Game of Thrones: Top 10 castles in Westeros, ranked
5. Casterly Rock
The seat of House Lannister is Casterly Rock, an enormous castle carved into a stone hill on the shores of the Westerlands; in the show, it’s a castle built on top of a hill, but Martin has been clear that this is different from his vision. In Martin’s mind, Casterly Rock is the rock.
In the books, Casterly Rock is described six miles long and 2,100 feet high. The base of the Rock has large sea-carved caverns as well as hundreds of mineshafts that run deep below the surface. In addition to its natural defenses, the structure features arrow slits and windows on the side of the mountain, walls and fortifications have been built on the outside to protect the castle within the Rock.
During Aegon’s conquest, King Loren I was the ruler of the Westerlands. He formed an alliance with House Gardener, the rulers of the Reach, to fight the Targaryens. In the battle known as the Field of Fire, House Gardener was completely wiped out by the Targaryen dragons, and Loren surrendered his crown. Because he bent the knee, Loren was allowed to keep his castle and become the first Lord of Casterly Rock and Warden of the West. Visenya Targaryen was apparently grateful that Loren decided to fight on the field instead of hole up in Casterly Rock, as it would have been a difficult task to take the Rock even with dragons.
During the Dance, the Lannisters declared for the greens. When the war breaks out, master of coin Tyland sends a quarter of the royal treasury to Casterly Rock for safekeeping. During the Battle of the Red Fork, Lord Jason Lannister is killed while leading an army of Westermen into the Riverlands. Taking advantage of disarray in the West, Lord Dalton Greyjoy declares for the Blacks and begins raiding the Western coast. Although he sacks the city of Lannisport, Jason’s widow Johanna bars the gates of Casterly Rock. When the Blacks emerge victorious at the end of the Dance, Johanna agrees to peace terms sent by Corlys Veleryon.
Tywin Lannister inherits Casterly Rock from his father Tytos, who was known as a foolish and incompetent Lord. Many POV characters in A Song of Ice and Fire grew up at Casterly Rock, including Tyrion, Jaime and Cersei Lannister. Prior to the start of the story, The Mad King Aerys II, Oberyn Martell and Elia Martell all spent time at the Rock. During the Greyjoy rebellion, Aeron Greyjoy was taken prisoner and held at Casterly Rock for a time.
After the death of King Robert, Jaime and Tywin raise two armies at Casterly Rock and invade the Riverlands in retaliation for Catelyn taking Tyrion hostage. After Jaime is defeated at Riverrun, Tywin sends his cousin Stafford to assemble a third army at Casterly Rock, but he is defeated in a surprise attack by followers of Robb Stark.
After the war ends, the Lannisters remain in King’s Landing to oversee the rule of Joffrey Baratheon, and later his brother Tommen. Tywin’s brother Kevan inherits Casterly Rock after Tywin’s death.
During Cersei’s unruly regency in King’s Landing, Kevan advises her to return to Casterly Rock, but she refuses to leave Tommen. Cersei names Stafford’s son Daven as castellan of the Rock and Warden of the West instead of Kevan out of spite. However, Cersei is eventually arrested by the Faith of the Seven and Kevan is invited to return to King’s Landing to act as Tommen’s regent.