World of A Song of Ice and Fire - The Vale of Arryn

The Vale of Arryn

The Vale is the area surrounded almost completely by the Mountains of the Moon in the east of Westeros. The Vale is under the rulership of House Arryn, one of the oldest lines of Andal nobility and, before Aegon's conquest, Kings of Mountain and Vale. Their seat, the Eyrie, is a castle high in the mountains, small but considered unassailable. The only way to reach the Vale is by a mountain road that is perilous, teeming with animals called shadowcats, rock slides, and dangerous mountain clans. The mountain road ends at the Vale's sole entrance, the Bloody Gates, which consists of a pair of twin watchtowers, connected by a covered bridge, on the rocky mountain slopes over a very narrow path which is scarcely wide enough for four men to ride abreast. A little past the Bloody Gates, a huge vista opens up and the Vale of Arryn can be seen. The protection of the surrounding mountains gives the Vale itself a temperate climate, fertile meadows and woods. The snowmelt from the mountains and a constant waterfall that never freezes, named Alyssa's Tears, provides plentiful water. The Vale has rich black soil, wide slow-moving rivers, and hundreds of small lakes. The largest mountain is the Giant's Lance, which is three and a half miles high. Illegitimate children born in the Vale are given the surname Stone.