Lord Paramount

"Lord Paramount" is a title in the Seven Kingdoms, created during the Targaryen Conquest three centuries before the War of the Five Kings. It is a hereditary title bestowed upon a major noble House charged with ruling one of the unified Seven Kingdoms, under the overall rule of the Targaryen kings on the Iron Throne. When Robert Baratheon became king after Robert's Rebellion, he kept the Lords Paramount system intact.

Members
[[File:Regions_of_Westeros.PNG|thumb|The territories assigned to each of the Lords Paramount:

House Stark, the North (grey);

House Arryn, the Vale (blue);

House Tully, the Riverlands (green);

House Greyjoy, the Iron Islands (yellow);

House Lannister, the Westerlands (red);

House Tyrell, the Reach (lime green);

House Baratheon, the Stormlands (brown).]]
 * House Arryn, rulers of the the Vale of Arryn from the castle at the Eyrie.
 * House Baratheon, rulers of the Stormlands from Storm's End.
 * House Greyjoy, rulers of the Iron Islands from the castle at Pyke.
 * House Lannister, rulers of the Westerlands from the castle at Casterly Rock.
 * House Stark, rulers of the North from the castle at Winterfell.
 * House Tully, rulers of the Riverlands from the castle at Riverrun.
 * House Tyrell, rulers of Reach from the castle at Highgarden.

(Note that House Martell of Dorne rule as "Princes", not "Lords Paramount". House Targaryen is not considered "Lords Paramount" of the Crownlands, as they rule it directly)

History
For thousands of years, the Seven Kingdoms were each seven independent "kingdoms". They were each ruled by their own royal family, and these seven families were known as the Great Houses. When Aegon Targaryen conquered and unified the Seven Kingdoms, those Great Houses who surrendered were given the offer to continue ruling, but under the Targaryens. Thus when King Torrhen Stark surrendered to Aegon Targaryen, he stopped being the "King in the North", but he and his family continued to rule as "Lords Paramount of the North", as part of the unified Targaryen realm. House Lannister and House Arryn also used to rule as kings, in the Westerlands and the Vale respectively, but became Lords Paramount when they submitted.

In three of the other kingdoms, their ruling Great Houses had died during the conquest, so the Targaryens elevated other major Houses in those regions to Lords Paramount. House Gardener had ruled as the kings of the Reach, but all living members were killed at the climactic Field of Fire. Their stewards, House Tyrell, then surrendered Highgarden to Aegon. The Tyrells were descended from House Gardener, though through the female line. In reward for their role in handing over Highgarden, Aegon named them Lords Paramount of the Reach. As a result, a member of House Tyrell has never ruled as a king or queen. Similarly, the last of the Storm Kings of the Stormlands died in the conquest, so Aegon named his bastard half-brother Orys Baratheon as Lord Paramount of the Stormlands for his role in the victory. However, Orys then married the daughter of the last of the Storm Kings, so there was at least some continuity. House Hoare of the Iron Islands was eradicated in the conquest, so Aegon asked the Ironborn to choose one line from among their major noble Houses to become Lords Paramount. The Ironborn chose House Greyjoy, who ruled over the Iron Islands under the Targaryens ever since.

The Riverlands had not been an independent kingdom for centuries, merely a contested border region first conquered by the Stormlands and then the Iron islands. However, House Tully sided with the Targaryens during the conquest to overthrow the Ironborn that ruled them, and in reward Aegon elevated them as Lords Paramount. Thus the "Lords Paramount of the Riverlands" are the only instance in which the title does not correspond to one of the previous regional kingships in place before the conquest.

House Martell of Dorne managed to repulse Aegon's forces and thus remained independent for another two centuries. A century before the War of the Five Kings they were peacefully united to the Targaryen realm through marriage-alliance. As a result they are allowed to maintain many local laws and customs, and still style themselves as "Princes of Dorne", not "Lords Paramount of Dorne".

Only eight Houses hold the title of "Lord Paramount" at one time. House Targaryen itself rules the Crownlands directly, not as "Lords Paramount".

No House was added or removed from "Lords Paramount" status during the three centuries since the title was created during the Targaryen Conquest. During this time "Lords Paramount" the political office became treated as functionally synonymous with "Great Houses". There have been various civil wars when the opportunity may have arisen to punish a Great House by removing its Lord Paramount status, but this was never carried out. For example, King Robert Baratheon reinstated House Greyjoy as Lords Paramount of the Iron Islands after he crushed the Greyjoy Rebellion.