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| “ | He was clad in white scale armor under his white cloak, but his helm was openface and he had not brought a shield, and sorely did Sandoq make him answer for these lacks. | „ |
| ~ Writings of Mushroom |
Ser Amaury Peake is a supporting character in the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series. He was a knight of House Peake and a nephew of Lord Unwin Peake of Starpike, the Hand of the King to Aegon III Targaryen, and was a member of the Kingsguard during the latter's regency. He was slain in single-combat by Sandoq the Shadow when he and his guardsmen attempted to arrest Prince Viserys Targaryen's wife Lady Larra Rogare, after her foreign family of House Rogare were accused of conspiracy and planned regicide against King Aegon, following their fall from power in Lys.
Biography[]
In 133 AC, during the regency of King Aegon III Targaryen, when the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Willis Fell and two of his fellow sworn brothers died from an epidemic known as the Winter Fever, King Aegon appointed Ser Robin Massey as the new Lord Commander while appointing Ser Robert Darklyn to the Kingsguard. However, as the young king had not consulted with his regents and also by the fact that he was only twelve-years-old at that time, which made him too young to have the judgement to decide such weighty matters on his own, his Hand of the King, Lord Unwin Peake, who was supported by Grand Maester Munkun, proceeded to reverse the king's appointments by dismissing Ser Robin and Ser Robert from the Kingsguard and instead appoint his own kin and supporters, with Ser Marston Waters being elevated to the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard while Unwin's bastard half-brother, Ser Mervyn Flowers, and his nephew, Ser Amaury, were given white cloaks. Though Aegon III responded with sullen silence to Unwin and Munkun's decision, he nevertheless protested by pointing out that Kingsguard serve for life, which Unwin agrees on but insisted that only if they are "properly appointed."
A few years later in 135 AC, during the Lysene Spring and during the plot against the once-powerful Rogare Family, the newly-made Hand of the King Ser Marston Waters (who had usurped the title from Lord Thaddeus Rowan) sends Ser Amaury and a dozen guardsmen to seize Maegor's Holdfast and arrest Lady Larra Rogare, as her family was falsely accused of conspiring and attempting to overthrow and murder King Aegon. Upon approaching the holdfast, Amaury and the guardsmen found the King's brother Prince Viserys on the drawbridge with a battleaxe. When he defiantly forbade Ser Amaury from taking Larra, the Kingsguard knight was only amused by this and he tells Prince Viserys that Lady Larra is wanted for questioning with the treachery of her brothers. When demanded on who wants her, Amaury Peake reveals that the Hand of the King wants Larra, which confused Viserys, as he still believed that Lord Thaddeus Rowan is the Hand only for Ser Amaury to reveal that Thaddeus has been removed from office and is replaced by Marston Waters.
At this, King Aegon III steps onto the drawbridge to intervene and he reminds Amaury of his status as king and that he never chose Ser Marston as his Hand. Aegon's intervention shocked Ser Amaury, who reminds him that his leal lords are the ones making all the decisions until he comes of age and that his regents were the ones who chose Ser Marston Waters. When King Aegon insisted that Thaddeus Rowan is his regent Amaury tells him that he is no longer the king's regent as he has "betrayed" the king's trust. Upon being demanded on by whose authority, Amaury answered that it was the authority of the Hand of the King. This caused Prince Viserys to burst out laughing and he mockingly tells him, "The Hand names the regent and the regent names the Hand, and round and round and round we dance...but you shall not pass, ser, nor shall you touch my wife. Begone, or I promise you, every man of you shall die here."
Amaury Peake right before he was killed by Sandoq the Shadow.
Enraged and losing patience, Ser Amaury Peake orders his men to gently move Aegon and Viserys aside and to ensure that they'll not be harmed. This caused Prince Viserys to warn him saying, "This is on your head, ser" and drives his battleaxe deep into the drawbridge before scampering back. He then gives a final warning to Amaury and his men to go no further than the axe or they'll die. After King Aegon drew his brother back into Maegor's Holdfast, Sandoq the Shadow emerges and steps onto the drawbridge. When Amaury's men charged at him, Sandoq successfully fends them off. After killing nearly all of them, Ser Amaury engages in a duel with Sandoq. During the duel, he was wounded by his opponent, though he refused to yield and stubbornly continued fighting until the last of his guardsmen snatched Sandoq's sword from his hand. When Amaury charged at Sandoq, the latter tore Prince Viserys' battleaxe from the drawbridge and used it to split the former's head and helm in half, instantly killing him. Amaury's now-lifeless body then toppled onto the spikes below the drawbridge.
Trivia[]
- Amaury's family, House Peake, is a reference by George R. R. Martin to the books of the late English writer, artist, poet, and illustrator Mervyn Peake, which are among his reading recommendations. Two members of House Peake are named Titus, being Amaury's cousin, Ser Titus, and the current head of the family, Lord Titus Peake, who's married to a Lannister. Both characters are named after Titus Groan, the main protagonist of the Gormenghast novel series. Amaury's half-uncle, Mervyn Flowers, is named after Mervyn Peake. House Peake's seat, Starpike, is a reference to Steerpike, the main antagonist of the series.
