The Gates of the Moon is associated in the account with the imprisonment of Ser Arnold Arryn, whose long confinement helped shape the circumstances of the Vale’s later succession dispute. The text places its dungeons beneath the Gates and names them alongside the sky cells of the Eyrie, distinguishing the two places of confinement without describing the Gates further.

Setting and References

The Gates of the Moon appears in a brief but consequential reference to the Vale’s political history. The account does not detail its architecture, its administration, or its relation to other parts of the Vale beyond naming its dungeons and mentioning the Eyrie in the same description. Elsewhere, the Eyrie figures in the realm’s political connections: it is among the great seats whose lords communicated secretly with Alyssa Velaryon, and later among the destinations considered in efforts to secure the Vale’s allegiance. Those references establish the importance of the Vale’s ruling seat, but do not describe events at the Gates of the Moon.

Imprisonment of Arnold Arryn

After twice attempting to depose Lady Jeyne Arryn, Ser Arnold was imprisoned. He spent many years in the Eyrie’s sky cells and in the dungeons beneath the Gates of the Moon. By the time Jeyne died, Arnold had become quite mad; his confinement is presented as the condition that left him unable to press his own claim directly.

Place in the Vale Succession Crisis

Jeyne’s death opened a contest over who would inherit her position. She had named her cousin Ser Joffrey Arryn as her heir, while Arnold’s son, Ser Eldric Arryn, advanced his father’s claim. The Gates of the Moon therefore enters the narrative not as the scene of a described confrontation, but as part of Arnold’s history of confinement—a history that frames the contrast between his incapacity and Eldric’s active ambition.