The Bold Boy: A Defense of Ser Barristan
I think Ser Barristan is due for some revisionism. Or rather counter-revisionism.
Ser Barristan from the outset was one of the most popular characters in ASOIAF. The peak of his popularity is post-ASOS. But after AFFC, and after ADWD, we have the new view, i.e. Ser Barristan is “Ser Grandfather”, Ser Barristan the lackey of Aerys II, who served the cruel King who only Jaime Lannister defied, the man whose heroism and feats of bravery in the Defiance of Duskendale was undone, and whose activities in Essos, serving Dany’s cause, and getting involved in the Meereenese Knot is a pale pedant to an overrated career defending tyrants.
Adam Feldman’s Meereneese Blot essays likewise portrayed Barristan as a Ned-in-making following down the path of the sinister Shavepate and befuddled by him. And this response by @poorquentyn about Barristan as a better version of Arthur Dayne suggests that the main reference to judge Barristan is his service to the Mad King. I am not disputing either view. It’s very likely that TWOW will have Ser Barristan meet a tragic fate, that more twists and turns will unfurl in his story that might undo and complicate his biography and arc. All that might well come to pass. Yet I think we are losing sight of the bigger picture. And now that Jaime’s legacy and redemption is subject to drubbing by @poorquentyn, Ser Barristan is actually starting to look good.
Indeed, objectively considered, Ser Barristan ranks alongside Ser Davos in his decisive counsel and advice, for his moral stance, and for his great impact in the world stage. Consider for instance in ASOS (DANY 2), when after arriving at Astapor, Arstan Whitebeard is asked for his opinion on purchasing the Unsullied:
“I say no, Your Grace,” the old man answered at once.
“Why?” she asked. “Speak freely.”...
“My queen,” said Arstan, “there have been no slaves in the Seven Kingdoms for thousands of years. The old gods and the new alike hold slavery to be an abomination. Evil. If you should land in Westeros at the head of a slave army, many good men will oppose you for no other reason than that. You will do great harm to your cause, and to the honor of your House.”
The big question is this, would Dany have purchased the Unsullied if Arstan Whitebeard had given his consent and counselled for it? We know that Dany’s not a natural abolitionist, later in the same chapter we come across this:
“Better to come a beggar than a slaver,” Arstan said.
“There speaks one who has been neither.” Dany’s nostrils flared. “Do you know what it is like to be sold, squire? I do. My brother sold me to Khal Drogo for the promise of a golden crown....Do you think I have forgotten how it felt to be afraid?”
Whitebeard bowed his head. “Your Grace, I did not mean to give offense.”
“Only lies offend me, never honest counsel.” Dany patted Arstan’s spotted hand to reassure him. “I have a dragon’s temper, that’s all. You must not let it frighten you.”
“I shall try and remember.” Whitebeard smiled.
In AGOT Dany reeled back at Khal Drogo’s pillage and enslavement of the Lhazareen but burned Miri Maaz Duur for her righteous revenge, in ACOK, Dany lived it up in Qarth’s pleasure-dome without any obvious misgivings against the slavery of that place, and likewise when she stayed at Illyrio’s Manse, she must have known of the hidden slavery of the place that Tyrion discovered. As such one can argue that much like Ser Davos at the end of ASOS, Ser Barristan the Bold spoke truth to his sovereign, gave honest counsel, and turned Dany away from cruelty (the sack of Cracklaw Point and Sacrifice of Edric Storm/the purchase of the Unsullied) towards her moral path. Ser Barristan also played a part in liberating Meereen, and in ADWD, he trains and annoints as knights essosi of different faiths than his Faith of the Seven, including Tumco Lho, Laraq, and the Red Lamb.
The big ASOIAF question is “Does the good outweigh the bad”, does Barristan serving Aerys II, his silence of his legacy to Dany, his glorification and sentimentalism of Rhaegar, wash away. No. But consider the consequences of Barristan’s advice and actions. He turned Dany into a fierce abolitonist, participated in her campaign to free Slaver’s Bay, and as the finale of ADWD and TWOW proves, he’s wreaking havoc on the Volantene-Yunkish forces revanchist forces. He’s also institutionally converting Knighthood from a Westerosi adjunct to a single faith, into an international multi-denominational calling. Objectively, no Knight in the history of Planetos, no knight in Westeros has done more for the smallfolk and oppressed than Ser Barristan. Not Symon Mirror-Shield, not Florian, not Aemon Dragonknight, Ryam Redwyne, and not even Ser Duncan the Tall. And neither Jaime or Brienne can come close.
Future reassessments of Ser Grandfather should include that I think, and I don’t expect that his fate, his good or bad end in TWOW, will change what he did here. “A bold boy” indeed.
