The Eyrie

The Eyrie is the seat of House Arryn and the chief stronghold of the Vale of Arryn, a small but nearly impregnable castle perched high in the Mountains of the Moon. It sits atop the peak called the Giant's Lance, far above the valley floor, reachable only by a long and perilous climb past a chain of waycastles. So high and so well defended is the Eyrie that it is said to be unassailable.

The Eyrie is famed both for its beauty and for its terrors. Its towers of pale stone gleam like a cluster of pearls against the mountain, but beneath its great hall lies the Moon Door, a hole open to the sky through which prisoners and the condemned are cast to fall thousands of feet to their deaths on the rocks below.

Geography

The Eyrie is the smallest of the great castles of Westeros, with room for only a few hundred people, yet it is among the strongest because of its position. The only approach is up the mountain by a winding path and a series of waycastles, Stone, Snow, and Sky, each of which must be passed before reaching the castle itself. Above Sky, the final ascent is made by climbing or by being hauled up in a basket.

Because no army can bring siege engines up the mountain and no force can assault it directly, the Eyrie has never been taken by storm. Its great weakness is that it cannot be held through winter, when the snows close the mountain and the castle must be abandoned for the Gates of the Moon at the mountain's foot.

History

The Eyrie has been the seat of House Arryn, the Kings of Mountain and Vale and later Lords Paramount of the Vale, since the Andals first came to Westeros. The Arryns are among the oldest and purest of Andal lines, and the Eyrie has guarded their dominance over the Vale for thousands of years.

In the story

After the death of Jon Arryn, Hand of the King, his widow Lysa withdraws to the Eyrie with their sickly young son Robert "Sweetrobin", ruling in fearful isolation. Catelyn Stark brings the captured Tyrion Lannister there, where he demands and wins a trial by combat. Later Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish comes to the Eyrie, weds Lysa, and then casts her through the Moon Door, taking control of the Vale and hiding Sansa Stark there under a false name.

Rulers

The Eyrie is held by House Arryn, Lords Paramount of the Vale and Defenders of the Vale, whose words are "As High as Honor" and whose sigil is a white falcon on a sky-blue field.