The following is a list of notable characters belonging to the major aristocratic houses of fictional Westeros in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series of epic fantasy novels. Female characters who married into another house are listed with their ancestral house. Other notable characters in the series are listed in Characters in A Song of Ice and Fire, and a comprehensive list of characters can be found at List of characters in A Song of Ice and Fire.

Principal noble house in the Vale. Their main seat is The Eyrie. Their sigil is a white moon-and-falcon on a sky-blue field, and their words are "As High as Honor". The family's lineage dates back to the Andals that invaded Westeros.

Jon Arryn was Warden of the East and Hand of the King during Robert Baratheon's reign. He was one of the principal leaders of Robert's Rebellion, raising his banners to protect his wards Robert and Eddard Stark. To secure the support of Lord Hoster Tully in the rebellion, Jon married Lysa Tully. As Robert's Hand of the King, Jon was left with much of the responsibility of running the Seven Kingdoms. He was a close friend and father figure to both King Robert and Lord Eddard through most of their lives.

Richard Madden (born 1986) is a Scottish stage, film, and television actor, known for his work in theatre and for his roles in both film and television.

Madden grew up in Elderslie, Scotland. His father is in the fire service and his mother is a classroom assistant. At the age of 11, he joined Paisley Arts Centre's youth theatre programme to help overcome his shyness. He was soon cast as young Andy in the film adaptation of Iain Banks's Complicity, followed by his being cast in a lead role as Sebastian in the television series Barmy Aunt Boomerang, for which he filmed 6 episodes that aired from 1999 through 2000. He graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 2007.

While at RSAMD he worked with the Arches and Glasgow Repertory Company, followed by Franz Xavier Kroetz's play Tom Fool at the Citizens' Theatre, which was so well received that it transferred to London, where Madden was spotted by a team from the Globe Theatre. In his final year with RSAMD, he was cast as Romeo in a production of Romeo and Juliet at the Globe Theatre which, after a run in London, toured in open-air stages during the Summer of 2007, being the Globe's first-ever tour. He also played Callum McGregor in the stage production of Malorie Blackman's 'Noughts and Crosses' in 2008.

Jon Snow (born 28 September 1947) is an English journalist and presenter, currently employed by ITN. He is best known for presenting Channel 4 News.

He was Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University from 2001 to 2008.

Snow was born in Ardingly, Sussex. He is the son of schoolmaster and Bishop of Whitby, George D'Oyly Snow, grandson of First World War general Thomas D'Oyly Snow (about whom he writes in his Foreword to Ronald Skirth's war memoir The Reluctant Tommy), and cousin of retired BBC television news presenter Peter Snow.

Snow was educated at independent school, Ardingly College, where his father was headmaster. He later attended the independent St Edward's School in Oxford. At age 18 he was for a year a VSO volunteer teaching in northern Uganda.

After mixed success in his first attempt to pass his A level qualifications he moved to the Yorkshire Coast College, Scarborough, where he later obtained the necessary qualifications to gain a place studying law at the University of Liverpool. However, he did not complete the degree, being rusticated for his part in a student protest. However he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters at Liverpool University in 2011.