| “ | We serve the Lord of Light, and the Lord of Light needs this boy. | „ |
| ~ Beric |
Lord Beric Dondarrion is a character from A Song of Ice and Fire and its television adaptation Game of Thrones. He is the head of House Dondarrion and Lord of Blackhaven, a castle in the Dornish Marches, in the southwestern stormlands. He is engaged to Allyria Dayne, and his squire is her nephew, Lord Edric Dayne of Starfall. He is 21 at the beginning of the first book.
In the TV series he is portrayed by David Michael Scott in season 1 and by Richard Dormer from season 3 onward.
A Game of Thrones
Beric rides from Blackhaven to King's Landing for the Hand's Tourney. Jeyne Poole has a crush on him and wishes to marry him son. During the Hand's Tourney he loses a horse to a hedge knight and is shortly after unhorsed by the Red Priest Thoros of Myr. After the tourney he remains at King's Landing. When Lord Tywin Lannister starts gathering his forces at Casterly Rock and Ser Gregor Clegane "the Mountain that Rides" begins raiding the Riverlands, after the abduction of Tyrion Lannister, Ser Edmure Tully meets survivors from one the destroyed villages. The women and children of the village where raped and murdered and the animals and the houses where butchered and burned by Gregor and his band. Lord Hoster Tully is dying of his illness and is unable to defend his lands from the Cleganes, so Edmure calls the bannermen of House Tully to gather their forces at Riverrun, but Gregor and his men invade the Trident and most river lords are forced to remain in their lands, so only part of the rivermen's army goes to Riverrun, while Lord Walder Frey does not answer Edmure's calls. Edmure sends forces led by Lord Clement Piper and Lord Vance to guard the pass between the riverlands and the westerlands and sends a group of river lords with the surviving victims of Ser Gregor to King's Landing to meet King Robert.
The Hand of the King Lord Eddard Stark is ruling in Robert's name and, after learning about the tension between the Lannisters and the Tullys, he chooses Lord Beric over Ser Loras Tyrell and Ser Ilyn Payne and sends a hundred men, including many of the Stark guard, under Beric to execute the Mountain and his band of soldiers in the name of King Robert I Baratheon. Lord Tywin Lannister is also summoned to ride at King's Landing to answer for Ser Gregor's crimes.
After the sudden death of King Robert however, Lord Tywin and his son Ser Jaime Lannister invade the riverlands after Jaime defeats the river lords at the hills below the Golden Tooth, in the westerlands. While Ser Jaime chases his enemy and leads his army to besiege Riverrun, Lord Tywin and Ser Kevan Lannister bring another army and invade the riverlands, attacking and taking castles and towns. Beric's Iron Throne party includes Thoros of Myr, Lord Edric Dayne, Ser Raymun Darry, Alyn of Winterfell, Ser Karyl Vance, Lord Lothar Mallery, Ser Marq Piper, Harwin of Winterfell, Anguy, Ser Gladden Wylde, Green Gergen, and many others. After Jaime killed Lord Vance, Karyl becomes a lord and he and Marq have to leave Beric's party with a few men to harass the Lannister forces.
Beric and his men are ambushed by forces from House Lannister at the Mummer's Ford. They make a fighting retreat only to be taken in the rear by Gregor Clegane and his men. Lothar Mallery, Gladden Wylde and Raymun Darry are all killed, as are most of Lord Eddard's men. Beric is wounded by the Mountain's lance. Beric's squire, Edric Dayne, pulls him out of the Red Fork and stands over him while the battle rages around them, but Beric dies anyway. Alyn of Winterfell manages to rally the survivors into a retreat. Beric dies that night and Thoros reflexively says the words of his faith, performing the last kiss of R'hllor, and to his astonishment Beric is brought back to life. He rallies the survivors to fight the Lannisters' invasion of the Riverlands. However, the Queen Regent Cersei Lannister rules the Seven Kingdoms now, with her child son, King Joffrey I Baratheon, making Beric and his men outlaws.
Robb Stark gathers the northern houses sworn to Winterfell and marches south in support of House Tully, while House Arryn remains neutral, as Lady Lysa Arryn only wants Lord Robert Arryn to remain safe. By the time Robb is marching, Lord Tywin and Ser Gregor have already sacked and taken several places of the riverlands, including Pinkmaiden Castle, Stone Hedge, Raventree Hall, Maidenpool, and Darry. Beric's group keeps raiding the Lannisters' foraging parties, as well as Lord Karyl Vance and Ser Marq Piper against Ser Jaime's forces. When Robb Stark is joined by his mother Catelyn and the army of House Manderly at Moat Cailin, Tywin is already marching on Harrenhal against House Whent and Jaime has already captured Ser Edmure after a battle outside Riverrun, along with many other officers and knights. Lord Tytos Blackwood is commanding the surviving force in the castle, protecting his dying lord Hoster.
Beric Dondarrion is named among the nobles the Iron Throne commands to bend the knee on King's Landing or be named traitors. Beside Beric among the more dangerous enemies of the Iron Throne on the list are Lord Stannis Baratheon, Lord Renly Baratheon, Robb Stark, Lord w:c:villains:Mace Tyrell, Lord w:c:villains:Randyll Tarly, Prince Doran Martell, Lady Lysa Arryn, Lord Hoster Tully, Lord Balon Greyjoy, and Lord Yohn Royce.
Tyrion Lannister refuses to lead the Vale Mountain clansmen to fight Beric's band or Karyl and Marq's parties, choosing to fight the northmen. Robb Stark, Lord Roose Bolton and Ser Brynden Tully lead the northern and the Frey armies against the armies of the westerlands. Tywin's army and the Vale Mountain clansmen chase Lord Bolton's forces away on the Green Fork, while Robb Stark and the Blackfish lead another force to destroy most of Jaime's army at the Whispering Wood near Riverrun, with Jaime being taken by surprise from behind during the siege. Robb's army attacks the camps outside the castle the night after defeating Jaime and lifts the Siege of Riverrun. The war is far from over, and Beric and his men keep harassing the Lannister army. Meanwhile, Eddard Stark is executed by King Joffrey for treason. Eddard's son Robb Stark brings his men to Riverrun and on hearing of his father's death the Northmen and Rivermen at Riverrun proclaim him King in the North.
In the stormlands, Ser Davos Seaworth fails to get the support of House Dondarrion for King Stannis Baratheon, as Beric has gone missing and did not return to Blackhaven since the Hand's Tourney.
A Clash of Kings
The war between the Lannisters and Starks leaves the Riverlands in ruins. Beric raids the Lannisters' foraging parties. Though some of his men die, others join Beric's force, who become the Brotherhood without Banners, a band who pledges to protect the smallfolk in the name of King Robert I Baratheon, with the Lord of Light as their god. His lightning-style raids and the Dondarrion sigil, a forked purple lightning bolt on black field speckled with four-pointed stars, lead to Beric becoming known as the Lightning Lord. Though Beric and his men were originally sent to execute Ser Gregor and his men, the Brotherhood fights all who oppress the smallfolk, not just the invading Lannister army. The outlaws are also thieves who take gold and food from everyone. When they take food and animals from farms, the Brotherhood always leaves money for the smallfolk, while the nobles who are robbed get nothing for themselves. They always protect towns and villages from the cruelty of the high lords and their kings. Stories develop about Beric, claiming he can't be killed, as several men claim to have killed him but he keeps returning. While the Lannisters, the Starks, and the Tullys are hated by the victims of the war, Lord Beric becomes an hero of the commoners and the Brotherhood without Banners becomes the true resistance movement who wants to protect the people, though Edmure Tully also wants to protect the commoners as well. The Brotherhood goes against the High Septon and the Faith, as they took R'hllor as their true god. Many smallfolk peasants, women, victims, and criminals, and foreign warriors and sellswords from Essos join the outlaws and convert to the Lord of Light after watching Beric return to life.
The riverlands are being destroyed by the army of the westerlands, however forces of House Stark also attack, rape, and kill innocents as well. The most dangerous parties are the ones led by Ser Gregor Clegane and Ser Amory Lorch, but neither them can't beat the brutality of the Brave Companions, led by the Qohori sellsword Vargo Hoat. The are countless battles and atrocities that include as participants the Lannisters, the river lords, the northmen, the Brotherhood, Karyl and Marq's parties, and even the Night's Watch (under Yoren). Countless innocents and warriors die and villages, towns, and keeps are destroyed and/or deserted. Meanwhile Robb Stark's army invades the westerlands and starts battles, taking castles, cattle, and gold mines from the Lannisters.
Beric becomes a living legend: he is always reported being killed, but his enemies have to regurarly fight him again. Beric is killed five times, and each time Thoros revives him. At Harrenhal, Lord Tywin is infuriated by his men's incompetence to destroy the Brotherhood. Gregor and Amory torture and kill innocents under the accuse of being rebels who betrayed King Joffrey for the outlaws. Beric is still raiding the Lannister foraging parties and the Mountain's men are actively seeking him, as are Tywin Lannister's forces stationed at Harrenhal. His group meets smallfolk plagued by the ravage of Lannister forces but does not trouble them, and he attempts to pay for the food they take. Tywin's men go back and forth to fight battles and massacre innocents to bring to Tywin the fruit of their works at Harrenhal.
During the war he got smashed with a mace on the side of the head by Ser Burton Crakehall.
Later, Ser Amory Lorch captures two innocent smallfolk at Rushing Falls, a beekeeper and his wife and threatens far and wide to hang them if Lord Beric Dondarrion does not surrender to him. When Beric surrenders, Amory hangs the beekeeper and his wife anyway with Beric strung up in the middle.
In another battle, Beric is killed by Gregor again, by being stabbed in the eye with a dirk.
While fighting against Vargo Hoat and his men, Beric is killed again; this time by an archer of the Brave Companions.
Beric's lifeforce has become low. Each time he dies he returns as weaker than before. He looks extremely older than his age and looks like a walking corpes, a result of being resurrected too many times "by the Lord of Light".
A Storm of Swords
The War of the Five Kings ends with the defeat of King Stannis I Baratheon in the Battle of the Blackwater, at King's Landing. Stannis was the last hope to defeat the Lannisters, but now the Lannisters and the Tyrells are united, and Lord Randyll Tarly and Ser Gregor Clegane march in the riverlands to restore the King's peace and stop the rebels. At the same time the ironborn of the Iron Islands keep holding the North in the name of King Balon Greyjoy, forcing Robb to retreat from the Crag back to Riverrun, to prepare a march to Moat Cailin.
The Brotherhood without Banners finds three boys in the woods of the riverlands: Nan and Hot Pie, and Gendry, an unacknowledged bastard of Robert Baratheon. Harwin recognizes the girl as his friend Arya Stark, the youngest daughter of Ned Stark. After selling Hot Pie to Sharna, by the boy's own decision, at the Inn of the Kneeling Man, they travel to bring Arya to Lord Beric. The outlaws first visit Lord Lymond Lychester and then the Lady of the Leaves in search of word on Lord Beric's whereabouts. But none have seen him, only hearing rumors that he was dead—hung once, killed by Vargo Hoat, Amory Lorch, and twice by Gregor Clegane. The same rumors Arya had been hearing at Harrenhal. But Lem Lemoncloak and Tom of Sevenstreams know that Beric is still alive. The outlaws plan to ransom Arya at Riverrun after they meet up with Beric and Thoros of Myr. They arrive at High Heart, an ancient hill sacred to the children of the forest. Later they vist Acorn Hall, where Lady Ravella Smallwood (nee Swann) informs them that Thoros had been through recently, and that Karstark men were searching for Ser Jaime.
The Brotherhood searches for Beric at the Stoney Sept, the town where Robert and Eddard defeat Lord Jon Connington and the Targaryen forces. The Brotherhood captured a group of northmen who are now being starved in cages. Arya gives one of them water. They were Karstark men captured by the Mad Huntsman. The Northmen are guilty of rape and pillaging, and Anguy puts them out of their misery.
The Mad Huntsman captures Ser Gregor's brother Sandor Clegane, "the Hound", outside the Stoney Sept and bring him, Arya, and Gendry to the hollow hill, the secret base of the outlaws. When Dondarrion appears, Arya is appalled by his appearance. Once handsome, the man is now stick thin, missing an eye, with part of his skull crushed in, a noose scar around his neck, and a terrible wound through his chest. Sandor is accused of being guilty of many crimes committed by Gregor and Amory Lorch, such as murder of innocents, rape of little girls, and the murder of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen's children, Rhaenys and Aegon. The Brotherhood fails to find Sandor guilty for these crimes, until Arya finally reveals one the Hound's actual doings: the murder of a butcher's 12 years old boy named Mycah. Sandor admits that, stating he was ordered to do so by Cersei and Joffrey. Because of the uncertain morality of the situation, Beric states the it will be R'hllor to decide Sandor's fate. Beric has a trial by combat with him; while Thoros of Myr always lit his blades with wildfire, Beric uses his own blood to make his sword magically aflame. The Hound caughts fire and goes madder because of his terror of fire and kills Beric in his rage to free himself from the fire.
For the sixth time Thoros brings Beric back, but says it becomes harder each time. Beric tells Arya his story and how the Brotherhood was born then says he can barely remember his old life, he says he couldn't find his castle or remember the color of the hair from the woman he was pledged to marry. Beric has become a scarecrow of a man and walking corpse, his battered body bearing all the wounds of his previous deaths. After the nurse Meg tends Sandor's wound, Beric lets him free after taking all his gold, most of it being the part of Sandor's victory gave from Ser Loras at King's Landing.
The Brave Companions are occupying a settlement in the riverlands containing a septry, mill, brewhouse, and stables. The septry by a small river had previously been looted by other combatants, including Lannister troops. Beric leads the outlaw brotherhood without banners in reprisals against those who harm smallfolk. The archers Anguy, Kyle, and Notch begin the fighting by slaying three Mummer guards shortly before dawn. The Brave Companions inside the septry are multinational, including a Myrish crossbowman, two Ibbenese, Dothraki, and Volantenes, among others. When the septry is set ablaze by fire arrows, the Mummers charge forth but are met by Beric's outlaws. There is also fighting in the stables. Although Kyle is killed, he is quickly avenged by Lem. Thoros of Myr and Beric both wield flaming swords against the Mummers, and the young Lord Edric Dayne fights by Beric's side. The Brave Companions surrender after a short battle. Jack-Be-Lucky, Harwin and Merrit o' Moontown rescue eight captive brown brothers from the burning septry before it collapses. The surviving Mummers are taken prisoner, with the exception of two Dothraki whom Beric allows to escape. Utt, the disgraced pedophile septon of the Brave Companions, is found hiding beneath the cellar steps. Despite their protests and excuses, Utt and his fellow sellswords are hanged by Beric's outlaws.
After the battle, Thoros and Beric have talk with Arya. Thoros believes that the Lord of Light is not done with Lord Beric yet, and that is why the red god has raised him from the dead so many times. The outlaws plan to ransom Arya back to her mother Catelyn or brother King Robb, who are on their way back to the North to fight the ironborn. Before that, they must cross the bridge of the Twins, where Lord Edmure Tully will mary Roslin Frey. Gendry asks to join the Brotherhood, liking their sense of justice, and is knighted by Beric as Ser Gendry of the Hollow Hill. Soon after, Sandor Clegane returns, claiming he killed the sentries. He demands his gold back, but is rebuffed by Thoros and commanded to leave. The Hound leaves realizing he cannot do anything, and they then discover that the sentries were only asleep. When some complain that the Hound will follow and murder them in their sleep, Lord Beric states, "Sandor Clegane would kill us all gladly, but not in our sleep."
Beric and the other outlaws vist the High Heart to meet again the dwarf woman known as the ghost of High Heart, to hear her wisdom. Thoros tells Gendry his history and life as a false priest who would drink and laugh with King Robert back in the old days. The ghost of High Heart calls Beric the Lord of Corpses, for the stink of the grave is fresh on him. The ghost of High Heart tells them her dreams: the kraken king is dead, and Lord Hoster Tully too; the goat sits alone in the hall of kings (Harrenhal) in a fever "as the great dog descends on him"; she dreamt of drums and pipes and screams making a great clangor (the Red Wedding); and "of a maid (Sansa Stark) at a feast with purple serpents in her hair, venom dripping from their fangs. And later I dreamt that maid again, slaying a savage giant in a castle built of snow." Suddenly, she spots Arya, and calls her "blood child" and "dark heart", bidding her to leave. When Beric explains to the old dwarf woman that Arya is being brought to Riverrun, she tells them to seek her mother at the Twins, for there is to be a wedding. She then demands a song as payment for her dreams, the same song she always requests from Tom; Jenny of Oldstones.
Later Beric and the outlaws come upon a ruined town, Arya thinks the Lannisters destroyed it, but she is told that the town was destroyed years before by Hoster Tully, because Lord Goodbrook, the lord of the town, had fought for the Targaryens during Robert's Rebellion. Later, Thoros sees in his flames that Riverrun will soon come under attack by the Lannisters again (the Second Siege of Riverrun), and he believes the ghost’s dream that Catelyn and Robb are at the Twins. That night, Arya sneaks off while everyone else is asleep, feeling that the outlaws cannot be her pack if they want to ransom her off to her brother, mother, or uncle Blackfish. However, she is captured by Sandor Clegane while racing through the woods.
In what becomes known as the Red Wedding, Robb Stark, his mother Catelyn Stark, and most of their army are massacred and Catelyn's brother Edmure Tully captured by their treacherous vassals, the Freys and Boltons, who have secretly joined the Lannisters. Catelyn is stripped and thrown in the river after a day and a night. Arya, who was saved by the Hound and retaken as his captive, while warging into her direwolf Nymeria, finds her mother and drags her out of the water. Catelyn's body is found by the Brotherhood and Harwin, the former guardsman of Winterfell, begs Thoros to bring her back. However Thoros claims she has been dead too long. Beric then gives up his lifeforce performs the last kiss on her, and Catelyn rises, while Beric dies a seventh and final time. Leadership of the Brotherhood is taken by Catelyn, who becomes known as Lady Stoneheart. Stoneheart's mission, to take vengeance on all those she believes connected to the Lannisters, leads the outlaw band to fracture, causing many members to desert, including Anguy and Edric Dayne. However many people still believe Beric is alive and the Lannister-Tyrell regime hunt the Riverlands for him, intending to publicly execute him. Lady Stoneheart has no mercy and hangs anyone accused of being an enemy, innocent or not. The Brotherhood has lost its original meaning and does not protect the smallfolk anymore. Instead it became nothing but a group of dangerous terrorists that the commoners fear.
A Feast for Crows
Lord Randyll Tarly, current ruler of Maidenpool, attempt to turn Lord Beric against the smallfolk by making up a false accusation to blame him for the brutal Raid on Saltpans. According to Randyll, the criminals responsible for the destruction of the town are Beric and his men. Rumors says that Sandor has been killing men loyal to the Crown in a tavern with a girl, and that he joined with the outlaws. Many think the girl is Sansa Stark and Randyll and Brienne of Tarth want to find the Brotherhood, the former wanting to bring her back to King's Landing to Cersei, the latter wanting to protect her for Catelyn. In reality Saltpans has been raided by former Brave Companions led by Rorge, who was wearing the Hound's infamous helmet. The Hound has been found by a group of brothers of the Faith of the Seven from the Quiet Isle, and no one knows what happened to him after. The brothers took the survivors to the Quiet Isle, to heal them back to health or give them milk of the poppy for the deadly wounded ones.
Later Brienne of Tarth and Ser Gendry kill the two Bloody Mummers, Rorge and Biter. Gendry, now converted to the Lord of Light, saves Brienne and he and his fellow outlaws bring her, Podrick Payne, and Ser Hyle Hunt to their leader Lady Stoneheart.
Thoros reveals to Brienne that Beric truly died when he gave his life to bring back Catelyn. The red priest is unhappy and The brotherhood has fractured with the change in leadership, with some leaving the outlaw band.
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