Brandon Blackwood

Brandon Blackwood is a member of House Blackwood.

## Biography

Born to Lord Tristifer Blackwood and Lady Darlessa Lannister in 366 AC, in the latter days of the reign of Petyr the Pious, Brandon Blackwood was screaming from birth. He was a raucous thing, even then, biting on his wet nurse's teat and keeping the castle up with his wailing. His infancy felt short, for he was walking in less than a year and talking by a year and a half. As well, he was always whining and pushing and scratching, desperate for something that he didn't quite have.

His childhood was a brief, bitter thing. Brandon tried to grow up as soon as he could, but made sure to release his aggression early. He was always angry, having that black rage in the heart that few are born with. He was starting to get in fights, violent ones, by his sixth nameday, always finding some smallfolk boy or petty lordling to get into scraps with.

In his youth, though he barely read, he grew fond for the stories of old. His father descended from a line of heroes, Benjicot Blackwood, Black Aly, and the Bloodraven, veterans of a dozen wars and winners of them all. From his mother’s line was *the* hero, Jaime Lannister, slayer of the Mad King and, as the madmen and singers would say, “Azor Ahai”. He brought Piety back to the Blackwoods, too, after winning the war against the Others. That was preposterous, of course, but he wanted to believe, then, when he was just a boy. Maybe a little bit of him still believes.

With his well-known aggression, it made simple sense that he'd be fostered in some warrior's hold. Brandon was sent over to Lord Petyr, the Elder, Mallister in 375 AC, as a page then squire, at the age of nine. Brandon chafed under the stern, but fair, hand of Lord Petyr, but his wildness was brought down a bit. He would serve in Lord Mallister's service relatively well, though he often got in scraps, if less than he had in his boyhood.

It was not rare for him to beat some squire bloody, with his bare hands or a training sword, but if he ever got out of hand, Lord Mallister was quick to bring him into line. Most of his aggression was taken out in the training fields, thankfully, and he grew strong in the use of sword and shield. Privately, he hoped to one day wield Piety, the sword of his family, though it was stolen by the Brackens, then. Perhaps it was there, in the training fields of Seagard, that the enmity, once a simple idea drilled into his mind, day after day, began to flourish.

His ability to win a fight became strong and, with it, Brandon grew proud. It was not rare, and still is not, to find him challenging anyone who dared step in the yard. Instead of horse-riding, or kissing girls, or even training, what Brandon loved most was fighting. He was desperate to fight, to be in the face of someone else and prove them wrong.

It was an outlet. Perhaps it wasn't the most healthy or the wisest option to get that rage out, but it was *his* way. It gave him a chance to be calm elsewhere, if only for a short while. But the more he fought, the more he wanted to fight. The more faces he bloodied, the less it mattered. The rush of blood refused to disappear, even when he beat someone or was beaten. The anger only grew.

Maybe the war came at a good time. When Brynden Baelish declared himself King, both Houses Blackwood and Mallister declared for the rightful King. Brandon was lucky, there, that hs foster house hadn't risen against his native house, that he hadn't been taken as a hostage. His master, who had grown into a friend and a fatherly figure, knighted the young Blackwood, for his prowess, if lacking piety, and sent his foster child home. Brandon rode to Raventree Hall for the first time in years, nearly a man grown and now a knight, to prepare for battle.

Beside him were a knight, Ser Lorent Shawney, a man-at-arms, Pate o' the Rat, and Lorent's squire, Jack the Woman. He would find not peace on the way home. Brandon, though a knight now, was still scared. He was a boy far from home, marching on to a war he wasn't sure if he wanted to fight. He went to the ruins of Oldstones, resting a night and taking solace in the ancient, overgrown godswood. Instead of solace, he found Ser Hendry Bracken, heir to Stone Hedge, alongside four Bracken men-at-arms. How the Bracken discovered Brandon Blackwood is unknown.

How he knew he'd depart from Seagard and pause at Oldstones we do not know either. Did Bracken have spies in Seagard? Did Jack, constantly mocked and denied knighthood, grow dissatisfied and send a raven to Stone Hedge? Had it simply been ill fortune, for both parties? It is likely to never be known, but Bracken and Blackwood met in the shadow of the ruins that night, and, to their lives, that made the difference.

So happened the skirmish at Oldstones, bloody and violent, should the scene be believed. They fought for hours, the smallfolk say, that a passing scavenger heard and watched the scuffle. There were plenty of words said beforehand, but none are recounted, here or elsewhere. Who drew the first sword or spat the first insult is a matter of conjecture, a spat for singers and historians. It does not matter.

Beardless Jack was the first to fall, by the hands of a Bracken man. Ser Lorent Shawney, the finest man in the field, was stabbed in the back by a Bracken man. Bracken was the last named to fall, slain by Brandon's own sword, after his blade was flung from his grip. Depending on the tale, Ser Hendry either tried to stab Blackwood in the thigh with a dirk or attempted to yield, but the outcome was all the same. His head was cut from his shoulders in a fell swoop of Blackwood’s shining blade. Pate noted that he bled heavy, there, his ichor feeding the weirwoods around him. A last sacrifice for the Old Gods. A Bracken man-at-arms, horrified at the sight, tried to flee, but Pate ran him through.

Only Pate o' the Rat and Brandon himself lived to tell the tale, the rest dead and buried, there at Oldstones. When Pate died after drinking bad water seven years later, telling only what we know now, Brandon was left the last man, the relic of the ruins. Yet the ever boastful, ever furious, and ever to tell a tale Blackwood never told a word after he stumbled into the walls of Raventree Hall, blood drenching his cloak. His only words then, and therefore his only account, were thus: "I killed him. I killed him."

And so he had. Brandon distinguished himself as both a knight and a warrior. He marched with his father to besiege Riverrun, fighting in occasional sorties and befriending Ser Uther the Toad, a son of a lesser noble House sworn to the Blackwoods. Uther and Pate were both by his side as the Blackwoods moved north to besiege the Twins, fighting by his side in skirmishes along the way.

Brandon would find the life of a besieger relatively boring, often dueling with minor nobles and knights, either to train or out of petty feuds. This behavior was generally discouraged, but it didn't stop him. The siege was broken when the Faith Militant and the Valemen assaulted the Starks on the other side and the events of the Tragedy at the Twins occurred. Brandon, though not one to be disheartened by the sight of gore, was horrified at the thought of it.

He would finally get his chance in battle at Harrenhal, where he fought in the battle. In fact, he even met the blade of Brynden Baelish, the leader of the rebellion, for just a scant moment. Brandon would capture no major hostages in the battle, but would prove himself a warrior, slaying near a score of men (mostly undertrained smallfolk and Stars conscripted for the battle). In the midst of battle, at the edge of the blade of a Faith Militant, he'd be saved by Ser Daemon Velaryon, who he would befriend in the wake of the battle. Brandon was witness to the execution of the pious traiter Brynden Baelish and, with him, the extinguishing of the rebellion.

He would make acquaintance with Jason Mallister, the son of his knight master, who had unfortunately been lost at the Battle of Harrenhal. Brandon would also take part in the Dornish-Triarchy War, helping fight in the Stormlands, but would only join the Myrish invasion in the latter days, right before their forced surrender. Brandon, since the war, has remained in Raventree Hall and usually can be found hunting or in the training yards. He mostly spends time with a gaggle of knights and men-at-arms, most veteran to the war.

Alongside the rest of House Blackwood, Brandon, a knight and unmarried, has elected to come to King's Landing to feast and fight in what could be the greatest tourney the realm has ever seen. There is no doubt that Brandon Blackwood shall make a name for himself in the proceedings.

## Timeline

* 366 AC: Brandon is born, screaming from the womb.
* 373 AC: Brandon begins training in the yards.
* 375 AC: Brandon is sent as a page for Lord Petyr, the Elder, Mallister.
* 377 AC: Brandon becomes a squire to Lord Petyr.
* 381 AC: Brandon is knighted, as the war begins, and rides back to Raventree Hall. However, on a pause from the trip at Oldstones, he encounters Ser Hendry Bracken, leading to a skirmish. Hendry dies in the result.
* 381 - 384 AC: Brandon fights in Brynden's Rebellion, including the Siege of Riverrun and the Siege of the Twins, as well as the Battle of Harrenhal.
* 384 AC: Brandon serves in the latter days of the Dornish-Triarchy War, fighting in only a few short skirmishes.
* 390 AC: Brandon rides for King's Landing to join the tournament. Present Day.

## Supporting Characters

* Ser Uther "the Toad" Vypren - "Friend", sycophant - Warrior (Blunt Weapons)
* Isembard the Longfingers - Blackwood man-at-arms, sycophant - Warrior (Swords)
* Dickon of Waspwood - Blackwood man-at-arms, sycophant - Warrior (Polearms)