Game of thrones summary -Setting and lore for people new to the series
This a summary of the world in which game of thrones takes place in it. This dosnt have anything about the story just the world and settin. Its long but it may help if you are new to the series. Also for other fans if I have posted anything incorrect (which is likely) or you think I should have added something let me know or if you are new and want to know something or have a question feel free. Also note this is the state of things at the beginning of the series: things change obviously
Westeroes
This is the place where the majority of the story takes place, made up of seven smaller "sub kingdoms" each sub section has several lords and ladies but the entire nation is ruled by one king in the capital of kings landing.
Westeroes stretches from the north where there is a giant ice wall separating the north from "beyond the wall" to the capital kings landing in the south.
The seven sections are
- The north
- The Riverlands
- The vale
- Dorne
- The iron islands
- The south (kings landing)
- The east (casterly rock)
Setting
The setting of game of thrones is medieval. As such its best to assume that the world responds and interacts as people did in that time period. Kings/Queens and religion govern most peoples lives and the commoners or small folk work the lands and everything else. Men in wars and jobs and women stay home and childbare, the entire world is pretty corrupt and works on a class system
Yes there are aspects of supernatural and magic in the series however these aspects are pretty small, There are dragons and other creatures however even many of the worlds inhabitants doubt their existence.
The only other aspect to note is that seasons take a long time in this world. At the start of the story a long ten year summer is coming to an end, and now a longer harsh cold winter is coming, Storywise it has also been around 30 years of peace after a rebellion saw the defeat of generations of poor and mad kings.
Terms
The gods
There are several gods in the world that the people pray to. The first ones are the old gods (simply referred to as such) this involves the people who worship them (usually in the north) preying and honouring them, great weirwood trees are used as a point for praying. The next group is the seven used by the majority of westeroes, the seven consists of the warrior, the maiden, the crone, the stranger, the mother and the blacksmith. Thirdly is the drowned god, used by the iron born just think of it as a viking god, people must die for him etc. The final one is the new red god used by several priests, they believe in sacrifices too but instead of drowning people they prefer to burn them. (Many people when they pray in the series pray to all the gods new and old).
Bastards
Bastards are basically illegitimate children of high lords and ladies. They are treated variably depending on your parent with some simply being left with the low born parents and denied all knowledge of and if they are honoured often they have to take a bastard last name and then reside with the lord parent. The bastard last name depends on where you come from being Snow ,Rivers, Stone, Sand, Flowers etc.
Wards
These are when children of lords are held as basically hostages at the victorious nation. They are there so that if their family rebels again they will be killed in retaliation. they are usually not prisoners however and are given freedom of their new home.
Locations (Key)
Kings landing
The capital of westeroes and where the king or queen resides. It contains the red keep and the rest of the castle grounds (the home of the Baratheons , the ruling family) the city is large and walled while it looks nice however are right next to a bunch of slums called flea bottom where many commoners live. The weather is mainly warm and sunny.
Storms end
A large castle and fortress on an island just off the coast from kings landing. Home of the rest of the Baratheons.
Winterfell
The large northern fortress and home of the stark family. Generally cold even in summertime.
Iron islands
Home of the ironborn and the greyjoy family. They are harsh islands surrounded by the sea and are off the coast of westeroes.
Riverrun
Large castle in the river lands, home of House tully.
Harrenhall
Large almost destroyed castle away from kings landing, was utterly destroyed by dragons fire long ago. It is considered to be haunted by many
Casterly rock
Large castle situated in the east. Home of the lannisters
The dreadfort
A large northern castle, home of the boltons
The twins
A set of two castles in the north, home of the freys
The Eryie
A large mountain fortress in the vale, almost impenetrable and home of house arryan.
High garden
A large southern fortress and home of house Tyrell.
Dorne
The hottest and desert nation to the far south, home of the martell family. Due to their behaviour in the war they were allowed to keep a "prince" as their ruler though they really only have the same power as the warden in the north and east and have no particular powers. They do remain the most independent kingdom though still bear fealty to westeroes and their king and they are still part of it
The wall
A giant wall of ice was erected long ago to keep out monsters and wildlings (barbarians) away from the north. However as said before particularly in the south people think the wall is just sort of there. The wall is guarded by a band of men called the nights watch, the members choose to do this and have no wives and spend there entire lives freezing at the wall defending the country. However as many people would not choose this its quite common for criminals to be given the choice to join up as an option to avoid execution etc meaning the once honourable faction is losing numbers and quality.
Beyond the wall/Essos
I'm not going to delve into details here. However north of the wall is known as north of the wall and across the narrow sea is a number of places known collectively as essos. Its best to think of it like a bunch of foreign nations, different languages are spoken and there mainly hot desert climates. Slavery is also permitted there so its almost an old egyptian/roman/greek style nation (as the best example).
**Families (I'll say what they are and then point out the main living members at the start of the season) I'm, not going into to much detail on them as I'll do this in another thread maybe about character details **
The main families are seen afterwards here
Baratheons
Gods: The seven
Sigil: 
The current rulers of the country. They won victory in a rebellion years ago against the mad king. Along with the help of a lot of the other families mainly the Lannisters and Starks.
The king is robert baratheon. Who honestly resembles henry VIII, lost all his looks and greatness and grown fat. Robert also hates being king and leaves it to his council mostly. That said robert has ketp peace for a long time and is pretty popular with the people. Robert is married to Cersei Lannister and they have three children. Joffrey,Mrycella and Tomnem. Robert also has countless bastards.
Robert has two brother as well
- Stannis baratheon who resides on storms end and is married with one daughter Shireen.
- Renly baratheon who generally stays at kings landing. No children
Starks
Gods: The old
Sigil: 
The key honourable and main family in the series for most people is the starks. Revered and loved by the north. They are honourable and beyond.
Eddard (ned) Stark heads the family. Married to Catelyn tully.
They have five children.
Robb, Sansa, Bran, Arya and Rickon. Ned also has one bastard son called Jon.
Ned also has one brother Benjen who is in the nights watch and two other dead siblings Lyanna and Brandon
Lannisters
Gods: The seven
Sigil: 
The other large key family in the series this family is headed by Tywin lannister. Older than most heads and resides at casterly rock
His three children are
- Cersei, who I have already mentioned to be queen
- Jamie (Cersei's twin brother) who is a member of the kingsguard
Tyrion his dwarf son (note that dwarves arnt a thing, tyrion was just born that way)
Neither son has any kids
Greyjoys
Gods: The drowned god
Sigil: 
These are the main ironborn, they were defeated in their own rebellion not long ago. They a wild nation who are strongly invested in personal strength and being a warrior.
They are headed by Balon grejoy. Elderly; He had four children however two were lost in his rebellion
The survivors are his warrior daughter Asha and his son Theon who is at winterfell as a ward.
Balon has three brothers Victorian, Aeron and Euron.
Martells
Gods:.... Err I think the seven
Sigil: 
The main family in dorne which is pretty much its own nation. Full of exoctic things dorne has a prince however they are the one nation that allows any child to rule so the girls are allowed on the throne if they are older rather than the throne going straight to the first born son.
The prince is doran martell who has children. His oldest daughter Arianne and his son Quenten
Doran has one brother: Oberyn who has many bastard children who he considers his own.
Tyrell
Gods: The seven
Sigil: 
A large southern family who live in rich lands. They have only just started to become a major power due to this.
The family is headed by the elderly Olenna tyrell.
She has two sons Mace and Willis
Mace has two children of his own called Loras and Margery.
Arryan
Gods: The seven
Sigil: 
This is a pretty much dead faction. The only survivor John arryan is dead leaving only his very unstable wife Lysa and sicky son Robin behind.
Bolton
Gods: The old
Sigil: 
A large house in the north, they are considered while respected to be incredibly cold and ruthless
Headed by Roose bolton he has one bastard son called Ramsey
Freys
Gods: The old
Sigil: 
A bizzare house in the north. Walder frey is nearing a 100 years old and has dozens of children and grandchildren (Literally countless) All baying for his lands when he croaks
Tully
Gods: The seven
Sigil: 
This family is essentially honest and true,
The head of the family has 3 children.
- Catelyn who is married to ned stark
- Lysa who was married to robert aryan
- And Edmure who still resides in riverun
The head also has one brother called Bryden
Targareryns
Gods: Other/None
Sigil: 
This was the mad family that was eventually expelled by robert and his rebellion. They spend years with incest relationships to remain pure. The only survivors are Viserys and Daenerys who have fled across the narrow sea. They are heavily associated with dragons though havnt seen any for years.
Other factions and creatures
Dothraki
These are a band of horselords that roam across the narow sea. They are essentially barbarians
Nights watch
As already said this group of men guard the wall from whatever is across it. Mostly wildlings and white walkers
Wildlings/Free folk
This group of camps north of the wall are essentially scattered groups of men and women who are barbarians. They regularly sneak through into the north and steal away, money, supplies and women.
Kings/Queens guard
Pretty obvious but these are the guards of the king or queen. While during the ensuring conflcit many are drawn up the main one in kings landing consists of seven men in white cloaks guarding the king. They are sworn to protect and obey the king no matter what.
Direwolves
These are giant wolves (twice the size or bigger than normal wolves). Each of the stark kids is given one at the start of the series when they find a litter of pups
Dragons
There are three of them after the first season and they are steadily growing. Both in seize and erratic behaviour. Its often claimed that you cant tame them at all
White walkers/ Others
These are essentially for a better term: Zombies seen north if the wall these creatures havnt been seen for years but are the stuff of nightmares. They are in legend supposed to come when its cold
So thats a good start of a summary of the world, if you have any questions feel free, also if I've put somthing wrong (which I probably have) or if you want me to add something let me know.
Comments
Very nice compilation.
Skimming through your text I found a few typos in some of the names: Arryn (not Arryan), Westeros (not Westeroes), Greyjoys (not Grejoys) and Targaryens (not Targareryns).
The Targaryens also converted to 'the Seven' at some point.
Also, consider adding house Mormont
Great post! Thanks for organizing all of this!
My one recommendation would be to add a map that shows Deepwood Motte or the Wolfswood in the North so others can get an idea of where Ironrath (the seat of House Forrester) is located
Also, we have a new House to add:
I was going to but the mormonts aren't a major family, like the cleganes etc. Also I'm not sure if this helps people at all given how this is how it is at the start rather than after season 3. Still it points out the major families and lore at least
Bear Island is very near to the Wolfswood in which the Forresters have their home, but I get your point. I guess we'll have to wait and see which houses make an appearance in the game.
Feel free, I know there's the whole story of season 1- 3 and all the characters stories too.
You sir are a trooper. I already know the basic gist of things because I watch the show, but this is awesome for the newcomers
So the first episode is out now so I dont know if I should update this or something
Apart from that the whitehills sigil is apparently a hill of some kind. And the house has three known people
Ludd
Griff
And the daughter Asher fell in love with it was mentioned somewhere E... something
There's the sigil.
I agree this was a great post but just one more correction to make is that Casterly Rock is in the west part of Westeros not the east (that's why Tywin was the "Warden of the West")