Gendry Baratheon

Lord **Gendry Baratheon**, formerly known simply as **Gendry**, is an unacknowledged bastard son of King Robert Baratheon. He has since been legitimized and inherited all titles held by his father before Robert became king, and appointed the new Warden of the South.

## Personality

King Robert's actual son Gendry is everything that his alleged son and heir Joffrey Baratheon was not, both in terms of physical appearance and personality. Joffrey was an arrogant, sadistic fop, with a massive sense of entitlement. He was not skilled at anything - particularly not at combat, in which he was also a coward when faced with real danger. Joffrey's one real claim to importance was that he was Robert's son – which was itself a lie even if he himself didn't know. Gendry, by contrast, is the exact opposite: a generally humble and polite working-class blacksmith, who didn't grow up rich in a castle, and a brave and capable fighter when called to do so. He also has a protective instinct, which is demonstrated as he defends the boy "Arry" when he sees the other recruits picking on (what he thinks is) a smaller boy and as he holds Arya back from danger on several occasions. Growing up having to work for a living, at Mott's smithy, Gendry became disciplined, and doesn't have any of his father Robert's negative qualities of self-indulgence (in food, drink, and women). Gendry also developed great observational skills, having noticed immediately that Arya is in fact a girl disguised as a boy. Furthermore, Gendry is incredibly brave, being the first one to attack the Gold Cloaks with only his smith's hammer after Yoren's death.

Gendry is extremely pragmatic and practical, as evidenced by his ability to understand how social standing benefits people unlike him: he understood that if he returned to Riverrun with Arya, she would be his 'lady' rather than his friend. This sets him further apart from Joffrey, who outright fell back on social standing and had massive delusions of grandeur where his own position was concerned. Joffrey accentuated his title as king to be the reason that he should get his way, whereas Gendry fought and survived for other people and was nowhere near as arrogant or temperamental as Joffrey. Also, he was surprisingly self-reproachful about his own actions, shown prominently in the aftermath of Melisandre seducing him; Joffrey was not the slightest bit self-reproachful, never blaming himself for anything even if he were the central catalyst for an incident. Joffrey would brutalize women at court, taking out his frustrations by having his guards publicly beat Sansa Stark and citing his authority as king when Tyrion Lannister confronted him about it. In a direct parallel, Gendry is polite and deferential to her sister Arya Stark when he learns who she is, worried at his behavior and insisting on addressing her with formal titles.

Gendry is still somewhat self-conscious about being a commoner, with a commoner's lot in life. Like many of them, he is terrified and subservient when he encounters members of the nobility, while somewhat resenting the great lords for oppressing the lower classes and tearing Westeros apart with their bloody wars. Though he has no formal combat training, Gendry is remarkably skilled with a hammer, both as a weapon and a tool - much like his father Robert. While escaping from King's Landing, he effortlessly killed two curious Gold Cloaks with a war hammer, having inherited his father's incredible strength. In the Battle of Winterfell he fought with a mace and took down lots of wights, proving again his incredible strength and stamina. This strength has been a prevalent factor throughout his life, as he commented to Hot Pie that when he strikes steel with a hammer it 'sings'. A glaring difference between him and his father is that Gendry does not love fighting, whereas Robert Baratheon absolutely *lived* for fighting.

## Biography

### Background

Gendry is the last living bastard son of King Robert Baratheon, who, throughout his childhood, was unaware of his lineage. Gendry did not receive either the bastard surnames used in the Crownlands (Waters) or the Stormlands (Storm) because, like the rest of his half-siblings, he has never been openly acknowledged by Robert.

Gendry spent his whole life in King's Landing. His mother was a tavern wench that King Robert had sex with once, and apparently Robert never even knew of his existence. Gendry grew up in the slums of Flea Bottom, surviving on bowls of brown stew that contained meat which was allegedly chicken (though like most of the other patrons, he knew full well it wasn't). Gendry's mother died when he was very young. When he was old enough, an unknown lord paid his apprentice fee so he could learn to be a blacksmith. He then took up work as an apprentice blacksmith under Tobho Mott, a master weaponsmith from Qohor, forging high-end armor and weapons for the nobility. Gendry became very skilled in his own right, and the heavy manual labor built him up into a strong young man - ironically, swinging a heavy blacksmith's hammer much as Robert once swung his war hammer. Gendry worked under Tobho Mott for 10 years.

### Season 1

Investigating the death of Jon Arryn, Lord Eddard Stark learns that he was seen visiting Tobho Mott's smithy in the city shortly before his death. Eddard also inspects the smithy. Mott tells him that Jon Arryn came to ask about new armor, but he also wanted to talk to Mott's apprentice. Eddard admires a helm that Gendry has made. Mott scolds Gendry for insisting that it is not for sale as he made it for himself, and potentially denying the King's Hand, but Eddard reassures the smith. Eddard learns that Jon wanted to know about Gendry's mother. He then takes a close look at the boy, and realizes that Gendry is a bastard son of Robert (whom Eddard knew ever since they were fostered boys with Jon Arryn). Eddard is at a loss as to why Arryn was trying to track down Robert's bastards.

Mott later sells Gendry to the Night's Watch, and is one of the latest batch of Yoren's recruits that leave for the Wall. Among the group he meets Lord Eddard's daughter Arya Stark (disguised as the boy "Arry"), when some of the other boys harass her about her sword. When Hot Pie bumps into him, he scares the boys off, saying "When I hit that steel, it sings. Are you gonna sing when I hit you?", after which he expresses their insignificance to Arya now they have all joined the Watch.

### Season 2

Gendry travels north on the Kingsroad with Yoren and his recruits, befriending Arya on the journey. He is targeted by the City Watch of King's Landing because of his status as a bastard of King Robert Baratheon, but remains unaware of his lineage. Yoren intimidates a pair of gold cloaks who come looking for Gendry into leaving empty handed. Gendry sees through Arya's disguise and recognizes her as a girl. She confides her identity and swears him to secrecy. Gendry is embarrassed for talking so crudely to a highborn member of a noble house, though the tomboyish Arya is herself embarrassed at his deference to her as a "Lady."

The gold cloaks return with Ser Amory Lorch and a force of Lannister soldiers. They attack the group, kill Yoren and capture Arya and Gendry. Arya manages to convince them that Lommy Greenhands, whom Polliver had killed, was Gendry because he was carrying the bull's head helm that Gendry made. The prisoners are then taken to Harrenhal. They are brutally tortured by Ser Gregor Clegane's men while being questioned by the Tickler. Gendry is selected as his next victim, but is saved when Lord Tywin Lannister arrives and chastises his men that the prisoners are more useful alive. To prove his point, Tywin asks Gendry if he has a trade, and when Gendry says that he is in fact a trained blacksmith, Tywin shoots a stern look at Gregor's men.

Gendry is put to work at the castle's forge. Whilst Gendry practices his swordsmanship, which is criticized by Arya, the Tickler is found dead in suspicious circumstances, his neck snapped. Some days later, Ser Amory is murdered via a wolfsbane dart. The deaths prompt Tywin to launch an investigation and he ultimately blames infiltrators from the Brotherhood Without Banners, a resistance group whom the Tickler was trying to gain information on.

Tywin leaves Harrenhal to lead his army on the march (though rather than heading west to fight Robb Stark, he in fact races back south to fight Stannis in the Battle of the Blackwater). Before they leave, Arya arranges for Jaqen H'ghar to help them to escape the castle. It turns out Arya was right to make their escape attempt then, as when the Lannister army withdrew soon afterwards, they massacred every remaining prisoner at Harrenhal.

### Season 3

After Gendry escapes Harrenhal with Arya and Hot Pie, they attempt to head north to Riverrun, across the Red Fork of the Trident, which is ruled by Arya's mother's family (House Tully). It is slow going on foot through the front lines of the war, however, and in the forest they run into the partisan group known as the Brotherhood Without Banners. They recognize them as the group the Lannister torturers were asking about at Harrenhal. Their leader Thoros of Myr seems a friendly sort, and they make the children come with them. They later give them food and drink at the Crossroads Inn. Gendry says he used to work as a smith in King's Landing for Tobho Mott, whom Thoros recognizes but says he charged double what the other smiths did; Gendry counters that's because it was double the quality. Other members of the Brotherhood return to the inn with a captive: Sandor "The Hound" Clegane. As Thoros trades insults with Sandor, Arya tries to leave, but the Hound stops her in astonishment and asks what in seven hells they're doing with "the Stark bitch", revealing her identity to all.

While they are with the Brotherhood, Gendry helps them out by fixing some armor. Hot Pie decides to stay behind at the inn, as this dangerous life of adventuring in the war isn't really for him (that, and as a skilled baker, the Brotherhood told the innkeeper he would stay as payment for all their free meals). Happy with his new job, Hot Pie bids farewell to them both.

The Brotherhood takes the children and Sandor back to their hideout in a cave, where Thoros introduces them to the Brotherhood's main leader, Beric Dondarrion. He explains that they are a resistance group whose goal is to fight to defend the commoners, no matter which side in the war is harassing them, as the fighting between the great lords is causing widespread suffering among them, under the direction of R'hllor. Gendry later witnesses Beric's death during a trial by combat with Sandor Clegane, only for him to be revived moments later by Thoros.

Gendry continues to work as a blacksmith for the Brotherhood. Beric and Thoros later explain that instead of simply letting Arya go, they intend to ransom her back to the Starks, as they badly need the gold to fund their resistance group. While she is safe from the Lannisters in their company, she is not amused by this. Arya is then distressed to learn that Gendry does not intend to come with her back to Winterfell, unaware that the bulk of her family is at Riverrun, and confronts him about it.

Gendry explains that the Brotherhood is the closest thing he's had to a family. When Arya states that she could be his family, he reminds her of their class differences which would reassert once they are back behind friendly lines: she's still the daughter of a Great House, while he's just one of the smallfolk: she wouldn't be his family, she'd be "My Lady."

Arya and Gendry are doing some archery training with the Brotherhood when Melisandre arrives, with some of Stannis Baratheon's soldiers. Arya grumbles about the presence of the red priestess, asking what all the fuss is about. Gendry is shocked when the Brotherhood turns him over to Melisandre in exchange for two bags of gold.

As he and Melisandre quietly traverse Blackwater Bay, she finally reveals the truth of his heritage to him by pointing out the Red Keep and identifying it as his father's House. This is why she has sought him out, and is taking him to Robert's younger brother Stannis Baratheon - his uncle - on Dragonstone island.

Upon arriving at Dragonstone, Stannis briefly looks over Gendry and confirms that he is clearly Robert's son (looking just like he did at that age). Outside of Gendry's presence, Stannis's advisors debate what to do with him: Melisandre actually wants to *kill* Gendry as a magical sacrifice, as there is power in a king's blood (from Robert). Davos Seaworth implores Stannis not to kill his nephew, but Stannis bitterly remarks that he's already a kinslayer for killing his own brother Renly, but Davos counters that Renly brought that on himself by trying to usurp Stannis's claim to the throne - but his nephew Gendry is just an innocent boy, and they don't even know if Melisandre's claims will work.

He manages to argue Stannis down to the point that he has Melisandre agree to do a test first, which won't actually kill Gendry. Melisandre puts Gendry up in a lavish chamber and seduces him, but the situation quickly turns dark when she ties him to the bed and proceeding to leech his blood for a ritual. Stannis throws the leeches containing his blood into a fire, praying for the deaths of the three usurper-kings still in the realm: Joffrey Baratheon, Balon Greyjoy, and Robb Stark.

Following the incident, Gendry is relegated to a cell beneath the castle. After Robb Stark was betrayed and killed at the Red Wedding, Stannis is convinced that Melisandre's test must have worked, and that they must kill Gendry as a sacrifice to summon an even greater magical power to reclaim the realm. Stannis isn't pleased by this, but he weighs that the death of one boy (much like Davos's own son Matthos Seaworth) is a small price to pay compared to the many thousands who will die as long as the war drags on. Upset, Davos comes to visit him, and the pair discuss the hardships of growing up as poor commoners in Flea Bottom.

Davos asks why Gendry trusted Melisandre, to which the blacksmith admits he's never been with a beautiful naked woman, so he was overwhelmed and wasn't thinking. Davos then frees Gendry, explaining that the best place to hide would be right under the Lannisters' noses. He send Gendry back to King's Landing in a rowboat, the only way to discreetly leave Dragonstone, although Gendry admits he doesn't know how to swim and has never been in a rowboat before. Davos gives him a stash of supplies and tells him to just keep sailing west for several days, to avoid patrols from either the Lannisters or Stannis.

### Season 5

When Stannis's army becomes snowbound on the march to Winterfell, Melisandre suggests that they sacrifice more king's blood to the Lord of Light, and Stannis initially believes she is referring to Gendry before he realizes she is referring to his own daughter, Shireen Baratheon.

With the deaths of Shireen and Stannis, House Baratheon becomes virtually extinct, and Gendry is left as the last known living person of the Baratheon bloodline.