Mace Tyrell

Mace was born in the year 256, the eldest son of Lord Luthor Tyrell and Lady Olenna Redwyne. He inherited Highgarden after his father died falling from his horse off a cliff. Before that, he had been among the lords attending the Tourney at Harrenhal, one of the last great gatherings of Westerosi nobility before the war that would upend the realm.

When Robert's Rebellion broke out, Mace took command of the Reach's forces and marched on Storm's End, the seat of Robert Baratheon. He claimed credit for the victory at the battle of Ashford, though it was Lord Randyll Tarly's contingent that had already decided the fight before Mace reached the field. He then led the siege of Storm's End against Stannis Baratheon, a siege that dragged on until word of the Sack of King's Landing and the arrival of Eddard Stark forced Mace and his bannerman Paxter Redwyne to lift it.

Years later, Oberyn Martell would say it was Mace who pushed his heir Willas into competing in tourneys before he was ready, the recklessness that left the young man crippled. Some of the debts the Iron Throne carried under Robert's reign can also be traced back to Lord Tyrell's dealings.

Mace had long dreamed of seeing his daughter Margaery on the Iron Throne. The chance came when Renly Baratheon declared himself king and married her: Mace swore his loyalty, and Renly named him his Hand in return.

Renly's death left Mace without a king, but instead of joining Stannis, the surviving brother, he chose to strike a bargain with House Lannister. He joined his forces to Tywin Lannister's army and fell on Stannis's rearguard during the Battle of the Blackwater, tipping the fight in King's Landing's favor.

The new king, Joffrey, rewarded him with a seat on the small council as Master of Ships and with a betrothal: Margaery would become his bride, breaking the engagement that had until then bound him to Sansa Stark.

After the victory at the Blackwater, the winning lords divided the spoils among themselves. Mace used the moment to grant the former lands of House Florent to his second son, Garlan.

As a wedding gift for Joffrey, Mace commissioned a seven-sided chalice, each face engraved with the sigil of a great house of Westeros: a lion in ruby, a rose in emerald, a stag in onyx, a trout in silver, a falcon in jade, a sun in opal, and a direwolf in pearl.

That same chalice would become central evidence at the trial of Tyrion Lannister, accused of poisoning Joffrey at his own wedding. Mace served as one of the judges and wanted Tyrion dead: his daughter Margaery had drunk from the cup shortly before the poison turned up in it.

Queen Cersei Lannister insulted Mace by publicly rejecting his uncle, Garth Tyrell, for the position of Master of Coin. It was a slight Mace didn't forget.

After the wedding of Tommen Baratheon and Margaery, Mace left his seat on the council and marched his army to besiege Storm's End. The siege never reached its end: as soon as word of his daughter's arrest reached him, he left Lord Rowan in command and turned his troops back toward King's Landing.

Mace arrived in King's Landing determined to see with his own eyes that Margaery was freed. With little evidence against her, custody of the young woman passed to Lord Randyll Tarly, whose army had been the first to reach the city; her final release was made conditional on a holy oath.

Around that time Cersei lost the regency and Kevan Lannister arrived in the capital to take her place beside young King Tommen. To soothe a House Tyrell still smarting from the accusations against Margaery, Kevan made concessions: he named Mace Hand of the King, a title Mace had wanted ever since Tywin Lannister's death, and seated two of his bannermen on the small council.

Even so, Mace wouldn't budge from the city. He refused to march his army out while his daughter remained unacquitted, whatever threats hung over the Iron Throne, and Kevan grew increasingly weary of his bottomless appetite for honors. Meanwhile Mace added a hundred Reach men to the City Watch and commissioned plans for a new Tower of the Hand, twice the size of the one before it.

He had sharp opinions about the war being fought further north. Of the young King in the North, he said: «Is there anything as useless as a king without a kingdom? No, it stands to reason — the boy should abandon the riverlands, join his forces with Roose Bolton's once more, and finish them off at Moat Cailin. That's what I'd do.» And he thought no better of the rumors that a Golden Company would cross the sea to back another claimant: «What victories has he won that anyone should fear him? He could have ended Robert's Rebellion and failed. Just as the Golden Company has always failed. Some rush to join them, yes, but the realm is safe enough from such fools.»