Stannis Baratheon

Middle son of Lord Steffon Baratheon, Stannis held Storm's End through the Tyrell siege of Robert's rebellion, only to be denied the castle afterwards and given Dragonstone instead — a slight he never forgot and never forgave. He was the man who did the hard thing every time, and made sure everyone knew what it cost him.

He broke the Iron Fleet off Fair Isle in the Greyjoy Rebellion, held the narrow sea for his brother, and when Robert died he pressed his claim against the Lannister children with the single-mindedness of a man who believes law is a sword. He took it north when the realm needed him, sailing to the Wall to save the Night's Watch from the wildlings because it was his duty — and because Melisandre told him he was the chosen one.

He lost the Blackwater and half his army, and his faith cost him more than his crown ever did. The singers who finish his story leave him in the snows outside Winterfell, broken by the Boltons and the cold; whether the books will end him the same way, the winds have not yet said. The maesters of this telling count him among the dead.