Cressen is a minor character in Game of Thrones. He is played by guest star Oliver Ford Davies and only appears in the first episode of the second season. Cressen is the Maester of Dragonstone. He dies trying to trick Melisandre into sharing a poisoned cup of wine with him.
Biography
Background
Cressen is a maester of the Citadel, a man of learning assigned to a castle to advise its inhabitants in matters of history and science. Cressen has served Lord Stannis Baratheon at Dragonstone for many years.
Season 2
Cressen is worried about the influence that the red priestess Melisandre has over Stannis, and is horrified when she gets him to renounce the Faith of the Seven. Willing to sacrifice himself for his lord's sake, the maester puts poison in a cup and asks Melisandre to drink from it after he has done so. Although he dies almost immediately, she swallows the entire remaining cup, unaffected.[1]
Appearances
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In the books
In the Song of Ice and Fire novels, Cressen is a long-standing servant of House Baratheon. He was maester at Storm's End for many years, and advised Stannis during the year-long siege of the castle by the armies of House Tyrell during Robert's Rebellion. After the death of Lord Steffon Baratheon in a shipwreck, Cressen had adopted a fatherly attitude to the three Baratheon boys, particularly to Stannis, who lacked the charm of Robert and Renly. After Stannis was made Lord of Dragonstone, Cressen followed him to his new home, something uncommon amongst Maesters, who are assigned to keeps and castles and not to lords, and has continued to advise him there ever since. Approaching eighty years of age, Cressen has started to slow down, so the Citadel have sent him an assistant, Pylos, who will take up his burdens and eventually replace him, a prospect Cressen is not happy about.
References
See also
- Cressen at A Wiki of Ice and Fire (major spoilers from the books).
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