Eldest son of Ronald Connington, called Red Ronnet for the fire-coloured hair that runs in the cadet line. He is a stout, choleric knight, free with insults and freer with his fists, and bears the diminished style "Knight of Griffin's Roost" his father carried before him.
In his youth he was betrothed to Brienne of Tarth and rode all the way to Evenfall to take her to wife; one look at the Maid of Tarth was enough to send him fleeing back to the Roost, and he is said to have left her a single rose by way of apology, the only flower he ever gave a maid. After the death of Lord Tywin he was given a small command in the host that took Rosby and Duskendale for the crown, and at the time of A Dance with Dragons he is dispatched south by Ser Kevan Lannister to put down a rumour of a pretender landing in the stormlands. He never reaches the Roost: Jon Connington and the Golden Company take it before him.