Battle of King's Landing

Factions| * **Iron Throne**/House Targaryen †
	+ Unsullied
	+ Dothraki
	+ Queensguard
	+ City Watch of King's Landing
* House Stark
* House Baratheon
	+ House Seaworth
* House Arryn
* House Tully
* House Lannister
* House Greyjoy(under Yara)
* Golden Company
* Night's Watch
* Free Folk
	+ Army of the Dead †

Casualties| **Heavy*** Queen Daenerys I Targaryen
* Queen Yara Greyjoy
* Warden Jon Snow
* Rhaegal
* Commander Addam Marbrand
* All White Walkers and wights

The **Battle of King's Landing** was the final climactic battle of the Great War, taking place at King's Landing, the capital of the Seven Kingdoms. The battle saw the final victory of the Living forces over the Dead when Bran Stark and Jon Snow vanquished the Night King for good, simultaneously killing all the White Walkers and wights across Westeros.

## History

### Prelude

During the prior Siege of King's Landing, Daenerys Targaryen took the Iron Throne, and Queen Cersei Lannister was ousted from power, dying by her own brother's hand to prevent her from carrying out her wildfire plot. The Lannister and Golden Company forces formerly under Cersei's command promptly joined the combined armies of the Living, when it became clear their was no way to escape the encroaching Army of the Dead. King's Landing was once again prepared for attack; the battlements were repaired as best as possible, while the non-combatants were sent into hiding underground or in the relative safety of the Red Keep.

Unbeknownst to everyone, Bran Stark had been plumbing the depths of his abilities to find a way to destroy the Night King, knowing from the Fall of Winterfell that Valyrian steel and dragonglass could not kill him. While at the Crossroads, he discovered in the Trident one of the rubies that had once adorned the breastplate of Rhaegar Targaryen, prompting Bran to fully explore the history of the Great Tourney at Harrenhal and the months leading up to Rhaegar's death at the Battle of the Trident. Bran discovered that the Night King had previously attempted to take over Westeros by taking control of Rhaegar's body, and that he had entrenched a connection to Rhaegar by utilising the prince's obsession with prophecy, and specifically, the Old Gods. The Night King came close to conquering Westeros this way, but was stopped short by Rhaegar's death on the Trident during Robert's Rebellion. Going into the battle, Bran hoped to leverage this connection to vanquish the Night King once and for all, and sat himself on the Iron Throne, entering a warged state.

The Army of the Dead quickly surrounded the capital, but refrained from attacking for some time. The Night King wished to be present for the presumed final battle of the war, thus the wights waited until his return from Dragonstone, after he had become trapped there during the Battle of Dragonstone.

### The battle

When the Night King finally arrived, the battle begun. The wights threw themselves against the gates and walls alike, while the White Walkers commanded their own legions of undead to perform flanking manoeuvres from all sides. Daenerys atop Rhaegal and the riderless Drogon attempted to burn away the attackers, but to little effect; the Army of the Dead seemingly numbered millions now.

Eventually, the walls of the city were breached, and the dead tore through the city, killing scores of combatants and civilians alike. Jon Snow, at the head of the ground forces, ordered a desperate retreat towards the Red Keep, but order within his ranks was beginning to collapse, and many simply ran for their lives, wherever they could.

For a moment, Jon Snow, Davos Seaworth, Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth faced being overwhelmed by a horde of wights, but Daenerys landed Rhaegal in front of them to burn away their assailants. However, a huge wave of wights washed over Rhaegal and latched onto his wings. Rhaegal took flight and attempted to shake off the wights tearing at his wings, but soon found himself too encumbered to fly. With Daenerys still on him, Rhaegal was sent crashing into the Red Keep, killing him. Fearing Daenerys was dead, Jon Snow ordered a final retreat into the Red Keep itself.

The Night King entered the city and began raising the dead. Upon reaching the courtyard of the Red Keep, Jon Snow emerged and confronted him. The two duelled, but the Night King soon gained the upper hand over the exhausted and defeated Jon Snow, knocking Longclaw from his grasp, and running him through with his blade. The Night King then entered the castle, leaving Jon Snow to bleed out in the courtyard.

Daenerys, having survived Rhaegal's deadly crash landing, emerged into the Red Keep throne room, where she found Bran sat on the Iron Throne. and the Night King entering the room, just as Bran emerged from his warged state. Tearfully but defiantly, Daenerys charged the Night King with a dragonglass-tipped spear, but her strike was easily parried, and Daenerys was fatally stabbed with her own spear, and was too, left to bleed out on the ground.

Elsewhere in the castle, fights between small groups of living fighters and hordes of undead were occurring simultaneously. Arya Stark, Gendry Baratheon, Edric Storm and Devan Seaworth were fighting their way through hallways and chambers, while Yara Greyjoy was confronted by the reanimated corpse of her brother, Theon Greyjoy. Frozen in fear and grief, Yara was attacked, and ultimately killed by the thrall of the White Walkers that had once been her beloved brother.

Jon, bleeding profusely but determined, rushed into the throne room and attempted one last time to end the Night King as he approached Bran. Meanwhile, Bran had been watching a flashback of the Battle of the Trident, specifically, the duel between Robert Baratheon and Rhaegar Targaryen, which history would see conclude with the death of the latter at the hands of the former.

Knowing how deeply connected Rhaegar had become with the Night King, as the Night King reached out to touch the Iron Throne, Bran leveraged the connection to forcefully warg the Night King back in time into the body of Rhaegar Targaryen, while Bran did the same into Robert Baratheon. Bran then brought Robert's Warhammer down onto Rhaegar's chest, and the action was mirrored in the present. The Night King was sent flying backwards and landed at Jon's feet, his chest shattered open. Jon impaled the Night King with Longclaw, and the Walker crumbled into nothing. The White Walkers and wights all shattered in unison with their leader. And just like that, the battle, and war, was over. Jon, after a momentary moment of shock, relief, and joy, collapsed from his mortal wounds.

### Aftermath

Bran, having seemingly regained his old personality crawled over to Jon. Jon thanked Bran, and Bran returned the gratitude, before planting a kiss on Jon's forehead. Just before Jon passed away, Arya, Gendry, and the rest of their group rushed in, and Arya tearfully embraced Jon as he died in her arms.

A funeral for all the war's deceased was held in the capital. Among those cremated were Jorah Mormont, Lyanna Mormont, Eddison Tollett and Theon Greyjoy, who had all been turned into wights and marched south to King's Landing after the Fall of Winterfell. Jon and Daenerys, the leaders of the Great War, were burned side-by-side.

With the death of Daenerys Targaryen, her designated heir, Gendry Baratheon, became the new ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. His half-brother, Edric Storm, was legitimised as Edric Baratheon and made Lord of Storm's End in his place. He appointed Bran Stark as his Hand of the King, while Tyrion Lannister was instead made Master of Coin. Brienne of Tarth joined his Kingsguard as Lord Commander, with Jaime Lannister and Podrick Payne also joining the order. Gendry's rule was initially unstable, but was consolidated over the following months after his marriage to Arya Stark.

The population of King's Landing was decimated during the battle, around eight out of every ten residents died during the course of the White Walkers slaughter. The population took nearly a century to recover, only once again reaching it's pre-war population of half a million during the final years of the reign of King Robert II Baratheon.

## See also

* Battle of King's Landing on Game of Thrones Wiki