Mercenaries/Windblown

The Windblown are a sellsword company active in Essos. Their name is "the Windblown" because they say the wind blows them around from one city to the next in Essos, looking for employers who will contract them to fight.
== Contents ==
* 1In the books
** 1.1Known members
*** 1.1.1Leaders
*** 1.1.2Soldiers
* 2See also
* 3References
== In the books ==
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the Windblown are introduced in A Dance with Dragons. They were founded some thirty years ago by a newly elected Prince of Pentos, known only as the Tattered Prince due to his habit of taking strips of cloth from the surcoats of men he has killed in single combat, and adding them to his motley cloak. He is an elegant and dignified old man who is nonetheless ruthless to deserters. When he was 23 years old, the magisters of Pentos elected him as their prince after beheading the last prince for failure. Rather than accept his dangerous position as a disposable puppet ruler, he fled to the Disputed Lands to become a sellsword, and never returned. Over time he established his own sellsword company.
Because the Windblown include members from all over the world, including Westerosi exiles, the only common language they can use is High Valyrian, which the Tattered Prince shouts out commands in to his men.
The members of the Windblown use whatever names they want, and can change them at a whim.
In A Dance with Dragons, the Windblown are hired by the Yunkai'i Wise Masters for their campaign against Astapor and Daenerys. The sellswords grow to despise the Yunkai'i lords and take delight in inventing ridiculous nicknames for them (for instance, they call Yezzan zo Qaggaz "the yellow whale"), and mocking them at every opportunity, though not to their faces.
Quentyn Martell and his companions Archibald Yronwood and Gerris Drinkwater join the Windblown, entering a one-year contract with them. This is only so that Quentyn can reach Daenerys to offer his hand in marriage.
Following the fall of Astapor, the Tattered Prince has second thoughts about serving the incompetent Yunkai'i lords. He decides to keep all roads open, to make sure the Windblown are on the winning side, no matter who that shall be. Therefore, he sends about twenty of his sellswords to Meereen, where they bring Daenerys his offer of alliance: the Windblown will fight for her in exchange for Pentos. Daenerys rejects the offer because she wouldn't betray her friend Illyrio, no matter how poor her position is.
Shortly before marching out of Meereen to attack the besieging troops, Ser Barristan Selmy sends the Windblown back to the Tattered Prince with a counter-offer: if he rescues the three hostages, to whom Daenerys delivered the Yunkai'i and are still held captive (Daario, the bloodrider Jhogo, and the Unsullied commander Hero), he will get Pentos in return.
During the ensuing battle, the Windblown switch sides, and the Tattered Prince kills the Yunkish lord Gorzhak zo Eraz who was temporarily the Supreme Commander of the besieging troops. This prompts the Second Sons to switch sides too. The fate of the hostages is unknown, however.