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| “ | Talbert: My sword... Victarion: Go and get it. |
„ |
| ~ Talbert and Victarion Greyjoy, moments before the latter throws the former into the sea. |
Ser Talbert Serry is a minor character in the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series.
He is a knight of House Serry, the son of Lord Osbert Serry, and the heir to the island of Southshield, one of the Shield Islands. During the War of the Five Kings, he fought to defend his islands from the reaving Iron Fleet of the Iron Islands and personally duelled Victarion Greyjoy.
Appearance[]
Talbert Serry was a young man with no facial hair.
Synopsis[]
Background[]
Talbert Serry was a member of House Serry of Southshield, a noble house of the Seven Kingdoms of the continent of Westeros. Southshield was the southernmost of the Shield Islands, a group of four islands located off the coast of the Reach, one of the realms of the Seven Kingdoms. The Shield Islands had long functioned as a bastion to protect the mainland from seaborn enemies, particularly Ironborn reavers from the northern Iron Islands. Talbert Serry was the son and heir of Lord Osbert Serry, the head of House Serry, and as such stood to inherit rulership of Southshield upon his father's death. Serry trained in combat and, at some point, was anointed as a knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
War of the Five Kings[]
In the year 298 AC, a largescale conflict known as the "War of the Five Kings" engulfed the Seven Kingdoms. The conflict was a war of succession primarily fought for rulership of the Seven Kingdoms. In 300 AC, the newly elected ruler of the Iron Islands, King Euron III of House Greyjoy, the Crow's Eye, used the chaos of the war to continue the Ironborn's secession from the Iron Throne, promised to return his people to significant power, and launched a campaign to conquer the entire Westeros. A naval fleet of unprecedented size (hundreds of ships, possibly 500, and exaggerated by mainlanders to be 1,000), made of assembled Ironborn fleets set sail through the Sunset Sea to fulfil their king's ambition.
Taking of the Shields[]
| “ | Victarion: You! You of the rose? Be you the lord of Southshield? Talbert: His son and heir. Ser Talbert Serry. And who are you, kraken? Victarion: Your death. |
„ |
| ~ Talbert Serry facing Victarion Greyjoy. |
In 300 AC, in the opening move of their campaign, King Euron Crow's Eye launched a surprise attack on the Reach, whose main armies were busy campaigning in the Crownlands, Riverlands, and Stormlands while their main naval force, the Redwyne fleet of the Arbor, was besieging Dragonstone and Storm's End. The defenders of the Shield Islands are alerted by the presence of Ironborn longships up the river Mander, resulting in their fleet getting dispatched to pursue them, with Ser Talbert Serry being part of it. This is a bait planned by Euron, who sent Torwold Browntooth and the Red Oarsman to lead the van of 12 longships, while the main invading fleets launch their respective surprise assaults on the Shields, unexpectedly appearing from the west.
The multiple naval fleets of the Iron Islands invaded the Shield Islands from the west, using the setting sun to hide their approach. While Ser Talbert and his comrades were busy in a pointless hunt along the river Mander, with their attention away from the Shields, King Euron's naval forces attacked the isles, facing the defending garrisons in land battles and sacking and raiding towns and castles. The islands of Greyshield, Greenshield, and Southshield were captured before the next morning, while Oakenshield lasted half a day.
By the time the Shields' ships abandoned Torwold and the Red Oarsman's longships in the Mander and return to the Shields, they found themselved trapped and attacked by the Iron Fleet, the Seastone Chair's personal naval force, at the river's mouth. The Shields' smaller defense fleet, including a ship commanded by Ser Talbert, attempted to rebuff the Ironborn invaders. During the sea battle, Talbert's ship was rammed by the Iron Fleet's flagship, the Iron Victory. The crew of the Iron Victory boarded Talbert's ship, and a melee ensued between the invaders and the soldiers of House Serry. Talbert cut a bloody path through the Ironborn until he encountered a hulking Ironborn warrior of House Greyjoy, who declined to give his name.
During the battle, Talbert managed to keep up with his opponent, Victarion Greyjoy, the Lord Captain of the Iron Fleet, the two fighting clad in full plate armor. Talbert's attacks put Victarion on defense, until the latter's shield was destroyed. Victarion then caught Talbert's longsword in his gauntlet, resulting in the blade deeply cutting through Victarion's hand. The stronger Victarion managed to snatch Talbert's sword and throw it into the sea, then he overpowered the knight and grabbed him by the throat. Victarion told the disarmed Talbert to go get back his sword and threw him overboard. Talbert presumably drowned under the weight of his own armor, although Victarion was hoping he could be captured as a hostage. When Talbert is considered slain, Victarion tells his crew: "May he feast as he fought, in the Drowned God's watery halls," showing respect for his warrior's death. The Iron Fleet only lost six longships, but thirty-eight warships of the Shield Islands were captured and added into the force, while Victarion allowed a dozen southron ships to escape back to the Mander.
After the battle, Victarion's wound given by Ser Talbert was tended on by the Dusky Woman, while Victarion thought with respect about Talbert, thinking about his bravery on the battlefield and how he was not afraid to wear a full suit of armor at sea, noting he was almost Ironborn. Some ironmen attributed King Euron's successful sea voyage through the dangerous Sunset Sea, which led to the surprise west attack of the the Shields unaware, to blood sacrifice and the assistance of foul wizards.
Aftermath[]
Talbert's home, the island of Southshield, was invaded by the Ironborn, who took all the inhabitants. Instead being taken as thralls and salt wives, the lowborn women and children whose husbands and fathers died during the battles were to be sold into slavery at the Free City of Lys, by Euron's order. The reaver Andrik the Unsmiling was named the new Lord of Southshield.
In King's Landing, a fuming Queen Margaery Tyrell reported to Dowager Queen Cersei Lannister that Ser Talbert Serry was slain by the invading Ironborn. Talbert's father, Lord Osbert Serry, fled to Highgarden with the surviving remnants of the Serry fleet.
During the Iron Fleet's sea voyage to Slaver's Bay, on their way to Meereen, Victarion thinks about Ser Talbert Serry, as his injured left hand is not healing and became infected. He comments to himself in his mind, "I killed him, but he stabs at me from beyond the grave. From the hot heart of whatever hell I sent him to, he thrusts his steel into my hand and twists." Victarion wonders if Talbert's sword had been poisoned, but he discounts the idea of a knight using poison. Instead Victarion considers blaming his new young thrall, Maester Kerwin. In Essos, during his stay on the Isle of Cedars, Victarion meets the red priest Moqorro from Volantis, who warns him that he will die from the wound given by Serry. Moqorro successfully saves Victarion's life through some occult bloodmagic rite, giving him a burned hand that still functions through sorcery.
Trivia[]
- Talbert Serry did not appear in Game of Thrones, the television series adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire.
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