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At the end of Season 6, The Northern Houses...

very informally "voted" Jon as the King in the North. It is widely acknowledged that Jon is the bastard of Eddard Stark. Note: I would've thought Jon could not be voted as Warden of the North or Lord of House Stark.

So, with that as precedent, when we look at House Baratheon:

Gendry is widely acknowledged as a bastard of Robert Baratheon. Unlike the Starks, there are no heirs to House Baratheon. Unlike the North, the Lord of the Stormlands are not a warden of anything.

Given all that, is it possible for Robert Baratheon's one openly acknowledged bastard to, upon a vote in the Stormlands, be elevated all the way to being the Lord of House Baratheon? King's Landing didn't sign-off on what happened in the North, but it is fait accompli. Can the Stormlands just do something as such?

PrisonMonkeys
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Just Someone
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3 Answers3

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Gendry is not an acknowledged bastard of Robert where as Jon was acknowledged by Eddard Stark to be his son. From GOT Wiki page:

Gendry is a bastard son of King Robert Baratheon, but is unacknowledged and unaware of his lineage. Gendry did not receive the bastard surname used in the Crownlands (Waters) because he was not openly acknowledged by Robert.

No one in Stormlands knows who Gendry is except retinue of Stannis Baratheon but

Stannis was also killed with his men.

Everyone in North knew Jon ever since he was an infant. Lord Jon Arryn, Lord Stannis Baratheon and Lord Eddard Stark are the notable people who knew about Gendry but

they are all dead.

Therefore it is unlikely that Gendry will make it to throne of the Storm Kings.

But seeing as D&D

crowned Jon despite him being a bastard while in presence of a trueborn Stark (Sansa)

you can never be sure what they will do next. They did not even bother with Jon issuing an edict of legitimising himself. Cersei will claim Stormlands

as heir of King Tommen Baratheon, be sure of that.

Will the Storm Lords accept this? That is another story. They will most likely side with Daenerys against the Lannisters.

But we have to keep in mind, Gendry has one voice which carries a lot of weight. That voice belongs to Arya Stark of Winterfell. If Arya proclaims Gendry as natural son of Robert and Varys confirms it, there may be a possibility that Daenerys may legitimise Gendry and raise him up as Lord Paramount of Stormlands.

In S08E04, Daenerys actually went through with it and legitimised Gendry as Gendry Baratheon, Lord of Storm's End and Lord Paramount of Stormlands. As it happened, Gendry had become well known at Winterfell thanks to Davos Seaworth's testimony of his parentage so Arya's word wasn't needed at all.

In books, Robert has one acknowledged bastard by Delena Florent who is named Edric Storm. He was ferried to safety across the narrow sea by Davos Seaworth and his colleagues. Robert's eldest daughter Mya is not acknowledged but whole Vale is witness that she was fathered by Robert.

Aegon
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  • Gendry did not go across the Narrow Sea - he tried to go to the King's Landing. But it's dangerous and hard too – Schullz Jul 04 '16 at 18:43
  • point well taken. The Storm Lords definitely don't know about Gendry's father. They'd not rally to him. But, in a larger context, finding out anyone's parentage should be difficult. I guess the dragon-fire test is one guaranteed way to confirm lineage. – Just Someone Jul 04 '16 at 18:44
  • @shullz agreed. That is what I remember. – Just Someone Jul 04 '16 at 18:47
  • @khyle Brienne said that Gendry looks like Renly. And she was sure that Gendry is Robert's bastard. Maybe other lords will do the same – Schullz Jul 04 '16 at 20:32
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    @khyle time for the obligatory, Targaryen's are not immune to fire. http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/9356/is-daenerys-targaryen-immune-to-fire – kuhl Jul 04 '16 at 21:15
  • @Schullz What do you suppose sailing from Dragonstone to KL is? Going across narrow sea albeit in Western direction. "Going across narrow sea" does not mean you travel only eastwards – Aegon Jul 04 '16 at 21:22
  • @kuhl Given what Daenerys did to the khals, I think the show producers want the viewers to think of her as immune to fire. And, it was the demise of Viserys that lets the viewer known not all Targaryens are immune to fire. – Just Someone Jul 05 '16 at 18:57
  • @khyle Agreed that in show canon, Dany seems to be immune to fire. However, that would not be a valid way to determine that someone else is a Targeryen. – kuhl Jul 05 '16 at 19:36
  • @kuhl In Books canon as well, Dany has show her knack for avoiding fire injuries multiple times. Once during birth of her dragons, second in Draznak's pit when she claimed Drogon. – Aegon Jul 05 '16 at 19:54
  • @Aegon word of God says she's not immune. – kuhl Jul 05 '16 at 19:55
  • @kuhl Yup and later God contradicted himself in the fifth book. – Aegon Jul 05 '16 at 19:57
  • @Aegon I believe some of the answers on the site disprove the Draznaks pit example. She was blistered and burned after that scene – kuhl Jul 05 '16 at 19:58
  • @Kuhl I have an answer on the same question. Draznak's pit example is not disproved. Who survives direct impact of dragonfire with just burnt hair and few blisters which heal really fast? – Aegon Jul 05 '16 at 19:59
  • @Aegon it's described as a "furnace wind" (ie hot air) not dragon fire. And that blistered her skin. Regardless, the point still stands, being burned by dragon fire is NOT a way to disprove someone's Targeryen lineage. – kuhl Jul 05 '16 at 20:06
  • @kuhl Nopes it specifically says With a hisssssss, he spat black fire down at her.. She blistered her hands I believe, nothing else. Oh and of course, burning hair. On the other note, never said fire resilience is something inherent in Targs. In a previous answer, I have compiled list of all Targaryens who burnt to death. – Aegon Jul 05 '16 at 20:12
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat. – kuhl Jul 05 '16 at 20:19
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    Might need an update on this? ;-) – Rand al'Thor May 06 '19 at 14:19
  • @Randal'Thor Heh, seriously considering deleting all my showverse answers – Aegon May 06 '19 at 14:22
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You might already be clear on this, but just in case: the title “the King in the North” has a pretty specific meaning in Game of Thrones.

The North was an independent kingdom in Westeros that resisted the invasion of the Andals from Essos (about 6,000 years before the events of the TV series), with its own King. It remained so until Aegon Targaryen conquered the rest of Westeros and unified it into the Seven Kingdoms under the Iron Throne (about 300 years before the events of the TV series), and even then it happened peacefully.

The idea of the King in the North thus includes being independent from the Iron Throne; basically seceding from the Seven Kingdoms. (I’ve no idea where Martin gets all these crazy fantasy ideas from.) The North would therefore be pretty much making up its own rules.

As I understand it, if Gendry were to somehow become Lord of whatever is actually left of House Baratheon due to his popularity with people living in the Stormlands, that wouldn’t be the same thing as Rob being declared King in the North, as the Stormlands don’t have quite the same sense of independence and shared identity.

Of course, the Stormlands could collectively decide to try to be independent from the Iron Throne too. Who’s going to stop them?

Paul D. Waite
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  • I agree "King of the North" and "Lord of House Baratheon" are not really comparable. But, nothing more than an informal vote made Jon "King of the North". As the Iron Throne is now a paper tiger, I'd have thought the Stormlands could do something with Gendry. I'm just disappointed the show is not covering the Stormlands and wondering where Gendry is. – Just Someone Jul 05 '16 at 02:31
  • “nothing more than an informal vote made Jon "King of the North"” — yup. Revolutions tend not to have a rulebook. “the Iron Throne is now a paper tiger” — not sure about that. The Lannisters have an army, a zombie Mountain, and a merciless psychopath in charge of it all on the throne. “I'd have thought the Stormlands could do something with Gendry” — I’m sure they could do whatever they want with him, if they knew he existed. (As @Aegon notes, it’s likely no-one else would recognise their right to do it.) But they key is that they don’t seem to want to do anything. – Paul D. Waite Jul 05 '16 at 08:42
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    @PaulD.Waite the Lannisters have an army. But Lannisters' bannermen could be angry after murder of Kivan and Lansel in the Sept. – Schullz Jul 05 '16 at 10:00
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    Storm King is equivalent to King in the North in every sense. Storm Kings ruled independently until Aegon the Conqueror came with his dragon. Last Storm Queen, Argella Durrandon married Orys Baratheon, founder of house Baratheon. Thus house Baratheon is heir of the Storm Kings. After Robert's Rebellion, Storm Lords were content because their own Royal house was ruling the seven Kingdoms. What happens now that Lannisters have taken over? Will they aspire to independence? Who can say? – Aegon Jul 05 '16 at 10:41
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    +1 for Scottish referendum sidenote, had me laughing! – Stormie Jul 05 '16 at 11:23
  • @Aegon: fair point, although I don’t think we’ve heard much of that in the TV show, whereas the North and its independent nature has obviously been discussed quite a lot. But the Stormlands were conquered by the Andals before Aegon, right? Whereas the North wasn’t, it was held by the First Men? – Paul D. Waite Jul 05 '16 at 11:29
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    @Stormie: I was super-disappointed that Scotland didn’t vote to leave, but only because I wanted to intercut Robb’s ‘King in the North’ scene with footage of a smiling Alex Salmond. – Paul D. Waite Jul 05 '16 at 11:30
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    @PaulD.Waite Every place in Seven Kingdoms was run over by Andals but I don't see why does it make Storm Kings lower than KiTN. Just because First Men survived culturally in North does not give them some special prestige. House Durrandon was actually of First Men. Durrandons and Stormlanders defeated every Andal invasion until a pact was reached after failure of 7th Andal invasion which was sealed by marriage. Andals then mixed with first men population of Stormlands while Storm Kings took Andal religion. – Aegon Jul 05 '16 at 11:50
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    So TL;DR, First Men won in Stormlands as well. They just signed a pact with Andals to allow them to dwell in Stormlands if they swore fealty to Storm King. They defeated 7 andal invasions. But to end the conflict, the Storm Kings took Andal faith. The first men success in North is exaggerated. Only Arryns are pure Andals I believe. Even Lannisters defeated Andals every time. After Death of King Gerold III, Lannisters became Andal in blood. – Aegon Jul 05 '16 at 11:52
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    @Aegon: gotcha, makes sense. – Paul D. Waite Jul 05 '16 at 13:04
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Davos of House Seaworth might vouch for Gendry as the heir apparent to House Baratheon, seeing that he's witnessed Jon's ascension to King in the North and has befriended Gendry before. As former Hand of the King to Stannis, his word holds influence in the Stormlands. He might even convince Gendry to follow Jon's example and lead the Stormlands against the Lannisters.

Anomani
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