brienne of tarth

Brienne is unfeminine in appearance and is considered unattractive by Westerosi standards. She is tall, muscular, flat-chested, and ungainly, with long, shoulder-length brittle straw-colored hair and broad, coarse features that are covered in freckles. Brienne's teeth are prominent and crooked. Her mouth is wide, her lips are swollen, and her nose has been broken more than once. She has large, beautiful blue eyes. Her fingers are thick and callused. Brienne is horse-faced.

Instead of a lady's attire, Brienne wears a velvet doublet quartered rose-and-azure, breeches, boots, and a fine-tooled swordbelt. Brienne's dented steel armor is a brilliant, deep blue cobalt, and she also has mail. Brienne has a sword, and she wields a blunt morningstar during melees. She also knows how to wield an axe. Her black destrier is barded with the quartered sun-and-moon heraldry of House Tarth.

Brienne has spent most of her life as the object of scorn, rejection and—at best—pity. When she tried to dress and act like a proper lady, she was met with mockery and disdain for her unattractive appearance and lack of feminine social graces; when she turned to a career more suited to her talents as a warrior, she received only contempt and resentment for her gender despite her considerable skill. Perhaps because of this background, Brienne is as awkward in personality as she is in appearance. While Lady Maege and Dacey Mormont have found respect and acceptance as female warriors, Brienne yearns for respect and acceptance from others, and easily gives her love and loyalty to the few people who treat her with any degree of genuine courtesy. Brienne hates roses because of her history with Ronnet Connington.

Brienne can be headstrong and judgmental, but she is also honest, straightforward, loyal and determined. Although she has received poor treatment from most knights, Brienne clings to a naively idealized concept of knighthood. Despite—or perhaps because of—the fact that she has no expectation of ever being recognized by society for her accomplishments, she nevertheless strives to live up to the ideal of a true knight at all times.

Brienne was born the eldest daughter of Lord Selwyn Tarth, Lord of Evenfall Hall, on the island of Tarth. Her mother died when she was so young that she does not remember her. She had a single older brother, Galladon, who drowned when he was eight and she was four, and two younger sisters, both of whom died in the cradle. This makes her the only living offspring of Lord Selwyn, a fact that naturally encouraged him to find a suitable match for her. Given her ugly and ungainly appearance and attitude, however, the task was a difficult one, especially since Brienne was bent on a martial life rather than a marital one, more comfortable with a sword than in the company of court society. She was tutored by her septa, Roelle, and had the equivalent of a knight's training by a master-at-arms, Ser Goodwin. Brienne has known Ser Cortnay Penrose since she was a girl. Brienne has learned many songs by heart since Evenfall Hall always had singers in her youth.

Brienne's father successfully found three men willing to betroth her, though all the betrothals fell through. A younger son of Lord Bryen Caron was Brienne's first betrothed. They met only once, on the occasion of their betrothal, when she was seven and he was ten. The boy died two years later from a chill, along with his father, mother and sisters. Had he not died, Brienne would have been wed to him within the year of her first flowering. The second betrothal was to Ser Ronnet Connington, who was six years older than her. On their meeting, Red Ronnet gave her a rose, and told her it was all she would have of him, breaking the betrothal as he felt she was a "freak". The last man Brienne was betrothed to, Ser Humfrey Wagstaff, warned her he would insist she act like "a proper woman" once they were wed. Though only sixteen, Brienne replied she would only accept such a demand from a man who could beat her in combat. In the effort, Humfrey ended up with three broken bones and a broken betrothal.

After that, Lord Selwyn stopped trying to arrange a marriage for Brienne. Brienne's only positive encounter with a man occurred when House Tarth's liege, Lord Renly Baratheon, visited their island during his coming of age progress. He crossed paths with Brienne and treated her courteously, and she fell in love with him. Sometime later, Lord Selwyn sent his daughter to Storm's End. Renly's fool has made cruel japes about Brienne.