Lys

Location

The Free Cities, Essos

Type

Mercantile city-state

Population

Rulers

Religion

Mixed

Military

Institutions

Places of note

Date of founding

Age

Founder

The Valyrian Freehold

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Lys is one of the Free Cities to the east of Westeros. It is located far to the south of Pentos, south-west of Volantis and north of the Summer Islands. Doreah and Salladhor Saan originally hail from Lys.

People from Lys are known as Lysene.^[1] The majority of Lysene are fair-skinned. Lys is known for its pleasure houses and for a poison known as the Tears of Lys.^[2] The city spans several islands.^[3]

Notable residentsEdit

• Salladhor Saan, a pirate lord and commander of a fleet of mercenary warships.
• Doreah, a former handmaiden of Daenerys Targaryen locked with Xaro Xhoan Daxos inside his vault under orders from Daenerys Targaryen.

HistoryEdit

Season 1Edit

Doreah tells Daenerys Targaryen how in Lys she was trained in the carnal arts. Her training started at nine, though she was not permitted to lie with a man until she was twelve, to Daenerys' bemusement.^[4]

In the booksEdit

Lys is one of the more powerful of the Free Cities, located on a series of islands in the Summer Sea near the Stepstones and the Disputed Lands. Lys frequently wars with the city of Myr and more distant Tyrosh and Volantis over control of both regions. The people of Lys are known as Lyseni and are noted for their love of the sensual arts, though they are also formidable sailors. The famous pleasure-houses of Lys are famed to train the best courtesans in the world, and it has a thriving export industry in pleasure-slaves.

Inhabitants of Lys are typically blonde haired and blue eyed. Lys' navy is one of the most powerful on the Summer and Narrow seas, aside from that of Braavos, and Lyseni freesails can be found in many of the ports of the world. They use slaves in Lys, but are otherwise known for their tapestries, perfumes and sweet wines. Lys is home to a native love goddess, but temples to many deities can be found within its walls, including a temple to the red god R'hllor, the Lord of Light.

As with most of the Free Cities, Lys was originally a colony of the Valyrian Freehold. When Valyria was destroyed in the Doom, Lys became an independent state. It was then conquered by Volantis, which was trying to reforge the Freehold. Lys and Myr remained subservient to Volantis until Volantis launched an attack on Tyrosh. Myr rose in rebellion and an exiled Lyseni lord liberated the city with the help of 100 warships loaned to him by Braavos. Additional forces from Pentos and the Westerosi Storm King helped defeat Volantis and destroyed its armies in what are now the Disputed Lands.

Lys regained its independence following the war, but the alliances soon fell apart, so that Myr and Lys have been perpetually warring with each other for the better part of the past three hundred years. The great rivalry of Myr and Lys is usually played out in the Disputed Lands between them, so-called because they are constantly changing hands between the two. Volantis and Tyrosh sometimes get dragged into these wars on one side or the other, as the alliances shift around.

As Lys was a direct colony of the Valyrian Freehold, founded from scratch by the Valyrians rather than being a conquered territory, the Lyseni still have notably Valyrian features, including pale hair and sometimes purple eyes (Valyrian-descended characters in the TV show do not have purple eyes, due to the unsatisfactory nature of using contact lenses).

Lord Varys the Master of Whisperers on the king's small council was born in Lys as a slave.

According to the TV series official pronunciation guide developed for the cast and crew, "Lys" is pronounced "LEESE", as opposed to "Liss", "Lice", etc.

See alsoEdit

• Lys at A Wiki of Ice and Fire.

ReferencesEdit