War of the Five Kings

"That bit of theater will haunt our family for a generation."

- Tywin Lannister to Cersei Lannister, speaking about the execution of Ned Stark by her son Joffrey.

The War of the Five Kings is a major military conflict that erupted in the wake of the death of King Robert Baratheon. His son Joffrey took the Iron Throne, but it was claimed that Joffrey was a bastard born of incest between Queen Cersei and her twin brother, Ser Jaime Lannister. On this basis, Robert's younger brother Stannis Baratheon also claimed the throne. Robert's youngest brother, Renly Baratheon, also claimed the throne, claiming that he would make a superior ruler to the ruthless and uncharismatic Stannis.

The situation was complicated further when Robb Stark of Winterfell, leading a host south to free his father and to relieve a Lannister attack on the Riverlands, was declared the King in the North by his lords bannermen (and some of the river lords), and he declared the North to be a sovereign kingdom no longer subject to the rule of King's Landing.

Combatants
The current factions involved in the War of the Five Kings:

Joffrey Baratheon
King Joffrey Baratheon claims the Iron Throne by right of inheritance from his publicly-declared father, the late Robert Baratheon. He holds the capital city of King's Landing and his claim is supported militarily by the powerful and well-equipped armies of House Lannister. The Lannister armies became bogged down in fighting the Stark forces in the Riverlands, leaving the capital potentially vulnerable to assault by sea or from the south, but when Robb Stark led his troops west to attack the Lannister homelands, their armies were free to march to relieve King's Landing from assault by Stannis's army. His supporters were also able to negotiate an alliance with House Tyrell after Renly Baratheon's death.

Renly Baratheon
King Renly Baratheon, the youngest brother of King Robert, claimed the Iron Throne by right of strength and conquest. He was supported by the armies of House Tyrell, who can field the largest armies in all of Westeros. With the Lannisters and Starks fighting one another north of the Blackwater Rush, there appeared to be nothing stopping the Tyrell forces marching straight on King's Landing and installing Renly on the Iron Throne. However, Renly was killed by a shadow creature under the control of Melisandre, a priestess in the employ of Stannis. The Stormlands lords went over to Stannis, but the Tyrells refused to support him. They were eventually convinced to join Joffrey's supporters through negotiations.

Stannis Baratheon
King Stannis Baratheon, the younger brother of King Robert and the elder brother of Renly, claims the Iron Throne by right of inheritance from his brother. Based on intelligence received from Eddard Stark before his arrest and execution, Stannis claims that Joffrey and his younger siblings are not Robert's children at all, but instead the product of incest between Queen Cersei Lannister and her twin brother, Jaime. This makes Joffrey a usurper, pretender and bastard, and leaves Stannis as the rightful king. At the beginning of the war very few supported Stannis' claim to the throne even after sending a letter of Joffrey's true parentage to all the high lords of Westeros. Stannis was also furious that most of the lords of the Stormlands had supported his younger brother Renly's claim to the Iron Throne. A parley between Stannis and Renly failed, so Stannis authorised his priestess, Melisandre, to kill Renly through magic. The storm lords went over to Stannis, but the Tyrells withdrew their armies. Stannis was still left with a large enough army and fleet to attack King's Landing. Despite initial successes, the tide turned against him when the Tyrells allied with the Lannisters and attacked him. Stannis was forced to flee with only a small number of survivors.

Robb Stark
King Robb Stark does not claim the Iron Throne at all, but has instead been proclaimed the King in the North by popular acclaim. He commands the combined military strength of both the North and the Riverlands and is currently engaged in fighting the armies of House Lannister, having already inflicted one significant defeat upon them. Robb's ambition is to secure independence for the North and Riverlands from the Iron Throne and to, if possible, seek vengeance and reddress from Joffrey Baratheon, whom he holds responsible for the death of his father. Despite Robb's youth and inexperience, he has proven to be an enthusiastic and canny battle commander, winning every engagement he has fought against the Lannisters. However, the capture of Winterfell by the ironborn has distracted his attention and the forging of the Lannister-Tyrell alliance now leaves him at a severe numerical disadvantage.

Balon Greyjoy
King Balon Greyjoy, likewise, does not claim the Iron Throne, but has declared himself King of the Iron Islands again. He has rejected Robb Stark's proposal for an alliance against House Lannister, preferring to carve out a Kingdom of the Iron Islands alone. He's motivated by his hatred for the Starks for the death of his two older sons during the Greyjoy Rebellion and the ironborn tradition of 'paying the iron price' - which dictates that a man must take his riches by force, not negotiation or payment. To this end Balon has taken advantage of the North's under-defended nature (most of their armies fighting with Robb in the Riverlands), raiding the coasts and capturing the castle at Deepwood Motte. Without authorisation, his son Theon has also captured the main Stark stronghold at Winterfell, but has refused to relinquish it despite the difficulties in resupplying a location so far from the sea.

Non-combatants
The following factions have either not declared an interest in the conflict, or have already declared their neutrality:

House Arryn
House Arryn and the knights of the Vale have declared themselves neutral in the conflict. Lady Lysa Arryn, acting as regent for her young son, Robin Arryn, has stated that the Vale will hold its strength and not take part in the war, despite entreaties from her sister, Catelyn Stark, to join the Stark cause. Lysa is sceptical of Robb's ability to defeat the seasoned, more experienced Tywin Lannister in battle.

House Martell
House Martell of Dorne has pursued a course of isolationism since Robert's Rebellion, and declared no interest or faction in the current conflict at its outset. Tyrion Lannister has attempted to woo their support by offering their youngest son the hand of Princess Myrcella Baratheon in marriage. They have accepted the offer, but have not formally entered the war yet on anyone's side.

The Night's Watch
The Night's Watch plays no role in the internal political affairs of the Seven Kingdoms, and are sworn to defend the realm as a whole, no matter who is on the Iron Throne or competing for it. As a result, they are neutral in the current conflict.

The Brotherhood Without Banners
The outlaw group known as the Brotherhood Without Banners is active in the Riverlands and, so far, has acted against the Lannister occupation, though they haven't declared their loyalty to either House Stark or House Baratheon. The Lannister forces has responded to the Brotherhood's activities by further sacking villages and torturing and executing peasants with the hope of tracking down the Brotherhood's leaders and their collaborators among the smallfolk.

Opening moves
The stage was set for the war when Catelyn Stark seized Tyrion Lannister at the Crossroads Inn and accused him of the attempted murder of her son, Bran. House Lannister summoned its armies and marched on the Riverlands with 60,000 men. Ser Gregor Clegane led an auxiliary force and began striking at bannerhouses supporting Catelyn's father, Lord Hoster Tully, in reprisal. King Robert attempted to defuse the situation, but failed, and soon after died. Immediately upon hearing of his brother's death and having failed to win the support of the King's Hand, Eddard Stark, Renly Baratheon fled the city with Ser Loras Tyrell and rode hard for Highgarden. There, the Tyrell banners were called and began gathering, whilst Renly was crowned King of the Seven Kingdoms.

Prince Joffrey also immediately claimed the throne upon Robert's death. When Eddard tried to take Joffrey into custody as an imposter, Joffrey, forewarned by Lord Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish, had Eddard arrested instead. Unfortunately for Joffrey, he was unaware that Eddard had already sent a letter to Robert's brother Stannis, telling him that Joffrey was not legitimate and the crown belonged to Stannis by right. On Dragonstone, Stannis likewise claimed the throne and began gathering his supporters.

War in the Riverlands
The Lannister force separated into two armies of 30,000 men each. Ser Jaime Lannister led one force with the aim of capturing Riverrun, the principle stronghold of House Tully. Jaime smashed the Riverlords at the Battle of the Golden Tooth. Jaime followed his victory at Golden Tooth by laying siege to Riverrun. Lord Tywin Lannister led the other force himself. Jaime's victories allowed Tywin to move north west through the Riverlands unimpeded.

Receiving news of his father's arrest, Robb Stark mobilized the armies of the North and assembled a host of 18,000 men (due to the urgency of the situation and the vastness of the North, he could not wait for more). He marched to the relief of the Riverlands. Lord Tywin moved to the east bank of the Green Fork of the Trident to intercept the Stark force. Even winning the support of House Frey and its troops could not bring Robb's forces up to parity with the Lannisters. Robb sent 2,000 men to pretend to attack Tywin's army. As planned, this small force was defeated at the Battle of the Green Fork, but it delayed the Lannisters long enough for Robb's main army to slip past them and into the Whispering Wood near Riverrun. There, Robb staged a feint to draw Jaime Lannister and a portion of his army into the woodlands. During the Battle of the Whispering Wood, Robb inflicted a significant defeat upon the Lannisters, destroying Jaime's host and capturing the Kingslayer himself.

Receiving word of Jaime's defeat, Tywin realized that the Starks and Tullys were now free to unify against him, potentially bringing much greater numbers to bear against his smaller force. He retreated to Harrenhal, the formidable castle on the north banks of Gods Eye, intending to fortify it and use it as a base of operations to conduct operations in the Riverlands. By this time news of Renly and Stannis gathering armies had reached both the Stark and Lannister camps. After considering joining forces with one of the brothers, the Northmen and Riverland lords chose the path of independence, rejecting the authority of the Iron Throne all together and swearing fealty to Robb Stark as the King in the North.

King Robb Stark followed up on his success at Whispering Wood with several minor skirmishes against Lannister forces intending to drive them from away from the Red Fork of the Trident, to free the lands and holdfasts of the Riverlords who had recently sworn allegiance to him. He met little serious resistance, as the Lannisters were already in the process of withdrawing their forces to Harrenhal in the eastern Riverlands to regroup.

Robb Stark invades the Westerlands
With Tywin encamped at Harrenhal, which was too strong to attack directly, Robb instead launched an invasion of the Westerlands, the Lannister homeland. He launched a surprise attack on the new Lannister army gathering at the village of Oxcross, where new conscripts were being trained to replace the Lannister army group destroyed at Whispering Wood. Robb totally destroyed the green Lannister army group in the resulting Battle of Oxcross, killing Ser Stafford Lannister in the process. The victory leaves the Westerlands lightly defended. Robb goes on to win a minor victory at the Battle of the Yellow Fork and force the surrender of the Crag. With the Lannister homelands under attack, Tywin had a difficult choice to make: to ride out and meet Robb's forces in battle, abandoning their strong defensive position at Harrenhal, or to fall back on King's Landing and help defend the city from Stannis. Tywin eventually decided to ride west because of the threat Robb's forces posed to his own castle at Casterly Rock. Tywin had already authorised secret negotiations with House Tyrell to begin following Renly's death, in the hope of winning an alliance with them and their powerful army.

Baratheon's conflict
Stannis Baratheon and his younger brother, Renly Baratheon, both claimed the Iron Throne of Westeros. Stannis had a small army at Dragonstone and was influenced by the red priestess Melissandre, while Renly amassed the strenght of his bannermen, the Stormlords, and that of the Reach by marrying Margaery Tyrell, daughter of Mace Tyrell.

After a failed meeting, Stannis gives an ultimatum to Renly to pledge his loyalty before he attacks, but Renly ignores him. Melissandre gives birth to a shadow which later on enters Renly's tent and kills him. While the Tyrell army leaves for Highgarden, the Stormlords swear fealty to Stannis as the remaining head of House Baratheon, with his brother's armies at his command Stannis prepares his invasion to King's Landing.

Riot in King's Landing
During the course of the war the streets of the capital city began to overflow with many starving refugees escaping the war. Both Tyrion Lannister and Janos Slynt warned Queen Cersei that if something was not done with the starving refugees there would be a mounting discontent with her son's rule however the Queen ignored their warnings. The King and the Royal Court had gathered in the docks to see Myrcella Baratheon being shipped to Dorne. On their way back to the Red Keep, the refugees and commoners of King's Landing hurled insults at King Joffrey, and ultimately, hurl cow excrement into Joffrey's face. Despite being accompanied by only a few dozen guards facing hundreds of peasants, Joffrey impetuously shouts orders for his soldiers to kill them all. A general riot then breaks out and spreads throughout the city, with the royal party barely making it back to the castle in one piece. With most of the regular Lannister army in the Riverlands fighting in the war under Lord Tywin Lannister, the scant two thousand City Watch guards had a difficult time containing the riot, and the chaos that reigned throughout the city. In the end the riot was put down but many peasants and City Watch guards were killed during the riot along with the High Septon who was torn limb by limb by an angry mob.

Rise of the Kraken
While the Lannister and Stark forces were fighting at the Riverruns, Theon Greyjoy traveled to Pyke, the Iron Islands capital, and his family castle, to negotiate with his father, Balon Greyjoy, under Robb Stark´s orders. At Pyke, Balon Greyjoy told Theon that he would proclaim himself King on the Iron Islands once more, and attacks the North. He then asks his son on which side he was: his or the Stark's. After debating, Theon Greyjoy chose to declare loyalty to his father. Balon Grayjoy would attack the coasts of the North, with his navy. Asha Greyjoy would led most of the fleet, while Theon was given only one, the Sea Bitch, and was supposed to attack small fisherman towns. Theon Greyjoy then changed his plan and sieged Torrhen´s Square, and then attacked Winterfell. Bran Stark, yielded before him, and he became the new lord of Winterfell.

However, Bran and his younger brother, Rickon, soon escaped with two of their household servants and their direwolves, and were unable to be found by Theon. They managed to sneak back into the crypts of Winterfell, though Theon has convinced most of his men they are dead by hanging two burnt child's corpses atop the walls of Winterfell.

The Battle of the Blackwater
Stannis's army and fleet launched an assault on King's Landing. The initial attack was blunted when Tyrion Lannister sprung a trap, detonating a boat filled with wildfire in the midst of Stannis's fleet, destroying a significant part of it. The surviving ships were able to put ashore thousands of troops, led in person by Stannis. Sandor Clegane and Tyrion Lannister himself led several sorties that destroyed the Baratheon siege equipment, but were almost overwhelmed by superior enemy numbers. However, the armies of House Lannister (under Tywin, in contrast to his stated intention to attack the Starks) and House Tyrell (under Ser Loras) arrived and defeated Stannis's forces, sending them fleeing from the field.