Iron Throne (A Song of Ice and Fire)

Iron Throne
The Iron Throne by Marc Simonetti, from The World of Ice & Fire (2014)
Plot element from the A Song of Ice and Fire franchise
Publisher	Bantam Books
First appearance	A Game of Thrones (1996)
Created by	George R. R. Martin
Genre	Fantasy
In-story information
Type	Government/Seat of office
Function	Monarchy and the physical royal throne of Westeros

The Iron Throne is a metonym for the fictional monarchy of Westeros as well as the physical throne of its monarch in the A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin. The success of the HBO television adaptation Game of Thrones has made the show's version of the royal seat an icon of the entire media franchise. Martin said himself in 2013, "Say 'Game of Thrones,' and people think of the HBO Iron Throne."

Martin called the depiction of the throne in his 2014 A Song of Ice and Fire companion book The World of Ice & Fire "absolutely right". He has noted repeatedly that none of the previous media representations of the throne — including books, games and the TV series — closely resemble what he had in mind when writing his novels.

In the series, the Iron Throne is both a physical seat of office as well as a metonym for the monarchy of Westeros. Martin establishes in A Game of Thrones (1996) that after seizing control of six of the Seven Kingdoms, Targaryen ruler Aegon the Conqueror had made a throne for himself from the swords of his vanquished enemies, fused by dragonfire. Aegon had established King's Landing as the royal capital, and the Iron Throne itself sits in the Red Keep. Martin writes that according to legend, Aegon kept the blades sharp so that no ruler should ever sit comfortably. Centuries later, kings still cut themselves on the throne; and it is a common belief that such rulers are therefore unfit to rule.

Purportedly made from a thousand swords and knives, the Iron Throne is a massive and asymmetrical tangle of jagged and twisted blades, in which reclining is impossible.