Edric Baratheon

Edric Baratheon is the son of Lord Gwayne Baratheon, Lord Paramount of the Stormlands, and his passed away wife Princess Aelinor Targaryen, daughter of the former Queen Visaera. With his mother having died at childbirth and the later developments in his life, Edric has never gotten in touch with the culture of House Targaryen, and has inherited hardly anything from his mother apart from maybe his delicate build. At the age of 13, after severely being wounded in an ambuscade during the early days of the Bleeding, Edric had not been expected to survive. Yet he has done so. Being rendered an invalid ever since with – as the maesters assume – a never completely healed thighbone and fractures in one or more vertebras, Edric faces pain when trying to stand for a while, climbing stairs, and being seated too long. Depending on situation, occasion and physical condition, Edric makes use of sedan, stretcher, wheelchair, crutches, being assisted by servants, or walking a few steps by himself. Other maesters and experts have uttered the assumption that Edric’s physical state might be more due to psychosomatic problems instead of only physical problems.

Character and Outer Appearance
Dark curls with big dark blue-grey eyes frame a pale face. With his brethren and father standing well above 6 feet, it is supposed that Edric’s body stopped growing in the aftermath of the trauma the wounding caused to it. He is of a gaunt, delicate build, still with the long legs and slim shoulders of a youth. Even his voice is relatively high when compared to the other male members of his family. And usually used in a soft, appeasing way, for Edric is known to be of a lenient character, rather trying to please and not to stick out among others. Rumours go he never reached manhood, though he apparently tried to hold up appearances for several years by having a girl to share his bed.

Having been a promising fighter as a child, born into a House with a strong martial heritage and a strong and vigorous virile demeanour, the young Baratheon has to face many mental problems alongside his physical limitations. On the few occasions of appearing in public on official events or outside of Storm’s End, he often gives an overstrained impression, a nervous smile on his face and his hands not knowing what to do. While his puberty revealed his also psychological crisis, Edric has been found to become calmer, more relaxed and more content, sometimes even more confident, during the last year. Though he is clearly a far cry away from the proud Baratheon son he would have become, had his life not taken another course on that fatal day in 333 AC. He is known to often pray in private, read books on the faith, philosophy and moralistic behaviour, and to thoroughly study administrative and organizational aspects of the military.

Childhood and Early Youth
Edric was born in 419 AC as the last child of Lord Gwayne Baratheon, Lord Paramount of the Stormlands, and his wife Princess Aelinor Targaryen, daughter of the former Queen Visaera. His mother died while giving birth and it has been noted that growing up without a mother, even though looked after by aunts and governesses, shaped the personality and behaviour of Edric Baratheon. During his first years, Edric often suffered from a broad array of sicknesses, some of which left him stronger, others left him weaker, until the next sickness arose. He became a very obedient child, always trying to please others, subordinating himself, often found shy and fond of painting, nature and animals. Around the age of six years, Edric grew stronger and over the years became a good rider and showed increasingly promising abilities in the martial fields. Accomplishments in these fields added to his self-confidence, and the quiet and reflective child became a bit more extrovert, more light-hearted and braver. In order to stabilize him further, he was kept as a page at Storm’s End, and a lot of effort was spent into training him in the sparring yards. But of course, his education also included all the other subjects typical for a young boy of his descent.

Younger than his brothers Robar and Lyonel, he clearly stood in their shadow and was very keen to please and become as bold and strong fighters as they were. He was willing to learn a lot from them, and paid them back with love, gratefulness and respect. Edric’s relationship to his sister, however, had always been overshadowed by Laena blaming Edric to have killed her mother during childbirth when she was only nine years old. Edric was nearly always bullied by her, and no matter how hard he tried to please her, she could not be reconciled. It was often only with the help of his brothers and father that he would be saved from her constant mockery. At the age of 11, Edric was overwhelmed by being accepted as a squire to the the former Sword of the Morning, Ser Aron Dayne, due to the combination of a reasonable mind, a modest, even-tempered character and many talents in the fields of war and weaponry.

Rendered an Invalid (13)
The onset of The Bleeding saw Edric wishing to accompany his master to war. And many people would have considered it wrong to deny a young Baratheon – a House bellicose and famed for their martial tradition – such a request.

In 333 AC, 13 years of age, Ser Robar Baratheon, Edric’s oldest brother, alongside Ser Aron Dayne and a not overly sizeable retinue were on their way to Stonehelm to a meeting to discuss the threats the war had spawned. It was there when the enemy hit swiftly, boldly and efficiently: The former Sword of the Morning got killed, alongside nearly the whole rest of the retinue. Except for the Baratheon brothers. Robar became captured, just to suffer from horrible mistreating and torture for many months in the keep of the Swanns. Edric was attacked several times. Fending off the first attacks, he was pushed away from the other combatants, possibly in an attempt to capture him as well. Fighting boldly, young Edric was subdued by two veteran knights. Still struggling not to be taken hostage, with his upper arm already severely wounded by sword strokes shattering the chainmail, blows against his calves by foot soldiers, and several punches on his helmet, he took a brutal blow into the back by a mace, that shattered his breastplate and rendered him unable to fight back. It was in that moment that his horse collapsed, breaking Edric’s thighbone and smashing several rips while burying the lad under her.

It was while the attackers were trying to pull the young boy out from beneath the horse that Ser Harren Rysmere, a knight of the Order of the Red Antler, managed to break free from his own deadly duels, rode into the two attackers of his young charge, slew one of them and fended the other off so he could free Edric, heave him on his horse, and escape the lost massacre. Ser Rysmere cared for the young lad during the next days, though the political and social turmoil of wartime made it a very difficult task to find medical cure and a safe place to rest for a boy whom not only the enemy would have considered a worthy hostage. Crow’s Nest was the first keep where Edric received a more professional medical treatment than the Red Antler knight had to offer, though the man had tried with all his might. The local maester, visibly overstrained by being asked to care for the heavily wounded son of his Lord Paramount, replied in shock, that he did not even know how the boy had survived with such heavy wounds during the last three days. It was again the boldness and insistency of Ser Rysmere that made sure that the boy received medical treatment despite the rejections of a maester who already saw him dead.

The next days were overshadowed by the growing weakness of Edric. Fever and inflammation shook his body that was tied to the stretcher, his body still kept in the lower, cut off part of the breastplate, for the maester feared the lad had taken an injury to the spine and so, movements of any kind were reduced to a minimum. Not waking, it was not possible to feed him, and giving him water posed the threat of suffocation. He kept on breathing, though shallow and faint, while most of the staff and local residents expected every breath to be his last. Edric woke five days later for the first time, though losing consciousness soon again afterwards. It was by that time that the maester from Storm’s End arrived to look after the boy now by himself. A week later Edric was transported to a harbour near Griffin’s Roost and from there returned to Storm’s End.

The young Baratheon’s memory grows dim when trying to remember what happened during those weeks, and even during the month afterwards. His condition sometimes improved and then exacerbated again from one day to the next. Several times, when another inflammation broke out, especially the bone in his thigh that refused to start healing for weeks, Edric was ridden by fever and brought to the gates of death again. Nowadays, it is considered one of the greatest miracles Storm’s End had seen for decades, that Edric Baratheon has survived his multiple severe injuries.

It was when his brother Robar, whom Edric had much feared for, was returned, that the spark of life finally decided to kindle, grow and last in the young boy’s limbs. Edric was, considering his weak and else desolate position, as happy as he could be upon hearing his older brother was returned alive. Edric tried to help, though the sight of his younger brother (a hopeless state which Edric was blind to see himself) must have been an additional shock for the former hostage.

Life as a Crippled Baratheon (14 - 17)
While the other injuries over the next months healed to a splendid degree, the thighbone and what seemed fractions in one or more vertebras, remained a crucial problem. Amber, milk of the poppy and a multitude of other medications kept Edric in a mental and physical stable position. They kept the young boy confident to completely cure soon, being happy to have survived, and, thanks to the drugs he was taking, unable to assess his physical situation. Being able to sit in his own bed again with muted down pains, turn his neck and move his arms to hold a book or a kitten seemed like a whole new life to somebody having wandered on the fringes of the Realm of Death for months before. But this state did not last.

When war had ended, his brother Robar had overcome his own physical suffering at least, and the desolation and fear of wartime made way for everyday activities and work again, the invalid boy slowly came to realize that he might have overcome the darkest of days - but his future prospects remained gloomy.

The other boys and squires he had known (those at least who had returned from war) returned to training in the sparring yards, ever more adventurous excursions, weapons, horses and fancy armour, and soon also developed interest in the fair sex. Edric could share none of that. His peers continued growing, getting stronger and better fighters day by day. Just Edric confined himself to his chambers, increasingly rejecting the offer to be carried around on his stretcher, or assisted while handling his wheelchair or walking a few steps by himself. Life went on after the war had ended, though to Edric this more and more seemed like the worst thing that he could bear. Worse even than the injuries he had overcome.

It was for the sake of his family that he kept on with his exercises and tried to walk and move with small improvements every now and then. The support by his family, especially by his father and his older brothers that Edric received was immense. There was not a single thing they would not do for him, and much of their precious time was devoted to spending time with an increasingly somber Edric. Feelings of guilt arose and joined in the mix of contradictory, desperate emotions blurring the days and nights of the young Baratheon.

In 334 AC, his usage of drugs had to be reduced, for the 14 year old had become heavily addicted and could not bear the symptoms of drug usage anymore. An even more difficult time followed, for what feelings and worries the drugs had suppressed, were now dashed against the boy’s soul and body. Edric’s 15th birthday saw an escalation of the pubescent teenager’s state. The maester had become worried that Edric had made plans and taken first measures to kill himself, and it proved a very delicate topic to address the lad with this fact. The small birthday celebrations in the end saw a completely desperate Edric Baratheon, absolutely overstrained with dealing with his recent situation, and even more unable to deal with what to do with his future.

The next years saw Edric oscillating between somewhat stable states marked by indifference and somehow-trying-to-get-along, better states of trying to make the best of it – often trying to pay respect and prove thankful and worthy to his caring and understanding family –, conditions of being heavily depressed and having lost interested in everything, as well as phases of sheer desperation and wanting to die.

Escalation and Improved State (17 - today)
Trying to be a help to his family as far as possible (as well as willing due to massive envy and grudge turned against most people), Edric started ongoing efforts to lead a more stable, somewhat representative life. Inspired by Erryk Wylde, he tried to gain some influence by assisting in his father’s daily business (such as copying letters, calculating numbers, learning about statecraft). Though he quickly realized much of the more interesting activities were already occupied by his brother Lyonel. Not that Lyonel would have minded, but Edric soon had to fight feelings of envy similar to those he already suffered when thinking of his eldest brother Robar. Thus, Edric came to realize that it was not just his physical weakness that he had to deal with. For it was during those days that it became more and more evident to him how frustration, loneliness and powerlessness had kindled in him many of the darkest of feelings. And by finally, and for the first time, admitting to himself, that he was beyond physical cure, what had been suppressed in the depths of the soul started rising to the surface: Envy, grudge and hatred, grief and desperation, guilt and self-hatred, anger and the wish to give it all up. Most of the time those feelings still lay behind a nervously silent face, a young man often still trying to please. All of it was so confusing to Edric, and so devastating.