Robert Baratheon
| House / Order | House Baratheon |
|---|---|
| Race / Culture | |
| Status | Deceased |
| Origin | King's Landing; Storm's End |
| Born | 262 AC (approx.) |
| Died | 298 AC, at King's Landing |
| Weapon | A great warhammer |
| Fate | Mortally wounded by a boar while hunting, after being given strong wine by Cersei Lannister's design |
| Portrayed by |
Robert Baratheon was Lord of Storm's End and, after leading the rebellion that bears his name, King of the Seven Kingdoms, the first of the Baratheon dynasty to sit the Iron Throne. A towering, charismatic warrior in his youth, famed for the warhammer he wielded in battle, Robert won his crown by toppling the Targaryens, but found the labor of ruling far less to his taste than the wars, feasts, hunts, and women that consumed his later years.
His death set in motion the War of the Five Kings, for the children he believed his own were in truth the issue of Jaime and Cersei Lannister.
Background
Robert was the eldest son of Lord Steffon Baratheon and was fostered in the Eyrie alongside Eddard Stark under the guardianship of Jon Arryn. He and Ned became as close as brothers. Robert was betrothed to Ned's sister Lyanna Stark, whom he loved with a fierce and idealized passion.
Robert's Rebellion
When Rhaegar Targaryen carried off Lyanna and the Mad King Aerys II Targaryen murdered Rickard and Brandon Stark, then demanded the heads of Robert and Eddard, Jon Arryn raised his banners and the rebellion began. Robert proved a force of nature in the field, winning battle after battle, including a desperate triple victory at Summerhall in a single day. At the climactic battle on the Trident, Robert met Prince Rhaegar in single combat and crushed his chest with a single blow of his warhammer, scattering the rubies from the prince's armor into the river.
The war was won, but Lyanna died at the Tower of Joy before Robert could reclaim her, a loss that haunted him for the rest of his life. To bind the realm together, he wed Cersei Lannister, daughter of Tywin Lannister, a marriage that was never happy.
King
As king, Robert ruled in name while real governance fell to his Hand, Jon Arryn, and his small council. He grew fat, drank heavily, and squandered the crown's treasury, sinking the realm deep into debt, much of it owed to House Lannister and the Iron Bank of Braavos. When Jon Arryn died suddenly, Robert rode north to Winterfell to ask his old friend Eddard Stark to serve as his new Hand.
Robert never learned that his three children by Cersei were fathered by her twin Jaime Lannister. While hunting in the kingswood, the king was gored by a boar after drinking the strong wine his squire Lancel Lannister kept pressing on him at Cersei's prompting. He died of the wound at King's Landing, naming Eddard Stark as Protector of the Realm.
Character
Robert is drawn as a man who peaked in war and never found anything in peace to equal it. Generous, boisterous, and brave, he was also a poor administrator, an unfaithful and sometimes cruel husband, and a king ruled by appetite and nostalgia. His enduring grief for Lyanna and his hatred of all things Targaryen color his every action, and his death exposes the rotten foundations beneath his reign.
In the television series
In HBO's Game of Thrones, Robert is portrayed by Mark Addy. His characterization and death by boar follow the novel closely.