Garren spent much of his young life moving around quite a bit. His parents, and theirs before them, were wanderers. He eventually found a home near the river kingdoms when he met a solitary priest of Erastil. Seeing the life the boy was leading, the priest taught Garren and his family the importance of a home. A safe place for a person to return to. These lessons sank in deeply with Garren and he took them well to heart.
In the years since, he's dedicated himself to Erastil and taken to preaching this dogma to those who would listen. Many found it odd to see a cleric of Erastil so comfortable within the bounds of a community. He was always quick to remind them that Old Deadeye was also a god of community and the home.
For the better part of the last Decade, Garren has made a pilgrimage of sorts. He travels from his home in the south, through the various communities of Brevoy. He sees to helping the people in whatever way he can. The trek tends to take the better part of nine months, from his doorstep back to his doorstep, and he tends to only make it every other year or so.
Among the places he frequents are the slums of Port Ice. While doing all he can to help the children there and attempt to help them find themselves, he befriended a boy named Johnny. He did all he could to help raise these children from the gutter, and one a couple of occasions an older youth decided to leave the city with him. These children wound up transplanted into rural communities that always found a place for them.
Garren offered to take Johnny along with him each time and told him of the lives these other children had found as hunters or trappers or ferrymen. These offers never bore fruit, however. Johnny was sure that he was mired too deeply in the slums of Ice Port.
Garren often lectured the youth of Ice Port about the role of a man or woman within their community. None of them were beyond redemption. The community would always have a place for them. They all had a compass within them and that compass would allow them to find the true path.
His last trip into Port Ice, Garren saw that Johnny was mired indeed. He sat down with Johnny and spoke to him at length as to how rewarding life can be when you serve your community; when you help others. Johnny insisted that was what he was doing.
Garren wasn't aware of just how much trouble Johnny was in and Johnny didn't see the need to tell him. Garren would only worry and Johnny wanted to spare him that.
This time when he left Garren said that he'd not be returning. He was traveling south into the Riverlands again, but this time he was traveling as part of a “diplomatic” mission.
Garren was pleasantly surprised when Johnny caught up to him and Goat (the horse). The terms of their travelling together wasn't quite as black and white as "obey the law or leave." Garren did, however, stress that Johnny needed to re-align his compass.