Nine Great Houses rule the nine regions of Westeros from ancestral seats scattered across the continent. This map marks each seat with its house; the table below lists their words, sigils and lands.
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A Great House is a family that answers directly to the Iron Throne and holds one of the great regions of the realm as lord paramount. Their bannermen, the lesser lords and landed knights, hold the hundreds of smaller castles on the map. House Targaryen no longer rules the Crownlands at the start of the story, but Dragonstone remains their ancestral seat and is shown here for reference.
Seat: Winterfell · The North
“Winter is Coming”
A grey direwolf running on an ice-white field
Kings in the North for eight thousand years and Wardens of the North since the Conquest, the Starks rule from Winterfell and keep the old gods of the First Men.
Seat: The Eyrie · The Vale of Arryn
“As High as Honor”
A white falcon and crescent moon on sky blue
Descended from the Andal kings of Mountain and Vale, the Arryns hold the Eyrie above the Vale and are counted among the oldest and proudest lines in Westeros.
Seat: Riverrun · The Riverlands
“Family, Duty, Honor”
A silver trout leaping on a field of red and blue
Raised to lordship over the riverlands by Aegon the Conqueror, the Tullys rule from Riverrun at the meeting of the Tumblestone and the Red Fork, holding a region with no natural borders.
Seat: Pyke · The Iron Islands
“We Do Not Sow”
A golden kraken on black
Lords of the Iron Islands from the castle of Pyke, the Greyjoys claim descent from the Grey King, follow the Drowned God, and keep alive the ironborn tradition of reaving.
Seat: Casterly Rock · The Westerlands
“Hear Me Roar!”
A golden lion rampant on crimson
Masters of Casterly Rock and Wardens of the West, the Lannisters draw their power from the gold mines beneath their seat and are the wealthiest house in the Seven Kingdoms.
Seat: Storm's End · The Stormlands
“Ours is the Fury”
A crowned black stag on a golden field
Founded by Orys Baratheon after the Conquest and seated at Storm's End, the Baratheons rule the stormlands and took the Iron Throne when Robert Baratheon won his rebellion.
Seat: Highgarden · The Reach
“Growing Strong”
A golden rose on a green field
Once stewards to the Gardener kings, the Tyrells were raised to Highgarden after the Conquest and rule the Reach, the most fertile and populous region in Westeros.
Seat: Dragonstone · The Crownlands
“Fire and Blood”
A three-headed red dragon on black
A Valyrian family seated on Dragonstone, the Targaryens conquered Westeros with dragons under Aegon the First and ruled from the Iron Throne for nearly three hundred years.
Nine at the start of the story: Stark, Arryn, Tully, Greyjoy, Lannister, Baratheon, Tyrell, Martell and the Baratheons of King's Landing who hold the Iron Throne. House Targaryen, exiled across the Narrow Sea, was the ruling house before Robert's Rebellion.
House Stark of Winterfell rules the North, which is nearly as large as the other eight regions put together.
House Lannister of Casterly Rock, thanks to the gold mines of the Westerlands. House Tyrell of the Reach commands the most food and the largest population.