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'Game of Thrones': The best advice Maester Aemon ever gave

Game of Thrones fans found themselves mourning Maester Aemon all over again Tuesday after learning that British character actor Peter Vaughan had died at age 93. (His character Aemon actually died onscreen in Season 5.)

"No man was wiser, or gentler, or kinder," Sam Tarly (Jon Bradley) told his fellow Night's Watch brothers during his eulogy over the maester's funeral pyre. "At the Wall, a dozen lords commanders came and went during his years of service, but he was always there to counsel them."

In honor of Vaughan, we look back at some of his character's best advice to Jon Snow (Kit Harington), who would go on to become Lord Commander, and Sam, who hoped to become the next maester.

When Jon struggled with whether to desert the Night's Watch (an offense punishable by death) to return to fight alongside his family after the execution of Ned Stark, nobody understood his predicament better than Aemon.

"Love is the death of duty"

"And duty is the death of love," he said in that same conversation with Jon, pointing out the conflict of interest that the Night's Watch oath aims to eliminate by forbidding the men to have wives or children.

He later used the same line on Sam during the Battle for Castle Black, forcing him to 'fess up about being in love with his Wildling companion Gilly.

In exchange for Sam's admission, the old man let him in on his own romantic past. "We could spend all night trading tales of lost loves," he said wistfully. "Nothing makes the past as sweet a place to visit as the prospect of imminent death."

"Kill the boy and let the man be born"

"You will find little joy in your command," Aemon told Jon, who'd come seeking advice on selling his controversial plan to allow the Wildlings south of the Wall in exchange for their help fighting the White Walkers. "But with luck, you will find the strength to do what needs to be done."

Then he dropped his best-known line: "Kill the boy and let the man be born."

In other words, put on your big boy pants and lead, even if doing the right thing costs you popularity.