King Baelor, the Blessed

Baelor, the zealous, deeply religious, ninth King of the House Targaryen. Known as Baelor the Blessed to smallfolk and lords alike. Baelor was a septon-king, and stories about his piety, charity and zealotry are well-known. He built the Great Sept at King's Landing, replacing the one at Oldtown as center of the Faith. His mysticism and zeal made him fast for days in a row and he never consumated his marriage.

This picture was inspired by the Counter-Reformation portraits of Saint Francis of Assisi, specially one by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, a baroque Spanish artist. I wanted to depict the King at prayer, almost in ecstasy, a mystic, while keeping the typical Targaryen features.

The King supposedly died during a long fast, but some say he was in fact poisoned by his uncle and successor, Viserys II, his Hand.