Chapter 49 Introduction to the History and Geography of Game of Thrones
Chapter 49 Introduction to the History and Geography of Game of Thrones
1. Historical part
The original inhabitants of Westeros were giants, children of the forest and other strange creatures.
The children of the forest are small humanoid creatures with dark skin and beautiful faces (if they dye their hair white, they have black skin and white fur, which Boiling Sheep thinks is awesome).
(The year when "Conqueror" Aegon I conquered the six kingdoms was the first year of the Conquest Calendar. Twelve thousand years ago, the first humans crossed the Narrow Sea and reached the continent of Westeros.)
The Conquest occurred two years after the Landing, and all eras are counted from the first year of the Conquest, which begins with the coronation of Aegon I in the Starry Sept in Oldtown.
Because they were the first people to arrive on this continent, these humans were called the ancestors.
Most of the families in the north, including the Blackwoods and Brackens in the Riverlands and the Royce family in the valley, are the more famous families of the ancestors.
After two thousand years of fighting between the ancestors and the children of the forest, the two sides made peace and the Dawn Era began.
Eight thousand years before the Conquest, the White Walkers invaded from northern Westeros. The First Men and the Children of the Forest joined forces to resist, and the Age of Heroes began.
Winterfell and the Great Wall were built by "The Builder" Brynden Stark, and the Night's Watch was also established at the same time.
Around 6,000 BC, the Andals crossed the Narrow Sea and arrived in Westeros. They quickly conquered the area south of the Gulf of Cailin and established six kingdoms, which together with the Northern Kingdom were called the Seven Kingdoms.
Around 5,000 BC, the Valyrians tamed the dragons, conquered the continents of Essos and Sothothros, and established the Valyrian Free Fortress.
In 1,700 BC, the Rhoynar took refuge in Dorne, and after marrying with the Martell family, they conquered the entire territory of Dorne, and their leader was honored as Prince.
Two hundred years before the Conquest, Valyria captured Dragonstone. One hundred years before, the Valyrian noble Targaryen moved to Dragonstone to escape the prophesied catastrophe.
Not long after Targaryen arrived at Dragonstone, the Doomsday Catastrophe occurred. The Valyrian Peninsula was destroyed, and almost all the dragons and Valyrian people were exterminated.
(I will talk about my conjecture later. Valyrian people may not be naturally occurring people, but magical creatures like dragons)
Two years before the Conquest, Aegon Targaryen led his troops to land on the continent of Westeros from the Blackwater River, and quickly conquered the six kingdoms and established the Targaryen dynasty, known as Aegon I in history.
Aegon's Landing was followed by the establishment of King's Landing.
During the reign of Aegon I (reigning for more than thirty years), Aegon was crowned by the High Bishop in the Starry Church in Oldtown, and the dynasty was stable.
During the reign of Inis I, after the church claimed that it was incest, an armed uprising broke out. The mediocre Inis suppressed the uprising with his younger brother Geme as his prime minister.
During the reign of Kazume I, Kazume succeeded to the throne after the death of King Inis and continued to suppress the uprising bloodyly. However, the situation became more serious and King Kazume had no heirs.
During the reign of Jaehaerys I, the son of Aenys succeeded to the throne, reached a reconciliation with the church, and granted amnesty to the church for its sins. The church was protected by the royal family, the church army was disbanded, and the church no longer exercised judicial power. History called Jaehaerys the "Arbiter"
.The long peace of the dynasty began.
During the reign of Viserys I (103-129), the "Dance of the Blood Dragons" civil war broke out. The Targaryen dynasty suffered heavy losses and the dragons were almost extinct.
During the period of Aegon II, the Dance of the Blood Dragons ended, but Aegon II also died soon. Aegon, the son of Princess Rhaenyra, Aegon II's enemy, inherited the throne and married Aegon II's daughter.
Aegon III.
During Aegon III (131-157), the kingdom recovered from the war, but the last dragon died at this time. History called Aegon III the "dragon disaster".
During the period of Daeron I (157-161), Dorne was conquered by him, but was soon counterattacked. Dorne regained its independence and was known as the "Little Dragon Lord" in history.
During the reign of Baelor I (161-171), he negotiated peace with Dorne, and the grandson of Prime Minister Viserys married Dorne. Baelor I believed in the Seven Gods, and finally died in a fast. History called him "Baelor Blessed by the Gods"
.
During the reign of Viserys II (171-172), the old King Viserys died a year after he succeeded, and his throne passed to his eldest son Aegon.
Aegon IV (172-184), the "Mean King" Aegon IV had many illegitimate children, the most famous of which were Daemon Blackfire, Aegor Rivers "Bitter Iron", and Brandon "Bloodraven"
·Hewen, "Foreign Heart" Xiri. Granted Daemon Blackfyre the Targaryen family sword "Blackfyre" and legalized his descendants.
Daeron II (184-209), the "Wise King" Daeron II married Princess Milia of Dorne and married Princess Daenerys to the Prince of Dorne. Dorne was officially included in the territory of the Targaryen Dynasty.
Daenerys's lover, Daemon Blackfyre, could not stop her from marrying and launched the "Blackfyre Rebellion", which lasted for two years and ended in the Battle of Redgrass Field. "Bloodraven" killed Daemon Blackfyre, and "Cold Iron"
Lead the Blackfire descendants across the Narrow Sea and establish the Golden Company.
Daeron II's eldest son, Baelor the Breakspear, became prime minister and had good political achievements. However, he died trying to save the hedge knight Tall Duncan at the Poplar Ford Tourney. The next year, the Great Plague broke out, and Daeron II and Baelor
The Hand's sons all died from the plague, and Daeron II's second son Aerys succeeded to the throne.
Aerys I (209-221), Aerys was obsessed with reading and did not govern the country well. He handed over power to Duke "Bloodraven". There were constant internal and external troubles. The Blackfire family continued to harass the kingdom. Aerys I had no heirs. After his death, his fourth brother Maekar
Succession.
During the reign of Maekar I (221-233), natural disasters continued to occur frequently. Duke Bloodraven was imprisoned because of the jealousy of Maekar I. In 233, Maekar I died while suppressing the rebels. After the death of Maekar I, the right of succession became
It is suspected that the third son, Maester Aemon, could have succeeded, but he gave way to the fourth brother Aegon. In order to prevent him from being used to attack his fourth brother, he voluntarily went to the Great Wall and took away the Duke "Bloodraven", "the king who should not be king".
"Aegon succeeded to the throne.
During the reign of Aegon V (233-259), the country was back on track. In 259, Aegon V's attempt to hatch dragon eggs in Summerhall caused a fire, and the king himself, his old friend and guard Duncan the Tall, Prince
"Shorty" Duncan was all killed, and history is known as the "Tragedy of Summer Hall".
During the reign of Jaehaerys II (259-262), Malis Blackfyre led his troops to launch the War of the Nine Copper Kings, but was quickly defeated. Malis Blackfyre was killed, and the Blackfyre family became extinct. Jaehaerys II was very
Wise but frail, he passed away after only three years on the throne and was succeeded by his son Aerys.
During the period of "Mad King" Aerys II (262-283), in the middle and early stages of his reign, he teamed up with Prime Minister Duke Tywin Lannister to make the Seven Kingdoms prosperous, and his son Rhaegar was even known as the leader of the dynasty.
Rising Star of Tomorrow. After the rebellion in Duskendale, Aerys II became suspicious and cruel, often burning dissidents to death with wildfires, and broke with Lord Tywin, which eventually led to tragedy.
Robert I (283-298) reigned for fifteen years. Pay attention to this timeline. In 282, the usurper rebelled, Robert became king in 283, and the war ended in 284. (Edder and Rhaegar's children were separated from each other.
Robert had a big quarrel, and then led his troops to the Stormlands to relieve the siege of Storm's End, and the Battle of the Tower of Bliss ensued.)
Ed: How can you govern the country well with an insect like Robert?
2. Geography part
To give you an idea first, the official size of Westeros is about the same size as South America, but considering the existence of the North, the core area where people mainly move is actually much smaller.
South America covers about 17 million square kilometers. If you remove one-half to one-third of the area occupied by the northern border, you will be left with over 9 million square kilometers.
In terms of population, Martin did not clearly give it, but according to side information, the total population of Westeros is about 20 million.
It covers an area of more than nine million square kilometers and has a population of more than 20 million. Did everyone get the idea instantly?
Yes, it is probably equivalent to the Three Kingdoms period.
But the weapons and armor were of the late Middle Ages in Western Europe, and the daily necessities were of the Renaissance period.
There are a lot of mismatched things in the book and the series, such as the equipment of the Mountain in the tournament in the first season, and the square helmet. Do you think of other historical events?
Such as the Crusades.
This happened in 1291 at the latest, and there was still some time before the later period of 1400.
Let’s start with a serious introduction to geography.
There are four continents in the entire Game of Thrones world, Westeros, Essos, Sothoros, and an unknown continent (I couldn't find its name, some book friends who know it can tell me).
The geographical distribution of these four continents refers to the British Isles, Eurasia, and the African continent. The unknown continent is in the extreme east.
Let’s start with the large continent of Essos.
The sea between Westeros and the continent of Essos is called the Narrow Sea. There are nine Free Trade Cities in Essos near the Narrow Sea:
Among them, Volantis and Braavos (the prototype of Venice) are the most powerful.
Pentos, Myr, Lys, and Tyrosh belong to the second tier.
Hall, Fornos, and Loras belong to the third tier. The first two are inland cities with no ports or fleets, so their natural strength is inferior.
Loras is an island city-state, and its presence in the books and episodes is extremely low. I suspect that Martin used it to make up the numbers.
Most of the Free Trade Cities are located between the west coast of Essos and the eastern mountains. They can be regarded as the remnants of Valyria (except for Braavos). They were all established as colonies of Valyria.
From the eastern mountainous area of the Essos continent (this mountainous area is actually in the west of Essos) to the east, there is a vast grassland, called the Dothraki Sea (the prototype is very clear, it is the Mongol Empire).
Directly south of the Dothraki Sea is Slaver's Bay, where there are three large slave city-states, Yunkai, Meereen and Astapor, as well as many small city-states.
These cities were built on the ruins of the Gughis Empire, and are characterized by pyramids and harpies (the prototype is also very clear, Gughis is ancient Egypt, and as for the slave trade, it is obviously a satire of the triangle trade period)
Europeans on the African continent).
To the east of Slaver's Bay is Lazar, which is located in the pastures and hilly areas south of the Dothraki Sea (the prototype is also very clear, so I won't go into details because I can't publish this single chapter).
To the west of Slaver's Bay lies the Land of Long Summer and Valyria. The once glorious capital of Valyria is now only a smoking ruin.
Qarth is a city-state in the southeast of the Essos continent. It is at the node connecting the east and the west. It is known as the richest city-state and is controlled by the royal family, the Thirteen Giants, the Spice Guild, the Tourmaline Brotherhood, etc.
The rich man Zaro's home was as big as a market place, while the home of Illyrio, the governor of Pentos, was as shabby as a latrine.
The Thirteen Giants have a total of one thousand ships, the Tourmaline Brotherhood has more than one thousand two hundred ships, and the Spice Guild has eight to nine hundred ships.
In comparison, the navy of Westeros is very shabby. The royal fleet has 200 ships, the Redwyne fleet has 200 ships, and the Ironborn fleet has 100 ships. Together they are just over half of the Spice Guild.
Next is the familiar continent of Westeros.
From north to south they are: the North, the Riverlands and Vale, the Westerlands, the Reach, the Stormlands, and Dorne.
According to the arrangement by Li Tiefu, I will briefly mention a few major elements of Westeros.
Five rivers: Blackwater, Trident, White Blade, Mander, and Greenblood.
Five major passes: Cailin Bay, Golden Tooth City, Blood Gate, Bone Road, and Prince's Pass.
Five avenues: King's Avenue, Rose Avenue, Golden Avenue, River Avenue, and Coastal Avenue.
Five islands: Dragonstone, Iron Islands, Shield Islands, Three Sisters Islands, Stepstone Islands.
Four mountain ranges: Valley Mingyue Mountains, Western Golden Tooth Mountains, Northern Mountains, and Red Mountains.
Three forests: the Wolf Forest in the North, the Royal Forest in the King's Territory, and the Crake Forest in the West.
The five strongest castles: the Twins, Harrenhal, the Eyrie, Casterly Rock, and Storm's End.
Maybe you won’t have any idea simply by introducing it like this, so I’ll use my method to give you a deeper impression.
As mentioned above, Westeros is comparable to the Three Kingdoms, and the geography of the Seven Kingdoms can also be compared.
The Hejian Land is approximately equal to the Central Plains land around the Yellow River and Huaihe River, but its area ratio is significantly smaller.
The valley is about the same size as Mount Tai and the land of Shandong surrounded by Yimeng Mountain. Agriculture, handicrafts, and maritime navigation are all very developed.
The western border is roughly equivalent to the Sanqin land moved southward, but mining has been strengthened and agriculture has been reduced.
The River Bend is a large grain-producing area in the Nanyang Basin, Jingxiang Plain, Suizao Corridor and other places. Of course, it also has the largest population.
The royal territory is the plain area around Songjiang Mansion. Coincidentally, Songjiang Mansion is the mouth of the sea, and Junlin City is also the mouth of the Blackwater River.
The Storm Land is the area occupied by the Yue Kingdom, including the Kuaiji Mountains, the southeastern hills and other areas.
Dorne, everyone imagines that the Guangguang area has a small population and is backward, but the united front value is high, so the leader is the prince.
The Northern Territory can be imagined as the land of Yanzhao, a bitter cold area, so most of the local people make promises and neglect life and death (the Northern Territory will never be forgotten is not just talk).
Of course, this metaphor is inappropriate, as long as everyone can understand it.
Since the Three Kingdoms are used as a metaphor, readers must also be able to see the setting of the protagonist.
It is Cao Cao's geographical position and Liu Bei's benevolent personality.
PS: Considering that this single chapter has more than 4,000 words, can readers vote for it? Both recommendation votes and monthly votes are acceptable. I am not picky.
