Bastardy

The term bastard refers to anyone born out of wedlock. In the Seven Kingdoms there is considerable social stigma attached to being a bastard. Bastards are not allowed to inherit their father's lands or titles, and have no claims to the privileges of their father's house. It is up to their father on how to raise or treat them: being raised by their father in his own castle alongside his trueborn children is considered extremely unusual.

The stigma of illegitimacy is so great, that all bastards in Westeros have to identify themselves through a specific surname, which varies by region:


 * The North: Snow.
 * The Vale: Stone.
 * The Riverlands: Rivers.
 * The Crownlands: Waters.
 * The Iron Islands: Pyke.
 * [[The Westerlands]: Hill.
 * The Reach: Flowers.
 * The Stormlands: Storm.
 * Dorne: Sand.

In the novels
In the Song of Ice and Fire novels, the status of being a bastard is a considerable social disgrace amongst the nobility, though less so amongst the smallfolk. However, whilst bastards are disadvantaged, they still have means to climb the social ladder. They may win honour and glory in battle and be knighted. If they do great deeds in service to the king or a noble lord, they can even receive a bill of legitimacy, allowing them to take a new surname and found a new house (some bastards take new names altogether, like 'Blackfyre', whilst others add a prefix to their bastard name, such as 'Longwaters'). House Baratheon was founded by the bastard half-brother of King Aegon the Conqueror, for example.

However, whilst bastards stand outside the lines of succession and inheritance, there are still exceptions which have caused immense problems. King Aegon IV Targaryen legitmised three of his bastard sons and one of his bastard daughters on his deathbed. His eldest bastard son, Daemon Blackfyre, later claimed the Iron Throne and led a bloody civil war known as the First Blackfyre Rebellion. His sons and descendants launched four more attempts to take the Iron Throne before their final claimant, Maelys the Monstrous, was slain by Ser Barristan Selmy during the War of the Ninepenny Kings. This is sometimes used as an example of what happens if a bastard is treated too well and given too much power and legitimacy.