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^[src]

Lord Owen Merryweather^[a] was a Hand of the King to King Aerys II Targaryen.^[1]

In the books[]

In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Lord Owen Merryweather was an old man at the time of Robert's Rebellion and was known for throwing feasts and lavishing praise on the Mad King. During a feast that the king held when Cersei came to court for the first time, Owen proposed that a tax be raised on wine, which led Lord Rykker to joke about Tywin shitting gold.^[2] Tywin's sister Genna remarks to Jaime that her brother mockingly nicknamed Owen "the Chuckler", since his only skill was laughing at Aerys's pathetic jokes.^[3] Jaime, who briefly knew Merryweather in his capacity as a knight of Aerys's Kingsguard, describes him as being amiably natured, but overall an ineffectual sycophant.^[4]

Owen was named Hand of the King after Tywin resigned from the position in 281 AC; Cersei scathingly thinks that replacing her father with Merryweather was like replacing a destrier with a donkey.^[5] Aerys was extremely paranoid and mistrusting of his son Rhaegar, which led to tension at court between the faction loyal to the king and those loyal to the prince. Lord Merryweather and 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 to Winterfell and Storm's End and the rebel victory at the Battle of Summerhall, led the paranoid Aerys to believe that Owen was conspiring against him. The king then stripped Owen of his lands and titles and exiled him from Westeros, 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.

Appearances[]

– "The Hand of the King" (illustrated)

References[]

↑ Histories & Lore: Season 7, Short 7: "The Hand of the King" (2017).
↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 7, Cersei II (2005).
↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 33, Jaime V (2005).
↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 16, Jaime II (2005).
↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 39, Cersei IX (2005).

Notes[]

↑ Conjecture based on information from A Song of Ice and Fire; may be subject to change.

External links[]

Owen Merryweather on A Wiki of Ice and Fire

v • d • e House Merryweather
Head	Unknown	Heir	Unknown
Seat	Longtable	Region	Reach

Ancestors	Lord Merryweather
Deceased	Owen Merryweather
Overlords	Bronn's house

[H&L_707-2] Histories & Lore: Season 7, Short 7: "The Hand of the King" (2017).

[Raffc7{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-3] A Feast for Crows, Chapter 7, Cersei II (2005).

[Raffc33{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-4] A Feast for Crows, Chapter 33, Jaime V (2005).

[Raffc16{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-5] A Feast for Crows, Chapter 16, Jaime II (2005).

[Raffc39{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-6] A Feast for Crows, Chapter 39, Cersei IX (2005).

[ASOIAF-1] Conjecture based on information from A Song of Ice and Fire; may be subject to change.

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Wiki of Westeros