Characters / A Song of Ice and Fire - House Martell

This is a listing of members of House Martell who appear in A Song of Ice and Fire.

For the main character index, see here

For the main Dornish entry, see here

House Martell of Sunspear

"Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken"

—Martell House Words

House Nymeros Martell^note Nymeros indicates of the line of Nymeria is the ruling house of the desert land of Dorne. They are of Andal origin mixed with the Rhoynar race, which invaded Dorne under the command of the Warrior-Queen Nymeria; as such, they led the Rhoynish assimilation wars that dissolved the Dornish Andal petty kingdoms, leaving their rival houses as begrudging but undisputed vassals. They were the only kingdom of the seven to resist conquest by the Targaryens, instead joining the realm via dynastic marriage; in the meanwhile, there were a number of wars between Dorne and the Reach, and the distrust between House Martell and House Tyrell lasts to this day. They now hold a bitter grudge against House Lannister because, during Robert's Rebellion, one of Tywin Lannister's knights raped and murdered their princess, Elia Martell, for the crime of being Rhaegar's wife, and killed her two children (and for protecting her killer). They had taken a mostly isolationist approach to the War of the Five Kings, but eventually get involved (albeit for the moment still indirectly) after the events following Joffrey's infamous wedding. Their sigil is the sun and spear on a gold disc, which is the combination of the spear of the Martells and the sun of the Rhoynar.

The Martells rule Dorne from the castle of Sunspear, the southernmost lordly keep in the Seven Kingdoms and one of the smallest keeps currently occupied by a Great House. On its foot, expanding westward, lies the Shadow City, the closest thing the Dornish have to a city. Sunspear was fundamentally based and built around the Sandship, the original keep of the Martells, which was expanded upon with the Rhoynish influx and the marriage of Mors Martell and Nymeria of the Rhoynar. The Martells also own the Water Gardens, a small palace built in honor of the original Daenerys Targaryen, Princess of Dorne, which serves as a private retreat for the Martells.

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Tropes related to House Martell

• The Alliance: Their legal family name is Nymeros Martell, to show that the Andal and Rhoynar halves of the family are in equal footing.
• Alliterative Name: Many ancestral Martell have names beginning with M.
• Animal Motifs: Snakes, despite not being their sigil. Oberyn is called "the Red Viper" and uses poisoned weapons in battle, his bastard daughters have been dubbed "Sand Snakes", and their cousin Arianne wears snake-shaped bracelets. Just like the snake has a reputation for staying hidden and attacking when disturbed, the Martells have been secretly planning for many years to undermine the Lannisters for committing grave crimes against them.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • The Martells of the current age have a deep, bitter hatred for House Lannister, after Tywin's sacking of King's Landing left Princess Elia and her young children savagely murdered. Her brothers, Prince Doran and Prince Oberyn, have been slowly plotting to destroy the Lannisters ever since.
  • There is no real love lost for Aerys the Mad in Martell eyes, either. His actions led directly to the deaths of Elia, her children... and Lewyn.
  • On an historical level, they were arguably the biggest thorn in the side of House Targaryen for two centuries, since theirs was the only kingdom which managed to keep its freedom from Targaryen rule until a royal marriage sealed the peace and Dorne was eventually annexed to the Seven Kingdoms.
• Best Served Cold: House Martell has been planning to unseat House Lannister for its complicity in the death of Princess Elia and her children by allying with the surviving Targaryens: first by attempting to marry Arianne to Viserys, then Quentyn to Daenerys, and finally, with Golden Company and the presumed-dead Aegon VI.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: House Nymeros-Martell started out complex (and very rich), and never really wanted to simplify using any "normal" Westerosi means. Yet... they're still remarkably tight-knit, whichever generation you look at. Doesn't stop them either accidentally or deliberately impeding or using each other, though. Family members can still mess up your life while honestly believing it's for everybody's good.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: The Martells of old used a spear as their emblem, while Nymeria and her Rhoynar used the sun as theirs. Their seat of power is Sunspear.
• The Clan: For Martells, blood is thicker than water. And, they don't rightly care if it's bastard blood. Harm one, and they all come gunning for you (even if it takes time).
• Color Motif: Gold representing pride, orange the Dornish sand and red the Martell temperament.
• Cosmic Motifs: Associated with the sun — it's on their sigil, the name of their capital, and they rule a harsh desert land. They're also known for being fairly fiery people.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: It is worth noting that the victims of some of the most notoriously horrifying deaths in the series have been Martells. Before the series even begins, we have Princess Elia, who is beaten, raped and has her head smashed in by Ser Gregor Clegane after he'd just killed her infant son before her eyes. Next, her brother Oberyn also ends up with a case of horrifically crushed skull when he attempts to avenge Elia's death by dueling Clegane years later. And Prince Doran's son Quentyn tries to capture a dragon and ends up getting bathed in flames... and lying in agony for days before finally dying.
• Determinator: Martells never let anything get in the way of their goals. This costs them dearly most of the time.
• Everyone Is Related: All kings from Aerys I to Robert I are descendants of the Martells because of the marriage of Daeron II to the Dornish ruling house. Joffrey I and Tommen I are so supposedly, but only in paper.
• Feuding Families:
  • Traditionally to House Tyrell, an enmity dating back centuries when there were plenty of border wars between Dorne and the Reach, even before the Tyrells were its ruling House. The enmity actually got even worse since the Tyrells were appointed "Wardens of The South" by the Targaryan dynasty, as it was House Tyrell's responsibility to put Dorne under Targaryan control. When the Young Dragon conquered Dorne, he also assigned a Tyrell as the lord of Dorne, and the Tyrell lord acted quite tyrannically, in order to keep the Dornishmen down. Their rivalry is so great it's to the point that having both Martells and Tyrells in the Red Keep presents problems to whoever deals with their lodgings (Oberyn Martell and Willas Tyrell's Odd Friendship being an exception). Oberyn tells the tale of Dorne under Tyrell rule to Tyrion in A Storm of Swords:
  Oberyn Martell: When the Young Dragon conquered Dorne so long ago, he left the Lord of Highgarden to rule us after the Submission of Sunspear. This Tyrell moved with his tail from keep to keep, chasing rebels and making certain that our knees stayed bent. He would arrive in force, take a castle for his own, stay a moon's turn, and ride on to the next castle. It was his custom to turn the lords out of their own chambers and take their beds for himself. One night he found himself beneath a heavy velvet canopy. A sash hung down near the pillows, should he wish to summon a wench. He had a taste for Dornish women, this Lord Tyrell, and who can blame him? So he pulled upon the sash, and when he did the canopy above him split open, and a hundred red scorpions fell down upon his head. His death lit a fire that soon swept across Dorne, undoing all the Young Dragon's victories in a fortnight. The kneeling men stood up, and we were free again.
  • They were the scourge of the Targaryens for more than one hundred and fifty years until Baelor I and Daeron II brought Dorne into the realm peacefully through marriage.
  • The Martells have held a grudge against House Lannister since Robert's Rebellion for Gregor Clegane's murder of Elia and her children.
• Hot-Blooded: Even by Dornish standards. Ironically averted by their current lord, Prince Doran.
• Irony: Who would have thought that the last house to surrender to the Targaryens after two wars as a Voluntary Vassal, no less would be the one actively trying to restore them 300 years after?
• Meaningful Name: 'Martello towers' were small defensive coastal forts built by the British Empire in the 19th, misnamed from the original 'Mortella' towers that they stole the idea from.
• "Near and Dear" Baby Naming: Oberyn's daughter Dorea is named for his brother Doran.
• Nice to the Waiter: Children of both nobles and smallfolk are allowed to play and mingle in the pools of the Water Gardens. This tradition was started by Princess Daenerys Targaryen, wife of Maron Martell. It is said that she looked at them playing together, and realized she could not tell the highborn from the low: all she saw were children, all innocent and deserving of protection.
• Posthumous Sibling: Doran had two brothers, Mors and Olyvar, who died in infancy before Elia and Oberyn were born.
• Pride: The Martells, like most Dornishmen, are very, VERY proud of their great heritage. Even more than most in Westeros. Hell, they rival even the Lannisters and Greyjoys in this regard.
• Princesses Rule: Another thing that makes them unique among all the old royal families of Westeros.
  • Before Mors Martell married Princess Nymeria of Ny Sar, the Martells of old were only ever lords in service to other Dornish kings. Princess Nymeria was the first example of this trope in Westeros, as the Rhoynar used the title of prince and princess for their rulers in their city-states in Essos. Princess Nymeria was such a powerfully influential figure that when Mors (and after his death, her other husbands) married her, it was Dorne that adapted to suit her tastes rather than her adapting to Westerosi ways: she remained addressed as Princess in her people's tradition instead of Queen, they became her Prince Consorts, and she remained the new high ruler of Dorne, elevating House Nymeros Martell to what they are today. She had children with both Mors Martell and Davos Dayne, but it was her eldest daughter with Mors who inherited her throne rather than her only son with Davos, in direct defiance of Westeros' sexist traditions. As House Martell's claim to royal blood derives from Princess Nymeria, her children and descendants have stuck to her people's Rhoynish royal stylings, and ever since the Martells have ruled Dorne as Princesses and Princes.
  • Much later, when House Martell finally agreed to join the rest of Westeros under the Iron Throne, one of the privileges they enjoyed was keeping their ancestral titles. Where other old royal families were conquered and demoted from kings of their lands to lords sworn to the Targaryen royal family (hence Ned Stark is Lord Stark instead of King Eddard), the Martell princes and princesses alone of the great families of Westeros have kept their titles, and still rule Dorne with much the same powers and in much the same ways as they did before joining the Seven Kingdoms.
• Revenge Myopia: It's pointed out that those people who killed Oberyn and Elia are now dead, yet Prince Doran and the Sand Snakes still plot the destruction of House Lannister.
• Sibling Yin-Yang
  • Oberyn was a promiscuous warrior while Doran is a plotter who had been with only one woman.
  • The strong-willed Arianne and her more passive younger brother Quentyn.
  • Lampshaded. Doran himself points out that he would have made a bad adventurer, whereas his brother, who was a great adventurer would have made a bad ruler.
• Team Switzerland: Tries to play this in the War of the Five Kings, but grudgingly ally with the Lannisters after they betrothed Trystane to Myrcella. Turns out they were never this at all, as Doran has really just been biding his time until the day when he can finally destroy House Lannister and place House Targaryen back on the throne. Those plans of his have run into a few snags though along the way, however.
• There Can Be Only One: Subjugated the other royal families to gain absolute mastery of Dorne.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Relations between House Lannister and House Martell and Dorne have been infamously strained since the rape and murder of Princess Elia Martell during Tywin Lannister's sack of King's Landing, as well as the murders of her children. Oberyn's Mutual Kill against Gregor Clegane probably did not help matters, either.
• Voluntary Vassal: Martells were the only one of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros that the Targaryens never managed to conquer. Instead, they joined the Targaryen realm via dynastic marriage and were allowed to continue their own laws, conferring to them a special standing ever since. Their family motto reflects this.

The Current Generation

Prince Doran Martell

Doran Nymeros Martell, Prince of Dorne

"Who fears to walk upon the grass? But it is the grass that hides the viper from his enemies and shelters him until he strikes."

Older brother of Oberyn and Elia and ruling Prince of Dorne. Doran is afflicted by severe gout and uses a wheelchair, unable to walk. He has a reputation for being extremely patient and cautious. During A Feast for Crows, Doran reveals to Arianne that he's been secretly plotting to destroy the Lannisters and place the Targaryens on the throne.

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• Amicably Divorced: He and his wife are separated because of Culture Clash, particularly sending away their son Quentyn to be fostered by Lord Yronwood, but it's indicated that he still cares for her.
• Backup Bluff: One of the main reasons for his inaction following the death of Oberyn is the fact that both he and Oberyn himself have oversold the size of the Dornish army for years and they're not nearly as strong as they've shown not only to Westeros, but also to the Dornish themselves, Arianne, and the Sand Snakes. Considering that this is how the Dornish dealt with the Targaryens during their wars, his actions are not really that surprising.
  Doran Martell: It pleased the Young Dragon to make all our armies larger when he wrote that book of his, so as to make his conquest much more glorious, and it has pleased us to water the seed he planted and let our foes think us more powerful than we are.
• Best Served Cold: Despite outward appearances, he has not forgiven or forgotten the death of his sister and her children.
  Doran: [to Arianne] You mistake patience for forbearance. I have worked at the downfall of Tywin Lannister since the day they told me of Elia and her children. It was my hope to strip him of all that he held most dear before I killed him, but it would seem his dwarf son has robbed me of that pleasure.
  • Though it's shaping up to be a subversion. Doran's revenge plot takes so long to grow that by the time things started finally lining up, someone else already killed Tywin. And this is after Oberyn's long-awaited showdown with their sister's killer ended with a horrific Mutual Kill. Given the current state of the remaining Lannisters, it's uncertain if any of them will ever know the full scope of Doran's machinations.
• Big Brother Instinct: When Rhaegar abducted Lyanna Stark, Doran was angry for his treatment of putting Elia in the bad light. This was the main reason why he didn't send support to the Targaryens when rebellion broke out, staying his hand until Aerys II held Elia and her children hostage in King's Landing, which finally forced Doran to send troops under his uncle Lewyn's command. After Elia died, he and Oberyn plotted revenge against the Lannisters.
• Blue Oni, Red Oni: The calm, collected and scheming Blue to his brother Oberyn's Red.
• Body Horror: His legs have been deformed and crippled by his gout and cause him constant pain. His knees are red and very swollen, while all his toes are purple and more than twice the size they should be. Even Areo Hotah has a hard time looking at them, and he can decapitate someone without even blinking an eye.
• The Chessmaster: He's been patiently moving his pieces into place for seventeen years. As he points out, given the small population of Dorne, they cannot really afford a conflict that Doran isn't absolutely sure he'll win. Also, something of a deconstruction of the trope. Despite his plans being well-laid in theory, they fail completely in practice because he never took into account that the pieces he's moving around (his children, Viserys, Daenerys) have plans of their own. There's also the amount of time it takes to make such careful plans: by the time Doran is ready to start making active moves against the Lannisters, Tyrion has already murdered Tywin, the person Doran wanted revenge against in the first place. (That said, he's perfectly content with getting rid of the rest of the Lannisters instead.)
• Cool Old Guy: As it turns out, he's an extremely sharp politician like Tywin Lannister, but a far better person and more open-minded, too.
• Cynicism Catalyst: Though calmer about it, he is as heartbroken and enraged over his sister's death as Oberyn. Now that Oberyn, his little brother, is dead too, Doran probably isn't doing well internally. Who knows how he'll take it when he finds out what happened to Quentyn?
• Did Not See That Coming: Doran is a capable planner, patient and cunning. And yet falls short first with Viserys dying on him, and later his own son. His own daughter endangering Myrcella, and his brother getting himself killed don't help, either.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Doran is too secretive, which causes the people he needs for his plans to be Locked Out of the Loop, and end up being Spanner in the Works for his own plans. He planned for Arianne to marry Viserys ever since she was a little girl, but he never told her and instead offered her to various unappealing potential husbands so she would refuse them, which made her think he didn't care about her and eventually drove her to try and take back House Martell's throne in an ill-fated coup.
  Barristan Selmy: Your father keeps his secrets well, Prince Quentyn. Perhaps too well.
  • He also has a tendency to base his plans on incomplete and/or out-of-date information. He betroths his daughter to Viserys without any real knowledge of Viserys's character and doesn't even consider the possibility that Viserys might simply be incapable of performing the task required of him. He sends his son off to marry Daenerys and never considers that there might be practical obstacles to that plan as well.
• Friend to All Children: He doesn't really interact with them, but his favorite pastime is watching children playing in the pools in the gardens. It stems from his belief that all children, highborn and low, are innocent and worthy of protection, and thus any decision that affects the future of the realm must be made with their well-being and future in mind. It really sets him apart from Tywin Lannister, who will coldly order his soldiers to slaughter men, women, and children by the hundreds without blinking an eye.
• Genius Cripple: He's described as wheelchair-bound due to extreme gout. And yet, he's more dangerous than many of the other great lords who are on their feet. Even Tywin speaks of him with respect.
• He Who Fights Monsters: He absolutely hates Tywin and Gregor for the deaths of Elia and her children, but even after both are dead, Doran still wants the utter destruction of House Lannister. What did Tywin do with the Reynes and Tarbecks again?
• Hidden Depths: He appears to be the Non-Action Guy while he's actually plotting to restore the Targaryens to power and get revenge on Tywin Lannister. Due to his infirmity, he acts through his family, particularly Oberyn.
• Insult Backfire: It's remarkable how little he cares about his nieces The Sand Snakes calling him a lesser man than Oberyn. Instead of dignifying the slights with an answer, he just throws them in jail "to keep them out of trouble". They do not take the hint and they still insult him, yet it shows just how much power he actually has over them when they start doing his bidding, all while they cuss him to his face.
• Strawman Has a Point: It's debatable how much he himself believes it given later reveals (and whether it's intended as such an argument), but his claim that Oberyn died in a trial by combat he chose to fight and the Lannisters aren't truly responsible for his death is true. None save Cersei really wanted a trial by combat at all, and even she showed doubts the moment Oberyn declared himself Tyrion's champion.
• Marry for Love: He met his wife, Lady Mellario of Norvos, while travelling in the Free Cities. They both quickly fell in love and married, with her following him back to Dorne. However, she could never get used to Dornish customs, particularly fostering children away from home, and eventually returned to Norvos despite the fact that they both still cared greatly for one another.
• Meaningful Name: "Doran of Dorne" has a nice ring to it, don't you think?
• The Needs of the Many: He's perhaps the only Lord of the Seven Kingdoms (including the Starks) who puts the security and well-being of his subjects over avenging a bloody vendetta, even the deaths of his own sister and brother. He keeps reminding his children that Dorne has the smallest population of the seven kingdoms and while they can defend their own territory well, fighting the Crown is a different matter. As is typical of the series, Doran's price for showing compassion for his subjects and refusing to have them die for his revenge, is to be derided as a lazy and indolent Prince by his own family and subjects.
  Doran: Until the Mountain crushed my brother's skull, no Dornishmen had died in this War of the Five Kings. Tell me, Captain, is that my shame or my glory?
• No-Respect Guy: The Sand Snakes and his daughter Arianne, at first, repeatedly mock him for being patient and lenient, despite him being their liege lord. At one point, one of them derides his willingness to forgive and forget, which he points out is the only thing keeping them out of prison.
• Not So Above It All: He's just as thirsty for revenge as Arianne and Oberyn, and though he's far more sympathetic to Ellaria's pleading for an end to bloodshed than the Sand Snakes, he still sends her away before further revealing his plotting to the others.
• Non-Action Guy: Not that he has much of a choice; Doran's age and illness keep him from seeing any action, forcing him to rely on Oberyn, Hotah, and the Sand Snakes for the family's muscle.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Although Doran doesn't know it yet, his son Quentyn met his death in Meereen, roasted alive in an ill-fated attempt to claim one of Daenerys's dragons for his father. One can only imagine how Doran will handle losing yet another loved one that he, by all rights, should never have outlived.
• Papa Wolf: There is nothing Doran cares more deeply about than his family. But as a Prince, he is aware that he has to use them for political purposes. His wife Mellario was appalled that he sent Quentyn as a hostage to the Yronwoods after Oberyn got into a fracas with their family:
  Lady Mellario: He is your son. What sort of father uses his own flesh and blood to pay his debts?
  Prince Doran: The princely sort.
  • This becomes doubly ironic when we find out that he had sent Quentyn Martell on a quest in A Dance With Dragons which, unbeknownst to him, went From Bad to Worse. Arianne Martell in a preview chapter for the sixth book notes him worrying about Quentyn:
  "Where are the dragons?" he asked. "Where is Daenerys?" and Arianne knew that he was really saying, "Where is my son?"
• Parents as People: Doran really loves his children but he's too caught up in wanting to avenge the deaths of his sister, niece, and nephew, let alone not telling his daughter and nieces about his plans. It takes Arianne's attempted crowning of Myrcella as queen to realize his weaknesses.
• The Patriarch: And a very busy one, considering that the large Martell family has a lot of dissenting opinions within it.
• Poor Communication Kills: House Martell is rocked by a coup because Arianne discovered a letter from her father to her brother implying she would be passed over as ruling Princess of Dorne. Really, it meant if all went according to plan, she would be Queen of the Seven Kingdoms.
• Produce Pelting: When we first see him, his palanquin is getting pelted with fruit because the people of Dorne are mad that he's not declaring war on House Lannister for Oberyn's death.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: He's a calm, retiring, mostly housebound invalid, while his brother Oberyn is a hot-blooded, brash world traveler. But behind the scenes the brothers were as close as Tywin and Kevan or Robb and Jon, and they used people's assumptions about them to outmaneuver their enemies.
• Smart People Play Chess: Averted. While he does own a cyvasse set of his own, he doesn't play, stating that he plays only the games he can win.
• Tranquil Fury: Doran may not let it show, but he's every bit the simmering cauldron of rage that Oberyn was; the elder Prince has been plotting Tywin Lannister's downfall for more than fourteen years, and continues to plot revenge long after Tywin has died.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Both Arianne and Quentyn are quite desperate for his approval and acknowledgment as worthy heirs. They have it, but Doran keeps his true feelings and plans so close to his chest that Arianne takes awhile to realize it while poor Quentyn will never get the chance.
• Wham Line
  Arianne: What is our heart's desire?
  Doran: Vengeance. Justice. Fire and Blood.
• Worthy Opponent: Tywin Lannister speaks of Doran with clear reverence, so you know this guy's not to be taken lightly.
  Tywin: ... a cautious man, a reasoned man, subtle, deliberate, even indolent to a degree. He is a man who weighs the consequences of every word and every action.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Doran is a prince who puts the welfare of his people first, including the children, highborn and lowborn alike. Tyrion trusts him enough to send Myrcella to Sunspear, knowing that Doran will not have her harmed in revenge for Elia's death, and Doran indeed refuses to harm Myrcella even when his followers pressure him to after Oberyn's death.
• Xanatos Gambit: Subverted. He thinks that he's managing one, but in reality his plans are doomed from the start because he fails to take into account that other people make their own decisions.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: While he doesn't move his pieces as fast as others, he's shown he can be flexible and adapt to the circumstances. Inadvertently, however, half his plans rely on people that seem to be intent on tempting their fate.
• You Killed My Father: He has been plotting the fall of House Lannister for years, in revenge for Lord Tywin ordering the deaths of his sister Elia and her children. Tyrion beats him to the punch by giving Tywin a fatal case of crossbow-through-the-bowels, but Doran isn't giving up on "Operation Kill The Lannisters" just yet.
• Younger Than They Look: Doran is 52, but looks much older at least in part due to his gout.

Oberyn Martell

Prince Oberyn Nymeros Martell

The Red Viper

"I have hungered for a long time. Though not for food. Pray tell me, when will the justice be served?"

The younger brother of Prince Doran, Oberyn comes to King's Landing to take up his brother's seat on the small council, and to obtain justice for Princess Elia's murder. He is a fierce and hot-tempered man who has founded his own mercenary company, studied at the Citadel, and fathered eight bastard children (all female). When Tyrion is accused of Joffrey's murder, Oberyn volunteers to champion him in a trial by combat, knowing that he will face Gregor Clegane, the rapist and murderer of Elia.

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• Absurdly Youthful Mother: A Rare Male Example. He is slightly over 40-years-old during the third book when he dies and his eldest daughter Obara we meet shortly after is stated to be twenty-eight.
• The Ace: One of the most striking examples of the series, comparable to Rhaegar. Knows no fear, extremely competent fighter (who even manages to win against Gregor Clegane), very charismatic, and of genius-level intelligence (studied the craft of the maesters basically for fun).
• Action Dad: Father of eight children, all of whom are following in his footsteps as warriors one way or another. He took a hand in personally training several of them as well.
• Ambiguous Situation: It's unclear where he was while his sister was being held hostage by Aerys to ensure Dorne's loyalty during Robert's Rebellion. Martin has suggested he might have been overseas with a sellsword company at the time.
• Animal Motifs: His nickname is the Red Viper, he studied poisons at the Citadel, his bastard daughters are called the Sand Snakes (sand being the last name for bastards in Dorne).
  • Oberyn looks like a snake too, slender and athletic, his black eyes are likened to a viper's, his weapon of choice the spear resembles a snake and the copper discs on his armored shirt resemble scales. Tyrion notes that his fighting style is snakelike, repeatedly thrusting his spear as quick as lightning.
• Appropriated Appellation: Even his friends call him the Red Viper, the nickname he got after allegedly poisoning his sword in a duel. Even if the rumor wasn't true, he doesn't hesitate to use the tactic against Gregor Clegane.
• Badass Bookworm: Spent time at the Citadel and forged six links of a maester's chain until he got bored of it.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted. Oberyn is a devilishly good-looking, badass older man with many conquests to his name. He dies by having his face completely pulverized by a huge mailed fist.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Throughout their entire duel, Oberyn demanded that Gregor Clegane confess to raping his sister and killing her and her children. At the end of the battle, Clegane finally does confess... but only after he's begun smashing Oberyn's head in.
• Big Brother Instinct: Implied with his need to avenge Elia's death, though Elia was slightly older than him.
• Big Word Shout: At the climax of his duel with The Mountain, Oberyn screams his dead sister's name out loud in vengeful triumph before impaling his opponent to the ground with his spear.
• Broken Ace: A peerless warrior, poet, scholar. A loving father and beloved brother. One of the most famous men in Dorne. And possessed by a need to avenge his sister, nephew and niece so great it borders on madness.
• Byronic Hero: He's intelligent and charismatic. He lives and loves dangerously by nature and doesn't care what others think of him or his lifestyle. He's also driven by a single-minded obsession to avenge his sister's death and bring back the head of her killer, to the point that even though it leads to his death, he still gets the last laugh with a slow-acting poison that leaves Gregor in excruciating pain as he dies.
• The Casanova: Possibly the biggest one in the series.
• Combat Pragmatist: He poisons his weapons and has no qualms against fighting dirty. Unfortunately, he forgets to be pragmatic when it really counts.
• Cool Uncle: To Arianne, according to The World Of Ice And Fire app. She loved him and is closer to his bastard daughters rather than her brothers. She even called out her own father for being very passive to his brother's death and demanded justice.
• Cultured Badass: In addition to being a feared warrior, he spent years traveling the world, studied at the Citadel, and studied rare poisons and (according to rumor) dark arts.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Came very close to pulling one off. And on Gregor Clegane, no less.
• Deadpan Snarker: From the moment he arrives in King's Landing, he wastes no time in snarking off about the Lannisters.
• Depraved Bisexual: Most of the other nobles of Westeros view him this way, from a combination of the incident where he crippled the heir to Highgarden, his frequent use of poisons in battle, and, well, just see Really Gets Around. He's comparatively loose for the general setting, and he seems to prefer his women the same way. Further, his long-term paramour—his de facto wife, except they're not legally married—is a bastard daughter, which, in the eyes of the rest of Westeros, makes her a completely unfit consort for even a household knight, let alone the younger brother of one of the great lords.
• Doomed Moral Victor: He's somewhat successful in his quest for revenge against Gregor Clegane and the Lannisters for the brutal murder and rape of his sister Elia, but suffers a Cruel and Unusual Death for his trouble. He comes very close to killing Gregor in Tyrion's trial by combat, using a poison-tipped spear which ends up killing him slowly and painfully. And he also gets Gregor to admit he raped and killed Elia. Unfortunately, his desire for revenge gets the better for him at the last moment, allowing Gregor to gain the upper hand and cave in his skull, before succumbing to Oberyn's poison over the next few days.
• The Dragon: To Doran himself. He plays his Hot-Blooded reputation so House Martell's rivals and enemies won't suspect the two actually work together.
• Everyone Has Standards: He has bastards all across Dorne and beds boys, but even he wouldn't touch Cersei.
• Family Theme Naming: Oberyn and his oldest daughter, Obara, have their names start with the same two letters.
• Fragile Speedster: Oberyn's fast enough to maneuver around the Mountain until the Mountain tires out and leaves himself open to be severely wounded, but he's killed the moment he decides to take his time and get close to him.
• Friendly Enemy: He hates the Lannisters and is very bad at hiding his contempt. Nevertheless, it's clear he's enjoying every minute of his Snark-to-Snark Combat with Tyrion. And they have an Enemy Mine moment when he offers to be his champion in the trial by combat.
• Genius Bruiser: Oberyn is a noted warrior as well as a former student of the Citadel.
• Good Parents: One of his better qualities was that he was a good father to his illegitimate daughters (the Sand Snakes). He took responsibility for them, raised them to take care of themselves, and allowed them freedom that most legitimate girls in Westeros can't even dream of. His mistress Ellaria Sand is also a good mother and he's shown to be fond of his nieces and nephews.
• Hidden Depths: While Oberyn plays his evil reputation to the hilt, there are hints in A Dance With Dragons from his brother and his paramour that he wasn't as violent or thoughtless as people believed.
• Hot-Blooded: He's almost a caricature of the fiery Dornishman. Not that most readers mind...
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He poisons his weapons. Also, his behavior to Tyrion was very haughty and bullying at first. Not to mention the above interaction with Obara's mother. Nevertheless, he cares deeply for his family, and much of his anger in the third book stemmed from his desire for justice over his sister's and her children's horrific murders.
• Kick the Dog:
  • Poisoned and killed Edgar Yronwood in a duel that was explicitly only to first blood.
  • When Obara's mother begged him not to take their daughter away from her, Oberyn slapped her across the face and took Obara anyway.
• Kidanova: Not stated directly, but his older brother is 52 and ten years older than him, so Oberyn is roughly 42. The oldest of the Sand Snakes is 28. Do the math.
• Kingmaker Scenario: It's implied by his words to Tyrion Lannister that after Joffrey's death and before his own, Oberyn has started plotting to crown his brother's ward Princess Myrcella as the new Queen of Westeros in order to turn Lannister against Lannister and sow division in their ranks. Not to mention, as Myrcella is betrothed to his nephew Prince Trystane, this would position the Martells as a powerful influence on the Iron Throne. While Lord Tywin would staunchly back Tommen as the heir in his possession he can rule through and raise to be the kind of king he wants his grandson to be, Tyrion is tempted by Oberyn's offer to join him in Dorne and support Myrcella (not only to piss off Daddy, he also believes she is smarter and more capable than Tommen). Tyrion is unsure which child Cersei would support, as Tommen would be the clearest choice (Andal law favors Tommen which would give them more allies, Tommen is the only child she still has with her, Tywin would defend his claim) while making Myrcella queen would all but cinch Cersei inheriting Casterly Rock ahead of her brothers.
  • It is unclear how sincere Oberyn was with the idea of crowning Myrcella, however. While backing her would lead to Martells sitting the throne through Trystane being the father of Myrcella's children, Oberyn had been working with Doran towards a Targaryen restoration for years, with Viserys to be king and Arianne to be queen, which would have the exact same benefit for the Martells. Word of Viserys' death had already reached Westeros by "A Storm of Swords", tanking that plan, but Daenerys still lived and it is possible that the Martells had heard that she had hatched dragons and already decided to offer Quentyn to her as her consort... which would AGAIN achieve Martells on the throne. It is possible Oberyn seized the chance to push Mycella's claim as a ploy to pit Lannister forces against each other, similar to the heavy losses the Targaryens took in the Dance of Dragons, so that Daenerys would have an easier time swooping in and reclaiming the Iron Throne..
• Madness Mantra: When his duel with The Mountain is near it's climax, "You raped her. You murdered her. You killed her children." becomes this for him. It's clear that he isn't just trying to psych his opponent out anymore. He's overwhelmed with nearly twenty years of insane fury over the injustice that was done to his family.
• The Man Behind the Man: Runs Dorne in his brother's absences despite Princess Arianne being heir.
• Master Poisoner: There's a very good story behind his sobriquet of "the Red Viper": "complex chemical death" is the synopsis version. He is well aware of his own reputation, and muses to Tyrion that, were it not for Cersei's accusations that Tyrion was the one who poisoned Joffrey, their places might well have been switched.
  “Who knows more of poison than the Red Viper of Dorne, after all?”
• Mutual Kill: Him vs. Gregor Clegane; Clegane won the fight, but was done in by poison.
• My Girl Is a Slut: He and his mistress happily live in polyamory and are perfectly fine with it. Oberyn even talks about his mistress' lust for the Queen fondly.
• My Name Is Inigo Montoya: What drives his life since that fateful Rebellion is avenging his beloved sister's death and he gets his wish fulfilled when he gets to duel her murderer, although he doesn't get to see the latter's painful death.
• Nerves of Steel: Absolutely fearless when entering a duel with the most feared knight in Westeros, Gregor "The Mountain that Rides" Clegane.
  Ellaria Sand: You're going to fight that?
  Oberyn Martell: I'm going to kill that.
• The Nicknamer: Amused himself in his youth by slapping mocking nicknames on any of Elia's potential suitors, ensuring she couldn't take them seriously and wrecking any chance of an arranged marriage. It's implied he regrets it now, as both he and Tyrion conclude that, had Oberyn kept his mouth shut, Elia might have married one of her other suitors instead of Rhaegar Targaryen and would still be alive.
• Odd Friendship: With Willas Tyrell apparently, as they share a passion for horses. This in spite of the fact that Willas was crippled in a joust with Oberyn (by accident), and Willas's father loathes Oberyn because of it.
• The Paragon: According to the Dornish folk in general, Oberyn was every bit what a leader and the Prince of Dorne should be; this is said to both praise Oberyn and denounce Doran, who is nothing like him.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Normally, the type of slow, horrifying death he inflicts via manticore poison would be cruel, but when the person you do this to is Gregor Clegane, who In-Universe is known for killing Oberyn's nephew and raping his sister before he killed her it's this instead.
• Pet the Dog: Does this on a few occasions, most notably by championing Tyrion, voicing regret for accidentally injuring Willas Tyrell in a jousting match (as well as sending his own maester to make sure Willas didn't lose his leg and revealing that the two are friendly and regularly correspond despite the hatred between Houses Martell and Tyrell) and expressing a sense of guilt over turning Elia against one of her other suitors, because this led her to marry Rhaegar instead, and we all know how that turned out...
• Poisoned Weapons: He frequently employs them, as Gregor Clegane discovers.
• Really Gets Around: "Oberyn Martell? He has bastards all over Dorne, and beds with boys as well." He's never been married, so he has no trueborn children, just eight baseborn daughters by five different women, known collectively as The Sand Snakes. However, it's implied by other characters that he loves them as much as any father would. He does have a "paramour," Ellaria Sand, but as far as can be known she never stopped him from having sex with other people.
  • Unless he wasn't aware of them to acknowledge, he did stop siring children on any women except Ellaria, as his youngest four children were borne by her, whereas Obara, Nymeria, Tyene, and Sarella each had separate mothers.
  • Funnily enough, the one person he makes clear he wouldn't truly want to bed is Queen Cersei, despite her fabled beauty, assuring Tyrion he would sooner be mauled by scorpions than sleep with Tyrion's sister.
• Rebel Prince: His reputation for consorting with lowborn women and other men and use of poisons (considered cowardly) aren't exactly Prince Charming qualities. He apparently did try to make himself a literal one, pushing for Dorne to declare Viserys king and rebel against Robert before his brother stopped it.
• Red Baron: Known as "the Red Viper", a name he earned as a teenager when he supposedly poisoned his sword in a duel with Lord Yronwood, leading to the older man's death.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni : The proud and explosive Red to Doran's Blue.
• Remittance Man: Was one during his younger years; became a mercenary captain in Essos.
• Renaissance Man: Along with being a great warrior, he traveled the world, studied at the Citadel (he nearly qualified to be a maester before he quit), soldiered in the Disputed Lands, formed his own sellsword company, became a Master Poisoner, and is rumored to have studied the dark arts.
• Revenge Before Reason: To the point where it gets him killed.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: He's a hot-blooded, brash world traveler, while his brother Doran is a calm, retiring, mostly housebound invalid. But behind the scenes the brothers were as close as Tywin and Kevan or Robb and Jon, and they used people's assumptions about them to outmaneuver their enemies.
• Single Sex Offspring: He has eight bastard daughters by five different women.
• Suicidal Overconfidence: Oberyn starts the day before his duel with the Mountain with a cup of wine and a sense of nonchalant certainty that he can win against Ser Gregor. He ends that day a dead man with his head bashed in, though he did succeed in fatally poisoning Gregor before dying.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky: When you can parry-and-riposte Tyrion Lannister, you're snarky. The rest comes with "Martell".
• Teens Are Monsters: At 16, Oberyn fought Edgar Yronwood in a duel that was explicitly to first blood. Yronwood's wound wound up killing him, leading to speculation that Oberyn poisoned his sword. Oberyn provoked the duel in the first place by sleeping with Lord Edgar's paramour.
• Three-Way Sex: His paramour Ellaria Sand and he are very open to experimentation, and Oberyn specifically notes the urge to share a beautiful blonde. However, when Cersei is suggested to him, he flatly turns her down, saying he'd prefer to share a bed with a hundred scorpions.
• Underestimating Badassery: When Tyrion tries to warn him about how powerful a warrior Gregor Clegane is, Oberyn nonchalantly states that he's killed big men before. To be fair, the fight was totally under his control. He just took his need to dominate his enemy too far and left himself open at the worst possible moment.
  • Somewhat justified in the next book. According to Oberyn's daughter, Tyene Sand, a mere scratch from a blade dipped in manticore venom would be enough to put a man in an immediate state of pure agony, as well as ensure a slow, excruciating death. Given he had just used his poisoned spear to cut and impale the Mountain with surgical precision, Oberyn might've assumed Gregor was in far too much pain to put up any more of a fight. Clearly, he was wrong.
• The Unfettered: Oberyn doesn't care a lick about most social or cultural conventions in Westeros; he, a highborn prince, has a bastard as his beloved paramour and brings her to a royal wedding, he fights with poisoned weapons (something most knights regard as a foul and cowardly thing to do), and not only acknowledges his bastard daughters, but raises them as a loving father.
• Universally Beloved Leader: Put it this way: when Dorne learns of his death, every prostitute in every brothel in the province throws open their doors and allows their patrons a night on the house in his honor. Oberyn was very loved by the Dornish—and by a lot of readers as well.
• Unknown Rival: Oberyn finally confronts Gregor Clegane, the man who raped and murdered his sister. The brutish psychopath doesn't even know who Oberyn is, nor does he particularly care. Oberyn swiftly reminds him, though.
• The Unreveal: He is mentioned to have founded his own sellsword company; whether it's still in operation, whether he leads them, or who are its members is not mentioned in the books.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In his youth, he made fun of Elia's best suitor for farting and torpedoed the match, causing Elia to later marry Rhaegar instead. Upon being told this story, Tyrion ponders how many lives would have been saved if that fart and that joke had not been made.
• War Hawk: Oberyn pressed for war when Elia and her children died. He also keeps doing things that might provoke war by flaunting his bastard paramour and hinting that his family is trying to turn Princess Myrcella against the Iron Throne.
• Warrior Prince: This should be obvious by now.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Oberyn had already mortally wounded The Mountain, so he decided to take his time and drag a confession out of him. He really shouldn't have done that.
• Your Head Asplode: This is how he dies at the hands of The Mountain. In the most graphic way imaginable.
• You Killed My Father: His motive for fighting The Mountain is avenging his sister.

Princess Elia Martell

Princess Elia Nymeros Martell

Elia of Dorne

"Elia and her children have waited long for justice. But this day they shall have it."

—Prince Oberyn Martell

Elia Martell with the infant Rhaenys

A princess of Dorne and the sister of Doran and Oberyn. She married Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, and by him birthed Rhaenys and Aegon. Elia was murdered by Ser Gregor Clegane during the sack of King's Landing.

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• Actually Pretty Funny: After her brother Oberyn nicknamed Baelor Hightower, one of her potential matches she rather liked, Baelor Breakwind after he had the misfortune to fart in their presence, Elia couldn't look at the poor boy without laughing at him, which put an end to any prospect of an Arranged Marriage between them.
• Arranged Marriage: To Rhaegar, who according to Barristan was fond of her. Before marrying him, she was courted by several others, including Baelor Hightower, and her mother thought of marrying her to Jaime Lannister until Lord Tywin rejected the match.
• Blaming the Cuckold: Occurs posthumously; Daenerys wonders if Rhaegar left because Elia treated him poorly since Viserys once said that Rhaegar wouldn't have needed Lyanna if he was happy with Elia. Jon Connington thinks Elia wasn't "worthy" of Rhaegar because of her fragile health. Cersei and Kevan both think Elia wasn't attractive enough to keep Rhaegar's attention and that he would have been faithful to Cersei because of her beauty.
• Brainy Brunette: Cersei mentions in one of her chapters that Elia had black hair, and Barristan claims that she was known to have a sharp wit.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: She was raped by Gregor Clegane while he still had the blood and brains of her dead infant son (whom he also killed) on his hands. He then smashed her head open and killed her.
• Culture Clash: Above all else, she was Dornish in King's Landing. What part, if any, she had to play in the whole Lyanna affair, or any other aspect of Rhaegar's plans, is up for speculation. But, her being a completely passive, politically inactive wallflower even when held as a hostage by her father-in-law is rather unlikely.
• Cuteness Proximity: She thought baby Tyrion was adorable and fawned over him.
• Cynicism Catalyst: Her death is this to Oberyn and Doran. In the fourth book, it's revealed Doran and Oberyn have been plotting to help overthrow the current dynasty for a long time, all in revenge for her death.
• Delicate and Sickly: Her health was always problematic due to the fact that she was born prematurely, to the point that her fragile nature was one of her most recognized traits. She was bedridden for a year after Rhaenys's birth and nearly died giving birth to Aegon. Apparently, the maesters afterwards told Rhaegar she'd never be able to have children again.
• Fantastic Racism: She was on the receiving end. King Aerys was reportedly fond of throwing racist diatribes against Rhaegar's Dornish wife.
• Girl Next Door: While Elia was certainly pretty, she looked a bit plain next to drop-dead gorgeous beauties like Cersei and Ashara Dayne. Or her own husband.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: Rumor had it that Gregor killed Elia by cutting her in two with his greatsword. Gregor himself later reveals that he actually killed her by bashing her head in.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: After her death, there are false rumors that she may have killed her own children to save them from the Lannisters. Daenerys also briefly wonders if her brother Rhaegar made Lyanna his Queen of Love and Beauty and then kidnapped her because Elia was a bad wife to him.
• I Have Your Wife: During Robert's Rebellion, Aerys kept her in the Red Keep against her will to ensure that her brother, Prince Doran, would fight on the side of the Targaryens, and later to ensure the loyalty of her uncle, Prince Lewyn (despite him already being a highly-regarded member of Aerys' own Kingsguard), to command them at the Battle of the Trident. Doran and the rest of Dorne were furious about this, both then and years after.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: For Oberyn, she was his Gwen, thanks to the very marriage to Rhaegar that ultimately killed her may not have taken place, except for his jokes turning Elia off her initial marriage prospect. Instead, it could have been Cersei Lannister in the firing line if the Rebellion had still gone ahead in some way.
• Kind Hearted Cat Lover: She's described as very kind, which is demonstrated by Oberyn's anecdote of her fawning over Tyrion, and she is implied to have been a cat lover, due to the comparison of the sound she made upon seeing Tyrion to the sound girls make upon seeing kittens.
• Mama Bear: "Fought like a tigress" against Gregor Clegane to save her children. It... went badly but given what Gregor is, she had the balls to try.
• Meaningful Name: Elia is the feminine of Elios, sun in Greek. Fittingly, a red sun is the family banner of the Martells.
• Nice Girl: From what we heard of her, she was good, sweet, gracious, and gentle and Barristan describes her as being very kind. Which makes her nightmarish death even more tragic.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Elia's children were both murdered before her eyes. Elia herself wasn't long in following them to the grave.
• Politically Correct History: Elia's brutal rape and murder is glossed over in the in-universe document The World of Ice & Fire, which is written as Lannister propaganda by Maester Yandel, who suggests that she also may have killed her children as a mercy or that the Mad King, their grandfather, did it out of spite at his defeat (which isn't half wrong considering he intended to burn the city to ash with them inside when he knew the war was lost).
• Posthumous Character: In a very Family-Unfriendly Death way, poor lass.
• Premature Birth Drama: Elia was born a month early and Doran initially thought she would die in the cradle. Though she did survive to adulthood, her health was always fragile.
• Princess Classic: Elia was a princess of Dorne and married the crown prince of the Targaryen royal family. She had a delicate constitution dating back to her premature birth; she was known to be demure, sweet, and kindhearted; after her death she was romanticized as Too Good for This Sinful Earth.
• Proper Lady: By all accounts, she was the very picture of good queen material, aside from her health.
• Trauma Conga Line: A lifetime of problematic health, married off to a man who didn't want her, two difficult childbirths (the latter of which left her unable to have children again), publicly snubbed by her husband at a tourney, and finally, forced to watch her children be brutally murdered before being raped and murdered herself.
• The Unreveal:
  • Varys states to Tyrion that Elia said a name before being assaulted and murdered. That name is yet to be known. Though it's all but stated to have been Gregor Clegane's. The issue is that offically Elia's killer was never named, even though it was a pretty open secret.
  • It's not known how she reacted when Rhaegar crowned Lyanna Stark as his Queen of Love and Beauty instead of her when he won the Tourney at Harrenhal; her family certainly wasn't happy, but her, who knows...
• Unwanted Spouse: While their relationship was by all accounts far, far better than his parents', Rhaegar is hinted to have felt somewhat this way about her. Daenerys thinks it says a lot when Barristan Selmy says Rhaegar was only "fond" of her, rather than anything more romantic. It's hinted their pairing was primarily the work of Elia's mother and perhaps Aerys wanting to screw with Tywin, and it was a marriage of obligation neither particularly objected to.
  • Having said that, a 'fond' relationship is better than many of the other political marriages in the series. Her middling health is often mentioned whenever she's discussed, and her inability to have children following her son's birth has been theorized to have created an issue with whatever plans Rhaegar was imagining. Martin has described their relationship as "complex."

Ser Manfrey Martell

A distant cousin of Doran.

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• Hypercompetent Sidekick: Technically Oberyn is in charge but it's Manfrey who actually runs things in Sunspear.
• Number Two: As castellan of the Dornish capital.

Lewyn Martell

Prince Lewyn Nymeros Martell

See Aerys II's Kingsguard character sheet.

Doran's family

Arianne Martell*

Princess Arianne Nymeros Martell

"I want Sunspear, and my father's seat. I want Dorne. I want justice."

As Prince Doran's eldest offspring, Princess Arianne is the heir to House Martell and all of Dorne. She's also unmarried at the age of 23. She believes her crippled father Doran means to pass her over in favor of her younger brother Quentyn, and so plots to secure her own rights. She seduces the Kingsguard knight Arys Oakheart, with a scheme to crown Myrcella and kickstart a war. She fails and he is killed. She is imprisoned in a high tower by her father, who reveals that he has been planning to return the Targaryens to power.

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• A-Cup Angst: She was pudgy and flat-chested as a young girl, and prayed to the Seven to make her more beautiful when she grew up. And boy, did she get her wish.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: She admits to herself she was really attracted to Gerold Dayne because he was dangerous, and knows her fondness for such men is a 'weakness' of hers. She also spends an inordinate amount of time struggling with the idea of a princess like Daenerys ever finding someone as plain and well-behaved as her brother an attractive consort, despite the match being purely strategic as such marriages usually are (though she is unwittingly correct about Dany's preferences).
• All Women Are Lustful: She has quite a few sexual fantasies, and says she had them even when she was young.
• Aloof Big Sister: To Quentyn, since he's fostered away from home and most of all she believes their father prefers Quentyn and wants to overlook her claim to Sunspear in favour of his son. She was wrong, and when she finds out, she wants to reconcile with her little brother, unaware that at that time he's already dead.
• Arranged Marriage: She became embittered with her father for not setting her up with a good marriage. Once she even tried to sneak out of Dorne to meet in secret with the Tyrells to try to arrange a marriage between her and Willas Tyrell, but her father's men caught her and put a stop to it. She later learns that an engagement was secretly arranged between her and Viserys Targaryen by Prince Doran and Ser Willem Darry years before the series, and without Arianne ever knowing and the entire reason her father planned for Quentyn to inherit Dorne instead of her was because he wanted her to be the queen of the entire realm. Naturally, Viserys's death put an end to it. Given who we're talking about, she unwittingly dodged a bullet there.
• Big-Breast Pride: She's proud of her buxom figure, especially since she was apparently quite flat during her youth.
• Big Sister Instinct: In the preview chapters of The Winds of Winter, she's very overprotective of her cousin, Elia Sand. At one point, Arianne panicked when Elia didn't return to their lodgings one night, only to find her catching some fish and then soundly scolded her. She also caught Elia kissing some serving boy and threw a "get away from my cousin, mister" aura at him.
• Book Dumb: Downplayed. It's not that she dislikes reading, but she tunes out if she finds the contents of books dry or lacking in romance and spice.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: She was flat-chested as a child, which she greatly resented and she prayed to the Seven nightly for beauty and a bigger chest. In her twenties, she got her wish, as she's often described as a buxom beauty, even by herself.
• Brainy Brunette: She's a cunning, intelligent brunette who enjoys cyvasse and politics. She also makes astute observations when trying to determine which lords are likely to support her and what sort of advantages she has.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Arianne calls out her father for being unresponsive to her Uncle Oberyn's death, for locking up the Sand Snakes, and for passing off her rights to Quentyn. She got the third one wrong when Doran revealed that he was only passing her his heir to Dorne because she was supposed to marry Viserys Targaryen and become queen to the Iron Throne, which was one of his plans to return the Targaryens to power and to destroy the Lannisters. Once that plan failed, he fully intends for her to be his heir.
• Cannot Keep a Secret: Her dad never told her that he was planning to betroth her to Viserys, because he knew she would tell her friend Garin or her cousin Tyene, and then Garin would spread the gossip to the other orphans of the Greenblood or Tyene would tell her other cousins. Instead, he "betrothed" Arianne to a long succession of undesirable suitors, knowing she would reject them without hesitation. Unfortunately, this backfired because it made her think he didn't love her and was planning to strip her of her inheritance and give it to her little brother Quentyn.
• Childhood Friends: With Tyene Sand, Andrey Dalt, Sylva Santagar, and Garin, which is why she recruits them — save for Tyene, who is imprisoned at the time — for her plot to crown Myrcella. Tyene Sand is specifically described as her Best Friend and as close as sisters.
• Daddy's Girl: She was so devoted to her father that at the age of fourteen, she was still going to his room to kiss him goodnight. That unfortunately led to her finding a letter in which she thinks he discussed his plans to disinherit her and make Quentyn his heir. Even when she plans to overthrow him, Arianne intends for Doran to live in comfortable retirement in the Water Gardens where Quentyn (who she believes is Doran's favorite child) can stay with him because she will "suffer no slights to his honor or his person." When her plan is foiled by Doran and she's made aware of his plans, they once again become close as shown in A Dance with Dragons.
• Determinator: She's a driven, stubborn, and ambitious young woman, who goes to great lengths to achieve what she wants. During the Queenmaker chapter, she's notably more serious and focused on the task than her companions.
• Diamonds in the Buff: Appears for her secret tryst with Arys Oakheart wearing only a snake bracelet around her forearm.
• Didn't Think This Through: Her plan to crown Myrcella might have started a war between Dorne and the Iron Throne but she didn't have any plans on how Dorne was supposed to win. As Doran points out to her Dorne has the smallest population of the Seven kingdoms. Tommen by contrast is supported by the Lannisters and the Tyrells the former of whom is the wealthiest House in Westeros while the latter has the largest army.
• Dramatic Irony: In a sample chapter from The Winds of Winter, Arianne assumes Daenerys had a hand in Viserys' death as revenge for her brother intending to take Arianne as his queen instead of her per Targaryen tradition, instead wedding her off to a savage Dothraki warlord, unaware that Daenerys and Khal Drogo were Happily Married, that Viserys brought his death on himself by constantly antagonising Drogo and his khalasar, and Daenerys' sole involvement in her brother's demise was refusing to intervene when Drogo reacted violently to Viserys threatening her and their unborn child.
  • She also regrets her distant relationship with her younger brother Quentyn and wants to bridge the gulf between them, unaware that Quentyn is already dead, thanks to Rhaegal.
• Establishing Character Moment: Arys Oakheart's death. It shows that while Arianne is a schemer and uses her sexuality for personal gain, she absolutely does not want any harm to befall her friends and loved ones. Arianne is filled with regret afterwards.
• Femme Fatale: She's not above using her sexual prowess to manipulate people, and she's shown to be quite good at it, easily seducing Kingsguard Arys Oakheart and convincing him to join in her scheme. Unlike most Femme Fatales though, she's not so cold-hearted as to not care at all about the men she seduces, becoming quite guilt-stricken once Arys is killed due to her scheming.
• Girl in the Tower: Her father punished her for her failed scheme to place Myrcella on the throne by imprisoning her in a tower where all of the servants were ordered not to speak with her, but she was otherwise comfortable. This is even Lampshaded by the titling of the chapter, "The Princess in the Tower". She's kept there for weeks, and even begins a hunger strike before her father eventually lets her out.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: She was able to deal with being imprisoned in the tower well enough, as it was quite comfortable. The fact that no one would even speak to her was what eventually broke her.
• Green-Eyed Monster: She is very jealous of her younger brother Quentyn, whom she perceives as her father's favorite child and suspects her father is trying to disinherit her in favor of Quentyn. Even when she learns this isn't true, she still feels some jealousy towards Quentyn when she thinks about him becoming Danerys's consort, even though she knows being Princess of Dorne is a better position than a royal consort. Some have suggested that might end poorly for her.
• Guile Hero: Uses her wits and words to achieve her goals, in contrast to her Action Girl Sand Snake cousins. Not only does she successfully convince Arys Oakheart to help her with these means, she also manages to figure out how best to appeal to Cedra while imprisoned.
• Horrible Judge of Character: She trusted Darkstar with far too much considering he outright suggested killing Myrcella twice before he actually tried to do it. Even though she had some reservations, she never put contingencies in place. Worse, at least two of her most-trusted childhood friends have been reporting on her to her father without her picking up on it. She still doesn't know who betrayed her.
• Hot-Blooded: Arianne grows frustrated with her father's apparent passivity toward the threats facing Dorne and takes decisive action to further her goals. However, after her plans go horribly wrong, she realizes that she needs to keep a cooler head and learn to be more careful.
• Humble Pie: Her character arc in A Feast for Crows is this for her, with her plan to crown Myrcella being easily Out-Gambitted with disastrous consequences as it leads to Arys Oakheart's death and Myrcella's disfigurement, and she soon realizes just how out of depth she was with her scheming. She becomes much more humble, and a little wiser after the ordeal. Notably, in the preview chapters of Winds of Winter, she's shown much more patience, humility, and observational skills when dealing with the Golden Company's men.
• Jerkass Has a Point: In one of her sample chapters from the The Winds of Winter, Arianne raises the good point that the Golden Company's track record of failures is hardly an encouraging reason for Dorne to support them.
  Arianne Martell: Your company stands well above the rest, I grant you. Yet the Golden Company has been defeated every time it has crossed into Westeros. They lost when Bittersteel commanded them, they failed the Blackfyre Pretenders, they faltered when Maelys the Monstrous led them.
  Lysono Maar: We are at least persistent, you must admit. And some of those defeats were near things.
  Arianne Martell: Some were not. And those who die in near things are no less dead than those who die in routs. Prince Doran, my father, is a wise man, and fights only wars that he can win. If the tide of war turns against your dragon, the Golden Company will no doubt flee back across the narrow sea, as it has done before. As Lord Connington himself did, after Robert defeated him at the Battle of the Bells. Dorne has no such refuge. Why should we lend our swords and spears to your uncertain cause?
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Arianne shows a willingness to lie, manipulate, and scheme against even those closest to her, all of which leads her to follow through on a failed coup against her father. However, she is ultimately a reasonable, well-meaning individual who is horrified and ashamed when her attempts to be a Guile Hero hurt the people who put their faith in her. After a failed attempt at playing the game of thrones, Arianne has resolved to help her father preserve Dorne through the wars to come.
• Kingmaker Scenario: While Oberyn and Tyene had previously suggested pushing the claim of their ward Myrcella ahead of Tommen and crowning her based on Dornish law—in which an older sister would inherit before a younger brother—Arianne is the one who actually attempts to put the plan into practice and make herself a "Queenmaker" in A Feast for Crows, with all the recent political upheaval and rebellions presenting an opportunity to break precedent in the old Iron Throne inheritance laws^note There was several opportunities to crown a Targaryen queen regnant in the past, but as precedent kept being set to favor more distant Targaryen princes over more direct Targaryen princesses, they got increasingly shunted out of the line of succession even more than typical Westeros inheritance laws would do (as at least the rest of the Seven Kingdoms favor the daughter over an uncle or cousin). Dorne joined the Seven Kingdoms later so they did not get to weigh in or back their preferred candidate most of those times, and as the Targaryens were ousted from power, there is an argument to be made that the old precedents that applied to the Targaryens need not apply to a new regime. She does this in part to overthrow the Lannisters and take Revenge on them for Oberyn's death. She also has a secret secondary motive to stir up support and secure allies for herself as the legal heir to Dorne being wrongfully passed over, hoping to rally the other Dornish houses into the war, seize the moment to displace her father as the authority in Dorne, and defuse his attempts to deny her her birthright. Doran ends up learning of her scheme and is the one who outmaneuver her, believing there is too high a chance Dorne wouldn't prevail as they do not really have the manpower alone to withstand the armies of the rest of Westeros attacking them, much less enough to assure victory. By now he has also heard of Daenerys Targaryen hatching dragons and plans to support her as queen instead as their best bet for success, also reinstating Arianne as his heir since his initial plan to make her queen is no longer viable.
• Kissing Cousins: Arianne and Tyene Sand almost had a three-way with Andrey Dalt when they were younger. She mentions that she wouldn't mind sharing Arys in bed with one of her cousins. She also kisses Obara, Nymeria, and Tyene each on the lips before they are sent off on the individual missions Doran has tasked them with.
• Lady and Knight: She invokes this to Arys Oakheart to convince him to participate in her schemes, insisting that if he truly loved her, he'd be willing to fight to defend her rights. After Arys' death, Ser Daemon Sand takes his place by becoming her sworn shield and absolutely loyal to her (and it helps that they share a romantic past too).
• Leeroy Jenkins: A combination of her Hot-Blooded personality, desire for Revenge for her uncle's death and her fears of being disinherited by her father leads to her to concoct a bold plan to crown Myrcella queen and get Dorne into a war with the Iron Throne. After her plan is foiled, Doran points out how reckless it was and how an open confrontation would bring ruin to Dorne.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Had she known that her father had no intention to strip her of her birthright, Arianne wouldn't have plotted against him. After her scheme to crown Myrcella as queen and start a war with the Lannisters ends in failure, Arianne learns he was secretly loyal to House Targaryen all along and thus already planning to take down the Lannisters himself.
• Luxury Prison Suite: As she's a highborn lady and heiress to Dorne, the tower she's imprisoned in after her plot is found out is very comfortable, except for how none of the servants would speak with her.
• Ms. Fanservice: She's a Femme Fatale and Head-Turning Beauty who often wears revealing clothing and her nudity is described in detail in Arys POV chapters.
• My God, What Have I Done?: She greatly regrets her Queenmaker plot because it got Arys killed and Myrcella maimed.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Myrcella wouldn't have lost her ear had it not been for Arianne's plan. Her father admits it was also partly his fault though, as he did not know Darkstar's intentions.
• Odd Friendship: With Princess Myrcella, who is a Lannister by birth and a young girl where Arianne is a grown woman. However, Myrcella fits in surprisingly well in Dorne and Arianne shows her nothing but fondness, respect, and concern in her dialogue and narration. Even after Arianne's plan got Myrcella disfigured and her sworn shield killed, Arianne is able to persuade Myrcella to lie to protect the Martells from the wrath of Myrcella's mother Queen Cersei. It probably helps that Myrcella is betrothed to Arianne's little brother Prince Trystane and the two children are already close friends.
• Old Maid: She's younger than the trope usually implies. At her mid-20s, Arianne is past the age when betrothals commonly happen in Westerosi nobility, which almost never goes beyond adolescence. She's quick to notice this, much to her annoyance, assuming that her dad is trying to cheat her out of her birthright by arranging meetups with undesirable nobles for her. She's right to assume her dad is up to something, but not for the reasons she thought in the first place. He actually had an Arranged Marriage planned for her, with Viserys Targaryan, which would have made her the queen of the Seven Kingdoms. These plans were foiled with Viserys's unexpected death.
• Out-Gambitted: After her coup goes belly up.
  Arianne: I was a foolish, willful girl, playing at the game of thrones like a drunkard rolling dice.
• Parental Sexuality Squick: Inverted. During her imprisonment, she considers wearing a revealing dress to a meeting with her father to make him uncomfortable. Later, during their actual meeting, she bluntly tells him she's been fucking Arys Oakheart, again to make him uncomfortable.
• Pet the Dog: Despite being ambitious and manipulative noble, she's not as evil, cruel or as ruthless as the reader came to expects from these types of characters in the setting, and she demonstrates this several times:
  • While she's a Femme Fatale who seduced and manipulated Arys Oakheart to join her cause, and has no real intention to marry him as she promised, she still has some affection for him and isn't just planning to dispose of him. When her plan ends up getting him killed, she feels great guilt about it.
  • Despite her desire for Revenge against the Iron Throne and the Lannisters, she sees Myrcella as an innocent child and doesn't want to see her come to harm.
  • Despite thinking Doran and Quentyn and plotting to steal her inheritance and planning to usurp her father, she still loves them and plans to keep them in Luxury Prison Suite in the Water Gardens, rather than have them executed.
• Pimped-Out Dress: Her clothes are lavish.
• Please Spare Him, My Liege!: When she's finally brought before her father after her attempt to crown Myrcella fails, she pleads with her father to spare the lives of her co-conspirators, who are all childhood friends of hers, insisting they don't deserve to die just for obeying her. As it turns out, Doran has no intention of executing them because he won't risk offending their influential families, though he does settle for exiling them from Dorne for a time.
• Politically-Active Princess: She's an ambitious and politically savvy princess of Dorne, and it's through her POV chapters that the reader learns about Dornish politics. But while she's competent, she's still young, inexperienced, and thinks she's much smarter than she actually is, leading her to be a Rebellious Princess that attempts to overthrow her father with Queenmaker plot in A Feast for Crows where she's easily Out-Gambitted. But the ordeal serves as a case of Humble Pie to her, and she walks out of it wiser as a result.
• Proud Beauty: She's quite proud of good looks, and dresses in luxurious clothing to emphasize her beauty.
• Really Gets Around: She's pretty promiscuous. The fact that she's a highborn lady who still manages to be this without stigma from her peers and family is indicative of Dorne's comparative liberality.
• Rebellious Princess: To an extent. While she appreciates her highborn status and wants to rule Dorne in her own right, she possesses a fiery personality and rebels against what she thinks her father is plotting against her.
• Regal Ringlets: She often styles her hair this way.
• Revenge: In addition to a desire to secure her inheritance rights, Arianne is also motivated to avenge the death of her uncle Oberyn.
• Sex Goddess: Casual sex is one of her favorite pastimes, and one she's gotten quite good at. Arys describes her as being an incredibly skilled lover, and she herself describes she spent a long time "training" him before he was able to keep up with her in bed.
• She's All Grown Up: In a preview chapter of The Winds of Winter, we learn she went through a very awkward phase as a teenager. It's mentioned that Arianne had a very awkward adolescence, being pudgy, flat-chested, and unremarkable. Her prayers for eventual beauty were answered, and how.
• Sheltered Aristocrat: In the sense that her father didn't give her much training in ruling or politics beyond hosting feasts and getting people to like her. He has done a great job in keeping Dorne (and by extension her) out of trouble, so she has no knowledge about the hardships that comes with war.
• Silk Hiding Steel: She has a strong personality behind her royal beauty.
• Smart People Play Chess: The fact that she's terrible at the cyvasse game is to indicate that, despite her being a Politically-Active Princess, she's very inexperienced and not really good at thinking through long-term strategy. After she takes a Humble Pie, she starts to learn the game, to demonstrate how she's improving at the "game of thrones".
• Smug Snake: While she's one of the most politically savvy POV characters and is a competent Guile Hero and Politically-Active Princess, she's still very young and inexperienced, something that doesn't cross her mind as she likes to think she's The Chessmaster, but the fact that her plan to crown Myrcella falls flat on its face moves her into this territory. Her confinement to the top of a tower for several weeks with the servants forbidden to speak with her, along with her father revealing his true plans to her leads Arianne to look back on her behavior and acknowledges that she was this.
• Spanner in the Works: A minor one to Doran's plans. Myrcella losing an ear and getting a huge facial scar surely was not part of his intentions.
• Spirited Young Lady: A feminine, gracious princess who is also witty, brave, and sexually free (which says something in her context).
• The Tease: She enjoys being this, first to celibate Kingsguard Arys Oakheart (but not without pursuing her own agenda), and then to her embittered ex-boyfriend Daemon Sand.
• The Unfavorite: She feels herself to be this, thinking her father would rather make her younger brother Prince of Dorne. She even suspects her father has been trying to have her married to lower lords and make Quentyn his heir. She was horribly wrong. The only reason her father was going to make Quentyn Prince of Dorne was because his plans for her were that she would become Queen by marrying Viserys Targaryen.
• Unluckily Lucky: Viserys' death robbed her of the chance to become Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, but it also spared her from becoming Viserys's wife.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Ser Daemon Sand in their journey through the Stormlands in Arianne's chapters of The Winds of Winter. He was her first love and she gave him her maidenhead, but he was denied her hand in marriage for being a bastard and also because Arianne was secretly betrothed to Viserys Targaryen, and never quite got over the slight. When Arianne tries to seduce Daemon, he resists, but in the following chapter he's ready to take the risk of reaching Jon Connington and Aegon Targaryen in her place, which she declines.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Arianne is entirely driven by her desire for her father's love and approval. Her belief that Doran prefers Quentyn is at the root of her insecurities. Even when she's beginning her attempt at a coup, she wonders what he would think, and intends for him to live out the rest of his days unharmed in the Water Gardens.

Quentyn Martell*

Prince Quentyn Nymeros Martell

Quent, Frog, Prince Frog, The Prince Who Came Too Late

"The hero sets out with his friends and companions, faces danger, comes home triumphant. Only some of his companions don't return at all. The hero never dies, though. I must be the hero."

Prince Doran's second child. In A Feast for Crows, Arianne discovers that he has been assigned a mission: he has been sent to woo Daenerys and bring her back to Westeros with her three dragons. He narrates in A Dance with Dragons, so be aware that everything in spoiler markings here is from that book.

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• Arranged Marriage: The same one Arianne was stuck in. Because Viserys is dead, he's sent in his sister's stead.
• Boring, but Practical: This is Ser Barristan's assessment of him as a potential suitor for Daenerys.
  Barristan's narrative: Short and stocky, plain-faced, he seemed a decent lad, sober, sensible, dutiful... but not the sort to make a young girl's heart beat faster. [...] She wants fire, and Dorne sent her mud. You could make a poultice out of mud to cool a fever. You could plant seeds in mud and grow a crop to feed your children. Mud would nourish you, where fire would only consume you, but fools and children and young girls would choose fire every time.
• Butt-Monkey: He doesn't even know how to talk to girls, but is sent across the sea on a mission that could determine the fate of Westeros, to woo "the most beautiful woman in the world". He arrives just in time to watch her marry someone else. Things get worse for him from there. It doesn't help that he is constantly described as being less attractive than his best friend and feels way out of his depth on such a mission.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: He perishes from extremely severe burns after getting roasted by Rhaegal, and not quickly. It takes three days for him to finally die, during which time his eyes boiled into pools of pus, and enough flesh melted off his face to expose part of his skull.
• Determinator: He will do anything to win Daenerys's regard. He gets himself killed in the process.
• Despair Event Horizon: He has strong shades of this after he fails to win Daenerys's hand. On some level he understands that trying to steal a dragon would lead to his death, but he presses on all the same.
• Didn't Think This Through: Barristan has to tell him that he has overstayed his welcome when all suspicions are raised when someone attempts to poison Daenerys or Hizdahr, as he's been flagged as a culprit. Not wanting to return to Dorne empty-handed, Quentyn attempts to woo the remaining dragons, which earns him third-degree (and ultimately fatal) burns.
  • His entire journey can be considered in this light. Sure, let's just show up out of nowhere and tell a ruling queen that she's supposed to marry you. I'm sure she'll be delighted.
• Did Not Get the Girl: Daenerys is already betrothed by the time he arrives, and then he tries to impress her by taming her dragons and gets himself roasted crispy and a slow and painful death.
• Distracted by the Sexy: He gets tongue-tied when he meets Dany due to her extreme beauty. Though his point is ostensibly important and beneficial, he fails to deliver partly because of this.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: Daenerys takes him to see her dragons, but his evident fear of them makes it obvious he doesn't have what it takes to be her second husband. Quentyn however decides to steal one and ride it to earn her respect—why else would she show them to him?
• The Dutiful Son: All he did was meant to fulfill his father's hopes, it ended up getting him killed.
• The Everyman: Out of his depth, under-confident, not especially attractive, and even a bit nerdy.
• Fate Worse than Death: How Barristan Selmy regards his death courtesy of Rhaegal, musing that at least being eaten by the dragon would have been quick. After his burns, it takes three days for Quentyn to die, every bit of it an unutterable agony.
• Idiot Hero: Compensates for all his above shortcomings with idealism and sheer moxie. It does not save him.
• Kill It with Fire: Tries to avert this fate happening to him in his attempt to tame the dragons. He doesn't live to tell the tale.
• Missing Mom: At an early age, Quentyn was sent to Lord Yronwood as a diplomatic gesture by his father on account of Oberyn killing Lord Edgar Yronwood. This drove a wedge in his parents' marriage and she ended up leaving Doran and living in Norvos. Quentyn contemplates visiting Norvos to meet his mother, but he ends up dead instead.
• My Nayme Is: "Quentyn" is a misspelling of the modern Quentin.
• Nice Guy: Quentyn is a decent enough young man at heart, even if he's not one to turn any heads. Unfortunately...
• Nice Guys Finish Last: His entire story arc in a nutshell.
  Ser Barristan: He should have stayed in Dorne. He should have stayed a frog. Not all men are meant to dance with dragons.
• Oh, Crap!: Of the worst kind.
  When he raised his whip, he saw that the lash was burning. His hand as well. All of him, all of him was burning. "Oh", he thought. Then he began to scream.
• Prince Charmless: Downplayed; the poor boy isn't in any way unpleasant, but Quentyn just doesn't have the stuff to win Daenerys' heart.
• Sheltered Aristocrat: Of the "naïve and well-meaning" variety.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: The Martell plot gets an awesome reveal at the end of A Feast for Crows, and Quentyn travels across the known world to reach his queen, losing close friends in the process, gets a foreshadowing scene with Dany where she mentions that even though she is married to Hizdahr zo Loraq, "the dragon has three heads"... and then he gets himself burned to a crisp when he attempts to take Rhaegal and Viserion from their pit.
• Socially Awkward Hero: Quentyn is a good friend, a brave person and a dutiful son, but he is girl-shy, small and plain-looking. His offer to become Dany's betrothed fails because he both doesn't drive his point through due to stage fright and being Distracted by the Sexy at the sight of Dany, and also because he isn't a handsome guy to say the least.
• Spanner in the Works: To his own father's plans, although in his defense this mostly comes down to bad timing, since by the time he approaches Daenerys, she's already engaged to someone else. Rather than leaving it at that and returning home, however, Quentyn sticks around to plan an ill-conceived dragon heist in the hopes of not returning to his father completely empty-handed, which leads to his death in short order.
• Sunk Cost Fallacy: Even with Daenerys lost, his own life in jeopardy, and Ser Barristan urging him to flee, Quentyn, after losing several friends and undergoing so much hardship, can't bring himself to forsake his mission and potentially disappoint his father. He stays in Meereen to try and tame Daenerys' two remaining dragons, which leads to his horrible death.
• Tempting Fate: By thinking himself to be in a bardic tale of heroism and treating his trip as "a Quest", he practically signed his own warrant.
• Too Dumb to Live: Let's kidnap two dragons...
• Tragic Hero: Quentyn's quest was doomed almost from the word go. He loses friends and allies along the way, and by the time he finally meets Daenerys, she's already married someone else and refuses to put aside her marriage for Quentyn's sake. His attempt to tame two dragons so as to have something to bring back to Dorne causes his hideous death.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Even after Daenerys flatly refuses his marriage offer, one of the primary reasons that Quentyn persists is to make Doran proud of him.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Not only does Quentyn think he's in a heroic tale of good and evil, he thinks that he's The Hero, when his status as The Everyman reduces him to The Load. It takes Rhaegal charbroiling some sense into him to disabuse him of the notion, but it also gets him killed.

Trystane Martell

Prince Trystane Nymeros Martell

Prince Doran's second son and youngest child. He is the younger brother of Arianne and Quentyn.

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• Arranged Marriage: He is betrothed to Princess Myrcella Baratheon, Queen Cersei's daughter.
• Flat Character: Unlike his older siblings, he doesn't really have that much characterization (or appearances in the text).
• Graceful Loser: When playing cyvasse with Myrcella. He loses more often than he wins, but doesn't seem to mind too much.
• My Nayme Is: Trystane, not Tristan.
• Nice Guy: According to the accounts given of him, he's a good-natured boy who doesn't mind losing games of Cyvasse (the setting's equivalent of chess with some blitzkrieg and stratego thrown in) to his betrothed.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Although they are both too young for the wedding to actually take place, he and Myrcella immediately became inseparable friends after her arrival in Dorne.

Lady Mellario of Norvos

Lady Mellario

The estranged wife of Prince Doran Martell and mother of Arianne, Quentyn, and Trystane, now residing at Norvos.

See the Norvos entry at the Free Cities character page.

Oberyn's Family

Ellaria Sand

Ellaria Sand

"Even weeping, she has a strength in her."

—Areo Hotah

Oberyn's paramour, the bastard daughter of Lord Harmen Uller, and the mother of his four youngest bastard daughters (Sand Snakes).

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• Brainy Brunette: Down-to-earth and practical, with black hair.
• Ethical Slut: She and Oberyn are both bisexual and totally fine with enjoying multiple lovers. Their relationship is actually one of the most devoted and loving in the entire series.
• Even the Girls Want Her: Sansa's narration has her briefly captivated by Ellaria's attractiveness.
• Good Parents: She and Oberyn are this. She loves and takes good care of her own four daughters, and seems to get along very well with the four oldest Sand Snakes, who are Oberyn's daughters from earlier love affairs.
• Good Stepmother: Though not technically Oberyn's wife, she plays this role to his daughters from other women. In addition to being a maternal figure for them, she desperately tries to convince the three eldest not to seek revenge against the Lannisters and likely get themselves killed in the process.
• Mama Bear: Towards her four young daughters, especially. Yet, she also has a soft spot for the other Sand Snakes — she does try to keep their reckless drives in check to a great extent. She steadfastly refuses to smother any of them, though. However, woe unto those who harm them beyond what backdraft she decides they've earned for themselves: she may not advocate Revenge Before Reason, but that doesn't mean she won't defend her own.
• The Mistress: Subverted, since Oberyn isn't married to anyone during the time they're together. However, it's implied that Ellaria would have remained his mistress if an Arranged Marriage with Cersei had gone through.
• The Mourning After: After Oberyn is brutally killed by Gregor Clegane. What's worse? She watched it happen.
• Nice Girl: Quite polite and charming with, as her (sort of) brother-in-law Prince Doran puts it, "a gentle heart" which he claims is more valuable than pride or valor.
• Only Sane Woman: Back in Dorne she attempts to reason with the oldest Sand Snakes, who want violent revenge for their father's death. She doesn't see the purpose in getting revenge, and brings up some excellent points for why it wouldn't benefit anyone.
  Ellaria: I saw your father die. Here is his killer. Can I take a skull to bed with me, to give me comfort in the night? Will it make me laugh, write me songs, care for me when I am old and sick?
• Parental Substitute: Serves as a mother figure for Oberyn's older daughters.
• Retcon: In A Storm of Swords she is said to have born Oberyn two daughters, but in the following books she is the mother of four of the Sand Snakes. Then again, maybe Sansa was just not very well informed.
• Royal Bastard: She is the bastard daughter of Harmen Uller, Lord of Hellholt. Bastards tend to be more socially accepted in Dorne, so Ellaria had a noble upbringing and became the paramour of Prince Oberyn Martell. She and Oberyn can't marry because of her bastard status, but she's treated as his wife in all but name by the Martells. When she comes to a royal wedding in King's Landing, there's some debate over where to seat her; because she's a bastard seating her too near the royal family would be considered an insult to them, but because she's also his paramour seating her too far away would be an insult to him.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: She wants no part in Doran and the Sand Snakes' revenge plot knowing that it would affect her daughters. Doran understands her reasons and lets her leave. In The Winds of Winter, she goes back her father's stead in Hellholt with Loreza while Dorea remains in the Water Gardens and Obella is in Sunspear as a cupbearer.
• Silk Hiding Steel: See her character quote. She may be a kind, courteous woman and a loving mother, but she's also shown to have strong morals and an outspoken opinion against revenge. Sansa notes that Ellaria, despite being bastard-born and of a relatively low position, was unafraid to look the queen in the eye.

The Sand Snakes

Oberyn's eight illegitimate daughters with Ellaria as well as various other women.

See the Sand Snakes page.

Household

Areo Hotah*

Areo Hotah

"Protect. Serve. Obey. Simple vows for a simple man."

Doran's bodyguard and confidante, Hotah was born in Norvos and has served House Martell since his boyhood. A quiet, serious older man, he loves Doran and his children very much. An absolutely devastating fighter, he always keeps his axe sharp.

For the main entry on the Free City of Norvos, see here.

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• Beware the Quiet Ones: Arianne explicitly tells Arys Oakheart that Hotah is terrifying once he is roused. He is a fearsome fighter, and utterly destroys Ser Arys Oakheart, a trained knight of the Kingsguard, in a brief battle.
• The Captain: In addition to his bodyguard duties, Areo is the Captain of the Guard of Sunspear.
• Cargo Ship: In an in-universe version, he is a celibate warrior who is "married" to his axe, which he refers to as his "iron wife". He is rather obsessive about sharpening it.
• The Dragon: Given the Grey-and-Gray Morality of the series, it's easy enough to see him as either to Doran.
• Fish out of Water: He still feels like a stranger in Dorne after living there for years. He thinks Dornish women are too lewd, Dornish wine is too sour, and Dornish food is full of strange spices.
• Gut Feeling: Areo instinctively felt that he would one day fight and kill Arys Oakheart. That day comes when Arianne tries to enact a coup against her father, with help from Arys.
• Like a Daughter to Me: How he views Princess Arienne, who he affectionately refers to as "little princess". However, his loyalty to Doran wins out over his love for her and he quickly and efficiently destroys her plot to crown Myrcella and imprisons her, although it pains him greatly to do so.
• Made a Slave: His parents sold him to the Bearded Priests, who trained him as a warrior.
• Male Gaze: Subverted. In Dance he's pleased to see that Nym is wearing a revealing gown, but only because it means she's not hiding a bunch of knives under her clothes.
• Martial Pacifist: Established very quickly within his first POV chapter. He's peaceful and friendly in behavior and thoughts, but is also constantly evaluating the fighting prowess of those around him in case trouble should happen.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: He was the last of six children born to a poor family in Norvos, and was thus sold to the bearded priests.
• Odd Name Out: Has the distinction of being one of only two POV characters not from Westeros (the other being Melisandre).
• Old Soldier: His hair has turned white, but he's still one of the most skilled warriors in Dorne.
• Parental Abandonment: His parents sold him to the bearded priests because they saw him as just another mouth to feed.
• The Quiet One: His second chapter is even titled "The Watcher."
• Sherlock Scan: Areo is an extremely observant person and he's constantly assessing who is likely to be a threat to Doran.
• Slave Brand: Remembers that the Bearded Preists branded him on his chest.
• The Stoic: Hotah is a man of few words, ever calm and steady, keeping any strong emotions to himself.
• Undying Loyalty: To Doran. It's actually a creed for him.
  Serve. Obey. Protect. He had sworn those vows at six-and-ten, the day he wed his axe. Simple vows for simple men, the bearded priests had said.
• Worthy Opponent: He pegs Ser Balon Swann as a potential one the moment he lays eyes on him.

Maester Caleotte

Maester Caleotte

Prince Doran's personal Maester, Caleotte accompanies his prince wherever he goes.

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• Gadgeteer Genius: He made Prince Doran's wheelchair himself.
• The Good Chancellor: Despite being rather meek around the Sand Snakes, Caleotte offers smart and sensible advice to Prince Doran, who respects his counsel.
• The Medic: He is in charge of treating Doran's gout, and does what he can to ease his pain.
• Oh, Crap!: He gets very frightened when Doran places his hand on Tyene Sand's head to give her a blessing, and rushes to his side after she leaves to inspect his hand for puncture marks.
• Older Than They Look: His smooth and fat face makes it difficult to tell how old he is.
• Old Retainer: He has been serving Doran before even Areo entered his service.
• Shorter Means Smarter: An experienced maester who's barely five feet tall.
• The Smart Guy: Unsurprising since he is a trained Maester. Caleotte even managed to create a wheelchair for Doran to use which makes getting around much easier and less painful for him.

Garin of the Orphans

Garin of the Orphans

A milk-brother of Arianne and one of her closest friends.

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• Childhood Friends: With Arianne, Tyene Sand, Sylva Santagar, and Andrey Dalt.
• The Exile: He is exiled to Tyrosh for two years for his role in Arianne's conspiracy to crown Myrcella.

Historical Martells

Pre-Targaryen Conquest

Lord Morgan Martell

Lord Morgan Martell

An Andal adventurer and the first Martell in historical record. He seized domains of Houses Wade and Shell.

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• The Conqueror: A minor one
• Burn Baby Burn: He burned down the castles of the Wades and Shells
• Founder of the Kingdom: He established the domain in which House Martell would raise their first seat: the Sandship

Princess Nymeria

Princess Nymeria

"Our wanderings are at an end. We have found a new home, and here we shall live and die."

A legendary warrior queen from Ny Sar who managed to unite the Rhoynar people and lead them to escape the expansion of Old Valyria, fleeing across the Narrow Sea in allegedly ten thousand ships. Upon landing, she then married Mors Martell and with his support conquered the rest of Dorne. After the death of Mors, she was married two more times, to Lord Uller and Davos Dayne respectively. Nymeria had four daughters by Mors Martell (the eldest of which succeeded her as ruler of Dorne) and at least one son by Davos Dayne.

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• Arranged Marriage: With Mors Martell. After Mors' death she took two more husbands, the aged Lord Uller and Ser Davos Dayne, the Sword of the Morning. Neither of them ruled after marrying her, as she was the unchallenged ruler of Dorne.
• The Exile: By choice, knowing that if she and her people remained in Essos, the Valyrians would kill or enslave them all.
• Expy: Of Aeneas from The Aeneid. Both led their respective peoples across the sea to find a home after being all but exterminated in war.
  • If Dorne is meant to be a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of Moorish Spain, Nymeria's closest counterpart would be Abd al-Rahman I of al-Andalus, who was similarly forced to flee his homeland and found a new dynasty in a land across the sea.
• Famed In-Story: Immortalized in songs as a warrior who led her people to freedom, so much so that even a northern girl on the polar opposite side of Westeros thousands of years later names her wolf after Nymeria.
• Famous Ancestor: To the Martells. Apart from Nymeria Sand in modern day, Meria Martell and Nymor Martell were also clearly named for her. Through Mariah Martell, she is also one to the current line of Targaryens, ironically making Nymeria the ancestor of the last Valyrian dragonlords.
• Founder of the Kingdom: Nymeria and Mors unified Dorne under the rule of House Martell. Nymeria was responsible for introducing many Rhoynar customs (including gender-equal primogeniture) to Dorne.
• The High Queen: Or rather, The High Princess. It was because of her that the Rhoynar were able to escape the Valyrian Conquest and find a new home in Dorne.
• Historical Badass Upgrade: In-universe. Nymeria wasn't a hands-on warrior, however she is commonly remembered as one.
• Lady of War: She even put down two rebellions, and stopped three invasions: two by Durran III the Storm King, and one by Greydon Gardener, King of the Reach.
• Only One Name: By all appearances, since presumably if she'd had a family name then it would have been hitched to House Martell's. Instead, the name of her husband's House was extended to Nymeros Martell to mark their children as Nymeria's descendants as well as Mors'.
• Only Sane Woman: The only Rhoynar ruler that understood fighting the Valyrians was a lost cause.
• Princesses Rule: In Rhoynish tradition, and the defining example for Westeros. At a time when Dorne was far more influenced by Andal culture than the Rhoynar who had just arrived, and had only ever been ruled by kings with their queens being consorts, Nymeria still ruled as a princess rather than call herself a queen, and her husbands were her consorts, not the other way around.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After the Valyrians defeated the Rhoynar she led the exodus of her people from Essos to Dorne, not before trying to settle on the Basilisk Isles, Zamettar and Yeen on Sothoryos, and on the Isle of Women in the Summer Isles.

Prince Mors Martell

Mors Martell, Prince of Dorne

A petty lord in the region of Dorne. He married Princess Nymeria as part of the deal for his aid in conquering Dorne, becoming the first Prince of House Martell. Mors and Nymeria had four daughters together (the eldest of which became the ruler of Dorne in turn).

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• Arranged Marriage: With Princess Nymeria in exchange for the Martells' aid in conquering Dorne.
• Famous Ancestor: His recognition of how the Rhoynar could increase the power of House Martell dramatically led to him marrying Nymeria and beginning the conquest of Dorne.
• Founder of the Kingdom: His marriage to Nymeria made him become the first Prince of House Martell.
• Last of His Kind: He was the last head of House Martell that was fully Andal. When he married Nymeria, their offspring were henceforth Andal/Rhoynish and deemed in equally important status.
• Love at First Sight: According to the singers, he fell in love with Nymeria almost immediately, captivated by her beauty, power, and drive to keep her people free.
• Pragmatic Hero: He saw the power of the Rhoynar as an opportunity to rule Dorne unopposed. Falling in love with Nymeria was the icing on the cake; he took a gambit and won every possible price, even if he did die before Dorne was fully conquered his line has ruled Dorne since.

The Red Princes

The three great grandchildren of Nymeria.

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• Famous Ancestor: The Greenblood don't remember them fondly because they tried to ban the use of the Rhoynar language.
• No Name Given: So far their names have not been provided.
• Samus Is a Girl: Only one of the Princes was male.
• She Is the King: Two of them were female, but they were still called the Red Princes.

After the Conquest

Princess Meria Martell

Meria Nymeros Martell, Princess of Dorne

The Yellow Toad of Dorne

"I will not fight you, nor will I kneel to you. Dorne has no king. Tell your brother that."

Princess of Dorne during the War of Conquest, she was old, blind and nearly bald. She offered to aid Aegon against Argilac the Arrogant, but she would not bend the knee. She managed to keep the Targaryens from invading Dorne by having the men launch guerilla attacks on the invading army instead of facing them directly. Meria had a son, Nymor, who succeeded her as ruler of Dorne.

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• Badass Boast: After Rhaenys Targaryen flew to Sunspear to demand Dorne's surrender, Meria refused, causing Rhaenys to vow to return with "fire and blood". Meria replied that Dorne will never bow or submit to the new conquerors, and that Rhaenys would only return at her peril. Rhaenys did, eventually, return to subjugate Dorne, and found the doom that Meria promised her.
  Meria: Your words. Ours are Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken. You may burn us, my lady... but you will not bend us, break us, or make us bow. This is Dorne. You are not wanted here. Return at your peril!
• Cool Old Lady: Eighty years old during Aegon's Conquest, yet she still threatened a dragonrider without fear. During the First Dornish War, she continued to lead Dorne against the rest of Westeros. The war only ended shortly after her death in 13 AC (where she was in her 90s). It is also in this war that her threat against Rhaenys was carried out.
• Destination Defenestration: The way she killed poor Lord Rosby. The guy thought Sunspear was empty.
• The High Queen: Due to her actions, Dorne became the only part of Westeros not to be controlled by the Targaryens after the War of Conquest.
• In-Universe Nickname: The Yellow Toad of Dorne, coined by King Argilac the Arrogant of the Stormlands.
• Knight Templar: She was determined to never surrender to the Dragonlords, and put up some scarily successful guerrilla warfare. On the other side, was it really worth thousands of people turned to ashes and dust?
• Know When to Fold Them: Averted by her in the First Dornish War. Her successor was the one who sued for peace after her death.
• Lady of War: Lacks the grace due to her advanced years, but otherwise fits the bill, ordering and managing guerilla warfare and even disposing of at least one enemy personally.
• Never Mess with Granny: She was the only ruler of Westeros who managed to keep the Targaryens from conquering her kingdom during the War Of Conquest, flatly refusing to bend the knee.
  • During the First Dornish War, Aegon the Conqueror named Lord Rosby as Warden of the Sands when he found Sunspear to be emptied much like the other castles at Dorne. Meria, bordering 90 years old and blind as a bat, overpowered Lord Rosby, bound him, dragged him to the top of the Spear Tower and threw him out of the window.
  • Deconstructed during the First Dornish War. After her death, her successor sued for peace (as an equal), after Dorne incurred the Dragon's Wroth.
• Screw Your Ultimatum!: To the Targaryens, who really should have known better than to try the methods they used for the rest of Westeros on a country populated by descendants of the Rhoynar people, whom the Valyrian Freehold had previously decimated. When Rhaenys Targaryen came to meet with her to demand Dorne's surrender and subjugation, Meria coldly refused to entertain the thought for even a second.
  Meria: I will not fight you. Nor will I kneel to you. Dorne has no king. Tell your brother that.
  Rhaenys: I shall. But we will come again, Princess, and next time we shall come with Fire and Blood!
  Meria: Your words. Ours are Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken. You may burn us, my lady, but you will not bend us, break us or make us bow. This is Dorne. You are not wanted here. Return at your peril!

Prince Nymor Martell

Nymor Martell, Prince of Dorne

Prince Nymor was the Prince of Dorne and successor of Princess Meria Martell, ascending to the throne at an advanced age, however. He put an end to the First Dornish War.

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• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Based on the observation that Aegon honoured the peace treaty until his death (more than 20 years later), the contents of the letter are more likely to be a lighter version of the trope. ^note Given Aegon's temper and the resources the Iron Throne can muster, threats are unlikely to ensure a peace of such duration. Also, it is worth noting that for the previous two years, Dorne had endured the Dragon's Wroth (where every Dornish stronghold was burnt at least once, with the exception of Sunspear). With Meria's death and Nymor's own health and age issues, Dorne is also keen to end the war and to have an enduring peace with the Iron Throne.
• Non-Action Guy: Due to his age and frailty
• Refuge in Audacity: Offering Aegon peace terms but as equals not as vassal and overlord. Crosses the Line Twice if one takes into consideration the still-unknown contents of his letter to Aegon. In-universe Epileptic Trees from the Maesters range from revealing that Rhaenys had survived and was kept a prisoner at Hellholt under torture, with the letter offering to Mercy Kill her in exchange for peace, to threatening to hire a Faceless Man to kill Aegon's heir.

Princess Deria Martell

Deria Martell, Princess of Dorne

Princess Deria Martell was the daughter of Nymor Martell, and the ruling Princess of Dorne during the reign of King Aenys I (and presumably also during the later years of the reign of Aegon I, as her father was already elderly when her grandmother Meria Martell passed away in 13 AC).

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• Ambiguous Situation: Her exact relations with the original Vulture King aren't clear. While she officially denounced the Vulture King's actions and presented it as a rebellion, she never did anything to stop him or to stop other dornishemen and even nobles from joining him, nor did anything when he was defeated. Some even suspect Deria of having provided the funds and men to the Vulture King, but there's no evidence to prove it.
• False Reassurance: As Princess, she once reassured Aenys that House Martell were doing everything they could to put down the rebellion of the Vulture King, which was threatening the Iron Throne. However, as the Vulture King was a Dornishman who never raided her territories, Deria largely left him alone.
• The Man Behind the Man: The Sons of the Dragon states she was suspected of providing funding and men for to the Vulture King.
• Nerves of Steel: Being a diplomat to negotiate peace with the Dragon and his court requires you to have this. Doubly so when Dorne was not in a position of strength at the time and pretty much everyone at court wanted to make an example out of her for her family's actions. ^note The Princess of Dorne had just died, her successor an already elderly man, and Dorne had suffered from Aegon's reprisal for his queen's disappearance, also known as the Dragon's Wroth.
• Noodle Implements: The letter which she presented to Aegon on that diplomatic mission. Whatever was in the letter convinced Aegon to have peace with Dorne as equals, and the peace lasted for more than 20 years, until the Dragon's death. While Aegon never revealed its contents to anyone else, it is unknown if the contents had been lost to Deria's descendants.
• Number Two: As her father's heir. Due to his advanced years when he became Prince, she was rather heavily involved in Dorne's affairs ever since her grandmother's death, as can be seen in her diplomatic mission.
• Sins of the Father: In this case, more "Sins of the Grandmother and countrymen", but when Deria arrived in King's Landing as an envoy from Dorne, pretty much all of Aegon's subjects wanted her to be the victim of payback for this. Visenya wanted her executed in retaliation for Rhaenys, Orys Baratheon, who'd lost a hand in the aborted conquest of Dorne, said Deria should be sent back minus one of hers, and Lord Oakheart, whose daughter had been gang-raped and sold into sexual slavery by Dornish raiders, wanted Deria forced to prostitute herself in the worst brothel in the city. Ultimately subverted; Aegon put his foot down and insisted Deria was an envoy and would be afforded the respect due to one.

Prince Morion Martell

Morion Martell, Prince of Dorne

Prince of Dorne during the reign of Jaehaerys I Targaryen. Shortly after his crowing, he tried to invade the Stormlands by sea, only for King Jaehaerys and his sons to descend on dragonback upon his fleet killing him and every man in his army in what would be known as Morion's Madness and the War of a Hundred Candles.

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• Curb-Stomp Battle: The assault of Jaehaerys and his sons on his fleet was more like setting candles on fire than a real battle. This was the only war in Westerosi history that was won without losing a single man on one side.
• Famous Ancestor: More like infamous.
• General Failure: Threw away every advantage Dorne had over the Iron Throne in a foolish attempt to attack by sea, ignoring the reason Dorne hadn't been submitted was because they didn't fight the dragons head-on. His blunder ended up costing the lives of thousands of men.
• In-Universe Catharsis: Burning him and his entire army with dragonfire must have felt cathartic to the Targaryens, who had only experienced headaches and humiliations fighting the Dornish previously.
• Meaningful Name:
  • One letter away from "moron".
  • A Morion is also an open-faced helmet from the Spanish kingdom of Castile. Prince Morion here proved too hard-headed to reconsider his invasion.
• Too Dumb to Live: Thought he had secretly been building his fleet for over a year when in reality King Jaehaerys had a lot of forewarning of his plans. Then there's the fact that wooden ships are a perfect target for dragonfire. He probably has the honor of being considered the biggest moron in the history of House Martell Post-Conquest.
• War Hawk: Even before becoming the Prince of Dorne he wanted to attack the Seven Kingdoms and sack the Stormlands as revenge for the death of the second Vulture King, accusing his own father of cowardice as he, wisely, refused to involve himself and Dorne army in this affair and kept peace with the Targaryens. As soon as he became ruler of Dorne, he decided to put his goals in practice, with the catastrophic results we know.

Prince Qoren Martell

Qoren Martell, Prince of Dorne

"Dorne has danced with dragons before. I would sooner sleep with scorpions."

The Prince of Dorne during the reign of Viserys I and the Dance of Dragons. He had three children, Aliandra, Qyle and Coryanne Martell.

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• Enemy Mine: During the War on the Stepstones, he supported the Triarchy against Daemon Targaryen and Corlys Velaryon.
• Refused the Call: When asked by the Greens and Blacks if he would join them, he answered with the quote above.
• The Wise Prince: Kept his realm outside the most devastating civil war in Westeros up until that point.

Princess Aliandra Martell

Aliandra Martell, Princess of Dorne

The Princess of Dorne during the reign of Aegon III Targaryen.

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• My Sister Is Off-Limits: Her siblings Qyle and Coryanne were not pleased with her closeness to Alyn Velaryon.
• Odd Friendship: In lack of a better word and more context, she got along quite well with Lord Alyn Velaryon and she hosted him at Sunspear both times he crossed through Dorne.
• One Degree of Separation: She was married to Drazenko Rogare, uncle of Larra Rogare the wife of Viserys II Targaryen, although it is unknown if they had any offspring together.
• War Hawk: Styling herself as a new Nymeria, she motivated her vassals to raid the Stormlands in order to prove themselves to her.

Queen Mariah Martell

Queen Mariah Nymeros Martell

The sister of Prince Maron. She married King Daeron II as part of the deal concocted by the then king Baelor I that brought Dorne under the rule of the Iron Throne. They had four sons together: Baelor, Aerys I, Rhaegel and Maekar I.

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• Alliterative Name: Both her and her brother Maron.
• Altar Diplomacy: Her marriage to Daeron was the first step into uniting Dorne with the rest of the Seven Kingdoms.
• Double In-Law Marriage: She married Daeron Targaryen, while her brother Maron married Daenerys, Daeron's sister.
• Famous Ancestor: To the Dornish she helped bring peace. To some Westerosi, she is blamed for bringing foreign ways into court.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Her marriage to Daeron was said to be happy and fruitful.
• Retcon: Her name was retconned from "Myriah" in The World of Ice & Fire
• Spanner in the Works: Not by her own volition as the trope dictates, but invoked nevertheless. The betrothals between Targaryens and Martells brought peace with Dorne... but brought war from everyone that was still salty at the Dornish for a century and a half of warring. These dissidents were fuming at both the Dornish-ladden court of Daeron and the shipping of Daenerys to Dorne. It didn't help that Aegon IV wasn't particularly fond of his daughter-in-law Mariah, outright expressing his disdain for her and fueling the fire before the rebellion erupted after Aegon IV died.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Her eventual fate is unknown.

The Unnamed Princess of Dorne

The Unnamed Princess of Dorne

The mother of Doran, Elia and Oberyn Martell and Doran's predecessor.

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• Arranged Marriage: She tried to arrange a marriage either for Elia or Oberyn with Jaime or Cersei Lannister. Tywin rejected her and she arranged Elia's marriage with Prince Rhaegar (after King Aerys had rejected Cersei as a bride for him), seemingly in revenge.
• Lady-In-Waiting: She was one to Princess Rhaella Targaryen, alongside Joanna Lannister.
• No Name Given: Her first name is yet to be revealed.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Mors and Olyvar, her two sons following Doran, died during infancy.
• Politically-Active Princess: She was a princess that ruled Dorne in her own right. First, she conspired to build an alliance with the Lannisters through her friend Joanna by marrying one or more of their children together, and when that failed because Tywin was uncooperative following Joanna's Death by Childbirth, she arranged for her daughter to marry the crown prince.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: She taught Doran to put the welfare of Dornish children first in his decision-making process, particularly with regards to war.

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