Dragonstone (castle)

For the island see Dragonstone (island)

For the episode see Dragonstone (episode)"But the Targaryens managed to raise a castle here. Simpletons claim they used ancient Valyrian sorcery, forgetting that the Targaryens brought a small army with them from Essos; there's no magic in strong backs. Though admittedly the castle is unlike any in Westeros, foreign and... strange."

- Stannis Baratheon

Dragonstone is the castle that stands upon the eponymous island located in Blackwater Bay. It is the ancestral seat of House Targaryen and was the stronghold of a cadet branch of House Baratheon.

At the time the series begins, it is held for King Robert Baratheon by his brother, Lord Stannis. The Chamber of the Painted Table is inside the castle. The castle was built using advanced Valyrian stonemasonry techniques, long since lost. As a result it has many exotic features unique in all of Westeros, including massive dragon-shaped gargoyles. The entire castle is dominated by dragon motifs and reliefs. Unlike the richly-decorated and extravagant Red Keep in King's Landing, Dragonstone is sparsely decorated and has a rough, austere appearance; its function is as a military base, not as a palace.

The castle itself is very strong, due to its advanced Valyrian design, which combined with its isolated location make it an ideal redoubt and refuge - first for the Targaryens, and for its last known lord, Stannis Baratheon. Because of these features and its geographic position, it is extremely difficult to breach and can be held by a relatively small garrison against a vastly larger force.

History
Following the Battle of the Trident and prior to the Sack of King's Landing, Queen Rhaella Targaryen and Prince Viserys Targaryen were sent to Dragonstone for their protection. Queen Rhaella perished during a stormy night giving birth to Daenerys Targaryen.

After King's Landing fell and Robert Baratheon took the Iron Throne, Stannis Baratheon was sent to deal with what remained of the royal family and their retainers. However, Prince Viserys and Princess Daenerys were smuggled across the Narrow Sea to the Free Cities by a loyal knight. Enraged, Robert stripped Stannis of Storm's End and gave it to their younger brother, Renly, and gave Dragonstone to Stannis, to rein in the Targaryen loyalists there. In later years, Robert tried to humor Stannis that he was actually honoring him with lordship of Dragonstone, because under the Targaryens it was the traditional seat of the heir to the throne, but Stannis scoffed at such pleasantries.

Season 1
Lord Eddard Stark sends a messenger to Dragonstone to personally deliver a letter to Stannis, revealing the secret that Cersei Lannister's children are really bastards born from incest, and thus Stannis is the rightful heir of the dying King Robert.

Season 2
At the outbreak of the War of the Five Kings, Dragonstone becomes the seat of King Stannis Baratheon. Unfortunately for Stannis, at the outset he is only supported by the lords of the few islands in Blackwater Bay that were already sworn to him. To curry support for his weak position, Stannis converts to the religion of the Lord of Light, influenced by the Red Priestess Melisandre. At a gathering of Stannis and his supporters on the beach, Melisandre burns the wooden statues of The Seven from Dragonstone's sept as an offering to the Lord of Light.

A short while afterwards, Ser Davos Seaworth meets with the pirate-lord Salladhor Saan on the coast of Dragonstone, to hire his fleet of thirty ships as sellsails to supplement Stannis' fleet.

Following his defeat at the Battle of the Blackwater, Stannis manages to retreat back to Dragonstone with what little remains of his shattered army.

Season 4
Stannis and the remainder of his army leave Dragonstone, assisting the Night's Watch in defeating the army of Free Folk at the Battle of Castle Black.

Season 7
Whilst discussing their enemies in the Red Keep's new map room, Cersei Lannister ask her brother Jaime where he thinks Daenerys will head first to launch her invasion. Jaime predicts she will land at Dragonstone; it is strategically located with harbors for her ships, Stannis had left it vacant, and it was where Daenerys was born. Jaime's prediction proves correct, as Daenerys returns to Dragonstone around the same time. She spends a few minutes exploring the castle's entryways before reaching the throne room. Declining to seat herself immediately, she proceeds into the Chamber of the Painted Table and declares it is time to begin.

In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Dragonstone is a volcanic island located a couple of hundred miles north-east of King's Landing. The island has a small port and a large castle on it, built by the Targaryens some 500 years ago, when they settled Dragonstone as a trading outpost of the great Valyrian Freehold. When Valyria was destroyed in the cataclysm known as the Doom a century later, Dragonstone was the largest Valyrian stronghold to survive intact. The Targaryens refused to help the colony-states along the west coast of Essos maintain Valyrian rule. They would later become the Free Cities.

The Targaryens instead waited another century, building up their strength, then invaded and subdued Westeros three hundred years ago. They built a new capital at King's Landing, while Dragonstone became the primary holding of the King's heir (who was also named "Prince of Dragonstone"). After the deposing of King Aerys II Targaryen, Robert Baratheon appointed his brother Stannis as Lord of Dragonstone until his own son, Joffrey, became old enough for the office. This has caused a rift between the brothers, as Stannis feels that he should rightfully be commanding the ancestral Baratheon castle of Storm's End instead of their youngest brother, Lord Renly.

Dragonstone is the home port of part of the Royal Fleet. In addition, Dragonstone commands the loyalty of a number of smaller houses located on surrounding islands in the Narrow Sea and on nearby parts of the coastal mainland. Dragonstone is a cold, drafty, and harsh place. Lord Stannis and his family usually prefer to spend as much time as possible at court away from the island, but have recently returned to Dragonstone to attend to business there just before the start of the series.

Dragonstone is one of the strongest castles in all of the Seven Kingdoms, due to its advanced Valyrian design, using strong stonemasonry techniques now lost to the world. Its isolated island location greatly enhances its already formidable defensive prowess: a vast fleet of ships would be required simply to transport troops and large siege weapons to its location, and even then they would be forced to make a risky amphibious landing while under fire from the castle's own catapults. The castle itself is not on the sheer scale of the greatest castles of the realm such as Storm's End or the Red Keep, but both of those castles can be assaulted by land armies. The entire point of building so strong a fortress on such an isolated island was to make the perfect refuge and redoubt for greater noble Houses from elsewhere: the indigenous "lands" of Dragonstone are just a few fishing villages and could never had supported the construction of such a powerful castle on their own.

Before Stannis sails to the Wall, he appoints Ser Rolland Storm as the castellan of Dragonstone. Stannis takes most of his troops, leaving a small garrison at Dragonstone.

In the fourth novel, Cersei orders Paxter Redwyne to transport 2,000 soldiers to conquer Dragonstone, which Stannis has left poorly garrisoned. He intends to take the castle bloodlessly by either starving the defenders out or creating a breach in the walls through mining and forcing the defenders to surrender. Ser Loras Tyrell estimates it will take at least half a year to starve Dragonstone into submission. He asks Cersei for the command, promising to take the castle within two weeks. Cersei agrees delightedly: knowing how rash Loras is, she expects him to get killed. Pycelle objects for the very same reason, but his protests fall on deaf ears.

Dragonstone is taken, but at great cost, due to Loras's rashness: about one thousand soldiers are killed, most of them loyal to Tommen, and the best and bravest knights and young lords. Loras, the first to invade the castle, is fatally injured by arrows, mace, and boiling oil. By the point the books reached, he is still lying near death.

The fall of Dragonstone removes the last direct threat to King's Landing and causes severe damage to Stannis's cause, but it is doubtful whether he is aware of that, at his current position.

The TV series has somewhat altered the design of Dragonstone. In the books, the entire castle is built of fused Valyrian stone, shaped to look like an entire nest of dragons perched on the cliffs, and decorated within with draconic imagery. The Great hall is shaped like a dragon lying on its belly, the kitchens like a curled up dragon, and many of its towers like dragons gazing over the sea or screaming at invaders. The TV-Dragonstone incorporates few of these sweeping architectural features, although it does follow the books in that there are carved dragon images literally everywhere in the castle.