Barristan's vigil for Set Hugh of the Vale

[Leonardo]

This topic doesn't really go anywhere, but it really speaks to the character of Barristan and the depths to which he took his honor.

 

I would posit the question though, who had High killed, or was it chance?

[The Weirwoods Eyes]

I think it does indeed tell us the depth of Barristan's character and that is important. Every thing that we learn about him during the story paints a picture and that picture is an honest, honorable, and principled man.  So it means that when he starts talking we know he's not BS'ing and can be taken seriously as a source. 

As to Ser Hugh, I think he simply fell victim to Gregor Clegane. Both LF and Varys take advantage of Ser Hugh's timely death. And he serves as a nice little red herring in the who killed Jon Arryn story. 

[Seams]

This is a great topic.

One of my old, oft-repeated convictions is that Ser Barristan represents the Stranger. (There are other characters who also represent the Stranger.) So the conversation between Ned and Ser Barristan over the body of Ser Hugh may represent an extraordinary exchange between the Lord of Death (Barristan as the Stranger) and the Lord of the Underworld (Ned as the Winter King).

The vague ideas about Ser Hugh's origin and family history are similar, in my mind, to the hazy stories and rumors surrounding Jon Snow's birth mother.

The discussion of his new armor and who will pay for it and where to send it are also significant: the conclusion is that Ned will pay what is still owed for the armor and that it should be sent to Ser Hugh's mother.

Standing by and listening to Ned and Barristan is a Silent Sister. I believe this Silent Sister represents Lyanna - Ned's sister who never gets to tell her own story in ASOIAF. Many people suspect that Lyanna was the Knight of the Laughing Tree at the tournament at Harrenhal, wearing borrowed armor to bring about justice for a man who had been bullied. If Ser Hugh is a symbolic Jon Snow, and the Silent Sister represents Lyanna who wore borrowed armor, the scene is an interesting allusion to the past tourney as well as foreshadowing for the possible future fate of Jon Snow. (My latest suspicion is that the Silent Sister --> Lyanna --> mother symbolism goes one step further, to Arya who looks like Lyanna. It would be cool if Arya ends up wearing the armor that belonged to Ser Hugh, but the connection may be more symbolic than literal.)

But who does Ser Gregor represent? I think he is a puppet of someone else, probably Tywin Lannister. When Tywin dies, Ser Gregor is transformed into a different puppet - is he now controlled by Cersei, or by Qyburn? In the tourney where Hugh dies, Sandor Clegane steps in to protect Ser Loras from Gregor. This may foreshadow the final death of Gregor.

Also worth considering: Hugor of the Hill is the first king of the Andals. The young knight who died is known as Hugh of the Vale. Hills and valleys are opposites - what is GRRM trying to tell us with the similar but opposite names?

I think we take too much for granted about Ser Barristan's family history. We never hear about House Selmy in any of the histories. How could such an extraordinary knight come from an unknown family? A possible wordplay hint in the name Barristan the Bold leads me to suspect that he is a bastard born in a brothel. I suspect his father is a high noble but I don't know if GRRM will ever clarify that for us.

Barristan does take an interest in training up young knights, as we see in his POV chapter late in ADwD. I think he is genuinely sorry for Ser Hugh, who was not ready to engage in jousting with Ser Gregor and other experienced knights. His vigil is undertaken because of his sense of honor.

[Unacosamedarisa]

For Ser Hugh's death, I've always suspected Littlefinger of having something to do with it. There's no direct evidence for it, but it fits his MO and it serves his purposes - Any evidence Hugh may have had that could implicate Lysa or LF in Jon Arryn's death is taken to his grave, AND it gives Ned (and the reader) even more cause to suspect the Lannisters, what with Gregor being their man and all. As Ned thinks... 

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Slain by a Lannister bannerman before Ned could speak to him; could that be mere happenstance? He supposed he would never know.

How LF did it? Again, no evidence, but there's a discussion in the Mystery Knight about manipulating the draws for Tourneys. I suspect LF put Hugh's inexperience together with Gregor's savagery, arranged for them to meet in the Tourney, and things played out as LF hoped, with Gregor killing Hugh. 

As for Selmy... I question his honour, and question the very idea of the honour of the King's Guard as a whole. Selmy honourably stood by while his King burned men alive and terrorised his wife, as the King's Guard should(?). Then he honourably served the Usurper, even though Viserys was alive and across the narrow sea. He honourably served as the Lord Commander, alongside the Kingslayer, while the King's Guard was filled with political appointments and incompetents. He stood by, honourably, as Ned's men were slaughtered and Ned was arrested, despite the King's wish that Ned become Protector of the Realm. He did speak out against the assassination of Daenerys... but by questioning his King was he not breaking his vow to "to counsel [the King] when requested and to keep silent when not" and to obey his King's commands? And, despite objecting, did he resign his position, like Ned did? No, he kept serving. He'd also have gone on serving Joffrey, had he not been dismissed by him.

In Meereen he's arresting the King and ruling in Dany's stead, even though he must know that makes him another Criston Cole (the chapter is called Kingbreaker, which I think is intentionally similar to Kingmaker, yet being the opposite). 

Then there's the whole Ashara Dayne situation... 

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She died never knowing that Ser Barristan had loved her. How could she? He was a knight of the Kingsguard, sworn to celibacy. No good could have come from telling her his feelings. No good came from silence either. If I had unhorsed Rhaegar and crowned Ashara queen of love and beauty, might she have looked to me instead of Stark?

So, if he had unhorsed Rhaegar, would he have confessed his love to Ashara and broken his vow of celibacy? 

I think Barristan's honour, and honour in general in ASoIaF, is contradictory... by upholding one vow/oath, you're breaking another. I think he's a good man, who deep down wants to be honourable, but in a lot of ways he's quite naive, a bit like Sansa, enamoured by the idea of an honourable Knight, but refusing to see the reality of it. Also, he bought into his own legend for far too long.