Riverrun

Riverrun is the ancestral seat of House Tully, the great castle that rules the Riverlands. It stands in the western riverlands at the meeting of two rivers, the Tumblestone and the Red Fork of the Trident, a position that gives it unusually strong natural defenses.

Riverrun was raised by House Tully many centuries before Aegon's Conquest, when the Tullys were merely one river house among many. After Aegon rewarded Edmyn Tully for his loyalty by making him overlord of the riverlands, Riverrun became the seat of the region's ruling house.

Geography

The castle stands on a triangular point of land where the Tumblestone joins the Red Fork. Two of its sides are protected by the rivers; the third, facing west, is guarded by a great moat that can be flooded by opening the sluice gates, turning Riverrun effectively into an island. This makes the castle very difficult to assault and to starve out, since the rivers cannot be easily blocked.

The castle is built of red sandstone, with a great keep, a water tower, and the godswood and sept that reflect the Tullys' worship of the Faith of the Seven. The Tullys honor their dead by sending them down the river on burning funeral boats rather than burial.

History

Riverrun has been the Tully seat for centuries. Lord Hoster Tully ruled it in the years before the story, marrying his daughters Catelyn and Lysa into the great houses of Stark and Arryn to bind the realm against the Targaryens during Robert's Rebellion.

In the story

Riverrun is a key stronghold in the War of the Five Kings. When Robb Stark marches south, he relieves the besieged castle and is hailed there. The dying Lord Hoster Tully and his brother Ser Brynden "Blackfish" Tully hold the castle, which later, after the Red Wedding, is besieged by the Lannister-Frey forces. The Blackfish holds it stubbornly until Jaime Lannister arrives to end the siege.

Rulers

Riverrun is held by House Tully, whose words are "Family, Duty, Honor" and whose sigil is a leaping silver trout. As lords of Riverrun the Tullys are the liege lords of the riverlands' many quarrelsome houses.