House Baratheon of King's Landing

Robert Baratheon founds this branch of his house in 283 AC, when his rebellion against King Aerys II Targaryen ends with the crown on his own head.

The seat moves from Storm's End to King's Landing, and the center of the house shifts with it, from the Stormlands to the heart of the realm itself.

In 298 AC, after the sudden death of Jon Arryn, King Robert looks for a new counselor and turns to Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell, to serve as Hand of the King. The arrangement comes with a betrothal too: Prince Joffrey and Sansa Stark are promised to each other, binding the two houses on paper.

Robert's reign ends with his death on a hunt, gored by a boar while the wine in his blood ran stronger than usual. His wife, Cersei Lannister, fears what he might learn — that Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen are not his children at all, but her twin brother Jaime's. With Robert gone, his brothers Stannis and Renly each claim the Iron Throne on their own terms, and the crown he won in battle becomes a cause for war within his own blood.

Joffrey, now crowned, has the house sigil recast, fusing it with the Lannister emblem: a black stag and a gold lion set against each other on a divided field. His brother Tommen later keeps the same design. But the king is a child, and the ones ruling from behind the throne are the Lannisters.

Tyrion Lannister, serving as Hand, looks for allies where he can find them, betrothing his niece Myrcella to Prince Trystane Martell to keep Dorne from turning hostile. Meanwhile, the forces loyal to Joffrey hold the waters off King's Landing against his uncle Stannis, in the Battle of the Blackwater.

Joffrey's own wedding feast becomes the end of his reign: the king dies poisoned in front of the assembled court. The throne, and his widowed queen Margaery Tyrell, pass to his younger brother Tommen, who inherits a crown he never expected to wear.

In Dorne, Princess Arianne Martell plots to crown Myrcella queen of Westeros, leaning on local succession laws that make no distinction between sons and daughters. The plot unravels before it gets anywhere — someone betrays her, and in the chaos that follows, Myrcella is wounded by Ser Gerold Dayne's blade.

With Queen Cersei under arrest, it is House Tyrell that gains ground beside the young King Tommen. Their influence grows, and there is little anyone left inside House Baratheon can do to stop it.