King Godfrey

### Family

Queen de Clare (wife), Mikael Godfrey, Isolde and Eli Rowntree, Merek and Claire Seymour, Cas Ridley, Leto Capulet, Marcella Beaumanoir, Faye Carteret, and Rosaline de Clare (children)

“Close your mouth and lower your eyes before your king. If I say it is true, then it is true. Find Merek and bring him to me, or I will send my own men to bring me his head.”

—King Godfrey, to Mikael

King Godfrey is the longstanding ruler of Tara-Ingerilor. Although he's married to Queen de Clare, he's had children by countless different women. He's a highly competent monarch, but possessed of a vicious sort of cruelty.

## Appearance

“But he’s intimidating, rooted to his throne with ramrod straight posture and thunder in his eyes. I don’t see Father that often, and when I do, I rarely look him in the face, so I wouldn’t even be able to describe what he looks like. ”

—Leto

 Little is known of King Godfrey's appearance. He's described as an imposing figure with the same pale blue eyes as his children Mikael and Rosa.

## Relationships

### Mikael Godfrey

King Godfrey takes great pride in his eldest son, while Mikael follows him with absolute loyalty. Their relationship hasn't always been smooth - as a child, Mikael was opinionated and borderline rebellious, but King Godfrey beat it out of him behind closed doors. Mikael took the abuse to heart and corrected the undesirable behaviors. After he had trained himself to obey his father without question, he became King Godfrey's left-hand man.

### Rosaline de Clare

Rosa is, arguably, the only person King Godfrey genuinely loves. She doesn't appear to resent him for taking her away from her mother, possibly due to the kindness he always showed her. During her visits to the palace, he made time to play childish games with her, and remained interested in her life even as she grew older.

### Mathildis Koehl

King Godfrey and Mathildis share a close, yet professional relationship. It's unusual in the sense that Mathildis is one of the few women King Godfrey didn't seek after to bear his children. If anything, Mathildis is the closest thing to a real friend he has. He greatly values her opinion as his right-hand woman, and they share a mutual respect for one another.

### Isolde Rowntree

Alongside Mikael and Rosa, Isolde is one of King Godfrey's favorite children. He was always pleased that she grew up into a beautiful, dignified young woman, and even more pleased that she never once defied him. For her part, Isolde treats him with the respect she owes him as her king and her father. She's too clever to express a strong opinion about him.

### Merek Seymour

King Godfrey and Merek always had a tumultuous relationship. King Godfrey kept a close eye on Merek, watching for any signs of ambition, any signs that Merek would compete with his eldest brother for the throne. When nothing of the sort showed its face, King Godfrey was rather disappointed. His disappointment turned to irritation and finally anger as Merek began talking back to him and expressing his own ideas and opinions. In an attempt to knock his son into line, King Godfrey would occasionally beat Merek, although not to the same severity as he did to Mikael, as Lady Seymour would take note. Even that didn't curb Merek's tongue, and eventually King Godfrey decided he was treasonous.

### Claire Seymour

King Godfrey's dislike of her brother didn't extend to Claire in the slightest, most likely because she was more tactful about disagreeing with him. A social butterfly and entertaining speaker, Claire was well-liked, and King Godfrey was no exception. He didn't view her seriously as a competitor for the throne, mostly because of her gender and her number of older siblings, so he didn't mind her as much as he would otherwise. However, he did praise her in regard to her studies and lancework. When he accused Merek of treason, it never occurred to him that Claire would be involved until she disappeared after him.

### Cas Ridley

King Godfrey rarely thinks of his third eldest son, but when he does, he thinks of Cas as unremarkable. Most of the king's attention was focused on his two eldest sons and eldest daughter (and, later, youngest daughter), so he hardly spared Cas a glance. Cas, on the other hand, developed an admiration for his father at a young age, and pursued King Godfrey's attention and affection in vain. Mikael and Merek outclassed him at their studies and in their fighting, and Claire already occupied the title of social butterfly. Cas began acting up for attention, but still the king paid him no mind.

### Leto Capulet

If King Godfrey thought little of Cas, he thought nothing of Leto. Unlike Cas, Leto was content with that, and mentions once that he could count the number of times he'd seen his father on both hands.

### Marcella Beaumanoir

Marcella and her father don't share a close relationship. As King Godfrey was only interested in children who were suitable heirs to the throne, he was uninterested in his sickly daughter. It is mentioned that when Marcella was very young, King Godfrey frequently forgot that she was still alive and was surprised when her mother brought her to supper.

### Faye Carteret

Considering that she was born so late compared to her siblings, Faye got a fair amount of attention from her father. Nobody ever thought she would attempt to get the throne, but she was such a sweet girl that King Godfrey couldn't help but enjoy her occasional company. Faye was one of the few children who did normal things like sit on her father's lap and bring him gifts like pictures she drew or pretty rocks she found. When Rosa came to live in the capital, she became the new object of the king's affection. Luckily, by the time that happened, Faye had gotten older and preferred spending time with her siblings rather than her father.

### Eli Rowntree

Like Leto, Eli has almost no relationship with his father, nor does he care to have one. The closest thing to a parent Eli had was Isolde, and her apparent indifference towards her father rubbed off on him.

## Trivia

* King Godfrey is apparently free of the prejudice most Tara-Ingerilorans hold against the Navitian people, as he has a child with a Navitian woman without hesitation.