Brienne of Tarth

OOC

Player Name: Hanna
Player Contact: 4romance 
Character(s) In-Game: none yet

Character Name: Brienne of Tarth
Age:  19-20, Brienne's current age is never specified in canon, but people have done calculations based on information given in the books and have come up with a birth year for her, and together with information about which years the books take place during this is where I have landed age-wise. 

Canon: A Song of Ice and Fire. 

World Description: awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Known_world

History: awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Brienne_Tarth

Death: In her history section there is a part that describes how Brienne gets captured by a group of outlaws called the Brotherhood without Banners. They are led by Lady Stoneheart, who was once known as Catelyn Stark and got brutally murdered and then thrown into a river. Later, her corpse was brought back to life by the former leader of the outlaws, and now she runs the show. Brienne once swore her sword to Catelyn, and she is in fact still trying to do what Catelyn asked of her before her death, and find her daughter Sansa to take her somewhere safe. 

Stoneheart, however, doesn't believe this, since Brienne is now traveling with a document that says she is about the king's business, and is carrying a sword that is rather obviously given to her by a Lannister, aka a member of a family that Catelyn Stark was on the opposite of friendly terms with.

She is sentenced to be hanged as a traitor, unless she swears to kill Jaime Lannister, a man she has developed a... complicated relationship with. Her traveling companions Podrick Payne and Hyle Hunt are given the same sentence. She has to pick either the sword, or the noose.

Brienne initially refuses to choose, but as she is choking, and witnessing Podrick struggling too, she shouts out "a word" (I believe it's author confirmed to be "sword").

Now, in canon she survives this, but for the purpouse of this game I'll say that she doesn't and thus ends up in Beacon.

What are your plans for this character in-game? Brienne is going to be on a quest for redemption of sorts. She feels as if she has failed a lot of people, and as soon as she realises that there might be a way for her to figure out what is happening in Beacon she is going to jump at the opportunity to perhaps do some good. 

I also just honestly want her to get to spend some time with people who genuinely treat her well so that is a hope I have for this game, depending of course on what CR  she manages to get. She has been bullied and looked down on for pretty much her entire life, and even the people who are nice to her mostly just treat her with, you know, basic human decency. It might be a weird goal to have in a horror/mystery game but I want Brienne to find people who really see and appreciate her.

What aspects of this game and/or its setting are you most interested in having this character engage with? Exploration, talking to people. Brienne is shy and introverted, so I'm keen to follow in the footsteps of canon and push her out of that comfort zone by making her talk to people in order to figure out what is going on. I feel like puzzle solving is another element I'll find rewarding because Brienne has been made to think that she is stupid so it could be interesting to explore how she reacts to (possibly) being able to put pieces together and maybe solve a little mystery or two. 

How does your character generally get along with other people? Brienne is very kind and empathetic, but she has an extremely hard time trusting people.. "I'm sorry I never trusted you. I don't know how to do that anymore" is something she says to the dead body of a man she travelled with for a while as she prepares to lay him to rest. A lifetime of being told that she is ugly, freakish, stupid and strange has made an already shy person even more so. She is a warrior in a culture where women are expected to stay at home and have children, and the way she lives her life is seen as unnatural.

That being said, when Brienne is shown kindness she gets very attached to those people, sometimes very quickly. She fell in love with Renly Baratheon because he danced with her and was kind to her, and so years later she rode into war just to be near him. She is fiercely loyal, and can find it in herself to see good in people who have done some horrifying things. Jaime Lannister pushed a child out from a window, and yet she begins to care for him. 

What is your character's mental state upon entering the game? Brienne feels like she has failed everyone she cares about, and so her emotional landscape is going to be very bleak when she enters the game. She will be even more full of self-loathing than usual, and will be grieving for the life she has lost as well as her failure to fulfil any of her sworn oaths. She will feel as if she has not only lost her own honour, but that she has failed to restore Jaime's. 

Skills/Abilities: She is a good swordfighter and also knows how to handle herself in hand to hand. She can fight with a mace as well and would probably do okay if you put an axe or warhammer in her hands as well. Not sure how good a shot she is but I imagine she at least knows her way around both crossbows and longbows as well even if it isn't at all her preference in terms of weaponry. She is very good at handling boats, and knows how to ride horse. She has some basic survival skills when it comes to camping in the outdoors.

Flaws/Weaknesses: Brienne thinks of herself as not just ugly, but stupid as well. She has virtually no self-esteem, and when people are kind to her she is confused and wary because she has been hurt so many times before. She has developed a distaste for roses because a prospective husband saw her and gave her a rose before telling her that it was all she would ever get from him. She doesn't sleep well at night, especially not around men, having spent time in army camps whee rape is a constant threat. In terms of people her big weaknesses are Renly and Jaime. Renly because she was in love with him and Jaime because things are just really complicated with him. Catelyn Stark and her oath to her is another one. Oaths in general is a weakness since she will strive to keep her word beyond what might be considered sensible. She has killed men and they haunt her in her dreams. 

Personality: What I personally feel lies at the core of Brienne is that she has an amazingly tender heart. She is a fine warrior, yes, but she is not the kind that revels in battle. I think she is trying to possibly turn herself into that, but inside she is still a shy young woman with a very gentle personality.  She is loyal and protective, and if you win her friendship she will take a thousand bullets for you without hesitation, even if she is also so shy that in canon a polite greeting makes her blush.

She is kind and sweet, but hides behind walls of politeness and silence because she has been made to feel so utterly rejected that she doesn't trust people to be anything but unkind to her anymore.  Sweet as she is, though, she can still be very judgmental, and if she feels that it is deserved she can be very harsh to people. Not for a moment does she hold back from lashing out at Jaime in the beginning of their time together, because he is a criminal and an oathbreaker and she has absolutely no respect for him. 

Items: Just the clothes/armour on her back

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