352 replies to this topic

[Winter's Ghost]

I just finished the series and after lurking on this board for a couple of days I decided to join. I looked back at the last couple of pages to see if a similar thread was already made, but I didn't see any (sorry if I missed it).

I figured it would be the Eyrie, but their's also Storms End which resisited the siege by the Tyrells and Greywater Watch which can't even be found. What do you guys think?

[l3ol3o]

Hmm there's a lot of castles that are very strong. The Eyrie is definitely one of them. Greywater Watch is another since no one can even find it to siege it. Storms End and Winterfell are both described as strong. Harrenhall fully staffed may be the thoughest though just because of the size of it. It needs a whole army to properly defend it though.

[Helgar]

You mean strong or well-protected? The Eyrie is not particularly large or strong, but as I3oI3o said it may be the best-protected castle in the Seven Kingdoms. Storming it isn't even an option, all you can do is try to starve it out. Also, Greywater Watch is probably small, but it might just be the only castle in Westeros that no one has ever conquered.

Harrenhall has the tallest towers, the thickest walls, the strongest gates, but as we see from the series, that doesn't really help those who hold it.

I would have to choose Storm's End. Stannis showed us how bothersome it can be trying to win that castle when he held it against the Tyrells, and plus, hello, awesome name.

Edited by Helgar, 27 June 2012 - 05:24 PM.

[Gar Weg Wun Sygerrik]

Have to go with Harrenhal, definitely pre-dragon attack. Maybe with the Eyrie, vs. post-dragon Harrenhal.

[Allyria Iliogeniti]

I would pick
The Eyrie
Pyke
Sunspear
Harrenhall
Storm's End

[Batman]

• Storms End
  
• The Eyrie
  
• Casterly Rock
  
• Winterfell

[HouseHarrison]

The eyrie, if it's well garrisoned I have no idea how a westerns army is meant to take it

[DurararaFTW]

Riverrun is pretty defensible, you gotta split your army in three camps just to maintain a siege on it. In an era that is based mostly around siegewarfare anyway, that's a big advantage. If it's Harrenhal or Storm's End the sirg would last forever, yes but with Riverrun the hope of lifting the siege by an outside attack is considerably greater.

[Lame Display Name]

The Eyrie sounds almost worthless, to be honest. Since it's too small to garrison even a tiny army in it, and the only way down is a narrow, slow and dangerous path. The enemy doesn't need to "take it". All he needs to do is to post like a hundred men or so down at the bottom of the mountain, and have them build counter fortifications along the path and man them. That way the majority of his army can go off doing something else, while the Eyrie slowly starves out with the people up there not being able to do anything about it except waiting, or trying a suicide attack down the mountain. Since the main purpose of a castle is to control the land surrounding it, and forcing an enemy to attack it, the Eyrie is a failure. It does not tie up an attacking army at all. It's only strength is that it is basically impossible to storm, but that should only matter if your enemy is much weaker and relies on a quick capture before reinforcements can arrive. But having a castle that is only useful against a much weaker enemy doesn't sound particularly good to me.

Storm's End is a much better candidate IMO. It can garrison a large force, has huge magic fantasy-walls (meaning that storming it is incredibly hard), and it can be supplied (and escaped from) by the sea as well as the land. Meaning that an enemy needs a naval blockade to go with the land army if he wants to besiege it, making such a project even more resource intensive and prone to failure. I'd put that as a number one.

Winterfell sounds pretty strong as well. I wonder how much food those greenhouses could produce, how large they were. If their output was large enough the castle should basically be impossible to starve out, though I doubt they were that productive.

Edited by Blaaargh, 27 June 2012 - 06:20 PM.

[Dragon-Wolf]

My vote goes to Storms End,

George went in to great detail describing how thick it's walls were to us. Kings Landing is pretty defensible too, the Blackwater bay being a good natural defense.

[Lord Paramount of Essos]

Storm's End is cool, and you also need a fleet to siege it
Winterfell sounds huge and strong. Remember Ned telling his daughter that Winterfell is larger than the Red Keep. Also it has 2 walls, like Constantinople.
Rivverun needs 3 armies. has strong walls and rivers. It is surrunded by fertile areas, so it is never without food.
The Twins in Summer are imposible to siege, since they can always get provisions from the other side.
Finally, Dragonstone seems kinda of a great Stronghold.

[Mr Motte]

Of the great houses the strongest probably are:

-Storm's End
-Casterly Rock
-Winterfell
-Eyrie

I'd assume Greywater Watch (because of its changing location), the Twins, Harrenhal and the Dreadfort are pretty hard to siege.

[salt]

The Eyrie seems the most purely invincible to being stormed, but it can't be used in the winter and seems like it could be starved out fairly easily.  Storm's End is probably one of the strongest, and while we haven't seen it yet, I bet Casterly Rock is pretty epic.  Balon Geyjoy is a man known for biting off more than he can chew, yet when Theon meets with him he doesn't even entertain the idea of laucnhing an attack on the Rock.


"We are the Ironborn, and we take what we want!  I will take my crown just as Urron Redhand did 5,000 years ago!  The mighty kraken shall rise from the depths and the sea will sweep over the green lands!"

"How about attacking Casterly Rock?"

"Oh, fuck no Theon, don't even joke about that.  I just peed a little bit."

[Lord Paramount of Essos]

Why Casterly Rock?

[Ser Lord]

Helm's Deep, it only has that small stream as a weak point

[genegirl]

Storm's End.

[Anvilbreaker]

the Eyrie is impregnable...

[Mr Motte]

Lord Paramount of Essos, on 27 June 2012 - 06:36 PM, said:

Why Casterly Rock?

During the war they frequently talk about how Robb doesn't have enough men to storm the Rock. Its also built out of a hill and therefore has a lot of natural as well as man made defenses.

[Bib Fortuna]

Anvilbreaker, on 27 June 2012 - 07:23 PM, said:

the Eyrie is impregnable...

Give me ten good men and some climbing spikes, I'll impregnate the bitch.

[Pod The Impaler]

I would say the Eyrie, in the sense that there's no feasible way to storm it, especially if those inside are prepared to defend it. An army of any size would be reduced to a tiny gap, going up a steep slope, under fire from above. A siege in mountains would be hell - the way up is too steep and narrow for siege engines, and if the garrison is well provisioned they can just outwait you as the cold kills your army. If an army cannot have food or shelter (and up there it would have neither), it would soon die. But I suppose as someone said, if you left the Eyrie alone isolated it, it would soon be a moot point militarily. (Perhaps that's its purpose - designed to be left alone.)

Storm's End sounds like an incredibly tough nut to crack.
Even in ruins, Moat Cailin sounds terrifying. Swampy death.