Loras Tyrell
From A Wiki of Ice and Fire
Loras Tyrell is Mace Tyrell's third son. Known as the Knight of Flowers he is a highly skilled knight and jouster. His tournament successes, dazzling good looks, and ostentatious showmanship have made him a celebrated figure in the courts of the Seven Kingdoms. Despite his youth and slender frame, he is a capable warrior, using swords, axes, and morning-stars to deadly effect. He is the secret lover of Renly Baratheon, though their forbidden relationship is known to various others at court.
[edit] History
Loras Tyrell attended the Hand's Tourney wearing armor wrought with jeweled flowers, with a cape of woven roses. With each victory, he handed a white rose to a pretty girl in the crowd. He then handed a red rose to Sansa Stark, the Hand's daughter, who was overwhelmed by his gallantry and was thereafter infatuated with him. Although reputed to be very gallant, he rode a mare in heat against Gregor Clegane, noted as an underhanded tactic by some, inflaming the huge knight's stallion, which bucked him, prompting Gregor to attack Loras. After Sandor Clegane came to his rescue, Loras forfeited the final round to him.
As a youth, he was fostered at Storm's End and served as a page and squire to Renly Baratheon. This was the start of their clandestine love affair. When Renly made his claim for the Iron Throne, Loras and the rest of House Tyrell backed Renly's claim, and cemented their support by marrying Loras's sister Margaery to Renly. Renly made Loras the head of his Rainbow Guard, a fancifully ostentatious version of the Kingsguard, and the two remained inseparable even after Renly's wedding. After Renly's assassination, Loras went berserk, killing the two Rainbow Guards in charge of protecting him that night. He believed Brienne of Tarth and Catelyn Stark had perpetrated the assassination, but was unable to apprehend them. When the Tyrells joined the Lannister cause against Stannis, Loras fought beside his brother Garlan, who wore Renly's armor and impersonated the fallen lord at the Battle of the Blackwater. After questioning Brienne at King's Landing, he no longer suspects that she killed Renly.
Loras joined the Kingsguard at his father's behest (though Littlefinger orchestrated this), to protect his sister Margaery when she became the Queen. The appointment also allowed Loras to avoid marriage, a prospect complicated by his questionable sexuality and continued mourning for Renly. He quickly became very popular with the citizens of King's Landing. Loras maintained a close relationship with his sister, who suggested that he train the young King Tommen in the ways of an armed knight. Queen Cersei flatly refused, using veiled innuendo regarding his manhood as a reason.
After the invasion of the Shield Islands by the ironmen, Cersei used Loras's reckless state to manipulate him into quickly ending the siege of Dragonstone, hoping that he would endanger himself in the process. Loras departed the city amid throngs of admiring onlookers, mostly women. He was reported to have won the island stronghold in an unnecessary bloodbath. True to Cersei's hopes, it was reported that he was horribly injured by boiling oil in the battle. His status is so far unconfirmed.
