The Kuru dynasty's grand patriarch, bound by a vow of lifelong celibacy, who fought for the Kauravas out of duty despite loving the Pandavas as his own grandsons.
महाभारत · Mahabharata
Born Devavrata, he takes the terrible vow, bhishma pratigya, to remain unmarried and celibate for life so his father Shantanu could marry the fisherwoman Satyavati, whose own sons would otherwise have been displaced from succession — earning him the name Bhishma, 'the terrible one.'
Bound by his oath of loyalty to the Kuru throne rather than personal preference, Bhishma commands the Kaurava army for the war's first ten days, is felled by Arjuna using Shikhandi as a shield against a vow he would not break, and lies on a bed of arrows, choosing the moment of his own death, to deliver an extended teaching on dharma and governance to the victorious Pandavas.