House Tarth

Brienne of Tarth

Brienne the Beauty

Life: no fixed AC year given; a young, unmarried woman of fighting age when the story opens
House: Tarth

Last seen in the riverlands, sworn to an errand of protection whose end is not yet chronicled.

Brienne of Tarth grew up the sole heir of an island lordship, unusually tall and, by the court's cruel consensus, unusually plain, and turned both facts into a suit of armor long before she ever wore an actual one. Where other highborn daughters were pushed toward marriage, Brienne pursued knighthood, training with a sword until she could out-fence men who mocked her for wanting to, and eventually winning a place in a king's own guard on skill no one could plausibly dispute. She holds honor and oath-keeping as something close to a religion, which has made her nearly impossible to bribe, frighten, or seduce off a path she has decided is right, and correspondingly difficult for cannier operators to use. A maester notes that a knight this literal-minded about her vows is rarer, and more dangerous to cross, than any amount of skill with a longsword would suggest on its own.

The arc of Brienne of Tarth

This carries the character’s road through the published novels. Read on only if you do not fear to know.

Sworn first to Renly Baratheon and then, after his sudden and uncanny death, to a promise made to Catelyn Stark to protect her daughters, Brienne's search for Sansa and Arya carries her the length of a war-torn riverlands in the company of the very Kingslayer she once considered an enemy. The published books leave her on an errand of her own devising, hunting a man she has sworn to bring to justice, with the outcome of that hunt deliberately unresolved.

Where the books leave Brienne of Tarth: alive as of A Feast for Crows, last seen at the head of a hunting party and, by her own letter's telling, poised on the edge of a choice the published pages do not yet resolve

These partings name deaths, endings, and roads not yet ridden in the books. Unveil them only if both roads are known to you — or if you do not fear to know.

In the timeline

Theories about Brienne of Tarth

SourcesACOK · CatelynASOS · JaimeAFFC · BrienneTWOIAF · The Stormlands

Is Brienne of Tarth alive?

As of A Feast for Crows, yes — though the chronicle keeps the outcome of the errand she is on behind the veil.

Who is Brienne of Tarth?

The tall, plain-spoken heir of Tarth who trained to knighthood against every expectation of her birth and holds her oaths more literally than almost anyone else in the Seven Kingdoms.