Beric Dondarrion

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House Dondarrion.svg Lord
Beric Dondarrion
the lightning lord		Brotherhood without banners.svg
Tiziano Baracchi BericD.jpg
Beric Dondarrion, illustrated by Tiziano Baracchi © FFG
Aliases
  • Lord Derik[1]
  • Wisp o' the wood[2]
  • The lightning lord[3]
  • The scarecrow knight[4]
  • The Lord of Corpses[5]
Titles
Allegiances
Culture Marcher
Born 276 AC or 277 AC[8]
Blackhaven[9]
Died 299 AC (his seventh and final death)[8]
the riverlands
Books
Played by David Michael Scott (extra) ~ Season 1
Richard Dormer ~ Season 3 - 8
TV series Game of Thrones:
Season 1 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 8

Beric Dondarrion, also known as the lightning lord because of his sigil,[10] is the Lord of Blackhaven and head of House Dondarrion. He is a marcher lord.[6] He is betrothed to Lady Allyria Dayne of Starfall. His squire is the young Edric Dayne, Lord of Starfall, Allyria's nephew.[5]

In the television adaptation Game of Thrones, Beric is portrayed by David Michael Scott (Season 1) and by Richard Dormer (Seasons 3 - 8).

Appearance and Character

See also: Images of Beric Dondarrion

Beric is a slight man,[11] handsome with red-gold hair.[4] He is a dashing[12] but inexperienced young man.[11]

Lord Dondarrion rides a black courser and wears a black satin cloak decorated with stars.[12] His breastplate of dull black steel[6] displays a forked purple lightning bolt,[4] and he carries a black shield slashed by lightning.[13] Beric wields a longsword.[4]

History

In either 294 AC or 295 AC,[N 1] Beric was betrothed to Lady Allyria Dayne. Following their betrothal, Beric took Allyria's nephew Edric Dayne, the seven-year-old Lord of Starfall, back with him to Blackhaven to serve as his page. He later makes Edric his squire.[5]

Recent Events

A Game of Thrones

Beric comes to King's Landing to fight in the Hand's tourney celebrating Lord Eddard Stark's appointment as Hand of the King.[12] Jeyne Poole wishes to marry him as soon as she sees him.[13] During the tournament, Beric loses a horse in a tilt with a hedge knight and is unhorsed by Thoros of Myr shortly thereafter.[13] After the conclusion of the tournament, Beric remains in King's Landing. This leads to Eddard appointing him leader of an expedition to bring the king's justice to Ser Gregor Clegane, who has been raiding the riverlands after the capture of Tyrion Lannister.[14]

Beric's party is ambushed in the battle at the Mummer's Ford, however, with many killed. By the time that Robb Stark and his allies are fighting the Lannister armies near the Trident, Beric's survivors continually raid the Lannisters' foraging parties.[1][15][16] Lord Dondarrion is named among the nobles King Joffrey I Baratheon insists must do homage to him or be named traitors.[17]

A Clash of Kings

Rumors have Beric as missing or perhaps dead.[1][18] Ser Burton Crakehall,[19] Ser Amory Lorch,[20] and Ser Gregor Clegane[20] all claim to have killed him. Yet, he is still raiding the Lannister foraging parties[19] and the Mountain's men are actively seeking him,[21] as are Lord Tywin Lannister's forces stationed at Harrenhal.[22]

Beric's group meets smallfolk plagued by the ravage of Lannister forces but does not trouble them, and he attempts to pay for the food they take.[22] Beric's group slays Burton's column of westermen in a trap.[19]

A Storm of Swords

Beric Dondarrion vs Sandor Clegane - by Amok ©

Arya Stark, Gendry, and Sandor Clegane are captured by members of the brotherhood without banners, who plan to bring them to Beric.[23][24] Meanwhile, Beric travels throughout the riverlands, including a visit to Acorn Hall.[10] Some of his men disguise themselves as the lightning lord to suggest he can be everywhere.[10]

The captives are brought to Beric within the hollow hill, where he sits on weirwood roots and is revealed as a follower of the Lord of Light. They watch as Sandor Clegane duels Beric in a trial by battle. While Thoros of Myr always lit his blades with wildfire, Beric uses his own blood to make his sword magically aflame. Despite Sandor's fear of fire, he is able to slay Beric, cleaving him from shoulder to breastbone. However, Beric is revived by Thoros, much to the surprise of the captives.[4]

It is revealed that Beric had been mortally wounded by Ser Gregor Clegane's lance at the Mummer's Ford, but his squire Edric Dayne and Green Gergen protected him and helped him to escape. Despite the efforts of Thoros, Beric died in an ash grove that night. However, Beric was unexpectedly resurrected when Thoros performed the last kiss of the Lord of Light at his funeral.[6] He became the leader of an outlaw band protecting smallfolk in the name of the late King Robert I Baratheon. Beric was killed several more times, but was repeatedly brought back to life by Thoros.[4][6]

The weary Beric has become a scarecrow of a man, his battered body bearing all the wounds of his previous deaths.[4] He is missing an eye, in its place a raw red pit. His head is broken, caved in at the temple. There is a dark ring around his throat from being hanged, and there is a terrible gash in his chest from where the Hound killed him. Arya has never seen Beric eat or sleep, though he occasionally drinks wine. Beric's memory is impaired, having forgotten details about his castle and the woman he was pledged to marry.[6] The lord still wears his ragged black cloak and dented breastplate, and a scarf around his throat to hide the marks there.[6]

Beric is aided by Edric during the battle at the burning septry against the Bloody Mummers, after which he knights Gendry.[6] Beric later visits the ghost of High Heart to hear her wisdom. Because Beric wants to ransom Arya to her family, the girl runs away from the brotherhood.[5]

Merrett Frey goes to Oldstones to ransom Petyr Frey from the brotherhood, but Tom Sevenstrings tells him that Beric is elsewhere. A woman grants approval for the outlaws to hang Merrett.[25]

A Feast for Crows

Lord Beric - by Christopher Ocampo ©

Ser Kevan Lannister informs Queen Cersei Lannister that Beric has been hanging Freys.[26] Mariya Darry, Amerei Frey, and Ser Daven Lannister believe the river lords and smallfolk are helping Beric.[11][27] In order to turn the smallfolk against the brotherhood, Lord Randyll Tarly spreads rumors that the Hound joined Beric's outlaws.[28] Ser Harwyn Plumm promises Amerei that he will kill Beric.[11] The mysterious Stoneheart is rumored to be Beric's lover.[28]

Thoros reveals to Brienne that Beric truly died when he gave his life to bring back Catelyn Stark, whose body had been found by the outlaws after the Red Wedding. Thoros refused to revive Catelyn, so Beric passed the flame of life from him to her. The brotherhood has fractured with Catelyn, now called Lady Stoneheart, as their leader, with some leaving the outlaw band.[29][30]

A Dance with Dragons

Ser Jaime Lannister is prepared to fight Beric and his outlaws, not realizing the lightning lord has died for the final time.[31]

The Seven Deaths of Dondarrion

  1. Impaled on a lance by Ser Gregor Clegane.[1][20][5]
  2. Smashed with a mace on the side of the head by Ser Burton Crakehall.[19][6]
  3. Hanged at Rushing Falls by Ser Amory Lorch.[20][6]
  4. Stabbed in the eye with a dirk by Ser Gregor Clegane.[20][6]
  5. Killed by Vargo Hoat[32] of the Brave Companions.[20]
  6. Killed by Sandor Clegane in a trial by combat.[4]
  7. Passed the flame of life to resurrect Lady Catelyn Stark.[29]

According to George R. R. Martin, Beric is no longer a living being after his first death; his heart does not beat and blood does not flow through his veins. In Martin's own words, Beric is "a wight animated by fire instead of by ice".[33]

Quotes by Beric

Richard Dormer as Beric in Game of Thrones

Guardsman: Here to fight in the Hand's tourney, my lord?
Beric: Here to win the Hand's tourney.[12]

—Beric arriving in King's Landing

Six score of us set out to bring the king's justice to your brother. Six score brave men and true, led by a fool in a starry cloak.[4]

—Beric to Sandor Clegane

Even brave men blind themselves sometimes, when they are afraid to see.[6]

—Beric to Arya Stark

Can I dwell on what I scarce remember? I held a castle on the Marches once, and there was a woman I was pledged to marry, but I could not find that castle today, nor tell you the color of that woman's hair. Who knighted me, old friend? What were my favorite foods? It all fades. Sometimes I think I was born on the bloody grass in that grove of ash, with the taste of fire in my mouth and a hole in my chest. Are you my mother, Thoros?[6]

—Beric to Thoros of Myr

Beric: Gendry, do you swear before the eyes of gods and men to defend those who cannot defend themselves, to protect all women and children, to obey your captains, your liege lord, and your king, to fight bravely when needed and to such other tasks as are laid upon you, however hard or humble or dangerous they may be?

Gendry: I do, m'lord.

Beric: Arise Ser Gendry, knight of the hollow hill, and be welcome to our brotherhood.[6]

—Beric and Gendry

Beric: Fire consumes. It consumes, and when it is done there is nothing left. Nothing.
Thoros: Beric. Sweet friend. What are you saying?
Beric: Nothing I have not said before. Six times, Thoros? Six times is too many.[5]

—Beric and Thoros of Myr

Quotes about Beric

The lightning lord is everywhere and nowhere, skinny squirrel.[10]

—Greenbeard to Arya Stark

They say Lord Beric always gives a man a trial, that he won't kill a man unless something's proved against him.[25]

—Merrett Frey to Lem

Lyle: Once we're done at Riverrun, I'll be itching for another fight. Not that Beric Dondarrion is like to give me one. I recall the man from tourneys past. A comely lad in a pretty cloak, he was. Slight and callow.
Arwood: That was before he died. Death changed him, the smallfolk say. You can kill him, but he won't stay dead. How do you fight a man like that?[11]

—Lyle Crakehall and Arwood Frey

Don't get me started on Lord Beric. He's here, he's there, he's everywhere, but when you send men after him, he melts away like dew.[27]

—Daven Lannister to Jaime Lannister

Brienne: You ride with the Dondarrion. The lightning lord.
Thoros: Lightning comes and goes and then is seen no more. So too with men. Lord Beric's fire has gone out of this world, I fear. A grimmer shadow leads us in his place.[29]

—Brienne of Tarth and Thoros of Myr

Behind the Scenes

In an early draft of A Storm of Swords, there is a deleted subplot about Beric being hunted by a singer named Honeytongue, who "wants to find Lord Beric and make him into a song."[34]

Notes

  1. ↑ Edric, who was born in 287 AC, was seven years old at the time of the betrothal, placing the betrothal in either 294 AC or 295 AC.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 55, Catelyn VIII.
  2. ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 1, Jaime I.
  3. ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 11, Jaime II.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 34, Arya VI.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 43, Arya VIII.
  6. ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 39, Arya VII.
  7. ↑ A Storm of Swords, Appendix.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 See the Beric Dondarrion calculation.
  9. ↑ George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Beric Dondarrion.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 22, Arya IV.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 30, Jaime IV.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 27, Eddard VI.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 29, Sansa II.
  14. ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 43, Eddard XI.
  15. ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 56, Tyrion VII.
  16. ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 69, Tyrion IX.
  17. ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 57, Sansa V.
  18. ↑ A Clash of Kings, Prologue.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 7, Catelyn I.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 30, Arya VII.
  21. ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 19, Arya V.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 26, Arya VI.
  23. ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 13, Arya II.
  24. ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 29, Arya V.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 A Storm of Swords, Epilogue.
  26. ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 12, Cersei III.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 33, Jaime V.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 25, Brienne V.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 42, Brienne VIII.
  30. ↑ A Feast for Crows, Appendix.
  31. ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 48, Jaime I.
  32. ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 17, Arya III.
  33. ↑ Time: George R. R. Martin on the One Game of Thrones He 'Argued Against', July 13, 2017
  34. ↑ Secrets of the Cushing Library: the ACOK and ASOS drafts - gsteff on Reddit
Unknown
Last known title holder:
Lord Dondarrion 		Lord of Blackhaven
?–299 AC 		Unknown
New title Leader of the brotherhood without banners
298–299 AC 		Succeeded by
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