Battle of the Blackwater

The Battle of the Blackwater was the great battle for King's Landing during the War of the Five Kings, fought when Stannis Baratheon brought his host and fleet up the Blackwater Rush to take the capital and the Iron Throne from the boy king Joffrey Baratheon. It was the largest and most decisive battle of the early war, and its outcome secured the throne for House Lannister and their new allies.

Stannis, the rightful heir by law and the strongest claimant after the death of his brother Renly Baratheon, commanded a powerful army and the royal fleet. Against him the city was held in Joffrey's name, with the king's uncle Tyrion Lannister serving as acting Hand and master of its defense.

The Battle

As Stannis's fleet sailed up the Blackwater toward the city, Tyrion sprang his great stratagem. He had secretly stockpiled wildfire -- the volatile, near-unquenchable green fire brewed by the Alchemists' Guild -- and loaded a single ship with it among the harbor. When Stannis's fleet crowded into the river mouth, a bolt from a hidden ballista ignited the wildfire, and a vast emerald inferno consumed much of the attacking fleet, while a great chain raised across the river mouth trapped the burning ships.

Despite the loss of his fleet, Stannis pressed the assault on the city walls by land, and his men nearly carried the day. Tyrion led a desperate sortie that rallied the defenders, but he was treacherously wounded and the defense began to fail. The battle was decided at the last by the arrival of Tywin Lannister and the host of House Tyrell, who fell upon Stannis's army from the rear and shattered it. Stannis was forced into a ruinous retreat back to Dragonstone.

Aftermath

The victory saved King's Landing and the Lannister regime, and cemented the alliance between Houses Lannister and Tyrell, sealed by the betrothal of Joffrey to Margaery Tyrell. Tywin Lannister was hailed as the savior of the city and named Hand of the King; Tyrion, who had in truth devised the city's salvation, received neither the credit nor the gratitude he was owed, and was pushed aside.

Significance

The Battle of the Blackwater broke the power of Stannis Baratheon and removed him as a serious contender for the throne, leaving the Lannister-Tyrell alliance dominant in the south. Tyrion's clever use of wildfire and the timely Tyrell intervention turned what should have been the fall of the capital into one of the great victories of the war.