Axell Florent

The younger brother of Lord Alester Florent, lord of Brightwater Keep, Axell was named castellan of Dragonstone in 289 AC, while Stannis served as Master of Ships in King's Landing. By 299 AC he had governed the castle in his name for ten years.

With war for the throne underway, Axell becomes the most visible of the queen's men, fervent in the red faith. He treats Davos Seaworth with more courtesy than other Stannis supporters, though Davos never quite trusts him: the rest of House Florent has chosen to back Renly Baratheon, Stannis's rival for the crown.

At Stannis's council, a rumour is floated to answer doubts about Cersei's children: that Shireen herself was fathered by Axell. When Stannis sails for Storm's End, he leaves Selyse and Shireen at Dragonstone, in her uncle's care.

Axell arrests Davos when he plans to kill Melisandre, and also has his own brother Alester thrown in the dungeons on charges of treason. With the Hand of the King imprisoned, he believes the office is his for the taking, and his niece Queen Selyse presses Stannis to grant it to him. Stannis refuses.

To prove himself, he strikes a deal with Salladhor Saan and later escorts Davos before the king, threatening him unless he recommends Axell as Hand. He also urges Stannis to put Claw Isle to the sword as punishment for Lord Celtigar's desertion after the Blackwater; Davos talks the king out of it, Axell calls him a traitor, and it is Axell whom Stannis banishes, naming Davos his new Hand instead.

When Stannis marches north, he leaves Axell with Queen Selyse at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, in charge of her lodgings and Shireen's. Cotter Pyke writes several letters to Lord Commander Jon Snow complaining of him, and Davos recalls how Axell mocked him by comparing him to a monkey during a feast.

Axell later escorts Selyse to the Wall under the unofficial title of Hand of the Queen. There he takes a dislike to the wildling Val but wishes to marry her; Selyse instead arranges his betrothal to the eldest daughter of Gerrick Kingsblood.