so I'm reading Feast for Crows for the first time and I just stumbled over the story of Ser Galladonof Morne, the Perfect Knight, and I'm getting so many Braime vibes? I mean, the knight who holds honor above all and the one who lost thier heart to them and gifted them a magic sword, like.....I need a minute
YES I’M SO HAPPY TO GET THIS IN MY INBOX
“Ser Galladon was a champion of such valor that the Maiden herself lost her heart to him. She gave him an enchanted sword as a token of her love. The Just Maid, it was called. No common sword could check her, nor any shield withstand her kiss. Ser Galladon bore the Just Maid proudly, but only thrice did he unsheathe her. He would not use the Maid against a mortal man, for she was so potent as to make any fight unfair.”
NOW there is a very clear Jaime and Brienne parallel to this tale with Oathkeeper being the “enchanted sword” that the Maiden (Jaime) gives to Ser Galladon (Brienne) after she lost his heart to him. Just like Brienne and Jaime are beauty and the beast with the roles and genders reversed, their genders and roles can be seen as reversed for this tale as well. (Although, it can even be argued that Jaime is somewhat of a symbolic maid, considering the only person he has ever been sexual with is his twin, and since there’s that delusion of being the same person then…) Oh and this story? IS TOLD BY BRIENNE. It’s introduced IN HER POV like………….
“No common sword could check her, nor any shield withstand her kiss. “
Oathkeeper? Yessum. Valyrian steel is forged from magic and is known for being incredibly sharp and superior to ordinary swords.
And then Crabb responds to the story like
Crabb thought that was hilarious. “The Perfect Knight? The Perfect Fool, he sounds like. What’s the point o’ having some magic sword if you don’t bloody well use it?”
“Honor,” she said. “The point is honor.”
That only made him laugh the louder. “Ser Clarence Crabb would have wiped his hairy arse with your Perfect Knight, m’lady. If they’d ever have met, there’d be one more bloody head sitting on the shelf at the Whispers, you ask me. ‘I should have used the magic sword,’ it’d be saying to all the other heads. ‘I should have used the bloody sword.’ ”
And then later Brienne is all
“I should have used the magic sword.”
“Podrick,” said Brienne. “There’s a sword and scabbard wrapped up in my bedroll. Bring them here to me.”
It wasn’t fair. She could not fight without her magic sword. Ser Jaime had given it to her. The thought of failing him as she had failed Lord Renly made her want to weep.
SHE (-cough-GRRM-cough-) EVEN FUCKING DIRECTLY RELATES OATHKEEPER TO THE JUST MAID -AKA THE SWORD THE MAIDEN GAVE GALLADON- I JUST………..!!!!!!
HOW. MUCH. CLEARER. DOES. HE. HAVE. TO BE??
“Ser Galladon bore the Just Maid proudly, but only thrice did he unsheathe her. He would not use the Maid against a mortal man, for she was so potent as to make any fight unfair.”
Unlike the show, Brienne keeps Oathkeeper hidden most of the time, and only uses it against men in two separate occasions to defend herself.
As for what this little tale could maybeeee mean for her character (besides the obvious of Jaime and Brienne being a romance)? Let’s look at Brienne drooling over it.
When she slid Oathkeeper from the ornate scabbard, Brienne’s breath caught in her throat. Black and red the ripples ran, deep within the steel. Valyrian steel, spell-forged. It was a sword fit for a hero. When she was small, her nurse had filled her ears with tales of valor, regaling her with the noble exploits of Ser Galladon of Morne, Florian the Fool, Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, and other champions. Each man bore a famous sword, and surely Oathkeeper belonged in their company, even if she herself did not.
So here GRRM is setting her up to be like one of those heroes, and she even brings up Ser Galladon. SO it’s possible she’s going to parallel Ser Galladon WHICH MEANS there’s one theory that is all like-
“but Ser Galladon was no fool. Against a foe eight feet tall mounted on an aurochs, he might well have unsheathed the Just Maid. He used her once to slay a dragon, they say.”
