Podrick Payne (Pod)

Podrick Payne, called Pod, was born to a lesser branch of House Payne, the son of a squire who served his richer cousins and a chandler's daughter. His father died in Greyjoy's Rebellion, and when Podrick was four his mother ran off with a wandering singer, leaving the boy with Ser Cedric Payne. When Cedric fell in the riverlands, Podrick attached himself to the hedge knight Ser Lorimer the Belly, who was hanged for stealing a ham from Lord Tywin's stores; Podrick, who had shared the ham, was spared for his family's name. He passed into the service of Tyrion Lannister as squire, joining him before the Battle of the Green Fork — Tyrion once made the stammering boy stick out his tongue, half-fearing he had lost it like his kinsman Ser Ilyn. At the Battle of the Blackwater, Pod saved Tyrion's life by pushing Ser Mandon Moore of the Kingsguard into the Blackwater Rush, where the knight drowned under his heavy armor. He later squired for Brienne of Tarth on her search for Sansa Stark, and was captured and sentenced to hang by the brotherhood without banners under Lady Stoneheart. He is a distant cousin of Ser Ilyn Payne.