Brynden Tully (The Lion and the Dragon)

## SerBrynden Tully

Ser **Brynden Tully**, also known as **Brynden Blackfish**, **Brynden the Blackfish**, or simply the **Blackfish**, is a knight from House Tully. He is the younger brother of Hoster Tully, Lord Paramount of the Trident, and the uncle of Lady Catelyn Stark, Lady Lysa Lannister, and Ser Edmure Tully. The Blackfish has served as the Captain of the City Watch of Lannisport for House Lannister since the Greyjoy's Rebellion.

## Appearance and Character

Brynden is tall and lean, with a hoarse, smoky voice. He is clean-shaven, and his face is craggy and windburnt, his features lined and weathered. His once-auburn hair has gone to grey. He has bushy eyebrows and laughing eyes of deep blue.

A kind man with the patience to listen, Brynden is also a blunt and stubborn man who does not care what others think. He is a seasoned warrior, a veteran of half a hundred battles, and precise in his movements. He is also a strong swimmer.

As the Captain of the City Watch of Lannisport, Brynden wears grey heavy plate armor and helm, but when commanding outriders he trades this for mail and leather. Brynden also owns grey ringmail under blackened steel, with a black trout adorning the helm's crest. He rides a grey horse, as well as a chestnut courser decorated in red and blue. Brynden's cloak, in the blue-and-red colors of House Tully, is fastened by a clasp of obsidian and gold in the shape of a black fish, his only concession to ornament. The banner of his standard-bearer depicts a black fish.

## History

### Early life

Brynden is the brother of Hoster Tully, younger than him by five years. The brothers were close through their childhood. Together with Norbert Vance, Brynden squired for Lord Darry, and was eventually knighted. In 260 AC, Brynden fought in the War of the Ninepenny Kings against the Band of Nine on the Stepstones. There, he proved himself a great and worthy knight, and gained fame and renown throughout the Seven Kingdoms.

After their father died, Brynden's older brother Hoster inherited the rule of Riverrun. Hoster sought to betroth Brynden to Bethany Redwyne, but Brynden refused, straining their relationship. While other lords like Lord Bracken and Walder Frey made offers as well, Brynden remained unwed.

When Catelyn Tully was eight, Hoster called Brynden the "black goat of the Tully flock" during an argument. Brynden pointed out that their sigil was a fish, which made him a black fish instead of a black goat. Brynden took for his personal sigil the Tully emblem, but with a black trout jumping, instead of a silver trout, and he became known as the "Blackfish".

While Brynden's relationship with Hoster was strained, he had a good relationship with Hoster's children, Catelyn, Lysa and Edmure, as well as Hoster's young ward, Petyr Baelish. When Hoster was too busy and Lady Minisa Whent too ill, the children ran to Brynden with their problems and stories. On the night when Catelyn's betrothal to Brandon Stark was announced, Petyr, who had been in love with Catelyn, passed out drunk on a table after Catelyn rejected a kiss from him. In order to prevent Hoster from seeing his young ward like this, Brynden carried Petyr away.

### War of the Usurpers

The War of the Usurpers began in 282 AC. Brynden's first duty was to flee Riverrun with his nieces and nephews after the Lannister breakthrough at the Golden Tooth. He planned to go northwards to the Twins where he would meet with Northern forces and return to the Riverlands, joined by House Frey and Malluster men. However upon reaching the Twins Lord Walder Frey denied the Northern army access, instead he sought to use his position of power as a means with which to gain beneficial marriages for his family.

In the ensuing Agreement at the Twins, Ser Brynden and Brandon Stark agreed to various marriages between House Tully and House Stark to House Frey, including the betrothal of Edmure Tully, heir to Riverrun, to Tyta Frey, the fourth daughter of Lord Walder. A rushed marriage between Brynden's niece Lady Catelyn Tully and Brandon also occurred, as the Starks sought to formalise the alliance between the two houses.

Brynden marched southards, now bolstered by Northern and Riverlander men, to try and relieve the siege on Riverrun. The ensuing battle against Ser Tygett Lannister's men was a close-run affair, however the death of Brandon Stark during his desparate charge against Lannister men saw the Northern army break and Ser Brynden could do little other than beat an organised retreat with his own men. Ser Tygett couldn't give chase as the battle had depleted his own army of the necessary numbers to both continue the siege and chase the fleeing armies, though the failed sallying from Riverrun during the fight also severely depleted Tully forces, leading to a capture of the castle soon after the battle. This saw Brynden's brother Lord Hoster Tully be captured by Lannister forces.

The last actions taken by Brynden in the war was to retreat to Seagard, the seat of House Mallister, and prepare defences in the castle. After the fall of Riverrun the Royal forces did indeed march up to Seagard under Ser Tygett's command and start laying siege to the fort, though the war ended before the siege led to any notable casualties on either side.

After the war drew to an end Brynden returned to Riverrun, however his agreement with the Frey's led to an irrecoverable fracturing of the already strained relationship he had with his brother Lord Hoster. He took on Tyrion Lannister, Lord Tywin Lannister's second son, as a squire as part of King Rhaegar I Targaryen's plan to keep the peace throughout Westeros where Tyrion was also betrothed to Brynden's niece Lysa. Over the following seven years Brynden and Tyrion grew to like one another, especially as the love grew between Lysa and the Lannister boy.

### Greyjoy's Rebellion and Lannisport

During Brynden's time with Tyrion as his squire, House Greyjoy launched an attack against Lannisport in their attempt to gain independence. Though House Tully stayed out of the war, Brynden joined the fight as he was serving House Lannister. His main participation in the combat came at the end of the war, while most of the Lannister forces were attacking Old Pyke, Brynden and his squire Tyrion Lannister joined the Siege of Pyke.

Brynden and his squire were among some of the first through the breached walls and helped in the defeat of the Greyjoy's. He watched as King Rhaegar I Targaryen knighted his squire for his bravery during the battle. Following the knighting of Tyrion, Brynden's niece Lysa and the Lannister boy were wed in Lannisport, which Brynden attended.

After his squire was knighted, Lord Tywin Lannister offered Brynden the captaincy of the City Watch of Lannisport, hoping to retain his military prowess for House Lannister and that he would shore up the defences of Lannisport for any potential Greyjoy combat in the future.

### War of the Four Kings

At the beginning of the War of the Four Kings, Brynden was in a tough situation. His house had declared for the rebellion opposing the crown, whilst the house he served declared for the King. Seeing the way the wind was changing, he fled from Lannisport on a Tyroshi mercantile ship, paying them to take him north to Seagard. In doing so he barely avoided imprisonment after agents were sent by Lord Tywin Lannister.