[GhostSunShadow] Barristan Selmy

Name:
Ser Barristan Selmy

Nickname:
• Barristan the Bold
• Arstan Whitebeard
• Ser Grandfather
• Barristan the Old

Age:
57

Gender:
Male

Species:
Human

Allegiance to House:
• House Selmy
(= Patriarch House)

• Kingsguard (previous)
(= House Baratheon)

• Queensgard (current)
(= Targaryen)

Role to House:
Queen’s Hand

Personality:
Barristan Selmy is an elder knight who was raised and trained according to the traditional teachings of knighthood; he’s one of the last true knights known in the Seven Kingdoms after being knighted in his 16th year by King Aegon V Targaryen. He’s a just and brave man who’s tasked to stand guard for the king of the Iron Throne; cleanly and godly he goes through life according to the ancestral code that stands embroidered on his shield. To serve and uphold his prestigious title ser Barristan Selmy defends the young and innocent, especially women who cannot defend themselves and will not stand for injustice occurring before his eyes. As a true knight he’s prone to act with military courtesy, so that in combat when nobles and knights were taken prisoner, their lives were spared and were often held for ransom rather than executing them for the actions committed. To this day he is sworn to protect the rightful king of the Iron throne who to this day according to his understanding is Daenerys Targaryen…

Physical Description:
Selmy is tall knight with sapphire blue eyes which Daenerys considers to reflect certain sadness and regret for the actions of his past. He is an older man with long white hair, aged appropriately with subtle lined features and various distinct wrinkles of worries on his forehead. Despite his advanced age, he is still looks strong and graceful and every bit the skilled knight he was in his youth though other knights tend to refer to Barristan as Ser Grandfather or Barristan the Old. For his age he’s preserved that charismatic appeal of his youthful days with that charming tendency and courteous mannerism that defines him as a true knight in physical form. With shoulders broad, chest proud and pronounced he walks through life as one of those last beacons of hope and honor in this world despite of his late fall from grace…

With age unfortunately come certain minor grievances that weigh him down as those joints of his body are no longer as supple as they were ten years ago, his motions no longer as swift and his breathe easier lost when a battle lasts on longer than expected. His fingers and knees show the beginning hints of arthritis with slight nodes at his fingers and an awful cracking sound whenever he rises from his seat. With a life spend in servitude and conflict he’s collected a wide selection of battle scars and tournament injuries that speak off his history as a knight and member of the Kingsguard. He’s got a bad right shoulder where he was struck by a lancet in the final rounds of his last Tournament participated in; his left wrist got broken once too often leaving it stiff and tired making the carrying of a shield an encumbering burden…

For sense of fashion: read Armor of Choice

Powers and Abilities:
Barristan Selmy can be considered as a veteran knight who’s seen more battles and war in his years than any other knight throughout their entire lifetime; he’s a remarkable swordsman and an even better cavalry soldier as on many occasions he managed to claim victories over men twenty years younger than him. His age might have left him to lose some of his grace in battle but the strength to strike down an enemy still remains in those hefty arms. His shield arm has seen better times but Barristan remains a deathly force to reckon with as he faced and bested opponents far younger and stronger than himself each time finding a way to earn victory. Some believe it’s his perseverance that led him to his famous success…

Like all true knights, ser Barristan Selmy is a master with words who can resolve conflict first with eloquent speeches rather than with the cold steel of his sword; with that deep charismatic erupting from deep within his abdomen he speaks like with the strength of one hundreds drums struck in synchrony with a lavish vocabulary that reflects his sophisticated and educated background. In many situations he served as a peacekeeper within the slums of King’s Landing using diplomacy and chivalry to sway the hearts of men and calm the tempers of the enraged. It’s the spoken art he mastered that makes him stand out from the other knights within Westeros…

Strengths:
• Wise and intelligent
• Excellent swordsman
• Experienced bodyguard
• Verbal communications
• Diplomatic arrangements

Weaknesses:
• Bad Shield Arm (got hit in tournament)
• Arthritis in joints (hinders his hands and slows him down)
• Old Age (fatigue, restlessness, grumpiness, flagellant and stubbornness)

Weapons of Choice:
Having pledged his loyalty first to the ranks of the Kingsguard and later in life to the Queen’s Hand, Barristan Selmy has wielded various swords and blades that his masters had given him yet even now as he lives in exile in the lands across the Narrow Sea he still carries the greatsword he was given as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. A sturdy leather sheathe with golden detailing houses a greatsword with the same golden finish; it’s a heavy sword demanding to be wielded with two hands as is accustomed to the members of the Kingsguard with a double edged castle-forged steel blade. The handle is extended for a firmer grip with tanned leather wrappings and golden decorations around the hilt…

Next to the greatsword like all true knights, Barristan Selmy carries at least two daggers of common size that get drawn in the rare cases that a knight is disarmed; Selmy has one dagger strapped to his left hip, the other fastened around his right calve where he’s permitted to easily reach these hidden blades in desperate times. Each of these daggers has a blade about 12 inches in length, narrow enough to push through the slender slit of a visor helmet yet broad enough to block a sword’s downward blow. Barristan Selmy however avoid the use of these short blades finding that such weapons belong to the cut-throats of Flea’s Bottom rather than in the hands of an honorable knight …

Armor of Choice:
After his fall from grace in King’s Landing, being stripped off his honorary armor of the Kingsguard, Barristan Selmy turned to the lands across the Narrow Sea where he’d go dressed in rags like a wandering hermit. When he meets Daenerys Targaryen he’ll receive his new armor known as the Queensguard armor; the mail is gilded, finely wrought with the links as supple as good leather, the plate enameled, hard as ice and bright as new fallen snow. His weapons hang from a white leather belt with golden buckles. Last of all he fastens a long white cloak about his shoulders similar to the white cloaks worn by the Kingsguard at King’s Landing. The helmet however is the most recognizable part of the armor, having a narrow eye slit and ornate dragon’s wings mounted to the side as prove of his honorary status as Daenerys Targaryen’s Hand of the Queen (events still to occur)…

Background History:
Barristan was born the first son of Ser Lyonel Selmy, the Knight of Harvest Hall who granted him the opportunity to squire for Lord Manfred Swann in his youth. At the age of ten, Barristan donned the armor of a mystery knight and entered a tourney at Blackhaven where Prince Duncan took pity on the small mystery knight while others laughed. Duncan jousted Selmy when no one else would and for this Prince Duncan gave Barristan his epithet. At the age of sixteen he received his knighthood from King Aegon V after unhorsing Prince Duncan and Lord Commander Duncan the Tall of the Kingsguard at a tourney in King's Landing. As an eminently successful tourney knight throughout his career, he also proved his worth on the battlefield, killing Maelys the Monstrous in single combat in the War of the Ninepenny Kings, ending the line of the Blackfyre pretenders after cutting a bloody swath through the Golden Company to get to him. He was named to the Kingsguard at the age of twenty-three and swore his vows before Ser Gerold Hightower, during the reign of Jaehaerys II. In joining the Kingsguard, he gave up the claim to his family seat, and the girl he was to wed was married to his cousin instead…

During the Defiance of Duskendale, Lord Hand Tywin Lannister sent Selmy to rescue the captive King Aerys II wher Ser Barristan slew Ser Symon Hollard, avenging the death of his sworn brother Ser Gwayne Gaunt and freeing the king. In the aftermath of the Defiance, he pleaded for the life of the child Dontos Hollard, to which King Aerys acquiesced. Later in Aerys's reign, during the Kingsguard's campaign against the outlaw Kingswood Brotherhood, Barristan rescued Lady Jeyne Swann and her septa, and killed the bandits' leader Ser Simon Toyne in single combat. He defeated Prince Rhaegar Targaryen in the final joust to win the tourney held at Storm's End. He, like his other sworn brothers of the Kingsguard, was present at the tourney at Harrenhal where he was infatuated by the Lady Ashara Dayne, though he knew nothing could come of his desire for her. He planned on naming her Queen of Love and Beauty if he won the tournament, but was unhorsed by Rhaegar Targaryen. Rhaegar then crowned Lyanna Stark, setting off a chain of events that led to Robert's Rebellion. Selmy wonders if he could have averted the war if he had defeated Rhaegar in the tournament. He also fantasizes that, if he had won the tourney and crowned her, perhaps Ashara wouldn't have been "dishonored at Harrenhal," and would have turned to him "instead of Stark." He thinks of the consequences of his unspoken love for Ashara as his failure…

During the War of the Usurper, after the defeat of Lord Jon Connington at the Battle of the Bells, Ser Barristan, with Ser Jonothor Darry was sent to rally the remnants of Connington's army. He was severely wounded at the Battle of the Trident where Lord Roose Bolton counseled that his throat should be cut, but Robert instead called for Maesters to attend him. Though he fought bravely for the Targaryens during the rebellion which overthrew them, Barristan later took the new king's pardon and became the Lord Commander of Robert's Kingsguard. Ser Barristan did not approve of Jaime Lannister being allowed to continue his service, having had reservations about the Kingslayer even before he earned his epithet. After Jaime slew Aerys he was quoted by Tyrion Lannister as saying Ser Jaime's white cloak should be traded for a black one, agreeing with Ned Stark that Jaime should be exiled to the Wall. Selmy had moral reservations about serving the Usurper, but served loyally nonetheless. Selmy recalled, however, that if he had seen Robert smile when Tywin Lannister presented him with the bodies of Rhaegar's children, he would never have served Robert and nothing on earth would have stopped Selmy from killing him. Selmy loathed seeing the deaths of children, as illustrated by his asking that the babe Dontos Hollard be spared when House Hollard was destroyed after the Defiance of Duskendale, proving once more he was amongst the last true knights in Westeros…

Barristan was a formidable fighter even in his advanced years, having won the championship of a tourney at King's Landing at the age of 57. He’d also unhorsed Sandor Clegane in a tilt during a Tournament just a year prior to the outbreak of the War of the Five Kings, establishing once and for all that he’s one of the last true Knights remaining in the Seven Kingdoms. He served loyally as Lord Commander of Robert's Kingsguard though often with strong objections due to the way King Robert had claimed his throne. During the Tourney of the Hand, he was only defeated by Ser Jaime Lannister after three tilts, having defeated men ten and twenty years younger in his first two contests. When Ser Hugh of the Vale was killed in the tournament by Ser Gregor Clegane, Selmy stood vigil over the young knight himself as the boy had no one else; this was considered an act of kindness that few others would have considered, proving how loyal ser Barristan Selmy was to the teachings of Knighthood. All that time until stewards from the Vale had come to collect the body of their fallen Knight, he’d remained by the man’s side as a token of his respect and a statement of public protest towards the inexcusable methods ser Gregor Clegane had used to claim that victory…

He was present on the small council when Robert Baratheon orders the death of the pregnant Daenerys Targaryen where he and Eddard Stark are the only members who protest the move. In the weeks to follow, he accompanied King Robert on his ill-fated boar hunt which led to the death of the king which he came to consider as the beginning of the end. In an unprecedented move, he was dismissed from the Kingsguard and the small council by Joffrey Baratheon on grounds of old age; the real reasons, however, was that Joffrey wished to give a white cloak to his "dog," Sandor Clegane and to place Jaime Lannister as the new Lord Commander. When the young King ordered him seized and questioned for a perceived threat uttered in the heat of his dismissal, Selmy killed the Gold Cloaks sent after him and flees the city. Though he could have returned to Harvest Hall Selmy sold his horse and disguised himself as a commoner. Under the guise of an old man he returned to King’s Landing along with the stream of small folk fleeing the war. He enters through the Gate of the Gods with dirt on his face, stubble on his cheeks and no weapon but a wooden staff. In rough spun clothes and mud-caked boots, he was just one more old man fleeing the war losing himself among the refugees where he slept in septs and alleys and pot shops. He let his beard grow out to cloak himself in age being present in the crowd when Lord Eddard Stark was executed. These events forced Barristan to reevaluate his years of service in Robert's Kingsguard coming to the conclusion that he must find his true king and die in his service leading Selmy to book passage across the Narrow Sea to Pentos…


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*SPOILER ALERT* Events to Come *SPOILER ALERT*
Ser Barristan's search led him to Illyrio Mopatis, who paired him with Strong Belwas in the guise of Arstan Whitebeard, a Westerosi squire, and sends him to King Aerys's last surviving descendant, Daenerys. At the harbor of Qarth, disguised as Arstan, Barristan stopped an assassination attempt by the Sorrowful Men on Daenerys's life as the assassin tried to kill Daenerys with a manticore until Selmy crushed the beast with his long staff before it could sting Daenerys. Selmy then stated that Westeros needed her, as there are too many kings in the realm and no justice and that Illyrio has sent three ships to help bring her to Pentos. Hiding his true identity for a time to assess whether Daenerys was of a sound mind, Barristan taught her about Westerosi culture and her family history. When Daenerys, under the advice of Jorah Mormont, had the ship sail for Slaver's Bay Selmy protested the idea of purchasing a slave army and was disgusted when he heard how the Unsullied were trained. Selmy however was impressed with Daenerys when she tricked the slavers and used her newly purchased army to free all the slaves. After the sack of Astapor and the defeat of the Yunkai army Selmy saved Daenerys life near Meereen for the second time from the vengeful attack of the former Second Sons commander, Mero, known as the Titan's Bastard. Daenerys, in gratitude, wishes "Arstan" to be knighted, but he refused and finally revealed himself and his true identity…


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