Brotherhood without banners

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The Brotherhood Without Banners is a outlaw group who fights Lannister rule in the name of former King Robert. The group was founded by the soldiers and nobles who were sent by the then Hand of the King Eddard Stark to bring Gregor Clegane to justice. After they were ambushed while crossing a ford and nearly defeated, the group continued the fight as guerrilla group. Their number increased as they were joined by defeated soldiers from other battles and refugees from the fighting. After the death of their leader Beric Dondarrion the undead Catelyn Tully took over the group. Under her leadership the Brotherhood is more concerned with getting revenge for killings than with justice and the protection of the smallfolk.

Founding

After reports of marauding raiders had reached King's Landing, Eddard Stark sent out a force to stop them and bring them to justice. According to witnesses the raiders were led by a man of monstrous size, whom Eddard realized could only be Gregor Clegane.

In a later conversation with his son Tyrion, Tywin Lannister revealed that the intention was to draw Eddard Stark to them to be captured and exchanged for Tyrion, who had been taken prisoner by Catelyn Tully. But because he had been wounded Stark was unable to lead the party himself, and instead entrusted the leadership of the party to Beric Dondarrion.

Outlaw

When the group was first sent out, Clegane had been declared outlaw but after the death of Robert Baratheon and the fall of Eddard Stark, the roles were reversed. Now, Clegane was fighting in the name of the law, while Dondarrion and his group were declared outlaws. Thoros of Myr later revealed to Arya that there had been voices within the group that thought they should surrender themselves, but Dondarrion convinced everybody to continue the fight in the name of King Robert.

During the war in the Riverlands the Brotherhood fought a guerrilla war against the invaders. At first the Lannisters and their allies were their targets, but eventually the Brotherhood saw their task as to protect the smallfolk against all who would harm them. Because of this, Northern raiders and common outlaws were now also targeted by the brotherhood.

This phase can be seen as the high point of the Brotherhood. They believed in the nobility of their cause and gained much support from the smallfolk, who provided them with information and, sometimes, food. They were fairly successful in capturing their enemies, and continued to show their faith in the righteousness of their cause by always providing their prisoners with justice; namely a trial.

Dondarrion was killed a number of times by the enemies but was each time resurrected by Thoros of Myr. Most of his crew refused to acknowledge this and, according to them, Dondarrion had just been wounded and Thoros was a competent healer.

When Sandor Clegane fell into their hands, he was accused of being a killer and given a trial by battle. Sandor was able to defeat Dondarrion (who died and was resurrected again), and because of that was allowed to go free, though his gold and horse were withheld. The Brotherhood planned to ransom Arya to the Tully - Stark cause but Arya managed to escape, which led to her being captured by Sandor, who had been following the group.

Leadership change

After the Red Wedding the Brotherhood found the body of Catelyn Tully and Dondarrion asked Thoros to resurrect her. Thoros refused because she had been dead for too long. In some way, however, Dondarrion was able to give up his life to resurrect Catelyn. After this event, Catelyn took over the Brotherhood.

Under the leadership of the undead Catelyn Tully the Brotherhood was less concerned with the protection of the smallfolk than with revenge against those who were their enemies. Participants of the Red Wedding, particularly the Freys, were their favourite target.

In the epilogue of A Storm of Swords, it is described that the Brotherhood had captured Petyr Frey. When Merrett Frey came to ransom him, he saw that Petyr had already been hanged, and was then also hanged next to him.[1] Later, after he had been dismissed by Jaime Lannister, Ryman Frey was ambushed by the Brotherhood and he too was hanged, along with his entire party. According to Thoros, at this point the Brotherhood had fallen low, and were no different to regular outlaws.

Later the Brotherhood captured Brienne of Tarth and her companions Podrick Payne and Ser Hyle Hunt, who had been searching for Sansa Stark and Arya Stark as Brienne had swore to Catelyn Tully before her death. The undead Catelyn recognized Brienne, but was uninterested in the fate of her daughters, despite Brienne's crucial information about Arya. Instead, she demanded that she kill Jaime Lannister, or suffer death herself. Brienne refused because she had been rescued by Jaime and believed him to be a changed man. Catelyn then gave the command for her to be hanged with her companions. At the last moment, when the Brotherhood pulled upon the rope, Brienne is revealed to have screamed a single word.[2]

Known members

References and Notes