Rogar Baratheon

Rogar Baratheon, by Jaydeewis ©

Jaehaerys I Targaryen (Protector of the Realm)

**Rogar Baratheon** was the Lord of Storm's End and head of House Baratheon during the reigns of kings Maegor I Targaryen and Jaehaerys I Targaryen. During the minority of Jaehaerys I, Rogar served as Hand of the King and Protector of the Realm. Throughout the long reign of King Jaehaerys I, Lord Rogar proved to be both a loyal friend and brief adversary to the king.

A grandson of Lord Orys Baratheon and the eldest of five brothers, Rogar would marry Queen Dowager Alyssa Velaryon and father two children, Boremund and Jocelyn. Boremund would succeed his father as Lord of Storm's End, while Jocelyn married Prince Aemon Targaryen.

## Appearance and Character

A muscular and bearded man, Rogar had the typical blue eyes and black hair of House Baratheon. Near the end of his life, age and illness had taken a toll on the Lord of Storm's End. His once-black hair had gone grey and his face was pale and lined. He grew so gaunt that his clothes hung loosely upon him. He was no swordsman, as Rogar preferred to wield a double-bladed axe on the battlefield. He often described his axe as "large and heavy enough to cleave through a dragon's skull." He owned an antlered halfhelm.

Rogar was a prideful man, admired for his courage and boldness, respected for his strength, and feared for his military prowess and skill at arms. He was regarded as open-handed as he was bold in battle, and was unaccustomed to defeat. Of a martial temperament, Rogar was described as a warrior to the bone. He was fond of hawking, hunting, gambling, drinking, and feasting. However, Rogar had no love for mummers, once declaring them to be of less use than a monkey.

Rogar was not a man to yield, often boasting in battle that he would not lay down his axe while there was life in his body. Though King Jaehaerys I valued Rogar as a counselor and a friend, the young king believed his intelligence, judgment, and temperament to be superior to that of the Lord of Storm's End. Despite his actions in his last year serving as Hand of the King, Rogar was not a cruel or evil man at heart, nor was he a fool.

## History

### Early life

Rogar Baratheon was born in 17 AC, the eldest of five brothers and the grandson of Orys Baratheon, the first Lord of Storm's End of House Baratheon and the bastard half-brother of King Aegon I Targaryen. As Lord Orys had taken Storm King Argilac the Arrogant's daughter to wife, Rogar could claim that both the blood of House Targaryen and House Durrandon flowed through his veins.

He had been married once, though his wife had died young, having succumbed to a fever less than a year after her wedding to the Lord of Storm's End. The marriage had left Rogar childless.

### Maegor the Cruel

When Prince Aegon the Uncrowned declared his uncle Maegor I Targaryen a tyrant and a usurper, Lord Rogar was among the great lords in secret communication with Dowager Queen Alyssa Velaryon, the prince's mother. However, Rogar would not declare for Aegon until the Prince of Dragonstone proved his strength; Aegon ultimately perished at his uncle's hand at the Battle Beneath the Gods Eye. After their flight from Maegor at King's Landing, Rogar was quick to provide shelter to Alyssa Velaryon and her children, Prince Jaehaerys and Princess Alysanne. If he feared Maegor's wrath, he hid it well. His own brother Ser Borys told others that Rogar dreamed of facing Maegor in single combat and cutting him down with his axe.

Lord Rogar would be the first great lord to openly proclaim for Prince Jaehaerys against his uncle, Maegor the Cruel. In 48 AC at Storm's End, Rogar proclaimed Jaehaerys to be the lawful King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, before a hundred of his lord's bannermen and knights. In return, Prince Jaehaerys named Rogar his Hand of the King and the Protector of the Realm. While Lord Rogar was gathering his levies at Storm's End, King Maegor's response was slow and sluggish. When Lord Daemon Velaryon declared for his nephew Jaehaerys, other great houses soon followed Baratheon's and Velaryon's lead. Ultimately, Rogar's dream of slaying Maegor the Cruel was denied to him when the king mysteriously died upon the Iron Throne.

Twenty-three days after the mysterious death of King Maegor I, Lord Rogar arrived at King's Landing at the head of a large host, accompanying Dowager Queen Alyssa Velaryon, to meet up with Prince Jaehaerys, Princess Rhaena, and Princess Alysanne, who had arrived a fortnight earlier. Some suggested for Princess Rhaena to succeed as queen of the realm, though Rogar disagreed with the notion, firmly believing the throne should pass on to the next male heir, Jaehaerys. Lord Rogar had hundreds seized and arrested at the capital for their loyalties to Maegor.

### Hand of the King

During the remainder of Jaehaerys' minority, Rogar shared the rule of the realm with Dowager Queen Alyssa, continuing to serve as Hand and Protector. However, Jaehaerys was no figurehead and insisted on having a say in all decisions made in his name. Though some whispered that Rogar ruled the realm entirely, Jaehaerys had a seat at nearly every small council meeting and was not shy about having his voice heard. Though in the end, Rogar and Alyssa had the final authority throughout the young king's regency. With the Red Keep's dungeons filled with Maegor's men, Rogar feared that executing them would only harden the remaining loyalists against the young prince. Instead, Rogar urged for Jaehaerys to allow Maegor's men to stand trial, execute those found guilty of the worst crimes, and take hostages from the others. Wishing to prove to the realm that he was not his uncle, Jaehaerys ultimately chose to forgive all those that had followed Maegor, only taking certain lands and hostages. Though his decree had no legal force as Jaehaerys was not yet crowned, his determination gave him the support of Lords Baratheon and Velaryon.

Jaehaerys would be formally crowned in the waning days of 48 AC at Oldtown, by the High Septon himself. Lord Rogar was one of the many lords in attendance. When Rhaena wed Androw Farman on Fair Isle in 49 AC, Rogar was furious that she married without the crown's leave, perhaps because Rogar's youngest brother and two of his nephews were unmarried and of suitable age for the queen. Later that year, Rogar himself would wed Queen Alyssa in a marvelous wedding remembered as the Golden Wedding at King's Landing, attended by numerous lords from throughout the Seven Kingdoms and even beyond. Many used the wedding as an opportunity to treat with the Hand, who was seen as the true power in the realm. Some servants controversially whispered that Rogar had bedded seven maidens from the pleasure houses of Lys, as Queen Alyssa had given her maidenhead to King Aenys I years before. Rogar did not ask Jaehaerys' leave to wed his mother, which the king took for a slight and a sign of disrespect. Jaehaerys did not approve of the marriage, later confessing that he did not need a second father.

With their wedding now behind them, Rogar and Alyssa turned to searching for a bride for Jaehaerys, with Rogar putting forward the notion for the king to marry the daughter of the Archon of Tyrosh, a buxom girl with blue-green hair. Princess Alysanne was to be wed to Ser Orryn, Rogar's youngest brother. Though the council had not told Alysanne of the betrothal, she soon found out and Rogar would suspect her uncle Daemon as the informer. Under the cover of darkness, Jaehaerys and Alysanne snuck away to Dragonstone with their dragons and Kingsguard, where they married in secret. Rogar and Alyssa arrived soon after and, upon learning that the marriage had not yet been consummated, Rogar sought to annul the union. However, Jaehaerys threatened Rogar's knights with his Kingsguard and Alyssa solemnly convinced the Hand to return to King's Landing. Jaehaerys and Alysanne would spend the rest of the king's minority at Dragonstone, while Rogar kept the king's marriage a secret, threatening to cut out the tongues of any witnesses present if word got out.

Lord Rogar was humiliated for being forced to back down at Dragonstone and intended to take the fortress by storm, until Alyssa reminded him that her children had dragons. Rogar would also forbid his wife from visiting the king and queen at Dragonstone. With the king away from court, Rogar and Alyssa ruled the realm from the capital. Rogar and Alyssa plotted to undo the king's marriage, one notable failed endeavor being Lady Coryanne Wylde's attempt to bed the king. Some versions of *A Caution for Young Girls* state that in 50 AC Rogar meet with Lady Coryanne in the inn on the south bank of the Blackwater Rush, beside the ferry landing, as she was traveling to King's Landing to begin serving in the household of Queen Alysanne on Dragonstone. He had her disrobe to inspect and feel her body, afterwards revealing the true reason for the summons to beguile the king with her womanly wiles and break the relationship between brother and sister. In some copies of the version, *A Wanton's Tale*, Rogar bedded her that night. According to Archmaester Crey, the meeting at the inn never happened, and the story had been an attempt to blacken Lord Rogar's name, attributing the origins of the lie to Ser Borys. And according to Maester Ryben, the story was nothing more than a bawdy tale amongst the smallfolk.

Under the ineffectual master of coin Lord Edwell Celtigar, the crown also faced debt, while a Vulture King raided the Dornish Marches. When Alyssa finally gave in and urged Rogar to allow the marriage, he yelled at her before the council and urged them to put aside the king for Rhaena's daughter Princess Aerea. Rogar's efforts failed and Alyssa demanded his resignation as Hand, quickly supported by Lord Daemon and Lord Qarl Corbray. Furious, Rogar departed King's Landing with half as many men as when he arrived.

### Queenmaker

Having been dismissed as the King's Hand, Rogar and his brothers returned to Storm's End, though not before a failed effort by Rogar to have his brother Ser Ronnal retrieve Princess Aerea from her quarters. However, Lord Corbray had already spirited the young princess away on the Queen Regent's orders, having suspected Rogar would attempt to take the girl with him. The bitter quarrel with his wife destroyed any affection Lord Rogar had for her. In his place, Alyssa named her brother Lord Daemon as Hand of the King, but Rogar was someone who knew not how to yield.

Rogar then sent his youngest brother, Ser Orryn, to the motherhouse attached to the Starry Sept in Oldtown to take into his custody Princess Rhaella, a novice of the Faith. However, the Faith refused and Ser Orryn and a dozen Baratheon men-at-arms were captured by thirty armed septons led by the High Septon's steward, Casper Straw. Ser Orryn was questioned and confessed the plot: he was to bring Rhaella to Storm's End, where Rogar planned to have her confess that she was really her older twin sister, Princess Aerea, and then he meant to name her queen. For this, Lord Donnel Hightower imprisoned his brother, much to Rogar's rage. However, the Lord of Storm's End did not call his banners and march on Oldtown but instead fell into despair. Having his maester draft a will and confession, Rogar absolved his four brothers of any wrongdoings, begged for mercy for Ser Orryn, and named the eldest of his brothers, Ser Borys, as his heir. With Rogar at Storm's End and Alyssa emotionally hurt, Lord Daemon and the council ruled the realm till King Jaehaerys came of age in 50 AC and his minority came to an end.

After Jaehaerys had returned to King's Landing he summoned Lord Rogar back to the capital. While Ser Borys urged him to join the Night's Watch, Ser Garon and Ser Ronnal urged defiance. Rogar knew Storm's End would not stand before dragons and instead rode to King's Landing with six of his oldest and loyalist knights, intending to explain himself to King Jaehaerys and take the black. Arriving in the throne room with only Jaehaerys and two white cloaks Ser Lorence Roxton and Ser Joffrey Doggett in attendance, Rogar knelt before the Iron Throne and begged the king to spare House Baratheon. Though Rogar feared harsh reprimandations, Jaehaerys instead pardoned him on the condition he never speaks another word against the king and his queen, to become their champion, and to be an honorable husband to his mother Alyssa. To this, Lord Baratheon quickly agreed. When Rogar asked if the king required hostages of him, Jaehaerys brought Rogar before his dragon Vermithor, where he reminded the lord of the power of dragons. After reconciling with Alyssa, Rogar and his wife returned to the stormlands four days later, escorted by a hundred men-at-arms led by Ser Pate the Woodcock of the Kingsguard to see them safely through the kingswood.

### Later life

When King Jaehaerys and Queen Alysanne held a ceremony celebrating their marriage, Lord Rogar and Dowager Queen Alyssa were among the gathered nobility that stood witness. When the king and queen finally decided to consummate their marriage, the drunk Rogar led the men who disrobed Alysanne and carried her to the bridal bed.

In 51 AC, Alyssa became pregnant with Rogar's child, bringing him much joy, as he had long ago abandoned any hopes of having children with his older wife. Though there were concerns with Alyssa's age, she gave birth to a healthy and robust boy Rogar named Boremund. In 54 AC, Alyssa became pregnant again with a second child of Rogar's. While Rogar was elated at the prospect of another son and foresaw no difficulties, many warned Alyssa that the birth would be difficult with her age and health. The warnings proved true; as Alyssa gave birth to the child, she found herself on the brink of death. While Jaehaerys and Alysanne were hosted by Lord Dondarrion at Blackhaven on a royal progress, Rogar sent them news of their mother's declining health. When the king arrived at Storm's End, he found Rogar drunk and afraid to look upon his dying wife. Maester Kyrie told the king and Rogar that he could save the child, though Alyssa would surely die. Lord Rogar reluctantly begged the maester to save his child. While Alyssa died, she gave birth to a daughter Rogar named Jocelyn. Days later, Rhaena arrived at Storm's End, where she accused Rogar of killing her mother and threatened to burn his castle should he take another wife or mistreat his children. While Rogar dismissed Rhaena's threats in front of his brothers, he never wed again.

In 58 AC, King Jaehaerys hosted a tourney at King's Landing to celebrate the tenth anniversary of his coronation. Lord Rogar and his children joined the feast that followed. When the Shivers struck the Seven Kingdoms, Rogar was untouched, his children briefly fell ill before recovering, but his brother Ser Ronnal and his sons perished.

### Lord Rogar's War

Lord Rogar returned to King's Landing in 61 AC with his daughter Jocelyn and his nieces from his deceased brother Ser Ronnal. Taking a knee before Jaehaerys, he begged the king to take his daughter and nieces as wards to be raised at court, to which the king and queen agreed. Rogar then warned his liege of his brother Ser Borys, who had joined the Vulture King raiding the Dornish Marches. Believing himself to be dying, the Lord of Storm's End then announced his intent to march into the Red Mountains of Dorne to deal with the Vulture King and his brother.

To Rogar's surprise, Jaehaerys not only gave his leave, but decided to join him in marching into the red mountains. The fight that followed is often known to the histories as the Third Dornish War, though the smallfolk of the time more aptly named it "Lord Rogar's War". The Lord of Storm's End marched five hundred men into the mountains while Jaehaerys mounted Vermithor. As Rogar's host ascended the mountains, they were soon forced to abandon their horses and proceed on foot, his column harassed by Dornish raiders. Rogar proceeded from the east, while Lord Simon Dondarrion led a small host of knights from the marches from the west. Meanwhile, Jaehaerys watched from the sky, directing the stormlander hosts to outlaw encampments. Ser Borys was the first to be cornered by the hunters. Rogar's men made short work of Borys' outlaws, and the two brothers came face-to-face. However, to prevent Rogar from being named a kinslayer, Jaehaerys slew Borys himself. The next month, the king's host captured the Vulture King. Rogar had the outlaw's chains struck off and challenged him to single combat, easily killing the Vulture King with his double-bladed axe.

Lord Rogar's War lasted less than half a year. With the Vulture King slain, raiding on the Dornish Marches fell off sharply. To Rogar's dismay, he did not fall in battle. Half a year later in 62 AC, Rogar Baratheon died at Storm's End in the presence of his maester, septon, his brother Ser Garon, and his son and heir, Boremund. With his death, Boremund succeeded his father as Lord of Storm's End.