Eden Erenford

Eden is the second-born son of Arlan Erenford. He has been Lord of his house since early 435, following a succession of tragedies within the Erenford family.

Appearance and Character
He stands taller than average at 6'2", with a lean, but broad-shouldered build. Several years ago he would've been described as athletic, strong, and even a little handsome, but recently Eden Erenford gives the appearance of a haunted man. A tired, weary posture, an ever paler complexion, and a gaunt face usually overgrown with a thick dark beard make him look ten years past his age. His eyes are lit with a trapped intelligence, like that of a man whose mind devours itself when denied some worthwhile purpose or passion.

Generally speaking, Eden does not like to talk to other people or be around them. He exudes despair, and when forced by duty to go out into the world, a corrosive spectre just follows him everywhere and engulfs whatever place he comes into. Nevertheless there are times when the new Lord will suddenly find life breathed back into him by an interminable current of energy springing forth from a source unknown, allowing him to somehow thwart his nature and come across sociable, even charming.

But in his heart of hearts he's a recluse.

Childhood
Eden's early childhood didn't differ too much from the experience typical of other second sons of highborn families. His personality and temperament were shaped in part by the fact that with every passing year he grew more and more acutely aware of the uncertainty looming over his future as someone who stood to inherit nothing. In some ways this was a self-imposed anxiety, but whatever the case, he chose to escape this by pouring himself into his studies and reading voraciously from a young age.

From the beginning Eden excelled as a student. He worked diligently to learn as much as he could and seemed to have an innate appreciation for the value of an education. He proved himself a talent at math and machines, and constantly sought to understand things on a mechanical level. How do you put this? He wanted to be capable of things. He wanted to know that if you put him in a room with some tools and some materials, he could eventually come out of it with a creation. At times he would imagine himself without his name and without his bed in the castle, without his parents or his brothers, or the servants. Take away all that and you get a clearer picture of yourself. Eden sensed this truth early on in life.

All this is not to say that Eden was bereft of interests beyond his books and lessons. In their spare time, his brothers, Brynden and Elyas, would spend hours in the castle courtyard sparring, practicing swordplay. Eden had little desire to join them in this. The way he saw it, a man could spend years mastering the sword, becoming its ultimate practitioner, a veritable artist of death, only to walk out onto the battlefield and simply be shot. Eden never had visions of himself as any kind of great warrior, but he knew that when it came down to it, he wanted to be able to put an arrow through a man's body if the need should ever arise.

It was slow learning for him. He didn't have a natural talent for archery, and it took many hours of practice day in and day out before he gained anything close to proficiency. He got there, though, and eventually began to join his father and brothers regularly on hunts in the western forests, where his father would teach him to track game.

A section about Eden's twin brother
Whatever gift Eden had that allowed him to disappear into his studies, his twin brother Elyas decidedly lacked it. Though they were identical to one another in appearance, the two of them somehow spent little time together. As a child, Eden could normally be found indoors, reading a book or bothering the maester. Elyas, on the other hand, seemed to try as much as he possibly could to be out and away somewhere. In the early years, this meant he'd be off in the woods, or fishing at the river. As adolescence came, however, it was more and more likely that Elyas would wind up at a tavern in the nearest village.

By the age of 16 he was, stunningly, a drunk. He would go off, steal wine and liquor, bring it back home and hide it somewhere, and just stay drunk as often as he could. On numerous occasions, he very nearly died from this, and yet within 24-36 hours after such an experience he would invariably be drunk again. It was kind of a tragic marvel, really, how someone could be so driven to self-destruction at such a young age.

Their father was disgusted with Elyas' behavior, and constantly threatened to send him to the Wall if he did not get his act together. Eventually he made good on this threat, after Elyas accidently lit the castle stables on fire and burned them down to the ground in early 432.

Eden has not seen his brother since that year.

A section about Eden's older brother Brynden
Meanwhile, in sharp contrast to Elyas, Eden's older brother Brynden showed great promise. While not as studious as Eden, Brynden was a much more well-rounded individual. Intelligent, charismatic, a commanding presence, and a gifted swordsman, Brynden Erenford was always eager to demonstrate his talents. You could tell that he wanted greater things for himself, and Eden would sometimes wonder if maybe his older brother felt the Erenford name was too small for him. If that was ever the case, Eden couldn't blame him. When war came to the Riverlands in the form of the ever-sprawling Second Hammer Uprising, Brynden seemed overcome with relief and he departed from home in early 434 with a modest number of men to join with the loyalist forces in defeating the Warsmiths wherever they had taken root along the Trident.

His last battle would be the Siege of Oldstones.

Brynden returns, kind of
In the twelfth month of 434, Eden's older brother, Brynden Erenford, returned from fighting against the Warsmiths. It was noon when the wagon conveying Brynden pulled in through the castle gates and rolled to a stop in the wagon parking area. Eden was nearby, tending to his birds, and was the first of his family to notice his brother's return.

Brynden sat on the edge of the wagon bed, his feet hanging just an inch off the ground. Strange, thought Eden. He'd expected his brother to come in on the back of some trotting horse, all grand and glory. Eden didn't go up to him immediately, and instead just watched him from about 20 yards away. Brynden was sitting on a pile of straw, staring down at his feet, holding a melon-sized rock in his lap. He didn't just hold the rock, but seemed to cradle it with one hand and caress it lightly with the other while he stared off into space. Eden watched him do this for about three whole minutes.

He heard the wagon-driver explain it to his father and mother. Brynden had been wounded on the battlefield. Someone had thrown a heavy rock at Brynden. The rock struck him directly in the head and then tumbled down into his lap.

"I saw the whole thing happen." Said the driver. "I'm amazed he's not dead. That rock knocked him out cold but it bounced off his head into his hands, which sort of just latched onto it and wouldn't let go. He aint spoke a word since he woke up. Doesn't respond to his name, neither. He just lugs around that rock all day. It's got a big red stain on it, where it hit him."

435
In many ways, Eden came to realize, it would have been better if his brother had died and never returned. Instead, Brynden had returned dead, and his corpse now walked among them all as a constant reminder of what should have been, carrying with him the instrument of his own destruction wherever he went.

As far as Eden or his parents could tell, everything that Brynden was had been annihilated. He couldn't speak, he seemed to have no memories of life before the incident. There was just nothing left of him. His body was inhabited now by someone else, childlike and simple. To see the other Brynden, day in and day out, walking around utterly oblivious to the man he had been and the future he'd once represented, all while maintaining constant possession of this bloodstained rock with which he shared his bizarre communion... it was too much for Eden's parents.

Within three months of his brother's arrival on that wagon, Eden's father, Arlan Erenford, came to him one evening with a noose. He was really drunk, but he said he had thought it through, and he had a plan. He told Eden that they would say that the three of them were going to go out ice fishing on the river. Some secluded spot where no one was. They'd say that Brynden wandered off when they weren't looking, and that he fell through the ice. He said they could make it look right, just to be extra careful, but that would no one would really ask too many questions anyway.

Eden would be lying if he said he'd never considered doing this exact thing, but when he heard it come out of his father's mouth, the prospect of this committing this act took on the shape of the ugliest and most heinous sin. For better or worse, he didn't have it in him. Eden waited until his father was finished, then told him to go to bed and never speak about this to anyone again.

Winter
Two weeks later Arlan Erenford disappeared. It was still early in the winter and the snows were not yet so deep in the Riverlands. At dawn the tracks leading away from the castle were four, maybe five hours old. His father's horse was gone. The night watchman who'd been on duty confirmed that Lord Erenford had departed in the night, and made no comment as to where he was going. It goes without saying that Arlan Erenford was a man who could take care of himself, but the fact that he had left alone in the middle of the night and told no one where he would be or when he would return did not sit well with Eden, who rode out that morning with five other men from the castle, to find his father.

Snow had been falling in a very light flurry since the previous night, but the horizon was full of dark clouds and much heavier snows would soon be upon them. Eden and his men rode fast. They saw no other tracks in the snow all throughout that solitary landscape, save for the ones leading back to the castle. It was not long before they came upon the edge of the western wood, where the tracks, as best as Eden could tell, finally terminated at the treeline. Beyond this point, there simply was no trail, and the snow that lay ahead was untouched and perfect. Carefully he and the other men led their mounts into the woods and sought any sign, any trace of human traffic. They found nothing.

By sunset Arlan Erenford had not returned, nor had he been found, even as the search for him grew to include scores of men. Word was sent out to the surrounding villages, who also searched and who also found nothing. Night fell, and with it came a great blizzard that lasted for two full days. When the storm ended, Eden went out again to continue searching. They searched for another ten days before another blizzard stopped them again. After that they didn't go back out, and Eden's father was presumed dead.

Until Spring
Lordship was never something that Eden expected, though now that he had it, he found it quite freeing. In 437 his mother, Sarra, came down with a terrible fever and passed on. Somehow this felt like a normal occurrence, even a wholesome event, like one of Winter's strange mercies. She had been deeply miserable. Now it was just Eden, the remnants of Brynden (or new Brynden, if you wish), Brynden's rock, and the other, non-family people who filled out the rest of the castle.

These years of winter would give rise to a truer form of Eden's personality and general character, unconstrained by the expectations of family. Although, to be sure, the obligation to act in the best interests of his people was one that he felt and always meant to fulfill. If not him, then who? This was a question that usually staved off the worst of his thoughts.

Family

 * Artos Erenford (†)
 * m. Walda Grell (†)
 * Roslin Erenford (†)
 * Lancelyn Erenford
 * Arlan Erenford (†)
 * m. Sarra Charlton (†)
 * Brynden Erenford
 * Eden Erenford
 * Elyas Erenford