Look, let's be honest, the world of Game of Thrones: Kingsroad is absolutely packed with all sorts of fauna hanging around next to us mortals. Most of them look pretty much like what you would see in reality, but legendary creatures like dragons and unicorns occasionally manage to squeeze their way into the history books. The in-game feature, the Altar of Memory, recreates various battles against these mythical beasts based on those very legends. Today, we thought it would be a proper bit of fun to take a look at how these legendary creatures scattered throughout the game are actually mentioned in the original source material.

Cockatrice

Among the massive roster of characters popping up in the original work, Bronn of the Blackwater boasts a rather peerless presence. The fellow is an utterly pragmatic and realistic mercenary, yet possesses swordsmanship sharp enough to rival Jaime Lannister in prime form. Using these handy skills, Bronn kept up some seriously hefty contributions right until the television adaptation wrapped up.

Naturally, coming from a drifting background, Bronn's knowledge regarding the grand noble houses of the continent was more than a little shallow. The novels occasionally highlight this amusing trait, which is precisely where the cockatrice gets a mention. While welcoming the delegation from Dorne, Bronn runs straight into a rather peculiar banner. Turning to Tyrion's squire, Podrick Payne, standing right next to him, Bronn asks about the sigil depicting a red chicken biting a snake. Podrick Payne promptly corrects the mercenary, explaining that it is actually the sigil of House Gargalen ruling over Salt Shore, and that the creature is not a chicken at all, but rather the legendary beast known as the cockatrice.

In the television adaptation, this particular bit of dialogue was edited out entirely and does not show up. Instead, keen-eyed viewers can faintly spot the banner of House Gargalen featuring the red cockatrice amidst the marching column of the Dornish delegation.

As a quick historical note, House Gargalen bases operations at Salt Shore, hugging the Summer Sea down on the southernmost tip of Westeros. The Altar of Memory depicting the cockatrice appearing along the Dornish coast is a rather faithful historical and geographical nod to the original lore.

Giant Ice Spider

Despite their genuinely repulsive appearance and massive scale, giant ice spiders carry a somewhat subdued presence inside the game. This happens simply because they crop up during the brisk early stages of the game and get forgotten just as quickly. However, the standing of ice spiders within the original universe is by no means trivial, often ranked as absolute nightmares that used to send shivers down the spines of children all across Westeros.

Back during the early phases of both the novels and the television show, the actual existence of White Walkers had not yet become common knowledge across the entire continent. Southern nobles and even northern lords had little choice but to brush off monsters linked to White Walkers as utterly ridiculous fairy tales. Giant ice spiders were similarly written off as mere fiction cooked up in nursery rhymes.

Ice spiders make their very debut in the narrative through the mouth of Old Nan, the longtime nursemaid of House Stark. To young Bran Stark, stuck recovering from a broken leg and whining for a scary story, Old Nan spins a yarn about the legendary Long Night from the distant past. This is where the creatures are first brought up, with White Walkers leading packs of ice spiders as large as hounds to hunt down the living. It stands out as one of those classic moments cementing the unknown terror of the White Walkers in both books and television.

Strictly within the original novels, Samwell Tarly's inner monologue doubles down on the sheer dread surrounding ice spiders. The Night's Watch expedition venturing beyond the Wall ends up utterly routed by a surprise attack from White Walkers at the Fist of the First Men. During the subsequent panicked retreat, Samwell Tarly recalls the legends heard in childhood and spirals straight into absolute terror, remembering tales of bloodthirsty wights riding atop gigantic ice spiders to slaughter humanity.

Griffin

In Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, the griffin shows up as a ferocious beast occupying the major mines of the Westerlands, indiscriminately attacking any approaching laborers. Fearing massive economic losses, House Lannister ultimately shut down the mines and slapped a hefty bounty in gold for anyone brave enough to hunt the beasts down. That right there is the exact reason we end up heading out to bag a griffin.

On the flip side, within the original universe, the griffin is treated strictly as an imaginary creature. It is mostly referenced in the form of symbols or architectural stonework. A prime example is the description of the outer walls of Dragonstone, where stone statues modeled after legendary monsters like griffins, cockatrices, basilisks, and wyverns reportedly decorate the battlements.

Beyond that, they frequently pop up whenever House Connington is brought into focus. House Connington proudly bears two facing griffins as their family sigil, and even names their ancestral seat Griffin's Roost, putting the majestic creature right at the heart of their identity. The previous lord, Jon Connington, earned monikers tied directly to the beast, such as the Griffin Lord and Griff, for the exact same reason. That being said, this is merely a case of a noble house utilizing the fierce reputation of a mythical beast, as there are no actual, recorded close encounters with living griffins.

Among historical figures, the Griffin King remains the most widely recognized. Back during the ancient Age of Heroes, the fellow reigned as one of the First Men kings commanding the rugged mountain terrain of the Vale. During the Andal Invasion, the ruler leveraged the tricky mountain geography to put up stiff resistance, but ultimately met a grim end after losing to an allied coalition led by Artys Arryn. Seizing that victory as a turning point, Artys Arryn founded House Arryn and stood tall as the undisputed ruler of the Vale.

Unicorn

Skagos is an isolated island tucked away in the northeastern corner of the Westeros continent. Sitting roughly on the same latitude as the Wall, the land suffers from relentless bitter cold and non-stop howling gales. To make matters worse, the entire island is made up of steep rock faces and jagged cliffs, leaving it practically untouched by outsiders. That precisely explains why it remains the most isolated territory in the Seven Kingdoms, despite nominally belonging to the lands of House Stark.

Due to being cut off from the outside world for ages, local attitudes toward outsiders lean heavily toward hostility. Northern folk treat the inhabitants of Skagos as primitive savages barely distinguishable from the wildlings beyond the Wall. Rumors even run wild that human sacrifice and cannibalism are still regularly practiced there. However, those gruesome tales have never been definitively verified, leaving the actual daily lives of the island's natives shrouded in thick mist.

However, the single fact that unicorns actually roam Skagos borders on established lore. According to Samwell Tarly's recollections in the original novels, the lords of Skagos famously rode into battle mounted on massive unicorns. Furthermore, unicorn horns occasionally popping up during trade exchanges between island natives and outside merchants offer a solid hint pointing to their very real existence.

In the original novels, the youngest Stark sibling, Rickon Stark, is pointed out as finding refuge there to escape the grasping claws of House Bolton. Conversely, the television adaptation heavily adapted the narrative and cut out all references to Skagos entirely.

Over in Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, players run straight into unicorns out in the Stormlands. The exact coordinates of the Stormlands area are kept under wraps, but piecing together the relentless electrical storms and the harsh, rocky terrain, it's safe to assume the developers modeled this environment straight after the lore surrounding the island of Skagos.