Arthur Dayne

Arthur was born around 260 AC, though the date isn't fixed with any certainty. He was the second son of a lord of Starfall, with an older brother and two sisters, Ashara and Allyria.

By the time he joined the Kingsguard he already held the title Sword of the Morning, and carried the family greatsword Dawn across his back. In the villages where he camped with his men he paid for everything they took, and carried people's complaints straight to Aerys II. That, more than any victory, was what won him the love of the smallfolk.

The Kingswood Brotherhood had been harassing the area for some time when Arthur faced down its leader, the Smiling Knight. He killed him in single combat, and with that the Brotherhood stopped being a threat.

After the fight he knighted a young Jaime Lannister, who would later wear the white cloak himself and call Arthur his sworn brother.

At the Lannisport tourney of 276 AC, Arthur was crowned champion after beating Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. The result didn't repeat: at Storm's End he broke twelve lances against the prince and lost, and at the Tourney at Harrenhal in 281 AC he fell to him again.

He won once and lost the other two, always against the same man: Rhaegar.

When Prince Rhaegar rode off with Lyanna Stark, Arthur and Ser Oswell Whent went with him, though the accounts call it an abduction without ever quite settling what actually happened.

During the first month of Robert's Rebellion, Arthur stayed with Rhaegar at the Tower of Joy. Ser Gerold Hightower arrived there, sent by Aerys II himself, and soon after Rhaegar rode for the capital. He left three of his Kingsguard brothers behind to guard Lyanna: Hightower, Whent, and Arthur himself.

Arthur died in the confrontation at the Tower of Joy, fighting Lord Eddard Stark and the men who rode with him. No one ever wrote down exactly how the fight went.

Bran Stark would later remember his father's words: that Arthur Dayne was the best knight he'd ever seen, and that he would have killed him if not for Howland Reed. After the battle, Eddard buried him under one of eight cairns he raised on the ridge from the tower's own stones.

He then rode to Starfall to return the family sword to Lady Ashara Dayne, Arthur's sister. Eddard, Jaime Lannister, and Ser Barristan Selmy would each, in their own way, always speak of him with the same respect.