Brienne of Tarth
| House / Order | House Tarth |
|---|---|
| Race / Culture | Stormlander |
| Status | Alive (as of A Dance with Dragons) |
| Origin | The Stormlands; The Riverlands |
| Born | c. 280 AC, Tarth |
| Died | |
| Weapon | Oathkeeper, a Valyrian steel sword |
| Fate | Bringing Jaime Lannister to a meeting with the resurrected Lady Stoneheart under duress |
| Portrayed by | Gwendoline Christie |
Brienne of Tarth, called Brienne the Beauty in mockery, is a warrior maiden and a viewpoint character in A Feast for Crows. The only surviving child of Lord Selwyn Tarth, she is large, plain, and immensely strong, and she has devoted her life to the ideals of true knighthood that the realm denies her because she is a woman.
Brienne's unwavering honor, in a world where vows are routinely broken, makes her one of the few genuinely chivalrous figures in A Song of Ice and Fire.
Background
Brienne is heir to Tarth, the Sapphire Isle in the Stormlands. Tall, broad, and homely, she was mocked her whole life and called "Brienne the Beauty" in cruel jest; a betrothal in her youth ended in humiliation. Rejecting the life of a lady, she trained as a fighter and dreamed of becoming a knight. She won a place in the rainbow guard of Renly Baratheon, whom she loved with hopeless devotion.
Biography
A Clash of Kings
Brienne serves in Renly Baratheon's Kingsguard. When Renly is slain by a shadow conjured by Melisandre, Brienne is wrongly blamed for his murder and flees alongside Catelyn Stark, to whom she swears her sword. Catelyn entrusts her with a secret, perilous mission: to escort the captive Jaime Lannister to King's Landing and exchange him for the Stark girls.
A Storm of Swords
On the journey, Brienne and Jaime begin as enemies but develop grudging mutual respect. She saves his life more than once, and he, transformed by their ordeal, names her worthy and ultimately intervenes to spare her from a bear pit at Harrenhal. After her release, Jaime gives Brienne a suit of armor, a Valyrian steel sword she names Oathkeeper, and the charge to find and protect Sansa Stark, honoring his own oath to Catelyn.
A Feast for Crows
Brienne wanders the war-ravaged Riverlands in a long, fruitless search for Sansa, encountering the suffering of the smallfolk and the lawlessness left by the war. She is hunted by the remnants of the Brave Companions and is gravely wounded in a brutal fight at an inn, where she saves a young girl. At last she is captured by the Brotherhood Without Banners, now led by the vengeful, resurrected Lady Stoneheart, who condemns her for traveling with Jaime's sword. Forced to choose between death and betraying Jaime, Brienne cries out a word, "sword," at the close of her final chapter, her fate and choice left ambiguous.
Character
Brienne embodies the chivalric ideal more fully than any anointed knight in the books: she keeps her oaths, defends the weak, and never lies. Mocked and underestimated for her appearance and sex, she answers contempt with courage and skill. Her steadfastness is both her strength and, in a treacherous world, a constant danger to her.
Relationships
Brienne's hopeless love for Renly Baratheon defines her early loyalty. Her evolving bond with Jaime Lannister, from captor and captive to mutual respect and perhaps deeper feeling, is the heart of her arc. Her oaths to Catelyn Stark bind her even after Catelyn's death and grim resurrection.
Quotes
All my life men like you have sneered at me, and all my life I've been knocking men like you into the dust.
No chance, and no choice.
In the television series
In HBO's Game of Thrones, Brienne was portrayed by Gwendoline Christie. Her arc follows the novels through her bond with Jaime, then continues beyond them: she finds and protects Sansa, is knighted by Jaime before the Battle of Winterfell, and is named Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. The Lady Stoneheart storyline is cut entirely from the show, and these later events have not occurred in the books.