Owen Merryweather

"The Mad King then cycled through every mistake of his ancestors. Soldiers, toadying lords and at the end even an alchemist, perhaps to save the crown's growing expenses on wildfire."

- Petyr Baelish

Lord Hand Owen Merryweather was a Hand of the King to King Aerys II Targaryen.

In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire, Lord Owen Merryweather was an old man at the time of Robert's Rebellion and was known for throwing feasts and lavishing praise on King Aerys II Targaryen. During a feast that the king held when Cersei Lannister came to court for the first time, Owen proposed that a tax be raised on wine, which led Lord Rykker to joke about Lord Tywin Lannister shitting gold.

Owen was named Hand of the King when Tywin resigned from the position in 281 AC. Aerys was extremely paranoid and mistrusting of his son and heir Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, which led to tension at court between the faction loyal to the king and those loyal to the prince. Lord Merryweather and Grand Maester Pycelle were tasked with keeping peace between the two factions.

Owen was ineffective in preventing the uprising that later became known as Robert's Rebellion. He sent missives of the lords of the Seven Kingdoms, declaring Lords Jon Arryn, Robert Baratheon and Eddard Stark outlaws and demanding that they be beheaded. Owen never left King's Landing and this along with Ned and Robert's successful returns Winterfell and King's Landing led the paranoid Aerys to believe that Owen was conspiring against him. The king then stripped Owen of his lands and titles, with Jon Connington replacing him as his Hand. Robert later returned House Merryweather's titles and some of their lands to Owen's grandson Orton.