House Lannister History

The Lannisters suddenly appear as First Men in historical records of the Age of Heroes, ruling large portions of the westerlands from Casterly Rock just as the Casterlys vanished from the chronicles. They claim descent from Lann the Clever, the legendary figure who tricked the Casterlys from their seat, Casterly Rock

According to a semi-canon source, members of lesser branches of the family left Casterly Rock and developed a nearby village into the city of Lannisport, forming House Lannister of Lannisport. Meanwhile, the Lannisters of Casterly Rock grew to become Kings of the Rock. The first known King of the Rock was Loreon I Lannister, although Lann the Clever has posthumously been called by the same title.

During the Andal invasion of Westeros, House Lannister initially fought the invading Andal warlords and adventurers that ventured into the westerlands but then took a policy of arranging marriages between them and the daughters of the local First Men houses. They also took Andal sons and daughters as wards and fosterlings at Casterly Rock to prevent betrayals such as those that had happened in the Vale. In time, the Lannister kings also wed their children to Andals, and when King Gerold III died without male issue, a council crowned the Andal husband of Gerold's only daughter, Ser Joffrey Lydden, who took the Lannister name. Thus the Lannisters became an Andal house, though their First Men name lived on.

The gold of Casterly Rock, Castamere, the Pendric Hills and the Golden Tooth has made them the wealthiest of the Great Houses. The keep at Casterly Rock sits on top of a gold mine, built into the very rock. From that lofty yet uncomfortable position, House Lannister rules over the westerlands and influences all of Westeros, by virtue of the kingdom's purse strings.

House Lannister possessed an ancestral Valyrian steel greatsword called Brightroar, but it was lost when King Tommen II Lannister went on a quest to Valyria and never returned. The Lannisters have been looking for a replacement ever since, though they have not stopped looking for their own lost ancestral sword.

When Lelia Lannister, the Dowager Queen of the Iron Islands, was mutilated by drowned men, her nephew, the King of the Rock, began a war which left the Iron Islands impoverished.

When the Wars of Conquest began and Aegon the Conqueror swept through the land, Loren I, King of the Rock, sided with Mern IX Gardener, King of the Reach, against the Targaryens. The two armies met in the Reach, where the combined might of the Reach and the Rock broke Aegon's army. Their army, dubbed by historians 'The Host of the Two Kings', numbered 55,000; five thousand of them mounted knights, while the Targaryens had only 10,000 men, many of uncertain loyalty and reliability. With their smaller force severely weakened and in danger of routing, Aegon and his sisters deployed all three dragons at once; the only time this happened during the war. Their combined fires scoured the battlefield, immolating more than four thousand men (including King Mern and his heirs) and giving the battle its name: The Field of Fire. After he was captured, King Loren the Last bent the knee and was allowed to remain Lord of Casterly Rock and became the first Warden of the West.

The Lannisters were also involved in the Targaryen civil war, the Dance of the Dragons. It was a contest of claims between Viserys I Targaryen's issue, Rhaenyra Targaryen, by his first wife Aemma of House Arryn and his issue, Aegon II Targaryen by his second wife Alicent of House Hightower. The head of House Lannister at that time, Lord Jason Lannister, supported the greens, along with his brother Ser Tyland Lannister, the master of ships and a member of the small council during the reign of Viserys I Targaryen. Tyland was named master of coin at the start of the Dance, and he seized the royal treasury and divided crown's gold into four parts. One part was entrusted to the care of the Iron Bank of Braavos for safekeeping, another sent under strong guard to Casterly Rock and a third to Oldtown. The remaining wealth was used by the greens for bribes and gifts and hiring sellswords. Lord Jason was killed in the Battle at the Red Fork, leaving Casterly Rock in disarray. The Lannister host under Lord Lefford was then shattered in the Battle by the Lakeshore, the bloodiest battle of the war. After the fall of King's Landing, Tyland was given to torturers in the hopes of recovering some of the crown's treasure.

Several decades later, during the First Blackfyre Rebellion, Lord Damon Lannister remained loyal to the Targaryens. The great rebel general Ser Quentyn Ball defeated him outside the gates of Lannisport. Damon and his heir Ser Tybolt participated in the tourney at Ashford Meadow. Damon was defeated in the first tilt by Lord Leo "Longthorn" Tyrell, while his son defeated his opponent to become a champion. Tybolt inherited the lordship from Damon when the latter died of the Great Spring Sickness. Gerold Lannister was a suitor to Lady Rohanne Webber but much preferred to remain at Casterly Rock with his brother Tybolt. When Lord Dagon Greyjoy raided the western coast during the early reign of Aerys I Targaryen, House Lannister built ships to fight him at sea.

Tywin Lannister - by CG-Zander

In more recent times, during the lordship of Tytos Lannister, the house fell on hard times. Tytos' weakness allowed him to be bullied by his vassals. Eventually his son Tywin brought the wayward bannermen to heel and restored the house to its former glory. Soon thereafter, Tywin was made Hand of the King by Aerys II Targaryen, holding that position for many years. When Aerys was held hostage by Denys Darklyn, Tywin's conservative approach took six months to resolve the conflict. This instigated Aerys's paranoia and drove a wedge between the two, along with the king's lusting after Tywin's wife, cousin and trusted confidante Joanna. Tywin was never a jovial man, but when Joanna died birthing their third child, Tyrion, he was much saddened and his brother Kevan became his right hand. Their sister Genna took a maternal role over the children. His second brother Tygett died of a pox, and their brother Gerion sailed off on a journey to Valyria, never to be seen again.

Despite Tywin's attempts to ensure a strong legacy, life at Casterly Rock was dysfunctional at best. His twin children Cersei and Jaime began an incestuous relationship at an early age. Cersei, while a young maid, visited a woods witch called Maggy the Frog, who shared portents of Cersei's future that planted seeds of her paranoia. Cersei murdered her friend Melara Hetherspoon, who had witnessed the prophecy. Tyrion, when thirteen years old, was out with Jaime when he met and married a girl named Tysha, a match which was quickly and savagely ended by Lord Tywin. Tywin offered Tyrion to Houses Martell, Hightower, Royce, Florent and Tully, but he was rejected by all. Jaime was a promising young knight, dubbed by Ser Arthur Dayne. Tywin was devastated when Jaime joined King Aery's Kingsguard, breaking off a betrothal to Lysa Tully. Upon this action (which he perceived as the Mad King "stealing" his heir), coupled with the Mad King's refusal to wed Prince Rhaegar Targaryen to Cersei, Tywin resigned the Handship. This flew in the face of Jaime's plan, which was to be closer to Cersei: he was kept in King's Landing while Cersei returned to Casterly Rock.

During Robert's Rebellion, the Lannisters stayed neutral for the majority of the war. Only after the defeat of Prince Rhaegar at the Trident did Lord Tywin bestir himself to join Robert Baratheon against the Targaryen dynasty, perpetrating the Sack of King's Landing when the Lannister loyalist Grand Maester Pycelle suggested the gates be opened. There Ser Jaime Lannister, still a Kingsguard, slew Aerys, the last crowned Targaryen king. Meanwhile Tywin's knights killed the rest of the Targaryens in the capital to prove their commitment to Robert's cause. Afterwards, Tywin's daughter Cersei was wed to King Robert; Tya Lannister was the last Lannister to marry a member of House Baratheon, Gowen Baratheon, before the marriage of Robert and Cersei. The royal marriage and the increasing amount of gold Robert owes to Tywin have only increased Lannister power. Much of Lord Tywin's energy is directed inward, ensuring all of his relatives do their part to uphold the family name.

Unbeknownst to most, Lord Tywin's children, Queen Cersei and Ser Jaime have, for most of their lives, carried out an incestuous love affair. All three royal children, supposedly King Robert I Baratheon's, are actually Jaime's. Lord Eddard Stark and his wife Catelyn suspect the Lannisters of murdering Eddard's predecessor as Hand of the King, Lord Jon Arryn, and also of attempting to kill their son, Bran. The latter is true, as the boy was a witness to their fornication. King Robert names Jaime the new Warden of the East instead of Jon's son, Robert Arryn.

Lady Catelyn captures Tyrion Lannister at the crossroads inn to bring him to trial, prompting Lord Tywin to send raiders into the riverlands in an attempt to draw Lord Stark into the field, hoping to capture him for an exchange. Eddard, however, is waylaid on the streets of King's Landing by Ser Jaime and is injured in the melee, sending other men in his stead.

Tyrion escapes the Vale of his own volition, but the war continues along with intrigue in the capital, where Cersei has Eddard arrested. Tywin and Jaime win several victories over the river lords, but the Tullys are soon joined by Eddard's son Robb and a host of northmen.

Tywin repels one Stark army under Lord Roose Bolton in a battle on the Green Fork, but this force turns out to have been a feint: with Tywin distracted, Robb captures Jaime in the Whispering Wood, and breaks his siege of Riverrun in the Battle of the Camps

Meanwhile Cersei fears for her children if Stark informs Robert of her children's parentage. She has her cousin Lancel Lannister, Robert's squire, supply the king with strongwine during a boar hunt, resulting in Robert receiving a mortal wound

Soon Cersei's and Jaime's son Joffrey has become king, and he orders the execution of Lord Stark, ruining any chance of peace. Jaime, despite his absence, is named Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. Tywin, having been named Hand, sends Tyrion to take up his duties while he campaigns in the riverlands.