House Arryn

House Arryn of the Eyrie is one of the Great Houses of Westeros, and is the principal noble house in the Vale of Arryn. Their main seat is the Eyrie, which is considered impregnable. House Arryn has at least one other holding, their winter castle at the Gates of the Moon, which was once their main seat. Both of these fortifications sit astride the Giant's Lance, the tallest mountain in the Vale, the Gates of the Moon at its foot, the Eyrie at its top.

The Arryn sigil is a sky-blue falcon soaring upwards, outlined against a white moon on a sky-blue field, and their words are As High as Honor.

Kings of Mountain and Vale
The Arryns are considered to come from the oldest and purest line of Andal nobility, which they say reaches back to Andalos and possibly Hugor of the Hill.

When King Robar II Royce began to unite the First Men and defeat some of the petty Andal kings during the Andal invasion, the Andals of the Vale united behind Ser Artys Arryn, the Falcon Knight, a native Valeman esteemed amongst his peers as the finest warrior of his day. Robar was slain in the Battle of the Seven Stars, possibly by Artys, and the First Men houses who remained bent the knee and swore fealty to Artys Arryn, the First of His Name, new-crowned King of Mountain and Vale. From that day, the Vale became known as the Vale of Arryn.[8] Songs of the Vale conflate Artys with the legendary Winged Knight, who is said to have slain the Griffin King atop the Giant's Lance. The First Men who did not accept Artys as their king were forced into the Mountains of the Moon, becoming the Vale mountain clans.

The Arryns initially lived at the Gates of the Moon, but over generations they constructed the Eyrie. They often used the Eyrie as a summer pleasure palace, descending to the Gates of the Moon before winter made the Eyrie inaccessible.

The Arryn kings added Pebble, the Paps, and the Witch Isle to their realm. They battled with the Stark Kings of Winter over the Three Sisters in the War Across the Water, which featured King Osgood Arryn and his son and successor, Oswin the Talon, who burned the Wolf's Den. There were bloody battles wherein the Arryn fleet turned back slavers from Volantis, ironborn reavers, and pirates from the Stepstones and the Basilisk Isles. The legendary Lady Alyssa Arryn gave her name to Alyssa's Tears, a waterfall on the Giant's Lance, when she did not shed a tear for her murdered husband, brothers and children.

Aegon's Conquest
During Aegon's Conquest the Arryn and Targaryen fleets fought in a battle in the waters off Gulltown, which resulted in the destruction of the Targaryen fleet and the death of its commanding officer, Daemon Velaryon. Visenya Targaryen, on her dragon Vhagar, burned the Arryn fleet in response. Since both fleets were destroyed, the battle was considered a tactical draw, but a strategic defeat for the Targaryens as they were unable to take Gulltown. For House Arryn the trouble did not end there, since the Sistermen on the Three Sisters revolted after the destruction of the Arryn fleet.

Later in Aegon's Conquest, Visenya was charged with subduing the Vale. Sharra Arryn, Queen Regent of the Vale, ruling in the name of her son, the boy-king Ronnel Arryn, amassed the Vale's army at the Bloody Gate. Visenya, however, flew on Vhagar to the courtyard of the Eyrie to obtain the surrender of the Vale of Arryn. When Sharra returned to the Eyrie she found her son sitting on Visenya's lap asking if he could ride the dragon with her. Once Sharra yielded and bent the knee, Ronnel twice flew with Visenya and Vhagar. The Arryns have since remained Defenders of the Vale and Wardens of the East for the Iron Throne.

Under Targaryen Rule
Queen Rhaenys Targaryen arranged the marriage Lord Ronnel Arryn to the daughter of Lord Torrhen Stark of Winterfell, in an attempt to knit the new realm together. There are letters at the Citadel which suggest that Torrhen only agreed to this match after much protest, and that his sons had refused to attend the wedding. In 37 AC Ronnel was deposed by his brother Jonos. When House Royce gathered forces against Jonos and besieged him in the Eyrie, Jonos threw Ronnel and his family through the Moon Door. Prince Maegor Targaryen flew to the Eyrie on Balerion, and hanged Jonos and his supporters. House Arryn continued through a cousin, Hubert Arryn.

In 80 AC, during the reign of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen, Lord Rodrik Arryn married Princess Daella Targaryen, the king's daughter. Daella died in childbirth, giving birth to their only child, Lady Aemma Arryn. Aemma was married to Prince Viserys Targaryen in 93 AC. By the time Jaehaerys called a Great Council in 101 AC, Rodrik was deceased as well, and Lady Jeyne Arryn ruled the Eyrie. However, as she was in her minority in 101 AC, House Arryn played a small role in this council.

Upon the death of Jaehaerys in 103 AC, Prince Viserys was crowned king and Aemma Arryn his queen. During the early years of their marriage, Aemma gave birth to a stillborn son and suffered multiple miscarriages, though she also gave birth to a daughter, Rhaenyra Targaryen, in 97 AC. Aemma died giving birth to her second son, Baelon, who followed her to the grave a few days later.

The Dance of Dragons
Following the death of Viserys I in 129 AC, House Arryn became involved in the Dance of the Dragons, where Aemma's daughter, Viserys's elder child and proclaimed heir, Princess Rhaenyra, and Rhaenyra's younger brother, Prince Aegon, Viserys's eldest surviving son, fought over their claims to the Iron Throne. Jeyne Arryn, supported the blacks and her kinswoman Rhaenyra. At the start of the Targaryen civil war, Prince Jacaerys Velaryon, Rhaenyra's eldest son, travelled to the Eyrie to secure aid for his mother's cause. Jeyne kept true to her promise and sent men by sea by way of Gulltown to join Rhaenyra's hosts.

The Falcon's Fight
Following the end of the Dance, Princess Rhaena Taragryen was married to Ser Corwyn Corbray against the objections of several of the members of court, though the two seemed rather happy with one another. Rhaena would give Ser Corwyn a daughter in early 134 AC named Aemma. Later that same year Lady Jeyne Arryn would die of a chest cold in Gulltown and spark a succession crisis in the Vale. Lady Jeyne had named her cousin Ser Joffrey Arryn, the Knight of the Bloody Gate, as her successor. Instead another of her cousins, Ser Arnold Arryn and Ser Isembard Arryn of Gulltown each vyed for the Eyrie itself. Ser Isembard hired sellswords and sellsails to his cause, using his extensive treasury that had flourished since the end of the Dance, as well as bribing Houses Waxley, Grafton, Upcliff, Ruthermont, and Moore to his side. Ser Arnold’s claim was backed by Houses Royce, Templeton, Tollett, Coldwater, Dutton, and the Lords of the Three Sisters. Ser Joffrey was aided by Lords Hunter, Corbray, Crayne, Redfort, Hersy, and Belmore.

The three sides went to war in a series of clashes that left many dead by the time that the intervention of the Crown arrived. Ser Joffrey and his men held the Gates of the Moon and the Eyrie but their opponents were keen to force them under siege. Isembard Arryn’s sellswords wreaked havoc across the Vale proper and Ser Arnold was killed in a battle on Tollett lands against the forces of the Gilded Falcon, though his son Ser Eldric continued the cause. Queen Rhaenyra had hoped that the Valemen would be stopped by the threat of intervention but after the deaths of Lords Hunter and Coldwater in a bloody battle outside Ironoaks, she was forced to intervene. She ordered Ser Corwyn Corbray to the Vale with fifteen hundred knights and men-at-arms carried by the Royal Fleet to Gulltown along with Rhaena atop her dragon. Prince Viserys, desperate to prove himself, was allowed to go with Rhaena atop his dragon as well.

The Royal force swiftly defeated the Braavosi sellsails and Grafton fleet outside of Gulltown and Ser Corwyn’s knights stormed the city in a swift battle that had Lord Grafton’s men turn against Ser Isembard’s forces when they threw open the gates of the city and allowed them in. Ser Isembard was not present at the battle but his sons were killed or captured by Corwyn’s men. The Gilded Falcon’s support quickly drained away after this and his supporters turned on him, with Lord Ruthermont taking the man hostage in his own camp and bringing him to Ser Corwyn in Gulltown in chains. Lady Forlorn would take the man’s head and end one of the two problems in the Vale. Ser Eldric Arryn and his men fought on though they were now hopelessly outnumbered. Mourning and Silverwing descended upon the gathered army as it camped outside of Runestone and burned many of the men alive, including all that remained of the line of Ser Arnold Arryn. The survivors surrendered to the two Targaryens and then to the army of Ser Corwyn when it arrived two hours later with the forces of Ser Joffrey swelling their ranks. The remaining lords bent the knee to Ser Joffrey and accepted his rule of the Vale.

The Witch's War
When the call went out in 136 AC for men to march on Harrenhal, Lord Joffrey Arryn was obliged to answer the call in gratitude for what the Crown did for him. With him marched the strength of Heart’s Home, Longbow Hall, Coldwater Burn, and Strongsong. Once again Ser Corwyn Corbray and Rhaena Targaryen came with the men of the Vale, all of them glad to have their faithful knight and dragonrider with them for battle. They cut through the ambushes and skirmishes that Lord Harte’s Crownlands army could not and Morning burned a path to Harrenhal and allowed for the forces to finally consolidate around Black Harren’s keep. The battle of Harrenhal was fought bravely by the knights of the Vale, who followed their valiant commander Ser Corwyn through the burning gates of the castle when the scream of Morning was heard for miles around. The Witch Alys Rivers and her bandits were killed though the dragon Morning was lost to her magic. The knights of the Vale mourned with Rhaena and Corwyn at the death of the beast though they held their heads high that their beloved princess was still alive.

The Hunt for the Last Dragon
In 144, mountain clansmen would begin a series of raids in an unprecedented number, and when knights were sent to dispatch them, some of the captured clansmen spoke of a great firebreathing beast living in the Mountains of the Moon. While Lord Allard Arryn was hosting a tourney at the Gates of the Moon, a dragon would appear above the Eyrie, sending many of the attendees running for cover in fear. Lord Allard Arryn was a rash young man, newly made Lord of the Eyrie and eager to prove himself. He called for as many brave knights and their soldiers as he could muster, and despite the objection of the some members of the Royal Family, Allard led his men into the mountains in search of the dragon, Sheepstealer.

One portion of the soldiers went in search of the dragon's lair, while the rest prepared an ambush into which the hunters would chase the dragon. Lord Allard would set out bait for Sheepstealer at Ironoaks, along with several other lords while Ser Harlan Stone led the tracking party. Many moons would pass, and the Valemen would make some unlikely allies out of the Stone Crows, who ultimately led the Valemen to the dragon's lair. The beast would be wounded in an attack by the combined Valemen and Clansmen forces, and forced to the sky. Sheepstealer would burn its way across the Vale, prompting Lord Allard to devise a plan. As many sheep as could be gathered were brought to the Gates of the Moon, along with the finest knights in the Vale to set a trap for the beast, promising a lordship to the man who slayed the dragon.

The dragon would descend upon the Gates of the Moon, and Lord Allard would join the knights in their battle against Sheepstealer. Allard would survive his encounter with the dragon, though he suffered from a limp for the rest of his life. In the end, Sheepstealer was brought down by a groomsman by the name of Cley. Lord Allard was grateful to every man that participated in the hunt for, and battle against Sheepstealer, rewarding them all well. But, none were treated half as well as Cley the Groomsman. Cley was knighted and given the Gates of the Moon for his family to hold in perpetuity, forming House Truemark of the Gates of the Moon.

The Blue Dragon Revolt
The revelation in 145 AC by Lord Hightower that Prince Daeron the Daring was still alive was a shock to the realm, though many did not believe it and the Vale was no different. Having already fought for the Blacks and some suffering defeat in the Falcon’s Fight, the men of the Vale raised their banners for the Crown. Unfortunately for them, the revolt would not last long enough for their forces to see battle. By the time that Lord Joffrey and his forces marched down the High Road, Lord Kermit Tully and Lord Benjicot Blackwood had already defeated the rebels in the Riverlands. Still, they joined their forces with the men of the Trident and marched south towards Tumbleton though they would not arrive in time for the battle.

The Culling of the Clans
Following the Blue Dragon Rebellion, the Vale returned to quiet for some years. This too would not last forever as many of the Mountain Clansmen were eager to resume their raiding of the Valemen, having for so long been threatened by the dragon and their new generation grown and ready to prove themselves Raids began in earnest in early 170 when the Lord Belmore and his family were attacked returning home from the Eyrie, taking Lady Belmore and her two daughters hostage and killing Lord Belmore, leaving only the Heir of Strongsong alive. The Lynderlys would suffer an attack during a harvest festival later in the year, leaving several of their knights dead and the Lord’s youngest son crippled. Lord Arryn responded by sending out heavily armed patrols around the main roads and tracks of the Vale, but never seemed to be able to find anything worthwhile. Soon enough he would fall victim to the clansmen, an arrow catching Lord Arryn in the throat as he rode towards Gulltown. The new Lord Arryn quickly took action, sending word to all the Lords of the Vale to raise men and prepare to hunt down the Clans. With the old established connections with the Stone Crows, Lord Truemark was able to determine that the Milk Snakes, Painted Dogs, and Moon Brothers were the ones mainly behind the current series of raids. Lord Truemark informed Lord Arryn who was able to coordinate the assaults with Lords Waynwood, Hardyng, and Royce.

He set up a trap, having Lord Waynwood announce a tourney within a moon’s turn. There he set up a massive tourney field and with numerous pavilions. Lord Arryn had many of the men sneak into the grounds during the knight to disguise their presence. On the opening night of the tourney, there was to be a massive feast and it seemed that the attendees were having a good time when the clansmen attacked. Instead, having been drinking mostly watered down wine or nothing at all, many of the Valemen quickly turned around and engaged the Clansmen. Those hiding in the pavilions sprung out and caught them by surprise. A melee ensued in the camps with many going down on both sides including the Heir of Runestone and the Lord of Longbow Hall. In the end, wounded but not defeated, Lord Arryn slew the Chief of the Milk Snakes while Lord Egen managed to capture the Chief of the Painted Dogs and his sons. The Chief of the Moon Brothers, Ulf the Mighty, managed to flee into the night but was found the next day by a patrol of Hardyng men and run down. With three of the major clansmen chiefs dead or captured, the raids ground to a halt. The Chief of the Painted Dogs, Emmit, flew from the Moon Door within a fortnight and the Vale truly celebrated their victory over the Clansmen in what would come to be called The Culling of the Clans.