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Because it is tied to the Faith of the Seven, knighthood does not exist in other cultures outside of the Seven Kingdoms, either among the wildlings beyond the Wall , nor across the Narrow Sea in other continents such as Essos though of course, a knight from the Seven Kingdoms may travel to the Free Cities. Typically, young men must undergo many years of extensive and expensive training to become a knight.
A young knight-in-training is known as a " squire ". Pursuing a knighthood is one of the few ways for a member of the smallfolk to achieve rank and standing amongst the nobility. However, such a task usually involves the expenditure of significant sums of money on armor and weaponry which puts it out of the reach of most commoners.
The rank of knighthood is not hereditary, and thus a knight's sons must go through the whole process of becoming knights themselves.
Of course, a commoner who has been knighted will have greater opportunity to gain the wealth needed to put his sons through training as knights. It is not unheard of, however, for commoners to be knighted after significantly distinguishing themselves in combat.
This skips the typically large costs of training to be a knight, though it happens more often in wartime. During Robert's Rebellion , Stannis Baratheon knighted Davos Seaworth as a reward for saving his castle garrison at the Siege of Storm's End - albeit this was a rare case in which Davos's bravery was not in combat, but in running the blockade around the castle to bring food to the starving garrison.
Even a common sellsword that has fought valiantly in combat may be rewarded by being dubbed a knight, though this occurs infrequently. For example, Ser Bronn of the Blackwater was knighted after the Battle of the Blackwater for the vital role he played in setting the wildfire trap which destroyed much of the attacking enemy fleet. In theory, all knights hold an equal rank, but in practice knights who own their own lands or who serve major lords are much more highly respected than a landless commoner who happened to be knighted after fighting valiantly in a battle.
It is also seen as more prestigious to be knighted by a king, a major lord, a Kingsguard, or another highly respected knight. Any knight can theoretically make another man a knight if he is willing to say the vows, though respectable knights would not hand out the title lightly.
A sellsword might get knighted for fighting well in a battle, and he might dishonorably knight all of his drinking companions who did nothing to earn it. They would technically hold the title of "knight", but no one would take their title seriously due to the low prestige of how they became knighted. Most often, young men who have finished their training and just recently been knighted are landless and not in the service of any lord. There are three stages of service that knights hope to work their way up through:.
In wartime, mounted knights form the backbone of major armies in southern Westeros. The skill of each knight varies, but they are typically elite professional soldiers, with extensive combat training, and often equipped with the finest arms and armor available to them. Even dismounted, a single knight is considered to be worth several dozen men-at-arms , who are forced to serve and are often poorly trained and equipped. Knights are very useful for carving through and running down enemy infantry, though they are also the best weapon against the enemy army's own mounted knights.
Personal combat aside, knights also serve as officers to whomever side they serve. In peacetime, knights prove their martial valor through training soldiers as the master-at-arms in the holdfasts they serve in. Others choose to prove it by participating in contests of skill known as tournaments although knighthood is not always a formal requirement for participation in a tournament. The highlight of tournaments is the joust, in which mounted knights charge at each other, each knight trying to knock the other off of his horse using a wooden lance.
Knights at tournaments frequently fight to win the favor of nobles and potential spouses if they prove victorious. While some knights do fight for such romantic reasons, others may be more interested in the large sums of prize money awarded to the winners, often numbering in hundreds or thousands in Gold Dragons.
Others fight at tournaments to win general social prestige, or for the excitement of victory, though a few, such as Ser Gregor Clegane , fight simply to indulge in violence. Knights often formally swear fealty to lords by exchanging formulaic vows.
In one commonly used formula, the knight kneels before a lord in supplication while holding up his sword in offering, and they give the following exchange:.
Men who have been knighted, even those not originally from noble Houses, gain the legal right to display their own personal heraldry. Since the Targaryen conquest three hundred years before the War of the Five Kings , the seven-man royal bodyguard known as the Kingsguard have been considered to be the pinnacle of knighthood. In theory, the Kingsguard are the elite of the elite, more skilled at combat and more honorable and virtuous than any other knights in the entire realm.
At times, this ideal has been matched, in great and honorable knights such as the legendary Ser Barristan Selmy. Other times, Kingsguard members have been skilled warriors but behaved controversially, such as Ser Jaime Lannister.
In the worst occasions, some Kingsguard members were appointed simply as political favors, and are neither honorable nor particularly talented fighters, such as Ser Meryn Trant. Mounted Westerosi knights on heavy horse typically charge enemy infantry formations using war lances. Cavalry charges can devastatingly kill a large number of infantry drastically out of proportion to the number of cavalry present. On foot, the fighting style of Westerosi knights consists of powerful slashing attacks and strong blocks using a heavy sword, alternating with quick thrusting attacks meant to penetrate armor.
Westerosi knights wear heavy plate armor which provides them excellent protection, particularly against the crude weapons of basic infantry conscripts, albeit at the cost of making their movements relatively slow.
The weight of their armor slows them down enough that they cannot rely on speed to win against unarmored opponents though the armor will keep them alive longer than their opponent , thus knights must rely on the raw power of blows from heavy swords, designed to deal damage not only due to their sharpness but their sheer weight. Broad hacking and slashing movements are not merely dramatic, but combined with the raw weight of the sword, will drastically increase the force behind the impact of the blow.
A lightly armed and armored opponent may hit a knight multiple times but for little damage. Conversely, it may take a knight some time to pin down an unarmored opponent, but once he does, his blow will be absolutely devastating. The agility of a knight also depends highly on its wearer, as veteran fighters are often seen to be moderately unrestricted by their armor. The greatest threat to armored knights is actually other armored knights, and their weapon design and fighting style evolved to reflect this.
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