
will pass over him in favor of Cersei.

Another notable exception
is the Iron Islanders' kingsmoot, in which a leader is chosen regardless of
lineage based on voting. This is only used sparingly and during extenuating
circumstances. It's what allowed Euron to be crowned ahead of Theon and Asha.

## Multiple Titles

A person can hold claim to
multiple titles. For example, Tommen is currently King, Lord of Storm's End,
and Lord of Dragonstone. He is also next in line for Casterly Rock behind his
mother. He could hold all four titles if he wanted to. Robert gave his Storm's
End lordship to Renly by choice.