That’s not what happened:
The arrival of the Andals in the Seven Kingdoms only hastened the decline of the Iron Islands, for unlike the First Men who had gone before, the Andals were fearless seamen, with longships of their own as swift and seaworthy as any that the ironborn could build. As the Andals flooded into the riverlands, the westerlands, and the Reach, new villages sprang up along the coasts, walled towns and stout stone-and-timber castles rose over every cove and harbor, and great lords and petty kings alike began to build warships to defend their shores and shipping.
The World of Ice & Fire: The Iron Kings
I think what the original petitioner might have been asking here, by implication, is “The Andals crossed the narrow sea to conquer most of Westeros, what would it take for them to once again take to their ships and start a’conquering? Because they seem to have kinda stopped doing that.”
And the answer to that, I think, is there’d need to be both motive and opportunity. Westeros has largely been disunited for most of its history, and Essos has, until 400 years ago (a drop in the bucket in Planetos time, which measures things by the millenia) been ruled by client states of Valyria, and you only need to talk to some Rhoynar to get a pretty good idea about what happens when you fuck with Valyrian client states.
Additionally, Westeros itself was heavily divided until the Targaryen Conquest; abandoning your Westerosi demesnes for some opportunistic conquest across the narrow sea might be fraught. If you’re a Durrandon King or Martell Prince(ss) and you decide to slice off a hunk of Essos during the Century of Blood, the Tyrells or the Ironmen are going to be all up in your grill the second you turn your back on tham, for example. The Arryns might have tried, I suppose, but the Arryns have a persistent internal problem in the form of the Mountain Clans.
Now, after the Conquest, things are a bit different, but for 150 years or so the Targaryen focus was on either internal unrest, or on Dorne. Dorne is brought into the Realm… just in time for the Blackfyre Rebellions to kick off, as well as plagues, Ironborn uprisings, an ongoing succession crisis, etc. After that whole situation stabilizes, you’ve got Aegon V (not interested in conquest) Jaehaerys II (reined a short time, had the last Blackfyre to deal with) and Aerys II (batfuck insane, unfit to govern.) Robert Baratheon might have been interested in conquest, but his position on the throne was hardly secure and he had numerous internal problems.
If Westeros were ever wholly unified, without serious internal strife, under a competent monarch with an expansionistic mindset, that monarch might think “Hmm, Pentos and Braavos are like… right there. I have the resources of an entire continent behind me and can field a truly appalling army, something like 200,000 men. I bet my subjects would love to go win some glory, some new lands.”
But they’ve never hit that trifecta.
Ah, I see. Well, TBH, I think it had a lot to do with the post-Andal Westerosi having a lot on their plate already. Westeros is a giant continent, there’s a lot of land to split up and subdue and turn into functioning states, and then for a long time there was the Great Game of who would conquer Westeros…
If you’ve already got that to be going on with…why exactly do you also need to mess about with Essos, especially when trade and exploration are already bringing you so much of what you’d get from conquest anyway.
RFTIT Tumblr Backup 