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It seems the Kingsguard are becoming less and less seen the in the show.

A couple point to get to my title question:

  • I know there are supposed to seven members (as with many things this related to the Faith of the Seven), but with conflicting lists (show vs. books) and plot lines I am unsure who is actually considered to a be member at this point.The list for show seems to making many assumptions on the status of the members. Is it possible to confirm the current members?
  • Have we seen any other Kingsguard members? (other than Jaime and Ser Robert Strong Gregor Clegane recently) (Season 6)

Now, the High Sparrow seems to have it out for Cersei with the latest blow being

Tommen has ruled trial by combat illegal in the Seven Kingdoms. This has made a guilty verdict for Cersei highly likely.

However right before this we see

Gregor Clegane killing a member of the Faith Miliant in his protection of Cersei.

This seems especially relevant since

Jaime was still the Lord Commander of Kingsguard when they tried to rescue Margaery.

This seems to conflicting interest. Surely if the High Sparrow has enough influence on Tommen to get him to make the above decision he would be able to persuade him that the Kingsguard should only be guarding the king and protecting the Faith in this time unrest? So why is Kingsguard still protecting Cersei?

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    Might be best to separate this into two questions
    – Möoz
    Jun 13, 2016 at 20:45

4 Answers 4

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In the books, it is explained that the first and foremost mission of the Kingsguard is to protect the King. However, the King can more or less use them as he wants. This means he can chose to assign members of the Kingsguard to the protection of other members of his family, like Cersei, Myrcella with Arys Oakheart in the books, or Mace Tyrell with Meryn Trant when he goes to Braavos in Season 5. So Tommen could also decide to tell Gregor Clegane to stop protecting Cersei. I see three possible reasons not to do so :

  1. It seems that Cersei controls Gregor Clegane, so I'm not really sure he'd obey Tommen. Tommen may also not trust a half dead man kept alive by obscure experimentations performed by a guy so creepy he was fired from the Citadel.

  2. He still wants his mother to be protected. After all, he cares about her, and she's quite underappreciated at the moment.

  3. He wants to have one of his knights keeping an eye on Cersei to know what she's scheming (quite unlikely, considering 1.).

As for other members of the Kingsguard, we have not seen any other in the show since Meryn Trant died, at least as far as I remember ; and I'm not sure the precise current members have ever been identified, apart from Gregor Clegane (and Jaime before his exclusion).

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  • still wants his mother to be protected, but banned trials by combat :D
    – Schullz
    Jun 13, 2016 at 21:18
  • Protected until she can have a proper trial. In episode 2 (or 3?) he mentions that he's keeping her in the Red Keep because he fears for her if she gets out, due to the recent "walk of atonement" thing.
    – Arnaud D.
    Jun 13, 2016 at 21:23
  • I doubt Ser Robert Strong / Zombie Clegane can act out of his own volition or be bound by any kind of Kingsguard rules. Qyburn performed some sort of necromancy / mad science to bring him back, and I'm pretty sure the creature is under his control. In turn, Qyburn is Cersei's sidekick. It follows King Tommen cannot order Zombie Clegane to do anything.
    – Andres F.
    Jun 16, 2016 at 3:07
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During the s06e08 we can't be sure if the Kingsguard still protects Cersei or not. We only saw proofs that Gregor protects her. But Gregor follows only Qyburn and Cersei.

Also, it is important that Gregor still wears old Kingsguard armor without a seven-pointed star on it

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    Gregor is clearly wearing Kingsguard armor...
    – Skooba
    Jun 13, 2016 at 20:25
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    @Skooba I've edited an answer: he wears old Kingsguard armor without a seven-pointed star on it
    – Schullz
    Jun 13, 2016 at 21:18
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    +1 I think the most important bit of your answer is that Undead Gregor is under Qyburn's control. He isn't following Kingsguard rules, but whatever Qyburn and Cersei command.
    – Andres F.
    Jun 16, 2016 at 3:09
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Gregor is controlled by Cersei/Qyburn, Tommen could order to not protect her but he would not listen.

We see this later when he stops Tommen from attending the trial.

The rest of the Kingsguard at this point are either not present or at least partially controlled by Cersei. They are also a joke compared to Zombie mountain and would end up dead just as the guy from the Faith Militant if they tried to fight him.

And finally while Tommen does respect and listen to the High Sparrow he also wants his mother safe.

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Because this is the show, not the books. George Martin had stories behind each member of the Kingsguard, and each had a role to play in the story that was unfolding.

In 700-1000 pages, adding a name to a character takes as much space as not adding a name. You still have to describe someone coming into the scene, what they are doing during the scene, and how they leave the scene. Giving them a story, however brief, also adds more depth to your narrative, making a world seem larger and more complex.

In film, to name someone, you need to add more dialogue, to give them a story requires more actors, more time, more writers, and it doesn't push the plot forward.

This is what is missing in Seasons 7 and 8, and part of the reason they are shorter. The continuity issues in Season 7 are disturbing, partial spoiler w/limited details take for instance Jon getting from North of the Wall, to Dragonstone and travel back to Jon. In less than a day from the time that seemed to pass for Jon and his friends, word was carried on foot from where they were, to the wall, a raven was dispatched to Dragonstone, and then the return trip. Its estimated that its 1500-2000 miles from the Wall to Dragonstone. The raven at top speed is around 50 mph, this journey alone would take 30-40 hours. Plus foot travel, plus time to dispatch the raven, plus return time, you're looking at 3-4 days easy.

The point is, on film, many shortcuts are being taken. The Kingsguard is one of these shortcuts.

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    This seems to be more of a rant than an answer.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Sep 1, 2017 at 15:08
  • Could easily be seen as both, the 4th paragraph being primarily rant, but used to show the inconsistencies and degradation of storytelling that are getting horribly apparent in the later seasons of the show. Hopefully Martin expands on the story in the next couple books and the names and stories of the current Kingsguard will be known.
    – Amaethon
    Sep 1, 2017 at 15:11
  • I'm not going to get into that now but most of the apparent holes are due to lack of time to tell the main points. Also would you want to watch the whole travelling scenes? I highly doubt it.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Sep 1, 2017 at 15:12
  • You don't want to watch travelling scenes. But the whole 'throwing the rock' nonsense, and the passage of time just leaves too many questions. The King of the Dead had the King of the North dead to rights, but gave him 3-4 days to think it over before attempting to kill him... Why?
    – Amaethon
    Sep 1, 2017 at 15:14
  • This does not answer the question of why the Kingsguard is protecting Cersei.
    – Blackwood
    Sep 1, 2017 at 15:15

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