Robert's Rebellion (Complete Guide to Westeros)

"Robert's Rebellion" is a series of featurettes and part of the Complete Guide to Westeros, a special feature present in the blu-ray of both Seasons 1 and 2 of Game of Thrones.

The Season 1 featurettes are narrated by Mark Addy as King Robert Baratheon and one by Harry Lloyd as Prince Viserys Targaryen, respectively. The Season 2 featurettes are narrated by as Michelle Fairley as Lady Catelyn Stark, Stephen Dillane as King Stannis Baratheon, Natalie Dormer as Margaery Tyrell, and Liam Cunningham as Ser Davos Seaworth.

Robert Baratheon's perspective
Rebellion was the response to the heinous crimes of House Targaryen. Houses Baratheon, Stark and Arryn united to overthrow the "cursed dragon kings". While Ned Stark and Jon Arryn arranged an alliance House Tully of Riverrun, Robert Baratheon called the banners of Storm's End to ride in force against the Mad King and his followers. Robert revels in the memories of the battles.

Their first victory ocurred in Summerhall, where Robert faced the loyalist forces and won three victories in a single day. Robert curses as he looks back at that a glorious day. Afterward, they tried to take Ashford Castle in the Reach, but the Tyrells beat them back. Robert's force had to regroup and was pursued north by Aerys' army. They took refuge in Stoney Sept in the Riverlands. When the Targaryen army entered the town, the local sept's bells tolled, signaling the townsfolk of the coming battle. As the Targaryen soldiers searched house by house for Robert, the combined armies of Ned Stark and the Tullys swept into Stoney Sept. Robert again looks back with excited nostalgia to that day. Then he adds that the battle is now known as the Battle of the Bells and that they overwhelmed the Mad King's forces and sent them scampering back to King's Landing

Aerys' son, Rhaegar, whom Robert blames for starting the war, finally emerged and assembled his own army. Robert considers that the Mad King must have been pissing himself at that moment. The battle that would decide the fate of the Seven Kingdoms took place at the crossing of the Green Fork of the Trident. Rhaegar commanded a royal host of some forty thousand men. Robert's forces where outnumbered by nearly five thousand men but it didn't matter: the loyalists were fresh but the rebels where battle-hardened and had, according to Robert, justice on their side. As the battle raged around them Robert faced Rhaegar in the ford of the river. Robert remembers fighting with the fury of ten men, raining blow after blow upon the vile Prince before burying his warhammer in Rhaegar's chest. The hit was so hard the rubies' of Rhaegar's armor broke free and were flung into the stream. The ford is now called the Ruby Ford.

With the "scum" Rhaegar dead and the royal army shattered, the rebels' next move was to make for King's Landing, but Robert had sustained wounds in battle and was unable to ride. He sent Ned Stark to the capital to face the Mad King and make him pay for his crimes.

Characters

 * Lord Robert Baratheon
 * Lord Eddard Stark
 * Prince Rhaegar Targaryen

Noble Houses

 * House Arryn
 * House Baratheon
 * House Stark
 * House Targaryen
 * House Tully
 * House Tyrell

Places

 * The Crownlands
 * King's Landing
 * Red Keep
 * The Riverlands
 * Harrenhal
 * Stoney Sept
 * The Trident

Events

 * Robert's Rebellion
 * Battle of Summerhall
 * Battle of Ashford
 * Battle of the Bells
 * Battle of the Trident

Viserys Targaryen's perspective
The Targaryens, blood of the dragon, and the last of Old Valyria were admired by their subjects, and admired as the greatest dynasty in the history of the western world. But the peace and prosperity of nearly three centuries of Targaryen rule were shattered by "the Usurper", Robert Baratheon, and his band of traitors.

House Baratheon owed its very existance to the Targaryens, Viserys asks if it wasn't Aegon the Conqueror who rose the bastard Orys Baratheon in the War of Conquest, and goes on about the Starks, Lannisters, and Arryns, all of whom had been spared and allowed to keep their lands when Aegon easily could've wiped them out. Centuries later, the Usurper and his lackeys repaid Aegon's benevolence with treachery.

There are some who dare to claim Robert and his allies had reason to rebel. They say the crowned Prince stole the Usurper's lady love. They say King Aerys II murdered Rickard Stark and his son without just cause. Viserys considers that it doesn't matter whether this charges were true or not, the dragon answers to noone. He adds that Aerys' good name has been besmirched in the years since the rebellion, being called a dangerous madman, a monster, a tyrant that brought his tragic end upon himself. Viserys rages that these are lies, his father was a victim of weaklings in his council, lackwits who failed him in his hour of need and let the rebellion spin out of control.

The royal army was then shattered at the Battle of the Trident. It was there that valiant Rhaegar met Robert in single combat but the gods betrayed him, and he perished by the Usurper's hand. As the Field of Fire had marked the end of the Andals centuries before, the Battle of the Trident seemed to herald the end of the Dragon Kings.

When word reached the capital of Rhaegar's death, Aerys moved to protect Viserys, as he was the surviving heir to the throne. He send Viserys to the island fortress of Dragonstone, along with his mother, Queen Rhaella, who was great with child. But as his father and king prepared to defend his throne to the bitter end, little did he know of the horrors and betrayals that awaited him and their family.

Characters

 * Lord Robert Baratheon
 * Lyanna Stark
 * Lord Torrhen Stark
 * King Aegon I Targaryen
 * King Aerys II Targaryen
 * Prince Rhaegar Targaryen
 * Queen Rhaella Targaryen
 * Prince Viserys Targaryen

Noble Houses

 * House Arryn
 * House Baratheon
 * House Lannister
 * House Stark
 * House Targaryen

Institutions

 * Small council

Places

 * The Crownlands
 * King's Landing
 * Red Keep
 * Great Hall
 * The Riverlands
 * The Trident

Events

 * Robert's Rebellion
 * Battle of the Trident

Catelyn Stark's perspective
"Family. Duty. Honor". Every Tully child learns the House words, cut Catelyn Tully consideres she became a woman before understanding their meaning. Years before, her father took as his ward the son of a wartime friend, a minor on the Fingers. The boy's name was Petyr Baelish, but due to his home and size, her brother soon named him "Littlefinger".

When Catelyn came of age, Brandon Stark of Winterfell sought and won her hand. To Lord Hoster, Brandon was heir to the North and a suitable match for a daughter of House Tully. To Catelyn, Brandon was wild and terrifying, never far from laughter or trouble; she loved with all the fire of a first passion, much, she came to realize, as Petyr loved her. When Petyr heard of her engagement, he challenged Brandon to a duel and survived only because Catelyn begged Brandon not to kill him, as she still fought of Petyr as family. Now she wishes she had let him die.

Only days before her wedding, when she thought she would be happy forever, Prince Rhaegar Targaryen abducted Brandon's sister, Lyanna. Hotblooded as always, Brandon rode immediately to King's Landing to demand justice, which the Mad King Aerys gave him. In his own twisted fashion. The day the raven arrived with news of Brandon's death, Catelyn locked herself in her room and refused to eat for days, until her father reminded her of her duty. Catelyn was to marry Eddard, Brandon's younger brother, a man whom she had never met, of whom none spoke ill, or anything at all. Their union would cement an alliance of the North, Vale, Stormlands, and Riverlands in rebellion against the Mad King. As a Tully, Catelyn did her duty. They were married quickly, and were spared one night before Ned had to return to the field.

Catelyn spent the war by the window, waiting for a raven to hear if her child would grow fatherless, or at all. They new the prize of defeat. Catelyn scoured the kitchens and washerwomen for any and all gossip: Robert had won and crushed the Mad King. Robert had lost but Jaime Lannister was now King. Robert had almost won, but the Mad King had become a dragon and burned King's Landing to ash. At night, Catelyn told herself the war would end soon and bring peace: either a victory or the grave.

Catelyn believes she was wrong. Robert won, and her husband avenged his brother and her love. But when he returned home to her he could not meet meet her eyes. She saw the reason, by his side. Catelyn is aware that many men have bastards, and that under the strain of war any man, no matter how honorable, may forsake his vows for a night of warmth he may never know again. But Ned Stark was not built like other men. His northern honor would not let him sequester his shame in some distant holdfast. He brought this boy, this "Jon Snow", home to raise with his trueborn children. Her children.

Yet Catelyn considers this bitter memories to be sweet now. They are all she has left of "her Ned". Their family is broken and scattered, and their son must wage a war for the pieces. She is adamant that they need to go home, for the Starks are of the North and, like the snows of winter, when they come south... they melt away.

Characters

 * Petyr Baelish
 * Jon Snow
 * Brandon Stark
 * Lord Eddard Stark
 * Robb Stark
 * Sansa Stark
 * Lady Catelyn Tully
 * Lord Hoster Tully

Noble Houses

 * House Baelish
 * House Stark
 * House Tully

Locations

 * Riverrun
 * Winterfell

Events

 * Robert's Rebellion

Margaery Tyrell's perspective
Some great families call the Tyrells upstarts, but the truth is that while the Starks and Lannisters fell to the Targaryens in defeat, House Tyrell rose. For thousands of years, Tyrells served as loyal stewards to the Kings of the Reach, until the last of their line burned to death, resisting the Targaryen invaders. To save the Reach from a similar fate, the Tyrells yielded Highgarden to Aegon and his sisters. In gratitude, the Tyrells were given dominion over the Reach, and they became lords of the castle in which, for generations, they had served.

Under the Targaryen dynasty, Westeros prospered. Gone were the petty wars of seven kingdoms and the endless thirst for minor glories that drove them. The Westerlands enriched the realm, the North guarded it, and the Reach and Riverlands fed it. This harmony is what Robert Baratheon shattered with his rebellion against Aerys Targaryen.

When the call to arms came, though, Tyrells did not want to answer. Margaery argues that the Reach is a gentle land and the Mad King was not muched loved, but the Tyrells owed peace and status to his family. Lord Mace Tyrell called his banners and marched north to battle the rogue Stormlord, who had already defeated three forces in a single day, and, at Ashford, Lord Mace won. Some chasten Lord Mace for not pursuing Robert after the battle. They had cut Robert off from the Stormlands, the seat of his power, and he had fled north, within easy grasp of Lord Tywin Lannister, who had been Hand of Aerys for nearly twenty years. Lord Mace moved instead to lay siege of Robert's ancestral stronghold of Storm's End. "The rose" would strangle "the stag" as "the lion" pounced, so the Tyrells waited, but the lion of Lannister slumbered and Robert slipped past the King's forces to join Ned Stark.

The Tyrells could've lifted the siege and deployed their armies north to aid the crown; they also could've stormed the walls of Storm's End and made him homeless, but they had ample supplies, control of land and sea, and most of all: patience. Their siege would succeed, eventually, at little cost of lives to the Tyrells. If Robert prolonged the war with minor victories, the capture of Storm's End would hasten his downfall. And if Robert won the war, it wouldn't have done for him to find the Tyrells within his walls with the bodies of his brother Stannis and his sworn men.

When the lion finally showed his colors and "purged" King's Landing, the Tyrells knew their cause was lost. Lord Mace chose the peaceful route and bent the knee to Robert, who heartily pardoned him. Margaery considers it strange, as the Tyrells had beaten him and starved his brother to the brink of death. The Tyrells were to keep their lands, castle, and title, but they knew they would never be welcome at court. It didn't matter, the Reach was still the most fertile of the Seven Kingdoms, and under the Tyrell hand. Margaery concedes that every flower, even "the rose", needs pruning, but then it "grows strong".

Characters

 * Lord/King Robert Baratheon
 * Ser Jaime Lannister
 * King Aegon I Targaryen
 * King Aerys II Targaryen
 * Queen Rhaenys Targaryen
 * Queen Visenya Targaryen
 * Harlen Tyrell
 * Lord Mace Tyrell

Noble Houses

 * House Baratheon
 * House Gardener
 * House Targaryen
 * House Tyrell

Places

 * The Crownlands
 * King's Landing
 * The Reach
 * Ashford
 * Highgarden
 * The Riverlands
 * Gods Eye
 * The Stormlands
 * Storm's End

Events

 * Robert's Rebellion
 * Battle of Ashford
 * Siege of Storm's End
 * Sack of King's Landing

Stannis Baratheon's perspective
Stannis Baratheon's brother had raised the banners of Storm's End, their ancestral castle, against the Mad King Aerys. Jon Arryn of the Vale and Eddard Stark of the North stood with him, and Hoster Tully of the Riverlands would join. But the Baratheon lands were far from theirs, and separated by combined strenght of the West, the Reach, and King's Landing itself. Even Robert's own lords were against him. Stannis considers it was the hardest choice he had ever made: his brother or his King. Blood or honor. Aerys ruled by the rights of all the lords in Westeros. Everyone knew the prize of defiance. But Stannis believes that there are deeper, older laws: the younger brother bows before the elder. And so Stannis followed Robert.

Early in the war, Mace Tyrell's indecisive victory at Ashford cut Robert off from Storm's End. Instead of pursuing Robert, and risking his record, Mace Tyrell turned east and laid siege to the Baratheon home. The Tyrell army and navy encircled Storm's End, preventing any resupply by land or sea: if a wagon tried to reach them it was burned; if a ship tried to land it was sunk. Stannis and his garrison were locked inside Storm's End to starve. But Robert had commanded him to hold the castle no matter the cost. Robert couldn't afford to loose his ancient seat, which had bever fallen.

Stannis then recounts that, while Robert smashed Rhaegar on the Trident, Stannis' men ate the dogs because the horses had already been devoured; and while the Lannisters sacked King's Landing, Stannis and his men ate the rats. If the smuggler Davos had not slipped through the Tyrell blockade with his onions, the Storm's End garrison would've eaten their own dead. But Stannis held the castle, and sarcastically adds, until Lord Eddard remembered them and marched to lift the siege. The Tyrells didn't even put up a fight, and Robert threw a feast to celebrate Lord Eddard's victory.

Stannis was sent to the royal island stronghold of Dragonstone to deal with Viserys and Daenerys, the last surviving Targaryen children. Before Stannis arrived, however, they had escaped across the Narrow Sea. Robert was furious. He stripped Stannis of Storm's End, and gave it to "that prancing fool" Renly, Stannis' younger brother. Stannis could keep Dragonstone.

Now Robert is dead, and a bastard pretender "soils [his] throne" while the realm fills with "schemers and traitors". But "the rightful King" is coming for them all and he will not stop until he has scoured the land clean of abomination. The Baratheons say "Ours is the Fury". He will show them fury burns.

Characters

 * Stannis Baratheon
 * Davos
 * Lord Eddard Stark

Noble Houses

 * House Baratheon
 * House Tyrell
 * House Stark

Locations

 * The Crownlands
 * Blackwater Rush
 * King's Landing
 * Rosby
 * The Stormlands
 * Bronzegate
 * Griffin's Roost
 * Mistwood
 * Stonehelm
 * Storm's End
 * Summerhall
 * Blackwater Bay
 * Dragonstone (island)
 * Dragonstone (castle)

Events

 * Robert's Rebellion
 * Siege of Storm's End

Davos Seaworth's perspective
In King's Landing, if someone leaves the Red Keep and isn't careful, he may find himself in Flea Bottom. In such a cesspool it was that House Seaworth had its "glorious start". Davos got out as soon as he could, finding work on a smuggler ship. Soon every port on the Narrow Sea had a bounty on him, which would've been collected if he didn't gave a percentage to the right people or pick the right tide. Davos then jokes that one can tell a good smuggler by talking to him because he has a head that talks back.

He considers himself a good smuggler: Davos of Flea Bottom had run with orphans and beggars, but Davos the smuggler was received by merchants and lords, when nobody could catch him. Oddly, the only honest work came from pirates, like the notorious, bloodthirsty Salladhor Saan, an old friend. All he ever wanted was someone to buy his cargo quickly, before the tide left, and sell it without telling how he had gotten it. In time, Davos saved enough to buy a small plot of land and found a woman who was kind enough to overlook his trade. She gave him a son, Matthos; and they dreamed of the traders' circle around the Jade Sea. Just one trip and Davos could settle them and their family for life.

Then some stormlord revolted against the Iron Throne. War aren't quite good for smugglers as every harbor fills with guards and inspectors, and the seas fill with blockades and pirates paid by each side to prey on the other. Though Davos had no love for the Mad King, he had grown up around the power of King's Landing and figured Robert Baratheon would end as the other rebel lords: burned to ash. But he didn't; and the North, the Riverlands, and the Vale joined him. And in the taverns people drank to Robert's health openly. "Brave fools", he thought. But Davos had a family who'd be left in the cold if he lost my head.

When Mace Tyrell marched on Robert's home at Storm's End, Davos spied the end of the rebellion. The castle was garrisoned by Robert's younger brother Stannis and a small guard, and would not hold out for long. When it fell, Robert would be homeless, and his support would bleed away. This he knew from experience. Months later, Stannis was still holding the castle. Nobody cared. But on voyages, Davos had seen what famine does, and the thought of all those men in Storm's End would die unmourned and forgotten. No better than Flea Bottom orphans. Davos told my wife and himself that he'd get a high price for the onions and salt beef. In truth, he knew he'd be captured by the Tyrell galleys or drowned. But I was too stubborn.

Later that night, in the dark, in a tiny boat with a black sail, Davos cursed myself and the moonlight as he waited for the tide to turn. When it did, the wind beat the sail so hard, Davos ripped it down, fearing the Tyrell ships would hear. Luckily, they had grown lax. With muffled oars, alone, Davos steeled his cargo through the treacherous currents and snarls of rock that gave Shipbreaker Bay its name. The waves finally carried him, soaked and near blind from seawater, through the mouth of the cavern beneath the castle. Then, Stannis Baratheon arrived. The siege had left him gaunt, but not weak, never weak, Davos insists. He greeted the smuggler and accepted the onions with cool courtesy, betraying no emotion even as all his men wept. He doled out the food to his wife and each of his men before he ate himself, a portion no larger than any other. When Stannis' finally thanked Davos, he could see Stannis' mind already returned to the castle's defense, his duty.

After Aerys fell and Lord Stark lifted the siege, Stannis summoned Davos. For his salvation of Storm's End, he was to be granted a knighthood, a keep of my own, and his son taken into Stannis' personal service. Davos of Flea Bottom had become Ser Davos of House Seaworth, and his son would serve the King's own brother. But, for his previous crimes as a smuggler, Davos was to have the fingertips of one hand taken off above the highest joint. Stannis held that Davos had flouted the laws of the land for years and a good act does not wash out the bad. In one fell swoop, or five, Stannis gave Davos' son a future and Davos' family a name that he could've never have imagined, nor earned, on his own. I still keep the finger bones in a bag around his neck to remind me what he was and what he owes to Stannis.

Characters

 * Stannis Baratheon
 * Salladhor Saan
 * Ser Davos Seaworth
 * Marya Seaworth
 * Matthos Seaworth

Noble Houses

 * House Baratheon
 * House Seaworth

Locations

 * The Crownlands
 * King's Landing
 * Flea Bottom
 * Red Keep
 * The Stormlands
 * Shipbreaker Bay

Events

 * Robert's Rebellion
 * Siege of Storm's End