Many fans look to A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms with the hope of seeing a gentler tale within the brutal world of Westeros. They expect a story of a traveling knight and his young squire, a journey laced with humor and heart. Yet even the brightest stories of this realm are touched by darkness, and few figures in all the histories cast a shadow as long or as chilling as Bloodraven.
When Ser Duncan the Tall, a hedge knight with more courage than coin, travels across Westeros with Egg at his side, they step unknowingly into the path of one of the most dangerous and enigmatic figures alive. Bloodraven calls himself an ally, yet no one is certain that his loyalties are free of hidden motives. His hands are cold with secrets. His influence is deep and unseen. His true intentions are known only to him.
His birth name is Brynden Rivers.
The realm knows him as Bloodraven.
Time itself will know him as the Three-Eyed Raven.
The Albino Bastard Marked by Fate
Brynden Rivers was born to King Aegon IV, a ruler so rotten in reputation that history remembers him as Aegon the Unworthy. Bloodraven entered the world with pale skin and red eyes, and with a dark birthmark on his cheek that resembled a raven in flight. These signs led many to believe that fate had chosen him for a path unlike any other.
His mother was a Lady of House Blackwood, while one of his half-brothers, Aegor Rivers known as Bittersteel, was born to a Bracken. The ancient hatred between Blackwoods and Brackens burned anew within the veins of these two bastards. Their rivalry would become one of the defining conflicts of their lives.
In his final cruelty, Aegon IV legitimized all his bastards. This act opened the gates to chaos. Ambitious sons rallied behind the formidable Daemon Blackfyre, who sought to seize the Iron Throne from his half-brother Daeron II. Westeros was plunged into war.
Kinslayer, Spymaster and Sorcerer
During the Blackfyre Rebellion, Bloodraven chose loyalty to Daeron II. Bittersteel fought at Daemon Blackfyre’s side. Their feud spilled into open war. Bloodraven’s unerring archers ended Daemon’s life on the Redgrass Field. His arrow ended the rebellion, but the act marked him forever as a kinslayer, one of the most despised crimes in Westeros.
Despite this, or perhaps because of it, several Targaryen kings relied heavily on him. He became Master of Whisperers. He served as Hand of the King. At times he ruled the realm in all but name.
His network of informants was so vast that people claimed his ravens could see through walls, and that no whispered plot escaped his notice. Stories spread that he dabbled in forbidden magic, that he walked in dreams, and that his spies were not entirely human.
Fear followed him. Respect did too.
The Sorcerer Who Vanished Beyond the Wall
Bloodraven’s fascination with the strange forces of the world led him to the far North. There he vanished. There he transformed. Centuries later, he would be found in the caves of the Children of the Forest, guiding young Bran Stark toward his destiny.
But during the time of Dunk and Egg, Bloodraven still walked among men, still ruled from the shadows and still pulled the strings of the realm with a cold and steady hand.
Bloodraven and the Hedge Knight
Though absent from their early travels, Bloodraven was very much alive during Dunk and Egg’s journeys. When the two innocently joined a great tourney at Whitewalls, hoping to earn honest coin, they unknowingly entered the heart of the Second Blackfyre Rebellion.
Daemon Blackfyre’s son, Daemon II, hoped to gather loyalists and claim the crown that had slipped from his father’s grasp. Treasonous lords arrived in secrecy. Banners were hidden but ready to be raised. Westeros once again trembled on the brink of civil war.
And Bloodraven had already taken notice.
The Man Who Was Always Present
He did not appear at first. Yet clues surrounded Dunk and Egg. A wandering knight named Ser Maynard Plumm spoke too wisely and appeared too conveniently. He knew secrets no ordinary man should know. He acted with the confidence of someone who felt no fear in a room full of traitors.
Many readers believe that Ser Maynard Plumm was Bloodraven under a magical disguise. Few figures in Westeros possessed the skill or audacity to walk unseen among their enemies. Bloodraven was one of them.
A Shadow Who Shapes the Tale
As A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms prepares for release, Bloodraven stands as one of the most fascinating characters who may step into the spotlight. He is a figure defined by contradictions. A bastard who ruled. A spymaster who crossed the lines of sorcery. A protector who committed unforgivable acts. A loyal servant who shed the blood of his own kin.
To understand Dunk and Egg’s story is to feel the weight of Bloodraven’s presence, even when he is nowhere in sight.
To understand Westeros is to understand the silent watch of the ravens.
And to follow this tale is to witness the path that will one day lead Bloodraven to the far North, to the weirwood throne of the last greenseer, and to the moment when he becomes the Three-Eyed Raven.
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