House Tully

House Tully of Riverrun is one of the Great Houses of Westeros and the ruling family of the Riverlands, the rich and much-fought-over heart of the realm. Their sigil is a silver trout leaping on a field of blue and red, and their words are "Family, Duty, Honor" -- in that telling order. They rule from Riverrun, a castle set where the Tumblestone meets the Red Fork of the Trident, its moat fed by the rivers themselves.

Unlike most Great Houses, the Tullys were never kings. The Riverlands had long been a borderland fought over by stronger neighbors, and were ruled by the ironborn Hoares when Aegon the Conqueror came. Edmyn Tully led the river lords in revolt against their ironborn overlord, threw in with Aegon, and was raised to Lord Paramount of the Trident as his reward.

History

Because the Riverlands lie open at the center of Westeros, the Tullys have always governed a fractious collection of vassals -- among them the proud House Blackwood and House Bracken, whose feud is older than memory, and the grasping House Frey, who hold the only crossing of the Green Fork at the Twins.

The House is bound by marriage to the Starks: Catelyn and Lysa, daughters of Lord Hoster Tully, wed Eddard Stark and Jon Arryn respectively. These ties drew the Tullys into the War of the Five Kings on the side of the North.

Notable Members

• Hoster Tully, the old and dying Lord of Riverrun
• Catelyn Stark, his eldest daughter, wed to Eddard Stark
• Lysa Arryn, his second daughter, wed to Jon Arryn
• Edmure Tully, his son and heir
• Brynden Tully, the Blackfish, Hoster's renowned brother

Significance

The Tully cause and the Stark cause become one in the war, and the family pays a terrible price for it. Lord Edmure's wedding at the Twins becomes the trap of the Red Wedding, where the Starks and their northern host are betrayed and slaughtered by the Freys and Boltons.