Osmund Kettleblack

From A Wiki of Ice and Fire
Jump to: navigation, search
Kettleblack.png
Osmund Kettleblack
Kingsguard.PNG

Osmund Kettleblack.jpg
Osmund Kettleblack - by Pojypojy ©

Alias Oswald Kettleblack
Title Ser
Allegiances
Books

Ser Osmund Kettleblack is a member of House Kettleblack. He is a (supposed) hedge knight. He has two brothers, Osfryd and Osney Kettleblack. He is a member of the Kingsguard.

Appearance

Ser Osmund stands six feet six inches, most of it muscle. He has a hook nose, bushy eyebrows and a triangular brown beard.[1] Osmund has narrow cheeks. His chest is covered with black hair.[2]

History

Ser Osmund served in the Stepstones and the Disputed Lands with the Gallant Men fighting for Lys and then Tyrosh. He claims to have been knighted on a battlefield by Ser Robert Stone, who is now dead.[3]

Recent Events

A Clash of Kings

In order to match her brother Tyrion's personal power base of sellswords, Cersei secretly tries to hire her own sellsword force through her cousin Lancel. Since he has forced Lancel to spy on Cersei for him, Tyrion learns about this and orders Bronn to find sellswords who he can plant as double agents around Cersei.[4] However, Petyr Baelish finds out about the inquires of Bronn and decides to use the mistrust between the Lannister siblings to his own advantage by planting men loyal to himself around the Queen while making both Cersei and Tyrion believe they are working for them. For this, Littlefinger uses the three sons of his servant Oswell Kettleblack, namely Osmund, Osney and Osfryd. He orders the three Kettleblack brothers to go to King's Landing, where they are indeed hired by Bronn with Tyrion's money before being hired by Cersei through Lancel.[5] Cersei uses calls on the High Septon at the Great Sept of Baelor as cover for her meetings with the Kettleblacks, who are supposed to hire other sellswords for her. Osmund and his brothers, in turn, provide Bronn with information about Cersei's moves.[4]

Osmund is soon named to the Kingsguard by Cersei when Ser Boros Blount is stripped of his white cloak for cowardice. Tyrion thinks it is ironic that Cersei replaces Blount with a man just as hollow, but he is glad that the appointment supposedly gives him another agent close to King Joffrey and admits that Kettleblack can't be any worse than Blount.[1] Osmund eventually takes the position next to King Joffrey that used to be reserved for Ser Sandor Clegane.[6] Both Petyr Baelish and Tyrion soon have to realize that the new position goes to Osmund's head and makes him firmly a man of the queen and thus unreliable for Littlefinger's and Tyrion's individual schemes.[7][5]

Osmund and his brothers become great favorites in the Red Keep, getting along with both servants and highborns with their easygoing manner and their humor. It is rumored that they get best along with the serving wenches, although Osmund's position in the Kingsguard implies celibacy.[6]

Together with Ser Meryn Trant, Osmund personally guards King Joffrey during the Battle of the Blackwater. When Joffrey goes off to catapult the Antler Men into the Blackwater Rush, Tyrion warns him to keep the king safe under any circumstance but to also keep him among the defenders of the city.[8] However, Cersei is informed about the progress of the battle by Osmund's brothers. When Osney tells her that the Mud Gate has come under attack by a ram, she leaves order for Osmund to bring the king back to the Red Keep. When Osney points out Tyrion's diametrically opposite orders, Cersei threatens that she'll command the Kettleblacks into the middle of the battle if they don't do as told.[6] The Kettleblacks oblige. The flight of the king from the battlefield provokes some members of the City Watch to mutiny in the midst of fighting. However, Osmund is also the one who first conveys the news that the defenders have been saved by the combined forces mastered by the Lannisters and the Tyrells.[9]

After the battle, Ser Osmund and the other remaining members of the Kingsguard spend hours knighting more than six hundred men.[10]

A Storm of Swords

Ser Osmund is one of the Kingsguard assigned to bring Sansa Stark to the sept for her marriage to Tyrion Lannister. Ser Osmund is called as a witness for the prosecution during the trial of Tyrion Lannister for the death of King Joffrey I. His testimony is entirely made up.[11]

The absentee Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Jaime Lannister, returns to the city and calls a meeting of the Sworn Brothers in the White Sword Tower. Discussing Joffrey's murder, Osmund jokingly accuses the High Septon of the murder. Jaime asks why he has never heard of Osmund in all of his tourneys and battles, and presses him on how he came by his knighthood, not quite believing that Ser Robert Stone ever existed. Jaime wonders why Cersei named him to the order, but takes some solace in Osmund's skill at arms.[3]

When Jaime helps Tyrion escape from the black cells he learns from Jaime that his wife Tysha was not a whore, she was as she said - an innocent orphaned crofter's daughter. In his fury one of the things that Tyrion tells Jaime is that Cersei has been having sex with Ser Osmund. [12]

A Feast for Crows

Ser Osmund and Ser Boros Blount bring the news to Queen Cersei that Lord Tywin Lannister is dead. Ser Osmund and his brothers are ordered by the Queen to dispose of the corpse of Shae. What they do with the corpse was of no concern to Cersei, only that her presence at the Tower of the Hand was to be kept secret.[13]

A Dance with Dragons

Ser Osmund, as well as his brother Osfryd, are thrown into a dungeon by Kevan Lannister when Cersei admits to bedding all three of the Kettleblack brothers. Ser Kevan plans to send them to the Wall, if they plead guilty. If they plead not guilty, they will face Ser Robert Strong in trial by combat.

References and Notes