Brienne of Tarth

Brienne has spent most of her life as the object of scorn, rejection and – at best – pity. When she tried to dress and act like a proper lady, she was met with mockery and disdain for her unattractive appearance and lack of feminine social graces; when she turned to a career more suited to her talents as a warrior, she received only contempt and resentment for her gender despite her considerable skill. These aspects of her life have resulted in her being penalized by Westerosi society due to unconventionality. Her lifetime of scorn and condescension led her to becoming extremely pragmatic and blunt. Perhaps because of this background, Brienne is as awkward in personality as she is in appearance. She yearns for respect and acceptance from others, and easily gives her love and loyalty to the few people who treat her with any degree of genuine courtesy. Brienne is motivated by her own sense of honor and duty, thus seeing most dishonorable acts as unacceptable. She can be headstrong, sarcastic, cynical and judgmental, but she is also honest, straightforward, loyal, and determined. Although she has received extremely poor treatment from most knights, Brienne clings to a naively idealized concept of knighthood. Despite – or perhaps because of – the fact that she has no expectation of ever being recognized by society for her accomplishments and strength of character, she nevertheless strives to live up to the ideal of a true knight at all times. Brienne has proven herself to be one of the strongest fighters in Westeros, albeit the most underrated. In combat, she relies on a combination of her intimidating size, strength, and unrelenting brute force to win most fights. Even after she was presented with a prominent disadvantage, such as being disarmed, she would resort brutally to continue fighting. Brienne of Tarth is extremely noble and humble at all times, as evidenced by her confessing at several points that she was not a knight, and at one point not even a lady - even though she was inevitably a lady of Tarth as the only daughter of Lord Selwyn Tarth. This was probably motivated by her self-induced belief that she was inferior to the standards of a true knight, given that she has faced being underrated and underappreciated for her appearance and gender her whole life. The irony of the entire situation is that she exemplifies the qualities of a true knight: She is a strong and skilled fighter, is merciful and compassionate, unshakably loyal and determined, and takes her duties as a warrior sworn to a higher authority extremely seriously. The only reason she isn't viewed as such by the people of the Seven Kingdoms is because she is a woman.