Robert Baratheon

He was born at Storm's End in 262 AC, the eldest son of Steffon Baratheon and Cassana Estermont. As a boy he kept a gyrfalcon named Thunder and needled his brother Stannis over his goshawk, which he mocked as "Fickle Wing." His father sent him to be fostered at the Eyrie together with Eddard Stark, under Jon Arryn, who came to treat both boys almost as sons of his own.

On one of his visits home he was knighted, and lost a local tournament to Barristan Selmy. In 278 AC his parents died when the storm that names the bay sank their ship on the way back from Volantis; Robert inherited Storm's End.

He fell for Lyanna Stark, Eddard's younger sister, and Lord Rickard Stark agreed to the match, though Robert already had a baseborn daughter, Mya Stone, something Lyanna herself threw back at him. In 281 he went to the Tourney at Harrenhal, drank, fought in the melee, and watched Rhaegar Targaryen win the joust and crown his betrothed queen of love and beauty; some said he laughed it off, but those who knew him best said he took it as an insult he never let go.

When word spread that Rhaegar had carried Lyanna off, Robert feared the worst and rose in arms with Eddard and Jon Arryn. His Targaryen blood, through his grandmother Rhaelle, gave him the strongest claim of anyone in the revolt, so the rebellion rallied around him. At the fall of Gulltown he killed Marq Grafton with his own hands.

Cut off from his northern allies, he mustered his banners at Storm's End and beat, in a single day, the lords still loyal to the Crown who had gathered at Summerhall. Randyll Tarly then defeated him at Ashford, and a wounded Robert had to recover at Stoney Sept while an army under Jon Connington hunted for him without success; that battle, too, went to the rebels in the end.

Jon Arryn and Hoster Tully broke Rhaegar's forces at the Trident, and Robert himself killed the prince at the ford now called Ruby Ford, ignoring Roose Bolton's advice and even ordering that Barristan Selmy, who had fought for the other side, be treated by his maester. He won the war, but Lyanna died, and that loss never left him. When Tywin Lannister brought him the bodies of Elia Martell and her children, Robert felt relief rather than horror, which appalled Eddard, who rode off to help Stannis as he held out under siege at Storm's End; only shared grief for Lyanna brought the two friends back together.

He took the Iron Throne on the strength of that distant Targaryen tie, and pardoned most of his old enemies, though Dorne never forgot that he had let the killing of Elia Martell and her children go unpunished; Jon Arryn had to negotiate the peace that brought Dorne, and Robert as king, into the fold. In 284 he married Cersei Lannister to bind the realm to Casterly Rock, and on their wedding night, drunk, he called her Lyanna by mistake, something she never forgave.

He named Jon Arryn his Hand and left him nearly all of the governing, backed by Stannis, while he hunted, ate, and drank without restraint. Six years after his coronation he joined Eddard to crush the Greyjoy Rebellion, which put his claim to the throne beyond question. But the tournaments and feasts he paid for out of a treasury Aerys had left full ended up burying the Crown in a debt of six million gold dragons, borrowed largely from the Lannisters, the Tyrells, the Faith, and the Iron Bank of Braavos.

Over the years he grew heavy and red-faced from wine, though he stayed a strong man. He fathered several children outside marriage: Edric Storm, born of Delena Florent, was the only one he ever acknowledged; another, born to a tavern girl, grew up not knowing his father and in time came to be called Gendry.

When Jon Arryn died suddenly, Robert rode with nearly the whole court to Winterfell to offer Eddard Stark the Handship. Ned found him changed, unhappy, unwell, and took the post reluctantly. On the road near Darry, Arya Stark's wolf bit Joffrey; Robert waved off the incident, but did nothing to stop Cersei from having Sansa's wolf, Lady, killed in its place.

In King's Landing he threw a tourney to mark the appointment and let Ned talk him out of fighting in the melee himself. He left the governing to others almost entirely, and once told Ned he dreamed of giving up the crown to become a sellsword in the Free Cities. When he demanded in council that the pregnant Daenerys Targaryen be killed, Ned resigned as Hand; he only took the office back after Jaime Lannister wounded him in a fight, when Robert threatened to give the post to Jaime instead.

Hunting in the kingswood, already drunk on wine his squire Lancel Lannister had brought him at Cersei's bidding, he was gored by a boar. Before he died he dictated his will, naming Ned regent until Joffrey came of age; Ned, though, quietly changed "my son Joffrey" to "my heir" on the page, without telling the king why. Robert died the next day, and his death set off the War of the Five Kings.