The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms

The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses and a certain dagger of Valyrian steel

"I fear it would be of little interest to you, my lord, a ponderous tome..."

―Grand Maester Pycelle to Eddard Stark

The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms is a book detailing the history of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms, including the lineage and appearance of all heirs, with illustrations of each house's individual sigil. It was written by Grand Maester Malleon.

The book not only lists the lineages of the "Great Houses" which rule each of the Seven Kingdoms (such as House Baratheon), but also other major noble Houses such as House Umber and House Blackfyre.

It is quite a ponderous tome. Arranged as a chronicle instead of a narrative, it is primarily concerned with dates, marriages, and lines of descent. Persons mentioned in the book are also given brief physical descriptions (from surviving sources), along with important general facts about their lives and the manner of their deaths.

History

Season 1

Lord Jon Arryn asked Grand Maester Pycelle for the book shortly before his death. When hearing of his old mentor's interest in the tome, Eddard Stark borrows it from Pycelle as well.

Some time later, Varys mentions to Illyrio Mopatis that Lord Stark "has the book" and that events will unfold as expected, leading to war.

After his daughters note that Joffrey Baratheon has blonde hair, Lord Stark checks the Lineage and Histories, and discovers that all members of House Baratheon are described as "black of hair", except for the "golden headed" Joffrey, leading Ned to realize that Joffrey and his siblings may not be Robert's biological children, and thus not rightful heirs.

Image gallery

Outer cover

Inner cover

House Umber, first visible page

House Umber, first visible page, closeup

House Umber, second visible page

House Targaryen, first visible page

House Targaryen, first visible page, focused on the top. The top-middle row shows Aegor Rivers, Brynden Rivers, and Shiera Seastar.

House Targaryen, second visible page

House Baratheon, first visible page

House Baratheon, second visible page

House Baratheon, closeup of third visible page (the whole page is never seen)

Behind the scenes

Because the book first appears in "Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things", the information in it was created by Bryan Cogman, who wrote that episode (though it later reappears in "A Golden Crown"). That is, the contents were not an invention of the art department: Cogman created all of the information in the prop book, then Jim Stanes physically copied what Cogman wrote into the prop itself, in medieval handwriting.

As Cogman explained, he created entries for four noble Houses, two pages each, for a total of eight pages of content (the rest is just repeats of this or blank pages). The families were House Umber, House Royce, House Targaryen, and House Baratheon. Ned Stark reads aloud from the Umber entry in episode 104, and from the Baratheon entry in 106. Bits of the Targaryen entry can be seen as Ned leafs through the book. Cogman explained that in the original draft of the episode there was "a bit from House Royce" as well, but it was cut, as was another scene with the Targaryen entry (by "a bit", he might have meant a point when Ned actually reads part of an entry aloud).

Cogman stated that he used as many reference sources as possible, searching through both the books and researching Westeros.org's A Wiki of Ice and Fire. There are large gaps in the history of the story, however, for which Cogman simply had to make names up - i.e. it's possible that even George R.R. Martin has not currently planned out the entire lineage of House Umber from the Targaryen Conquest to the present, though the royal Targaryen lineage is better detailed in the books. For the minor names he had to make up, Cogman said he snuck in a few in-jokes using names derived from commentators on WinterIsComing.net. He also said it was fun coming up with various diverse ways that minor characters had died.

In the books

In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms, With Descriptions of Many High Lords and Noble Ladies and Their Children is an old book written by Grand Maester Malleon. It doesn't mention the current Baratheons or Lannisters, but it mentions that throughout written history all Baratheons have been black-haired and that, likewise, every recorded union between Baratheon and Lannister has produced black-haired children.

See also

• The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms on A Wiki of Ice and Fire