Robert I Baratheon

King Robert I Baratheon was the eighteenth ruler of the Seven Kingdoms and the first monarch of the Baratheon Dynasty. He was the first son of Lord Steffon Baratheon and his wife, Lady Cassana, and the older brother of Stannis and Renly Baratheon. He reigned from 281 AC until his death in 298 AC, and was succeeded by his legal son, Joffrey I Baratheon. He was formally styled as Robert of the House Baratheon, the First of His Name, King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm.

Born at Storm's End, Robert was sent by his father to be fostered at the Eyrie by Lord Jon Arryn, alongside the second-born son of Lord Rickard Stark, Eddard. Jon and Eddard soon became a surrogate father and brother to Robert, who quickly began to gain a reputation of being brave, headstrong and domineering into his young adulthood. Despite having a more distant relationship with his father, he none-the-less mourned his untimely death, at which point Robert became Lord of Storm's End. Robert fell in love with Eddard's younger sister, Lyanna Stark, eventually being betrothed to her. Thus, when Prince Rhaegar Targaryen absconded with Lyanna, and Lord Rickard Stark and Brandon Stark were executed by Aerys II Targaryen, Robert launched a rebellion against House Targaryen with the support of House Stark and House Arryn (soon joined by House Tully). The rebellion was all but won by Robert after he slew Prince Rhaegar in personal combat during the Battle of the Trident, and became the first non-Targaryen King of the Seven Kingdoms by the rebellion's conclusion. Robert married Cersei Lannister and had three children, Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen, although unbeknownst to everyone, all three were in fact bastards born of an incestuous affair between Cersei and her brother Jaime. Robert was killed in a boar hunt after seventeen years on the Iron Throne, and his death and questionable succession set in motion the War of the Five Kings.

Robert's legacy would go on to be even more significant that first thought; during the Battle of King's Landing, the final battle of the Great War, Bran Stark used Robert's actions of killing Rhaegar to indirectly kill the Night King and by extension all of the White Walkers and the Army of the Dead. One of his biological sons would also finally come to rule, when following the Great War, his legitimised bastard son, Gendry Baratheon, succeeded Daenerys I Targaryen in becoming ruler of the Seven Kingdoms.