Theo Cafferen

Theo 'the Truthseeker' was a lord of House Cafferen during the Andal Invasions.

Lord Theo 'the Truthseeker' Cafferen.

Arms of House Cafferen. Words: 'For What is Just'

Appearance

Not particularly tall or muscular, Theo had as average of a build as any typical Lord might have. Yet, with flowing brown hair and a simple beard, his looks weren't all that bad. As he aged, his hair whitened, until at the time of his death is had not an inkling of the brown it once had. He nearly always wore the same, Lordly clothing, with a red cloak around his shoulders. He also usually wore a white undertunic, which is what he would solely wear by itself as he became older and older, for it was much easier to put on.

Personality

Always up for a good drink with friends and family, he would be known as a kind, gentle-hearted man, with a quick mind and a desire to make peace, and find the truth, no matter how difficult the task may be. For all his positives, he was however not a natural diplomat, and his ever-changing and indecisive mind would lead to bungled diplomatic opportunities, both at home in the Garden Coast and the Reach at large.

History

Born in 79 A.I. Theo Cafferen was, by the time he died in 140 A.I. the last surviving member who had been in the Lord Colemon Cafferen's camp, when they traveled through Westeros in search of lands to settle. It was in these last years of questing for the desperately sought-after land to settle, that Theo was born from the union of Jerion Cafferen and Olanne Hightower. Under normal circumstances, Theo wouldn't have been in the direct line of succession, as Jerion was only the second eldest son of Colemon. Yet Colemon's eldest son, Qyle, considered the trip to Westeros a doomed venture which would lead to certain death, and so he stayed behind, forever leaving his branch of the family in Andalos. Jerion had no such reservations, however, and accompanied his father to the westward continent.

So Theo would be the heir, in time, of the Cafferens who settled in the Garden Coast. Raised for his first few years in the ever-moving camp, the young lad enjoyed the beaches and forests of the Garden Coast as he only further grew. Eventually, after his father brought him to Highgarden to witness a grand wedding, young Theo developed a maddening crush on a certain Gwenna Gardener, the woman he would love for the rest of his life. When Theo became a man proper, still young and fresh and inexperienced with running the administration of an entire Lordship, he would nevertheless be immediately thrust into the role of Lord, as a simple illness suddenly took the life of his father. Unfortunately for Theo and his siblings, his father already had a weak constitution in the first place, and the illness proved too much for his body to handle. So, with just six and ten namedays, Theo was Lord of the Garden Coast, and almost immediately he would get what he'd wanted for years at this point.

The young Fawn reunited with Gwenna Gardener at a funeral by the Red Lake, and the two would fall in love all over again there. Not long after, the two would be married and having their first of eight children together. Many years after, with the Gardener civil war raging between the Green and White factions, Theo's eldest child, Meros, now a man grown and with three children of his own, would volunteer to fight with the Whites for the honor of the Seven. Unfortunately, not but a few months into the conflict, Meros would eventually die from the grievous wounds he sustained in battle. He had only two and twenty namedays when he died, and Theo was devastated by his loss.

Despite everything, Theo kept the Garden Coast uninvolved in the conflict, despite the opportunities that would arise if the Whites won the civil war, and despite the consequences that the Greens would bestow on the Andal Lord should they win. Part of the reason Theo did not side with the Whites was his personal friendship to a Child of the Forest named Poplar. He had become friends with her when she appeared to him shortly after his wedding to Gwenna, and the two had met and talked on many different occasions, and it was clear that Theo valued her greatly, and did not wish to see her or her people harmed should the Whites win the civil war. Nevertheless, despite pressures from House Hightower, the Fawn Lord remained neutral in the civil war, and ultimately the Green faction emerged triumphant.

Tumultuous years followed, with Theo dealing with the fallout from the Green victory in the civil war, and the ever increasing religious tensions in the Garden Coast. The Zealot movement arose in the Garden Coast right under his nose, opposing all attempts of friendship with those who were not among the Seven-worshipping faithful. Theo naturally was opposed to this movement, but he could not stop their influence and power from spreading all over the Garden Coast, until eventually the tensions exploded in 139 A.I. culminating in the Horrific Night. Fortunately, it did not lead to disaster, which it very well could have. Instead, due to good fortune and the stoutness of the defenders, the revolt led only to the complete destruction of the Zealot movement.

In his later years, Theo spent much time at the Chateau he had built by the coast, named after his eldest son, Meros. It was here he was staying when the Horrific Night happened, and when he received the news of its aftermath. There in the Chateau he spent his last years in peace and relaxation with his beloved wife, Gwenna. He finished his journal there, which detailed his life story, and meetings with Poplar. When Theo's death came, on the 9th day on the Third Moon, 140 A.I. it was a peaceful one, and the succession to his grandson, Clifford Cafferen, went over smoothly.

In the end, Theo was a Lord thrust into the position with no experience whatsoever nor with the time to safely gain it without consequences. And, despite everything that occurred in his reign, it could not be said that he acted on anything outside of his own personal morals, for good or ill...

Quotes by Theo

"My great-grandchildren will have as much eastern blood in them as many of your people, I imagine. I think of it like this: For a plant to survive...I imagine doubly so in your home, it must have the support of all its roots. If I were to make Clifford and his siblings abandon their mother's side of their blood, it would be akin to ripping up half the roots from under the plant, cutting them off, and replanting it like that. Maybe it could survive in that condition...but it could never prosper missing so much of itself, of what it needs to keep strong. Clifford and Alanna and Tylarra, they need to know to embrace the whole of their heritage, not just this part or that part, you know what I mean?" — Theo Cafferen to Quentyn Dryland.

"Stay clear Poplar! I'll tell you what I was taught to do ... they taught me to swim!!!" — Theo Cafferen to Poplar, the Child of the Forest, before he jumped off the edge of a cliff into the blue lake below.

"Thank you, Poplar...really. I appreciate you, more than you know." — Theo Cafferen to Poplar, the Child of the Forest.

"I'm not saying that I don't sympathize with your cause. I can see the logic of your argument, yet...none of us can see the future, my Prince. Maybe things will work out better than you suppose. I hope they will, anyway." — Theo Cafferen to Garth Gardener, the White Faction's claimant to the throne of the Reach after he requested Theo's assistance in his rebellion.

"It's just the stress...thinking about things I shouldn't...I'm alright." — Theo Cafferen to his wife, the Princess Gwenna Gardener, after she grew concerned that Theo had fainted.

Quotes about Theo

"Endeavor not to throw your life away in defense of your grandsire’s honor. I have said far worse to the man’s face. He would laugh to hear me speak these words now.” — Poplar, the Child of the Forest, to Clifford Cafferen after he reacted badly to Poplar calling him Theo's 'Whelp'.

“I knew your father for many decades, since he was not much older than you, and I treasured his friendship dearly ... I mourned the end of his Song. No message reached me, yet I felt the shift in the wind. He had warned me, when last we met, that it might be his final visit. I had hoped he was wrong…” — Poplar, the Child of the Forest, to Clifford Cafferen.

“But you are a good man, Theo. One my people would be lucky to meet. When you next make your way to Highgarden, I shall see it done. A feast—perhaps even a festival.” — Poplar, the Child of the Forest, to Theo Cafferen.

"You have been gracious despite our people’s differences; despite the distance that separates our lands, you have shown yourself to be a wise Magnar, for an Andal, that is. I have met much of your people on behalf of my weg. Most have seen our people as little more than savage barbarians. To ask of my people and our ways, to try to do your best to accommodate my weg when the time comes for the wedding, while your home is a strange and unsettling place, I am sure my weg will be appreciative of such thoughts." — Quentyn Dryland to Theo Cafferen.