Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning... led the attack on the Kingswood Brotherhood. Defeated the Smiling Knight in single combat.
„
~ Joffrey Baratheon.
“
I wish you good fortune in the wars to come.
„
~ Arthur Dayne to Eddard Stark.
“
Arthur Dayne: And now it begins.
Eddard Stark: No. Now it ends.
„
~ Arthur Dayne's last words before the start of the skirmish.
Ser Arthur Dayne, also known as the Sword of the Morning, is a minor posthumous character in the epic fantasy novel series A Song of Ice and Fire and its 2011-2019 television series adaptation Game of Thrones. He is the younger brother of Lord Dayne, the brother of Ashara and Allyria Dayne, the cousin of Gerold Dayne, and the uncle of Edric Dayne. He was also Prince Rhaegar Targaryen's closest friend.
During his lifetime, Arthur Dayne was a legendary knight of House Dayne and a renowned member of the Kingsguard to King Aerys II Targaryen, also known as the Mad King. Arthur is also widely regarded as the greatest knight and swordsman in Westerosi history, as honorable and chivalrous as he was skilled with a blade.
Sometime after the Sack of King's Landing, Arthur, alongside two of his fellow Kingsguard, Gerold Hightower and Oswell Whent, was killed during a skirmish at the Tower of Joy, in which Lord Eddard Stark and Howland Reed are the only survivors. Arthur Dayne's killer is possibly Howland, given Ned Stark's claim that he himself would have been killed by the Sword of the Morning if not for Howland, though this hasn't been confirmed.
Like the previous Swords of the Morning before him, Arthur wielded Dawn, the famous ancestral greatsword of House Dayne, and he bore the title of Sword of the Morning.
In the TV series, he was portrayed by Luke Roberts.
Arthur Dayne was born in or before 260 AC in Dorne and at an unknown point in time, he proved himself worthy enough to be given the title of Sword of the Morning along with Dawn, which is said to have been forged from a fallen star. During his time as the Sword of the Morning, Dawn would always be slung across Arthur's back when not in use. During the reign of Aerys II Targaryen, the infamous outlaw band known as the Kingswood Brotherhood engaged in kidnapping nobles and holding them ransom before vanishing into the Kingswood. As the Brotherhood became too much of a nuisance, the Mad King sent a detachment of soldiers led by his Kinsguard to deal with the outlaws. The detachment was led by Arthur Dayne, as the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Gerold Hightower, was wounded after the outlaws had attacked the escort of Princess Elia Martell.
As the Smallfolk protected and sheltered the Kingswood Brotherhood, for they believe that they will protect their rights, Ser Arthur was able to gain their trust and confidence by paying for what he and his forces took from the peasantry and petitioning King Aerys to give them better rights. Because of this, the Smallfolk switched their allegiance to the royal forces. As a result, the Kingswood Brotherhood are no longer able to hide. In an ensuing clash that followed, Arthur Dayne engages in a duel with the Smiling Knight, a psychotic but deadly swordsman. When the Smiling Knight's sword broke, Ser Arthur pauses the duel to let the outlaw take another sword. When the Smiling Knight expresses his desire for Arthur's greatsword Dawn, the Sword of the Morning replies, "Then you shall have it, ser". In the end, the Smiling Knight was slain on the second duel. Following the victory over the Kingswood Brotherhood, Arthur Dayne knights Jaime Lannister, who was a squire at that time, for his bravery.
During a great tourney at Lannisport in 276 AC, which Lord Tywin Lannister held to honor the birth of Prince Viserys Targaryen, Ser Arthur Dayne became champion after defeating Prince Rhaegar. At a tourney at Storm's End, he broke twelves lances with the prince but was defeated by Rhaegar in the end. In 281 AC, at the tourney of Harrenhal, which was hosted by Lord Walter Whent, Rhaegar defeated Arthur Dayne a second time. According to a semi-canon source, as the year of the false spring was coming to an end, Ser Arthur and Ser Oswell Whent assisted Rhaegar in kidnapping Lady Lyanna Stark near Harrenhal. Consequently, this would be one of the pivotal events that instigated Robert's Rebellion shortly after.
Arthur Dayne, Gerold Hightower, and Oswell Whent at the Tower of Joy.
After the Battle of the Trident and the Sack of King's Landing, Lord Robert Baratheon ascended the Iron Throne, while House Targaryen had been deposed. Despite this, Ser Arthur Dayne, alongside Ser Gerold Hightower, and Ser Oswell Whent, continued to remain loyal to the Targaryens, making them one of the few Loyalists that remained. Their sworn brothers Prince Lewyn Martell and Ser Jonothor Darry had both been slain at the Trident, along with Prince Rhaegar, whilst Ser Barristan Selmy was taken captive. As for Ser Jaime Lannister, he had betrayed the crown by personally killing the Mad King, making him a "Kinglslayer" in the process. Arthur Dayne and his remaining sworn brothers had stayed out most of Robert's Rebellion, as they were commanded by Rhaegar to stay in the Red Mountains of Dorne and guard Lyanna Stark, who was being held at a small tower, nicknamed by Rhaegar as the "Tower of Joy".
Death[]
After lifting the Siege of Storm's End, Lord Eddard Stark rode to Dorne with a party of six companions, who were all northern highborns, to rescue Lyanna. At the Tower of Joy, a skirmish between the three Kingsguard and the northern party took place. Arthur Dayne, Gerold Hightower, and Oswell Whent fought against Eddard, Lord Willam Dustin, Howland Reed, Ser Mark Ryswell, Ethan Glover, Martyn Cassel, and northern mountain clansman Theo Wull. The details of the fight were never disclosed, but in the end only Eddard and Howland remained standing. According to Ned, he would have died at Arthur Dayne's hands if it weren't for Howland Reed. In the aftermath of the battle, Ned used stones from the Tower of Joy to build Arthur's cairn upon a nearby ridge.
Afterwards, he journeyed to Starfall, the ancestral seat of House Dayne, where he returned the greatsword Dawn as a sign of respect. Lady Ashara Dayne, the sister of the late Arthur Dayne, committed suicide by throwing herself into the Summer Sea, though the exact reason behind her decision is shrouded in enigma. One of the possible reasons is due to her grief over her brother's death. Ever since then until the present, Dawn continued to remain in Starfall until another Sword of the Morning is chosen.
Game of Thrones[]
In the TV series, the results of the fight at the Tower of Joy are shown; only Eddard Stark and Arthur Dayne remain standing, with Howland Reed injured and lying on the ground while the rest of the men having been killed along with Gerold Hightower.
Eddard Stark and Ser Arthur Dayne fight for a while, with Ser Arthur Dayne gaining the upper hand and knocking Eddard Stark's sword from his hand. Before he can kill Eddard Stark, Lord Howland Reed stabs him from behind in the neck. Despite this, Lord Stark kills the already dying Ser Arthur Dayne with his own sword, Dawn, and end his suffering.
Legacy[]
Ever since his death, Ser Arthur Dayne is widely beloved and respected throughout Westeros as many considered him to be the most chivalrous knight in history. Because of his prowess and skill in the use of the blade, he was idolized by Jaime Lannister himself, who noted that Ser Arthur is formidable and stronger than he. Jon Connington fondly remembers Arthur, noting that he has been an efficient commander. Arthur Dayne's reputation also drew the respect of Prince Viserys Targaryen, as he used to talk to his sister Daenerys about Dawn, which he referred to as a "wondrous white blade". In addition, Viserys remarked that Ser Arthur was the only knight in the realm who was their brother's peer.
Skills[]
Swordsmanship: Ser Arthur Dayne is regarded by many as the greatest swordsman to have ever lived and was also remembered as the deadliest of King Aerys' Kingsguard. According to George R.R. Martin, the only swordsman who is equally matched with Ser Arthur is Ser Barristan Selmy, but that's only when they would duel with normal swords. However, if Arthur Dayne uses Dawn against Ser Barristan, he can beat the latter. In the TV series, Arthur is capable of dual wielding, where he would wield Dawn in one hand and a normal sword in the off-hand.
Prowess: Arthur Dayne showed great prowess and bravery in battle as he never backed out/had withdrawn from a fight. In addition, he has shown to possess great mastery and expertise in sword fighting. In Game of Thrones, Arthur Dayne proved to be a master at wielding two swords at the same time, allowing him to fend off more than one, an example being when he took down five of Ned Stark's companions during the skirmish at the Tower of Joy.
Gallery[]
A Song of Ice and Fire[]
Ser Arthur Dayne with his sword Dawn in hands.
Histories and Lore[]
Game of Thrones[]
Trivia[]
Arthur and his sworn brothers Gerold and Oswell chose to fight to the death over bending the knee to King Robert I Baratheon and be pardoned by him, leaving only Ser Barristan Selmy and Ser Jaime Lannister as the sole Targaryen Kingsguards to be pardoned and kept into Robert's Kingsguard, although Jaime was pardoned in disgrace for having murdered the previous king, Aerys II Targaryen.
After the deaths of Arthur and his sworn brothers, Ser Willem Darry (possibly brother of the late Jonothor), and an extremely small group of four allies became the sole protectors of Viserys and Daenerys Targaryen, who smuggled the two children away from Dragonstone a year later, as the rest of the garrison and Targaryen vassals were planning to sell them to Stannis Baratheon. Willem served as Viserys and Daenerys' guardians and protector during the early years of Daenerys' childhood at Braavos, before dying from sickness when Daenerys was five and saw Willem as her own father.
In the novels, the combat at the Tower of Joy is featured in the first book A Game of Thrones, as Eddard Stark's dream flashback, after he is wounded on the leg by Jaime Lannister and he is sleeping and recovering in his chambers. In his dream, everyone's faces are blurred and distorted, because Ned struggles to remember what everyone looked like at that point. The dream is interrupted when Ned comments in a sorrowful manner "now it ends", being interrupted by his friend King Robert and his Queen Consort Cersei.
In the television series, Arthur is seen fighting with both his ancestral greatsword Dawn and another sword during the combat at the Tower of Joy. There is no mention of Arthur using another blade along with Dawn in the novels, but in the TV series he is seen fighting with both heavy blades with ease.
In the television series, only Arthur and his Lord Commander, Ser Gerold Hightower, appear to confront Ned Stark's party at Dorne's mountain pass, while Ser Oswell Whent's participation has been omitted. Instead, Gerold's television counterpart serves as an amalgamation of both Gerold and Oswell, and says the lines that the two characters have and say in Eddard's dream in the first novel.
This contradicts Oswell's entry in Season 4, which mentions his death in the Red Mountains of Dorne after refusing to bend the knee to King Robert.
While the TV series has shown how Arthur was killed, (stabbed in the back by Howland Reed, then finished off by Ned Stark), the novels have yet to disclose the details of Arthur's death
While the TV series is known to have widely changed and removed a lot of elements, story, and characters, it doesn't seem too unlikely to assume that Arthur in the original source might have died similarly as his TV counterpart, as he is regarded as the most chivalrous man and strongest ever known knight, far too stronger than Ned or Howland, the former struggling against Jaime in combat, who considers himself not as strong as Arthur, Barristan, or Robert in his prime.
Furthermore, Ned Stark told Bran that he would have died like the rest of his companions, if it wasn't for Howland. Howland Reed is a crannogman, which is the term to describe the people born in the Neck, the southernmost region of the North, mainly made of wetlands (swamps, marshes, bogs). Crannogmen are infamous and known for their sneaky and dishonorable fighting tactics to the point of being accused of sorcery and magically moving castles. They fight especially with bows and poisoned arrows, and their guerrilla tactics and attacks are so effective and destructive that they caused serious damage to Moat Cailin's ironborn garrison. It is possible that in the novels Arthur was defeated similarly, either stabbed in the back by Howland, or shot by him with a poisoned arrow, as crannogmen favor fighting sneakily from distance and don't care about chivalry and knight's honor in battle, which originate from southron Andal culture and the Faith of the Seven, not the First Men's culture from ancient Westeros.
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