Brienne of Tarth

Brienne, also called Brienne of Tarth, The Maid of Tarth or, disparagingly, Brienne the Beauty, is a character in Game of Thrones. She is played by Gwendoline Christie and débuts in the second season. She is a warrior from the Stormlands.

Background
Brienne is the sole surviving child of Lord Selwyn Tarth of Evenfall Hall. She grew up on Tarth, an island in the Narrow Sea off the coast of the Stormlands whose people hold fealty to House Baratheon of Storm's End. Brienne is unusually tall and broad-shouldered for a woman by Westerosi standards and developed a taste for martial activity as a child. She has grown up to become skilled at arms and dreams of becoming a knight.

Season 2
Brienne of Tarth takes part in a tournament held by King Renly Baratheon. She faces Ser Loras Tyrell in single combat on foot and defeats him.

Behind the scenes
For her role as Brienne, Christie extensively trained to get into the right physical condition, as well as cutting off her long hair and reading all of the available novels to study her character's development in detail.

In the books
In the Song of Ice and Fire novels, Brienne is considered ugly and ungainly, but is immensely skilled at combat. She is taller and stronger than many men, and her father and his head of household guards have trained her for many years in the arts of combat. Some people consider her a freak, whilst other men hope to marry her to inherit her father's wealthy lands. For her part, Brienne yearns for respect, acceptance and a chance to prove her valor in a worthy cause.

According to author George R.R. Martin, Brienne in the books is supposed to be unusually tall and muscular for a woman, but not freakishly so. She is above six feet tall but not near seven feet (i.e. actress Gwendolyne Christie matches this at 6 feet 3 inches). She is taller than Jaime Lannister or Renly Baratheon, and significantly more heavyset. Still, she is not quite as tall as either Greatjon Umber or Sandor Clegane.

Interestingly, Brienne always presents herself or is announced as 'Brienne of Tarth', and never 'Brienne Tarth', which would also be correct. The reason for this naming preference is not known.