Bastardy

Jon Snow, a wedlock child of House Stark.

Jon Snow: "What's my name?"

Samwell Tarly: "Jon Snow."

Jon Snow: "And why is my surname 'Snow'?"

Samwell Tarly: "...Because you're a bastard from the North."

— Jon Snow and Samwell Tarly

The term Wedlock, commonly called a Bastard, refers to any child or children born out of a relationship between their parents who are not married. All major religions in the Seven Kingdoms - including the Faith of the Seven, followers of the Old Gods of the Forest, and followers of the Drowned God - attach very negative social stigmas to wedlock.

Legal and social status

Lack of inheritance and discrimination

Ramsay Snow: "The flayed man is on our banners!"

Roose Bolton: "My banners, not yours. You're not a Bolton, you're a Snow."

— Roose Bolton and his bastard son, Ramsay Snow.

Ramsay Snow, a wedlock child of House Bolton.

Wedlocks are not allowed to inherit their father's lands or titles, and have no claims to the privileges of their father's House. It is up to their father on how to raise or treat them; at worst they are unacknowledged and ignored, though they may fare better and be discreetly sent funds to ensure their well-being. At best, a lord will acknowledge his wedlock children (allowing them to take on one of the special wedlock surnames), but send them away to one of his distant castles to be raised away from his lawful family. For wedlock children to be raised by their father in his own castle alongside his trueborn children is considered extremely unusual (such as when Eddard Stark did so for his wedlock son, Jon Snow).

Faced with no prospects for inheritance, many noble-born wedlocks, even acknowledged ones, ultimately voluntarily join the Night's Watch to seek prestige and equality. The Night's Watch is highly egalitarian compared to the rest of Westeros, and at the Wall every man is given what he earns; both wedlocks and criminals can become high-ranking officers and commanders for their service. Similarly, wedlocks may also take up the life of knighthood in the hope of being granted a place at a lord's household and even lands and titles for services to their liege lords. In this way, a wedlock may become the founder of a noble house. Wedlock children may also be given over to the Faith of the Seven to join monastic orders or the clergy, and bastard sons may be sent to train as Maesters.

There is no outright law punishing noble men or women for having wedlock children, instead it is considered a social and religious disgrace.

It is possible for the king to legitimize a lord's wedlock children, though this special dispensation is difficult to acquire and infrequently happens. It will usually only be granted if a lord has no other legitimate children (or no male children) to carry on the name of his house. However, the social stigma is not automatically removed after the wedlock child is formally legitimized. For instance, in the case of Ramsay Snow, even though he has been legitimized as Ramsay Bolton, it is still open as to whether it will be he or Roose Bolton's future trueborn son with Walda Frey who will inherit the Bolton lands and titles, something that Sansa Stark openly notes.

Nevertheless, as a highborn wedlock carries the blood of a noble house, they may still be perceived as a potential threat by rival claimants. For this reason, King Joffrey orders the massacre of Robert's wedlocks because they are his true children and thus stronger claimants to the throne than he is. When Roose Bolton and Ramsay Snow discuss their search for the remaining male Stark children, Ramsay suggests killing Jon Snow too. He reasons that, being Eddard Stark's wedlock son, Jon could become a threat to their rule in the North, even though he has joined the Night's Watch and given up any possible future claim.

Wedlocks in Dorne

Ellaria Sand, a wedlock child of House Uller.

Oberyn Martell: "Bastards are born of passion, aren't they? We don't despise them in Dorne."

Cersei Lannister: "No? How tolerant of you."

— Queen Cersei scorns Dorne's relaxed attitudes towards bastards.

Due to its unique history and culture, wedlock are not looked down upon in Dorne the way they are in the rest of the Seven Kingdoms. The present-day Dornishmen descend from the Rhoynar people who migrated to Westeros a thousand years ago, who possessed an urban culture based around city-states along the Rhoyne River in Essos. The culture they passed down to the present-day Dornishmen has relatively relaxed attitudes towards sexual matters. While the Rhoynar who came to Dorne did convert to the Faith of the Seven, they basically just ignored the rules they didn't like, and follow the religion much less strictly than other parts of Westeros. Many Dornish nobles have formalized lovers known as paramours, and they do not possess the same stigma against homosexual behavior that the rest of Westeros does.

These relaxed sexual mores in Dorne extend to wedlock children. The Dornish feel that wedlocks are born of passion and love, unlike the rest of the Seven Kingdoms that consider them born of lies and deceit, and thus would not disdain a child for such a parentage. While it is rare and scandalous for a lord from outside of Dorne to raise his wedlock child in his home castle alongside his trueborn children (i.e. as Eddard Stark did with Jon Snow), it is actually commonplace in Dorne to see wedlocks living at the court of their noble parents; Oberyn Martell raised his eight illegitimate daughters in Sunspear, alongside his brother's legitimate children. The Dornish are also much more likely to acknowledge any wedlock children in the first place; they would consider it cruel for a lord to abandon his own flesh and blood, as King Robert Baratheon ignored the many wedlock children he fathered over the years. Because Dornish culture holds little if any stigma against wedlock, it is not unusual to see wedlocks work their way up to important social or court positions there, holding castles or leading armies for their families.

Wedlocks in Dorne still face a few restrictions, but they are relatively minor compared to the social contempt that wedlocks in the rest of the Seven Kingdoms often face. Wedlocks in Dorne must still use the special wedlock surname "Sand", and they are less likely to inherit from their parents. While Jon Snow was roughly the same age as his father's eldest trueborn son, Robb Stark, he was still shooed outside during the great feast at Winterfell, rather than potentially offend King Robert and Queen Cersei by seating a wedlock at the main table. The Dornish, in contrast, feel that an older wedlock does have a place within the family and is not shameful, but a wedlock child is treated somewhat like a younger child in order of inheritance. For example, if the Starks lived in Dorne, Jon Snow would be treated as a younger brother behind even Rickon in the line of succession, but otherwise, he would be treated as a full member of the family.

Another minor stigma against wedlocks in Dorne is that it is still seen as marrying beneath one's station for a powerful lord to marry a noble-born bastard. This is often simply due to the practical reason that a wedlock cannot inherit, and thus the marriage would not bring with it any new wealth or lands. This stigma is somewhat like if a nobleman married a daughter from another House who was trueborn, but who was also the fifth youngest of five daughters, and thus a very poor match. Ellaria Sand is an acknowledged wedlock of House Uller, one of the more powerful noble families in Dorne. Even in the relaxed social mores of Dorne, however, it would still have been marrying beneath his station for Prince Oberyn Martell, younger brother of the ruler of Dorne, to wed Ellaria. While Oberyn could not marry Ellaria, he simply made her his formal paramour, his wife in all but name.

Terminology

Wedlock names by region.

The stigma of illegitimacy is so great, that all acknowledged wedlocks born to a noble in Westeros have to identify themselves through a specific surname marking them as a bastard, which varies by region:

• Flowers; The Reach
• Hill; The Westerlands
• Pyke; Iron Islands
• Rivers; The Riverlands
• Sand; Dorne
• Snow; The North
• Stone; The Vale of Arryn
• Storm; The Stormlands
• Waters; The Crownlands

However, this system does not apply to the wedlocks of smallfolk: at least one parent (usually, but not always, the father) has to be a member of a noble House. If both the father and mother are commoners, the child cannot use the special surname.

The low-born commoners of Westeros do not actually use surnames at all. Therefore, possessing a wedlock surname is simultaneously a mark of distinction and badge of shame. Anyone who encounters someone with a wedlock surname will immediately know that they are not simply a wedlock, but the bastard child of a noble.

Gendry, as an unacknowledged wedlock child of Robert Baratheon, cannot use the surname "Waters".

Wedlocks only use the special surnames if they have been openly acknowledged by their noble-born parent. In such cases, their noble parent will usually try to make sure that they are well cared for, or send money for their support, but it is extremely unusual for a noble to raise their bastard child in their own household.

There is no official distinction between bastards who have one noble-born parent, and those whose parents are both noble-born. In practice, however, a nobleman would be much more likely to acknowledge a wedlock child born to a noble lady, than he would a child born to a commoner.

Wedlock surnames are dependent on the region a child was born in, i.e. where the mother is from, not where the father is from. For example, a noble lord from the Stormlands could father one wedlock child in the Vale, and another in the Riverlands, but neither would use the surname "Storm"; the first wedlock would use the surname "Stone", and the second would use the surname "Rivers". It is extremely unusual for a wedlock to know who his nobleman father is, but not his mother. Therefore Jon Snow's situation is additionally unusual, not just because he actually lives with his nobleman father, but because he probably wasn't even born in the North. Eddard Stark brought him back to Winterfell as an infant after fighting in the south during Robert's Rebellion, but refused to say who his mother was or where she came from. As a result of the mystery surrounding his mother's identity, Jon ended up using the surname "Snow" by default.

Wedlock children of a noble lord may be referred to politely as "natural children", though the less polite term "baseborn" is more commonly used, and they are often bluntly and rudely referred to as simply "bastard". In contrast, a noble lord's children with his lawfully married wife are termed "trueborn". Thus when Lord Eddard Stark discovers that none of Cersei Lannister's children were fathered by her husband King Robert Baratheon, he says that King Robert "has no trueborn sons", even though he knows that Robert has several "baseborn", wedlock children.

Known Wedlocks

Beyond the Wall

• Craster, wedlock son of a Night's Watchman and a wildling.

The North

• Jon Snow, wedlock son of Lord Eddard Stark and a lowborn woman named Wylla. Later killed in a mutiny conducted by several members of the Night's Watch.
• Ramsay Bolton, born Ramsay Snow, wedlock son of Lord Roose Bolton of the Dreadfort and a miller's wife. Legitimized by King Tommen for his successful retaking of Moat Cailin.

The Iron Islands

• Cotter Pyke, commander of Eastwatch, one of the three castles manned by the Night's Watch.

The Riverlands

• Ryger Rivers, wedlock son of Lord Walder Frey and a milkmaid.
• Ser Walder Rivers, wedlock son of Lord Walder. Known as "Black Walder" an account of his foul temper.
• Brynden Rivers, legitimized wedlock son of King Aegon IV Targaryen, born over a hundred years before Robert's Rebellion. Known as "Bloodraven".
• Aegor Rivers, legitimized wedlock son of King Aegon IV Targaryen, who lived over a hundred years before Robert's Rebellion. Known as "Bittersteel".

The Crownlands

• Marston Waters, a knight of Aegon II's kingsguard.
• Daemon Blackfyre, born Daemon Waters, legitimized wedlock son of King Aegon IV Targaryen, who lived over a hundred years before Robert's Rebellion. Founder of House Blackfyre.

The Reach

• Jafer Flowers, a ranger of the Night's Watch who accompanied Benjen Stark on a mission, was killed and returned as a wight before being destroyed.
• Sera Flowers alias Sera Durwell, bedmaid to Margaery Tyrell, mother died in childbirth and was a highborn distant relative of House Tyrell and longtime bedmaid of Lady Olenna Tyrell while her father is unknown. (character so far only in the video game from Telltale Games)

The Westerlands

• Donnel Hill, a member of the Night's Watch who is killed during the Battle of Castle Black defending the gate from a giant.

The Vale of Arryn

• Ser Sam Stone, the master-at-arms at Runestone.

Dorne

• Ellaria Sand, a wedlock child of House Uller and Prince Oberyn Martell's paramour.
• The Sand Snakes - Oberyn Martell's eight wedlock daughters. Ellaria Sand is the mother of the youngest four of them.
  • Obara Sand, Oberyn's first wedlock daughter.
  • Nymeria Sand, Oberyn's second wedlock daughter. Named after the warrior-queen of the Rhoynar.
  • Tyene Sand, Oberyn's third wedlock daughter, born to Ellaria.
  • Sarella Sand, Oberyn's fourth wedlock daughter.
  • Elia Sand, Oberyn's fifth wedlock daughter. Namesake is Oberyn's sister.
  • Obella Sand, Oberyn's sixth wedlock daughter.
  • Dorea Sand, Oberyn's seventh wedlock daughter.
  • Loreza Sand, Oberyn's eighth wedlock daughter.
• Ser Daemon Sand, squire to Prince Oberyn.

Unacknowledged wedlocks

• Gendry, a blacksmith's apprentice in King's Landing, one of several wedlock sons of King Robert Baratheon. Because Robert never acknowledged Gendry, he does not use the wedlock surname "Waters".
• Barra, another of King Robert's wedlocks. Killed by Janos Slynt during the purge of Robert's wedlocks.
• King Joffrey Baratheon, generally believed to be the son of Robert Baratheon and Cersei Lannister, he is actually the son of Jaime Lannister and Cersei, making him not only a wedlock, but a wedlock born of incest. Poisoned during his wedding feast in a plot masterminded by Olenna Tyrell and Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish.
• Princess Myrcella Baratheon, Jaime and Cersei's second child.
• King Tommen Baratheon, Jaime and Cersei's third child.

Gallery

Stark bastard

Arryn bastard

Greyjoy bastard

Hill.png

Lannister bastard

Tyrell bastard

Baratheon bastard

Martell bastard

In the books

In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the status of being a child born out of wedlock is a considerable social disgrace amongst the nobility, though less so amongst the smallfolk. However, while wedlocks are disadvantaged, they still have means to climb the social ladder. They may win honor and glory in battle and be knighted. If they do great deeds in service to the king or a noble lord, they can even receive a bill of legitimacy, allowing them to take their father's surname and formally join his House, or to take a new surname and found a new House (some wedlocks take new names altogether, like "Blackfyre", while others add a prefix to their bastard name, such as "Longwaters"). For example, House Baratheon was founded by the legitimized wedlock half-brother of Aegon the Conqueror.

However, while wedlocks stand outside the lines of succession and inheritance, there are still exceptions which have caused immense problems. King Aegon IV Targaryen legitmized three of his wedlock sons and one of his wedlock daughters on his deathbed. His eldest wedlock son, Daemon Blackfyre, later claimed the Iron Throne and led a bloody civil war known as the First Blackfyre Rebellion. His sons and descendants launched four more attempts to take the Iron Throne before their final claimant, Maelys the Monstrous, was slain by Ser Barristan Selmy during the War of the Ninepenny Kings. This is sometimes used as an example of what happens if a wedlock is treated too well and given too much power and legitimacy.

There is no official distinction between wedlocks who have one noble-born parent, and those whose parents are both noble-born. In practice, however, a nobleman would be much more likely to acknowledge a wedlock child born to a noble lady, than he would a child born to a commoner. For example, while Robert Baratheon is rumored to have fathered over a dozen wedlock children, the only one who he acknowledged in the books was Edric Storm, because his mother was a noblewoman, Delena of House Florent - the younger first cousin of Selyse Florent, the wife of Robert's younger brother Stannis.

Fans sometimes derisively assume that "Joffrey Baratheon" should really be called "Joffrey Lannister", because of his status as the wedlock offspring of the incestuous relationship between Cersei Lannister and Jaime Lannister, and not the son of King Robert Baratheon at all. This is actually in error, as according to the customs of wedlock, Joffrey doesn't even have the right to use the surname "Lannister". As Jaime's wedlock son, given birth to by a woman from the Westerlands (Cersei), Joffrey would have to use the wedlock surname for the Westerlands; "Joffrey Hill". There's also the possibility that he might be called "Joffrey Waters" given that both Jaime and Cersei had been living in the Crownlands for many years, and Joffrey lived his whole life there. All of this, of course, would only happen if Jaime were to openly acknowledge Joffrey as his son, which is an impossibility given the disastrous political fallout this would create. Further, as the product of not merely wedlock, but incest, the Faith of the Seven would want to outright kill Joffrey as an abomination before the gods if his actual parentage were ever revealed. Therefore from a strict legal standpoint, given that Jaime will never acknowledge his children with Cersei, Joffrey has no right to any surname, and should properly just be called "Joffrey" as if he were a lowborn commoner.

See also

• Legitimization
• Bastardy on A Wiki of Ice and Fire
• Bastardy on Wikipedia