Martin has admitted that his system of nomenclature for noble Houses isn't very precise, as major and minor lords are both called simply 'lords' (as opposed to differentiating between 'duke' and 'baron', etc). All of these are sworn to the great Houses.

In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels and accompanying short stories, websites and RPG sourcebooks, there are over 300 named noble Houses of Westeros. In Dorne, both men and women have equal property, inheritance and ruling rights. In most of Westeros, only men can become ruling lords, and women can only rule if the rest of the male line has been extinguished or if they are acting as regents for their sons until they have reached the age of maturity.

In times of war, they are expected to recruit and maintain a number of soldiers for their lieges. Other noble Houses, while technically holding this rank, are relatively poor.Ī typical noble House is seated at a castle and controls the land around it, collecting tithes and taxes from farmers, lesser landholders and smallfolk. House Hightower rules Oldtown, the second largest city in Westeros, and possesses large armies and fleets of its own. Some of the most powerful noble Houses rival the smaller great Houses in terms of wealth and the size of the armies they can field, e.g. Members of the nobility are called 'highborn', in contrast to lowborn commoners. The most powerful vassal Houses may themselves field armies of a few thousand and control large regions, while the smallest Houses may be little more than impoverished landholders with only a few men to their name. There are nine great Houses, and each of them have a number of vassal Houses (sometimes also referred to as lesser Houses) in their liege. In Westeros ultimate power derives from the King on the Iron Throne and descends through the Great Houses that rule the constituent regions of the continent to their vassals. The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros are divided between many hundreds of noble Houses of various sizes.

Map showing the approximate locations of the noble Houses mentioned in the first two seasons.

Most powerful houses in westeros