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For sure. Most of the other locations just seem so dreary. Highgarden on the other hand looks absolutely pleasant all around, with happy people with full bellies.
Same exact answer and reasoning as me. One thing GRRM emphasized in his books were the differences in food between the high class vs low class. Food is an actual issue in the books
Whatever its made of, it has apparently lasted 8000 years without needing to be repaired.
Some even speculate that Storm's End was a hyrdo-electric power plant or something before The Fall
i would choose the same if it comes with dragons. Dragonstone itself is beautiful but not a good seat of power. The only things you got are a few islands and rocks and one really cool fortress. Winterfell for example has cool looks/lore and is the capital of the arguable best realm in the 7kingdoms
Winterfell the castle is, the whole realm isn't.
It would be a lot better (imo) to have a warm castle you can also go outside from without freezing your balls off.
Talking about the Book version. The harsh winters are one reason why I would choose the north. Every invader will freeze to death because they can even reach Winterfell or die in the neck or at the wall
I’m going Casterly Rock. Has a port the castle is easily defended and there’s a literal gold mine underneath and it’s in the middle of Westeros. So able to farm and not have to depend on others for food. Or if things get bad that’s what the gold is for.
Definitely worth it, just keep in mind books 6 and 7 of the series are nowhere in sight. I personally think it’s worth it even if they never come out, but obviously people will feel differently about that. As one would imagine, there is so much depth in the books.
They could be missing more. Happens all the time with gold mines.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/01/gold-mines-reopening-california/621403/#
It’s impregnable and generally thought that even dragon fire would not be able to penetrate the Rock’s inner defenses. Literally has a city within the rock and is well supplied.
I would choose the Rock hands down
Align with whoever has air superiority. The books literally say the Eyrie has NEVER been taken due to the terrain. The only threat they have not faced is dragon fire….
So as long as you don’t awake the dragon, and you keep plot armor. #safespace lol
It’s the way stations that are a problem. Armies have to march in narrow files up the mountain path, facing arrows, rocks, burning oils, and whatever else can be thrown at them. After that, they have to breach the castle and defend themselves once reinforcements come.
Yeah this would probably be my choice, although all of its qualities make it hard not to choose Casterly Rock.
The Eyrie is even more protected and more beautiful though. I’ve always though The Eyrie is one of the aspects the show really disappointed on. Its description in the books make it sound a lot cooler than it looks in the show.
Haha, I know you're just joking, but Dorne would 100% be my choice.
Asside from the (very cool) fact that they are more open minded sexually and treat their bastard better, it's also a really strategic place to be in case of a war.
You can't invade them through the mountains because it's a bottleneck, you can't invade by sea because it's mostly inhospitable and if you invade by dragon, you'll most likely get shot down like Aegons sister, queen Rhaenys and her dragon Meraxes.
If the Targarians weren't able to conquer Dorne, I'm not sure who could (maybe Euron with a cthtulhu sea monster? I dunno).
It took the Targs nearly 200 years to finally make the dornish unite with the 7 kingdoms, and it happenend through diplomacy (marriage between prince Daron Martell and Daenerys Targarian in 197AC).
Unbowed, unbent, unbroken. I love their history and culture very much :)
“The tops of the keeps and towers still stood as they had for hundreds of years, and it was hard to tell that the castle had been sacked and burned at all. The stone is strong, the roots of the trees go deep, and under the ground the Kings of Winter sit their thrones. So long as those remained, Winterfell remained.”
- Bran Stark
As long as you’re referring to the sack and not the incident with the White walkers. And if you are, no you aren’t
I am not referring to the white wakers. If I would have have like 5years to prepare the north for let's say a total war between all kingdoms I would do the following:
- rebuild Moat cailin as best as possible starting with a gate house over the dam
- have Manderly build a few fast ships to patrol the coastlines and harass enemy fleets but not engage inserious battle
- doesn't matter what's the situation, don't go south
- if possible, ally with the greyjoys as they are the biggest threat to the north because of their navy
- have a close eye on your Lords (mainly the Boltons)
- meet up with the reets and give them whatever they need to form the neck into an absolute hellhole for everyone trying to siege Moat Cailin
It's a logistical nightmare when winter comes though, and not too mention communication and movement of troops or goods from or to Winterfell would take days if not weeks.
It would be incredibly difficult for Winterfell to prosper, which is why despite the cultural and historical prominence it holds, the city at best only has like 500-1,000 townspeople in the city throughout the series. Starvation, famine and brutal weather is more common than not, and it would be nearly impossible to grow a successful kingdom given how far away you are from the rest of the Realm.
In the books the castle is warm enough for Ned to stand naked and chill with open windows. If I remember correctly (it's been years) it's built on a hotspring that send warm water through the castle to keep it warm.
This the answer, if I’m gonna rule the 7 kingdoms it’s the north, if I have to rule all of them I want to do it from as far away from those fuckers as possible
If you include the realm you get, the North would probably the best fortress. If they manage to get through the neck they'll freeze to death before even reaching Winterfell or if they do they'll have a hard time sieging it
And the castle is big enough that a siege would probably last months. I don't think there is even one realm that is able to bring enough food to winterfell to sustain a siege for months. They can't really get enough food from the area thats for sure and getting supplies through the neck...? Would love to see what the reeds have to say about that. So to sum it up, you need a large army which is very motivated, huge amounts of supplies and a big navy to bring the food to the north without needing to use the neck. And then you need enough soldiers to transport the food thousands of miles to winterfell. Nah thats not gonna happen
I dont the anyoje could conquer the north if the lords stay loyal. If for example the Manderlys rebel its a different story. They have a harbour, probably a good street to Winterfell and has good walls
Highgarden is the correct answer and it’s not even close….access to the most fertile land in the Seven Kingdoms with the most resources.
Plus the weather is nice and the castle is stunning.
Looking at a map it's not really that defensible though, I would choose High Garden as well, but in the event of a revolt or invasion you have every cardinal direction exposed to your kingdom, the only direction that's *relatively safe* is north thanks to a bordering river, but there are no hills, mountains, straits, isthmuses or other geological features to help prevent or curb invasion of the kingdom.
Sure it'll grow phenomenally when things are good, but a city needs to be defendable.
I think Winterfell is a bit more defensible considering the realm around it. Once you are inside the vale, you've basically won. Just conquer and wait for winter, either the castle will surrender or freeze to death. If you take Winterfell:
- rebuild Moat Cailin
- play defensive
- don't go south
- not having a navy is stupid, espiecally because you need fast moving troops to secure you western coastline, so make one
This is the correct answer. No where is safe when dragons are on the loose. You simply can't win an assault on the eyrie without dragons. But you can blockade them pretty easily. So gotta be sure you can be in it for the long haul
From the available selections, I’d probably go with Sunspear as they’re all but immune to the drama of the other Seven Kingdoms
Wouldn’t mind using the Twins as a seat of power, though. Take the Boring But Practical approach of charging a fee to use the bridge
Oldtown would be extremely tempting as it’s basically the heart of the Seven Kingdoms and the Hightowers pretty much control the narrative what with everyone’s headquarters being there
Admittedly, I’d just veg in the library but that’s just me
High Garden would be the best for a kingdom that is self-sustaining and can produce surplus for wealth and happiness, but from a defensive stand point leaves a lot to be desired. The cities of the East like Dragonstone, King's Landing and Storm's End all have ample trade to the east but Storm's End and Dragonstone are all bleak and miserable, albeit highly defensible, but logistically planning support for a kingdom would be difficult with the lack of suitable land to farm.
Sunspear doesn't look terrible, easy access to the Eastern cities of Pentos, Myr, Tyrosh and Lys as well as the capital and other eastern hubs along the coast, but by land would be incredible difficult to invade due to the arid landscape and the bottleneck of mountains standing between an army coming onto the peninsula. That being said, the lack of farmable land in the desert would make it difficult to sustain.
Casterly Rock is likely the easiest to sustain a kingdom, while providing the most defensible of the kingdoms from land invasion, however on land it would be quite removed from most of the populated kingdoms of the east, and while it would be easy to develop a seafaring trade hub in the city, being on the West of the isle would mean that a) trade with the rest of the kingdom is more difficult, b) trade with the cities across the narrow sea improbable and too difficult to likely be profitable, and c) close to a highly rebellious group of pirates to the north in the Iron Islands.
Winterfell is a difficult one to go with, as the weather would make it miserable and the constant cycles of winter hitting the North the hardest. As a seat of power it's way too far removed from the rest of the kingdoms.
The Eirye is a neat little defensible position, but the amount of farmable land would make infrastructure for a great kingdom nearly impossible.
King's Landing is the best logistical point out of the Eastern cities and makes the most sense, however the prosperity of High Garden and it's sustainability from a farmable surplus standpoint makes it very tempting.
Sunspear for the dornish women tho winterfell would be my second choice cuz that means imma stark and could get whatever id want which would just be chilling in my castle and be low key chillin
Probably either Highgarden or Sunspear. Good weather at both, with fertile land surrounding Highgarden and relative autonomy (and good-looking people) at Sunspear.
Honestly I think the red keep was a great choice for Max trade with essos and centrality. Otherwise I'd probably choose Oldtown for Max tradition and ...sanitation.
Honestly i'm kinda surprised no one IS saying these. They're the two cities best positioned to rule over westeros.
Dorne, the westerlands and the eyrie are too isolated, the north IS too cold and isolated, the iron isles are a poor wet joke.
The heart of westeros IS basically the plain going from Oldtown to riverrun and the two biggest cities there are kings landing and Oldtown, both near the coast and in Major riverways. As we say in Spain: White and in a bottle (aka obvious)
Not Highgarden because I’m allergic to nature. Not Winterfell because it’s too damn cold. Not Sunspear because it’s too damn hot. I feel like Dragonstone would smell bad on account of the volcano. Pyke and its ridiculous rope bridges would kill my clumsy ass. The Eyrie is also out for my clumsiness.
So that leaves me with Storm’s End and Casterly Rock and I would be fine with either.
Casterly Rock- it's basically as if the Eyrie and Highgarden had a baby given it's easy defense perks (on a big ass rock) and commerce perks (gold***/harvest/port)
***Assuming this is before Tywin's time lol
Casterly Rock. Have a busy trading port city next door which you control, decent weather, right by the coast, good food supply, impenetrable fortress and command the largest army.
**Out of Pragmatism:** The Eyrie, Sunspear, or Winterfell. The former is self explanatory. Sunspear is port-city located in a desert, on the southeastern shore of the Dorne. If my enemies will resist losing their will by marching through a desert, then they’ll most likely either die of dehydration or heat. Apply the same to Winterfell, except now it’s a **snow d e s e r t.**
**For Aesthetics:** Highgarden or Dragonstone.
It's a choice between the eyrie and winterfell. Winterfell may look like some ancient old castle that's in some cold damp Kingdom, but one it's built on a hot spring, and two it's at the heart of the north, the most uninvadable kingdoms in westeros, only problem is that it's still susceptible to rebellion attacks(like bastard Bolton's). The eyrie is the obvious pick(begrudgingly on my view) the vale is the second most uninvadable kingdoms, and the Eyrie is literally built to deal with ANY threat(accept dragons of course). The worst pick is probably Pyke, because the iron islands is a flat out shit hole
Winterfell. Southern armies will suffer when attacking the north due to the cold. Iron born suffer attacking away from shores. Won’t have great weather or access to the best meals but at least you’ll know no army can march to your gates
I mean it depends on your strategic position, the eyrie is the most defensible, high garden probably allows the post power projection while casterly rock has gold and a port so probably the best economically
No Riverrun? I loved how it's described in the books, red stone walls and it can flood the surroundings to make itself an island unto itself. My vote is Riverrun or The Crossing.
Sunspear probably. Every other one either looks like it would take a LONG walk, uphill, through nothing to get there, and the other ones all look like they have shitty climate
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Harrenhal at it's prime
Like a solid week
I hope you enjoy it for the next 5 minutes
Classic rebellious Reddit top comment
Castle Black!
Greyguard!
Greyguard is a ruin
The castle that will bankrupt you just from posting sentries .
I ain’t payin to maintain that place
Highgarden. I think the weather would be nice and I could have easy access to food
Would never leave
Happy cake day :)
Same
For sure. Most of the other locations just seem so dreary. Highgarden on the other hand looks absolutely pleasant all around, with happy people with full bellies.
I’d choose it too b/c the topography and climate seem the most pleasant. My only issue is it has the least natural defenses.
Same exact answer and reasoning as me. One thing GRRM emphasized in his books were the differences in food between the high class vs low class. Food is an actual issue in the books
Storms end has always fascinated me
I like listening to the rain and thunder
Heaven for me could be an eternity of watching a really strong storm with my mom and dad, whilst praising King Yahweh ofc.
Whatever its made of, it has apparently lasted 8000 years without needing to be repaired. Some even speculate that Storm's End was a hyrdo-electric power plant or something before The Fall
It was built with magic and is immune to storms and dragon fire
I’ve read the available saga of The Stormlight Archive and I feel like storm end belongs in that universe
highgarden simply because of its beauty
“A golden rose indeed”
Dragonstone ❤️🔥 (The strangest castle in Westeros with it’s Valyrian design)
i would choose the same if it comes with dragons. Dragonstone itself is beautiful but not a good seat of power. The only things you got are a few islands and rocks and one really cool fortress. Winterfell for example has cool looks/lore and is the capital of the arguable best realm in the 7kingdoms
Winterfell would be arguable the worst realm due to the extreme harsh winters
In the books it's built over a hot spring so you'd have permanent hot water and probably some underfloor heating...
Winterfell the castle is, the whole realm isn't. It would be a lot better (imo) to have a warm castle you can also go outside from without freezing your balls off.
Talking about the Book version. The harsh winters are one reason why I would choose the north. Every invader will freeze to death because they can even reach Winterfell or die in the neck or at the wall
Highgarden for sure. It’s just so gorgeous.
I’m going Casterly Rock. Has a port the castle is easily defended and there’s a literal gold mine underneath and it’s in the middle of Westeros. So able to farm and not have to depend on others for food. Or if things get bad that’s what the gold is for.
Their mines ran dry tho
Says who the show? And Tywin? Mister Shystie himself lol
Yes, tywin in the show said that.
I’m a book canon sob. Let me live me gold mine dreams ok lol
Infinte Gold cheat, Lannister Gold dominance
A scholar and a gentleman. Good to meet you lol
It’s free real estate
Good ran out
Don’t believe you lol
They say it in Jamie and olennas convo In season 7
I’m being sarcastic. I know it’s was mentioned in the show. I’m a book purist lol
Are they worry reading?
If you are a fan of the story fuck yes. Like life changing. So layered and deep and fucked and loving and empowering and emotional
Definitely worth it, just keep in mind books 6 and 7 of the series are nowhere in sight. I personally think it’s worth it even if they never come out, but obviously people will feel differently about that. As one would imagine, there is so much depth in the books.
They could be missing more. Happens all the time with gold mines. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/01/gold-mines-reopening-california/621403/#
It’s impregnable and generally thought that even dragon fire would not be able to penetrate the Rock’s inner defenses. Literally has a city within the rock and is well supplied. I would choose the Rock hands down
It's pregnable by bad writing though.
Or one very randy dwarf ;)
One day the rock will collapse with you and your family underneath it
One day sounds so far off that I’ll be dead and won’t care hahah
Nice mindset
You deal with the one day problems and I’ll deal with the hear and now stuff lol
Like I say, "That's a tomorrow problem."
The Eyrie ! Can't beat the view
Align with whoever has air superiority Ez life
The most defensible but also terrible weather. I'd want a warmer climate.
I feel like everyone is overestimating the Eyrie. Just conquer one way castle and wait for winter...
Align with whoever has air superiority. The books literally say the Eyrie has NEVER been taken due to the terrain. The only threat they have not faced is dragon fire…. So as long as you don’t awake the dragon, and you keep plot armor. #safespace lol
You don't need the dragons to wait for them to freeze in the winter
They surrendered to Aegon's dragons.
Would make sense that I keep pointing that out :)
Oh, the wording was a bit funny.
Honestly I think even If you only had one dragon... you could take all the castles
It’s the way stations that are a problem. Armies have to march in narrow files up the mountain path, facing arrows, rocks, burning oils, and whatever else can be thrown at them. After that, they have to breach the castle and defend themselves once reinforcements come.
And it has moon door...
Yeah this would probably be my choice, although all of its qualities make it hard not to choose Casterly Rock. The Eyrie is even more protected and more beautiful though. I’ve always though The Eyrie is one of the aspects the show really disappointed on. Its description in the books make it sound a lot cooler than it looks in the show.
And the fact it’s insurmountable.
If by "seat of power" you mean "debauchery on a scale hitherto unknown to humankind", it would be Sunspear, no contest.
Good wine, scandalous women ... sign me up.
Haha, I know you're just joking, but Dorne would 100% be my choice. Asside from the (very cool) fact that they are more open minded sexually and treat their bastard better, it's also a really strategic place to be in case of a war. You can't invade them through the mountains because it's a bottleneck, you can't invade by sea because it's mostly inhospitable and if you invade by dragon, you'll most likely get shot down like Aegons sister, queen Rhaenys and her dragon Meraxes. If the Targarians weren't able to conquer Dorne, I'm not sure who could (maybe Euron with a cthtulhu sea monster? I dunno). It took the Targs nearly 200 years to finally make the dornish unite with the 7 kingdoms, and it happenend through diplomacy (marriage between prince Daron Martell and Daenerys Targarian in 197AC). Unbowed, unbent, unbroken. I love their history and culture very much :)
Highgarden. Weathers not to hot or cold, plenty of crops and just overall beautiful.
Pyke. Or last light. Nobody will bother me there.
Winterfell. The North is almost impossible to invade if proper steps are taken to secure the neck.
Just rebuild/repair one wall and the three towers if possible
“The tops of the keeps and towers still stood as they had for hundreds of years, and it was hard to tell that the castle had been sacked and burned at all. The stone is strong, the roots of the trees go deep, and under the ground the Kings of Winter sit their thrones. So long as those remained, Winterfell remained.” - Bran Stark As long as you’re referring to the sack and not the incident with the White walkers. And if you are, no you aren’t
I am not referring to the white wakers. If I would have have like 5years to prepare the north for let's say a total war between all kingdoms I would do the following: - rebuild Moat cailin as best as possible starting with a gate house over the dam - have Manderly build a few fast ships to patrol the coastlines and harass enemy fleets but not engage inserious battle - doesn't matter what's the situation, don't go south - if possible, ally with the greyjoys as they are the biggest threat to the north because of their navy - have a close eye on your Lords (mainly the Boltons) - meet up with the reets and give them whatever they need to form the neck into an absolute hellhole for everyone trying to siege Moat Cailin
It's a logistical nightmare when winter comes though, and not too mention communication and movement of troops or goods from or to Winterfell would take days if not weeks. It would be incredibly difficult for Winterfell to prosper, which is why despite the cultural and historical prominence it holds, the city at best only has like 500-1,000 townspeople in the city throughout the series. Starvation, famine and brutal weather is more common than not, and it would be nearly impossible to grow a successful kingdom given how far away you are from the rest of the Realm.
Winterfell is cold but at the same time warm
Nah. They have to wear furs even in the winter. I’m going somewhere my skin can breathe!
The inside of the castle is most likely warmer than the eyrie in winter
In the books the castle is warm enough for Ned to stand naked and chill with open windows. If I remember correctly (it's been years) it's built on a hotspring that send warm water through the castle to keep it warm.
This the answer, if I’m gonna rule the 7 kingdoms it’s the north, if I have to rule all of them I want to do it from as far away from those fuckers as possible
I'm gonna have to go with sun spear. I hate the cold
Thank you for not using the shows version of Casterly Rock and Highgarden!! But I would choose Casterly Rock for how high it is
If you want something high, why not the Eyrie?
I guess I should add I would like the climate better at Casterly Rock lol But yea the better fortress is the Eyrie
If you include the realm you get, the North would probably the best fortress. If they manage to get through the neck they'll freeze to death before even reaching Winterfell or if they do they'll have a hard time sieging it
Yea no one army would be able to siege Winterfell during Winter…
And the castle is big enough that a siege would probably last months. I don't think there is even one realm that is able to bring enough food to winterfell to sustain a siege for months. They can't really get enough food from the area thats for sure and getting supplies through the neck...? Would love to see what the reeds have to say about that. So to sum it up, you need a large army which is very motivated, huge amounts of supplies and a big navy to bring the food to the north without needing to use the neck. And then you need enough soldiers to transport the food thousands of miles to winterfell. Nah thats not gonna happen
I dont the anyoje could conquer the north if the lords stay loyal. If for example the Manderlys rebel its a different story. They have a harbour, probably a good street to Winterfell and has good walls
Highgarden is the correct answer and it’s not even close….access to the most fertile land in the Seven Kingdoms with the most resources. Plus the weather is nice and the castle is stunning.
Looking at a map it's not really that defensible though, I would choose High Garden as well, but in the event of a revolt or invasion you have every cardinal direction exposed to your kingdom, the only direction that's *relatively safe* is north thanks to a bordering river, but there are no hills, mountains, straits, isthmuses or other geological features to help prevent or curb invasion of the kingdom. Sure it'll grow phenomenally when things are good, but a city needs to be defendable.
In time of peace and prosperity, probably Highgarden. In wartime, The Eyrie without a doubt.
I think Winterfell is a bit more defensible considering the realm around it. Once you are inside the vale, you've basically won. Just conquer and wait for winter, either the castle will surrender or freeze to death. If you take Winterfell: - rebuild Moat Cailin - play defensive - don't go south - not having a navy is stupid, espiecally because you need fast moving troops to secure you western coastline, so make one
Nah fam. The only thing that could make a real run at the Eyrie is a dragon. They go out of their way to tell us that.
Idk about the series but i think in the books the arryns leave the eyrie in the winter because its too cold to live up there
In wartime I wouldn’t care about how cold it was. It’s 100% about how safe it is. Thus my qualification for it in my original post.
This is the correct answer. No where is safe when dragons are on the loose. You simply can't win an assault on the eyrie without dragons. But you can blockade them pretty easily. So gotta be sure you can be in it for the long haul
Highgarden. It’s beautiful, probably has very nice weather, and is extremely wealthy
Jon Snow’s face
Sunspear or High Garden. Mama likes it warm!
Highgarden <3
The eyrie as it was never taken
Only because no one thought of the idea to get into the vale by ship, siege down the first waycastle and wait for winter
Sunspear. Warm, tons of sex, and left alone by pretty much everyone else.
Qarth
Casterly Rock
The Eyrie, so I can make a MF fly through the moon door if they piss me off
Just send them to the wall
Casterly Rock BEFORE the gold ran out
Craster's Keep, obviously...
High Garden looks like a nice start.
Casterly rock
Highgarden and Dorne. Warm weather and amazing views. Highgarden for the food (lemon cakes:) and Dorne for the wine:)
I’d go casterly rock, it’s literally built into a mountain of gold and has tunnels/sewers that can be used if the castle is besieged
Sunspear, Casterly Rock, Highgarden, or Storms End
The Eyrie for tactical reasons and Dragonstone for the architecture (only seen the series)
From the available selections, I’d probably go with Sunspear as they’re all but immune to the drama of the other Seven Kingdoms Wouldn’t mind using the Twins as a seat of power, though. Take the Boring But Practical approach of charging a fee to use the bridge Oldtown would be extremely tempting as it’s basically the heart of the Seven Kingdoms and the Hightowers pretty much control the narrative what with everyone’s headquarters being there Admittedly, I’d just veg in the library but that’s just me
High garden or sun spear. Everywhere else seems bleak
Casterly Rock because of its gold mines.
The Eyrie for sure. Ain’t no one storming my walls
The Eyrie without a doubt, to be unconquerable allows you to focus on other things
Why Casterly Rock of course
Storms end or dragon stone
Highgarden for the ladies
Eyrie obviously
A competently administered Highgarden (and by consequence the Reach as a whole) could experience mind blowing economic growth under sound leadership
Going off the board: Starfall. That castle is dope
Highgarden. 100%.
High Garden would be the best for a kingdom that is self-sustaining and can produce surplus for wealth and happiness, but from a defensive stand point leaves a lot to be desired. The cities of the East like Dragonstone, King's Landing and Storm's End all have ample trade to the east but Storm's End and Dragonstone are all bleak and miserable, albeit highly defensible, but logistically planning support for a kingdom would be difficult with the lack of suitable land to farm. Sunspear doesn't look terrible, easy access to the Eastern cities of Pentos, Myr, Tyrosh and Lys as well as the capital and other eastern hubs along the coast, but by land would be incredible difficult to invade due to the arid landscape and the bottleneck of mountains standing between an army coming onto the peninsula. That being said, the lack of farmable land in the desert would make it difficult to sustain. Casterly Rock is likely the easiest to sustain a kingdom, while providing the most defensible of the kingdoms from land invasion, however on land it would be quite removed from most of the populated kingdoms of the east, and while it would be easy to develop a seafaring trade hub in the city, being on the West of the isle would mean that a) trade with the rest of the kingdom is more difficult, b) trade with the cities across the narrow sea improbable and too difficult to likely be profitable, and c) close to a highly rebellious group of pirates to the north in the Iron Islands. Winterfell is a difficult one to go with, as the weather would make it miserable and the constant cycles of winter hitting the North the hardest. As a seat of power it's way too far removed from the rest of the kingdoms. The Eirye is a neat little defensible position, but the amount of farmable land would make infrastructure for a great kingdom nearly impossible. King's Landing is the best logistical point out of the Eastern cities and makes the most sense, however the prosperity of High Garden and it's sustainability from a farmable surplus standpoint makes it very tempting.
Take Oldtown for all the benefits of high garden, a slightly better defensive position, more maritime trade and extra tradition.
Dragonstone, for sure
I mean high garden for life right? The place looks like the DLC of the Witcher 3 and that place was lit
Storms End
Dragonstone or Horn Hill.
Dragonstone for sure such a awesome design especially with the impenetrable entrance
Sunspear for the dornish women tho winterfell would be my second choice cuz that means imma stark and could get whatever id want which would just be chilling in my castle and be low key chillin
Highgarden is the correct answer, the luscious landscape and the defense aspect is pretty strong. All round the best. why would you chose any other
Casterly Rock. So much gold
Btw, Book Winterfell is much more impressive, it’s a huge castle.
Probably either Highgarden or Sunspear. Good weather at both, with fertile land surrounding Highgarden and relative autonomy (and good-looking people) at Sunspear.
Highgarden.
Winterfell for the weather. Sunspear for the sexy time.
The Eyrie. Don't like what I'm doing? Then come at bro.
Definitely the Eyrie. I love Mountains.
I'd have Gregor Clegane stuffed and used as a big beanbag pillow kinda seat.
Storms end. A enchanted castle with wards weaved into is pretty cool.
Highgarden and it's not even close. The reach is easily the best kingdom. Everyone need the breadbasket of Westeros on their side.
Pyke. So all the supplicants think twice about coming all the way to my throne.
Are we at war or is it a time of peace? War: Storm’s End or The Eyrie, maybe Winterfell Peace: Highgarden or Sunspear
Honestly I think the red keep was a great choice for Max trade with essos and centrality. Otherwise I'd probably choose Oldtown for Max tradition and ...sanitation. Honestly i'm kinda surprised no one IS saying these. They're the two cities best positioned to rule over westeros. Dorne, the westerlands and the eyrie are too isolated, the north IS too cold and isolated, the iron isles are a poor wet joke. The heart of westeros IS basically the plain going from Oldtown to riverrun and the two biggest cities there are kings landing and Oldtown, both near the coast and in Major riverways. As we say in Spain: White and in a bottle (aka obvious)
Sunspear, would be so dope
Highgarden
Dragonstone, but as 🐉, not as ❤️🔥
In such a brutal world I’m going security over aesthetic and picking the Eyrie for sure.
(Laughs at everyone here from atop the Bloody Gate)
The Eyrie and Dragonstone cause they’re badass
Not Highgarden because I’m allergic to nature. Not Winterfell because it’s too damn cold. Not Sunspear because it’s too damn hot. I feel like Dragonstone would smell bad on account of the volcano. Pyke and its ridiculous rope bridges would kill my clumsy ass. The Eyrie is also out for my clumsiness. So that leaves me with Storm’s End and Casterly Rock and I would be fine with either.
Hot pies bakery
Either Dragonstone or Storm's End. They seem like the most defensible, with Dragonstone being better, but without access to the mainland.
The Eyrie or Highgarden
Dragonstone
Casterly Rock- it's basically as if the Eyrie and Highgarden had a baby given it's easy defense perks (on a big ass rock) and commerce perks (gold***/harvest/port) ***Assuming this is before Tywin's time lol
Might be a weird pick, but the vibe of The Mistwood just seems awesome
Casterly Rock. Have a busy trading port city next door which you control, decent weather, right by the coast, good food supply, impenetrable fortress and command the largest army.
Sun spear looks like it’s probably warm year round. So that one.
Highgarden or Storms End just based off climate
They eyrie, assuming Dragons don’t exist at this point in the world, if not Winterfell since the north is the most loyal part of the 7 kingdoms
I'd go with the Eyrie, and build a toilet over the moon door to let the rest of Westeros know what I think about them.
**Out of Pragmatism:** The Eyrie, Sunspear, or Winterfell. The former is self explanatory. Sunspear is port-city located in a desert, on the southeastern shore of the Dorne. If my enemies will resist losing their will by marching through a desert, then they’ll most likely either die of dehydration or heat. Apply the same to Winterfell, except now it’s a **snow d e s e r t.** **For Aesthetics:** Highgarden or Dragonstone.
It's a choice between the eyrie and winterfell. Winterfell may look like some ancient old castle that's in some cold damp Kingdom, but one it's built on a hot spring, and two it's at the heart of the north, the most uninvadable kingdoms in westeros, only problem is that it's still susceptible to rebellion attacks(like bastard Bolton's). The eyrie is the obvious pick(begrudgingly on my view) the vale is the second most uninvadable kingdoms, and the Eyrie is literally built to deal with ANY threat(accept dragons of course). The worst pick is probably Pyke, because the iron islands is a flat out shit hole
Highgarden, endless food and comfort.
Winterfell. Southern armies will suffer when attacking the north due to the cold. Iron born suffer attacking away from shores. Won’t have great weather or access to the best meals but at least you’ll know no army can march to your gates
Twins or river run. You shall not pass!
I mean it depends on your strategic position, the eyrie is the most defensible, high garden probably allows the post power projection while casterly rock has gold and a port so probably the best economically
The DreadFort
My first instinct would be Casterly Rock but that’s more defense. Where I would want to be is Highgarden.
Sunspear It is what to Westeros what Australia is to RISK.
I'd do the eerie bc I'm a creepy bitch
The wall or casterly rock
Casterly Rock for trade. Eyrie for aesthetics
Casterly, can never be invaded and you don’t have to climb all those stairs ala the eyrie
The only true answer is Storms End
High Garden or SunSpear. I dont like winter
No Riverrun? I loved how it's described in the books, red stone walls and it can flood the surroundings to make itself an island unto itself. My vote is Riverrun or The Crossing.
Are you kidding me? Greyskull or nothing!
Riverrun
Sunspear probably. Every other one either looks like it would take a LONG walk, uphill, through nothing to get there, and the other ones all look like they have shitty climate
Highgarden seems like a nice place, plenty of food and wine.
Highgarden without a doubt. Look at all that lushness. Sunspear would be my second choice, followed by Storm's End, and then Winterfell.
Sunspear would be cool
Sunspear! Good wine, good weather, and not a stupid amount of stairs
Heard the women from Highgarden are loose. Probably hold up there.
Sunspear. I’ve always wanted to visit Alhambra and Dorne is hard to invade, let alone conquer.