Renly Baratheon

Renly Baratheon is the Lord of Storm's End and Lord Paramount of the Stormlands. The younger brother of King Robert I and Lord Stannis, Renly serves as master of laws on Robert's small council.
In the television adaptation Game of Thrones, Renly is portrayed by Gethin Anthony.
==Appearance and Character==
Renly is described as a powerful man who is lean and lithe. He has a handsome, clean-shaven face. Renly greatly resembles a young King Robert I Baratheon, being near as tall as his eldest brother had been. Like Robert, Renly has an easy smile. He is taller and broader in the chest than Ser Loras Tyrell.
Renly's thick hair is described as black as jet and coal. His fine and straight hair currently falls to his shoulders, although Renly has sometimes kept it short or tied it behind his head with a golden ribbon. He always keeps his hair clean and combed.
Renly has been described as having laughing green eyes which match his armor, as well as deep blue eyes which resemble those of Robert. According to a semi-canon source, George R. R. Martin reconciled the difference by suggesting Renly has blue-green eyes which change color depending on what he wears.So Spake Martin: US Signing Tour (Albuquerque, NM), November 29, 2005
Renly is a charismatic man, winning friends easily, but he also strikes some people as frivolous. Renly enjoys tourneys and hunting but is not driven by the passion for food, drink, or wenching as King Robert came to be. He is quite popular with smallfolk due to his good looks, friendly ways, and charisma. According to Maester Cressen, Renly is a bold man who acts from impulse. Queen Cersei Lannister dislikes her brother-in-law because of his mockery. Martin has said that Renly is "a carefree and careless soul".So Spake Martin: Baratheons and Targaryens, December 22, 1999
Renly wears expensive attire, usually combining the Baratheon sigil with the colors of House Tyrell, such as a dark green velvet doublet embroidered with golden stags. He drapes a cloth-of-gold half cape over the doublet with an emerald brooch. Renly has a suit of enameled green armor with a helm adorned with a pair of golden antlers, which was made by Tobho Mott. He wields longsword and dagger.
Unbeknownst to the realm at large, and despite the many women who are attracted to him, Renly is homosexual.So Spake Martin: To Be Continued (Chicago, IL; May 6-8), May 06, 2005 According to his lover, Loras, Renly disdains book learning, believing that books should only be read by maesters. Despite this, he owns books with "drawings that would turn a septon blind", implying some kind of pornography.
==History==
Born in , Renly was the youngest of the three sons of Lord Steffon Baratheon and Lady Cassana Estermont. Renly's parent's died when their ship Windproud, returning from the Free Cities, sank in a storm in Shipbreaker Bay.
Renly grew up at Storm's End. Only a young boy at the time of Robert's Rebellion, he spent the war under siege in Storm's End, together with his older brother, Stannis, where he was witness to the desperation of the starving garrison.
As a boy, Renly loved bright colors and fabrics. He loved games as well, and would run laughing through the halls of Storm's End.
By his older brother, King Robert I Baratheon, Renly was granted the seat of Storm's End and named Lord Paramount of the Stormlands in or , upsetting Stannis, who felt that, as the elder of the two, Storm's End was his by right.
When Renly turned sixteen, he made a lord's progress across the stormlands to mark his coming of age. During this progress, he also visited the isle of Tarth, where Renly courteously danced with Brienne of Tarth. Princess Arianne Martell recalls that Renly also visited Sunspear once. She had tried her best to seduce Renly, but remembers that he had seemed more bemused than inflamed by her attempts.
During his time as Lord of Storm's End, Renly took Loras Tyrell as his squire. Eventually, Renly and Loras became lovers. Although not widely known, various others at court are aware of their forbidden relationship. 
Renly was eventually named to the small council, where he occupied the position of master of laws. While he is at court, his castellan at Storm's End is Ser Cortnay Penrose, who raises King Robert's bastard son, Edric Storm, for them. Brella runs Renly's household in King's Landing for him. Renly has thirty men in his personal guard at the capital.
==Recent Events==
===A Game of Thrones===
While King Robert I Baratheon's procession is returning from Winterfell, Renly meets 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 Baratheon's accusations against Arya Stark's direwolf Nymeria, Renly is forced to leave the room at Darry, laughing at the thought of Joffrey being disarmed and beaten by a girl smaller and younger than him.
Renly performs well in the Hand's tourney, losing to the Hound, Sandor Clegane. Renly shows Lord Eddard Stark a painted portrait of Margaery Tyrell and asks if she looks like Lyanna Stark; Eddard is puzzled by this but states the girl looks nothing like his late sister Lyanna. Renly and Ser Loras Tyrell want Robert to take Loras's sister, Margaery, as his new queen and they think if Margaery looks like Lyanna it would make the plan easier. When the small council learns that Daenerys Targaryen is pregnant, Renly advises Robert to have the exiled girl assassinated.
Renly joins Robert when the king goes hunting in the kingswood for a white hart. While Robert lies dying after being gored by a boar, Renly approaches Eddard and suggests they seize control of the royal children before Queen Cersei Lannister can strike. Eddard refuses the offer, however, and Renly flees King's Landing along with Loras.
After Robert's death, Renly is among the nobles ordered to swear fealty to King Joffrey I, Renly's nephew. Rumors spread that Eddard had murdered Robert and that Renly then avenged his brother, or that Renly had killed Robert in a drunken quarrel.
Renly manages to win the support of powerful House Tyrell and many of their bannermen through a secret love affair with Loras and a marriage to his sister Margaery. Renly is crowned Lord of the Seven Kingdoms at Highgarden.
===Eating Apple===
Renly's crown of soft gold depicts a ring of roses. On its front is a stag's head made of dark green jade, with golden eyes and antlers.
Through his charisma with and ties to House Tyrell and familiarity with his stormlands bannermen, Renly's claim to the Iron Throne is backed by the largest army in the War of the Five Kings, despite his elder brother Stannis having the better claim. Renly takes to wearing the stag of Baratheon but in the colors of House Tyrell. Lord Mace Tyrell, the father of Margaery Tyrell, serves as Renly's Hand of the King. Because the Kingsguard is already serving Joffrey, Renly creates the Rainbow Guard in honor of the Seven. Renly appoints his lover, Ser Loras Tyrell, as their Lord Commander.
Renly spends a great deal of time moving through the Reach, gaining support and men at castles such as Horn Hill while waiting for the right moment to strike. He hosts tourneys for his men, including a great melee at Bitterbridge, and blocks the supply of food on the roseroad to King's Landing, causing the capital to suffer starvation. All the while he waits for the Lannisters and Starks to wear each other down. Brienne of Tarth, who is infatuated with Renly, joins the Rainbow Guard to be close to him.
Robb Stark, the young King in the North, sends his mother Catelyn to Bitterbridge to negotiate an alliance with Renly against Lord Tywin Lannister, who is fortified at Harrenhal. Renly states he might allow Robb to keep his title, but he refuses to allow the north to secede from the Seven Kingdoms.
Renly starts to move his massive host towards King's Landing, when Stannis unexpectedly besieges Storm's End, forcing Renly to respond and send Loras to relieve his seat. Renly attacks King's Landing in the First Siege of King's Landing, where he orders probing attacks but he does little other planning as most of the siege preparation are done by Renly's lords as they see fit. They fight many probing attacks but are mostly defeated. The siege ends when the Lannister 1st Army of Lord Tywin Lannister arrives and attacks the rear of Renly's Host and drives him back with heavy losses.
==Sexuality==
Although this is never explicitly stated, there are a number of oblique references that imply those who are close to him are aware of Renly's orientation and, more, that he and Ser Loras Tyrell are involved. 
Catelyn Stark notices that Renly pays much more attention to Loras than his new bride, Loras's sister Margaery. 
When Stannis Baratheon and Renly are trading barbs in anticipation of battle at Storm's End, Stannis calls Renly's wedding to Margaery a "mummer's farce". In response to Renly's comment, "You'll be pleased to know she came to me a maid," Stannis replies, "In your bed she's like to die that way."
While making battle plans outside Storm's End, Renly gives Loras command of the vanguard, passing over several others clamoring for the honor, and calls Loras "the greatest knight". After dismissing the others from his tent Renly tells Loras to stay behind and help him "pray". Loras later recalls the moment and pauses noticeably while telling Ser Jaime Lannister that he and Renly prayed together.
Oberyn Martell calls Loras "Renly's little rose" while in conversation with Tyrion Lannister.
Tyrion hires a woman, Brella, because she was adept at being "blind, deaf and mute" as she had run Renly's household in King's Landing.
When Jaime stops Loras from confronting Brienne Tarth, he threatens Loras, "Now sheathe your bloody sword, or I'll take it from you and shove it up some place even Renly never found."
While contemplating Margaery's maidenhood, Queen Cersei Lannister reflects on Margaery's marriage to Renly: "A man may prefer the taste of hippocras, yet if you set a tankard of ale before him, he will quaff it quick enough;" the implication being that although Renly prefers the company of men, he may nonetheless have bedded Margaery because she was available.
==Behind the scenes==
In an early draft of A Game of Thrones, Renly was Lord of Dragonstone and "Warden of the Narrow Sea," while Stannis was Lord of Storm's End.Secrets of the Cushing Library: A Game of Thrones - gsteff on Reddit
==References==
==External links==
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Renly Baratheon
Category:277 AC births
Category:299 AC deaths
Category:Casualties of the War of the Five Kings
Category:Characters from the Stormlands
Category:Characters killed by Melisandre
Category:Characters killed by Stannis Baratheon
Category:Characters with black hair
Category:Characters with blue eyes
Category:Characters with green eyes
Category:Claimants to the Iron Throne
Category:LGBT+ characters‎
Renly Baratheon
Renly Baratheon
Category:Masters of laws
Category:Members of Robert I Baratheon's court
Category:Nobles
Category:Six-footers
es:Renly Baratheon
fa:رنلی براتیون
fr:Renly Baratheon
it:Renly Baratheon
pt:Renly Baratheon
ru:Ренли Баратеон
tr:Renly Baratheon
zh:蓝礼·拜拉席恩