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| “ | Racallio Ryndoon was mad. Yet his men loved him, fought for him, died for him. And for a few short years, they made him a king. | „ |
| ~ Archmaester Gyldayn's account on Racallio Ryndoon. |
Captain-General Racallio Ryndoon, also known as Queen Racallio, is a supporting character in the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series and a minor antagonist in the House of the Dragon TV series. He was a captain-general and pirate lord from Tyrosh who declared himself King of the Narrow Sea, which was formerly held by his enemy, Prince Daemon Targaryen. He is well-remembered in the Free Cities in poems, songs, and romances.
Appearance[]
Racallio was a six-and-a-half-foot tall man who had a stooped posture and a gait, however, since one shoulder was higher than the other. He often dyed his hair and beard purple with orange streaks. Racallio enjoyed sweet scents, bathing himself in lavender or rosewater. He sometimes dressed as a woman and pretended to be a whore.
In House of the Dragon, Racallio is exceedingly tall (like a giant), and he dyes his beard purple and likes wearing women's frocks.
Personality[]
Racallio is infamously known as a flamboyant rogue who is both a cunning and dangerous warrior. Being greatly skilled in combat, he was ambidextrous and was capable of fighting with swords. He threw bones before battles to decide which deity he would sacrifice to ensure victory.
Whenever Racallio is not in battle, he is a glutton and drunkard who enjoys food and drinking. While being notoriously foul-mouthed, he can speak a dozen dialects of High Valyrian, making him surprisingly well-educated. Due to being a Robin Hood-like individual, Racallio, while often plundering, is open-handed and generous, as he was willing to give vast plunder to men and coins to beggars.
A cross-dresser and a pervert himself, he had a fondness for dressing in women's clothes and pretending to be a whore in city docks, hence his nickname. He was a man of extreme contradictions. Examples are: he loves pregnant women but despises children, and he loves kittens but not cats. Being bisexual, Racallio likes to have sex with both men and women. However, it was said that he enjoyed being hit by his multiple wives during sex.
Biography[]
Nothing is really known about Racallio's origins. As he had a hatred for slavery, it is speculated by some that he used to be a slave in his youth. As he is fond of his purple-colored hair, this suggests that he is of Braavosi origin.
War for the Stepstones[]
In 109 AC, Prince Daemon Targaryen and House Velaryon defeated the Triarchy forces of Myrish prince-admiral Craghas Drahar, a commander of the Triarchy, while Daemon conquered all but two of the Stepstones. He also slew Craghas himself. A year later, the Triarchy sent a fresh force against Prince Daemon, with Racallio Ryndoon as its leader. This time, the oligarchy was supported by Dorne and Prince Qoren Martell, who led the Dornish forces in invading the Stepstones.
Daughters' War[]
Many years later, in 131 AC, when Lysene admiral Sharako Lohar was murdered, this caused Lys to believe that it was a political assassination orchestrated by Myr, leading to rising tensions amongst each of the Three Daughters as well as retaliatory murders. All this led to a civil war between the three aforementioned Free Cities and eventually a full-blown war. Racallio Ryndoon was sent by the Archon of Tyrosh to conquer the Stepstones. After killing the unnamed King of the Narrow Sea, Racallio decided to claim the Stepstones for himself as his own kingdom, thus betraying the Archon. His treachery led to immense consequences: The Kingdom of the Narrow Sea now joined the Daughters' War, and as a result, this disruption in trade extended to Westeros, whose trade with Duskendale, Gull Town, King's Landing, and Maidenpool has been hampered, which angered both the Free Cities and ports in Westeros.
Wanting to go to war against Racallio Ryndoon, the Free Cities of Pentos, Braavos, and Lorath sent envoys to Westeros in hopes of forming an alliance with the Iron Throne. However, Ser Tyland Lannister, who serves as Hand of the King to Aegon III Targaryen, refused, as he believed that it was wise to stay out of the war. As a result, this forced Pentos, Braavos, and Lorath to go to war without aid from the Iron Throne. Tyland's decision to stay out of the Daughters' War was not well received by the majority of the public and nobility in Westeros, which tarnished its reputation.
As King Aegon's council of regents was deciding on who would marry Lady Baela Targaryen, Racallio Ryndoon was considered among the possible husbands Baela should wed. Other men who are considered include Lord Kermit Tully, Lord Benjicot "Bloody Ben" Blackwood, Lord Lyonel Hightower, Lord Dalton Greyjoy, and Prince Qyle Martell. Eventually, Racallio and the other men were dismissed by the regents as they decided that Lady Baela should wed Lord Thaddeus Rowan, the Lord of Goldengrove. However, she would eventually marry Lord Alyn Velaryon (also known as "Alyn Oakenfist").
By 133 AC, Racallio Ryndoon has lost most of his naval strength, though he still controls the island of Bloodstone and other small islands. When it became clear that the Tyroshi would soon defeat Racallio, the Lyseni and Myrmen made peace, became allies once more (but not as a united nation like before), and jointly attacked Tyrosh. By then, Lorath had left the war, persumably because their objective was just to get rid of Racallio's sea control, which had been achieved. The remaining Stepstones were occupied by Pentos, while their Braavosi allies controlled the nearby waters. Lord Unwin Peake, King Aegon's new Hand, wanted Westeros to have a presence on Bloodstone after Racallio was defeated.
When the Iron Throne's royal fleet was at Tarth, on their way to the Stepstones, Lord Bryndemere Tarth informed the navy officials that Racallio had agreed to jointly rule the Stepstones with the Archon of Tyrosh and the Sealord of Braavos, discarding the Prince of Pentos, who was betrayed by the Braavosi. This new alliance reached an agreement to jointly rule the Stepstones and control trade. While Ser Gedmund Peake, who was the admiral of the royal fleet, waited for further instructions from Lord Unwin, Alyn Oakenfist took it upon himself to lead the Velaryon fleet south. They crushed the Braavosi fleet in a naval assault among the Stepstones, with Alyn personally sinking Grand Defiance with the ram of Queen Rhaenys.
Although he returned to King's Landing as a war hero, he had failed to capture any of the Stepstones, and King Racallio remained in a strong position. Lord Unwin Peake sent an embassy led by Lord Manfryd Mooton to Braavos to negotiate the avoidance of open war between the Seven Kingdoms and the Free City, which was and still is regarded as the most powerful and formidable of the Nine Free Daughters of Valyria.
During a negotiation with Lord Manfryd Mooton, in return for a large indemnity, the Sealord of Braavos ended his alliance with Tyrosh and agreed to cede the Stepstones to Westeros, which by then still remained occupied by Racallio and Pentos. Racallio controlled Bloodstone and the southern Stepstones, while the northern and eastern isles were controlled by Pentoshi sellswords hired by Tyrosh. When Alyn and his fleet were sent by his rival Lord Peake to resolve the threat of Lord Dalton Greyjoy and the Ironborn to the western coast of Westeros, he was forced to sail past the dangerous Sepstones, which he did under a parley flag. Racallio held him as a captive and guest for more than a fortnight, eventually allowing him and his fleet to sail past his kingdom in return for three ships, an alliance, and a future kiss from Baela Targaryen.
Always in 133 AC, Lys and Tyrosh managed to gain an alliance with Dorne and its ruler, Princess Aliandra Martell, against Racallio in their struggle for the Stepstones, just as their fallen Triarchy and Dorne had done in the past war for the island chain. In 134 AC, after Racallio decided to abandon the Stepstones and flee to the Basilisk Isles in Sothoryos, likely as one of the many pirate lords dwelling there, this brought a complete end to the Daughters' War. In addition, Dorne took control over most of the Stepstones. In the following year, when the brothers Lysandro and Drazenko Rogare were assassinated, it was widely believed to have been the work of the Faceless Men. Racallio Ryndoon is among the suspects who might have hired the guild.
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