A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
The manticore of these novels is a small venomous creature with a striking carapace, a barbed tail and an unsettling face. Its ability to fold into a compact, scarab-like shape enables concealment as a decorative object. This anatomy differs substantially from the lion-bodied, human-headed manticore of older traditions; the shared name does not make the accounts interchangeable.
In Qarth an assassin offers Daenerys an apparently valuable trinket that conceals a live manticore. Arstan Whitebeard's intervention interrupts the attempt, making the creature a weapon of intimate deception rather than a giant battlefield monster. Further discussions of manticore poison include statements and suspicions by characters; theories about magically altered venom should retain that evidential status. The profile follows the book creature and does not infer its biology from adaptation props.
First appearances & development
A Game of Thrones (1996) mentions manticores; A Clash of Kings (1998) uses one in an assassination attempt. The selected publication history identifies the sources used for this profile, rather than claiming an exhaustive first mention across every short story, companion publication and adaptation. The main novels and their historical companions share a literary setting, but narrators' reports can differ in reliability.
Canon & continuity
The cited reference indexes passages in A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings. Those published books are the underlying narrative basis; the wiki is an independent guide rather than an official statement by the author. Direct scenes, remembered testimony and fictional historical compilations are distinguished where they change the strength of a claim.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
A Game of Thrones
Novel continuity: direwolves, Others and dragon eggs.
- 02
A Clash of Kings
The Qarth assassination attempt against Daenerys using a manticore concealed as a trinket.
Family & connections
A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- ReferenceManticore (A Song of Ice and Fire) — reference guideResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
