Kingdom of the North

### Places of note

The Barrowlands • The Bay of Ice • The Bay of Seals • Bear Island • The Bite • Blazewater Bay • The Broken Branch • Cape Kraken • The Gift • The Grey Cliffs • Ironman's Bay • The Last River • Long Lake • The Neck • The Rills • Sea Dragon Point • Skagos • Skane • The Stony Shore • The Wall • The Weeping Water • The White Knife • The Wolfswood

### Formed from

Various groups of the First Men in the lands of the North

### Date of dissolution

1 AC, pledged to Aegon Targaryen by Torrhen Stark

### Founder

{Bran the Builder}

The **Kingdom of the North** was one of the independent kingdoms established in the continent of Westeros prior to the War of Conquest. It is named after the North, one of the nine distinct regions of Westeros and the largest and most prominent in the kingdom. The kingdom is ruled by the King or Queen in the North, typically the head of House Stark, from their seat at Winterfell.

The kingdom was first founded by Brandon the Builder after the Long Night, but was conquered during the Targaryen conquest and made subservient to the Iron Throne.

## History

### Early history

When the First Men crossed the Arm of Dorne from Essos to Westeros, they waged wars against the native peoples of the continent: the Children of the Forest. After thousands of years of warfare, however, the First Men and the Children reached a peace, agreeing to the Pact at the Isle of Faces; the First Men went on to adopt the Old Gods of the Forest worshiped by the Children. 2,000 years later, the Long Night descended upon the world, and the First Men and the Children of the Forest came together to push back the White Walkers in the War for the Dawn. Together, with the giants, they miraculously defeated the White Walkers, and raised the Wall to prevent the White Walkers from returning.

While those trapped beyond the Wall became the Free Folk, those south of the Wall began to come together and form kingdoms. Brandon the Builder raised Winterfell and took it as his seat, becoming the first King of Winter and forging the Kingdom of the North, ruling all the lands north of the Neck. House Stark continued to descend from his line, reigning as the Kings of Winter and later Kings in the North after successfully unifying the lands of the North against rival kings.

2,000 years later, the Andals crossed the Narrow Sea from Andalos and invaded Westeros. Bringing with them chivalry and the Faith of the Seven, the Andals smashed all the kingdoms of the First Men with the exception of the Kingdom of the North, which they made peace with. Thus, the Northmen continues to hold to the culture of the First Men and the religion of the Old Gods while the rest adapted to Andal culture and the Faith of the Seven. During this time, the last of the Children of the Forest and the giants south of the Wall disappeared, the Andals believing them to be evil creatures. Over the centuries, they, like the White Walkers, have faded into legend.

### Conquest

The First Men, the Andals, and the Rhoynar that lived in the Principality of Dorne, the southernmost kingdom in Westeros, faced a new common enemy, however: the last of the Dragonlords. The Valyrian Freehold was a massive empire that spanned nearly half of the known world, including the entirety of the continent of Essos across the Narrow Sea. The empire was forged with the Valyrians taming fire-breathing beasts called dragons. They defeated vast empires in Essos, such as the Ghiscari Empire, and the many city-states of the continent. They posed no threat to Westeros, however, until the migration of one Valyrian noble family to an eastern offshore island they called: the Targaryens. Naming it Dragonstone and raising a castle of the same name, the Targaryens narrowly escaped the Doom, an incredible and catastrophic event that destroyed Valyria, ravaged the Valyrian Peninsula, led to the ultimate collapse of the Valyrian Freehold, and killed all of the Valyrian noble families and their dragons, with the exception of the Targaryens.

With Essos largely in ruins and being split into various, independent city-states during the Century of Blood, such as the Free Cities, Aegon Targaryen, the new head of the new House Targaryen, decided to instead look west for his inevitable conquest. Riding the last three dragons in the world with his sister-wives Visenya and Rhaenys, and with a relatively small army, Aegon landed at a point that started the city of King's Landing and went on to conquer the seven independent kingdoms during the War of Conquest, including the Kingdom of the North when Torrhen Stark bent the knee to Aegon. Remembered as Aegon the Conqueror, he unified the Seven Kingdoms into one realm subservient to the Iron Throne, established the Targaryen dynasty, and was named the King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm.