Gerold Hightower

"Arthur Dayne, Gerold Hightower. Sure, if half the stories about them are true, they could swing a sword better than most. Makes their lives even more of a waste."

- Bronn

Gerold Hightower is an unseen character in Game of Thrones. He is not expected to appear in the series, being long dead by the time it starts. Ser Gerold Hightower was a knight of House Hightower and the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard under Aerys II Targaryen.

Season 4
Ser Gerold Hightower's entry in The Book of Brothers mentions several events of his life. Among them are his injury defending the honor and property of Princess Elia Martell; granting temporary command of the Kingsguard to his sworn brother Ser Arthur Dayne. The Book also mentions that he was sent to locate Prince Rhaegar Targaryen in the wake of Robert's Rebellion, and his death along with Ser Arthur and Ser Oswell Whent near the Red Mountains of Dorne fighting a small force led by Eddard Stark after refusing to bend the knee to the new king, Robert Baratheon.

Season 6
Within Bran's vision of the events at the Tower of Joy however, Ser Gerold Hightower was not observed fighting alongside his fellow Kingsguard Sers Arthur Dayne and Oswell Whent against Eddard Stark, Howland Reed and 4 others. Down in King's Landing, the Hand of the King Kevan Lannister objected to his nephew attending a Small Council meeting. Jaime countered by stating he has a position there, given his title of Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. Cersei then asked Pycelle to vouch for his presence there, and the Grand Maester brought up the precedent of Gerold being on the council during Aerys II's reign; before he could object to Jaime's presence though, the Lord Commander slammed a chair down at the far end of the table, interrupting him.

In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Ser Gerold Hightower was known as "the White Bull" for his immense strength. He was Lord Commander of the Kingsguard during the brief reign of King Jaehaerys II and then under King Aerys II.

Gerold Hightower, similarly to Barristan Selmy and Arthur Dayne, was blindly loyal to the Mad King, no matter how cruel and bloodthirsty Aerys was. He was present when Aerys executed Rickard Stark and his son. He noticed that Jaime Lannister disapproved of the unjust atrocity and told him "You swore a vow to guard the king, not to judge him".

During Robert's Rebellion, Prince Rhaegar left Ser Gerold and his fellow Kingsguard Ser Oswell Whent and Ser Arthur Dayne to guard Lyanna Stark at the Tower of Joy near the Red Mountains of Dorne. After the Battle of the Trident, Eddard Stark and six companions arrived to rescue Lyanna and were confronted by the Kingsguard. Despite it being apparent that the Targaryens had lost the war, Ser Gerold refused to surrender, insisting that "the Kingsguard does not flee." In the fight that followed, all three Kingsguard were slain, along with five of Stark's friends. Only Stark himself and Howland Reed survived. It is unclear exactly who killed Ser Gerold. Lord Stark later had the tower demolished and used the stone to make eight cairns, in honor of the eight who died there.