﻿#title:House Baratheon of King's Landing
#author:Maester
#types:westeros
#

House Baratheon of King's Landing is an extinct cadet branch of the original House Baratheon of Storm's End. It had been the royal house of Westeros since the defeat of and exile of the Targaryen dynasty following Robert's Rebellion.

Their seat was the Red Keep in the city of King's Landing and their domains were the lands ruled directly by the Iron Throne, the Crownlands. After the destruction of the Great Sept of Baelor, with King Tommen I's suicide, House Baratheon of King's Landing is now extinct. Nonetheless its parent house, House Baratheon, was revived by Queen Daenerys Targaryen after she legitimized Robert's bastard son Gendry and gave him the lordship of Storm's End.

In reality, House Baratheon of King's Landing became a puppet house of House Lannister the moment Joffrey I ascended; all three of Robert Baratheon and Cersei Lannister's supposed children were actually the products of an incestuous relationship between Cersei and her twin brother Jaime.

Robert Baratheon founded the new royal house after he deposed the last Targaryen king, Aerys II, known as the Mad King, during his rebellion. Afterwards, Robert ruled the Seven Kingdoms for seventeen prosperous and mostly peaceful years (barring the localized Greyjoy Rebellion which occurred eight years into his reign). To strengthen his powerbase, Robert entered into a marriage-alliance with the wealthy House Lannister, wedding Lord Tywin Lannister's daughter, Cersei. Their first child died in infancy, but afterwards Cersei gave birth to three children: Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen.

After the mysterious and sudden death of Hand of the King Jon Arryn, Robert brought his old friend and wartime companion Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell, to serve as the new Hand of the King. Eddard eventually discovered the truth that Jon Arryn had died for: none of Cersei's children, including Joffrey, were Robert's children. Rather, they were all bastards of incest fathered by Cersei's own twin brother, Jaime. Out of mercy, and his steadfast refusal to harm children, Eddard directly confronted Cersei with his discovery and warned her to flee Westeros with her children. In response, Cersei had Robert assassinated by having her cousin Lancel Lannister (serving as the king's squire) slip Robert very strong wine during a hunt. Robert's senses were dulled enough that a boar managed to fatally gore him. As soon as Robert passed, Cersei sat Joffrey on the Iron Throne, and demanded Stark's submission, but he ordered the Gold Cloaks to take the royal family into custody - not realizing that Janos Slynt and his men were already bought by the Lannisters and Petyr Baelish, who all betrayed Lord Stark, killing his remaining guards and arresting him. Cersei's plan was to force Eddard into signing a confession but be allowed to keep his life by joining the Night's Watch. However, on a sadistic whim, Joffrey ordered Lord Eddard beheaded on the very steps of the Great Sept of Baelor - a politically disastrous blunder which drove the North to openly declare its independence.