I) A Song of Ice and Fire : Introduction to the world and background

My first article will be about the incredible series A Song of Ice and Fire by Georges R.R. Martin. If you are not familiar with the fantasy books, you may know the HBO show Game of Thrones. For those of you who don't, I will try to introduce you to this world and with luck, you will want to watch the show or read the books after this article. I will not spoil anything happening in A Song of Ice and Fire but write about the background. Should I spoil the actual story, I will indicate the name of the book or the season in question.

Introduction to the background :

A Song of Ice and Fire is a fantasy series divided into seven novels, five have already been published.

The story takes place in an unnamed world with Westeros and Essos as the main continents. Centuries before the events described in the books, Westeros was divided into Seven Kingdoms. From North to South : The North, The Mountain and Vale, Kingdom of the Isles and Riverlands, The Rock, The Storm Lands, The Reach and Dorne (you can search for a map of “ before the Conquest “ on the Internet).These Kingdoms were ruled by different houses which are for some of them, ancestors to the characters depicted in the books. These houses are the Starks of the North, the Arryns of the Vale, the Hoares of the Isles and Riverlands, the Lannisters of the Rock, the Storm Kings of house Durrendon, the Gardeners of the Reach and finally, house Martell of Dorne.

Some three hundred years before the events of the books, Aegon Targaryen whose ancestors fled the region of Valyria ( South of the eastern continent of Essos ) and settled on the island of Dragonstone ( South of the Vale ) will forever change the world . This family of silver-haired and purple-eyed people brought dragons to Westeros. Aegon, helped with his sister-wives Visenya and Rhaenys rode their dragons in what is known as the War of the Conquest. Aegon, now nicknamed the Conqueror unified all the Kingdoms but not Dorne. He allowed the Starks, Arryns and Lannisters to rule their traditional lands as Lords Paramount should they pay homage to him.The Hoare, Gardener and Durrendon Kings perished during the war and were replaced by house Tyrell for the Reach. The Kingdom of the Isles and Riverlands were divided into two regions : the Iron Islands now ruled by the Greyjoys and the Riverlands of house Tully.

The Conqueror gave the Stormlands to his illegitimate half-brother, Orys Baratheon.

With the swords of his fallen foes, King Aegon built an Iron Throne and settled his capital at King's Landing ( see a map of Westeros to visualise the geography ).

The arrival of Aegon Targaryen is used for the calendar of Westeros. For example, Aegon died in 37AL, meaning 37 years after Aegon's Landing. 

Three centuries later, the last dragon is long dead and many troubles will commence in the years to come, inside and outside the Kingdom of the Iron Throne. The young Robert Baratheon started a rebellion against King Aerys Targaryen the Mad ( or the Mad King ) and overthrew him. I will detailed Robert's rebellion in an other article. The first book of A Song of Ice and Fire starts fifteen years after Robert is crowned King of the Seven Kingdoms.

I will explore more of the background in future articles. For more precision, you can check The Wiki of Ice and Fire at http://awoiaf.westeros.org/

The books of A Song of Ice and Fire :

• A Game of Thrones
• A Clash of Kings
• A Storm of Swords
• A Feast for Crows
• A Dance with Dragons
• The Winds of Winter ( coming soon )
• A Dream of Spring ( coming soon )