Pate the Woodcock

Pate the Woodcock was a young spear fighter who became the youngest champion of Jaehaerys Targaryen’s first Kingsguard. Though some questioned whether he was a knight at all, he earned his place through skill, and his later actions placed him at the center of a dangerous confrontation between the king and Rogar Baratheon.

Selection for the Kingsguard

At the seven-day contest for the white cloaks, Pate fought with a spear rather than a sword. His choice of weapon set him apart, and his skill with it answered doubts about his status: Joffrey Doggett settled the question by dubbing him a knight, as hundreds of onlookers cheered. Pate was the youngest of the champions selected for the Kingsguard, whose members had proved their valor and ability in combat.

Training on Dragonstone

After joining the king’s protectors, Pate trained with Jaehaerys and the castle’s other experienced fighters. The king’s daily practice ran from sunrise until noon and ranged across sword, spear, mace, and axe. Each bout continued until one combatant declared the other dead; Pate’s darting spear made him such a difficult opponent that he won the garrison fighters’ contest to see who could defeat the king most often. The training sharpened Jaehaerys’s martial skill, while making Pate a recurring measure of the challenge the king set himself.

Defense of the king

Pate’s loyalty became explicit during the confrontation with Rogar Baratheon. When Rogar threatened the seven Kingsguard with the many armed men behind him, Pate answered that Rogar would die before the guards did. His words made the cost of attacking the king’s protectors plain, but Queen Alyssa intervened before the threat could become a fight. Jaehaerys then stood by his marriage to Alysanne, and Alyssa urged the gathered company to put away their swords and leave in peace.

Service beyond the court

Four days after peace was made between Jaehaerys and Rogar, Queen Alyssa departed for Storm’s End with her husband. Pate was assigned to escort them, accompanied by a hundred men-at-arms to ensure their safe passage through the kingswood. The duty placed him alongside the queen he had helped protect during the earlier crisis, but now as part of a substantial escort rather than a line of guards facing an immediate threat.

Significance

Pate’s account links his unusual weapon and contested knighthood to practical service. He first won recognition through spear skill, then used his presence and resolve to defend the king, and later undertook an escort mission for the queen. His career in these episodes gives concrete meaning to his place among the first Seven: the role demanded more than prowess in a contest, requiring protection of the royal family when political tension brought armed men close to violence.