Brynden Rivers
From A Wiki of Ice and Fire
 Bloodraven by Amoka© | |
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| Alias | Bloodraven The Three-Eyed Crow |
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| Title | Master of Whisperers Hand of the King Lord Commander of the Night's Watch |
| Allegiance | House Targaryen Night's Watch |
| Born | In 175AL [1], at Riverlands |
| Book(s) | The Sworn Sword (Mentioned) The Mystery Knight (Appears) A Feast for Crows (Mentioned) A Dance with Dragons (Appears) |
Lord Brynden Rivers, called "Bloodraven", was a legitimized Great Bastard of Aegon IV and Mylessa Blackwood, his sixth mistress. His personal arms were a white dragon with red eyes breathing red flame on a black field. During his life, he was a Targaryen loyalist during the Blackfyre Rebellion,[2] the Hand of Aerys I,[3] and Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.[4] Shiera Seastar, another bastard of Aegon IV, was his mistress. His half-brother Bittersteel desired Shiera also, which served in increasing the enmity between the two. He was thought to be a sorcerer.[5] The evidence in A Dance with Dragons strongly suggests him to be the three-eyed crow. See Three-eyed crow/Theories.
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Character and appearance
An albino, Brynden had milk white skin, long white hair, and red eyes. He had a red birthmark that extended from his throat up to his right cheek. Some thought that it resembled a bird. Brynden was not as tall or muscular as his half-brothers. He typically wore the colors of "blood and smoke", with smoke being a dark grey that was mottled and streaked with black. Because his skin was sensitive to light, he usually went about cloaked and hooded. He lost an eye during the Blackfyre Rebellion and rarely covered the empty socket with a patch. He wore his white hair straight and to his shoulders, with the front brushed forward to cover his missing eye.[6][1]
History
A strong warrior, Brynden carried the Valyrian sword Dark Sister, but he preferred his weirwood longbow and was an expert archer. Brynden served on the small council of his half-brother Daeron II (on which he presumably served as Master of Whisperers). During the Blackfyre Rebellion, Brynden remained loyal to King Daeron, and commanded a group of longbowmen called the Raven's Teeth. On the council he advocated a hard line against the rebels, winning out over Prince Baelor's call for leniency.[7] At the Battle of the Redgrass Field, he lost an eye fighting his half-brother, Aegor Rivers.[8][9] His Raven's Teeth ultimately gained the Weeping Ridge, and rained arrows down on Daemon Blackfyre from 300 yards away.[10] Daemon and his twin sons were killed. For this, people would name him a kinslayer.[8][11]
In 209 AL, Rivers became Hand of the King, serving throughout the reign of his nephew Aerys I. His first major trial was The Great Spring Sickness, which had killed Daeron II, the previous Hand, two princes, and tens of thousands of others. Seeing the corpses pile up in the streets of King's Landing, Brynden ordered the pyromancers of the Alchemists' Guild to burn them in the Dragonpit. The light of their wildfire pyres could be seen as a glow throughout the city during the night.[12]
There was also a drought that lasted at least two years, causing many smallfolk to leave their lands in search of somewhere the rain still fell. Bloodraven ordered them to return to their own lands, but few obeyed. Indeed they blamed Bloodraven, cursing him as a kinslayer. Many of them became robbers. It was widely held that travel was less safe under Aerys’ reign than it had been under his father’s. Prices increase as trade dwindles.
Around 211 AL, Lord Dagon Greyjoy raided the western coast, including Fair Isle, the shipping of the Arbor, and the village of Little Dosk in the Reach. Lord Beron Stark called his banners to repulse the Ironmen from Stony Shore, while the Lannisters built ships to strike at the Iron Isles. During all this, Bloodraven kept his eye on Tyrosh, where Bittersteel and the Golden Company lay. Victarion Greyjoy recalls that "even Dagon could not defeat the dragons," suggesting that the Targaryens did eventually intervene.
In another conflict within the realm that year, Ser Otho, the Brute of Bracken succeeded to the lordship of Stone Hedge. Not wanting to see such a man in power, the traditional Bracken rivals of House Blackwood started a war to root him out. Bloodraven, being born of Aegon IV's mistress Mylessa Blackwood, is not inclined to stop it.
As "Lord Bloodraven," Brynden was rumored to be a sinister sorcerer, effectively ruling the kingdom “with spies and spells." The events of The Sworn Sword take place during his reign as Hand, though he does not personally take part in the story. At that time he had the mistrust of he King's brother Maekar I Targaryen, supposedly due to counsel from the High Septon.[13]
The Mystery Knight
Lord Bloodraven's wariness paid off in 212 AL. Thanks to the information of a Vyrwel man-at-arms and a troupe of comic dwarfs, Lord Bloodraven was aware of the plot to put Daemon II Blackfyre forward as the legitimate king of the Seven Kingdoms. It is also theorized that Bloodraven was actually present at Whitewalls, using his famous sorcery to disguise himself as a knight named Maynard Plumm. This is supported by Ser Maynard's knowledge of Dunk, as well as the fact that Dunk noticed that Plumm's features began to look less authentic the longer he looked. This kind of magic is also used in A Dance with Dragons, when Melisandre makes Mance Rayder appear to other men as Rattleshirt. Bloodraven marched on Whitewalls with 300 Raven's Teeth, three brothers of the Kingsguard and 500 other knights and 5,000 infantry drawn from the Crownlands and Riverlands. In the face of such a force, Daemon II tried to rally the tourney-goers to battle, but found little support. Daemon then challenged the Hand to single combat; Bloodraven refused and arrested the pretender, containing the Second Blackfyre Rebellion.[14] Daemon was kept in captivity rather than executed with the other rebel leaders, ensuring that Bittersteel couldn't name his brother Haegon as a serious pretender.
Later years
During the reign of Maekar I, who still disliked him, Bloodraven was kept imprisoned in the Red Keep's black cells until around 233AL, the year King Aegon V ascended to the throne. He was then sent to the Wall as part of the "honor guard" of prisoners that accompanied Aegon's brother Maester Aemon. Eventually he rose to Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. The song A Thousand Eyes, and One was written about him.[4]
Family
References and Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Citadel SSM:The Great Bastards (December 26, 2005)
- ↑ The Sworn Sword,Legends II, ISBN 0-345-45644-0, pages 105-106 of 73-152.
- ↑ The Sworn Sword,Legends II, ISBN 0-345-45644-0, page 75 and 115-116 of 73-152.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 15, Samwell.
- ↑ The Mystery Knight,Warriors 1, ISBN 978-0-7653-6026-7, page 253 of 251-394.
- ↑ The Mystery Knight
- ↑ The Sworn Sword
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 The Sworn Sword,Legends II, ISBN 0-345-45644-0, page 75 of 73-152.
- ↑ The Mystery Knight
- ↑ The Sworn Sword,Legends II, ISBN 0-345-45644-0, page 105 of 73-152.
- ↑ The Mystery Knight,Warriors 1, ISBN 978-0-7653-6026-7, pages 252-253 of 251-394.
- ↑ The Sworn Sword,Legends II, ISBN 0-345-45644-0, page 114-115 of 73-152.
- ↑ The Sworn Sword,Legends II, ISBN 978-0345456441, page 126 of 73-152.
- ↑ The Mystery Knight
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at House Targaryen. The list of authors can be seen in the page history of House Targaryen. As with A Wiki of Ice and Fire, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
See Also
| Great Bastards | |
| Daemon Blackfyre | Aegor Rivers | Brynden Rivers | Shiera Seastar | |
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