Brynden Stone is the bastard son of Lord Maegor Targaryen and lady Jeyne Coldwater, of Coldwater Burn. Educated in the Vale by his uncle, the young man left Coldwater Burn to find his father and make his mark on the world.
Biography
Brynden Stone is the bastard son of Lord Maegor Targaryen, of Harrenhal. He was born to lady Jeyne Coldwater, of Coldwater Burn. The lady Jeyne was renowned for her beauty, and after she laying with Maegor Targaryen at a minor feast during the prince’s travels, she was renowned for having a child out of wedlock. Her value for a political marriage was soured somewhat.
The boy, however, was a strange sort of child. Never quite comfortable in front of the court at Coldwater Burn nor particularly at home in the Maester’s chamber learning of the nobility, Brynden invested endless hours into exploring the world around him. The boy would take a horse out into the mountains, and return with a deer or boar or some sort of finding for supper. He didn’t always look to kill what he found, however. His synergy with the beasts around him was also something he developed, finding himself able to calm many of those he would encounter. Brynden had a particular fondness for falconry, and spent many an hour with the birds hunting.
The Bastard of Coldwater also found himself becoming deadly at range; the amount of hunting he did and the sheer hours he put in to practice made him become known for hisarchery ability. Sadly he did not inherit his father’s physical presence, and while Brynden could shoot any target he could see his swordplay was nothing remarkable.
As he got older he found himself sneaking out of the castle often, to meet with the young women his age in the nearby villages and do what youths do best. Lord Gaston Coldwater, Brynden’s Uncle and Lord of Coldwater Burn did not take kindly to the young man’s activities. Brynden found himself banned from leaving the castle, and therefore Brynden found himself coming up with all sorts of covert ways to evade the household guard. Whether this meant disguises, rappelling out the chamber windows, you name it Brynden managed to do it. If caught, Brynden's natural charisma and his soothing voice would often wriggle his way out of trouble.
Eventually, Lord Gaston grew tired of the antics of young Brynden Stone and sent the bastard away. In truth, Bryn was bored stiff in the small castle in the Vale and relished the idea of pastures new. Brynden leapt at the chance to go out into the world and discover who his father was, and found himself reaching Harrenhal - only for Lord Maegor Targaryen to march south, to war.