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Luthor was born in 132AL, the bastard son of Beslon Smallwood, called the Bad and raised by his Smallwood kin. Leaving home in 150AL, Luthor lived as a hedge knight until the end of the Dornish Rebellion, when Luthor came to court as a knight of the King’s Household. Since then, he has risen quickly at court, first becoming Royal Huntsman, and then rising to the position of Warden of the Kingswood.
Luthor’s features possess a pleasing symmetry despite the wear around the edges earned during his time in the hedges. Luthor has coal black hair he keeps cut neatly to just beyond the nape of his neck, and dark brown eyes, which miss nothing. He is of a middling height, and possesses a build that is more sinew than heavy muscle.
Ser Luthor favors simple clothing and dark colors and rarely wears the colors of his father’s house or his knightly arms. He does not wear much jewelry either, save for a small gold ring on his right hand, and when the situation calls for it, his chain of office.
Luthor Rivers wears his persona as a dutiful knight and affable courtier like armor, allowing it to deflect any scorn that his parentage might earn him. Though from time to time, there are cracks in that armor and some of the man underneath it shows through. What is seen in those instances varies though by watching his actions it’s clear Luthor is loyal to his friends, and the Targaryens; sensitive to what he sees as injustice; and is quick to seize upon an opportunity to advance the good of the realm or his own rise at court. The rest seems to be locked away, and is only displayed to those whom the bastard knight is closest to.
The second recognized bastard of Beslon the Bad, Luthor grew up under the grudging care of his Smallwood kin at Acorn Hall. However, after eighteen years it was clear he was not wanted, and Luthor struck out on his own, hiring a hedge knight to complete his knightly training, and roaming the roads of Westeros. Luthor learned much in the hedges, and he and his master established themselves as the men to see for loyal steel, who knew how to handle jobs that required a subtle touch.
This reputation brought them to Dorne, where they served King Daeron at Godsgrace, as outriders and foragers until a Dornish ambush left Luthor’s master Ser Robert dead. Luthor came away from the ambush the only survivor, and upon his return to the army found his father had returned, and was now at the head of his own sellsword company, the Bright Banners. Lured by the promises of wealth and the chance to know his father, he joined with the sellswords and took part in their bloody siege of Vaith. A time Luthor would rather forget.
When Dorne bent the knee, Beslon was given stewardship of Vaith, and in turn, Luthor for a time, acted as Beslon’s own steward. It was a losing battle, for every bit of good he did or order he was able to restore in the conquered town, some act of the Bright Banners undid it. Frustrated, Luthor washed his hands of it all and busied himself with amusements rather than face the ceaseless chaos that surrounded him. Though that too grew tiresome, and in a drunken rage, he confronted his father and mocked Beslon’s aspirations of lordhood. The result was predictable, and so, beaten and bloody, Luthor was cast out of Vaith. His reputation sullied by his association with the Bright Banners, and having no other place to go, he fell in with some others who had quit the Bright Banners and sailed across the Narrow Sea to Braavos in hopes of finding work.
Luthor found work quickly, his father’s name was well known in the Free Cities, and many merchants were pleased to know the son of Beslon the Bad guarded their goods. Ultimately, however Luthor sold his sword to his good-cousins in the Valaros family, whose younger son had married his cousin. It is with them, he traveled most of the Free Cities, as a caravan guard, experiencing first hand some of the wonders he had only heard about in singers tales. However, when word reached the Free Cities of the Dornish Rebellion, Luthor was quick to take his leave of his Baavosi kin, and sail for Westeros and a chance to redeem his name in his homeland.
He would succeed. While he was unable to slay his father’s executioner Ser Laurent Dalt as he vowed he would. He did return home from Dorne a member of the King’s household, which he has built upon since coming to court at the war’s end.
Until the Conquest of Dorne, Ser Luthor lingered in relative obscurity as a squire to a hedge knight. During the conquest Luthor took part in the battle of Carrion Woods, before his masters death and he joined the Bright Banners in their siege of Vaith. Then during Daeron’s efforts to put down the Dornish Rebellion, Luthor distinguished himself in both battles of Godsgrace; the first of which saw him taken into the King’s household. He continued to do himself credit on the road to Salt Shore, where he fought valiantly at both the Battle of the Ford, and at Salt Shore itself.
Since the war’s end, Luthor’s accomplishments have been of a more courtly nature, taking charge of planning the feasts for King Baelor’s coronation, and unhorsing Ser Jace Rollingford, and Ser Ardon Tyrell at the tourney that followed. Feats which earned him royal notice and promotion to Royal Huntsman. Since then he distinguished himself in the Crackclaw Point campaign, and was appointed to the post of Warden of the Kingswood as a result.
Luthor connections in King’s Landing run both high and low, and he can be found conversing with high lords one moment, and sellswords the next. However his strongest political ties lay with the Targaryens who have raised him from obscurity and placed him in the King’s own household. Outside of the royal house, he has the support of his cousin Lord Smallwood, the friendship of the Crakehalls, and membership in the Brothers of Battle behind him in the political arena. Despite these ties to powerful individuals, Luthor has managed to remain a neutral figure at court, not beholden to any but the Targaryens, however as he rises in prominence it remains to be seen how long that will be possible.
Luthor’s closest friendships were made while fighting in Dorne, and have lasted through his return to court; they include Ser Burton and Ser Elmer Crakehall, Ser Farin Prester, and Ser Alek Reyne. Since coming to court he has made the acquaintance of several of the ladies of court, including Joleta Gargalen, Rosalind Buckler, Reyna Saltcliffe, Fiona Reyne and Obany Darklyn. Also met at court, was Ser Ethos Mertyns, the former Royal Huntsman, who Luthor has fought on three occasions, however they remain friends. Though of all of those met at court, Luthor is closest to Pennei Massey, whom he courted in secret for several months before finally winning her hand.
Luthor’s relationship with his family could be called distant at best, having been estranged from them for just over ten years. However, he has begun to rebuild those ties, primarily with his cousin Lord Bellos, the head of his house, and with Lord Bellos’ heir, Barion, who serves Luthor as his squire. Though he has also begun to reach out to other kinsmen and women, including his half-sister Damina, who currently resides at Willow Wood.
Regarding a string of personal losses at the hands of men who escaped justice: “They should put me in the yard instead of the quintain. Men strike me and all I can do is spin in circles.”
Some oft used Luthorisms:
“The world is water not stone.”
“The gods favor the prepared.”
“I trust a man to be who he is, no more, no less.”
Category://King’s Landing -> People