Why is it called the Seven Kingdoms if there are nine regions?

The name is a leftover from the eve of Aegon’s Conquest, when Westeros south of the Wall was held by seven sovereigns. Aegon took only six of them; Dorne stayed independent for nearly two more centuries and joined by marriage in 187 AC. The realm that came out of the Conquest is divided into nine regions — the north, the Vale of Arryn, the Iron Islands, the riverlands, the westerlands, the crownlands, the Reach, the stormlands and Dorne — but the older name stuck.

What is a sigil, and how does it differ from a coat of arms?

A sigil is the heraldic device of a Westerosi house — the direwolf of House Stark, the merman of House Manderly — and it works much as a coat of arms does in Europe. The difference is one of law rather than picture: the arms belong to the family, as in Germany or Italy, so every trueborn member may bear them, where English practice grants arms to one person at a time.

Can bastards bear their father’s arms in Westeros?

Sometimes, and with a difference added. Bastards may use their father’s arms marked with a distinction — most often the colours reversed — which is close to the marks of cadency real heralds used to set younger sons and illegitimate lines apart.

Westeros Sigil

House Mertyns of Mistwood

House Mertyns of Mistwood is a noble house of Westeros, from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO's Game of Thrones. This is the sigil — the heraldic emblem identifying the house across the Seven Kingdoms.

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House Mertyns of Mistwood