Denys Mallister

Ser Denys Mallister, born at Seagard beneath the Booming Tower to a lord of House Mallister, is a knight of the Night's Watch and an uncle of Lord Jason Mallister. A squire at twelve, a knight at eighteen, and a champion at two-and-twenty, he once unhorsed both of Samwell Tarly's grandfathers — Alester Florent and the father of Randyll Tarly — at the same tourney. He has commanded the Shadow Tower since 267 AC. When the ranger Mance Rayder returned from beyond the Wall wearing a cloak a wildling woman had mended with scarlet silk, Denys ordered him to burn it, a rebuke that helped drive Mance to desert. Twice a candidate for Lord Commander, he yielded first to Qorgyle and then to Jeor Mormont, and in the choosing after Mormont's death he stepped aside, at Samwell Tarly's urging, so that Jon Snow could win. Courtly, cautious, and proud of his blood, he keeps an old enmity with Cotter Pyke of Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.