War of the Five Kings

The War of the Five Kings was the great civil war that engulfed Westeros following the death of King Robert Baratheon, named for the five men who at its height claimed kingship over all or part of the Seven Kingdoms at the same time. It is the central conflict of the early events of the realm's collapse, drawing in nearly every Great House and laying waste to the Riverlands and much of the south.

The five kings were Joffrey Baratheon, who held the Iron Throne in King's Landing; Stannis Baratheon and Renly Baratheon, Robert's brothers, each claiming the throne for himself; Robb Stark, proclaimed King in the North and the Trident; and Balon Greyjoy, who declared himself King of the Iron Islands.

Outbreak

The war's spark was the death of King Robert and the secret behind his succession. Eddard Stark, serving as Hand of the King, discovered that Robert's heirs -- Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen -- were not Robert's children at all, but the issue of Cersei Lannister and her twin brother Jaime. Before Eddard could act, Robert died; Cersei seized power, and Eddard was arrested and executed for treason on Joffrey's order. His death drove the North and the Riverlands into open revolt, and the realm shattered.

The War

With the Iron Throne held by the Lannisters in Joffrey's name, the claimants moved against it and one another. Robb Stark won a string of victories in the field and was crowned King in the North. Stannis and Renly divided the loyalty of the Stormlands and Reach until Renly was slain by dark sorcery, and his strength -- and the swords of House Tyrell -- ultimately passed to the Lannister cause.

Stannis sailed against the capital and was broken at the Battle of the Blackwater, where the Lannister-Tyrell alliance saved King's Landing. Meanwhile Balon Greyjoy fell upon the unguarded North, seizing Winterfell and the western coast. The Stark cause, triumphant in the field, was at last undone not in battle but by treachery: at the Red Wedding, Robb Stark and his mother Catelyn were murdered by the Freys and Boltons in league with Tywin Lannister.

Aftermath

The deaths of Robb Stark and, soon after, Balon Greyjoy left the Lannisters and their Tyrell allies dominant, the Iron Throne secured for a time. But the war left the riverlands ruined, the North broken and resentful under Bolton rule, and the realm exhausted -- even as new threats gathered: the return of Daenerys Targaryen in the east and the stirring of the Others beyond the Wall.

Significance

The War of the Five Kings tore apart the order established by Aegon's Conquest and held together since Robert's Rebellion. It exhausted the great Houses against one another at the very hour the realm most needed unity, leaving Westeros divided and bleeding before the greater dangers still to come.