brotherhood Without Banners

 

The Brotherhood Without Banners is an outlaw group working against Lannister interests in the Riverlands at the time of the War of the Five Kings, though their goal is to protect the smallfolkfrom any force preying on them, regardless of which King or Lord they support.

The group was indirectly created by Eddard Stark, when he sent out a force of knights to restore peace and justice to the Riverlands, bolstered by several of his own household guards from House Stark. Trapped behind enemy lines, they became a guerrilla fighting group, and were joined by deserters from different armies in the war as well as commoners trying to defend their homes. The Brotherhood continues to fight to protect the commoners of the Riverlands in the name of King Robert and Lord Eddard.

Following the Red Wedding, the Brotherhood Without Banners is one of the few surviving groups who still actively resist Lannister rule of the Seven Kingdoms.

 

The Brotherhood Without Banners formed in the aftermath of the Battle at the Mummer's Ford, in which the host assembled by Eddard Stark to arrest and execute Ser Gregor Clegane, under the leadership of Lord Beric Dondarrion, was ambushed. The survivors were trapped behind enemy lines, but led by Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr, they formed the Brotherhood to harass Lannister forces. Over time, they began to feel that none of the factions in the War of the Five Kings, the Starks or the Lannisters, was looking out for the welfare of the smallfolk. Stark raiding parties would burn out farms in the Riverlands just to deny their resources to the Lannisters, and the Lannisters would do the same.

The Brotherhood therefore decided to fight for no "banner" of one king or another in the war, but to fight to defend the common people against raiding parties of soldiers who prey on the weak during the war. From the core group which was originally sent out by Eddard Stark - and contained some of his own household guards from Winterfell - the Brotherhood gained new members during the course of the war as it was joined by Stark deserters, Baratheon deserters, and simple commoners who wanted to defend their homes.

In short, the Brotherhood Without Banners are a rag-tag band of misfits who rob from the rich to give to the poor, making hit-and-run attacks then retreating back to the forests.