Difference between revisions of "Renly Baratheon"

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{{Quote|''I will defend King Tommen with all my strength, I swear it. I will give my life for his if need be. But I will never betray Renly, by word or deed. He was the king that should have been. He was the best of [[War of the Five Kings|them]].''{{ref|asos|67}}}} - [[Loras Tyrell]]
 
{{Quote|''I will defend King Tommen with all my strength, I swear it. I will give my life for his if need be. But I will never betray Renly, by word or deed. He was the king that should have been. He was the best of [[War of the Five Kings|them]].''{{ref|asos|67}}}} - [[Loras Tyrell]]
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{{Quote|The bold little boy with wild black hair and laughing eyes was a man grown now, one-and-twenty, and still he played his games. "Look at me, I’m a king," Cressen thought sadly. Oh, Renly, Renly, dear sweet child, do you know what you are doing? And would you care if you did? is there anyone who cares for him but me?}}
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- [[Cressen]]'s thoughts on Renly
  
 
==Family==
 
==Family==

Revision as of 20:51, 27 November 2013

Renly Baratheon
House Baratheon.PNG
House Baratheon.PNG
Renly Baratheon.jpg
by Amoka©

Titles
Allegiance House Baratheon
Culture Stormlands
Born 278 AC
Died 299 AC
Near Storm's End
Spouse Margaery Tyrell
Books

Played by Gethin Anthony
TV series Season 1 | Season 2
Renly Baratheon by Denkata5698©
Gethin Anthony as Renly Baratheon (TV series)

Renly Baratheon is the Lord of Storm's End and the younger brother of King Robert and Lord Stannis Baratheon, all sons of Steffon Baratheon and Cassana Estermont. He also serves as Master of Laws on Robert's small council. In the TV series Renly is played by Gethin Anthony.[1]

Appearance and Character

Renly is a handsome and charismatic man, winning friends easily, but also strikes some people as frivolous.[2] Renly enjoys tournaments and hunting but isn't driven by the passion for food, drink, or wenching, as Robert Baratheon came to be.

He is twenty-one years old, tall, handsome man with black hair falling to his shoulders.[3] He is thought to look eerily similar to a young Robert Baratheon. Though in A Game of Thrones he is said to wear green to match his eyes, he is later described as having blue eyes. He wears a suit of enameled green armor with a helm that had a pair of golden antlers.[2] He keeps his body trim and his thick, jet-black hair long but always neatly combed. He prefers to be clean-shaven.[4] See also this collection of images.

Unbeknownst to the realm at large, and despite the many women who are attracted to him, Renly is homosexual. According to Loras, although Renly disdained too much book learning, he owned books with "drawings that would turn a septon blind", implying some kind of homosexual pornography.[5]

History

Renly was born the youngest son of three to Steffon Baratheon and Cassana Estermont. During Robert's Rebellion, Renly was a child, and was kept safe and secure to ensure he was not taken hostage.[4]

Though Renly is Robert's youngest brother, Robert gave the Baratheon seat of Storm's End to him rather than Stannis who was given Dragonstone instead. During the Targaryen dynasty, the seat of Dragonstone was given to the heir to the Iron Throne. The lands of Storm's End are considerably larger and richer than those of Dragonstone, giving Renly more power than his older brother.

During his time in Storm's End, Renly took Loras Tyrell as a squire, with whom he forged a close friendship that continues to this day.

Some time after he became a man, Renly was named to the small council as Master of Laws. While at court, his castellan at Storm's End was Ser Cortnay Penrose, who was also responsible for rearing Robert's bastard son Edric Storm.

Recent Events

A Game of Thrones

While Robert's procession was returning from Winterfell, Renly met up with them, accompanied by Ser Barristan Selmy, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, and the King's Justice, Ser Ilyn Payne. Deeply amused by Prince Joffrey's accusations against Arya's direwolf, he was forced to leave the room, laughing at the thought of Joffrey being disarmed and beaten by a girl smaller and younger than him.

He performed well in the Tourney of the Hand, losing to the Hound, Sandor Clegane. Renly was quite popular with the smallfolk due to his good looks, friendly ways and charisma.[6] Renly showed Eddard Stark a painted portrait of Margaery Tyrell and asked if she looked like Lyanna; Eddard was puzzled by this but stated the girl looked nothing like Lyanna. It was later revealed that Renly was planning with Loras Tyrell on Robert taking Margaery Tyrell as his new queen and hoped if Margaery looked like Lyanna it would make the plan easier.

Renly joined his brother on his ill-fated hunting expedition. While Robert lay dying, Renly approached Eddard Stark and suggested they seize control of the royal children before Queen Cersei could strike. Eddard refused the offer, and Renly fled the city along with Ser Loras Tyrell.

A Clash of Kings

After Robert's death, through his charisma and familiarity with his Stormlands bannermen, Renly managed to win support from many houses, despite his brother Stannis having the better claim. Renly also won the support of the powerful Tyrells and many of their bannermen through a secret love affair with Loras and a marriage to his sister Margaery.[7] Renly crowned himself King of the Seven Kingdoms, with his claim to the Iron Throne backed by the largest army in the War of the Five Kings.

Renly spent a great deal of time moving through the south, gaining support and men while waiting for the right moment to strike. He hosted tournaments for his men and blocked the food supply to King's Landing, causing the civilians in the capital to die by starvation. All this while he waited for the Lannisters and Starks wore each other down. This plan went awry, however, when his brother Stannis laid siege to Storm's End, forcing Renly to respond.[2] The Northern envoy Catelyn Stark convinced the men to parley, but Renly made light of the situation, refusing to back down from his claim and advising his older brother to give up and eat a peach.[8] While preparing for battle with his brother's forces the next dawn, Renly was slain by an animated shadow conjured by his brother's sorceress adviser, Melisandre.[9] Loras' brother, Ser Garlan Tyrell, later wore Renly's armor in the Battle of the Blackwater to make it appear that Renly's ghost had returned for vengeance against the kinslaying Stannis.[10][11]

Quotes by Renly

Renly: Every moment you delay gives Cersei another moment to prepare. By the time Robert dies, it may be too late . . . for both of us.

Eddard: Then we should pray that Robert does not die.

Renly: Small chance of that,

Eddard: Sometimes the gods are merciful.

Renly: The Lannisters are not.[12]

- Renly to Eddard


Renly: I propose that you dismount, bend your knee, and swear me your allegiance.

Stannis: That you shall never have.

Renly: You served Robert, why not me?

Stannis: Robert was my elder brother. You are the younger.

Renly: Younger, bolder, and far more comely . . .

Stannis: . . . and a thief and a usurper besides.

Renly: The Targaryens called Robert usurper. He seemed to be able to bear the shame. So shall I.[8]

- Renly to Stannis


Stannis: Do you think a few bolts of cloth will make you king? Renly: Tyrell swords will make me king. Rowan and Tarly and Caron will make me king, with axe and mace and warhammer. Tarth arrows and Penrose lances, Fossoway, Cuy, Mullendore, Estermont, Selmy, Hightower, Oakheart, Crane, Caswell, Blackbar, Morrigen, Beesbury, Shermer, Dunn, Footly . . . even House Florent, your own wife’s brothers and uncles, they will make me king. All the chivalry of the south rides with me, and that is the least part of my power. My foot is coming behind, a hundred thousand swords and spears and pikes. And you will destroy me? With what, pray? That paltry rabble I see there huddled under the castle walls? I’ll call them five thousand and be generous, codfish lords and onion knights and sellswords. Half of them are like to come over to me before the battle starts. You have fewer than four hundred horse, my scouts tell me-freeriders in boiled leather who will not stand an instant against armored lances. I do not care how seasoned a warrior you think you are, Stannis, that host of yours won’t survive the first charge of my vanguard.[8]

- Renly to Stannis



Why the oldest son, and not the best-fitted? The crown will suit me, as it never suited Robert and would not suit Stannis.[8]

- Renly to Catelyn

Quotes about Renly

The youngest of Lord Steffon's three sons had grown into a man bold but heedless, who acted from impulse rather than calculation. In that, as in so much else, Renly was like his brother Robert, and utterly unlike Stannis. [13]

- Cressen's thoughts


What has Renly ever done to earn a throne? He sits in council and jests with Littlefinger, and at tourneys he dons his splendid suit of armor and allows himself to be knocked off his horse by a better man. That is the sum of my brother Renly, who thinks he ought to be king. [13]

- Stannis


My brother is young and strong, and he has a vast host around him, and these rainbow knights of his. [13]

- Stannis


He knew how to dress and he knew how to smile and he knew how to bathe, and somehow he got the notion that this made him fit to be king.[14]

- Olenna Redwyne


Robert was the true steel. Stannis is pure iron, black and hard and strong, yes, but brittle, the way iron gets. He’ll break before he bends. And Renly, that one, he’s copper, bright and shiny, pretty to look at but not worth all that much at the end of the day.[15]

- Donal Noye


I will defend King Tommen with all my strength, I swear it. I will give my life for his if need be. But I will never betray Renly, by word or deed. He was the king that should have been. He was the best of them.[11]

- Loras Tyrell


The bold little boy with wild black hair and laughing eyes was a man grown now, one-and-twenty, and still he played his games. "Look at me, I’m a king," Cressen thought sadly. Oh, Renly, Renly, dear sweet child, do you know what you are doing? And would you care if you did? is there anyone who cares for him but me?

- Cressen's thoughts on Renly

Family

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ormund
 
Rhaelle
Targaryen
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Steffon
 
Cassana
Estermont
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Various
women
 
Robert I
 
Cersei
Lannister
 
Renly I
 
Margaery
Tyrell
[16]
 
Stannis I
 
Selyse
Florent
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Joffrey I
 
Margaery
Tyrell
[16]
 
Tommen I
 
Myrcella
 
 
 
Shireen
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mya
Stone
 
Bella
 
Gendry
 
Edric
Storm
 
Barra
 
Unknown
twins
 
9 Others
 

References and Notes