Character Info

[bullhorned]

Ser Gendry of the Hollow Hill Bastard son of King Robert Baratheon Character Information/History “At least your father raised his bastard, not like mine. 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.” He spat. “Well, if he was here now, might be I’d beat him bloody. But he’s dead, I figure, and your father’s dead too, so what does it matter who he lay with?” Appearance: The Baratheon family is noted for being big and burly, with coal black hair and ice blue eyes. Although a bastard, Gendry is the spitting image of Robert in his youth. It’s noticed by Stannis, Jon Arryn, and Ned Stark. Even Brienne of Tarth notices a resemblance to Renly, Robert’s little brother, who also looks remarkably like Robert. Gendry is strong and extremely muscular due to a lifetime of smithing. He’s solidly built, with his right arm being noticeably thicker than the left. Like his father, he’s considered big. At fifteen he looked big enough to be a grown man and at eighteen, it’s likely he’s near as tall as his father was, who stood at 6’6. He keeps his hair cut short and doesn't let his facial hair grow beyond stubble. Gendry is played by Joe Dempsie, who portrays the character in HBO’s Game of Thrones. Abilities: Robert Baratheon was considered an exceptional man of size and stature. Although Gendry lacks his name or privelege, he bears a strong resemblance to his father. He possesses his father's impressive strength and despite his youth, is considered large for his size. Much of his strength can be attributed to his work as an armorer and smith. He is an exceptional craftsman for his age and his bull helmet shows a level of talent beyond his years. He’s been apprenticed for at least ten years by the best smith in King’s Landing. Gendry was knighted by Lord Beric Dondarrion and has since began to practice swordplay. He is still an unskilled opponent and makes up for what he lacks in skill with brute strength. He is more comfortable with a hammer in his hand than a sword.

Gendry Waters "The Bull" Age: 18 Height: 6'3 Eyes: Blue Hair: Black

SPOILERS AHEAD The following contains spoilers for events not yet shown in HBO's Game of Thrones. Personality: Gendry is a bastard. But not in the modern sense, rather he is a bastard by birth. He was raised by his mother only long enough for him to have some memories of her, but he never knew his father. Indeed, Gendry is completely unaware that his father is not only a nobleman, but that Gendry is in fact the son of King Robert Baratheon. But being a king’s son does not make you noble or even princely. In Westeros, bastards cannot inherit and at best, they might be allowed to be a courtier at court, but because Gendry’s mother was a commoner, Gendry remained a lowborn. Being lowborn, especially in a place like King’s Landing, has an enormous impact on a person’s identity and makes Gendry notable different from other bastards like Jon Snow or Joffrey Baratheon. It should be noted Gendry is never a point of view character in the books and so all his scenes are from the perspective of other characters, those being Ned Stark, Arya Stark, and Brienne of Tarth. But his interactions with those characters provides a lot of insight into his motivations and what makes him the way he is. At his heart, Gendry is a character with a lot of inner nobility with a lot of Baratheon pride, but all carefully buried underneath lowborn humility. In King’s Landing, he was the apprentice of Tohbo Mott, who was considered the finest smith in the entire city, perhaps in all of Westeros. Gendry was considered an exceptional smith and Tohbo often praised his apprentice to other lords who inquired about him. Gendry’s own work showed remarkable skill and through it he gained pride in his work. That pride is a defining characteristic for him, because he comes from a world where lowborn bastards have nothing to be proud about. And yet Gendry is defiant in his pride. He’ll bow his head and say his m’lords and m’ladies as much as is required of him, but he always resents it. His pride is first demonstrated in front of Ned Stark, who asks to buy a bull-shaped helmet that Gendry has crafted. Much to his master’s humiliation, Gendry refuses to sell it, even though Ned Stark is the second most powerful man in all of Westeros. Gendry defiantly declares that he made it for himself and that it’s not for sale. This same attitude emerges around Arya where Gendry frequently becomes irritable when he’s reminded of their difference in station. When he tries to claim he’s her brother to protect her, he becomes angry when she notes that he isn’t really her brother. Gendry angrily retorts that he’s ‘too bloody lowborn’ to be her brother and stomps off. So in spite of his pride in being a smith, he strongly resents his station in life and finds it nearly unbearable to associate with people who remind him of that. He rejects Arya’s offer to follow her to Robb Stark, even though he’d likely be treated well and given reward for his help. The thought of being surrounded by lords and having to call her m’lady and being surrounded by other lords did not settle with him. Gendry has long possessed a seed of resentment against the high born. He scornfully calls Robert an old drunk and openly resents the way Stannis looked down on him. But after King Robert’s death, Gendry’s life becomes a long chain of misfortune because of nobility. Tohbo Mott sells him to the Night’s Watch, only for him to be plagued by soldiers under orders from the Lannisters to have him killed. His troubles continue when he is captured by Gregor Clegane and suffers in Harrenhal. It changes masters while he’s there, but none are ever trustworthy. Even on the road with the Brotherhood, he’s chastised by knights and fellow lowborn when he is caught wrestling in the mud with Arya. Being nothing burns and grates at him and often he comes across and sullen and angry because of it. He sums up his experience with nobility thusly: “A sword’s a sword, a helm’s a helm, and if you reach in the fire you get burned, no matter who you’re serving.” And yet despite his resentment of the nobility, Gendry has noble ambitions. He styles himself as the Bull and makes a matching helmet to wear, even though a smith has no reason to need to wear one. He gladly accepts a knighting from Beric Dondarrion and forges himself his own sword to make himself truly a knight. But his aspirations are never in tournaments or serving lords or anything like that. In a way, Gendry exhibits aspects of being a true knight, but without all the flair and prestige that other knights aspire for. A true knight is charged to be brave, just, and the protect women, the young, and the innocent. When we see Gendry again in Brienne’s chapters, he’s working the forge at an inn on the crossroads. This inn houses several orphaned children and at the time, Gendry is the only person present to guard it. In the same chapter, he then saves Lady Brienne’s life by driving a spear into her attacker and saves her life. He only decides to join the Brotherhood because he saw how just Beric Dondarrion was compared to other lords he served. Although stubborn and moody, Gendry is not all hard edges. He often displays a level of wit, which usually comes across as dry, cynical sarcasm. But with friends, he is known to joke and play games. We see with Arya that he enjoys teasing her and even bursts out laughing the moment he sees her all dressed up and prettied up for the first time. He has a protective streak for her that he doesn’t often display for others. He has a habit of speaking his mind when he shouldn’t and is not entirely as cautious as he could be. When he still had his bull helmet, he would foolishly wear it at any hint of danger, even when it only served to bring him attention instead. But he shows a very kind of youthful innocence that’s beaten away by his travels. When they visit a brothel, the women there have a very easy time embarrassing him with playful teasing. He reaches a point that he becomes gruff and impatient because of having no idea how to deal with them. But many of these qualities have been worn and battered. The story departs from Gendry when Arya leaves the Brotherhood and is caught by the Hound. In that time, Beric Dondarrion gives up his life to bring back Catelyn Stark. Her identity is no secret to the Brotherhood and yet Gendry serves her still. When Brienne meets him, he has become sullen and ill tempered. Her attempts to speak with him are met with scorn. He has fully embraced Rh’lorr and set aside faith in the Seven, the official religion of the Seven Kingdoms. Distrustful and suspicious, he tries to drive away Brienne and her companions. And yet he stays at the Crossroads Inn as the only man (even if not fully grown) to protect it. Time has made him harder and angrier. Though his final scenes are brief, there is much that can be determined from them. His friendship with Arya and her subsequent loss has hit him hard. At this point in the book, the Lannisters and Boltons have created a fake Arya Stark who is to marry the bastard of Bolton, who is well known for being savage and cruel. After the Red Wedding, Arya has lost her mother and become an orphan. We pick up with Gendry serving Arya’s undead mother while staying at an inn to protect different orphans. Although he takes Brienne to meet with the Brotherhood and is aware of who Lady Stoneheart is, he does not stay long enough for her sentence. Gendry once joined because he liked how just the Brotherhood was, but that has all since changed and he leaves before he has to see Brienne and her companions hang, even though he is aware of how Brienne bravely defended the inn from the Bloody Mummers. At his current state, Gendry has been left in a place where everything has gone tragically wrong, but he stays as penance for abandoning a friend and because there is nowhere else he can go.