Orryn Baratheon

Orryn Baratheon was the youngest brother of Lord Rogar Baratheon and a participant in Rogar’s failed effort to shape the royal succession through marriage and the identity of a Targaryen princess. His story moves from a proposed match with Alysanne Targaryen to a clandestine mission in Oldtown, then out of Westeros to a short career as a sellsword that ended in the Disputed Lands.

A Proposed Royal Marriage

When the regency council abandoned the idea of marrying Alysanne to her brother, Jaehaerys Targaryen, it quickly chose Orryn as the princess’s husband. Alysanne was thirteen and had recently come of age, and the council planned for the marriage to take place on the seventh day of the new year. The choice tied the young princess to Rogar’s family while the council remained divided over a suitable match for the king.

The proposed marriage belonged to a larger political design. Later, Rogar hoped to marry the Archon of Tyrosh’s daughter to Jaehaerys and use that union to secure an alliance between the Iron Throne and the Free City. Orryn’s eventual marriage to the same woman would give his story an ironic turn: the woman once intended for the king became his wife after both the royal match and Rogar’s plans had failed.

The Attempt at Oldtown

After Rogar’s defeat and return to Storm’s End, Orryn appeared at the motherhouse beside the Starry Sept with a dozen men-at-arms and a letter bearing his brother’s seal. He demanded that the novice Rhaella Targaryen be handed over, claiming that Rogar needed the girl at Storm’s End. Septa Karolyn delayed him while she sought help from the High Septon’s steward, Casper Straw.

Instead of finding Rhaella, Orryn and his men were met by thirty armed septons under Straw’s command. When Orryn drew his sword, Straw warned that Hightower knights were on their way; the threat was a bluff, but the Baratheon party surrendered. Under questioning, Orryn admitted the purpose of the mission: he was to take Rhaella to Storm’s End, where Rogar intended to force her to claim she was actually Aerea, her twin, and then proclaim her queen. The plan depended on replacing one princess with another and using that false identity to challenge the existing royal order.

Exile and Death

The High Septon forgave Orryn after hearing his confession, but the Baratheon men remained captives. Lord Hightower sent accounts of the affair to both the Red Keep and Dragonstone, and Rogar did not raise his banners in response. Orryn never returned to Westeros. He crossed to Tyrosh with the men who had accompanied him and entered the Archon’s service.

A year later, Orryn married the Archon’s daughter. When her father’s term ended, Orryn also lost his position and had to leave Tyrosh for Myr. There he joined the Maiden’s Men, a free company with an especially disreputable reputation. He was killed soon afterward in a battle against the Men of Valor in the Disputed Lands. The account gives no further fate for his wife or their daughter, whose paternity it records as uncertain.

Narrative Role

Orryn’s brief arc connects two political uses of marriage in Rogar’s designs: a proposed union with Alysanne and an intended Tyroshi alliance through the Archon’s daughter. At Oldtown, his role changes from prospective royal bridegroom to the operative sent to carry out the scheme involving Rhaella and Aerea. His confession makes the substitution plot explicit, while his later exile and death close his story far from the court whose succession his actions had been meant to influence.