The Valyrians are a people and culture native to the Valyrian Peninsula, on the continent of Essos. For thousands of years, their empire, known as the Valyrian Freehold, was the dominant civilization on the continent. Roughly four hundred years prior to the War of the Five Kings, a cataclysmic event known as "the Doom" shattered the Valyrians' capital city and all but obliterated them.