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Ser Mervyn Flowers is a minor character in the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series. He was a knight of the Kingsguard during the regency of King Aegon III Targaryen and is the bastard son of Lord Peake and the half-brother of Unwin Peake.
Personality[]
Mervyn Flowers was regarded by most as a dutiful and leal man who did as he was told, but like many bastards, he was hot-blooded and quick to anger, seeing slights where none had been intended.
Mervyn was said to have been fond of wine, according to Mushroom. Even after being named into the white cloaks, he did not stop sexual activities to become chaste. In fact, he was known for using his rough charm on washerwomen and serving girls, and slept with them in his cell at the White Sword Tower.
Biography[]
In 133 AC, during the regency of King Aegon III Targaryen, when the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Willis Fell, died from an epidemic known as the Winter Fever, alongside two of his fellow sworn brothers, King Aegon appointed Ser Robin Massey as the new Lord Commander while appointing Ser Robert Darklyn to the Kingsguard. However, as the young king had not consulted with his regents and also by the fact that he was only twelve-years-old, which made him too young to have the judgement to decide such weighty matters on his own, his Hand of the King, Lord Unwin Peake, supported by Grand Maester Munkun, proceeded to reverse the king's appointment by dismissing Ser Robin and Ser Robert from the Kingsguard and instead appointing his own kin and supporters, with Ser Marston Waters being elevated to the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard while Unwin's bastard half-brother, Ser Mervyn Flowers, and his nephew, Ser Amaury, were given white cloaks. Though Aegon III responded with sullen silence to Unwin and Munkun's decision, he nevertheless pointed out that Kingsguard serve for life which Unwin agreed on but insisted that only if they are "properly appointed".
At the time of Queen Jaehaera Targaryen's death, in which she had reportedly thrown herself from a window in Maegor's Holdfast to be impaled on the iron spikes below, Ser Mervyn Flowers was guarding the doors to her chambers as the incident occurred and Jaehaera was left in agony for half an hour before dying. As she was the last surviving child of King Aegon II Targaryen and Queen Helaena Targaryen, as both of her brothers were killed during the Dance of the Dragons, this ended the line from the second marriage of her grandfather King Viserys I Targaryen and his second wife Queen Alicent Hightower. While Jaehaera's death was officially deemed a suicide, however, many suspected that she was murdered by Unwin Peake, King Aegon's Hand and Lord Regent, as he had hoped to have the king marry his daughter Myrielle. As Mervyn had been guarding Jaehaera's bedchamber door at the time of her death, it was variously suggested that he had murdered her or that he had merely stood aside to allow Tessario the Tiger, a sellsword in Unwin's employ, to do the deed.
Death[]
In 135 A, following the lifting of the Secret Siege, Kingsguard Ser Marston Waters, on the command Aegon III, then fourteen-years-old, he went to arrest those who had falsely implicated House Rogare and Lord Thaddeus Rowan, Unwin's successor Hand of the King, who had been tortured into making false confessions of having aided the conspirators. When Marston attempted to apprehend Ser Mervyn Flowers at the stables, the latter fatally wounded him in the chest with a dagger before trying to escape, but was caught saddling his horse by two stableboys and a drunken man-at-arms, whom he killed, but this caused a commotion that alerted other people and Mervyn was beaten to death while he still wore the white cloak he had dishonored.
Trials[]
Among Ser Mervyn's fellow exposed conspirators, three of Queen Daenaera Velaryon's ladies were accused of being among them, including Lady Cassandra Baratheon, eldest daughter of the late Lord Borros Baratheon. At the trials in 136 AC, Cassandra confessed that she had often shared her bed with Ser Mervyn Flowers, and sometimes with Tessario the Tiger at Ser Mervyn's behest. When Lord Willam Stackspear suggested Cassandra was part of the reward Tessario had been promised for his part in the conspiracy, Cassandra burst into tears. Due to her high birth, Cassandra was spared from any harsh punishments, and her mother, Lady Elenda Baratheon (née Caron), had sent three Baratheon bannermen of the Stormlands to defend her during her trial. However, Elenda believed her cunning daughter had been plotting as much as Mervyn and the other conspirators had, rather than being just a mere pawn.
Trivia[]
- Mervyn's family, House Peake, is a reference by George R. R. Martin to the books of the late English writer, artist, poet, and illustrator Mervyn Peake, which are among his reading recommendations. Mervyn is named after Mervyn Peake. Two members of House Peake are named Titus, being Mervyn's half-nephew, Ser Titus, and the current head of the family, Lord Titus Peake, who's married to a Lannister. Both characters are named after Titus Groan, the main protagonist of the Gormenghast novel series. Mervyn's half-aunt, Clarice Osgrey, is a reference to Clarice Groan, aunt of Titus Groan. House Peake's seat, Starpike, is a reference to Steerpike, the main antagonist of the series.
