Location from A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin
The sprawling slum district at the base of Aegon's Hill — a stinking maze of pot-shops, tanneries, and desperate poverty where the smallfolk survive on bowls of brown and the nobles never tread.
Flea Bottom is where King's Landing drops its mask. The courtly intrigue of the Red Keep means nothing here — survival is the only game, and it's played with fists, knives, and the ability to disappear into a crowd. The district produces fighters, smugglers, and occasionally kings: both Davos Seaworth and Gendry Baratheon grew up on these streets, learning the kind of toughness that no amount of castle training can replicate. The Gold Cloaks patrol the edges but rarely venture deep, and the pot-shops serve as informal courts where disputes are settled with varying degrees of violence. The relationship between Flea Bottom and the Red Keep is the relationship between Westeros and its rulers made visible — the powerful make decisions on the hill, and the poor die in the valley. When bread prices rise, Flea Bottom riots. When kings die, Flea Bottom burns. The smallfolk here have no illusions about the game of thrones; they know it's played with their lives as the stakes.
Narrow alleys wind between leaning timber buildings connected by washing lines and dripping sewage. The streets are unpaved mud in rain, dust in summer, and always crowded with the city's poorest — beggars, orphans, pickpockets, and laborers. Pot-shops ladle out 'bowl of brown' — a mystery stew that might contain anything. The smell is extraordinary.
Also known as: Flea Bottom, the slums, the bottom