Davos Seaworth

Lord Davos Seaworth, initially introduced as Ser Davos Seaworth, and also known as the Onion Knight, the Onion Lord, and Davos Shorthand, is a major protagonist in A Song of Ice and Fire novels and its HBO adaption Game of Thrones.
Lowborn and a former notorious smuggler, he becomes a landed knight and later a lord, as well as the right hand to rightful King Stannis Baratheon and the closest thing Stannis has to a friend. Davos is the head of House Seaworth and later also Lord of the Rainwood, Admiral of the Narrow Sea, and Hand of the King. He is also the captain of Black Betha. His wife tends his lands on Cape Wrath.
He is the voice of reason in Stannis's ear, constantly clashing with the King's advisor and red priestess, Melisandre of Asshai. Davos is a man that is loyal and above all honorable, always willing to stand up for what he sees as the right and just thing to do.
He is married to a lowborn woman named Marya and has 7 children from her: Dale, Allard, Matthos, Maric, Devan, Stannis, and Steffon. Dale and Allard are fully grown men with their own women and ship captains, Matthos is a younger grown man serving in Davos' own ship, Maric is young and serves as the oarmaster of Stannis's own ship, and Devan is a preteen serving as one of Stannis's squires. The youngest sons, Stannis and Steffon Seaworth, are still children and live with Davos's wife in a keep in Cape Wrath, in the Stormlands.
== Character Overview and Personality ==
Despite his previous career as a smuggler, as well as having been a member of a pirate crew in his adolescence, Davos Seaworth is one of the most honorable knights in the Seven Kingdoms. His loyalty and determination show him as a greatly and deeply caring individual. He is often regarded as one of the most morally good characters in the series, with some fans even comparing him to Eddard Stark. He is a simple, yet wise and humble individual. He is known for his bluntness and brutal honesty, always speaking nothing but the hard truth, honest criticism and factual statements, even calling more dangerous opponents and people with more power over him liars to their face in political environment. Outside of the many highborn lords and knights who look down on him for his low birth and for the fact he used to be a notorious smuggler, he is generally well liked and has a sense of humor when the opportunity strikes.
He does have some faults, by his own admission, and views himself as morally gray as opposed to good or bad. He cites himself cheating on his wife Marya Seaworth (whom he loves dearly) multiple times and his past as a criminal as grounds for this. Regardless, Davos always tries to do the right thing even if he's hated or disliked for it, such as smuggling Edric Storm away from Dragonstone, or freeing Gendry and helping him to escape in the television series. 
Despite being a landed knight with his own lands, keep, and ships, Davos does not wear any expensive and colorful attire like the lords of the Narrow Sea, preferring to wear plain and simpler clothings. This choice remains the same even after he is raised as a lord and King's Hand by Stannis. Being a sailor, he does not favor plate armor and feels more comfortable with open helmets and quick one-handed swords fit for sea battles. He rarely wears mail for protection. Davos is illiterate, and despite having spent much of his life in the Free Cities in western Essos, he does not speak High Valyrian. During the War of the Five Kings, after the Battle of the Blackwater, Davos becomes literate after being taught by the youth Maester Pylos to read (or by Shireen in the television version). 
There are a few differences between the novels and the show. Davos in the novels is younger than his television counterpart, more optimistic and much less cynical, but is also wise and usually a decent judge of character. From his life experiences in poverty and in the criminal world, he is not a trusting man and is always careful with his words, constantly taking the measure of the people he meets before passing judgement. He doesn't easily trust friendly behavior from lords and strangers, expecting ill intentions from them, behind their smiles and courtesies. He does not even trust his old close friend and pirate Salladhor Saan, thinking he is a "treacherous and bloodthirsty old rogue", despite Salladhor being pleasant and funny to be around, as behind his genuine friendliness Salladhor is also capable of great cruelty.
In the television series, Davos is a bit grim and serious looking like his former leader, aggressive, sarcastic, cold and sometimes mean-tempered, but with that said there's a lot of morals and heart behind his character. He is shown being warmer, more light-hearted, friendly, and humorous while in the company of Shireen Baratheon, his old friend Salladhor Saan, and even Gendry.
Davos is fond of ale and women. While he loves all his children, he is mostly close to his older sons, Dale, Allard, Matthos, and Maric. He is a little bit less close to Devan, who is squire to Stannis Baratheon and a follower of the Red God R'hllor. Davos does not know well his youngest sons, Stannis and Steffon, the former named after Davos' liege and the latter possibly named after Steffon Baratheon. As a result of his past criminal lifestyle and environment, Davos' second son Allard is thuggish and behaves more like a bandit, as opposed by Devan's highborn, proud and knightly attitude and accent. His sons despise the humble onion sigil of House Seaworth, wishing to change it with more appropriate and prettier heraldry. Davos sees himself as a bad parent and a bad husband.
While he is deeply grateful for the life in nobility that Stannis gave him, Davos only took his title for the sake of his family, and often finds himself missing his old life as a free sailor. Davos was made a captain in King Robert I Baratheon's royal fleet, spending years of his life at court in King's Landing or sailing around at sea under Stannis's command to execute smugglers and pirates, as well as presumably fighting in the sea conflicts in Greyjoy's Rebellion. It is ironic to Davos that he ended up becoming a law enforcer and a royal navy official against sea criminals when he used to be one himself, and after rising to lordship in the third novel he feels he rose far above his station, seeing himself as an upjumped smuggler.
As he misses his old life and the adventures at sea, where he used to command his own crew of criminals, see strange and even mystical things, and meet different types of people as well as pirates, Davos entertained the thought of leaving his service one day, after ensuring that Stannis takes the Iron Throne and will be surrounded by powerful and loyal councilors. He considered abandoning his life in nobility one day and taking his wife and remaining children at sea to show them the wonders of the world and places they never saw, like the diverse lands in Essos, although Davos knows his son Devan is extremely devoted to Stannis's cause and to his highborn Westerosi life. 
Davos always nominally followed the Faith of the Seven, but was never devout and has always been more or less agnostic, at one point claiming that his god is Stannis Baratheon, and always trusting his pouch containing the bones of his cut fingers of his left hand to bring him luck over prayer. He is disgusted by the destruction of the Targaryen sept of Dragonstone and becomes one of the King's Men when Stannis's army divides into two factions, the other being the aggressive Queen's Men. Over the course of the story, due to his near-death experience and strange survival at the Blackwater Rush, his faith in the Seven strengthens significantly, after suffering from fever and having strange dreams about the Mother Above speaking to him. At one point he ends up believing that Melisandre murdered Maester Cressen and his four eldest sons, and the Seven had him survive the Battle of the Blackwater to send him to kill Melisandre on their behalf, to stop her "red demon" and save Stannis's soul. Thus Davos becomes one of the most religious POV characters in the series. Davos in the television show is an atheist, saying religion was invented by parents to help their children sleep at night.
Davos shows a lot of reasons in his goals and motivations, and he's highly skeptical of Melisandre's advice, her foreign religion, and her use of human sacrifice. Her aggressive religious beliefs, her occultic practice of sorcery such as shadow magic and bloodmagic, and the failure of the Battle of the Blackwater make him hate her even more, and even attempts to kill her at one point. This shows irrationality on Davos' side, as he blamed Melisandre for the fact that King's Landing's garrison used wildfire against Stannis's fleet. Davos believed that Melisandre was a traitor who knew about the wildfire, but maliciously sent the men of the fleet to die as a huge sacrifice to her god. While Melisandre implied she might have seen a vision of the wildfire attack, she insisted that she had no obligation to share her vision with Stannis, who left her behind before the battle, and genuinely believed it was her god R'hllor who decided the outcome of the wildfire attack, claiming it was a punishment for Stannis's lack of faith and pride. Stannis denounced Davos' plotting and murderous hate against Melisandre, instead blaming the wildfire attack on his fleet's grand admiral, Ser Imry Florent, for his lack of strategy and not having sent scouts to check King's Landing's defenses at the mouth of the Blackwater first.
In the television series, Davos' supporting leadership and goals with Stannis were questionable, due to Stannis's reliance on human sacrifices of those who stood against the worship of R'hllor, or were simply did nothing wrong but were deemed necessary as offerings. After Stannis's death in this version, Davos becomes more light-hearted and remains a lot similar to Tyrion Lannister, who's known for his intelligence, quick-thinking skills and sharp wits, almost befriending him later on in the story.
In the TV show, Selyse Florent, the wife of Stannis, dislikes Davos. Shireen mentions that her mother does not approve of him speaking to her, having even to hide the fact that some of her possessions are gifts from Davos. In the novels, there is no evidence of Selyse having a particular dislike for Davos, who is not as close to Shireen as he is in the show. Instead it is the boy Edric Storm who spends much time with Shireen, and for whom Selyse expresses a dislike, due to the fact she believes his birth was the reason why she has been unable to give sons to her husband. In the novels, Selyse laughs when her uncle Axell Florent tells a mean-spirited joke about Davos to Cotter Pyke and other officers of the Night's Watch.
All in all, in both incarnations, Davos Seaworth is a wise reliable person who tries to make the realm a better place with his good intentions.
==Biography==
During Robert's Rebellion Stannis was besieged in Storm's End by Mace Tyrell and Paxter Tyrell, holding the castle for a year and almost starving to death in the process. However Davos evaded the Redwyne fleet and smuggled a ship of onions and salt fish into Storm's End. This enabled the garrison to survive long enough for Eddard Stark to lift the siege. For this service Stannis knighted Davos and gave him lands and a keep. However he removed the joints on four fingers on Davos' left hand as punishment for his previous smuggling. Davos accepted this as long as Stannis did it himself, which happened. Davos married Marya, a Carpenter's daughter, and had seven sons. He loves his wife, though he has known other women.
When Stannis' older brother King Robert Baratheon dies Stannis claims the Iron Throne, having discovered that Robert has no legitimate children. Stannis sends Davos and his sons to carry the message across the western coast of Westeros, though is unable to get any allegiance outside of the Lords of the Narrow Sea, around Dragonstone. When Stannis attacks King's Landing in the Battle of the Blackwater Davos commands a ship. However Tyrion Lannister's wildfire trap burns most of Stannis' ships, including the three Seaworth ships. Davos' four oldest sons are killed. However Davos swims under the harbor chain and survives. His fifth son Devan is a squire to Stannis and escapes the Blackwater with his King.
Davos blames the R'hllor Priestess Melisandre and plans to kill her, however is arrested by Ser Axell Florent, castellan of Dragonstone and uncle of Stannis' wife Selyse Florent. Stannis lets him out to hear his counsel on Axell's plan to attack the nearby and undefended Claw Isle in retaliation for Lord Celtigar bending the knee to Joffrey. Davos counsels they don't, as Claw Isle is undefended due to many of its men fighting and dying for Stannis, saying Lord Celtigar was captured with many of his men and bent the knee to save himself and them. Axell objects, but Stannis sends him out. He agrees with Davos, saying Axell's plan was evil. Stannis then makes Davos Lord of the Rainwood, Admiral of the Narrow Sea, and Hand of the King for his good service.
Later Stannis considers burning Edric Storm, a bastard of Robert's, for Melisandre's spells. He has already used Edric's blood in leeches to curse the three rival Kings. After Balon Greyjoy and Robb Stark die Stannis begins to come over to Melisandre's way of thinking, but is still reluctant to sacrifice his nephew, despite Selyse and Axell counselling him to. Davos points out not all the other Kings are dead, which Stannis agrees with.
After Joffrey's death, Davos, with the aid of Ser Rolland Storm, Maester Pylos, and a group of King's men, smuggles Edric off Dragonstone, sending him to Lys in Essos aboard one of Salladhor Saan's ships. He confesses to Stannis what he did. Stannis prepares to execute him, but Davos shows a letter from the Night's Watch, pleading for help against the Wildlings, and convinces Stannis to aid them. Stannis takes most of his army North and defeats Mance, saving the Night's Watch.
Davos is sent to the North's only city, White Harbor, to gain the support of its Lord, Wyman Manderly, the richest man in the North, who lost one of his sons, Wendel, at the Red Wedding. Davos finds three Freys there and tries to convince the Manderlys to support Stannis, but Lord Manderly sentences him to death. Davos' head and hands are placed on the walls, but in reality a similar-looking criminal was executed in Davos' place, his fingers shortened. Davos is imprisoned but treated well. He is then taken by Robett Glover to Lord Manderly. Wyman tells Davos he was forced into this charade as his only surviving son, Wylis, was the Lannister's hostage. Now Manderly's heir has been returned, Wyman says he is ready to declare for Stannis if they meet his terms. He tells Davos to recover Rickon Stark from Skagos, as he wants a Stark in Winterfell. 
==Gallery==
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Davos attending Pylos' lesson.png|Davos learning to read with the help of young Maester Pylos, his son Devan, Princess Shireen, and Edric Storm.
==Trivia==
*In the novels, Stannis Baratheon made Davos a lord during the third installment, A Storm of Swords, after Davos is released from his cell and pardoned for his attempted murder on Melisandre.
**In the TV series, Davos is never made lord until the very end of Season 8. In the finale, Bran Stark makes Davos a lord.
==External Links==
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