RENLY BARATHEON
Renly Baratheon is the Lord of Storm's End and Lord Paramount of the Stormlands. The younger brother of King Robert I and Lord Stannis, Renly serves as master of laws on Robert's small council.
Renly is described as a powerful man who is lean and lithe. He has a handsome, clean-shaven face. Renly greatly resembles a young King Robert I Baratheon, being near as tall as his eldest brother had been. Like Robert, Renly has an easy smile. He is taller and broader in the chest than Ser Loras Tyrell.
Renly's thick hair is described as black as jet and coal. His fine and straight hair currently falls to his shoulders, although Renly has sometimes kept it short or tied it behind his head with a golden ribbon. He always keeps his hair clean and combed.
Renly has been described as having laughing green eyes which match his armor, as well as deep blue eyes which resemble those of Robert. According to a semi-canon source, George R. R. Martin reconciled the difference by suggesting Renly has blue-green eyes which change color depending on what he wears.
Renly is a charismatic man, winning friends easily, but he also strikes some people as frivolous. Renly enjoys tourneys and hunting but is not driven by the passion for food, drink, or wenching as King Robert came to be. He is quite popular with smallfolk due to his good looks, friendly ways, and charisma. According to Maester Cressen, Renly is a bold man who acts from impulse. Queen Cersei Lannister dislikes her brother-in-law because of his mockery.
Renly wears expensive attire, such as a dark green velvet doublet embroidered with golden stags. He drapes a cloth-of-gold half cape over the doublet with an emerald brooch. Renly has a suit of enameled green armor with a helm adorned with a pair of golden antlers, which was made by Tobho Mott. He wields longsword and dagger.
Unbeknownst to the realm at large, and despite the many women who are attracted to him, Renly is homosexual. According to his lover, Loras, Renly disdains book learning, believing that books should only be read by maesters. Despite this, he owns books with "drawings that would turn a septon blind", implying some kind of pornography.
Born in 277 AC, Renly was the youngest of the three sons of Lord Steffon Baratheon and Lady Cassana Estermont. Renly's parent's died when their ship Windproud, returning from the Free Cities, sank in a storm in Shipbreaker Bay.
Renly grew up at Storm's End. Only a young boy at the time of Robert's Rebellion, he spent the war under siege in Storm's End, together with his older brother, Stannis, where he was witness to the desperation of the starving garrison.
As a boy, Renly loved bright colors and fabrics. He loved games as well, and would run laughing through the halls of Storm's End.
By his older brother, King Robert I Baratheon, Renly was eventually granted the seat of Storm's End and named Lord Paramount of the Stormlands, upsetting Stannis, who felt that, as the elder of the two, Storm's End was his by right.
When Renly turned sixteen, he made a lord's progress across the stormlands to mark his coming of age. During this progress, he also visited the isle of Tarth, where Renly courteously danced with Brienne of Tarth. Princess Arianne Martell recalls that Renly also visited Sunspear once. She had tried her best to seduce Renly, but remembers that he had seemed more bemused than inflamed by her attempts.
During his time as Lord of Storm's End, Renly took Loras Tyrell as his squire. Eventually, Renly and Loras became lovers. Although not widely known, various others at court are aware of their forbidden relationship.
Renly was eventually named to the small council, where he occupied the position of master of laws. While he is at court, his castellan at Storm's End is Ser Cortnay Penrose, who raises King Robert's bastard son, Edric Storm, for them. Brella runs Renly's household in King's Landing for him. Renly has thirty men in his personal guard at the capital.