Roggerio Rogare

Roggerio Rogare, the youngest of Larra Rogare’s three brothers, became known in King’s Landing for the Mermaid, an opulent Lysene pleasure house whose lavish reputation made it a conspicuous part of the Rogare family’s presence in the capital. Accounts of its attractions survive chiefly through Mushroom, whose willingness to acknowledge his own repeated visits distinguishes his testimony from that of the other chroniclers.

The Mermaid in King’s Landing

Roggerio opened the Mermaid beside the River Gate and filled it with parrots from the Summer Islands, monkeys from Sothoryos, and a hundred girls and boys brought from across the world. Its prices were ten times those charged by other brothels, yet it continued to draw customers ranging from great lords to common tradesmen. Stories even claimed that an actual mermaid could be found behind its carved and painted doors. Mushroom alone among the chroniclers admitted to visiting the establishment many times and partaking of its offerings in richly furnished rooms, making his account the principal source for the Mermaid’s celebrated wonders.

A Brother in the Rogare Ascendency

By the end of 134 AC, Roggerio’s brothel had become one part of a wider family campaign for influence at Aegon III’s court. Stories cast Lotho as buying allies with gold, Moredo as compelling obedience through force, and Roggerio as winning friends through the pleasures of the Mermaid; in this telling, all three brothers acted at the direction of their sister, Larra Rogare. The account immediately qualifies that picture: Lysene ambition was real, and the brothers used their bank and brothel to cultivate supporters, but they were one faction among several pursuing power and wealth. Their foreign origins, customs, and gods helped make their success an object of suspicion, so Roggerio’s reputation belonged both to his family’s political rise and to the wary stories told about it.

Reputation and the Historical Record

The Mermaid’s fame reached beyond its clientele into the stories told about what lay behind its doors, but the account distinguishes reported marvels from established fact. The claim that an actual mermaid could be found there belongs to the house’s legend; the chroniclers’ record, by contrast, rests chiefly on Mushroom’s testimony. His admitted visits give him a vantage no other chronicler claims, while also leaving the Mermaid’s celebrated wonders dependent on a single, unusually personal account.

The Family’s Rise in Lys

Roggerio’s influence in King’s Landing coincided with a transformation in his family’s standing across the Narrow Sea. After the Daughters’ War, Lys, Tyrosh, and Myr divided the Disputed Lands, while the Rogares rose to prominence in Lys: Drazenko had helped shape the Dornish alliance, and Lysandro’s ties to the Iron Throne strengthened the family’s position. The chronicle describes them as princes of Lys in all but name. Munkun called the period the Rogare Ascendency, though that label was used only at the Citadel; people who lived through it called it the Lysene Spring. The distinction places Roggerio’s celebrated establishment within a broader, contested rise in family power, rather than treating the Mermaid’s fame as an isolated success.