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[the_raven_boy]

Name: Bran Davies

Canon: The Dark Is Rising Sequence (specifically books 4 and 5, The Grey King and Silver On The Tree)

Disabilities of a medical, physical, or psychiatric nature: Albinism, with corresponding sensitivity to the sun. His eyes are light-sensitive but he is not visually impaired as described by the books.

Special abilities: He is somewhat magical in his own universe, in the sense that he has traveled through time and has an awareness of his own place in the universe as part of the High Magic and heir to the Pendragon throne. However this doesn’t really manifest in any abilities per se that would affect Darrow. He does come with a magical sword that only other magic users will be able to see.

Background: Bran is the natural son of King Arthur (Arthur Pendragon). However, his mother Guinevere believed, having previously been disloyal, she would not be believed if she revealed their child to Arthur. She sought help from the magician Merlin, who with his magic brought her forward through time to a place where he knew Bran would be safe -- mid-1960s Wales. Unbeknownst to Guinevere, Merlin knew Bran’s presence in this particular place/time might prove useful.

Gwen, as she introduced herself, was found wandering with Bran, by shepherd Owen Davies. Owen was immediately smitten with the girl and, despite his strict religiosity, invited her to seek shelter in his home. Rumor spread quickly and Gwen was assaulted by his jealous neighbor, Caradog Prichard, before Owen discovered what was happening and fought him off. Though distraught, she was convinced to stay another day, and Owen asked her impulsively to marry him, which she refused. She slipped away the next morning, but left the baby behind with a note simply stating “his name is Bran.”

Owen raised Bran as his own, and over time seemed to forget Bran was not his son. Because of this, and his feelings for Gwen, he maintained a certain brusqueness with the boy despite his fierce affection for him. He felt oddly that he had done something wrong by having this “relationship” (and child) with Gwen outside of marriage.

Bran never knew who his mother had been, and grew up a lonely child. At school he was taunted for his odd appearance as well as his single, isolated father. His only friend was a silver-eyed dog that was adopted shortly after his arrival, called Cafall.

When he was eleven, Merlin -- now Merriman Lyon -- appeared to Bran again, warning him that he would be crucial to helping another boy and giving him some words to prove himself. This was Will Stanton, an “Old One” or immortal magic-user like Merriman, and agent of the Light, a force that exists simply to defend the world from the Dark, whose primary goal is to conquer and use the world for its gain.

Will and Bran learned to trust each other as they ferreted out the agents of the Dark in this small town in Wales that fall. During this time, Caradog Prichard, already weak-willed and easily influenced by the forces of the Dark, came to believe Cafall killed one of his sheep, and shot the dog while Bran and he were separated. Bran withdrew, grieving his dearest friend and angry at the magical battle he’d been pulled into against his will. This nearly separated the boys completely, which would have been disastrous, but Bran eventually realized what was at stake and rejoined to help Will. During this time, Bran also discovered who he was -- and met his true father, beginning to come into his power as Pendragon.

The following summer, the Dark would try to rise for the last and most dangerous time, and Will, along with three mortal children, returned to Wales to help stop this threat. This involved a series of tests, including passing into another time and space where they had to recover a unique magical sword, belonging to neither Light or Dark, that would be crucial to turning the fight for whichever side claimed it. It was Bran who managed to convince its maker, the king of the realm, that he was the sword’s proper owner, coming into his full birthright as Pendragon and the control and power that came with it.

He exits canon right after their return to the 1970s.


Personality: Bran has always been a bit of an outsider. Isolation and having to defend himself from the cruelty of others has given him an arrogant, sharp-edged air, distant and cool especially to strangers. Once he’s made a friend, however, Bran can be poetically caring or fun-loving, sharing his mischievous streaks on a whim. His attachments don’t come easily, but they are whole-hearted when they develop.

Since discovering the truth about himself, this dual nature has become more pronounced, but in a different way. There’s the Pendragon aspect of Bran, which, comes with a very self-possessed, commanding and powerful nature despite his age -- almost ageless and burdened with the legacy of a great power. Then there’s just the 12 year old side of Bran, though guarded and reserved, also able to be playful and more naive: still struggling with child/teen things like friendships, nascent crushes and family relationships even in the face of a fight for good and evil. They’re not two separate personalities in any way - both are equally Bran - but they may seem to others as two different people.

Like many residents of Wales (particularly in his area), Bran isn’t a great fan of the English, and especially is protective of his rural area beginning to be trampled over by tourists who don’t respect the land. He’s grown up speaking Welsh as a first language, and can be defensive of it and his culture (he also has studied Welsh harp since he was a child). And as a prince, this is his land, so it makes perfect sense.


Sample post:
It would not be so bad, Bran thinks, if Will were here, and hates the thought as it comes to him. But after all, it is his fault, all of this: the traveling between worlds, and the danger, and even Cafall. He should be here to see it out.

But something inside of him knows better.

He had expected to step into Tywyn harbor, Will by his side, triumphant. Perhaps with a laugh at Jane, like; she will have been worried in that way she tries to hide with annoyance. What is this place, this world he is now in without them? The cars do not look like any cars that he has seen, and the buildings are strange; like a film about America, only in some ways sleeker and in others dirtier and less beautiful. It doesn’t feel like one of these damned riddles; nothing here speaks of the Old Ones or the High Magic. But that’s what it must be: some sort of test or trial.

Only he has no dewin here to tell him what it means.

Bran has been alone before, and he will be again. Right now, he squares his shoulders and lifts his head, taking in this city that moves so quickly and so loudly. As though it is his to take in.

As though he is not lost, and likely to be pitied, which is worse than being lost.