Barristan Selmy

Barristan Selmy, called Barristan the Bold, is the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, a knight of legendary prowess and unwavering honor whose long service to three kings—Aerys II Targaryen, Robert Baratheon, and briefly Joffrey Baratheon—ends in public dismissal when the new regime discards him for political expediency, marking a decisive break between the old world of knightly ideals and the cynical game of thrones.

Identity and Legend

Barristan Selmy is the most renowned living knight in the Seven Kingdoms, a man whose name is sung from the Wall to Dorne. He was chosen for the Kingsguard in his twenty-third year, giving up his ancestral keep and the girl he was to wed to serve for life. He fought beside the White Bull, Gerold Hightower, and Prince Lewyn of Dorne, and beside Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning. He served King Aerys II Targaryen, then King Robert Baratheon, and finally King Joffrey Baratheon. His reputation is such that even in the far north, the singers praise the deeds of Barristan the Bold. When Sansa Stark first meets him at the tourney camp, she recognizes him immediately and recites his titles correctly: Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, councillor to Robert and to Aerys before him. He is old, with hair as pale as his white armor, yet he seems strong and graceful. He is also a man of deep principle: when Robert Baratheon commands the murder of the pregnant Daenerys Targaryen, Selmy is the only councillor besides Eddard Stark to speak against it, declaring that there is honor in facing an enemy on the battlefield but none in killing him in his mother's womb.

Service and Honor

Selmy's sense of duty is absolute. After Robert Baratheon is mortally wounded by a boar, Selmy guards the tower stairs and tells Eddard Stark that he has failed his sacred trust. Ned reassures him that even the truest knight cannot protect a king against himself. Selmy's loyalty is not blind, however; he is capable of sharp judgment. When he learns that Jaime Lannister has been named to replace him as Lord Commander, he calls Jaime the Kingslayer, the false knight who profaned his blade with the blood of the king he had sworn to defend. He also shows a dry wit: when Renly Baratheon jests that Selmy is "Barristan the Old," Selmy retorts that by Renly's extreme youth he can only be a prancing jackanapes.

Dismissal and Defiance

After King Robert's death, the new regime of Queen Regent Cersei Lannister and King Joffrey Baratheon decides to remove Selmy from the Kingsguard. In a public audience in the throne room, Cersei tells him his service is at an end and that the council has determined that Jaime Lannister will take his place as Lord Commander. Joffrey accuses him of being too old to protect anybody. Selmy protests that the Kingsguard is a sworn brotherhood and that only death may relieve the Lord Commander of his sacred trust. When the offer of a tract of land and a keep is made, he spits upon their pity. He undoes his cloak, lets it fall, removes his breastplate, and declares, "I am a knight. I shall die a knight." He draws his sword, but only to freeze the other Kingsguard in place with contempt, telling them that if they would serve under the Kingslayer, not a one of them is fit to wear the white. He flings his sword at the foot of the Iron Throne, telling Joffrey to melt it down and add it to the others, and predicts that Lord Stannis may chance to sit on it when he takes the throne. He then walks out of the hall, the long way, his steps ringing against the floor.

Aftermath and Significance

After his dismissal, Selmy is declared a traitor. Gold cloaks are sent to seize him, but he slays two of them and escapes. Lord Commander Jeor Mormont, who had hoped Selmy would be an ally at court, receives the news with disgust, noting that the realm has white shadows in the woods and unquiet dead stalking its halls while a boy sits the Iron Throne. Selmy's fall from grace is a direct consequence of the Lannister coup and the rise of Joffrey, and it signals the end of an era of knightly honor. His departure leaves the Kingsguard filled with men who are the queen's creatures, as Varys warns Eddard Stark: only Selmy was made of true steel, and he is old. Selmy's fate is a measure of how far the realm has fallen from the ideals of the Age of Heroes into the brutal pragmatism of the game of thrones.