A Song of Ice and Fire - The Windblown »
CharactersThis is a listing of members of the Windblown in A Song of Ice and Fire.
For the main character index, see here
For the main sellsword companies entry, see here
Windblown carrying their standard banners
Founded thirty years ago by The Tattered Prince and five fellow sellswords, the Windblown are a fearsome mercenary company. When Quentyn Martell and his companions are crossing Essos, they pose as mercenaries and join the Windblown to reach Meereen, which the Windblown have been hired to help besiege. Their standards are fork-tailed blue-and-white banners, with streamers of pale blue silk on their lances.
Tropes related to The Windblown:
- Alliterative Name: Several of the Windblown sport these: Myrio Myrakis, Lucifer Long, Lewis Lanster, Hugh Hungerford.
- Arch-Enemy: The Windblown and the Company of the Cat despise each other.
- Badass Army: They are one of the more renowned sellsword companies in Essos.
- The Exile: A couple, Orson Stone and Will of the Woods most notably.
- Fake Defector: The Tattered Prince has some of his men fake defection to Dany's forces, but gets a surprise when some of his men defect for real (Quentyn Martell and his companions), as they had only been masquerading as sellswords to gain entrance to Meereen.
- In-Series Nickname: Orson Stone, aka "the Bastard Knight", an exile from Westeros.
- Known Only by Their Nickname: Some of the more minor members such as Bill Bone, Books and Will of the Woods. A Myrish crossbowman named Beans actually averts this trope, as his name "Baqq" literally translates to Beans.
- Meaningful Name: The company name not only evokes an image of those without roots, but also sounds a lot like C16th and C17th alternative descriptions of often-conscripted sailors forced to serve in colonial wars so far away from home, they'd often not know where in the world they actually were in any given month; "Children of the Wind", "Brothers of the Canvas" or "Boys Under the Ropes and Sheets" — same basic idea, slightly different wording. Lack of agency + sails. It also doubles as a subtle mission statement or warning of sorts: the company will always turn in the direction the wind is blowing (ie: to the side with the faction with most chances of winning).
- Moral Myopia: The Tattered Prince fosters a culture of this within the band. Harsh-but-fair measures to keep morale up are encouraged, looking after their own before others and dealing honourably with others only for as long as it's safe to, but turning on them or running away if threatened. Those are their bare minimum of principles.
- Music for Courage: "We are the Windblown. Blow us east to Slaver's Bay, we’ll kill the Butcher King and f*ck the Dragon Queen."
- One-Steve Limit: Besides "Dornish Gerrold" (Gerris Drinkwater's alias), there's a Gerrold Redback and a "Black" Gerrold.
- Private Military Contractors: As all sellsword companies. They come across as being somewhere between the Second Sons and the Golden Company for sticking to contracts, but because of being a much smaller, less well equipped concern than either of those, they will up-sticks to preserve their own skins if things get too dangerously out of control. Unlike the Second Sons, they aren't simply weathervanes for profit.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: The Windblown "blow away" when it becomes obvious Quentyn's plan to steal two extremely bad-tempered dragons has gone spectacularly tit* up. In their defence, only prize idiots continue to hang around a place where two dragons are free to let their metaphorical hair down as they please just to make a bit of money or gain questionable backing. Leaving those with more skin in the game alone to face the kind of roasting they've witnessed first-hand is a downright reasonable response when learning that the legends surrounding dragons aren't exaggerations.
- Token Minority: Bill Bone, a swordsman from the Summer Isles.
- Turncoat: They were hired by the Yunkish to sack Meereen, but when the Tattered Prince gets a better offer from Barristan Selmy, the Windblown promptly turn on their former paymasters.
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The Tattered Prince
The Tattered Prince
"In this world, a man must learn to seize whatever gifts the gods chose to send him. That was a lesson I learned at some cost."
An exiled Pentoshi noble who was one of the five founders of the Windblown and is its current commander.
- A Father to His Men: He treats his soldiers well and they get a good percentage of the company's spoils.
- Affably Evil: He has the same habit of cutting off body parts of people who displease him that Vargo Holt did, but he actually treats most people pretty well. He even spared the life of the former company paymaster, Hugh Hungerford, after discovering that he was stealing from the unit, and only punished him by cutting off three of his fingers and demoting him to Serjeant. He always removes one foot from deserters though.
- Appropriated Appellation: It is suggested that his nickname might be a case of this- originally a slur about him being a ruler without a throne; he "reclaimed it" by building his cloak.
- Arch-Enemy: Despises Bloodbeard, the commander of the Company of the Cat.
- Benevolent Boss: Compared to how most mercenary commanders would treat thieves and deserters in this setting, he qualifies.
- Character Catchphrase: He says "And now we ride" to his men in High Valyrian.
- Creepy Souvenir: Has a colorful cloak stitched from the bloodstained rags of the cloaks of enemies he's defeated.
- Evil Old Folks: He is an affable warrior who inspires loyalty in his people, but he also has a habit of maiming those who displease him and is quite the schemer.
- The Exile: From Pentos, due to fleeing the city after being elected prince several hours after the last one had been beheaded.
- He's a ruler who abdicated his throne and left to become a wandering soldier of fortune. Exactly what Robert Baratheon wished he could do.
- Iconic Item: The aforementioned cloak, without it he's completely unremarkable.
- Karmic Trickster: He likes to impose ironically appropriate and/or darkly humorous punishments:
- He punishes rapists by giving them over to the "mercies" of Pretty Meris, who was the victim of gang rape herself.
- He punished a man who deserted because of bad food by chopping off his leg, roasting it, and feeding it to him, and then making the guy company cook. Oddly, the man didn't hold a grudge and willingly reenlisted after that.
- The Nondescript: He's totally unmemorable looking without his infamous cloak.
The Tattered Prince: My ragged raiment? A poor thing... yet those tatters fill my foes with fear, and on the battlefield the sight of my rags blowing in the wind emboldens my men more than any banner. And if I want to move unseen, I need only slip it off to become plain and unremarkable.
- Old Soldier: He fled from Pentos thirty years ago and has been fighting as a mercenary ever since.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: His true name is unknown to the reader, and everyone simply refers to him as the Tattered Prince.
- Princess in Rags: Gender flipped version. He abdicated the Pentosi throne.
- The Rival: To Bloodbeard, the commander of the Company of the Cat.
- Sole Survivor: He is the last living founder of the Windblown.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: When he was chosen as the Prince of Pentos, he ran away from the city because the Pentoshi Prince is used as The Scapegoat and sacrificed if anything goes wrong in the city.
- The Usurper: He offers aid to Quentyn and then to Ser Barristan in exchange of Pentos. Clearly he intends to seize his place as Prince, but not as a puppet to the Magisters.
Caggo
Caggo
Caggo Corpsekiller
One of the captains of the Windblown, known for his cruelty.
- Ambiguous Race: Due to having Only One Name that sounds similar to Dothraki names and keeping an arakh as his weapon.
Word of Dante confirms he's a Dothraki. - Colonel Kilgore: He's second only to the Tattered Prince within the Windblown's hierarchy and is noted for his cruelty.
- Cool Sword: Owns a very rare black-colored Valyrian steel Arakh.
- Co-Dragons: With Denzo D'han.
- Covered with Scars: Has quite a few scars on his face.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Noted for being very easy to anger.
- In-Series Nickname: Caggo Corpsekiller, due to being the one who "killed" the Butcher King of Astapor during the sacking of the city, which was just the dead king's body tied to a horse. No smart man calls him this within Caggo's hearing though.
- Jerkass: His temper and sour attitude precedes him, and he rarely disappoints.
- Would Hit a Girl: He apparently took a girl one of his men had claimed as a prize, raped her and then killed her, apparently because "she was ugly. That was reason enough".
Denzo D'han
Denzo D'han
The Warrior Bard
Another captain of the Windblown, he is a veteran of more than hundred battles.
- Alliterative Name: Two D's
- Colonel Badass: He's second only to the Tattered Prince within the Windblown's hierarchy and has fought in over a hundred battles.
- Co-Dragons: With Caggo.
- In-Series Nickname: "The Warrior Bard".
- Warrior Poet: Invoked by his nickname.
Pretty Meris
Meris
Pretty Meris
A female sellsword from Westeros who serves as the Windblown's torturer.
- Action Girl: She is a feared warrior and lieutenant in one of Essos's best sellsword companies.
- Berserk Button: Rape. The Tattered Prince allows her to give "special treatment" to caught rapists.
- Brawn Hilda: She's huge with almost none of it being fat, is also very badly scarred and is downright psychotic when she lets herself be. Lady of War she most emphatically isn't.
- Covered with Scars: Her whole body is covered in scars, including a slit nose and several crisscrossing on both her cheeks. Underneath her armor is said to be nothing but scars from where her rapists cut off her breasts.
- The Greatest Story Never Told: We know what she is now. But, not a huge amount of where she's from, or what actions she took (or couldn't) to wind up as she has done. Whatever her full story, it's likely a lot more bleak than Brienne of Tarth's is.
- Icy Gray Eyes: Her gray eyes are described as "cold and dead like two grey stones" and help heighten her deadly demeanor.
- Ironic Nickname: She is not pretty at all, due to all the scars and mutilations she has suffered.
- The Lad-ette: In the most brutal way imaginable.
- Rape as Backstory: She was raped by half the members of a sellsword company. The Tattered Prince notes that it didn't happen during her time with the Windblown, though.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: She accompanies Quentyn and his companions in their effort to steal a dragon, but quickly leaves with her men when the beasts turn violent and attack them. Thick she isn't.
- The Smurfette Principle: The only female member of note with the Windblown.
- Torture Technician: She is the designated torturer for the Windblown and can make a victim last for a month.
Dick Straw
Dick Straw
A Westerosi sellsword.
- Covered with Scars: His back is covered in scars for the whippings he's received for poor discipline.
- Fake Defector: He's one of the Westerosi Windblown commanded by the Tattered Prince to "go over" to Daenerys.
- Slasher Smile: His smile is described as "unsettling".
Jack
Jack
Ginger Jack
A Westerosi sellsword.
- Fake Defector: He's one of the Westerosi Windblown commanded by the Tattered Prince to "go over" to Daenerys.
- In-Series Nickname: "Ginger" Jack Due to his red beard.
- Tongue Trauma: He bit half his tongue off in his first battle.
- The Unintelligible: Because of the aforementioned half-tongue.
Lewis Lanster
Lewis Lanster
A Westerosi sellsword, presumably from Lannisport.
- Alliterative Name: Lewis Lanster.
- Fake Defector: He's one of the Westerosi Windblown commanded by the Tattered Prince to "go over" to Daenerys.
- Meaningful Name: His surname and golden hair indicates he's likely from Lannisport - which is filled with people with surnames like Lanny, Lannett, Lantell, etc - and a distant kin of the Lannisters.
Ser Lucifer Long
Ser Lucifer Long
A Westerosi knight and sellsword.
- Alliterative Name: Lucifer Long
- Fake Defector: One of the Westerosi Windblown commanded by the Tattered Prince to "go over" to Daenerys.
- Sex Slave: Kept a slave girl whom Caggo took from him and then killed instead of returning.
- Meaningful Name: He's described as lanky.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The name Lucifer does have rather negative implications for most Western readers.
Hugh Hungerford
Hugh Hungerford
A Westerosi sergeant, formerly paymaster.
- Alliterative Name: Hugh Hungerford
- Everyone Has Standards: Despite being a cynical Perpetual Frowner, he has a small moment of naivety when he asks what to do if the Astapori refugees refuse to head to Meereen; the Tattered Prince reminds him they have swords and spears for a reason.
- Fake Defector: He was one of the Westerosi Windblown commanded by the Tattered Prince to "go over" to Daenerys.
- Fingore: Three of his fingers were removed because... (see Sticky Fingers).
- Perpetual Frowner: Not particularly cheerful.
- Punch-Clock Villain: He's never depicted doing anything actually villainous, and is usually one of the first to question the Tattered Prince's plans.
- Sticky Fingers: ... he was caught stealing from the war chest.
Webber
Webber
A Westerosi sellsword with claims to lost lands in Westeros. Implied to be a descendant of House Webber.
- Fake Defector: He's one of the Westerosi Windblown commanded by the Tattered Prince to "go over" to Daenerys.
- Only One Name: He has no listed surname. He's only called Webber.
- Punny Name: Has spider tattoos across his head, chest and arms. Justified: if he is a descendant of House Webber, a spider in a web would be his House shield. So, it'd be a case of a punny tattoo to match his claim.
- Tattooed Crook: The aforementioned spiders. And, he's basically a land-pirate, so... Yeah.
