Gendry Baratheon

"You wouldn't be my family. You'd be my lady."

- Gendry to Arya Stark.

Gendry is a skilled blacksmith and an unacknowledged bastard son of King Robert Baratheon. After escaping from the island of Dragonstone with help from Ser Davos Seaworth, he returns to King's Landing, remaining in hiding until Davos returns for him, and accompanies Davos and Jon Snow north to battle the approaching White Walkers.

After the death of Robert, massacre of Robert's other bastards, and the deaths of Robert's brothers Renly, Stannis, and Stannis's daughter Shireen, Gendry is the last known living person of House Baratheon's bloodline.

Background
Gendry is a bastard son of King Robert Baratheon, but is unacknowledged and unaware of his lineage. Gendry did not receive the bastard surname used in the Crownlands (Waters) because he was not openly acknowledged by Robert.

Gendry spent his whole life in King's Landing. His mother was a tavern wench that King Robert had sex with once, and apparently Robert never even knew of his existence. Gendry grew up in the slums of Flea Bottom, surviving on bowls of brown stew that contained meat which was allegedly chicken (though he knew damn well it wasn't). Gendry's mother died when he was very young. When he was old enough, an unknown lord paid his apprentice fee so he could learn to be a blacksmith. He then took up work as an apprentice blacksmith under Tobho Mott, a master weaponsmith from Qohor, forging high-end armor and weapons for the nobility. Gendry became very skilled in his own right, and the heavy manual labor built him up into a strong young man - ironically, swinging a heavy blacksmith's hammer much as his biological father Robert once swung his warhammer. Gendry worked under Tobho Mott for 10 years.

Season 1
Investigating the death of Jon Arryn, Lord Eddard Stark learns that he was seen visiting Tobho Mott's smithy in the city shortly before his death. Eddard also inspects the smithy. Mott tells him that Jon Arryn came to ask about new armor, but he also wanted to talk to the young man, Gendry. Eddard admires a helm that Gendry has made. Mott offers to sell it to him, but Gendry insists that it is not for sale as he made it for himself. Eddard learns that Jon wanted to know about Gendry's mother. He then takes a close look at the boy, and realizes that Gendry is the bastard son of King Robert Baratheon (whom Eddard knew when they were both Gendry's age). Eddard is at a loss as to why Jon Arryn was trying to track down Robert's bastards.

After King Robert dies, Mott has Gendry leave his smithy, presumably to escape the coming purge of Robert's bastards, though who tipped them off in advance is not stated. Gendry decides to join the Night's Watch, and is one of the latest batch of Yoren's recruits that leave for the Wall. Among the group he meets Lord Eddard's daughter Arya Stark (who is disguised as the boy "Arry"), when some of the other boys harass her about her sword. When Hot Pie bumps into him, he scares the boys off, saying "When I hit that steel it sings, are you gonna sing when I hit you?"

Season 2
Gendry travels north on the Kingsroad with Yoren and his recruits, befriending Arya on the journey. He is targeted by the City Watch of King's Landing because of his status as a bastard of King Robert Baratheon but remains unaware of his lineage. Yoren intimidates a pair of goldcloaks who come looking for Gendry into leaving empty handed. Gendry sees through Arya's disguise and recognizes her as a girl. She confides her identity and swears him to secrecy. Gendry is embarrassed for talking so crudely to a highborn member of a noble House, though the tomboyish Arya is herself embarrassed at his deference to her as a "Lady". The goldcloaks return with Ser Amory Lorch and a force of Lannister soldiers. They attack the group and kill Yoren and capture Arya and Gendry. Arya manages to convince them that Lommy Greenhands was Gendry because he was carrying the bull's head helm that Gendry made.

The prisoners are then taken to Harrenhal. They are brutally tortured by Ser Gregor Clegane's men while being questioned by the Tickler. Gendry is selected as his next victim but is saved when Lord Tywin Lannister arrives and chastises his men that the prisoners are more useful alive. To prove his point Tywin asks Gendry if he has a trade, and when Gendry says that he is in fact a trained blacksmith, Tywin shoots a stern look at Gregor's men.

Due to his experience as a blacksmith, Gendry is put to work at the castle's forge. Both the Tickler and Ser Amory are killed in suspicious circumstances. The deaths prompt Tywin to launch an investigation and he ultimately blames the Brotherhood Without Banners. Tywin leaves Harrenhal to lead his army on the march (though rather than heading west to fight Robb Stark, he in fact races back south to fight Stannis in the Battle of the Blackwater). Before they leave Arya arranges for Jaqen H'ghar to help them to escape the castle. It turns out Arya was right to make their escape attempt then, as when the Lannister army withdrew soon afterwards, it massacred every remaining prisoner at Harrenhal.

Season 3
After escaping Harrenhal with Arya and Hot Pie, they attempt to head north to Riverrun, across the Red Fork of the Trident, which is ruled by Arya's mother's family (House Tully). It is slow going on foot through the front lines of the war, however, and in the forest they run into the the partisan group known as the Brotherhood without Banners. They recognize them as the group the Lannister torturers were asking about at Harrenhal. Their leader Thoros of Myr seems a friendly sort, and they make the children come with them. They later give them food and drink at the Crossroads Inn. Gendry says he used to work as a smith in King's Landing for Tobho Mott, whom Thoros recognizes but says he charged double what the other smiths did; Gendry counters that's because it was double the quality. Arya insists that she knows how to use a sword despite Thoros's disbelief, but when she tries to mock-fence with him he quickly disarms her. Other members of the Brotherhood return to the inn with a captive; Sandor "The Hound" Clegane. As Thoros trades insults with Sandor, Arya tries to leave, but the Hound stops her in astonishment and asks what in seven hells they're doing with "the Stark bitch", revealing her identity to all.

​While they are with the Brotherhood, Gendry helps them out by fixing some armor. Hot Pie decides to stay behind at the inn, as this dangerous life of adventuring in the war isn't really for him (that, and as a skilled baker, the Brotherhood told the innkeeper he would stay as payment for all their free meals). Happy with his new job, Hot Pie bids farewell to them both.

The Brotherhood takes the children and Sandor back to their hideout in a cave, where Thoros introduces them to the Brotherhood's main leader, Beric Dondarrion. He explains that they are a resistance group whose goal is to fight to defend the commoners, no matter which side in the war is harassing them, as the fighting between the great lords is causing widespread suffering among them.

Gendry continues to work as a blacksmith for the Brotherhood. Beric and Thoros later explain that instead of simply letting Arya go, they intend to ransom her back to the Starks, as they badly need the gold to fund their resistance group. While she is safe from the Lannisters in their company, she is not amused by this. Arya is then distressed to learn that Gendry does not intend to come with her back to the Starks, and confronts him about it. Gendry explains that the Brotherhood is the closest thing he's had to a family. When Arya states that she could be his family, he reminds her of their class differences which would reassert once they are back behind friendly lines: she's still the daughter of a great house, while he's just one of the smallfolk: she wouldn't be his family, she'd be "My Lady".

Arya and Gendry are doing some archery training with the Brotherhood when Melisandre arrives, with some of Stannis Baratheon's soldiers. Arya grumbles about the presence of the red priestess, asking what all the fuss is about. Gendry is shocked when the Brotherhood turns him over to Melisandre in exchange for two bags of gold.

As he and Melisandre quietly traverse Blackwater Bay, she finally reveals the truth of his heritage to him by pointing out the Red Keep and identifying it as his father's house. This is why she has sought him out, and is taking him to Robert's younger brother Stannis Baratheon - his uncle - on Dragonstone island. Upon arriving at Dragonstone, Stannis briefly looks over Gendry and confirms that he is clearly Robert's son (looking just like he did at that age). Outside of Gendry's presence, Stannis's advisors debate what to do with him: Melisandre actually wants to kill Gendry as a magical sacrifice, as there is power in a king's blood (from Robert). Davos Seaworth, however, implores Stannis not to kill his own nephew like this. Stannis bitterly remarks that he's already a kinslayer for killing his own brother Renly, but Davos counters that Renly brought that on himself by trying to usurp Stannis's claim to the throne - but his nephew Gendry is just an innocent boy, and they don't even know if Melisandre's claims will work. He manages to argue Stannis down to the point that he has Melisandre agree to do a test first, which won't actually kill Gendry. Melisandre puts Gendry up in a lavish chamber and seduces him, but the situation quickly turns dark when she ties him to the bed and proceeding to leech his blood for a ritual. Stannis throws the leeches containing his blood into a fire, praying for the deaths of the three usurper-kings still in the realm: Joffrey Baratheon, Balon Greyjoy, and Robb Stark.

Following the incident, Gendry is relegated to a cell beneath the castle. After Robb Stark was betrayed and killed at the Red Wedding, Stannis is convinced that Melisandre's test must have worked, and that they must kill Gendry as a sacrifice to summon an even greater magical power to reclaim the realm. Stannis isn't pleased by this, but he weighs that the death of one boy (much like Davos's own son Matthos Seaworth) is a small price to pay compared to the many thousands who will die as long as the war drags on.

Upset, Davos comes to visit him, and the pair discuss the hardships of growing up as poor commoners in Flea Bottom. Davos asks why Gendry trusted Melisandre, to which the blacksmith admits he's never been with a beautiful naked woman, so he was overwhelmed and wasn't thinking. Davos then frees Gendry and sends him back to King's Landing in a rowboat, the only way to discreetly leave Dragonstone, although Gendry admits he doesn't know how to swim and has never been in a rowboat before. Davos gives him a stash of supplies and tells him to just keep sailing west for several days, to avoid patrols from either the Lannisters or Stannis.

Season 4
Gendry returns to King's Landing and goes into hiding, returning to his old job as a blacksmith.

Season 5
When Stannis's army becomes snowbound on the march to Winterfell, Melisandre suggests that they sacrifice more king's blood to the Lord of Light, and Stannis initially believes she is referring to Gendry before he realizes she is referring to his own daughter, Shireen Baratheon.

With the deaths of Shireen and Stannis, House Baratheon becomes virtually extinct, and Gendry is left as the last known living person of the Baratheon bloodline.

Season 6
With the death of Tommen Baratheon, the last of Cersei's three children by incest with Jaime that she passed off as Robert's, "House Baratheon of King's Landing" becomes extinct - and with it, even the pretense that Cersei and the Lannisters were ruling through Robert's children, making House Baratheon officially extinct.

Season 7
After smuggling Tyrion Lannister into King's Landing near the Red Keep to meet with his brother Jaime, Ser Davos Seaworth, now a principal advisor to the bastard King in the North Jon Snow, finds Gendry in a forge on the Street of Steel. Already fed up with serving the family who murdered his father, Gendry readily agrees to come with him, bringing a war hammer with a stag sigil carved into it before leaving. As they prepare to leave, two Gold Cloaks arrive to inspect Davos's boat, and Gendry remains on guard while Davos bribes them into leaving. When the guards return after noticing Tyrion, Gendry kills them with his hammer, allowing the trio to escape.

Upon returning to Dragonstone, Davos urges Gendry to keep his identity a secret and go under the alias of Clovis, but Gendry immediately introduces himself to Jon Snow as Robert Baratheon's bastard son. He notes how their fathers - Robert and Eddard Stark (Jon's true parentage still being unknown to all) - trusted each other, were good friends, and fought together. Jon and Gendry get along well, and Gendry agrees to accompany Jon on his expedition beyond the Wall.

At Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, Gendry warns Jon not to trust the Brotherhood, having been sold to Melisandre by them. Nevertheless, he accompanies the party north of the Wall to confront the army of the dead.

Personality
King Robert's actual son Gendry is everything that his alleged son and heir Joffrey Baratheon was not - beyond simply his physical appearance, but also his character and temperament. Joffrey was an arrogant, sadistic fop, with a massive sense of entitlement. He was not skilled at anything - particularly not at combat, in which he was also a coward when faced with real danger. Joffrey's one real claim to importance was that he was Robert's son - which was itself a lie. Gendry, in contrast, is his exact opposite: a generally humble and polite working-class blacksmith who didn't grow up rich in a castle, and a brave and capable fighter when his friends are in danger. He also needlessly defends the boy "Arry" when he sees the other recruits picking on (what he thinks is) a smaller boy. Unlike Joffrey, who thought the throne is his by right but was utterly unsuited to rule, Gendry has many qualities which would make a fine king, but doesn't even know he has a potential claim to it. Growing up having to work for a living, at Mott's smithy, Gendry also grew up disciplined, and doesn't have any of his father Robert's negative qualities of self-indulgence (in food, drink, and women).

Joffrey would brutalize women at court, taking out his frustrations by having his guards publicly beat Sansa Stark. In a direct parallel, Gendry is polite and deferential to her sister Arya Stark when he learns who she is, worried at his behavior and insisting on addressing her with formal titles.

Gendry is still somewhat self-conscious about being a commoner, with a commoner's lot in life. Like many of them, he is terrified and subservient when he encounters members of the nobility, while somewhat resenting the great lords for oppressing the lower classes and tearing Westeros apart with their bloody wars. Nevertheless, he readily agrees to help the King in the North Jon Snow, both for his mutual dislike of the Lannisters and his father's past alliance with the Starks.

Though not much of a warrior, Gendry is remarkably skilled with a hammer, both as a weapon and a tool. While escaping from King's Landing, he effortlessly killed two curious Gold Cloaks with a war hammer, having inherited his father's incredible strength.

Quotes

 * Spoken by Gendry

"Oh, you like picking on the little ones, do you? You know, I've been hammering an anvil these past ten years. When I hit that steel it sings. You gonna sing when I hit you?"

- Gendry to Hot Pie


 * Spoken about Gendry

"You've heard the awful rumors about my brother and sister?...I suppose people who do believe that filth consider Robert's bastards to be better claimants to the throne than Cersei's children."

- Tyrion Lannister

In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels Gendry is also apprenticed to master blacksmith Tobho Mott. Gendry's mother worked at an alehouse and died when he was very young.

The books haven't specified if Gendry lived in the slums of Flea Bottom before he came to work for Tobho Mott. Logically, though, as the son of a tavern girl he probably wasn't living in good conditions before he began to work for Mott as a teenager.

In the books, Gendry is said to resemble King Robert in his youth so closely that it is blatantly obvious to anyone who knew Robert that he is Robert's son - i.e., Eddard Stark recognizes Gendry is Robert's son the minute he lays eyes on him (in both the novels and TV series). Due to the fact that Renly Baratheon is also said to greatly resemble his older brother Robert in his youth, Gendry also bears a striking resemblance to Renly. Brienne of Tarth notices this in A Feast for Crows, briefly believing that Renly has returned from the grave (as she has been badly wounded in a fight and is losing consciousness).

An unknown person - presumably Varys - paid for his apprenticeship to Mott. Gendry is in his mid-teens, a powerfully-built and strong lad who shows great promise as a blacksmith. He knows very little about his mother; she worked in an alehouse and died when he was little. She had yellow hair, and sometimes she used to sing to him. He doesn't bear the bastard surname of Waters, traditionally employed in the Crownlands, because he was not openly acknowledged by Robert.

So far, Gendry has no idea who is his father. He once told Arya: "I don't even know my father's name. Some smelly drunk, I'd wager, like the others my mother dragged home from the alehouse. Whenever she got mad at me, she'd say, 'If your father was here, he’d beat you bloody'. That's all I know of him".

The books clearly explain that it was actually Varys who arranged Gendry's escape from King's Landing in Yoren's caravan, in order to save him from the eventual purge ordered by Queen Cersei in which baby Barra was killed (it is not mentioned whether any of Robert's other bastards were killed too). When discussing Barra's death, Varys tells Tyrion "There was another bastard, a boy, older. I took steps to see him removed from harm's way" - without specifying what steps he took, or why he even bothered to save Gendry. Yoren told Arya "I was set to leave, wagons bought and loaded, and a man comes with a boy for me, and a purse of coin, and a message, never mind who it's from. Lord Eddard's to take the black, he says to me, wait, he'll be going with you. Why d'you think I was there? Only something went queer". Gendry had no idea why he was sent away from the city, and why the Gold Cloaks were looking for him. He told the other kids "I never did nothing to no queen...I was s'posed to be an armorer, and one day Master Tobho says I got to join the Night's Watch, that's all I know". Gendry thought Yoren knew the reason, but Yoren never told him.

In the books, Gendry stays with the Brotherhood Without Banners after Arya runs away and is captured by Sandor Clegane. Season 3 condensed several subplots from the books by combining Gendry's storyline with that of King Robert's only acknowledged bastard, Edric Storm. Edric was raised at Storm's End but was taken by Stannis to Dragonstone because Melisandre wanted to sacrifice him to the Lord of Light to ensure victory in the war, but Davos helped him escape. This subplot was instead given to Gendry in the TV series. Robert actually had multiple bastard children in the books, but only Barra is specifically mentioned to be killed after his death. The other two confirmed surviving bastards are Edric Storm and Mya Stone, a girl slightly older than Gendry whom Robert fathered in the Vale of Arryn a few years before the rebellion against the Targaryens. So far in the books, Gendry remains unaware of his parentage. In the TV version, Gendry appears to be Robert's only surviving bastard, as Edric and Mya were never introduced.

Gendry was one of the bastards whom Jon Arryn and Stannis Baratheon inquired about. When asked by Eddard Stark, Gendry mentions that Arryn came to see him, and asked him about his work and his mother. He also remembers that Stannis accompanied Arryn, but did not ask him any questions, only glared at him. In the TV series, Gendry mentions only Arryn. Because Stannis's involvement in Jon Arryn's search for Robert's bastards was cut from the TV series, he never met Gendry - thus when the TV series condensed Gendry with the Edric Storm subplot, Stannis met Gendry for the first time on Dragonstone, when he gruffly grabbed his face and confirmed that he looks just like Robert. In the books, Stannis already knew what Gendry looked like, but didn't seek him out because he already had Edric (though either way, Stannis realized that he was clearly Robert's son as soon as he saw him).

In the books there are no hints of romance between Arya and Gendry. In fact, Arya at first intends to kill Gendry once he discovers she is a girl, and the only reason she does not is that Gendry is armed and stronger than her. She is surprised that he is instead polite and deferential to her. The TV series didn't overtly play up a full-fledged "romance" between the two, though Gendry becomes one of Arya's few friends and she is pained when he chooses to stay behind with the Brotherhood. Later on in the novels, Gendry encounters Brienne of Tarth and Podrick Payne during their search through the Riverlands for Sansa and Arya. Brienne mistakes Gendry for his uncle, Renly Baratheon. Gendry later saves Brienne from Biter by stabbing him from behind with a spear.

Through his father Robert, Gendry has some Targaryen blood. Steffon Baratheon, father of Robert, Stannis, and Renly, was the son of King Aerys II Targaryen's aunt Rhaelle Targaryen, thus he was Aerys's first cousin. Robert, Stannis, and Renly are actually second cousins to Rhaegar Targaryen as well as Daenerys Targaryen. Thus Gendry is the second cousin once removed of Daenerys. This might be moved around somewhat in the TV continuity, which removed Aerys II's father Jaehaerys II, who had a brief rule and died young - to simplify his relationship with Aemon Targaryen. Centuries of heavy inbreeding resulted in every other Targaryen suffering from insanity, but apparently also preserved the ability in their bloodline to interact with dragons and to experience prophetic visions and dreams. Even Targaryen bastards - called "born of dragonseed" or "Dragonseeds" - were sometimes able to bond with dragons. So far in the books, Gendry hasn't mentioned having prophetic dreams, nor has he had the opportunity to interact with Daenerys's dragons.

The revelation in the Season 6 finale that Jon Snow is actually Rhaegar Targaryen's son with Ned's sister Lyanna Stark means that Jon is actually Daenerys's nephew, and that Jon and Gendry are also blood relatives as well. Given that Rhaegar and Robert were second cousins in the novels, this makes Jon Snow and Gendry third cousins (though again, the TV version apparently condensed this, which would make TV-Gendry a closer relative to both Jon and Daenerys).

Status as of Season 6
Gendry has not appeared in the TV series since the end of Season 3, even through the end of Season 6. Game of Thrones Wiki receives frequent questions about what Gendry's current status is.

The short answer is that in the novels, he just stayed with the Brotherhood Without Banners this entire time - or rather, he continued to work as a blacksmith at the Inn at the Crossroads, which came to be used as a clandestine base by the Brotherood, discretely fixing and forging their armor and weapons. He later encountered Brienne of Tarth when she stopped their on her travels, but he hasn't been involved in any major new actions in the storyline - yet.

Because the TV series condensed his storyline with Robert's other bastard Edric Storm, this is going to be slightly different in the TV version. The last he is seen, Davos gave him a rowboat, and he was heading back to King's Landing. His activities after that are simply unclear: it is probable that he would attempt to link up with the Brotherhood Without Banners again, and/or continue to ply his trade as a blacksmith, to put him back on track for his future storylines in the novels. Complicating this is that it's possible he was upset at the Brotherhood for sending him off with Melisandre (which only happens in the TV version), but then again given that he came to no lasting harm he might have just forgiven them.

The fact that the Brotherhood were reintroduced at the end of Season 6 may hint at his future return - then again it may not, as he wasn't with them in Season 6; however, it was only a brief reintroduction and not all of their core members reappeared again on-screen yet.