Arys Oakheart

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House Oakheart.svg Ser
Arys Oakheart
Kingsguard.svg
Ser arys oakheart by bendavisart-FFG.jpg
Arys Oakheart, art by Benjamin Davis © Fantasy Flight Games

Alias The white knight[1]
Title Ser
Allegiances
Culture Reach
Born In or before 274 AC[2]Old Oak[3]
Died In 300 AC, the Greenblood[4]
Mother Lady Arwyn Oakheart[5]
Lover Princess Arianne Martell
Books

Played by Unidentified
TV series Game of Thrones:
Season 1 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

Arys Oakheart is a knight from House Oakheart and a member of the Kingsguard of Robert I Baratheon. Arys is the youngest son of Lady Arwyn Oakheart of Old Oak.[5] He becomes a POV character in A Feast for Crows.

Appearance and Character

See also: Images of Arys Oakheart

Arys is a handsome man[3] with light-brown hair and a comely face.[6] Sansa Stark considers him courteous and cordial.[6] He is a fine bold knight who serves faithfully as a member of the Kingsguard.[3]

Arys owns a tunic decorated with the golden oak tree of House Oakheart and his Kingsguard armor has white-enameled scales.[6][1] Arys owns at least three white cloaks—light wool, heavy wool, and silk—which he pins with the golden leaf of his house.[6][7]

History

Arys always dreamed of joining the Kingsguard.[3] His dream became reality by 290 AC.[N 1]

Recent Events

A Game of Thrones

Ser Arys Oakheart, art by TheMico ©

Ser Arys competes in the Hand's tourney along with the other white cloaks of the Kingsguard. He is present in the throne room when the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Barristan Selmy, is dismissed, and he laughs at his former Sworn Brother's shame.[8]

A Clash of Kings

While all of King Joffrey I Baratheon's Kingsguard knights (with the exception of Sandor Clegane) beat Sansa Stark on his orders, Sansa still regards Arys as one of the kinder knights of them, and prefers that he accompanies her over any of the others. Arys speaks politely with Sansa, and when ordered by Joffrey to hit her, he does so more lightly than the others, and once protested the order before doing so.[6] Arys accompanies Sansa to the tourney on King Joffrey's name day, and expresses to her his confidence in his ability to win, though he admits that the competition is not as fierce as would be desired. Fond of gossip, he informs Sansa of Lord Tywin Lannister's refusal to march his army to King's Landing as Queen Regent Cersei Lannister had commanded.[6]

Arys is sent to Sunspear in Dorne as the sworn shield of Princess Myrcella Baratheon, who is betrothed to Prince Trystane Martell.[9] Arys regrets having struck Sansa, and he lights a candle to the Warrior in gratitude for having been chosen by Tyrion Lannister for the mission.[7]

A Storm of Swords

Lord Tywin Lannister informs his son Tyrion that Arys has sent a letter from Dorne, revealing Myrcella and Trystane get on well and that Myrcella has taken a great liking to Princess Arianne Martell.[10]

A Feast for Crows

Princess Arianne Martell and Arys, art by Sacha Angel Diener © Fantasy Flight Games

Arys is seduced within half a year of his arrival by Arianne, the daughter and heiress of Doran Martell, Prince of Dorne.[11] She convinces him to rebel against the Iron Throne and support Myrcella's claim over that of her brother, King Tommen I Baratheon,[7] secretly part of an attempt to claim her own birthright.[4] Arys brings Myrcella to Arianne's company of friends, and they travel to the Greenblood, where they are confronted by Prince Doran's guards, as their conspiracy has been uncovered. Arys charges into the Martell forces, killing two of them in the process despite being injured. When his horse goes down, Arys manages to struggle free, but Areo Hotah, Prince Doran's captain of guards, reaches him and kills him with his axe when Arys raises his sword too slowly.[4]

Later, during her time of captivity, Princess Arianne has nightmares about Arys's death. When summoned before her father, Prince Doran informs her that Ser Balon Swann, Arys's Sworn Brother, is traveling towards Sunspear, and is expecting to see Arys upon arrival. To hide the truth of Arys's death from Swann, Arianne tells her father they should say that Arys died defending Myrcella.[11]

A Dance with Dragons

The Dornish court informs Ser Balon Swann that Arys was killed by Ser Gerold Dayne.[12]

Quotes by Arys

You know I have no other woman. Only... duty.[7]

—Arys to Arianne Martell

There have always been men who found it easier to speak vows than to keep them.[7]

—Arys to Arianne Martell

I will not be remembered as Ser Arys the Unworthy. I will not soil my cloak.[7]

—Arys to Arianne Martell

You will not take her whilst I still draw breath.[4]

—Arys to Areo Hotah

Quotes about Arys

Arys, my sweet knight, why did you do it? You should have yielded. I tried to tell you, but the words caught in my mouth. You gallant fool, I never meant for you to die, or for Myrcella...[11]

—thoughts of Arianne Martell

Did he charge at Areo Hotah in hopes of saving me? Or did he do it to escape me, to wash out his dishonor with his life's blood?[11]

—thoughts of Arianne Martell

Behind the Scenes

In an early draft of A Feast for Crows written by 2004, Arys was supposed to survive his encounter with Areo Hotah, and Ser Boros Blount, another Kingsguard, was supposed to die. George R. R. Martin later changed his mind as Boros is still alive by the end of A Dance with Dragons and Arys dies in the published version of A Feast for Crows.[13]

Arys's name is once misspelled as "Aerys" in A Clash of Kings.[14]

Notes

  1. In 300 AC, Arys claims to have not touched a woman since joining the Kingsguard ten years ago (A Feast for Crows, The Soiled Knight).

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 2, The Captain Of Guards.
  2. See the Arys Oakheart calculation.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Arys Oakheart.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 21, The Queenmaker.
  5. 5.0 5.1 A Feast for Crows, Appendix.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 2, Sansa I.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 13, The Soiled Knight.
  8. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 57, Sansa V.
  9. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 41, Tyrion IX.
  10. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 4, Tyrion I.
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 40, Princess In The Tower.
  12. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 38, The Watcher.
  13. Reddit: [1] Comment from Elio Garcia (April 26, 2020)
  14. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 65, Sansa VIII.

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