Character from A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin
The greatest living knight in Westeros — white-haired, old, and still deadly with a sword. Served in the Kingsguard for decades under multiple kings before joining Daenerys Targaryen's cause across the sea.
Barristan Selmy is the platonic ideal of knighthood, and he knows it's an outdated concept. White-haired and lined but still powerfully built, he moves with the economy of a man who has fought and won hundreds of engagements. He served the Mad King, then Robert, enduring compromises that haunt him. When Joffrey dismissed him from the Kingsguard, he cut his way out of the throne room and sailed to Meereen to serve Daenerys — partly out of loyalty to the Targaryen line, partly to atone for failing her father. He fights with elegant precision and speaks with careful honor.
Tall and straight-backed despite his advanced age, with a strong jaw, clear blue eyes, and thick white hair. Still broad-shouldered and fit, moving with a knight's trained grace. Wears a white cloak and gleaming white-enameled armor of the Kingsguard — later plain steel in exile — every inch the ideal of Westerosi knighthood even in his twilight years.
Also known as: Barristan, Ser Barristan, Barristan the Bold