Borys Wendwater

## Knight of the Kingsguard

Plain white shield of the Kingsguard

**Borys Wendwater** is the only trueborn male child of the Lord of Wendwater, Alliser Wendwater and his wife Lady Winona Wendwater. He's served in King Beric Baratheon's and his son's, Alesander I Baratheon's Kingsguard for more than twenty years. He is also uncle to the Hand of the King, Roland Westerling. More recently, following the untimely death of Alesander, he has sworn to protect the new King, Robert III Baratheon.

## Background

Borys' father was Alliser Wendwater, the Lord of Wendwater, and his mother Lady Winona Wendwater (née Bolling). The two of them had two children; Bethany and Borys. Even though they tried to have more, they found little success. Borys showed prowess in the arts of swordsmanship even in his childhood, which was why his father decided he should become a knight.

When Borys was old enough, Alliser sent him off to the Reach to squire for a landed knight of House Bulwer. The name of this knight has since been forgotten, unfortunately. The knight tried to teach Borys about how to lead troops and win wars on a larger scale, but to no avail; Borys was a better follower than a leader, and his true calling was on the battlefield with a sword in his hand, not in war councils looking at maps.

During the War of the Exile, the knight he was squiring for went to war and Borys, being almost a man grown, followed him. This was his first major test to show what he had learned, even though he was largely left out of the fighting. Sometimes, though, the Bulwer knight allowed him to wield a sword and some armor, and he was sent off on some smaller skirmishes to ensure the aspiring squire wouldn't get himself killed.

When he finished squiring for the Bulwer knight, he was sent to the closest, largest sept they could find, which was the Starry Sept in Oldtown. There, he was knighted and named Ser Borys.

After spending his last few days in the Reach following his anointment, he made his journey back to the Crownlands. When he reached home, he was met with a pregnant sister who apparently had had an affair with a farmer from House Wendwater's lands. Borys, infuriated, took his father's men and began a manhunt for the farmer, eventually finding him. Though Borys demanded him to be sent to the Wall, it was a judgment a small lord like his father couldn't pass and thus the farmer was only banished from his home - with a good number of bruises from Borys and his men, of course.

Eventually Bethany gave birth to the bastard child. Because her parents were infertile and were growing even more so every day, they decided to raise the boy as their own. He was named Robert, and he would later be legitimized because Borys ended up in the Kingsguard, making Robert the Lord of Wendwater.

Following the episode with the farmer, Ser Borys travelled across the Seven Kingdoms, sometimes even in the Kingdom of the North, participating in tourneys and tournaments. He honed both his skills in riding and fighting during these times, becoming a hardened knight. He was eventually sent a letter from King's Landing after he had single-handedly gotten rid of a large league of poachers in the Kingswood, that had been a pest for some time. The letter had been written by the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard and it had been signed by King Beric I Baratheon. Afterwards, Ser Borys rode to King's Landing and swore the oaths of the White Swords, and he was given the white cloak.

Ten years later, his sister's son, Roland Westerling, was brought to King's Landing to squire for Ser Borys. Because of this new-found task, he was given permission to leave the city to travel across the realm, since it was difficult to teach about knighthood in a crowded city. History repeated itself, as the War of the Burning Brand started in 354; when Ser Borys was now the master and Roland the learner. Because Roland was much younger than Borys had been during the War of the Exile, he was almost completely left out of the fighting, only carrying Ser Borys' weapons and helping him into his armor before battle.

After the war ended, both Borys and Roland returned to King's Landing and stayed there for largely the rest of Roland's time as a squire. They had viewed the War of the Burning Brand as a grand finale to their voyage around the world. Two years after the war was over, terrible news came from the Crag, the seat of House Westerling. All of Roland's siblings had either committed suicide or died in another way. His parents - including Ser Borys' sister Bethany - had both committed suicide.

More unfortunate events followed, when two years later, the King on the Iron Throne, Beric Baratheon, leaped off of Maegor's Holdfast, killing himself. Though the King had been becoming more and more less capable to rule over time, Ser Borys was saddened by the King's death. He didn't consider the King a friendly person, a loving father, a good warrior or a good leader, but it was still his King who had died. He later swore himself to Beric's more promising son, King Alesander I Baratheon.

In a small rebellion known as Richard's Regret, the King's younger brother got drunk one night and he and his friends decided he was the rightful King. Borys, boosted by the anger that dwelt inside him following the untimely death of the person he'd sworn to protect before, slew two men who came up to the Red Keep calling themselves "loyal to the true King Richard the First of his Name". Afterwards, to make sure this rebellion came to an end with no harm done, he set out to capture the leader of the rebellion, killing a handful more men loyal to Richard, some of them even being landed knights. He eventually located Richard, and with him being heavily intoxicated, Borys easily dragged him to the Black Cells. Although Richard was pardoned by Alesander after the rebellion, Richard died all the same due to heavy drinking and a pox he had. After Borys succeeded in bringing Richard to justice, he felt as if he had been redeemed of his failure to protect King Beric.

Roland's time as a squire came to an end as he was anointed a knight following a tournament at Wendwater. Afterwards, Borys dedicated his life to protecting the King. Later on, his squire returned to King's Landing to serve as Hand of the King, allowing Borys and his nephew to strengthen their relationship.

## Recently

The King Alesander I Baratheon dies of poisoned wine, leaving little evidence and close to no witnesses. Ser Borys swears the oaths of the Kingsguard to Alesander's son, Robert III Baratheon, King of Westeros, King of the Andals and the Rhoynar, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm.

Ser Borys was appointed the young King's official protector. This meant he was to accompany him everywhere he went, freeing Borys of some of the responsibilities an average Kingsguard should be attending to.

Shortly after being named Royal Protector, the Lord Regent named him the Crown's champion for the trial by combat for Lord Leyton Hightower's fate. His opponent, Lord Paramount of the Stormlands, Steffon Baratheon, after a few minutes of fighting, fell to Ser Borys' sword.