This is a listing of the people of the Free City of Braavos in A Song of Ice and Fire.
For the main character index, see here
For the main Free Cities entry, see here
The Free City of Braavos
Braavos of the Hundred Isles, The Secret City
"We Braavosi are descended from those who fled Valyria and the wroth of its dragonlords. We do not jape of dragons."
—Tycho Nestoris
Of the Nine Free Cities, Braavos is the only one to be built against the Valyrian Freehold. It was built by slaves fleeing their Valyrian masters creating a secret city in the North of Essos, across the Narrow Sea from the Vale of Arryn. It is known across the world for its Titan, its Arsenal, its Iron Bank and the Guild of Faceless Men.
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General
General Tropes:
- Arch-Enemy: Volantis and Braavos have a near eternal rivalry related to slavery and the history of the Valyrian freehold; during the century of blood the Braavosi were a main player in preventing the Volantenes from re-establishing the freehold under their domination, and since then the two have been the opposite poles of the Free Cities for years.The Kindly Man: The Nine Free Cities are the daughters of Valyria that was, but Braavos is the bastard child who ran away from home.
- City of Canals: Braavos is a melting-pot, filled with strange and mysterious people; an island of strange Gods, canals studded with statues and an active theatre scene. Indeed, George RR Martin enjoyed writing Arya's chapters in the city so much he half-jokingly suggested that he considered a separate YA novel set entirely there, noting that it's a section in his book that comes closest to the classic adventure novel of "orphan alone in a large city".
- Culture Chop Suey: It's an idealized republican state — with the general layout and topography and Naval strength of Venice (plus its famed courtesans), the banking organizations of Medici-Era Florence and the Dutch and the anti-slavery policies of the British (who went on a crusade to end slavery in the early 19th Century).
- It also has several echoes of America, with the early founders being led to a promised land via a vision and arriving on boat (echoing the Mayflower); the city is also similar to the idealized New York with its Melting Pot, multiple religions and languages, with the Titan serving as a medieval male Lady Liberty (herself a subversion of the Colossus of Rhodes). The breaking with a major empire also associates them with the League of Lombardy, Northern Italian cities that successfully battled against the Holy Roman Empire and included Florence.
- The culture of Braavos, with its assassins and sword-fighting culture further associate it with Florence. "Bravo" is an Italian word meaning "skilled", but also referred to mercenary swordsmen who served as bodyguards, security and/or street gangs, in whose case it was instead derived independently from the Latin pravus, meaning "wicked". The theatre scene of Braavos is suggestive of the Renaissance era Florence (famous for comedies by Pietro Aretino and later, Machiavelli, who achieved popular success as a playwright rather than as a political theorist) and Elizabethan England. Littlefinger, a figure directly inspired by Niccolò Machiavelli, has Braavosi ancestry.
- Good Republic, Evil Empire: Braavos is an abolitionist, ethnically diverse republic that has social mobility and national feeling that cuts across class lines. It also goes to wars with other nations to curb slavery. Though it's not perfect or ideal in any sense, since much of its power comes from the very ruthless and amoral MegaCorp, the Iron Bank of Braavos, and its band of assassins, the Faceless Men.
- Guile Hero: The early founders of Braavos established the "Secret City" by giving sailors false flags and charts so as to escape their Valyrian masters. The fog cover of Braavos protected it from the Dragons flying overhead. The famous Sealord Uthero finally went public after paying off the descendants of their slave masters (formally for the ships the slaves that founded Braavos took rather than the slaves themselves, so as to avoid implicitly accepting the legitimacy of slavery) and bribing several Valyrian politicians with its new found bank.
- Purple Is Powerful: Played with. Braavos has a rareish (therefore lucrative) dark purple dye made from snails that it exports and profits from. Except that shade (and other derived purples) isn't all that rare or expensive at home, to the point that ships and sails feature it prominently. Heck, purple is seen the way navy blue is seen in our modern offices is — a professionally neutral colour of decent taste. With a degree of corporate patriotism thrown in for good measure. It's almost turned purple boring: you won't catch cheap fashion patterns using it very much, not because of the price, but because they're generally not aiming to be sober, stodgy or the colour of sailcloth you see too much of while at work. Normally, purple means "royalty" not "ships", but Braavos doesn't do kings or emperors. It definitely does do financial power, trade, merchants and bankers, though. And, leverages those in ways that can bring empires to their knees.
- Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: The First Law of Braavos forbids all slavery, thralldom and bondage of any kind. There may be a bit of a grey area with indentured service, though: when said service is carefully contracted ahead of time and follows accepted practice of offering ostensible exits acceptable or rejectable to both parties, or is religious in nature; say, to the House of Black and White.
- Sons of Slaves: Braavos was settled by people whose ancestors were slaves kept in wretched conditions by the Valyrian Empire. At present, Braavos is the only place in Essos that is adamantly anti-slavery — they even refuse to trade or interact with the cities of Slaver's Bay, despite trading with anyone and everyone else otherwise — and they also hate dragons, since the Valyrians used dragons to impose their will on their subjects and slaves.
- Weaponized Landmark: The Titan of Braavos is a not just a statue but a hollow fortress with holes for archers, siege vehicles, burning oil and possibly wildfire.
Independent Characters
Syrio Forel
See the Stark Household page.
Ferrego Antaryon
Ferrego Antaryon
The current Sealord of Braavos
- The Ghost: Despite numerous mentions and having his name in the appendixes, he has yet to make an appearance.
- King on His Deathbed: His health is deteriorating fast and his death is expected to trigger a deadly power struggle.
- Succession Crisis: He is on the verge of death and the person most fit to succeed him is not a young peach either to say the least.
Ship Insurer
Ship Insurer
An old man who sells insurance to the captains of ships at the Purple Harbor. He is Arya Stark's first target as an assassin of the Faceless Men.
- Asshole Victim: His name is offered to the Many-Faced God by the family of a client he cheated.
- Death by Irony: A greedy insurance broker who dies after biting a poisoned coin? Sounds about right.
- Fat and Skinny: He is always accompanied by two bodyguards — one tall and thin, the other short and thick.
- Hated by All: He is disliked by the captains, ship owners, and merchants at the Purple Harbor for cheating his customers. For this reason, he keeps two bodyguards with him at all times.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: His heart gives out after biting the poisoned coin, making it look like a heart attack.
- No Name Given: He is referred to only as "the old man."
- Tasty Gold: He always bites the gold coins he receives to test their authenticity, which becomes his undoing when Arya kills him by poisoning a golden dragon and getting it into the purse of one of his clients.
- Trademark Favorite Food: He is fond of onion soup, and always has the shorter of his guards taste it first to make sure it's not poisoned.
The Ugly Little Girl
The Ugly Little Girl
A young girl who was beaten so often and so savagely by her father that she went to the House of Black and White to end her life.
- Abusive Parents: Her father beat her so violently that her nose, jaw, cheekbone and several of her teeth are all broken.
- Creepy Souvenir: Her face is among the many, many faces used as disguises by the Faceless Men.
- Driven to Suicide: Abuse by her father drove her to seek the gift of painless death from the Many-Faced God.
- The Grotesque: Her disfigurements are frightening and horrifying to onlookers, though they are the result of severe abuse rather than any inherent ugliness.The Kindly Man: (as Arya is about to wear her face) Women will look away when they see you. Children will stare and point. Strong men will pity you, and some may shed a tear. No one who sees you will soon forget you.
- Nasal Trauma: Among other wounds, her nose and jaw are broken.
- No Name Given: Her name is unknown, and Arya refers to herself as "the ugly little girl" while wearing her face.
- Past-Life Memories: Faces taken by the Faceless Men carry some of their previous owners' memories with them. When Arya dons the ugly little girl's face, she has a terrifying flashback of being beaten by the girl's father and is warned that she may have bad dreams for a while.
- Posthumous Character: She sought the gift from the Many-Faced God some time before Arya came to the House of Black and White.
- The Tooth Hurts: Half of her teeth were knocked out when her father punched her in the face.
Pynto
Pynto
A former pirate who runs a tavern in the northern end of Ragman's Harbor.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: He keeps many cats in the tavern, as he believes they bring good luck and keep the mice down.
- Nice Guy: Pynto may be a former pirate, but he has a kind heart. When Arya is disguised as a beggar girl, he gives her a cup of watered wine, a chunk of stinky cheese, and half an eel pie.
- The Pig-Pen: He never changes his clothes or washes his hair, and smells quite bad.
- Pirate: In his younger days, Pynto claims he was the most notorious pirate in the Stepstones. He loves telling stories about it.
- The Storyteller: He loves telling stories about his days as a pirate sailing through the Stepstones.
The Iron Bank of Braavos
The Iron Bank of Braavos
The Iron Bank of Braavos
The richest and most powerful bank in the known world, richer than all the other banks of the Free Cities combined.
- Apparently Powerless Puppetmaster: Within Braavos, this is blatantly not true: everybody knows exactly how important to the city state the Bank is, even though they don't generally exert any overt political power at all. Outside Braavos, it's all too easy for other political figures not to realise (or believe when told) how deep the financial rabbit hole goes once they have started using their services... Until they try defaulting. Their not applying direct physical or social pressure 24/7, to then break the subtle screws out only when needed, is all-too easy to mistake as "weak" by people unable to dot-join.
- Ascended Meme: A common saying among Braavosi: "The Iron Bank will have its due."
- Bullying a Dragon: In the wake of an expensive war and crippling debt, Cersei Lannister decides to defer payment of loans to the Iron Bank and use the money to build an expensive and unnecessary fleet solely as political mileage. The Iron Bank send representatives to deal with her and she stalls them with excuses about paying back after the war ends. Later, to no one's surprise, the Iron Bank calls all existing loans and refuses to offer new loans to Westeros, plunging the Seven Kingdoms into an economic crisis.
- The Dreaded: They are noted to have a "fearsome" reputation for collecting debts.
- Enemy Mine: After Cersei flippantly brushes off their representatives and defers on the crown's repayment of its loans to the Bank, the Iron Bank reaches out to Stannis, offering access to its coffers to finance his war effort in exchange for pledging to repay the Iron Throne's debts once he sits on it.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: To several famous Europe-wide banking families and organizations. It's analogue during the Wars of the Roses would be the London branch of Florence's famously influential Medici Bank, which gave out loans to both the York and Lancaster Houses.
- Loan Shark: Particularly notable as an organization of Loan Sharks whose main customers are often entire kingdoms. As Jon Snow reflects:"When princes defaulted on their debts to lesser banks, ruined bankers sold their wives and children into slavery and opened their own veins. When princes failed to repay the Iron Bank, new princes sprang up from nowhere and took their thrones."
- MegaCorp: They are richer and more powerful than all other banks in the Free Cities.
- N.G.O. Superpower: A bank powerful enough to make or break entire nations at their leisure.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: Whatever they do, they're not really on your side. They only care about being paid back.
- Wild Card: They can be either your Ace in the hole or the unexpected (and very unwelcome) Joker ruining your play. But, they're very dependably Only in It for the Money (and, are just probably-maybe busy trying to rig the game, somehow).
Tycho Nestoris
Tycho Nestoris
- "I have the honor to be Tycho Nestoris, a humble servant of the Iron Bank of Braavos."
An emissary from the Iron Bank of Braavos sent to treat with Stannis Baratheon.
- Badass Bureaucrat: Badassness seems to be a job requirement for the post; see below.
- Dude, Not Funny!: He takes a pretty dim view of Jon Snow joking about how having a dragon to warm things up at the Wall would be a good thing, noting Braavos' foundation as a safe haven for former slaves escaping the tyranny of the Valyrian dragon-lords.
- Intrepid Merchant: When Queen Cersei rather bluntly refuses to continue repaying the massive debts that the throne owes to the Iron Bank of Braavos, Nestoris willingly goes into several war zones to negotiate with other claimants to the throne, offering to fund their campaigns in exchange for their promises to honor their debts and the debts of the rulers they hope to replace, and also doing business with anyone else who wishes to make use of his services. When asked what a banker is doing in such dangerous situations, he proudly claims this trope as his explanation.Tycho: We who serve the Iron Bank face death full as often as you who serve the Iron Throne.
- Mouth of Sauron: Speaks for the Iron Bank as a whole.
- Mysterious Backer: Takes on this role for Stannis and the parties allied with him in the North. There's a definite hint of parody (especially in Asha's first meeting with him) in the idea that the series has a Gandalf-like figure who is really a middle-management banker.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: Acting as a proxy for the Iron Bank, he backs Stannis not because he believes he's a Messianic Archetype, but because he's the contender to the throne most likely to pay the Crown's debts to the Iron Bank.
- Wizard Beard: A long, thin one that nearly reaches his waist.
Noho Dimittis
Noho Dimittis
An emissary from the Iron Bank of Braavos sent to treat with Cersei Lannister.
- Bit Character: He has only had one scene in the books so far.
- Mouth of Sauron: Brings word of the Iron Bank's displeasure over the Iron Throne's refusal to pay back their debt to King's Landing.
- No-Sell: He is deeply unimpressed with Cersei's efforts to get out of dealing with him by passing the buck to Gyles Rosby or making lousy jokes.
- Superpersistent Predator: Metaphorically speaking, of course. After Cersei informs him the Iron Throne won't pay its debts until the war is over, Dimittis begins to hound Gyles Rosby, the Master of Coin, so much that the already sick man ends up in bed, his condition much worsened, and dies shortly after.
Mummers
Izembaro
Izembaro
Izembaro the Great, King of the Mummers
The founder and leader of the mummer troupe at The Gate, and possibly a collaborator of the Faceless Men. He plays Robert Baratheon in the play The Bloody Hand.
- Adipose Rex: He's quite fat, and ever since he started calling himself "King of the Mummers," he only wants to portray kings. If a play has no king, he would rather not stage it at all.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: A lot of things make him angry, including his mummers wearing their costumes in the streets, Mercy being late, and Bobono messing up his lines on stage while drunk.
- Large and in Charge: As the fat leader of the Gate.
- Large Ham: A mummer with grandiose nicknames.
- Only One Name: Izembaro.
- Small Name, Big Ego: As seen by his self-professed titles.
Daena
Daena
A mummer at The Gate. She plays Cersei Lannister in The Bloody Hand.
- Cool Big Sis: She gives Mercy information about the attendees of the Gate's plays.
- Named After Somebody Famous: She may be named after Princess Daena Targaryen.
Bobono
Bobono
A dwarf mummer at The Gate. He plays Tyrion Lannister in The Bloody Hand.
- Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: During one performance of The Anguish of the Archon, he stumbled onto the stage drunk and opened with with the grumpkin's speech from The Merchant's Lusty Lady. Izembaro nearly flayed him for that.
- All Men Are Perverts: He keeps fiddling with the laces on his pants so his fake cock will flop out and Mercy has to shove it back in for him. He also squeezes Wendeyne's breasts when he rapes her in The Anguish of the Archon, even though it's not in the script.
- Depraved Dwarf: He's a little too eager to grope Mercy, who hasn't even flowered yet.
- Vocal Dissonance: He has a big, booming voice for such a little man and puts it to good use as "Tyrion" while making a deal with "the Stranger."
Courtesans
General
"The courtesans of Braavos were famed across the world. Singers sang of them, goldsmiths and jewelers showered them with gifts, craftsmen begged for the honour of their custom, merchant princes paid royal ransoms to have them on their arms at balls and feasts and mummers shows, and bravos slew each other in their names."
Courtesans are women who use charm, refinement and sexuality to attract high status suitors, patrons and lovers. Their status is considered far above common prostitutes.
- High-Class Call Girl: They are famed far and wide across the known world, and have songs sung of their beauty. A man must be incredibly rich to to pay for a night with one of them.Young sailor: What about them fancy whores the singers sing about?
Older sailor: Seven hells, boy. Might be the captain could get hisself a courty-san, but only if he sold the bloody ship. That sort o' cunt's for lords and such, not for the likes o' us. - The Muse: The famed beauty of courtesans has inspired many a song.
- No Name Given: They are only known by their titles. The only one whose name is known is Bellegere Otherys, the Black Pearl.
- Old-Fashioned Rowboat Date: Every courtesan has her own barge and servants to pole her to her trysts. While pretending to be Cat of the Canals, Arya often glimpses a courtesan floating by, on her way to an evening with some lover.
- Rags to Riches: It is implied that there are ways for a common girl to become a courtesan. One of the Merling Queen's Mermaids is the daughter of a serving maid, and the Kindly Man asks Arya if she would like to train as a courtesan under the Black Pearl or the Daughter of the Dusk.
- World's Most Beautiful Woman: Every courtesan of Braavos is said to be more beautiful than the last.
Bellegere Otherys
Bellegere Otherys
The Black Pearl of Braavos
A highly prized courtesan.
- Dead Guy Junior: She's named after her great-great grandmother, the first Black Pearl a pirate queen and mistress to Aegon IV
- High-Class Call Girl: One of the most well-regarded courtesans in Braavos.
- Generation Xerox: Her mother, Bellonara Otherys, was also a courtesan. Her grandmother as well. It goes all the way to her great-grandmother, daughter of a pirate queen and Aegon IV.
- Legacy Character: The alias of "Black Pearl of Braavos" is passed down from mother to daughter, ever since the previous Bellegere Otherys, the mistress of Aegon IV.
- Meaningful Name: The "Belle" in Bellegere is French for beautiful.
- Nice Girl: Purchases three cockles from Cat of the Canals (Arya), paying ten times what the cockles were worth.
The Veiled Lady
The Veiled Lady
A courtesan of Braavos.
- The Faceless: Only those she takes as lovers are allowed to see her face.
The Merling Queen
The Merling Queen
A courtesan of Braavos.
- Death of a Child: One of her Mermaids drowns. The new one she chooses is a serving maid's daughter, "thirteen and penniless, but lovely."
- Girl Posse: She is never seen without her Mermaids, four young maidens who hold her train and do her hair.
The Moonshadow
The Nightingale
The Nightingale
The most beautiful courtesan in Braavos.
- World's Most Beautiful Woman: Even moreso than the other courtesans, it seems. A bravo will challenge a man to a duel if he dares say any woman in the world is more beautiful than the Nightingale.
The Poetess
Historical Braavosi
Bellegere Otherys (I)
Bellegere Otherys
The Black Pearl of Braavos
Bellegere Otherys, as depicted in The World of Ice & Fire
A smuggler, trader and sometimes pirate and captain of the Widow Wind, born from a Braavosi merchant's daughter and an envoy of the Summer Isles. The fourth recorded mistress of Aegon IV the Unworthy, whom she met when he was sent to Braavos on a diplomatic mission by his cousin, King Baelor the Blessed. She's also the first Black Pearl of Braavos, her female descendants would carry on the nickname/title and become prized courtesans. Her children by Aegon IV were Bellenora (the second Black Pearl), Narha, and Balerion.
- Black Gal on White Guy Drama: Subverted. There was no drama. Which was decidedly unusual given Aegon's track record with relationships.
- The Captain: Of the Widow Wind.
- Famous Ancestor: Of the Black Pearl of Braavos.
- Intrepid Merchant: She's gone down in Westerosi history as primarily a courtesan, but that wasn't really her only, or main, gig. Pirate and merchant first and second, negotiated affections third... if ever.
- The Mistress: She was the fourth mistress of Aegon IV, with their affair with then-Prince Aegon lasting ten years.
- Pirate: She had a rep for not always being entirely above-board about where her cargo came from if anybody cared to inquire too much...
- Really Gets Around: She was said to have had a husband in every port she visited.
Bellenora, Narha and Balerion Otherys
The three purported bastard children of Aegon IV and Bellegere Otherys.
- All There in the Manual: They are only mentioned in The World of Ice & Fire.
- Chocolate Baby: Their paternity is dubious because Bellegere was said to have a "husband" in every port she visited.
- Coattail-Riding Relative: The office of the Black Pearl, a courtesan position, gave them a significant rise in status. This came by virtue of their mother's beauty and Aegon being a Targaryen.
- Permanent Elected Official: Bellenora was the second Black Pearl after her mother. All of her female descendants became Black Pearls, too. All were/are Braavosi institutions with important political and cultural connections.
Uthero Zalyne
The Sealord of Braavos responsible for revealing the existence and location of Braavos to the entire world on the 111th anniversary of its founding, an event that came to be known as "the Uncloaking of Uthero".
- All There in the Manual: Even though the event is mentioned in the main series, the specifics about the Uncloaking are only revealed in The World of Ice & Fire.
- Buy Them Off: Before proceeding with the Unmasking he made sure to send emissaries from the Iron Bank to the Freehold of Valyria, to pay ample compensation to the grandchildren of the people who owned the ships the founders of Braavos hijacked to make their escape. They refused to pay for the slaves themselves, though.
- Crazy-Prepared: Before revealing Braavos' existence to the world, he made sure to lay the groundwork years in advance and made sure that any possible person who might object had be properly paid off.
- Our Founder: The Braavosi see him as one of their founding fathers, and Uthero's Unmasking is a national holiday celebrated in a Carnivale-style pageant.
