- The Hightowers got rich because they had the oldest city in Westeros that controlled the trade of one of the richest agricultural regions in the world, and because they have a quite large (if occasionally narratively forgotten) trading and war fleet.
- The Velaryons fell from a position of influence, because much of the source of their wealth was destroyed during the Dance – a third of their fleet was lost at the Battle of the Gullet, then Spicetown and High Tide was torched, as were most of the Sea Snake’s treasures from Essos. Because they lost both physical and liquid capital in the same moment, they didn’t have the capacity to rebuild the former so as to regain the latter. And then to cap it off, they backed the Targaryens during Robert’s Rebellion and most of their ships were destroyed in the storm at Dragonstone when Dany was born.