Is the Black Fish Gay?

[voodooqueen126]

I think there are plenty of Stark kids running around, so that if something happens to Eddy, the Stark in Winterfell will also liekly be lord of the Riverlands.

yeah but Blackfish is male line, which none of the Stark kids are...

I mean that's the whole plot of Downton Abbey.

[Alexia]

yeah but Blackfish is male line, which none of the Stark kids are...

I mean that's the whole plot of Downton Abbey.

If any of the Stark children inherited Riverrun they would most likely take the Tully name. See the Mormont girls for an example of this in action.

[daenerys snow]

i was under the impression that his rift with his brother hoster was a long time in the making and that his refusal to follow his elder brother's order to wed was just the straw that broke the camel's back. he just seems to be someone who is fiercely independent and stubborn, hence the name blackfish (as in black sheep).

[Ser Brynden the Blackfish]

IMHO the Blackfish is married to his Knightly duties and doesnt care much for those silly marriage arrangements. Not so different from people who are married to their careers in the real world. However, in Westeros I think marriage is nothing more than a means of forming/sealing alliances. Point in case, Tyrek Lannister's marriage to Ermesande. I'm sure she's such a babe though! lol

[Sweet-N-SourRobin]

Nobody's done it yet that we know of in the ASOIAF series, but I believe if Brynden Blackfish adopted a son, that would make him Brynden's legal heir.

An adopted Blackfish son would come after Edmure's son-to-be in the succession, but if we've learned nothing else from this series and from medieval history in general, there's ways around that. :)

[ledlevee]

I always assumed that Blackfish was married to "war", which makes him such a good leader and general. I suppose he could be gay, but that's definitely not his reason for not marrying, as others on here have said. I always assumed he just didn't have time for it with all the time he's devoted to fighting. I suppose rebellion to Hoster could be another reason. I'm not so sure about the secret lover thing. There's no evidence of that, in my opinion, in the text or the way his personality is presented.

[Jerritus]

There's something about Brynden that nobody has mentioned yet: he obviously loves Catelyn and Lysa, but curiously he's not that caring for Edmund. It'd be more likely the other way, with perhaps even taking the boy as his squire.

Simply refusing to marry wouldn't be enough to become the black sheep of the family, there must be something more behind the fallout with his brother. Also, being a model knight Brynden has to have a personal reason to oppose arranged marriages. Like, having been in love with a girl who was wed to someone else. Now who else would be a better match for anyone's daughter in the Riverlands than the second born son of their liege lord? Why, the firstborn son, of course.

So that's what I think has happened, the Blackfish was in love with Minisa, but she was married to Hoster Tully instead. That is why he refuses to wed anyone else, and why he hates arranged marriages. And while she died in childbirth, she sort of lived on in her daughters, which is why Brynden cares so much about them. This would explain everything, it's a sad enough story (especially now that Catelyn and Lysa have both died) and it fits with all the other bittersweet romances in the books.

It also means that the next time we see the Blackfish, he might be back in the Vale, to rescue Sansa Stark from Littlefinger... After all she's Minisa's granddaughter and Catelyn's daughter.

I like this theory. Makes sense to me.

[Rhaegar Targaryen's Ghost]

He's broken more than a few lances, if you know what I mean.

Winning