A demonstration GENEALOGIX archive covering the families and dynasties of A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. This archive showcases every feature of the GLX specification through the rich genealogical and political world of Westeros.
The ASOIAF universe is an ideal stress-test for a genealogical data format:
- 790+ persons spanning 73 noble houses, with overlapping names (multiple Aegons, Brandons, Walders), bastard surnames by region, aliases, and competing claims of identity
- Unreliable narrators — the books are told through biased POV characters, making evidence chains and competing assertions essential
- Disputed facts — is Joffrey a Baratheon or a Lannister? Is Young Griff a Targaryen or a Blackfyre? Is Jon Snow Ned's bastard or Rhaegar's son?
- Book vs. show canon divergence — separate evidence tracks for two versions of the same story
- Complex non-genealogical relationships — wards, sworn swords, hostages, liege-vassal bonds, kingsguard oaths, betrothals, regencies
- Deep temporal data — events spanning thousands of years from the Age of Heroes through the War of the Five Kings
| Entity | Count | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Persons | 790 | Characters across 73+ houses and surnames |
| Events | 961 | Births, deaths, battles, executions, coronations, rebellions, and more |
| Relationships | 807 | Parent-child, marriage, betrothal, ward, sworn sword, and political bonds |
| Assertions | 820+ | Source-backed conclusions with full evidence chains |
| Citations | 260+ | Specific chapter, episode, and appendix references |
| Places | 108 | Castles, cities, kingdoms, regions, landmarks, rivers |
| Sources | 11 | Novels, companion books, HBO series, author statements |
| Repositories | 4 | ASOIAF novels, HBO series, wiki references, legacy imports |
| Vocabularies | 16 | Controlled type definitions for all entity categories |
Frey (91), Targaryen (70), Lannister (23), Tyrell (19), Waynwood (18), Stark (16), Hightower (15), Florent (15), Martell (14), Baratheon (12), Rivers (12), Greyjoy (11), Arryn (11), and 60+ more.
Every GLX entity type is exercised:
| Entity type | Spec link | How it's used in this archive |
|---|---|---|
| Person | spec | Characters with temporal properties — titles that change over time (Lord of Winterfell → King in the North), multiple name types (birth, alias, married), houses, religions, causes of death |
| Event | spec | 102 custom event types: battles, assassinations, coronations, trials by combat, kingsmoots, rebellions, dragon hatchings, walks of atonement. Participants with typed roles. |
| Relationship | spec | Standard genealogical (parent-child, marriage, sibling) plus 16 Westeros-specific types: ward, sworn sword, liege-vassal, kingsguard, betrothal, secret lover, hostage, regent, hand of the king, and more |
| Place | spec | Hierarchical geography — place-winterfell (castle) → place-the-north (kingdom) → place-westeros (continent). Types include continent, kingdom, castle, city, town, region, landmark, battlefield |
| Source | spec | 5 novels, companion texts, HBO series, AWOIAF wiki, author statement collections |
| Citation | spec | Specific chapter references (ASOS Catelyn VII), episode references (S06E10 — The Winds of Winter), appendix entries, and manuscript annotations with text_from_source quotes |
| Assertion | spec | Property assertions, participant assertions, competing claims with confidence and status levels. See Competing claims below. |
| Repository | spec | Organizational containers: ASOIAF novel series, HBO broadcast series, wiki reference collection, legacy GEDCOM import |
| Media | spec | Not used in this archive (no image/document attachments) |
The GLX evidence model traces every fact through a full chain:
Repository → Source → Citation → Assertion → Entity Property
Example: Robb Stark's death at the Red Wedding
repository-asoiaf-novels
└─ source-asos (A Storm of Swords)
└─ citation-asos-catelyn-vii (Catelyn VII — "The crossbow bolt drove him to his knees.")
└─ assertion-robb-stark-death-red-wedding
└─ person-robb-stark (died_on: "299", cause_of_death: "Homicide")
Example: Joffrey's parentage — competing evidence chains
citation-agot-appendix → assertion-joffrey-father-official (Robert, confidence: low, status: disproven)
citation-agot-eddard-xii → assertion-joffrey-father-actual (Jaime, confidence: high, status: proven)
Event participation uses participant assertions with typed roles, keeping the evidence chain intact even for who-was-at-what-battle questions.
The assertion system shines when facts are disputed. This archive demonstrates several patterns:
Joffrey's parentage shows both states — the official claim (Robert's son) is status: disproven, while the actual parentage (Jaime's son) is status: proven, each backed by different citations.
Jon Snow's parentage (R+L=J) shows parallel evidence tracks:
- Book evidence →
confidence: medium, status: supported(extensive circumstantial evidence, not yet explicitly stated) - Show evidence →
confidence: high, status: proven(S06E10 and S07E07 directly confirm it)
Both assertions reference the same person and property but cite different source types (novel chapters vs. TV episodes).
The "Coldhands = Benjen Stark" theory was definitively disproven by GRRM's handwritten "NO" on the ADWD manuscript, now held at Texas A&M's Cushing Library. This assertion has confidence: high, status: disproven — unusual for fan theories, since the refutation comes directly from the author rather than from textual evidence. Meanwhile, the HBO show merged the characters anyway, creating a separate status: accepted assertion for show canon.
The "Tyrion Targaryen" theory (Tyrion is the son of Aerys II, not Tywin) demonstrates confidence: low, status: speculative — textual evidence exists but is heavily debated. A competing assertion maintains the orthodox parentage as status: accepted.
The (f)Aegon / Blackfyre theory similarly sits at confidence: low, status: speculative, with textual clues from the Golden Company's Blackfyre roots and Illyrio's Valyrian-featured wife Serra.
This archive extends the standard GLX vocabularies with types specific to Westerosi society:
- 102 event types — standard lifecycle events plus
battle,rebellion,sack,assassination,trial_by_combat,kingsmoot,mutiny,dragon_hatching,walk_of_atonement, and more - 65 relationship types — standard genealogical types plus
ward,sworn_sword,liege_vassal,kingsguard,betrothal,secret_lover,hostage,regent,hand_of_the_king - 123 participant roles —
perpetrator,victim,commander,defender,betrayer,hostage,cupbearer, and domain-specific roles - 61 place types —
continent,kingdom,castle,city,battlefield,ruin, and more
Vocabulary files live in vocabularies/ and are validated by glx validate.
Person properties change over time. GLX handles this through temporal date qualifiers (date formats):
# Daenerys Targaryen's titles accumulate across 5 books
title:
- value: "Princess"
date: "FROM 284 TO 298"
- value: "Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea"
date: "FROM 298"
- value: "Queen of Meereen"
date: "FROM 299"Dates use the AC (After Conquest) calendar, which maps directly to GLX's standard date format with qualifiers like ABT (about), BEF (before), BET ... AND ... (between), FROM (from), and TO (to).
Places form a tree via parent references:
place-westeros (continent)
└─ place-the-north (kingdom)
└─ place-winterfell (castle)
└─ place-winterfell-godswood (landmark)
├── persons/ # One .glx file per character (790 files)
├── events/ # Births, deaths, battles, coronations (961 files)
├── relationships/ # Genealogical and political bonds (807 files)
├── assertions/ # Source-backed conclusions, evidence chains (820+ files)
├── citations/ # Chapter/episode/appendix references (260+ files)
├── sources/ # Source records for novels, show, wikis (11 files)
├── repositories/ # Source repositories (4 files)
├── places/ # Hierarchical geography (108 files)
├── vocabularies/ # Controlled type definitions (16 files)
└── metadata.glx # Archive metadata
Each entity lives in its own .glx file (YAML format). This is the multi-file archive layout — ideal for Git version control, where each commit documents a research finding.
glx validate # validate entire archive
glx validate file.glx # validate a single fileThe archive validates clean (0 errors). See the GLX CLI for installation.
The initial seed data was imported from a Findmypast sample GEDCOM file (exported via MyHeritage Family Tree Builder 7.0, May 2013) and converted to GLX format. Legacy entities retain their original numeric IDs (e.g., person-488) with MyHeritage RINs preserved in external_ids properties.
The archive has since been extensively expanded with research from the novels, appendices, companion texts (TWOIAF, Fire & Blood), the HBO adaptation, author statements, and community wikis — each tracked through the full evidence chain.
- GLX Specification — the full format reference
- Core Concepts — properties, assertions, evidence chains, dates
- Archive Organization — file layout, validation, IDs
- Quickstart Guide — get started with GLX
- Best Practices — recommended patterns
- Examples — other GLX archive examples
The factual genealogical data in this archive is derived from the published works of George R.R. Martin. This structured dataset is provided for research, educational, and fan purposes.