Hyle Hunt

	Hyle by Swordmaid
Titles	Ser; Captain;
Allegiances	House Hunt; House Tarly (formerly);
Culture	Marcher (possibly)
Born	Reach
Issue	Bastard daughter
Book	A Feast for Crows (appears)

Hyle Hunt is a knight of House Hunt. He is a household knight of Randyll Tarly, Lord of Horn Hill, and is one of his captains.^[1]

Appearance and Character

Hyle has a plain face, shaggy brown hair, hazel eyes, a cleft chin, a crooked nose, and a scar near his left ear.^[1] He is one head shorter than Brienne of Tarth, who is about six and a half feet tall, putting Hyle at roughly five feet and ten inches in height.^[1] Hyle has a full, rich laugh.^[1]

Hyle is a gallant,^[4] eloquent,^[5] stubborn,^[6] and languid young man.^[1] He enjoys mead.^[4]

Hyle wears a white surcoat with the arms of House Hunt.^[1] He wields a sword and rides a chestnut courser.^[6] Hyle keeps sheepskin maps in his boot.^[6]

History

Ser Hyle served House Tarly at Horn Hill. When Lord Randyll Tarly tried to teach his son Samwell to swim by throwing him in a pond, Hyle had to rescue Sam.^[7]

Hyle knows of at least one bastard that he has fathered, a girl. Her mother doused Hyle with a kettle of soup the last time he visited his daughter.^[3]

Recent Events

A Feast for Crows

While at Highgarden after the outbreak of the War of the Five Kings, Ser Edmund Ambrose, Ser Ben Bushy, and Hyle began a wager on taking Brienne of Tarth's maidenhead. In Hyle's attempt to woo Brienne, he brought her an illuminated book, apples and carrots for her horses, and a blue silk plume for her helm. He told her camp gossip, said things to make her smile, and even trained with her once. Other knights then began trying to impress Brienne, including Ser Richard Farrow, Ser Hugh Beesbury, Ser Mark Mullendore, and Ser Will the Stork. When Lord Randyll Tarly heard about the wager, he put an end to it, but blamed Brienne for the knights' behavior.^[8]

After Randyll takes Maidenpool, Hyle commands one of the town's gates. He encounters Brienne,^[1] who has been tasked by Ser Jaime Lannister with finding Sansa Stark,^[9] and laments his current predicament.^[1]

Lord Tarly has Hyle follow Brienne, Dick Crabb, and Podrick Payne as they travel to Crackclaw Point, instructing him to bring Sansa back to Maidenpool if Brienne is successful in her search for the girl.^[8] The knight catches up with Brienne at the Whispers, where she slays Shagwell, Pyg, and Timeon, formerly of the Brave Companions. After helping to bury Dick,^[8] Hyle insists on bringing the slain outlaws' heads back to Maidenpool so Lord Tarly can display them on the town's walls. Hyle does not take credit for killing the outlaws, but instead informs Randyll of Brienne's valor. However, Lord Tarly attributes Brienne's victory only to her Valyrian steel sword, Oathkeeper.^[6]

After Lord Tarly dismisses Hyle from his service, Hyle joins Brienne in her quest, expecting a rich reward if he finds Sansa. The knight suggests that Brienne accompany Septon Meribald on his circuit through the riverlands.^[6] During their stay at the Quiet Isle, Hyle is intrigued when the Elder Brother mentions that the brothers have found six of Rhaegar Targaryen's rubies.^[4] Brienne's party sees the destructive results of the raid on Saltpans.^[3]

As they near the crossroads inn, Hyle recognizes that the bodies of men hanging near the road, with chunks of salt shoved into their mouths, must be the perpetrators of Saltpans. In the inn's common room, Hyle asks for Brienne's hand in marriage, a pragmatic offer in order to claim Tarth, but she rejects him. Brienne intends to leave Hyle behind at the inn while he is sleeping, but her plan is interrupted by the arrival of Rorge, who had led the assault on Saltpans, Biter, and five other former Brave Companions. Brienne kills Rorge when he threatens Willow Heddle, and as she battles Biter, she thinks she hears Hyle joining the fight against the other outlaws.^[3] Gendry saves Brienne from Biter as the brute bites her face.^[3]^[5]

After the encounter with the outlaws at the inn, Hyle, Brienne, and Podrick are taken prisoner by those sworn to Lady Stoneheart. The brotherhood without banners beat Hyle until his face is almost unrecognizable. Despite Brienne's insistence that Hyle is innocent of any crimes, he is judged guilty for allying himself with House Lannister and is sentenced to death. Lady Stoneheart commands Brienne to kill Jaime Lannister to free herself and her companions, to choose "sword or noose", but Brienne refuses to. Hyle offers to kill Jaime in Brienne's stead, and Lem strikes him in the face. Hyle is hanged alongside Podrick and Brienne, although Brienne shouts "sword" to intervene.^[5]^[10]

Quotes by Hyle

Hyle: His lordship informed me that he had no further need of my sword, or my insolence. It amounts to the same thing. Henceforth I shall enjoy the adventuresome life of a hedge knight ... though if we do find Sansa Stark, I imagine we will be well rewarded.

Brienne: I mean to save the girl, not sell her. I swore a vow.

Hyle: I don't recall that I did.^[6]
—Hyle and Brienne Tarth

Hyle: Your heart is as mushy as our septon's porridge. Can it be? Somewhere inside our swordswench is a mother just squirming to give birth. What you really want is a sweet pink babe to suckle at your teat. You need a man for that, I hear. A husband, preferably. Why not me?

Brienne: If you still hope to win your wager—

Hyle: What I want to win is you, Lord Selwyn's only living child. I've known men to wed lackwits and suckling babes for prizes a tenth the size of Tarth. I am not Renly Baratheon, I confess it, but I have the virtue of being still amongst the living. Some would say that is my only virtue. Marriage would serve the both of us.^[3]
—Hyle to Brienne Tarth

Hyle: In the dark you'd be as beautiful as any other woman. Your lips were made for kissing.

Brienne: They are lips. All lips are the same.
Hyle: And all lips are made for kissing. Leave your chamber door unbarred tonight, and I will steal into your bed and prove the truth of what I say.

Brienne: If you do, you'll be a eunuch when you leave.^[3]
—Hyle and Brienne Tarth

My lady, you should have wed me when I made my offer. Now I fear you're doomed to die a maid, and me a poor man.^[5]
—Hyle to Brienne Tarth

Quotes about Hyle

You think too much.^[1]
—Randyll Tarly to Hyle

Podrick: What did he do to you, ser? I mean, my lady.
Brienne: At Highgarden, when King Renly called his banners, some men played a game with me. Ser Hyle was one of them. It was a cruel game, hurtful and unchivalrous.^[1]
—Brienne Tarth and Podrick Payne

Hyle Hunt was no true knight. His honest face was just a mummer's mask. I do not need his help, I do not need his protection, and I do not need him, she told herself.^[6]
—thoughts of Brienne Tarth

Ser Hyle Hunt is a gallant from the Reach.^[4]
—Meribald to Narbert

Notes

↑ The Tarlys are stated to be Marcher lords in The World of Ice & Fire. As the Hunts are sworn to the Tarlys, they most likely reside in the same region.

References

↑ ^1.00 ^1.01 ^1.02 ^1.03 ^1.04 ^1.05 ^1.06 ^1.07 ^1.08 ^1.09 ^1.10 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 14, Brienne III.
↑ George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Hyle Hunt.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 ^3.3 ^3.4 ^3.5 ^3.6 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 37, Brienne VII.
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 ^4.3 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 31, Brienne VI.
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 ^5.3 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 42, Brienne VIII.
↑ ^6.0 ^6.1 ^6.2 ^6.3 ^6.4 ^6.5 ^6.6 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 25, Brienne V.
↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 15, Samwell II.
↑ ^8.0 ^8.1 ^8.2 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 20, Brienne IV.
↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 4, Brienne I.
↑ So Spake Martin: Miscon Report (June 3, 2012).

[2] The Tarlys are stated to be Marcher lords in The World of Ice & Fire. As the Hunts are sworn to the Tarlys, they most likely reside in the same region.

[Raffc14{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-1] 1.00 ^1.01 ^1.02 ^1.03 ^1.04 ^1.05 ^1.06 ^1.07 ^1.08 ^1.09 ^1.10 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 14, Brienne III.

[Rawoiafhyle_hunt{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-3] George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Hyle Hunt.

[Raffc37{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-4] 3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 ^3.3 ^3.4 ^3.5 ^3.6 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 37, Brienne VII.

[Raffc31{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-5] 4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 ^4.3 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 31, Brienne VI.

[Raffc42{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-6] 5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 ^5.3 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 42, Brienne VIII.

[Raffc25{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-7] 6.0 ^6.1 ^6.2 ^6.3 ^6.4 ^6.5 ^6.6 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 25, Brienne V.

[Raffc15{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-8] A Feast for Crows, Chapter 15, Samwell II.

[Raffc20{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-9] 8.0 ^8.1 ^8.2 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 20, Brienne IV.

[Raffc4{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-10] A Feast for Crows, Chapter 4, Brienne I.

[Rssm6425{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-11] So Spake Martin: Miscon Report (June 3, 2012).

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