Long Bridge

The Long Bridge is an old bridge that joins the two halves of Volantis across the mouth of the Rhoyne. Built by the Valyrian Freehold at the height of its glory, it is a great span, its fused stone roadway supported by massive piers.^[1] The Long Bridge is claimed to be strong enough to support the weight of a thousand elephants, and it is currently the longest bridge in the known world.^[2] Lomas Longstrider named the Long Bridge one of the nine Wonders Made by Man.^[2]

History

Volantis, the eldest of the Free Cities, was the first colony of the Valyrian Freehold, and was little more than a garrison protected by the Black Walls for a hundred years.^[2] Wealthy Valyrians used this military outpost to take advantage of trade along the Rhoyne,^[3] and settlements quickly grew on both sides of the river. While homes and shops and inns spread along the east bank, the west bank developed into a lawless "shadow city". The triarchs sent their slave soldiers across the Rhoyne to restore order, but strong tides and treacherous shifting currents made the crossings difficult, and eventually the triarch Vhalaso the Munificent ordered a bridge to be built across the Rhoyne. The river's great width, as well as those tides and currents, caused the building of the bridge to be a tremendous undertaking, lasting over forty years and costing millions of honors. Triarch Vhalaso died before the bridge was completed, but when it was, there was nothing comparable at the time except the Bridge of Dream in the Rhoynar city of Chroyane. After the destruction of the Rhoynar city-states, there is nothing like the Long Bridge in the known world.^[2]

Description

The half of Volantis east of the Long Bridge is the older and richer part of the city, containing "Old Volantis" within the Black Walls as well as the Temple of the Lord of Light. Foreigners are generally restricted to the wilder western half of the city. The districts near the both sides of the bridge are very crowded.^[1]

The Long Bridge's gateway at its eastern end is an arch of black stone carved with sphinxes, manticores, dragons, and other strange beasts. Beyond it stretches the dragonstone roadway, supported by massive piers.^[1]

The road is barely wide enough for two wagons to pass side by side. There are buildings on both sides of the roadway, including shops, temples, taverns, inns, cyvasse parlors, and brothels. Most buildings are three to four stories tall, and each floor extends farther than the one beneath it. The topmost floors on both sides almost reach each other. Almost everything is sold in the shops and stalls on the Long Bridge. Merchants include weavers, lacemakers, glassblowers, candlemakers, smiths, spice merchants, leatherworkers, and fishwives, side by side. Goldsmiths and spicers keep guards at their doors to protect their merchandise.^[1]

Occasionally the river Rhoyne can be glimpsed through gaps between the buildings. To the north, the Rhoyne appears to be a broad black ribbon, while south of the bridge, the river joins the briny Summer Sea.^[1]

At the bridge's center span, the Volantis city guards display the heads of executed criminals, their crimes written on tablets beneath each head. The severed hands of thieves and cutpurses are hung from iron stanchions along the roadway.^[1]

Traffic is thicker at the western end of the bridge, where the streets are filled with wayns, carts, hathays and slaves.^[4] It is then a short walk through the teeming waterfront districts of the west bank to Fishermonger's Square and the Merchant's House. The Long Bridge can be seen from the windows of some rooms in the Merchant's House.^[1]

Recent Events

A Dance with Dragons

Prince Quentyn Martell and his companions pass by the western end of the Long Bridge while traveling from the docks to the Merchant's House.^[4]

Tyrion Lannister and his captor, Ser Jorah Mormont, cross the Long Bridge from east to west in order to get to the Merchant's House and the widow of the waterfront. To Tyrion, crossing the bridge feels like passing through a torchlit tunnel. The road is just wide enough that whenever a wagon heading west passes one heading east, both have to slow to a crawl. A third of the way down the bridge, Tyrion sees that a wagon filled with melons has tangled its wheels with one carrying silken carpets, and brought all wheeled traffic to a stop. Much of the pedestrians have also stopped to watch the wagon drivers fight, but Jorah grabs Tyrion's chain and pushes their way through the crowd. Tyrion can see the Rhoyne through gaps between the buildings along the roadway, and thinks the river here is five times as wide as the Blackwater Rush at King's Landing. The two men see the executed criminals' heads at the center of the bridge, and Jorah translates the tablets to say that one was executed for killing his father, which Tyrion appreciates. Jorah considers purchasing a jeweled tiara on a bed of purple velvet, but passes it by to haggle over a pair of gloves at a leatherworker's stall. He later gifts the gloves to the widow of the waterfront.^[1]

Quotes

A man can buy most anything on the Long Bridge. Gloves, slaves, monkeys.^[1]

—the widow of the waterfront

References