Fire & Blood

“Even the start date is a matter of some misconception. Many assume, wrongly, that the reign of King Aegon I Targaryen began on the day he landed at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush, beneath the three hills where the city of King’s Landing would eventually stand. Not so. The day of Aegon’s Landing was celebrated by the king and his descendants, but the Conqueror actually dated the start of his reign from the day he was crowned [….] Thus it can be seen that most of Aegon’s actual conquering took place from 2-1 BC, Before the Conquest.”

Gyldayn, the narrator, establishes one of his motivations as a historian: creating a historical narrative that is accurate. The discussion of the misconceptions around dating is thus a form of characterization that shows the reader Gyldayn’s values. It also speaks to the theme that accuracy and historical narrative do not always go hand in hand.

“The vast, cold, stony North was ruled by the Starks of Winterfell. In the deserts of Dorne, the Martell princes held sway. The gold-rich westerlands were ruled by the Lannisters of Casterly Rock, the fertile Reach by the Gardeners of Highgarden. The Vale, the Fingers, and the Mountains of the Moon belonged to House Arryn…but the most belligerent kings of Aegon’s time were the two whose realms lay closest to Dragonstone, Harren the Black and Argilac the Arrogant.”

Martin’s enumeration of the pre-Conquest kingdoms of Westeros is world-building that helps the reader understand Westeros’s fictional geography and regional characteristics. The different climates and resources set the stage for the many conflicts that follow; Martin’s introduction of the two fractious riverlords at the end of this passage shows the impact of geography on the politics of Westeros. Aegon and these riverlords likely felt mutually threatened by the closeness of their territories.

“The scales of a full-grown dragon were harder than steel, and even those arrows that struck home seldom penetrated enough to do more than enrage the great beasts. But as Meraxes banked above the Hellholt, a defender atop the castle’s highest tower triggered a scorpion, and a yard-long iron bolt caught the queen’s dragon in the right eye. Meraxes did not die at once, but came crashing to earth in mortal agony, destroying the tower and a large section of the Hellholt’s curtain wall in her death throes.”

Martin’s description provides specific detail about the physics of dragons. Including such detail helps readers suspend disbelief as they confront a world in which dragons are real. This description also makes clear why dragons are such a good military asset to have, despite Meraxes’s vulnerability in this particular episode.