Gendry knows who he is

[Lady Kraken]

I'm not sure about how Gendry's parentage will come into play in the long run, it's an interesting question. But it doesn't seem like Gendry has figured it out quite yet to me. I certainly don't think he's stupid though, so maybe he has an idea of the truth that he hasn't fully pieced together yet like A Free Shadow said.

But I have a question, and this may sound stupid, but does Gendry know who Lady Stoneheart is? Does he realize he's serving Arya's mother?

[Lady Mila]

Some of you make him sound so stupid that it's a wonder he could manage to feed/clothe himself. Obviously the thought would cross his mind what with people mentioning it all the time. And two Hands coming to question him about his mom? Surely only a total dim-bulb would ignore that compltely. However, I doubt it is something he would like to dwell on. Especially as he has no proof and gains nothing from it but Lannister men at his heel.

[a free shadow]

But I have a question, and this may sound stupid, but does Gendry know who Lady Stoneheart is? Does he realize he's serving Arya's mother?

BwB know who she is, Gendry must know too.

[Lady Mila]

I think his blacksmithing skills will be needed. I think he will reforge ICE!

Hell yeah!! :commie:

[Lady Kraken]

BwB know who she is, Gendry must know too.

Very true, somehow my brain just didn't manage make that connection until now. That's interesting.

[a free shadow]

Very true, somehow my brain just didn't manage make that connection until now. That's interesting.

Thinking off-hand right now I've got to musings that he might beat himself up that he lost Arya for the Hound. Seeing how Catelyn is dead, but still suffering without her daughters.

[Lord Littlefinger's Lash]

I do not think he knows who he is. He was absolutely shocked and had no idea what we as going on when Brienne mistook him for Renly.

His parentage was important because Eddard compared him and Barra to the children of incest. I am not sure it will be important again, maybe some or the other king will legitimise him, but seeing as he is now a rebel of the BWB, that is not very likely. I sure hope he appears on page again, I like him. Possibly in Arya's chapter ...

Yeah but does he even know who Renly is or what Renly looks like and that Robert would have looked this way in his youth? Remember Ned barely recognizes Robert, its not surprising Renly wouldn't recognize Robert's face in his mirror.

[Lord Littlefinger's Lash]

Some of you make him sound so stupid that it's a wonder he could manage to feed/clothe himself. Obviously the thought would cross his mind what with people mentioning it all the time. And two Hands coming to question him about his mom? Surely only a total dim-bulb would ignore that compltely. However, I doubt it is something he would like to dwell on. Especially as he has no proof and gains nothing from it but Lannister men at his heel.

He should know he's important for some reason. But for all he know's he could be Stannis' or Renly's bastard. He could know some secret about Jon Arryn or anything really. I don't think its a question of stupidity, I think its more a perception of a divide between the aristocracy and the and the commoners. He perceives and resents them as some sort of alien species as different from him as the children of the forest.

[Silver Spearwife]

Gendry's stubborn. Family trait, really. It's not that he's really stupid, so much as that when he gets an idea in his head, he has trouble changing that opinion. So if he adamantly believes that his father was some drunken nobody, probably a soldier, and is determined not to give two shits about who he was, he'll ignore the signs. Tywin did something similar with Jaime and Cersei. Tywin was a very intelligent person, but when it came to something like that he simply closed his eyes despite the fact that others figured it out.

Aside from that, the most obvious clue he got was from Brienne - and we don't see the aftermath of that. For all we know, he did figure it out. In the commotion of the following fight, he wouldn't have had a chance to piece together what she was saying, and we certainly never got a chance to find out his thought process on the matter.

[Queen Cersei I]


 It was rashly done.

How could Gendry not pick up on things?


Easy: he truly is the seed of good 'ol king Bob.

How could king bob not pick up on the fact that none of his kids were really his due to the blonde hair=irrefutable proof of bastardy theorem that Ned puts forth as fact?

The answer seems to be: general denseness. Like his old man, Gendry is bold but not too bright.


 

How could Gendry not pick up on things?

1. He is given an apprentiship no one of his birth get without money/protection.
2. Both of the kings Hands come in questioning his origns.
3. Queens men ride miles and miles to seize him on her orders.
4. Brienne comments on his looks, asks if he has ever seen king Robert and again talks about his origns eager to reveal something.


Yeah, the exchage with Brienne is especially cringe worthy. Brienne: "Robert had blue eyes and black hair just like yours, a face exactly like yours, and lived in a place where he had easy access to your beautiful mother, a lowborn wench. Oh, and he was a notorious lecher with dozens of illegitimate children, that look exactly like you."

Gendry: Leave me alone, woman! I'm hammerin' here!


Gendry is stupid. 


Yeah, again, like his old man. I was shocked when he turned down a willing hooker, though. I guess he got that from his mother...


Gendry is stupid. I don't think he knew who he was. You raised some good points, but he's so stubborn and pig-headed he probably believed he was given the apprenticeship because of his talent/eagerness/whatever. Or he thought the smith had had sex with his mother, and did it to appease her Don't know why I think she was a whore - was she? 


I got the impression that she was a tavern maid. As Gendry noted to Ned in AGOT, his mother had yellow hair, worked in a tavern serving drinks, and died when he was young. Of course, "worked in a tavern" could be a euphemism here; seeing as how most kids wouldn't exactly be eager to divulge that their mother was a prostitute. However, I always assumed do to the fairly specific description of her job (she served in a tavern) as well as Gendry's no b.s. attitude and total lack of decorum may have signified that he was telling the truth here.

Plus, Gendry would have been born when King Bob was still a very young man-- hunky, buff, and at the height of his appeal. IMO, his good looks would have made it easy for him to sweet talk some pretty young serving wench into a night of no strings attached sex with him.

[Lady Hodor]

If you put yourselves in Gendry's shoes, you never would think yourself born of a king.

It would seem like a childish, silly fantasy to someone as common and lowborn as him.

And Gendry is a little too bull-headed to allow himself into such silly dreams.

But I hope he does return, knowing of his heritage, maybe Stoneheart can tell him.

Then he should marry Arya, and they'd both be Rulers in the North.

[Buckwheat]

Yeah, again, like his old man. I was shocked when he turned down a willing hooker, though. I guess he got that from his mother...

Good thing he did, we do not need more incest in those books. Although Baratheons are related to Targaryens, they do not practise that, do they?

I got the impression that she was a tavern maid. As Gendry noted to Ned in AGOT, his mother had yellow hair, worked in a tavern serving drinks, and died when he was young. Of course, "worked in a tavern" could be a euphemism here; seeing as how most kids wouldn't exactly be eager to divulge that their mother was a prostitute. However, I always assumed do to the fairly specific description of her job (she served in a tavern) as well as Gendry's no b.s. attitude and total lack of decorum may have signified that he was telling the truth here.

I thought that too, I do not think she was a prostitute.

Slightly off topic, but does anybody know if Robert fathered Gendry before or after the rebellion?

[James Arryn]

of course he's stupid: he hasn't bothered to read ASOIAF.

[Buckwheat]

of course he's stupid: he hasn't bothered to read ASOIAF.

:lmao:

But then you should call every single character stupid, not even the oh-so-smart Tyrion, LF, Varys, Sammy, Sarella and the like have not read it!

[The Sleeper]

I find it unlikely that he would have found out on his own; it's not the sort of thing someone imagines. He is however in frequent contact with someone who was Robert's favorite drinking buddy for years. Thoros should not have failed to notice the similarity. Whether he has put two and two together and bothered to tell him about it, remains to be seen.

[Ice Turtle]

Slightly off topic, but does anybody know if Robert fathered Gendry before or after the rebellion?

Towards the end or shortly after, if you think about his age and location. Both Bella and Mya are older.

[Buckwheat]

Towards the end or shortly after, if you think about his age and location. Both Bella and Mya are older.

Thanks! I knew that Mya was the eldest of Bob's children, what bothered me was that Eddard thought Gendry was of Robb's age, and Robb was born during the rebellion. But a year or so does not make that much of a difference, maybe also Gendry looked older than he was.

[Jack's Smirking Revenge]

I think if we see Gendry again he will know who he is. The scene with Brienne led me to believe that Gendry would dwell on it and I think he'll realize that he is one of Roberts bastards. After he finds out I wonder if it will change his attitude about being more than a blacksmith or a member of the BWB.

OT: I hate the idea of Arya and Gendry hooking up when they're older. I liked Gendry but I don't think he's a good match for her.

[Lyanna Stark]

I think if we see Gendry again he will know who he is. The scene with Brienne led me to believe that Gendry would dwell on it and I think he'll realize that he is one of Roberts bastards. After he finds out I wonder if it will change his attitude about being more than a blacksmith or a member of the BWB.

OT: I hate the idea of Arya and Gendry hooking up when they're older. I liked Gendry but I don't think he's a good match for her.

Leaving aside that I doubt Arya will want to hook up with him due to other circumstances (like being a murderer by profession) why do you think Gendry would be a worse match for her than say, Edric Storm or any other random bloke? At least she knows Gendry found out she was a girl, but kept her secret all along and that he's fairly reliable, even if he has a tendency towards stubbornness and not being the sharpest tool in the box. He's pretty much no nonsense, hard working and seems reliable enough. He shares her disdain for stuff like nobility, empty courtesies and pretty clothing

All of these should be qualities Arya could appreciate. Due to his issues with a lacking father, it doesn't seem like he is much into whoring either, which is a good thing. To me it seems Gendry has inherited most of Robert's better traits, while not falling prey to as many of his bad ones (the flakiness, random bouts of violence, drinking, whoring etc).

I always found it hard to understand why Eddard was so fond of Robert, but if younger Robert was more like Gendry, I think it's more understandable. King Bob is just a fat, lazy drunkard.

[Silver Spearwife]

That scene where Gendry and Arya play-wrestle is one of my favorite in the series. It's one of the only scenes that's...almost normal. Nothing dark behind it, no tension, no foreshadowing (that I could see). Just a sincere moment of friends messing with each other. They were like a big brother and little sister. In fact, a lot of their relationship was like that. Almost like she found a surrogate big brother in him.

Ah, wait. Yeah, that makes sense. Outside of the angst about being a bastard, Jon and Gendry really don't have anything in common but I can still see why Arya would be drawn to him. And it's not like there isn't precedent for brotherly Stark/Baratheon friendships.

I don't think they have any romantic attraction, but then, Arya's only lover is Needle and Gendry appears to ignore women altogether (hey, he seems to bear some of Stannis' characteristics, why not Renly's?).

I'm kidding, by the way.

I guess their relationship doesn't strike me as romantic because Arya really doesn't give two shits about romance. She's Sansa's polar opposite in that regard, along with all the other things.

I always found it hard to understand why Eddard was so fond of Robert, but if younger Robert was more like Gendry, I think it's more understandable. King Bob is just a fat, lazy drunkard.

Oh, that's a good point. Ned did seem to take to Gendry well.

Out of curiosity, why did that never come up in conversation?

"I don't know why the gold cloaks are after me. But this isn't the first time highborns have taken an interest in me. Both of the last Hands came to visit me for some reason."

"Weird. Wait, both of the last Hands?"

"Oh, right, I forgot to mention, I met your dad once."