Boremund Baratheon

Boremund Baratheon
Biographical information
Born	63-72 AC
Died	116-132 AC (aged 44-69)
Political information
House(s)	Baratheon
Affiliation(s)	House Targaryen
Title(s)	Lord of Storm's End Lord Paramount of the Stormlands
Personal information
Culture	Stormlander
Issue	Borros Baratheon
World of Westeros
Series	House of the Dragon
Season(s)	1
Appeared in	2 episodes (see below)
First seen in	"The Heirs of the Dragon"
Last seen in	"King of the Narrow Sea"
Portrayed by	Julian Lewis Jones

Boremund: "Princess Rhaenys Targaryen! I would humbly ask for the favor of the Queen Who Never Was."

Rhaenys: "Good fortune to you, cousin."

Boremund: "I would gladly take it if I thought I needed it."

— Boremund and Rhaenys Targaryen

Lord Boremund Baratheon was the head of House Baratheon and Lord of Storm's End during the reign of King Viserys I Targaryen.

Biography

Background

Lord Boremund is the Lord of Storm's End. He is the father of Borros Baratheon. He holds the belief that Rhaenys Targaryen, cousin to King Viserys and himself, is the rightful queen of the Seven Kingdoms.

House of the Dragon: Season 1

Boremund during the Heir's Tournament.

Boremund competes in the Heir's Tournament, where he asks for the favor of his cousin, Princess Rhaenys, calling her "The Queen Who Never Was." Otto Hightower tells King Viserys that he could have Boremund's tongue cut out for that, but Viserys is unconcerned. Boremund and his son Borros are both unhorsed by Ser Criston Cole in the jousting competition.

Boremund attends the funeral of Aemma Arryn and Baelon Targaryen.

Boremund is present at court when Rhaenyra is named Princess of Dragonstone. Along with the other lords gathered, he grudgingly kneels and swears allegiance to her.

Boremund hosts Rhaenyra and her suitors at Storm's End. When Rhaenyra rudely jokes about Beric Dondarrion's age, Boremund tells her that her behavior is unseemly, to which she retorts that it is unseemly for a man older than her father to put himself forward as a suitor. He later fails to keep the peace between Jerrel Bracken and Willem Blackwood, causing Rhaenyra to cut her progress short and leave immediately.

Boremund dies at some point between 116 and 132 AC and is succeeded by his son Borros.

At the start of the Dance of the Dragons, Rhaenyra sends her son Lucerys with a message to Borros stating that he is legally obligated to support her due to his father's oath. He only feels insulted by this, however, and chooses to support Aegon instead.

Family

Boremund Baratheon Deceased

Lady Baratheon

Borros Baratheon

Elenda Caron

Cassandra Baratheon

Maris Baratheon

Ellyn Baratheon

Floris Baratheon

In the books

In Fire & Blood, Boremund Baratheon is the son of Lord Rogar Baratheon and Alyssa Velaryon, the latter being the widow of Aenys Targaryen. He is therefore the maternal half-brother of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen. His mother Alyssa later died giving birth to his full sister, Jocelyn Baratheon. Rogar was himself the grandson of Orys Baratheon, founder of House Baratheon during Aegon's Conquest, making Boremund Orys's great-grandson. Boremund's sister Jocelyn went on to marry Jaehaerys's eldest son, Aemon, and produced one child with him before Aemon's untimely death: Rhaenys, who went on to marry Corlys Velaryon - thus Boremund is Rhaenys Targaryen's uncle. Boremund's mother Alyssa Velaryon was the full sister of Corlys's grandfather, Daemon Velaryon, thus Boremund is also Corlys's first cousin once removed.

Boremund had classic Baratheon looks just like his father, with a mane of black hair, a black beard, and a powerful build. In personality he was belligerent and formidable, but in a hard, unmoving way, not prone to outbursts. When he was pleased, however, he was known for his great booming laughter.

Boremund's parents had him very late in life and thus both died while he was still young: his mother in childbirth when he was only 2 years old, and then his father from cancer when he was only 10 years old, in the year 62 AC. When the plague known as the Shivers swept Westeros in 59 AC, both Boremund and Jocelyn caught it but were among the few who managed to make a full recovery. Their uncle Ronnal died from it, however, as did several of their cousins. After Rogar died, his other brother Garon ruled the Stormlands as regent until Boremund came of age. Meanwhile, Jocelyn went to live at the Red Keep, where she fell in love with and married Prince Aemon.

In the year 83 AC, Prince Morion Martell of Dorne foolishly decided to launch a surprise attack on the Stormlands, intending to burn out all of their coastal towns. The assault was poorly planned and the Targaryens learned it was coming half a year before it was even launched. Boremund mustered the armies of the Stormlands to meet the invasion force, but it never even arrived at the beaches: Jaehaerys and his sons destroyed the Dornish fleet with their dragons, and thus the Fourth Dornish War ended in a single day.

In 92 AC, Boremund joined with his brother-in-law Aemon to repel Myrish pirates who had occupied the eastern half of Tarth. A pair of Myrish scouts stumbled upon their army camp, however, and fired a crossbow bolt aimed at Lord Cameron Tarth - but which pierced Aemon through the throat. What should have been a minor skirmish against pirates resulted in the death of the crown prince. According to traditional inheritance law of primogeniture, Aemon's daughter Rhaenys should have been named the new heir - but King Jaehaerys controversially skipped over her to name his second son Baelon the new crown prince, according to male proximity. Given that Rhaenys was Boremund's own niece, and for that matter Boremund was himself a Velaryon on his mother's side, he vocally opposed Jaehaerys's choice and became a staunch ally of Corlys Velaryon (who himself resigned his position as Master of Ships in protest).

A decade later, however, Baelon suddenly died of a burst appendix, motivating the Velaryons and Baratheons to press their inheritance claims again. To avoid a civil war, the elderly Jaehaerys organized the Great Council of 101 AC to decide the succession. By this time Rhaenys had a son, Laenor Velaryon, and it was argued that even if Rhaenys was to be passed over due to her sex, Laenor still had a better claim than Baelon's elder son Viserys. In the final vote of the council Viserys won by a factor of twenty to one, and the only Great Houses who supported Laenor were the Baratheons (due to Rhaenys being half-Baratheon) and House Stark. Boremund and Corlys were upset, but saw they had such little support they could not realistically oppose it, so they grudgingly accepted the result. Jaehaerys passed away two years later and Viserys succeeded him as king.

It was therefore quite shocking when only four years later in 105 AC, after the death of his wife in childbirth, Viserys formally named his daughter and only child Rhaenyra Targaryen as his official royal heir - abandoning the exact principle of male proximity that had put Viserys on the throne ahead of Rhaenys in the first place.

Boremund was eventually succeeded by his son Borros Baratheon, who was ruler of House Baratheon at the outbreak of the Dance of the Dragons in 129 AC. The books do not state exactly when Boremund died: the last mention of him is when he supported Rhaenys and Laenor at the Great Council of 101 AC. The TV version explicitly depicts Boremund among the lords swearing to honor Viserys's decision to name Rhaenyra the royal heir, which happened only four years later in the book version: Boremund was probably still alive at this time in the books as he would have been only 53 years old. His son Borros later says that he didn't personally swear the oaths in 105 AC, which further implies that Boremund was the Baratheon who swore the oath to Rhaenyra.

Appearances

• – "The Heirs of the Dragon"
• – "King of the Narrow Sea"
• – "The Black Queen" (mentioned)

External links

• Boremund Baratheon on A Wiki of Ice and Fire (potential spoilers for House of the Dragon)