Maester Steven, if you have a liddle look-see on JoannaLannister’s tumblr page at the art she has depicting charging Lannister knights, could you please explain to the untrained peasant (mwha) what, if ever, would a banner carrier be doing in the front lines of a charge? If this is unrealistic, how did a normal banner carrier function if his “unit” was ingaged with the enemy? Also, how many household knights, not guardsmen would a typical Lord Lannister employ? Thanks a million for everything!

I did see that art on @joannalannister‘s page, it was very cool. 

The standard bearer is there to make sure that everyone else knows/sees where to head towards in the chaos of battle, and to motivate them to keep going, because it was considered a huge shame to allow your standard to be captured in battle. 

As to how the standard carrier fought, they had a sidearm, but sometimes they would use the lance the standard was attached to. 

In terms of household knights, Tywin’s 500 was seen as a surprise, but a younger brother like Kevan has 200 under his command and pretty much everything baout Kevan is conventional. So for a Lord of Casterly Rock, somewhere in between there is more typical; Tymond Lannister arrived at the Great Council of 101 AC with 300 bannermen plus men at arms, so take that as you will.