Riverlands

When the First Men arrived in these lands, they clashed with the Children of the Forest, and the fighting between them lasted generations until they made peace on the Isle of Faces: the Children kept the woods, and the First Men raised their own kingdoms on what was ceded to them. Out of that arrangement came the King of the Rivers and the Hills.

Over the thousand years that followed, no house held the crown for long: the Brackens and the Blackwoods fought each other for it, and the Mudds were the last to hold it with First Men blood, until the Andal Invasion ended their line. Later, the Ironborn king Harwyn Hoare defeated the Storm Kings and stretched his rule from the Iron Islands all the way here.

Two generations on, his grandson Harren the Black decided to build a fortress worthy of his pride. Harrenhal took forty years to raise and swallowed resources and money without limit — and on the very day it was finished, Aegon Targaryen landed in Westeros with his dragons.

Harren the Black was not loved in these lands when Aegon landed, and Aegon knew how to use that: he approached several river lords and won them over to turn against Harren, Edmyn Tully among them.

Harren trusted that if he refused to come out and fight, Aegon would have to lay siege to the castle. That was never needed: Aegon let his dragons do the work, and the fire burned so hot that much of Harrenhal melted with Harren and his sons still inside.

After the victory, Aegon rewarded Edmyn Tully by naming him Lord Paramount of the Riverlands.

When the War of the Usurper broke out, Hoster Tully, Lord Paramount of the Riverlands, sided with the rebels. His house was already tied to that cause through his daughter Catelyn's betrothal to Brandon Stark, and when Brandon died, Hoster did not undo the bond: he married Catelyn to Brandon's brother Eddard, and his younger daughter Lysa to Jon Arryn.

Not every Tully bannerman followed that path — the Darrys, among others, stayed loyal to the Targaryens. And not every ally arrived on time: Walder Frey showed up at the Ruby Ford once the battle was already decided, on the rebels' side, but late.

The battle that ended the war, the Trident, was fought on Riverlands soil.

When the War of the Five Kings broke out, the Riverlands bore the worst of it. Bands led by Ser Gregor Clegane tore through the region, and when Beric Dondarrion's men came looking to bring him to justice, it was they who rode into an ambush.

Afterward, Jaime Lannister broke a Riverlands army commanded by Edmure Tully and laid siege to Riverrun. Surrounded by rivers on every side, he had to split his men into three camps — and that split cost him: a northern army under Robb Stark closed in undetected and crushed all three camps at once, freeing Edmure Tully and capturing Jaime himself.

Meanwhile another Lannister force stayed south of the Red Fork, seizing and looting castles, and the northern army struck back by invading the Westerlands.

After the Red Wedding, the lords of the Riverlands surrendered one after another. Many were welcomed back into the king's peace, but the Tullys lost Riverrun, which passed into Frey hands.

An official peace was not enough to settle the region: bands of outlaws kept roaming the Riverlands, some claiming to still fight in King Robert's name, though they killed whoever crossed their path.

The region's government changed hands again soon after: Petyr Baelish received the Riverlands as payment for arranging the marriage between King Joffrey and Margaery Tyrell, and became Lord Paramount of the Trident, with Harrenhal as the new seat of power.