Bran

Bran
Character Description
Name	Bran
Age	1 (at the end of Daughter of the Forest) 19-20 (Son of the Shadows) 38 (Child of the Prophecy) 46 (Seer of Sevenwaters) 49 (Flame of Sevenwaters)
Gender	Male
Title	Lord of Harrowfield
Ethnicity	Briton
Alias	Bran (by Liadan), the Painted Man, Johnny (as an infant), the Chief (by his men)
Physical Description
Skin colour	Pale
Hair Colour	Brown
Eye Colour	Grey
Height	Average
Family
Mother	Margery
Father	John
Siblings	None
Children	Johnny, Fintan, Cormack, Coll
Significant Other	Liadan (wife)
Affiliation
Allegiance	Harrowfield, the band of Painted Men, Inis Eala
Residence	Harrowfield

Bran, born as Johnny, is the son of John at Harrowfield and his wife Margery. Known as The Painted Man, he is the chief of a lethal band of mercenaries that operate in Erin and Briton as a protagonist in the Son of the Shadows.

Biography

Spoiler warning! This article contains plot details about an upcoming episode.

Early life

Bran was born to John, a relative of Hugh of Harrowfield (later known as Iubdan), and his wife Margery as their second child in Daughter of the Forest, having lost their first newborn. With Sorcha's vital aid at Harrowfield, she helps friend Margery through the difficult and prolonged delivery of Bran, who is born breech on Midwinter's Day.

While accompanying Sorcha in her gathering of starwort, John is fatally crushed by falling boulders while trying to protect her. Shocked by the loss of her husband, Margery quietly raises Bran in her grief. Following Sorcha's harrowing trial where she restores her six brothers back into human form, she bids farewell to Margery and leaves with her siblings back to Sevenwaters. Shortly after, Red surrenders the Harrowfield estate to his brother, Simon, to reunite with Sorcha as her husband in Sevenwaters.

Three years afterwards, Margery brings Bran to Elvington in the South to visit her sister when the village is ambushed by raiders. Margery hides Johnny in a cellar, promising to return, and misleads the raiders away from the cellar in a chase. She is killed along with numerous villagers.

The cellar concealing Bran is discovered by Rory, a violent alcoholic feared by his neighbors in Elvington. Having a unpleasant history with Red, Rory despises Harrowfield for convicting him with the rape of a young girl. Realizing Bran has roots in Harrowfield, Rory decides to keep him without making this public. Bran is physically, verbally, and sexually abused, being regularly beaten by Rory and confined in a dark chicken cellar for hours. Rory's partner, an unnamed woman who is similarly beaten by Rory, also beats Bran, and they force him to watch them have sex. Rory ingrains in Bran that the cause for this abuse is due to Hugh, fueling his own vendetta that he maintains for years.

At the age of nine, Johnny kills Rory by stabbing him in the heart and flees Harrowfield. As a tribute to his mother who grew up beekeeping, he has a honeybee tattooed on his wrist. During this period he forges his identity as the Painted Man and forms a group of mercenaries (fianna), who were individually saved by Bran from their troubling backgrounds and became well-known for the swift and deadly killings. They are eventually hired by a chieftan to take vengeance on Eamonn of the Marshes.  

Son of the Shadows

Spoiler warning! This article contains plot details about an upcoming episode.

Bran's mercenary activities are first reported from numerous attacks, including those on Eamonn of the Marshes. Unbeknowst to Bran, two of his men, Dog and Gull, kidnap Liadan upon learning of her healing abilities to assist their severely injured smith, Evan. Though Bran strongly opposes Liadan out of his abhorrence towards women in addition to the severity of Evan's injuries, Bran reluctantly allows her to treat Evan for only six days. Refusing to call Bran Chief as his men do, Liadan gives him the name Bran, named after the heroic voyager.

Liadan's nightly storytelling to Bran's men quickly gains their affections, and Bran unwittingly becomes closer to Liadan. After being forced to move, the group journeys to settle in a familiar old mound. Bran sends his mercenaries on another mission and remains behind to guard Liadan. Evan dies from his injuries, and Bran comforts Liadan, during which they realize their feelings for each other and become lovers. However, Liadan reveals she is the daughter of Sorcha of Sevenwaters and Hugh, which causes Bran to violently reject his lover. Blaming Sorcha and her "ability to bewitch men" for the deaths of his parents and his life of misfortune, he sends Liadan back to Sevenwaters on his horse, and warns her to not marry her suitor Eamonn, lest he be a dead man.

Liadan journeys home and encounters the Fair Folk, who warn her to remain at Sevenwaters and to not marry either Eamonn or Bran to prevent a growing evil. Arriving safely in Sevenwaters, Liadan carefully conceals her thoughts to prevent her twin Sean and uncle Conor from learning about her time with Bran. She eventually realizes she is pregnant with Bran's child, and her family begrudgingly accepts the unborn child whose father's identity remains unknown to them. At one point, Liadan longingly appears to Bran through a lake's reflection with the assistance of her uncle Finbar, who instructs her on using her gift of Sight.

When Liadan's sister Niamh's husband, Fionn of Uí Néill, embarks on a campaign with their allies to Tara, they stay at the Eamonn's estate, Sidhe Dubh, awaiting for their return. Liadan discovers that her sister's fragile mental state is the result of being abused by her powerful husband, and while she fretfully devises a number of plans to protect her sister Liadan unconsciously calls out to Bran for help. Bran quickly arrives with his men, telling Liadan that he heard her call. Without revealing her pregnancy to Bran, Liadan tells him about her sister's predicament with Fionn and Niamh's history with her prior lover, Ciarán. Bran agrees to take her to safety by escaping through the marshes in exchange for Liadan's trust. He returns the following day after, and ruefully departs from Liadan when Eamonn's men witness Niamh's escape. Eamonn and Fionn's men fail to apprehend the "kidnappers" and return with Niamh's beloved token from Ciarán, stating that she drowned.

Liadan returns to Sevenwaters and enters labor with Bran's child. Despite Sorcha's fail condition, she assists Liadan through a difficult and prolonged birth that Sorcha comments is remarkably similar Bran's birth. She and her husband conclude that Liadan's newborn son must be Bran's, and tell Liadan that her son should be named after her father. Liadan then names her child Johnny. Sorcha dies shortly afterwards, and Red returns to Harrowfield at her request to learn more about Bran's life. Sean proposes a mission Bran to sneak into the Briton's encampment and collect information about their plans while supplying disinformation to them. Bran briefly but passionately reunites with Liadan, and informs her of NIamh's safety with Ciarán. Bran is startled by Johnny's cry, and dismayingly believes that Liadan is wedded to another man with a son. Liadan tells him that Johnny is his own child, and Bran emotionally responds that he is not deserving of such a gift. Bran departs from them and successfully completes Sean's mission, but is captured by Eamonn along with Gull, and is brought to Sidhe Dubh.

Despised by Eamonn for killing his men and for being Liadan's lover, he tortures Bran and Gull. Learning of Bran's fear of confined, dark spaces due to his childhood abuse, Eamonn shuts him in a bolthole in the fortress. Liadan arrives at Sidhe Dubh with Johnny to rescue Bran and Gull after a series of dire visions. She convinces Eamonn to release Bran and Gull, who agrees under the conditions that Liadan finds the prisoners in the estate on her own and escape through the marshes before dawn, after which his men will shoot them down. Liadan finds Gull and Bran, who is unresponsive, using her Sight and calls for help by sending away Fiacha, a companion raven that Liadan was told to only use in emergencies. In their treacherous escape, Gull carries Bran across his shoulders and believe themselves to be defeated when they hear a raven's call and see a apparition of a raven-shaped light guiding and forming their way to safety.

Reunited with the rest of his men thanks to Ciarán, Bran remains in his unconscious, shuttered state resulting from Eamonn's extensive torture. Liadan asks his men to bring her father, Hugh, and asks them how Bran rescued them before joining his group. She attempts reaching Bran with her Sight by sharing memories of his father and mother that were told to her by Hugh. Bran gradually awakens from his state, and she proposes to him.

Bran accepts Iubdan's offer of establishing a home at Harrowfield, but first travels north with Liadan, their son, and his men to set up a training school for outlaws like himself at Inis Eala. He informs Sean of the information he retrieved from the Britons during the mission he was sent on, and awaits to make Liadan his wife.

Child of the Prophecy

Bran lives as the Lord of Harrowfield with his wife, Liadan, and four children: Johnny, Fintan, Cormack, and Coll.

Physical Appearance

Bran has a shaved head is described as broad-shouldered and lean, with the right half of his body entirely painted in intricate designs, while his left half is unmarked and smooth. Like his father, Bran has dark brown hair, light skin, and gray eyes.

Abilities

Bran is a skilled mercenary renowned for his stealthy attacks and strategy. A influential leader, he is readily leads his group of outlaws, who are drawn to his courage and fierceness.

Family Tree

• Father: John
• Mother: Margery
• Siblings: None
• Wife: Liadan
• In-laws:
  • Mother-in-law: Sorcha
  • Father-in-law: Hugh of Harrowfield (Red, Iubdan)
  • Brother-in-law: Sean
  • Sister-in-law: Niamh (I)
• Children:
  • Johnny
  • Fintan
  • Cormack
  • Coll
• Grandchildren:
  • None (as of yet)

Appearances

• Daughter of the Forest
• Son of the Shadows
• Child of the Prophecy
• Flame of Sevenwaters