Many years ago, Gareth was sent to a knight of the Stormlands, Ser Duncan of Felwood, to serve him as a squire. Gareth did so willingly, of course, and his father was proud of it. When the War of the Usurper broke out, Gareth soon found himself on the opposite side of the conflict from his family; however, he refrained from deserting and returning home because he felt this would be an irreversible stain on his honor. During the Battle of the Trident, Gareth saved Ser Duncan by cutting down a score of pikemen, who had unhorsed the knight and were about to kill the knight. As a reward for this action, Ser Duncan of Felwood knighted Gareth; however, his own lands were too small to grant Gareth a portion of them, so Gareth was anointed but remained landless.

Ser Gareth Hewett spent most of the next few years at Highgarden and King’s Landing. He grew increasingly bored after the coronation of King Robert; since the war had ended and because he had no lands to take care of, there was literally nothing to be done by an anointed knight of the realm. So, almost 4 years after the rebellion, when Lord Tuttle‘s daughter Maera was reported kidnapped by the Tuttle’s former Master of Arms, Ser Denis Staffhold, who had defected to the Redwyne-fuelled rebellion on Shell Island, Ser Gareth begged Lord Aleric Tuttle for the boon. In a daring two-man rescue operation, Ser Gareth Hewett and Dylan Fyr freed the Lady Maera. As a reward, Lord Tuttle made Ser Gareth Hewett his new Master of Arms.