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Strongest castles in Westeros


Gerold the Great

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18 hours ago, Adam Yozza said:

I agree with your top 3. But what do Sunspear and Highgarden have that make them better than Riverrun? Both have three walls sure and Highgarden has the maze but lets be honest here, are either of them more effective than turning the castle into an island? Riverrun, by its very nature, forces besieging armies to split into multiple forces with rivers in between them, isolating them from each other and leaving them wide open to being picked off one by one. For me, if we're discounting prime Harrenhall then Riverrun has to go in at number 4.

They are bigger and more imune to catapults, Sunspear is bordered on three sides by see and Highgarden has fleet that can bring suplies 

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10 hours ago, A Ghost of Someone said:

There is no doubt about Casterly Rock.  Hit that bastard with plague, disease (pale mare), Lay siege to it, Seal it off from the outside World for a decade and then clean up and it is all yours. 

OMG, if you fire plague on them that also means that your camp is also hit by plague and as such it would not survive for long, bu you could retreat to the mines where you would be protected by the rock itself and you also need to have fleet to seal it from see and decade long siege is impossible ( after two year siege of Storms end the Tyrell reatreated). 

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23 hours ago, Bernie Mac said:

Has there ever been a serious effort by an enemy army to try and find and take it? 

Not sure, but I imagined it would be hard to siege even if it was found because of the swamp land and bogs that surround it while it's moving. Definitely not a castle worth trying to take and hold unless someone with a large army really wanted it. 

The Wiki says that Andals and Iron Born have tried to take it but I wasn't able to confirm that with the World book. 

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8 hours ago, Gerold the Great said:

OMG, if you fire plague on them that also means that your camp is also hit by plague and as such it would not survive for long, bu you could retreat to the mines where you would be protected by the rock itself and you also need to have fleet to seal it from see and decade long siege is impossible ( after two year siege of Storms end the Tyrell reatreated). 

Who said anything about firing plague parts at them? Hit hem/Attack them..... send it inside with goods, Trojan Horse them with it. A Mountain is still a Mountain and that would be the advantage to an attacker using such tactics. 

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On Tue Jan 15 2019 at 2:17 PM, Gerold the Great said:

1.Casterly rock(without doubt, Martin said it) 

2.Storm's end

3.Eyrie

4.Highgarden

5.Sunspear

6.Winterfell

7.Pyke

8.Riverrun

Well Eyrie is impossible to take by force while defended by only a few soldiers. Problem is it is very cold there and no way of getting supplies in so it is easy to starve. 

Harrenhall is probably still best castle when you have 10k soldiers to defend it. With few it's like an open field. 

So it is hard to make a comparison. If you don't have soldiers to man the walls of Highgarden, Winterfell, Sunspear they are pretty shit castles and would put Dragonstone above them or any other smaller castle. 

So in a way Storm's End with Davos smuggling food is better than Rock which can be starved. 

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On 1/15/2019 at 1:06 PM, Leo of House Cartel said:

Both good points, Ser, but I think we should keep in mind that the garrison lead by Roland Storm during the siege of Dragonstone seems to have only been a token force. That Loras Tyrell and some 1000 of the besiegers were apparently slain/injured during the skirmish (according to Aurane Waters, for what it's worth) might suggest that trying to take a fully manned Dragonstone would have been a different matter.

As I mentioned, that Riverrun island trick is awesome, and historically, the castle has never been taken by storm, so probably does deserve a high place on the list.

I agree Stannis only left a token force behind to hold Dragonstone, and they still killed 1000 Lannister men which in feudal times is a HUGE loss. So much a loss that IMO Loras failed because sacrificing 1000 good men for a meaningless castle was foolish. 

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8 minutes ago, Stormking902 said:

I agree Stannis only left a token force behind to hold Dragonstone, and they still killed 1000 Lannister men which in feudal times is a HUGE loss. So much a loss that IMO Loras failed because sacrificing 1000 good men for a meaningless castle was foolish. 

Not on Loras' part.  The Ironborn were attacking the Reach and Cersei was willing to see Oldtown sacked rather than Dragonstone under the command of a small force of rebels. 

Loras chose a quick resolution allowed the Redwyne fleet to go home. A tough, but ultimately correct military decision. 

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4 hours ago, Stormking902 said:

I agree Stannis only left a token force behind to hold Dragonstone, and they still killed 1000 Lannister men which in feudal times is a HUGE loss. So much a loss that IMO Loras failed because sacrificing 1000 good men for a meaningless castle was foolish. 

Loras certainly seems rash in his approach to the matter, but it's a tricky situation.

On one hand, the siege caused the deaths of around half of the attacking force - while on the other, it allowed the Redwyne fleet quicker access to the defence of the Reach from Ironborn incursions, something I'm sure Renly and many others believed would help prevent the deaths of many nobles and smallfolk.

As for the castle itself, I think Dragonstone holds much meaning, both from a military standpoint as well as the historical significance of the place.

Considering the Iron Throne's apparent lack of real information on the post-siege goings on around The Conqueror's keep, one can see why many argue that Dragonstone might even be currently used as some secret military station post (for lack of a better term) by forces loyal to the Tyrells and Redwynes, who clearly want rid of Cersei. 

 

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21 hours ago, Ralphis Baratheon said:

The Wiki says that Andals and Iron Born have tried to take it but I wasn't able to confirm that with the World book. 

Quote

"There are no knights in the Neck," said Jojen.

"Above the water," his sister corrected. "The bogs are full of dead ones, though."

"That's true," said Jojen. "Andals and ironmen, Freys and other fools, all those proud warriors who set out to conquer Greywater. Not one of them could find it. They ride into the Neck, but not back out. And sooner or later they blunder into the bogs and sink beneath the weight of all that steel and drown there in their armor." (ASOS Bran II)

 

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On 1/17/2019 at 1:18 AM, A Ghost of Someone said:

Who said anything about firing plague parts at them? Hit hem/Attack them..... send it inside with goods, Trojan Horse them with it. A Mountain is still a Mountain and that would be the advantage to an attacker using such tactics. 

Mountain is advantage because it is mountain and as such it is impossible to destroy it and you can "Hit them/Attack them..." any castle... 

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