Thoros

Thoros was born in Myr, the youngest of eight children, and was given to the temple of R'hllor as a boy. He took the red robes despite a far from pious life — he liked brawling, drink, and women rather more than prayer.

He was sent to King's Landing to win King Aerys II Targaryen over to his god, and failed; in trying, he began to doubt his own faith instead. He was at court the day Lord Tywin Lannister laid out the bodies of Prince Aegon and Princess Rhaenys wrapped in Lannister crimson to hide how they had died. That image, and the hand of Ser Gregor Clegane behind it, never left him.

Once Robert's Rebellion ended, he became one of the new king's steady drinking companions. During the war against the Greyjoys he was among the first men over the walls of Pyke, and on the tourney circuit he made a name wielding a burning sword that spooked his rivals' horses — he beat Sandor Clegane three times, until Lord Yohn Royce knocked him down with a plain mace the day his flaming blade went out too soon.

Thoros takes part in the Tourney of the Hand, unhorsing Lord Beric Dondarrion in the joust before going on to win the melee, a fight that drags on for close to three hours.

When Eddard Stark, Hand of the King, sends Lord Beric to bring Ser Gregor Clegane to justice for his raiding in the Riverlands, Thoros rides with them. Once war breaks out, the two of them strike at detachments of Lord Tywin Lannister's forces — which puts them on the wrong side once Joffrey Baratheon is crowned, and they are ordered to swear him fealty or be named traitors.

Harwin later tells Arya Stark what happened at the Mummer's Ford: Ser Gregor Clegane ambushed Lord Beric's party, and it was Thoros who rallied the riders and bought Beric enough time to get out alive.

It didn't save him for long. Thoros pulled the lance from Beric's body and tried to close the wound, but the Lord of Blackhaven died anyway. Giving him the last kiss — the funeral rite of his faith — Thoros brought him back, without understanding how or why it had worked.

Out of that death and that return comes the Brotherhood without Banners, the band Thoros and Beric raise to shield the common folk of the Riverlands while the war tears up the country around them.

Thoros keeps bringing Beric back whenever it's needed, without ever quite grasping the gift he's been given, and his visions in the flames start coming true more and more often. He leads the outlaws in prayer to R'hllor, the Lord of Light, even as he doubts what's happening to him.

The years with the Brotherhood change him — his skin sags, his hair turns grey, and he wears faded robes and patched-together armor. He drives a flock of sheep to Acorn Hall to help Lady Ravella Smallwood, and a woman known as the Peach offers to serve the group for nothing.

When Sandor Clegane kills the Lightning Lord in a trial by combat at Hollow Hill, Thoros brings Beric back from the dead once more. He later fights with his flaming sword at the Battle of the Septon, goes with Beric to meet the Ghost of High Heart, and sees in the flames a vision of the siege closing in on Riverrun.

When Beric dies for good, command of the Brotherhood passes to Lady Stoneheart. Thoros doesn't agree with what she's after, and watching the group change direction under her leaves him shaken, his confidence gone.

There's little left of the stout, clean-shaven priest who once spooked warhorses at tourneys. He's always liked his wine, and jokes that he became a red priest because the robes hide the stains well; he still has the gift of tongues, a reputation for seeing true things in the flames, and a name for recklessness with that flaming sword in hand.

The television show doesn't give Thoros the same road as the books — there he doesn't stay alive, but dies in the year 304 AC, further along than any of these other acts reach.