Rhea Lannister

Rhea Lannister is a princess of the Eight Kingdoms and the second child of King Gerald Lannister and the late Queen Evelyn Mask. Rhea was born blind and with an earth elemental. Her abilities as an earth elemental allow her to see the world through her feet by feeling the vibrations inthe earth. She is the last child to have been born from the late Queen Evelyn Mask.

Biography
The youngest of King Gerald's daughters, Rhea was born blind yet defiant. Her mother died shortly after, becoming ill after giving birth to the baby. Unlike her siblings, the child’s birth was not celebrated nor announced throughout the kingdom. King Gerald felt shameful of her disability and blamed her for his wife’s death, believing the gods had cursed him with the girl as punishment for his many misdeeds. He knowingly neglected her. Leaving her in the care of her siblings and many cautious maids, Rhea grew up despising her father.

At the age of seven Rhea was already becoming trouble. Her constant curios adventures in the castle were seen as a nuisance by the king and his nobles. On summer night after one of her many disturbing escapades Gerald became so aggravated with the blind princess he publicly hit her across the face, which later became a dark bruise. In tears she ran from him, wishing for nothing but escape. Rushing past surprised maids and guards the princess did not stop until she felt soft grass under her feet. In the depths of the dangerous woods that stood close to the castle, Rhea was hopelessly lost and petrified. She called out to anyone who could hear her meek voice under the night’s suffocating darkness.

An aging Earth Elemental, Galina, lived in a rotting hut hidden in the woods as a widowed-hag. Hearing the poor princess’s cries for help Galina easily found her and led her back to her lonely home. Feeding the girl and offering her shelter during the dark night, Rhea began to take a liking to the old woman. When Galina attempted to return her to the castle the next morning, Rhea struggled and argued against her. The hag reluctantly allowed her to stay, but, fearing punishment from Gerald, she informed the child that she could stay for no longer than two nights.

The princess viewed Galina as her true mother, and called her such. Despite having known each other for little time it felt like ages to them. The elemental pitied the girl’s blindness and, in return for her pleasant company, taught her how to ‘see with her feet’. Teaching Rhea to feel the vibrations through the earth, Galina was able to open many doors for the blind child.

The two days turned into two weeks before Rhea reluctantly agreed to return to her home in the castle. Upon returning, she came to learn her father had hardly noticed her absence nor cared much. Her hatred toward him only grew, and the doting maids did little to substitute for her absent parents. Though she had close relationship with her older sister, Freya, she still felt a gap in her heart. Often sneaking out of the castle at night, which was much easier with her new ‘sight’, she visited Galina constantly. Sadly, this would not last.

On the princess’s twelfth birthday, she rushed to Galina’s hut in the night to celebrate. Her calls to the woman in the forest were met with silence, as was her dilapidated hut-home. It took only seconds later for Rhea to find the elder woman’s lifeless body against the dirt floor. Presumably dying of old age, the princess was destroyed. She cried for hours and, after venturing home, sobbed for another three days. The hole in her heart widening, she felt as though there was no way to recover from her loss.

As time went on, Rhea slowly recovered from the death of her only friend. She became accustomed to the life of a princess, only sneaking out every so often, yet causing as much havoc as she could. Rhea will take any chance she has to leave the palace walls and travel the realm.