Hand of the King

The Hand of the King is the most senior officer of the royal government of the Seven Kingdoms, second in power only to the king himself. The Hand serves as the king's chief advisor, the commander of his armies in his name, and the foremost executor of royal justice and administration. The saying "the king eats, and the Hand takes the shit" captures the office bluntly: the Hand does the practical work of ruling while the king receives the glory.

A Hand speaks with the king's voice and may sit the Iron Throne and render judgment in the king's absence, wielding nearly the full authority of the crown. The badge of the office is a golden hand worn as a brooch or chain of office.

Description

The Hand presides over the Small Council, the body of great officers who manage the daily business of the realm, including the master of coin, the master of laws, the master of ships, and others. The Hand is appointed and dismissed at the king's pleasure, and the position carries enormous influence over policy, appointments, and the dispensing of royal favor.

History

The office dates to the founding of the Targaryen dynasty. Aegon the Conqueror named the first Hand, and the post endured through the centuries as the linchpin of governance. Many of the realm's most consequential figures held it, including Tywin Lannister, who served Aerys II for two decades and was widely regarded as the true power behind the throne in that time.

In A Game of Thrones, Robert Baratheon summons his old friend Eddard Stark to serve as Hand after the death of the previous Hand, Jon Arryn. Eddard's investigation into Arryn's death and the parentage of the queen's children drives much of the early plot. Over the course of A Song of Ice and Fire the office passes through several hands amid the chaos of the War of the Five Kings, including Tyrion Lannister and Tywin Lannister.

Significance

The frequent and often violent turnover of Hands is a recurring motif, giving rise to the grim proverb that the king's Hands tend to come to bad ends. The office concentrates real administrative power in a single figure, making the Hand both indispensable and dangerously exposed. Who holds the office, and how loyally or treacherously, repeatedly shapes the fate of the realm.