What is the strongest castle?

[Ser Grimes]

I thought they only 3 that were any kinda strong were winterfell...the eyrie and storms end...

Against dragons...idk

[Wynter Manderly]

for me, storm's end and harrenhal (fully manned) are the strongest

[Come Try Me]

Storm's End.

The castle's wall seems to be the highest and the thickest one in the Realm (well, except the Wall). Big enough to garrison a considerable number of swords, yet not too big to be tenable. As the castle stands between the land and the sea whoever plans to besiege the castle has to attain both ground and naval supremacy and whoever plans to storm Storm's End is put at a great disadvantage as he can attack the castle from one side only while defenders have to defend only half of the wall.

I agree, plus there are magic spells woven in the walls. Melissandre had to get Davos to smuggle her under the walls for her to deliver the shadow baby.

[therealbando]

Storm`s End seems to be the strongest one, but I also like Winterfell and The Eyrie

[LuisDantas]

I agree, plus there are magic spells woven in the walls. Melissandre had to get Davos to smuggle her under the walls for her to deliver the shadow baby.

Maybe. But seeing how Melisandre lies so much, the supposed spells did not seem to make any discernible difference after all, and it is just like Melissandre to try and involve Davos in her plots to further break him, I don't see it as a given.

[ninewinter]

Direct assault when fully defended.

1.) The Eerie - no chance

2.) Storms End - big and well built + magic defences

3.) Harenhall - big but probably not in good repair

4.) Castlery Rock - probably had a lot of money spent on defences

5.) Winterfell - seems a general all rounder + magic defences

By siege it gets complicated with chance of a break out, maintaining a large/small siege force for months or years in hostile lands and chance of resupply.

So I would go:

1.) The Twins - spans a river you can't cross so you need two armies.

2.) Winterfel - the besieging army would be very isolated in the North in a hostile unforgiving land; it's the Moscow of castles

3.) Storms End - held out for a long time and has resupply by sea.

4.) King's Landing - too big to fully cover and lots of peasant’s could be recruited for a break out attempt.

5.) Riverun - not so easy was it Jaime

The Eerie can hold out for a long time but it would be very hard to sally out from so the attacking army does not need a large siege force.

CASTERLY ROCK should be the third in the direct assault. Maybe second. AND THE FIRST IN SIEGE Of course, we can never know the details of Casterly rock, but then I think I remember two statesments about it that seems to guarantee it may be one of the strongest Castles in westeros. I believe its Jaime chapters, when he said about the girl who live all her live in Harrenhall and how ALL castles in westeros would seem small to her except the rock. clearly it means the rock is currently the largest one. Long siege can also be hard since, the Rock can rely in Lannisport's levies, the Sea for supply, and of course, the Lannisters can have enough money to buy supplies that would last for years and years.

The name itself can mean a very strong castle. I imagined the Rock can be like a Bigger Bamburgh or Bebbanburg. if there's Bernard cornwell's fans here. :)

[ninewinter]

And correct me if Im wrong but, do we have any evidence that the Rock was captured at any given time? the Lannisters is one of the oldest house as well.

[Djinn]

Lann the clever tricked the Casterly's out of the Rock in the age of Heroes. There's no mention of ever being taken since. This was the same age when Winterfell, Storm's End and the Wall were built.

[TheNorthernWarrior]

Robb doesn't even really consider sieging Casterly Rock, as if he didn't want to bother because he knew he couldn't take it. So it must be pretty strong, since he had annilahed all armies around it.

The one thing that Winterfell has is two rings of walls. The other is huge ass Graneries for food storage. This is a place designed to last winters that are years long. It is the one place where the beseigers could outlast the seigers.It is the middle of the North, so in essance, if your are attacking it you are in the middle of enemy territory. Northmen could approach to lift the siege from any direction. It seems that most attacking armies rely in foraging and pillaging the surrounding area, this wouldn't be possible in Winter. So you might need 3-5 years to starve them out, time you wont have either because Winter will come and starve you out before Winterfell or because you'll be flanked by other Northmen.

[l2 0 5 5]

Everyone says Winterfell, but it was seized by fifty ironmen who only had grappling hooks. They made it look quite easy. I know the whole Winterfell army was with Robb, but still, only fifty ironmen and Winterfell was theirs. I'd have to go with Storm's end, The Eyrie, Greywater Watch and The Twins.

[TheNorthernWarrior]

Everyone says Winterfell, but it was seized by fifty ironmen who only had grappling hooks. They made it look quite easy. I know the whole Winterfell army was with Robb, but still, only fifty ironmen and Winterfell was theirs. I'd have to go with Storm's end, The Eyrie, Greywater Watch and The Twins.

Not only had Robbs Army left, but Rodrik Cassel had taken the garrison left behind to defind it to aid Torrhen's Square. The castle was literally defended by Hodor only. This is the maybe the single boneheaded move that in the whole chain of event that causes Robb demise that makes no sense at all. Leaving your castle, the capital Castle of the north, the Kings Seat, and his two heirs and family, complete and utterly defenceless to defend another Castle makes no sense at all. Deepwood Moote was sacked, Torrhen's Swuare is seiged, seems the right move would be to sit tight in the strongest Castle and wait for word from Robb. Or work with Manderly to raise a real 2nd army.

Rodrik was left in charge of the Castle, not defending the whole North. But we see throughout Bran's chapters his power goes to his head and he starts acting like he is the Lord of Winterfell, even eying Lady Hornwood.

[Fat Mac]

Winterfell was taken by stealth. It'd be quite different if anyone tried to mount a siege on it.

[Mr Hodor]

Storms End..never falling to storm or siege

Eyrie..impregnable

[Princess in the North]

I'm gonna have to go with Winterfell. It has two thick walls surrounding it one if which is very high. Also has greenhouses to produce food during a siege which is very helpful.

Storm's End is also a good choice except that when the tyrell siege would have been with anyone but stannis holding the castle it would have surrendered long before.

All by all it therefore really just depends on who is holding the castle.

[Chatty Duelist]

The Eyre - Useless, hilariously easy to starve out

Casterly Rock - Built with strong defenses coupled with efficient use of the terrain.

Storm's End - Colossal Walls, needs a fleet as well as a land army to take. Even then it lasted over a year.

Winterfell - Huge Double Walls with a moat inbetween. "500 men can hold it against 20k."

Riverrun - Savvy use of the terrain makes it hard to besiege.

[Draco_Dracul]

Ironically, despite it's fequent mention in this thread I'd put The Eyrie as a rather weak castle becuase the very thing that makes it invincible to assualt makes it trivial to siege.

I'd probably put Storm's End as the strongest castle.

[King of Sothoryos]

I'd say Casterly Rock. It's basically a mountain larger than the Wall and has the sea on one side. It cannot be stormed, starving the garrison is really hard unless you have a strong navy and Lannisport is already captured by you. No other castle is so well defended. If Lorren Lannister had stayed in the Rock, Aegon would have found it really hard to take the Westerlands.

[Wavey Sauce]

Greywater watch. Just cause its near impossible to find and if you find it once that doesnt mean you till find it again. Tons of Freys and other houses lost tons of soldiers while trying to find it. Other than it moving, there is a thousand ways to die when trying to find it. Areas with grass that look like hollow ground, get stepped on and their heavy armor causes them to sink. But if you go with light to no armor there is tons of poison bugs and things that can bite or infect you. Plus the crannogmen who know that whole area well will surprise attacks and setting up traps etc

[Kyll.Ing.]

I feel like some sort of analogy would be in place here. Sometimes you hear the phrase "he's thick as a castle wall" in-universe. That's not meant to be a compliment.

If we could switch it around, and make castle walls as thick as the heads of a certain group of forum users, who dig up a sixteen-month-old thread and bump it when there's an active thread on the same subject barely a week old, the castle would be far stronger than any in Westeros.

Pardon my language.

[Ingelheim]

I wouldn't even name the Eyrie a TOP 5 castle in Westeros. Casterly Rock, Winterfell, Storm's End...all far better. It's incredibly easy to starve the Eyrie out.