- "If you want to run away south, run away. Of course, they will behead you as a deserter... if I don't catch you first."
- ―Ser Waymar to Will.
Ser Waymar Royce was a sworn brother of the Night's Watch who was killed by a White Walker.
Biography[]
Background[]
Ser Waymar Royce was a knight of House Royce, an ancient and proud noble family of the Vale of Arryn, and the youngest son of Lord Yohn Royce, Lord of Runestone and the head of the family. He joined the Night's Watch and was placed amongst the Rangers due to his noble birth and skill at arms.[citation needed]
Game of Thrones: Season 1[]
Ser Waymar Royce commands a ranging beyond the Wall, accompanied by Gared and Will, to investigate reports of wildlings in the Haunted Forest which lies beyond the Wall. Will, the best scout in the group, goes on a different path to scout.[1]
When Will rejoins Ser Waymar and Gared, he tells them about wildling corpses dismembered and arranged in a strange, ritualistic fashion on the ground. Gared insists on returning to Castle Black to report the situation to the Night's Watch but Ser Waymar is unfazed. Instead, he commands the group to go to the site to determine what killed the wildlings. When they reach the site, the bodies have disappeared. Gared sends Will to find the bodies. While Will scouts around for clues, Ser Waymar is brutally slain by a White Walker in front of terrified Gared.[1]
Game of Thrones: Season 4[]
Sansa mentions to Lord Royce that she had previously met him at Winterfell, when Yohn was escorting Waymar to the Wall to join the Night's Watch.[2]
Family[]
Yohn Royce |
Lady Royce | ||||||||||||||
Robar Royce Deceased |
Waymar Royce Deceased | ||||||||||||||
Behind the scenes[]
In the unscreened pilot he was played by Jamie Campbell Bower, but was recast with Rob Ostlere when the opening scene was re-shot.
He is the first character in the series to be killed.
In the books[]
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, House Royce of Runestone is distantly related to House Stark. As is the third and youngest son of "Bronze" Yohn Royce, and therefore having little chance of inheriting lands or wealth, he joined the Night's Watch. Waymar was fast-tracked to being an officer because of his noble blood. Eighteen-year-old Waymar is a skilled warrior, trained by his castle's master-at-arms, but is untested in battle. He is arrogant and has a tendency to underrate the experience of other men due to their lower birth, even though they have been serving on the Wall for longer than he has, but he is not completely stupid. For example, he realized that if the Wall was "weeping" recently (partially melting), it could not be cold enough for eight wildlings with warm clothes, shelter, and material for a fire to simply freeze to death.
The young Sansa (who was less than 11 years old at the time) developed a massive romantic crush on the handsome young man in the brief time he and his father stayed at Winterfell before he departed to the Wall.
Despite his youthful arrogance and untested nature, when the White Walkers appear he bravely attempts to fight one in single combat. However, his sword shatters after only a few clashes with the White Walker's crystal sword due to its extreme cold. One of the metal shards pierced his left eye, and he was defeated and killed. Will had been hiding in a nearby tree and witnessed the clash. After waiting for some time he hoped the White Walkers had left and climbed down: after examining Waymar's corpse, he went to retrieve his shattered sword-hilt so he could take it back to Castle Black as evidence of what happened. When Will turned to rise again, Waymar stood over him - now revived as a wight, his remaining right eye glowing blue. The wight-Waymar then wrapped its hands around Will's throat and strangled him to death. The TV version changed this around so that Will, not Gared, is the survivor of Waymar's party who escapes but only to be later beheaded by Ned Stark for desertion: Waymar is never shown being revived as a wight, and instead Gared is simply beheaded by another White Walker.
Appearances[]
- – Pilot (non-canonical appearance)
- – "Winter Is Coming"
- – "The Mountain and the Viper" (mentioned)
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Game of Thrones: Season 1, Episode 1: "Winter Is Coming" (2011).
- ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 4, Episode 8: "The Mountain and the Viper" (2014).
Notes[]
- ↑ In "You Win or You Die," Jorah Mormont receives a pardon stating that the current year is 298.
External links[]
Head
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Yohn Royce | Heir
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Unknown | ||
Seat
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Runestone | Region
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Vale of Arryn | ||
Titles |
Lord of Runestone | ||||
Ancestors |
Robar II Royce · Rhea Royce · Gerold Royce | ||||
Deceased |
Robar Royce · Waymar Royce · Kyle Royce | ||||
Household |
Helliweg · Samwell Stone | ||||
Overlords |
House Arryn |
Lord Commanders |
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Commanders | |||||
Maesters |
{Aemon} | ||||
Rangers |
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Stewards |
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Builders |
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Recruiters |
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Officers | |||||
Castles of the Watch |
Shadow Tower · Castle Black · Eastwatch-by-the-Sea · Deep Lake · Greyguard · Nightfort · Queensgate · Long Barrow |