High Council of the Triarchy

The High Council of the Triarchy was the decision-making body of the Three Daughters, a confederation without a single king. Its role in the conflict over the Iron Throne showed both the reach of its collective power and the delays built into its deliberations: a decision made in Tyrosh eventually sent a fleet into the Gullet, where it seized a ship carrying two Targaryen princes.

Composition and Deliberation

The Triarchy had no true king. Its important decisions rested with a High Council composed of eleven magisters from each of its three cities. The thirty-three members each sought to demonstrate their own judgment and secure advantages for their city, making agreement difficult even on urgent questions of war, peace, and alliance.

The council’s deliberative character could frustrate allies awaiting a response. When envoys from Otto Hightower arrived to seek support against the Velaryon blockade, the High Council was not in session. Its absence contributed to a delay that angered Aegon II, who removed Otto as Hand and appointed Criston Cole in his place.

Alliance Against the Blockade

Otto’s proposal offered the Three Daughters exclusive trading rights at King’s Landing in return for clearing the Gullet of Velaryon ships and reopening the sea lanes. He also promised to cede the Stepstones, although the Iron Throne had never claimed those islands. The bargain linked military intervention to commercial access and territorial reward.

The council eventually accepted the offer at a meeting in Tyrosh. Ninety warships then sailed from the Stepstones under the banners of the Three Daughters, heading for the Gullet. The fleet’s intervention made the High Council’s decision a direct military threat to the Velaryon blockade and to Rhaenyra’s cause.

The Gullet and Its Consequences

As the Triarchy’s fleet approached, the Pentoshi cog Gay Abandon, carrying two Targaryen princes, sailed into its path. The escorts sent to protect the vessel were sunk or captured, and the cog itself was taken. Prince Aegon escaped to Dragonstone on Stormcloud, but the wounded dragon died soon after; Prince Viserys was captured and carried off by the fleet’s admiral, Sharako Lohar.

The episode demonstrates the council’s consequential, if sometimes slow, role in the Triarchy’s foreign policy. Its eventual approval transformed Otto’s offer into an alliance and a naval campaign, with immediate consequences for the royal family and the struggle at sea.