Fanfic / Nymeria's War

Nymeria's War by WildlingKing is an ongoing Elsewhere Fic set in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire. Taking place around 700 years before the events detailed in the popular novel series and the HBO series, it revolves around the titular character, the Rhoynish princess Nymeria, who has led her people away from their homelands in Essos to the continent of Westeros, to find them a new home after the Valyrian Freehold destroyed their former lands in a long and bloody war. Eventually, the Rhoynish fleet lands in Dorne, the southernmost region of Westeros, where Nymeria marries the Dornish lord Mors Martell. Soon after her marriage, she sets her eyes on uniting the entire region, up to then split into several smaller kingdoms, under her banner, therefore starting a years-long war for the control of Dorne.

The Fic relies heavily on reader input, by featuring a Gamebooks-style of writing in which the readers are offered several options at the end of almost every part of the story, so that they can decide how the respective Point-of-View character is going to deal with different situations, by posting a comment below the part, which contains their favoured option in form of a vote. The option that is voted for the most is chosen as the one picked by the Point-of-View character in question. This affects not only the character themselves, but also the characters around them and more, sometimes even changing the course of the story in a heavy way. The Fic also allows the readers to create their own characters to be featured in the story, some of them even as Point-of-View characters in their own right.

It can mainly be read on the Telltale forums, which is also where new updates to the story are published first and where readers can vote on the course of action they wish the Point-of-View characters to take. The first book of four planned is also currently updated on google docs.

A sequel of sorts titled The Age of Storm is also concurrently being published. It's set 20 years after the beginning of Book 2, and it centers on the rest of Westeros, with Dorne being only mentioned so far.

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This fanfiction features examples of:

A

• Absurdly Sharp Blade: Every blade made from Valyrian Steel is this by default. Since the story takes place a few hundred years before the Doom of Valyria, Valyrian Steel is also more common as it is going to be in later centuries. The most notable wielder of such a blade is Efran Sand, the bandit lord trying to claim the lands of House Dalt. The guards of Eraehra Galnaris, a Valyrian noblewoman, are also equipped with Valyrian Steel.
• Abusive Parents: Albin Manwoody is never outright shown to hit his son, but considering the way he acts around his bedslave Missy, as well as his general temper, he is almost certainly not a good father.
• The Ace:
  • Jamison, the younger son of Vorian Dayne, is a charismatic and handsome man with a brilliant understanding for warfare, who is famously known as one of the best swordsmen in all of Dorne.
  • His father Vorian also qualifies himself, as the most well-loved king of Dorne, famous for his virtues, his skills as a knight and his honour.
• Action Mom: On top of being the leader of her own sellsword company, the Wild Suns, Dalia is also the mother of a teenage girl, Desirea, a task she puts a lot of importance into.
• Adaptation Expansion: Nymeria's War, a Cryptic Background Reference in the source material that gets only slightly fleshed out in secondary sources, is given the centre stage here. This results in Nymeria, her husband Mors and the kings of Dorne, who only get mentioned in the source material at the very best, to take on the roles of main characters.
• Addictive Magic: The magic of the Great Other seems to work that way, as Gwendis gets more and more tempted to give in to his urges and her apparent powers the longer she spends time around his priestess and in the presence of the god himself.
• Adopt the Dog: Ser Joran Storm, in no way affiliated with the Kingdom of Blackmont or its inhabitants and very much neutral to their plight, grows to like and respect the captain of the city guard of Gravesend, Brennin Kell, to the point where he wishes to help him with retaking his city from rebels.
• Aerith and Bob: Being set in Westeros, the naming rules can be a little bit odd. It is partially justified due to the presence of several distinctive cultures in one place though. There are Rhoynish names such as Nymeria, Valyrian names such Eraehra and Westerosi names, such Albin and Vorian, next to more common names that wouldn't look out of place in the real world, such as Benedict and Walter.
• Affably Evil:
  • Aisha, the Dark Priestess, might be a Manipulative Bitch and a devoted servant of the closest thing the Ice and Fire world has to the devil, yet she is a perfectly affable, seemingly even helpful person, who manages to occasionally even cross into Ambiguously Evil territory. It is unclear if anything about her persona is genuine or just the result of clever manipulation, but at least outwardly, she even cares for her traveling companions, Trentan and Gwendis, the former of which she even enters a relationship.
  • Forovos Norvoshi, a keyholder of the Iron Bank of Braavos, is one of Nymeria's most shady allies, but also a calm and polite man, who just happens to be a former Faceless Man and therefore a face-stealing master assassin, who targets the most dangerous of Nymeria's enemies.
• Affectionate Nickname:
  • "Gwen" for Gwendis, most commonly said by her brother Naemon.
  • Desirea is often simply called Desi by her mother.
• Agent Mulder:
  • Aisha, a priestess of the Great Other, has good reason to believe in the existence of magic and gods.
  • Benedict Blackmont is also a believer in the power she and other sorcerers hold and wishes to use it for his own gain, by dabbling into their arts.
• Agent Peacock: The Purple Ocelot, Alaric Manwoody's servant, is a highly skilled assassin, who almost exclusively wears purple clothes, including a turban of the colour, which doesn't really lessen his impressive skills.
• Agent Scully: Quite a number of ordinary Dornishmen don't quite believe in the tales about dark magic from the court of Blackmont and the few that do see it mostly negatively.
• A House Divided:
  • Just as Nymeria starts her war against the other kings of Dorne, having the backing of the entire surviving Rhoynar and the moderately powerful House Martell, the kings of Dorne fall into fights between each other instead of uniting against their common enemy.
  • This is entirely averted with Albin Manwoody's war against the other houses of the Red Mountains. After his initial attacks against House Fowler, the Fowler's join forces with House Blackmont, who in turn make an alliance with House Dayne, causing a formidable opposition against Albin and his goals.
• All for Nothing: From the Toland's perspective, this is how their war against House Martell is resolved. After their lord, Donovar, crowns himself king and amasses a formidable army against House Martell, even causing some problems for them through his vanguard, he is killed without ever having met them on the field with his main army, when Forovos Norvoshi ends his life and the threat he poses by infiltrating his camp one night.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Isabella Fowler is in love with Jamison Dayne, who is very much a poster child for being an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy. It is slightly subverted though, since she isn't in love with him due to his rough and slightly jerkish traits, but for the kindness he shows around her.
• The Alliance: After realizing that neither can win against Albin Manwoody on their own, the kingdoms of Blackmont and Fowler join forces and ally against the invaders, with House Dayne as additional allies for the Blackmont's.
• Alliterative Name: The most prominent examples are Mors Martell and Benedict Blackmont. Other characters with alliterative names include Tomas Toland, Laroy Ladybright, Ying Yu, Braddock Blackmont, Ferris Fowler, Davos Dayne, Hargan Harlaw and Yorick Yronwood.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Emerson Allyrion, despite his status as the technical heir to Godsgrace, is usually treated in a condescending way by most around him, especially by his uncle, Lord Morgan Allyrion. The exception is his mentally challenged cousin Emmett. His other, more cunning cousin Esperence seems to treat him kindly, but is most likely using him for her own gain through her actions.
• Almighty Janitor:
  • While Gwendis Blackmont is a princess and the favoured child of King Benedict, she stands below her younger brother Naemon and her uncle Braddock in the line of succession, as well as any other male member of the family due to her gender. Nonetheless, she is the most capable ruler House Blackmont could have hoped for, effectively governing the kingdom due to her father's lack of care for such things and doing a very fine job at it.
  • Forovos Norvoshi holds no official rank in Nymeria's army, yet due to his unique skills, he is by far one of the most valuable allies she has at her disposal.
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Aisha, the aptly named Dark Priestess.
• Alpha Bitch: Esperence's constant scheming evokes the feeling of her just using her cousin Emerson for her own gain, making her this, as well as a Manipulative Bitch.
• Altar Diplomacy: This is quite common in all of Westeros and daughters of noble families are commonly expected to be married off to another house sooner or later, therefore creating important alliances.
  • After landing in Dorne, Nymeria marries Lord Mors Martell due to diplomatic reasons. The two eventually grow to love each other, but that doesn't change the initial reason for the marriage, which was made out of pragmatism and Nymeria's need for a strong ally.
  • Due to this trope, Isabella Fowler is unable to marry her beloved, Jamison Dayne. He is only the secondborn son of Vorian Dayne and therefore not the heir to the Kingdom of the Torrentine. This in turn makes him not important enough to marry Garrison Fowler's only daughter.
  • In his search for an alliance against House Manwoody, Garrison offers Isabella to House Blackmont, proposing a marriage between her and Naemon, the crown prince of Blackmont.
  • When the abovementioned proposal falls through due to Benedict Blackmont not trusting a Fowler princess at his court, a counteroffer is made instead, in which Benedict offers his daughter Gwendis to marry Garrison's thirdborn son Desmor. The fact that she, the eldest child and only daughter, is offered to a low thirdborn is seen as highly unusual and shows how desperate both kingdoms are to make their alliance.
• Always Someone Better: No matter what he's good at, Naemon Blackmont has to find out that there is someone who is better than him. Most prominently, his Foil Jamison Dayne, who is generally regarded as the better swordsman and due to his popularity even as the better knight. His own sister, Gwendis, is a lot more talented when it comes to governing a kingdom, something Naemon shows neither talent nor desire for, leading to him dreading the day he has to take over the kingdom from his father.
• A Man Is Always Eager: Jamison Dayne certainly makes good use of his handsome looks to seduce any woman he fancies. That said, the only one he truly loves is Isabella Fowler.
• Amazon Brigade: A significant part of Nymeria's personal guard consists of warrior women, led by Captain Farrah of Ghoyan Drohe, who is noted to be an accomplished warrior.
• Ambiguously Evil:
  • Despite having the nickname "The Dark Priestess", it's not entirely clear if Aisha is truly evil. She is certainly a skilled manipulator, which makes it hard to say how much of her affable and seemingly well-intentioned facade is genuine. She serves a God of Evil quite loyally, but seems to see no bad in the things she does. Her interactions with Gwendis and Trentan are therefore either an arguable Pet the Dog moment, or a massive mixture of Bait the Dog and Kick the Dog. She clearly manipulates both to do her bidding, but at least in Gwendis' case, she at least claims to have the princess' best interests at heart. Due to her subjective view on what Gwendis' best interests are, she gains further ambiguous points.
  • Forovos Norvoshi is an ally to Nymeria, which makes him part of the central protagonist's team. Due to his methods, he certainly qualifies as the Token Evil Teammate to her faction though and it remains to be seen if his ultimate goals are truly all that well-intentioned towards House Martell.
• Ambiguous Situation: For a brief amount of time, the fates of Myke and Septon Kevan where unclear, after the peasant rebels took the city of Gravesend. It is quickly revealed that Myke survived, whereas Septon Kevan has been stated to have perished in the attack.
• Ambition Is Evil:
  • Certainly no saint in any way, Albin Manwoody's most dangerous acts of villainy come from his desire to be king of the entire Red Mountains, leading to him declaring war on the kingdoms of Blackmont, Fowler, Dayne and Yronwood.
  • Efran Sand's rebellion is motivated by the fact that he is convinced to be the rightful ruler of House Dalt. To claim what he sees as his ancestral seat, he gathers brutal sellswords, bandits, pirates and outcasts, whom he sends against the lands of his family, in the desire to drive them out.
• Ancestral Weapon: House Dayne has one, the famous blade Dawn, which has been forged by an unknown material an is wielded by the Sword of the Morning. By the time of the story, the Sword of the Morning is Vorian Dayne's eldest son, Malcolm.
• Ancient Evil: The Great Other, the God of Evil, whom Aisha serves. So ancient that is has become more of a myth by the time of the story, though Gwendis quickly learns that it really exists and has apparently taken an interest in her.
• Animal Motifs: Several houses use animals for their sigils, though arguably less prominent than in the source material. Two of the major houses, Blackmont and Fowler, have a bird motif though.
• Anti-Hero:
  • Desirea is a deeply devout follower of R'hllor, itself a god that is associated with morally ambiguous behaviour quite often. However, she is opposed to the forces of the Great Others, who have a far less ambiguous morality, save for maybe Aisha.
  • Jamison might be many things, but certainly not a classical hero. He is loyal to his house, which is generally one of the more heroic houses of Dorne, but he is also a Jerkass with a massive ego, displays smug and petty behaviour on more than one occasion and finds the heroic virtues of a knight laughably naive.
• Anti-Villain:
  • Aisha, the priestess of the Great Other is either this or able to play this role convincingly. Despite being fanatically devout to her God of Evil, she paints herself as a mixture between a Noble Demon and a Well-Intentioned Extremist, by being very kind to Trentan, to the point where she has his absolute loyalty and by manipulating Gwendis for something she sees as the best for her.
  • Efran Sand certainly is a villain in the way he allows his men to wreak havoc among the Dalt smallfolk in his quest to reclaim his birthright. However, he is so convinced that this is actually his birthright that he comes off as a Well-Intentioned Extremist, who only wishes to get what is rightfully his.
• Anyone Can Die: Being a fanfiction set in Westeros, this is to be expected. It's best shown when three characters who have been built up to be quite major all die over the course of the first chapter: The Purple Ocelot, Septon Kevan and King Donovar Toland.
• Apathetic Citizens: Completely averted with the peasant rebellion in the Kingdom of Blackmont. Despite Gwendis' best attempts to help them, the situation in the kingdom grows more dire, especially due to her father's lack of actual ruling skills. This results in a peasant rebellion in the kingdom, right after Nymeria Martell and Albin Manwoody declare war on the kingdom and Gwendis runs away with the dark priestess Aisha, to avoid an unwanted marriage.
• Appeal to Force: Nymeria has no legal right to take Dorne, she just does so on account of wanting to create a new safe haven for her people and the only true right she has is the right of her strong army.
• The Apprentice: Eventually, it is revealed that Aisha intends to take Gwendis as her's.
• Appropriated Appellation: During his first tourney, Naemon Blackmont was mocked as "The Vulture Knight", due to his house's sigil and the generally bad reputation the Blackmont's face. He proceeded to become a famous and respected knight, who took this title with pride, to the point where it is now spoken in reverence as opposed to mockery.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Due to being in denial over the true nature of her vision, Gwendis keeps doubtful of Aisha's true powers even after receiving a demonstration of her powers. She eventually grows out of this and starts to believe in Aisha's magic, though not necessarily in her good intentions.
• Archnemesis Dad: Benedict is this to his son, Naemon. Due to the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of his mother, Naemon has grown distrustful of his father, who did little to prove his son wrong. At the time of the story, the relationship between the two is incredibly sour and probably broken beyond repair.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Albin Manwoody embodies this trope, being a cruel, brutal madman.
• Army of Thieves and Whores: Efran Sand's rebel forces consist of pirates, bandits and sellswords, among them even Ironborn raiders. Together, they form a highly effective group of guerilla fighters, who pose a genuine threat to the forces of House Dalt.
• Arranged Marriage: Quite a number of marriages in the story are a result of this.
  • Nymeria herself manages to arrange a marriage between her and Mors Martell, the lord that first took her and her people in after landing in Dorne.
  • After the death of his first wife, Lucifer Dryland is in need of a new bride. One of his bannermen, Bedwyck Tiddle, manages to arrange a marriage between the king and his daughter, Gwyneth.
  • Though turning out as a Perfectly Arranged Marriage, the union between Benedict Blackmont and Valaena Dayne started off as this.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Jamison Dayne is not only one of the most gifted swordsmen in Dorne, he also has to make sure that everyone knows it, arrogantly displaying his skills, but showing not even the slightest bit of restraint or humility.
• Assassin Outclassin': The Purple Ocelot, Alaric Manwoody's assassin, ends up being killed by Albin's personal killer Zereth.
• Asshole Victim: Absolutely nobody is sad for the early deaths of Matt the Mute and Ronny.
• Avenging the Villain: After the death of Matt the Mute, Ronny correctly suspects Missy to have a hand in his death, so he confronts her with intentions of getting the truth out of her and potentially avenging his companion.
• Ax-Crazy:
  • Albin Manwoody, the Psychopathic Manchild that rules the Kingdom of Manwoody.
  • He is surrounded by a group of equally crazy freaks, his personal torturers and companions.
  • According to Aisha, becoming this is one of the dangers of the power the Great Other provides, which is why she wishes to teach Gwendis how to responsibly use her powers, to avoid the princess befalling such a fate.

B

• Back-to-Back Badasses: During his stay in Godsgrace, Jamison is ambushed by men who want him dead. Together with his companion Laroy, he fights them back to back, killing off six men together without suffering more than a scratch.
• Badass Adorable: Nealia Sand is a young woman, slim and pretty, yet also a skilled sellsword, capable of impressing even hardened killers, such as Tryden Flowers.
• Badass Army: To achieve his goal of taking conquering the lands of House Dalt, Efran has hired sellswords that are as chaotic as they are effective. Especially his Ironborn, commanded by Bjorn Harlaw, are crucial in inflicting one of the first major defeats to House Martell, by defeating Dianna's troops.
• Badass Boast: Naturally, the words of the noble houses are this in many cases. Notable examples are House Martell's "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken", to House Manwoody's "No King Above Me", to House Blackmont's "We Conquer the Havens".
• Badass Bureaucrat:
  • Blind he might be, but Garrison Fowler is every bit the ruler his kingdom needs. Forced into the role of a Non-Action Guy due to his disability, he manages to keep his kingdom and family safe in a way hundreds of warriors couldn't do, through the clever use of diplomacy in the right situations.
  • It says a lot about Gwendis' talent for politics that she manages to effectively run the Kingdom of Blackmont in her father's absence despite her youth. Sure enough, things start to go even more downhill once she runs away from Blackmont, leaving her uncle Braddock in charge.
• Badass Family: Out of the houses shown in the story, House Dayne fits this trope the best. The head of the house, Vorian Dayne, is the most famous knight in Dorne, his younger son Jamison is widely praised for his skill as well and slowly shapes up to be an even more famous swordsman, whereas his older son Malcolm, though less of a fighter, is no weakling either. His bastard daughter Nealia is a sellsword with an impressive range of skills and his nephew Davos is shaping up to be a great knight as well. Then there's Naemon Blackmont, his nephew through his late sister Valaena, who is only narrowly behind Jamison when it comes to fame. All in all, it seems like House Dayne is the single most badass family in the entire story.
• Bad Boss: Albin Manwoody is every bit as cruel to his subjects than he is to his enemies.
• Bad Powers, Good People: After coming into contact with Aisha, Gwendis Blackmont starts to get a bit more acquainted with the Great Other than she wants to. This leads to her developing currently unspecified powers, which are granted by the Great Other himself. The only power shown, which is having visions, is not necessarily a bad power, though coming from such an evil source still qualifies. Nonetheless, Gwendis is one of the more morally upright characters in the story, who has previously been The Good Chancellor to her father's kingdom, using her status as his Hypercompetent Sidekick to effectively rule it in a benevolent way.
• Bait the Dog: Aisha's status as being Ambiguously Evil is repeatedly played with, though it slowly becomes more obvious that she is anything but ambiguous. She exploits this trope by appearing like a friendly helper to Gwendis, which ends with her managing to lure the princess away from her home and to drag her into a war between followers of the Great Other and R'hllor, all under the thinly veiled excuse of "wanting to save her life", which very clearly ends up endangering her in the first place. Aisha still has some Ambiguously Evil credentials, though is certainly not even nearly as likable as she tried to set herself up as.
• Bald of Evil: Albin Manwoody is bald save for his Beard of Evil, as well as one of the most obvious and most depraved villains in the entire story, being a cruel madman who is feared even by members of his own family, for good reason.
• Bandit Clan: Efran is known as the Bandit Lord and he has the absolute loyalty of men who would qualify as bandits.
• Barbarian Longhair: Verro, the Dothraki pirate in service of Efran sports a wild mane of dark hair.
• Bar Brawl: At one point during his journey, Myke gets into a very violent one with several men who have previously deserted the kingdom of Blackmont, where he decides to aid a group of soldiers tasked with taking these deserters prisoner. Only one of the soldiers and one of the deserters survives the following brawl.
• Bash Brothers: Jamison and his mentor Laroy form such a team.
• Bastard Bastard: Regardless of whether or not his claim is actually rightful, there is no doubt that Efran Sand is a genuine bastard in every sense of the word, using brutal violence even against the innocent smallfolk to get the title he wants.
• Batman Gambit: When under heavy attack by Manwoody troops and facing potential annihilation, Garrison Fowler ends up manipulating House Blackmont, by forcing them into joining his war through a False Flag Operation, in which he orders his men to attack the Blackmont border while wearing Manwoody colours. This prompts Benedict Blackmont to be under the impression of being at war with House Manwoody as well, resulting in him being very open for negotiations about an alliance between Blackmont and Fowler.
• Battle Discretion Shot: Tomas Toland gets knocked out pretty early into the confrontation between his men and Nymeria's troops and the following confrontation ands with the offscreen defeat of his men.
• Beard of Barbarism: Bjorn Harlaw, the brutish Ironborn raider in service of Efran, sports one.
• The Beautiful Elite: Vorian and Malcolm Dayne, Isabella Fowler, as well as Naemon and Gwendis Blackmont qualify in particular, being members of the royalty and growing up in a life of luxury, famous for their good looks, as well as showing high levels of education, virtue and intelligence.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: Just like the source material, the story likes to play with this trope.
  • On the one hand, there are characters such as Malcolm, Gwendis and Isabella are very good-looking, while also among the most good-natured characters in the story, being The Wise Prince, The Good Chancellor and a sweet-natured Princess Classic respectively. In contrast, villainous characters such as Noctis, Albin and Zereth are either ugly or at least very creepy in terms of looks, as well as all kinds of evil.
  • On the other hand, there are also several good-looking characters who turn out to be evil. Aisha and Efran Sand come to mind, one a manipulative fanatic, the other a Bastard Bastard who slaughters countless innocents during his quest for power.
• Because Destiny Says So: Amazingly, Aisha manages to avert this trope, while playing it straight at the same time. She fully admits that what she sees in her visions is only one of several possible outcomes and that different paths can be taken to avoid the fate she saw. However, once a certain path has been decided upon, she is confident that it won't be possible to change its outcome anymore. This mindset comes into play during her interaction with Gwendis. Having seen the princess' death in Skyreach (Or claiming to have seen so at least), she urges her to come with her instead of going to Skyreach. The thought that Gwendis might manage to survive whatever is supposed to happen to her at Skyreach doesn't even occur to her.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: The kindness he is shown in Gravesend moves Joran Storm, Myke's loyal companion, so much that he develops the deep-seated wish to support the people of the city in retaking it from peasant rebels.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Kortney Caron wished to run away with her lover Norano, to start a new life elsewhere, so the two left her home of Nightsong and travelled south. Shortly afterwards, they were captured by Manwoody forces, who brutally tortured Norano to death and broke Kortney in mind and body to the point where she became Albin Manwoody's willing concubine.
• Believing Their Own Lies: Due to his insanity, Albin Manwoody genuinely believes himself to be the great king he styles himself as and he genuinely believes in his right to rule the entire Red Mountains.
• Beneath the Mask:
  • Behind his cunning, determined and unyielding facade, Garrison Fowler is deeply concerned with the future of his house and primarily a loving father, who has a strong soft spot for his children.
  • Similarly, Benedict Blackmont is not even nearly as his reputation paints him to be, showing himself as a surprisingly caring father to his favourite child, Gwendis, while also being overwhelmed with the resentment his son Naemon shows him and the growing distance between him and his daughter.
  • Gwendis herself is a headstrong woman who appears strong and confident when she deals with matters of politics, but who is lonely, almost isolated and deeply frustrated with her lot in life whenever she is in private, a side of hers only her brother truly gets to know.
  • Speaking of, Naemon's cocky swagger is only partially genuine and often overplays his fears, particularly his fear of a genuine battle and his fear of having to take responsibility in a position he is clearly not well-suited for.
  • It might be more of a case of Hidden Depths, but Jamison's genuine love for Isabella and the soft spot he has for her are something only his closest friends know about.
• Benevolent Boss: Nymeria herself is pretty generous to her subjects, rewarding them handsomely for loyal service.
• Berserk Button: Both, Lucifer Dryland and Albin Manwoody absolutely yearn for respect and recognition and denying them this is one safe way of angering them tremendously.
• The Berserker: Several of Efran's men, being recruited out of bandits and pirates, qualify.
• Best Friends-in-Law: Thousands of years ago, this was the relationship between Samwell Dayne and Barragan Blackmont, who even raided Oldtown together and nearly burned it to the ground, a friendship that concluded with the marriage between Samwell's sister and Barragan.
• Better the Devil You Know: One of several reasons for Gwendis to accept Aisha's proposal and to leave Blackmont with her, considering that she roughly knows what to expect from Aisha, whereas her fate in Skyreach would be entirely up in the blue.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Naemon Blackmont is a kind-hearted and virtuous knight, who takes his vows very seriously. He is also among the most trained fighters in Dorne, having a long history as a respected tourney fighter, which makes him far more deadly than his nice persona makes him seem to be.
  • In a way, Nymeria is a perfectly reasonable and well-intentioned woman, open for negotiations and deals. At the same time, she is the ruling princess of the Rhoynar and those who stand between her and her goal of uniting Dorne are her enemies and will be ended sooner or later
• Beware the Quiet Ones:
  • Forovos Norvoshi is not a big talker, yet his skills make him by far the single most dangerous person in Dorne at the time of Nymeria's War.
  • One of Albin's knight, Mordekhai Crusher, is rarely speaking, yet an intimidating, fearsome man with a brutal reputation which he seems to have earned by all means.
  • Noctis, one of Benedict's sorcerers, is considered to be the most creepy presence at the court of Blackmont, without uttering more than one or two sentences every time he actually appears.
• Bifauxnen: After the fall of her house, Raina Serviene dresses as a boy and calls herself Ser Rai to avoid those who might still be out to kill her. Myke is not particularly fooled though.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Albin Manwoody is a dangerous man for sure, yet in his madness, he has bit of more than he could ever chew, by declaring war on four powerful kingdoms at once, three of which form an alliance to crush him and making his victory look as good as impossible.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • During the fight in Gravesend, Myke is knocked down and almost killed, but just as his opponent goes for the final strike, he is fatally stabbed by Raina Serviene, saving Myke's life in the process.
  • The Blackmont army pulls one during a particularly dire battle between House Fowler and House Manwoody, flanking the Manwoody soldiers and crushing them, which drives Albin's army back into his own kingdom.
• The Big Guy: Several fighters in the story are successful because of their massive frame and the physical advantages this gives them. Some of the strongest examples are Mordekhai Crusher and Bjorn Harlaw.
• Big Little Brother: Naemon, having come more after his tall father, is notably taller than Gwendis, who has a rather petite build, getting most of her looks from her mother.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Aisha's sheep's clothing is very little and very thin, though she likely tries to pull this off during her interactions with Gwendis, where she tries to convince the princess to trust her, despite her having been right about Aisha's true nature with her suspicions.
• Black-and-Gray Morality: The story stays true to the source material when it comes to the morality of its characters. There are a couple of utterly black villains, evil to the core, whereas others gain some streaks of gray. A majority of the more heroic characters falls somewhere on the Anti-Hero spectrum, even the most well-intentioned of them. Nymeria herself, the titular character, is by far not a classical heroine and the few characters that actually are white hold little to no power over the other characters in the story, at least aside from Vorian Dayne.
• Black-and-White Insanity: Being fanatically devout to their respective religions, Aisha and Desirea are guilty of this. It's more severe in Aisha's case though, on account of Desi being younger and less stuck in her convictions.
• Black Sheep: Jamison embraces this trope and turns it into his strength. Being the son of a great Knight In Shining Armour and the brother of a virtuous Wise Prince, his open disdain for knightly traditions mark him as the odd one in his family. Interestingly, he is also visually different from them, having dark hair where his father, brother and half-sister all have the platinum blonde of the Valyrians.
• Bling of War: Being Valyrian nobility, Eraehra Galneris has access to far larger quantities of Valyrian Steel than ordinary characters, allowing her to outfit her guardsmen with armour made from this material.
• Blood from the Mouth: Due to being hit in the throat with a blowing dart, Donovar Toland dies in such a way, effectively fulfilling a prophecy that has been revealed earlier.
• Blood Knight: Jamison's eagerness to fight occasionally crosses into this territory.
• Blue Blood: Most of the Point-of-View characters are from the ranks of nobility, with quite a large number of them even being royalty. This is certainly justified, due to the story putting a heavy focus on the relationships between the different kingdoms, with the respective rulers receiving a lot of screentime. Out of 13 Point-of-View characters, only 3 are not in some way highborn. Out of then remaining 10, 8 are members of the royalty. That said, Tomas' position as a member of the royal Toland family only happens after his cousin Donovar crowns himself king and is likely not seen as true royalty due to the man's short reign.
• Bodyguarding a Badass: Anyone that has the task to protect Jamison Dayne ends up in such a position. During the story, Ser Laroy Ladybright is chosen as his protector, but when they get into a fight, Jamison lives up to his reputation by ultimately killing even more of their attackers than Laroy manages to.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Bjorn Harlaw lives up to the martial culture of his people by being not only nearly unstoppable in the fight that serves to introduce him to the story, he is also loud and obviously amused by the carnage around him.
• Boisterous Weakling: Due to his insanity, Albin Manwoody is not even nearly as dangerous as he likes to appear. He is still very much a threat to his surroundings, most importantly his bedslave Missy, but despite playing himself up as a badass conqueror, he has clearly bitten off more than he can chew when declaring war on the entire Red Mountains, resulting in his invasion getting repelled by an alliance between House Fowler and Blackmont.
• Book Dumb: Naemon is not a particularly educated man, mostly due to him never putting much value into such things. Therefore, his sister is needed to even explain the history of their own house to him. Despite that, he is by no means stupid and shows a lot of insight when talking about topics he is truly passionate about, such as knighthood.
• Boomerang Bigot: Aisha doesn't seem to hold any fondness for the utmost majority of Great Other worshippers, more or less implying that she sees them as having gone insane due to their power.
• Boring, but Practical: Naturally, most kinds of armour don't make for a very fancy fight, but the story shows that it really does show that it saves lives in a fight. This is averted by the Valyrian Steel armours which are worn by Eraehra's guards, which manage to look anything but boring, while being even harder than normal armour.
• Boyish Short Hair:
  • To maintain her identity as a male knight by the name of Ser Rai, Raina Servienne wears her hair very short.
  • After the torture she suffered, Missy's hair is cut very short for a woman in the setting.
• Brains and Brawn:
  • Gwendis and her brother Naemon have such a dynamic in their Brother–Sister Team. Whereas Gwendis is a highly capable administrator, who finds joy in politics and diplomacy, whereas her brother is a famous knight and mostly known for his skills in combat.
  • Eventually, it is revealed that Aisha seeks to find a warrior to serve her, which would naturally mean forming such a couple, with her being the clear brains, whereas the warrior is supposed to be there for his brawn.
• Brainy Brunette:
  • For all her flaws, Aisha is wickedly cunning and likely one of the smartest characters in the story, able to coldly trick a number of almost equally cunning characters into doing what she wants.
  • Gwendis is a clever politician, especially for her age, who governs her father's kingdom whenever he is more interested in dabbling into the occult magic his sorcerers provide. She is a smart diplomat, a schemer and The Good Chancellor for her people.
  • The main character, Nymeria Martell, is this as well, being a Reasonable Authority Figure, who starts a war against the entire region of Dorne and managing to become a serious contender for the seemingly hopeless goal she set for herself, all through her cunning warfare.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: After long mental and physical torture, Missy ends up being broken to the point where she believes herself to be Albin Manwoody's lover instead of his plaything. She has mostly suppressed any memory about her previous life as Kortney Caron.
• Break the Cutie: Missy is already broken by the time the story starts, but there is the implication that she has once been a very innocent noble girl, which is outright confirmed in Myke's Histories&Lore part, where he interacts with a younger Kortney Caron. By the time of the story, she is so deeply sunken into her madness that she is way past her breaking point.
• Break the Haughty: One of Gwendis' main flaws, her arrogance, is severely tested over the course of the early story. First, she slowly, but steadly gets pushed out of the position of power she has proudly acquired for herself, before being forcibly betrothed to Desmor Fowler, a low thirdborn, meaning that she'd never be ruling a house, not even as its lady by marriage, as she had always yearned for. Things arguably get even worse for her when she runs off with Aisha, not only having a severely reduced standard of living, but also ending up with a demon god stuck in her head and being pushed steadily towards her breaking point, which is likely exactly what the demon wants from her.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Given that his daughter is a prodigy at politics, Benedict Blackmont must have some skills, especially as he inspired her through his behaviour during her early childhood. The death of his wife caused him to withdraw from the court for most of the time, instead preferring to follow his interest for the arcane arts.
• Broken Bird: Missy, after many months of intense torture and reconditioning, has managed to cling to just enough of her old self to realize how severely broken she is and that there is no way out for her, which in turn only further breaks her.
• Broken Pedestal: After the shady events surrounding his mother's death, Naemon has grown highly resentful of his father, with whom he has previously gotten along well. Over the years, Gwendis has started to feel similar to Benedict.
• Broken Tears: Missy shows this after remembering her previous identity as Kortney Caron.
• Brother–Sister Team: Gwendis and Naemon form one when it comes to dealing with the affairs of the Kingdom of Blackmont. Having quickly realized that his sister is better than him when it comes to actual governing, as well as having no real interest about it, Naemon has early on been satisfied with his role as a mere representant of the crown as the heir to the kingdom.
• Bruiser with a Soft Centre: Arguably, Jamison with his genuine love for Isabella.
• Brutal Honesty: Nymeria's main general, Varyn, is not a friend of mincing his words.
• The Brute: Surprisingly few characters qualify as a mere brute in the story, though one of Albin's knights, Ser Mordekhai Crusher, comes rather close to this, as seen with his actions in the story so far.
• The Bully: Albin Manwoody's freaks apply, especially in the cruel way they tease Missy.
• Bullying a Dragon: During his stay in Godsgrace, Jamison Dayne is ambushed by a group of thugs, who don't attack him by surprise, but make their presence well known, before informing him of their intentions. Facing one of the best knights in Dorne and his mentor, this ends about as well for them as you can expect.
• Butt-Dialing Mordor: Due to her grabbing Aisha's hand and receiving a mysterious vision, supernatural powers are set free inside of Gwendis, much to her horror. The worst of these is a manifestation of the Great Other, who seems hellbent on breaking her and making her his willing servant.

C

• The Caligula: Albin Manwoody is a childish and foul-tempered king, who is infamous for his cruelty and his madness. The majority of his actions in the story is not only incompetent, such as him declaring war on the other kingdoms of the Red Mountains, but also utterly blood-thirsty and unnecessary.
• Calling the Old Man Out: After years of being a victim to Parental Neglect, Gwendis finally calls Benedict out on his behaviour towards her and Naemon just the night before she is supposed to leave for Skyreach and for her marriage to Desmor Fowler. Surprisingly for this trope, Benedict is shocked and genuinely remorseful, promising to repair his relationship with Naemon.
• Camp Straight: There is absolutely no indication that the flamboyant Purple Ocelot is not straight.
• Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: Being the ruling princess of her people, with aspirations of uniting all of Dorne under her banner, Nymeria is forced to do things smoothly, with diplomacy whenever it is suitable. By comparison, her advisor Varyn is a straightforward and rough man, who advises a very blunt, yet often effective course of action.
• Carry a Big Stick: During the fight in Gravesend, Myke sees himself pitted against a man wielding a large hammer, who soundly beats him and would have even killed him, if not for timely intervention from Raina Serviene.
• The Casanova: Despite in love with Isabella Fowler, Jamison won't hesitate to seduce a pretty woman that catches his eye. In this role, he is audacious enough to even seduce the Storm Princess on her wedding day.
• Catapult Nightmare: As her nightmares grow worse, Gwendis tends to wake up in such a way.
• The Cavalry: A literal example when the Blackmont cavalry crushes the Manwoody forces in a climactic battle on the Fowler lands, solidifying their alliance with House Fowler and driving the Manwoody's back into their own kingdom in the process.
• The Champion:
  • Part of Aisha's mission is to find a suitable champion to fight for her.
  • On the opposite side, there is Dalia, Firebearer of R'hllor.
• The Chessmaster:
  • Forovos Norvoshi seems to subtly influnce the war in favour of House Martell.
  • Aisha is another example. Most of her time she carefully manipulates others into following her orders without them even realizing it, in other moments she becomes a fullblown Manipulative Bitch.
• A Child Shall Lead Them: Desirea is merely thirteen years old and still considered a child in Westeros, yet she is already the highest-ranking follower of R'hllor in Dorne and therefore leading the few believers of this religion in the entire region.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Naemon is a womanizer who can't resist a pretty face, yet he is also a valiant and noble knight, who would always put his honour first if forced to decide.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Judging by the story he tells during his Histories&Lore part, Naemon seems to suffer from this quite heavily, as expected from a man with such a strong code of honour.
• Cliffhanger: Not too many, considering that the story is not even close to completion, but one notable example is the end to Myke's storyline in Chapter 1, where he is left knocked out and bleeding after being caught in a peasant rebellion in the town of Gravesend, his fate being unknown for a while.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Albin Manwoody, in the darkest way possible, genuinely believes in this world he thinks he lives in, where he truly is the greatest king Westeros has ever know, the rightful ruler over the Red Mountains and where his concubine Missy genuinely loves him despite everything he has done to her.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Albin Manwoody and his freaks are very fond of this, as well as infamous for their cruelty. Missy is the most prominent example of this in the story, the victim of intense psychological and physical torture, left with a broken mind as a result of her ordeal. Her lover, Norano, was eventually killed at the end of his torture.
• Cold Sniper: Manda Za, one of the female members of the Rose Company, uses a bow and is typically in a somewhat distant and aloof mood. That said, she shows signs of warming up to Nealia.
• Combat Pragmatist:
  • Having a far lighter build than a majority of male fighters, Nealia is forced to fight pragmatically in order to overcome her opponents, who mostly outmatch her in sheer physical strength. This includes her attacking a man from behind and without warning.
  • Despite being a knight, Jamison doesn't exactly believe in honourable combat, just like he has a general disdain for the morals of knighthood. In a fight, he uses whatever advantage he can gain, picking out weak fighters first and even using kicks and punches to overcome them.
• Come with Me If You Want to Live: On her last night in Blackmont, preparing for her unwanted marriage with Desmor Fowler, Gwendis is visted by Aisha, who reveals to her that she has seen her death in a vision and that to prevent the events of this vision to happen, Gwendis mustn't go to Skyreach and instead has to leave Blackmont with her, for parts unknown. Despite not trusting the priestess, she ultimately decides to go with her.
• Conditioned to Accept Horror: After being tortured to insanity, Missy is almost unfazed by the horrors she encounters at the court of Kingsgrave on a daily basis, with the implication that she regularly watched or even participated in some of the torture sessions, alongside King Albin's freaks.
• Conflicting Loyalty:
  • Naemon is forced into such a decision by his sister. He loves Gwendis dearly and would do anything for her, while he is resentful to his father Benedict, but loyal to the crown. Ultimately, he is forced to go behind Benedict's back to follow Gwendis' wish of delivering terms of an alliance to House Dayne of Starfall, in order to deal with the peasant rebellion in the Kingdom of Blackmont.
  • Dalia is not only the leader of the Wild Suns sellsword group and bastard daughter of Lucifer Dryland, the man they are currently sworn to, but also the mother of Desirea and a Flamebearer of R'hllor. She is torn between loyalty to her company and her father and loyalty to her daughter and her religion, especially after Desirea lampshades this by reminding her that these two loyalties might clash eventually.
• The Conscience: Aside from being The Good Chancellor, Gwendis' role at the court of Blackmont is to stir her father's politics into a direction that benefits the kingdom and the smallfolk. Being his favourite child, she is the only one who actually has a chance of getting through to him.
• The Conspiracy: An early plot point for Nymeria revolves around her having to deal with a conspiracy in her own ranks. The ones behind it are dissatisfied Martell bannermen who don't want to wish to be dragged into her war, as well as remnants of the old Rhoynish military, that wish to keep their people safe instead of following her into a seemingly hopeless fight.
• Consummate Liar: It's very hard to say when Aisha tells the truth and while she herself claims to always tell the truth, she has been more or less confirmed to have lied on some occasions, or at least at having hidden part of the truth. It says a lot about her skill as a liar that it's still not clear when she is actually not telling the full truth.
• Conveniently Timed Attack from Behind: Raina saves Myke's life by driving her sword through the back of a man who was just about to crush his stull.
• Cool Big Sis: Gwendis is highly supportive of her brother Naemon, to the point where she is the only one whom he trusts with knowing about his weaknesses. She loves and adores him not despite, but especially because of them.
• Cool Old Guy:
  • Ser Myke of the Marches is the oldest Point-of-View character in the entire story, yet still a very capable fighter who has earned his status as a knight and who displays high loyalty and love to the house he serves for, the Caron's. Lord Trevas Caron's daughter, Kortney, is so close to him that he considers her a surrogate daughter and when she gets into danger, he takes an equally dangerous journey into Dorne to find and save her.
  • Laroy Ladybright, who is Jamison Dayne's mentor and fatherly friend, is an older man, yet still capable of going toe-to-toe with the prince in a fight, forming a Back-to-Back Badasses-team with him and managing to kill almost as many of their opponents as Jamison did.
  • Varyn of Chroyane, Nymeria's general, is beyond fifty years old, making him rather old for the setting. He is also a sharp and cunning advisor, who displays absolute loyalty for Nymeria even if he disagrees with her on a personal level.
• Cool Uncle: Vorian Dayne is this to Gwendis and Naemon.
• The Corrupter: Aisha and the Great Other arguably try to be this for Gwendis.
• Court Mage: Benedict Blackmont employs several of these, the most prominent of them being Aisha and Noctis.
• Covered in Scars: Not to truly disfiguring levels, but the torture she suffered at the hands of Albin Manwoody and his freaks leave Missy with quite some scars on her body.
• Crapsack World: The story is set in Westeros and though Dorne is by far not the worst place to live, compared to some of the other kingdoms, it's still very much a dark and harsh place. Ruled by six kings and several semi-independent lords, Dorne is torn by war on different fronts, undermined by followers of the Great Other, who seem to be present in many of the major locations, as well as in the process of an invasion through Nymeria and her Rhoynar. It says a lot that Nymeria, who is by all means a foreign invader, is usually portrayed as sympathetically.
• Creepy Child: Though she still holds some degrees of innocence and has a genuine desire to do good, Desirea's sheer dedication to the Lord of Light has taken a degree that is more than just a little bit unsettling. Even her own mother seems concerned at times.
• Creepy Monotone: Noctis' voice is described as such. His colleague Aisha is not entirely monotone, but still speaks in a cold and nearly emotionless voice at times.
• Creepy Uncle: Just like how Vorian is a Cool Uncle to his Blackmont niece and nephew, Benedict is this in return to the Dayne's, being a dark and reclusive man who is rumoured to dabble in black magic.
• Crossing the Desert: A large part of Dorne consists of a central desert, so every character that has business in these regions naturally has to cross it, unless they take a longer route along the southern coast or the northern mountains.
• Cruel and Unusual Death:
  • We never get to see just what happens to Shana Sand when Mordekhai Crusher caught up to her, but the head he brings back to Kingsgrave is noted to look horribly mutilated.
  • Donovar Toland is hit in the throat with a blowdart, but doesn't immediately die. Instead, he is left to slowly suffocate, while his killer, Forovos Norvoshi, explains his reasons, before finally ending his life.
• Crystal Dragon Jesus:
  • Much like in the source material, the followers of R'hllor worship their god as the one true god and are heavily opposed to an evil counterpart, the Great Other.
  • The story also expands on the belief system of the Great Other, making him seem as similar to R'hllor, if undoubtedly less Ambiguously Evil. Like followers of R'hllor, the followers of the Great Other worship him as the one true god and see the counterpart as evil.
• Cult: It is unclear how much influence the cult of the Great Other has in Dorne, but with confirmed members in Blackmont and Vaith and one heavily suggested member in Kingsgrave, they hold important positions in quite a number of important locations all around Dorne.
• Culture Clash: The war between Nymeria and the rest of Dorne is not only a war between two kingdoms as it is known throughout Westeros. For the Dornish, it is an event not unlike the Andal Invasion has been for the Vale thousands of years ago. The Rhoynar are highly different from the Westerosi in their customs and the war is also very much about Nymeria wanting to maintain her culture and wanting to establish it in her new kingdom.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • During his stay in Godsgrace, Jamison and his mentor Laroy are attacked by over half a dozen wannabe-assassins. The following fight is almost entirely one-sided and ends with Jamison and Laroy killing all but one of the men while suffering only minor wounds themselves.
  • At first, it looks as if the climactic Fowler-Manwoody battle would be a thorough defeat for the Fowler's. Then, House Blackmont arrives, turnign the tides of the battle around completely and giving House Manwoody a heavy defeat.

D

• The Dandy: The Purple Ocelot, who is always seen in stylish, neat purple clothing.
• Dangerous Deserter: A massive problem House Blackmont faces are men deserting from their army due to being disillusioned with Benedict's inability to properly care for his kingdom. During their travels through the Blackmont lands, Myke and his companion Joran are drawn into a Bar Brawl involving particularly violent deserters.
• Dark Action Girl:
  • Lyla Sand, one of Benedict's close advisors and an assassin in his service is at the very best Ambiguously Evil, but also, due to her line of profession, a clear action girl.
  • Missy's moments of phyiscal action almost exclusively overlap with her darker moments.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Well, it is Westeros we're talking about, of course just about every major character and a couple of secondary ones have a tragic backstory of some kind. Notable exceptions include the Dayne's and Fowler's, but the other houses had their fair share of tragedy.
• Dark Is Evil:
  • Aisha, the Dark Priestess, is associated with darkness even aside from her nickname. She has dark hair, is associated with coldness and worships one of the few gods in the setting that can be seen as clearly evil. Her god is also associated with literal darkness, the complete absence of light.
  • Zereth, Albin Manwoody's personal assassin, is always seen with a dark hood.
  • Albin himself also applies, wearing predominantly black and having a thick black bear. He is also by far the most evil character introduced in the story so far, as well as one of the most dangerous.
• Dark Is Not Evil:
  • Benedict Blackmont has everything needed to make a stereotypical Evil Overlord, by coming from a house with a dark past, wearing dark colours and having dark hair, being associated with dark magic and surrounding himself with sorcerers. He is also a caring father, who loves his children and has shown just about no actually evil action in the entire story.
  • His children, Gwendis and Naemon, are also associated with darkness due to their last name and they have dark brown hair, like their father. They are also anything but evil, but among the more morally good-aligned characters in the story.
• Deadpan Snarker: Dorne is very much a World of Snark, like Westeros in the source material.
• Decadent Court:
  • The court of Blackmont, especially once Gwendis is taken out of her position of power, resembles one, with an apathetic king who rather dabbles in dark magic, a sycophantic Yes-Man as the chancellor and sorcerers and at least one assassin taking part in the day-to-day politics of the council.
  • The court of Kingsgrave is even worse, being led by a Psychopathic Manchild and putting far too much importance to the various freaks, a group of torturers under Albin's command.
• Dead Guy on Display: Manwoody knights who raid the outer villages of the Kingdom of Blackmont make specific order to the survivors not to bury the corpses, but to display them so that everyone can see the Manwoody brutality. This move makes a lot more sense once it is revealed that this is part of a False Flag Operation led by men loyal to Garrison Fowler, to provoke the Blackmont's into a war with House Manwoody.
• Death by Irony: Ronny is killed by the same girl he has constantly belittled and tormented, after pushing her too far one too many times. He is also killed by her during the very first time where he actually has a legitimate reason to be angry at her, after she orchestrated the murder of one of his friends.
• Decapitated Army: This is the state of the Toland army, after Forovos Norvoshi murders both, their king and their finest general in a single night.
• Decapitation Presentation:
  • After hunting her down for escaping from the cells of Skyreach, Mordekhai Crusher only brings back Shana Sand's horribly mutilated head as proof of her death.
  • Similarly, Zereth presents the head of the Purple Ocelot to Missy, to show her that this is her fault, for getting him involved in something only she herself wished for.
• Declaration of Protection: Myke's motivation is to save Kortney Caron, whom he considers a daughter and also to keep her from further harm once he actually manages to find her.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Not precisely friendship, but after getting his ass handed to him in a fight against Naemon, Alistair Upton becomes a lot less aggressive and belittling towards the prince of Blackmont.
• Desolation Shot: On their travels through the Blackmont lands, Myke and Joran pass a number of abandoned farms and almost ruined towns, showing that the war against House Manwoody has already taken its toll.
• Despair Event Horizon: Missy crossed it many months ago, at the end of her Cold-Blooded Torture.
• Determinator:
  • Nymeria's goal to unite the kingdoms of Dorne under her flag is incredibly ambitious, especially considering that she isn't even the strongest faction in the region to begin with. It takes a lot of this trope for her to actually try it.
  • Jamison will stop at nothing to prove himself worthy of marrying his love, Isabella Fowler. Seeing how her father can't possibly deny the best knight in Dorne, he sets out to become exactly that.
• Devil in Plain Sight: Some of Benedict's sourcerers aren't exactly the most subtle beings. Most obviously, there is Noctis, but even Aisha is someone who is visibly suspicious.
• Didn't Think This Through: On his own, Albin Manwoody is one of the stronger kings in the Red Mountains, able to beat the Fowlers, likely the Blackmont's as well and he could potentially even pose a threat to the Dayne's. However, declaring war on all of them at once certainly had its downside once they, naturally, ended up allying against him.
• Dirty Coward: In a battle between Dianna's men and forces of Efran Sand, led by the Ironborn raider Bjorn Harlaw, Dianna loses mostly because her supposed ally, Ser Dallin Dalt, decides to leave her and to save himself and his men.
• Dirty Old Man: Albin Manwoody is having a relationship ^note More something that resembles borderline rape, due to her being tortured into submitting to his urges with Missy, a girl who is roughly half his age.
• Disproportionate Retribution: For badmouthing one of the freaks, Shana Sand is captured and tortured by them. Later on, she is freed by the Purple Ocelot, which prompts Albin to send one of his best knights after her, who proceeds to kill her horribly.
• Dissonant Serenity: As a result of her torture, Missy has the habit of being outwardly calm in the worst situations. Being Conditioned to Accept Horror makes this very easy for her and she barely flinches when seeing the mutilated head of Shana Sand, a girl she helped escape.
• Disc-One Final Boss: King Donovar Toland is built up as a major rival for Nymeria's early conquest, yet he dies in his first part, at the end of the first chapter, being unceremoniously killed by Forovos Norvoshi.
• Divided We Fall: Nymeria's entire plan revolves around this trope applying to her enemies, who are busy fighting against each other even more than they are paying attention to her. The only ones who try to avert this are the Dayne's and the Dryland's.
• The Dog Bites Back: After spending countless hours of being tortured by him and the other freaks, Missy genuinely snaps after being pushed a bit too far by Ronny, who confronts her over the death of his friend, Matt the Mute. This ends with her brutally killing him.
• Domestic Abuse: There are some undertones between Albin and his queen, Sofina. Things are a lot less vague with his mistress/bedslave Missy, who has been outright tortured into accepting him as her lover.
• The Dragon:
  • Efran Sand has Elise, his lover, who seems to be among the most influential members of his rebellion. She shares this spot ^note  of being The Dragon, not of being his lover with Bjorn Harlaw, who seems to command the greatest independent force working for Efran and with his fatherly friend Byrron Granit.
  • Donovar Toland's has his most capable general, Tylan Sager.
• Dragon Rider: The Valyrian's, though unseen in the actual story safe for the shipwrecked Eraehra Galneris, are dragon riders and play a crucial role in the events leading up to the story, through their war with the Rhoynar, resulting in Nymeria uniting the remainder of her people and leading them to Dorne in search for a new home.
• The Dreaded:
  • The court of Blackmont has Noctis, by far the most feared of Benedict's sourcerers. While he hasn't done much to justify this reputation in the events detailed in the story yet, he is definitely among the most creepy characters in the entire cast.
  • In Kingsgrave, there is Ser Mordekhai Crusher, a knight In Name Only, is heavily feared among the smallfolk at court and he proves this during his Establishing Character Moment, where he delivers the severed and mutilated head of Shana Sand to King Albin.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: Gwendis eventually acquires this power, even if it comes at the price of her having to deal with the Great Other being stuck in her head. Through her, Aisha also claims to have visions in her dreams.
• Dressing as the Enemy: An even more literal example than usual occurs when Forovos Norvoshi disguises himself as Tylan Sager, general of Donovar Toland's army, to sneak into the king's tent to murder him. For this, he literally steals Tylan's face to look like him.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Both, the Purple Ocelot and Donovar Toland die relatively unceremoniously (and in case of the former, even offscreen) and with little build-up. This serves the purpose of making their deaths more shocking.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Desmor Fowler is highly dissatisfied with his position as a thirdborn, especially as his father barely seems to put any trust in him and never gives him a chance to prove his worth.
• Dudley Do-Right Stops to Help: Joran Storm at least attempts this after sympathizing with the people of Gravesend and gaining the desire to help them in retaking their city, which would mean that he would have to leave Myke alone on their search for Kortney. Myke isn't having it and instead appeals to his sense of duty to keep him by his side.
• Dumb Muscle: Some of Albin's freaks are really not too bright and more concerned with being petty and sadistic than showing any cunning. Some of them, the dangerous ones, successfully avert this though.
• Dysfunctional Family:
  • House Manwoody of course, because how could they be any different with a man such as Albin Manwoody at the top. Special mention goes to his relationship with his wife, who is not above scheming against him. He also seems to have a very cool relationship to his brother Alaric, who even seems to be afraid of him.
  • The Blackmont's are this for sure. They used to be the polar opposite until Valaena, Benedict's wife, died due to a mysterious illness. This caused Benedict to become reclusive and to distance himself even from his children. Gwendis growing up as her mother's spitting image probably didn't help. His son Naemon ended up outright blaming him for Valaena's death and this drove a rift between the two men and even between Benedict and his daughter.

E

• Easily Forgiven: Played with in case of Missy. After her murder of Ronny, she confesses to Albin and later on reveals the full truth to the other freaks as well. Save for Tom the Animal, none of them seem to be particularly upset. Albin is even impressed by her actions. That said, he later on orders Zereth to send the head of the Purple Ocelot to her as a warning.
• Eldritch Abomination: The Great Other, at least the part of his essence that is stuck in Gwendis head.
• Embarrassing Nickname:
  • Naemon was named The Vulture Knight as a mockery in his early career. He ended up making it an Appropriated Appellation and fully went with it instead of being upset at it.
• Enemy Mine:
  • House Blackmont and House Fowler form an alliance against the shared threat of Albin Manwoody.
  • To counteract the danger Nymeria Martell poses, Vorian Dayne and Lucifer Dryland team up against her.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: For all his flaws, Efran Sand doesn't really seem to have any problems with women fighting for him, as the presence of Nesila in his ranks proves.
• Establishing Character Moment: Quite a large number of characters is introduced in such a way.
  • Nymeria is introduced like this in the prologue, when she burns the rhoynish fleet, to make it impossible for them to ever leave Dorne, which makes it clear that she is determined to conquer it for the safety of her people.
  • Gwendis' first part features her attending an important meeting in Blackmont, where she displays not only her skill and politically savvy attitude, but also her desire to help the smallfolk of Blackmont.
  • The very same part also introduces Naemon as the more carefree and easy-going sibling, who instead of attending this important meeting, rather goes out to hunt with his friends.
  • Mordekhai Crusher is introduced when he delivers Shana Sand's mutilated head back to Albin Manwoody, after having tracked her down and likely tortured her to death for running away from the king's prison.
  • Bjorn Harlaw is introduced on the battlefield, where he cuts down several of Dianna's men.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • A Jerkass and main villain for Nymeria, the central heroine, he might be, but Lucifer Dryland softens up in the presence of his bastard daughter, Dalia, whom he seems to care for even after many years of not seeing her.
  • It's Played With in case of Aisha, who is in a physical relationship with Trentan, a common thief from Blackmont. It seems that she is using and manipulating him, but at least Trentan sees things differently and there is the possibility that at least part of her feelings are genuine. Of course, this is Aisha we're talking about, so it is hard to say how much of her actions towards him are genuine.
  • Efran Sand has a lover, Elise, whom he is shown to genuinely love.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Purple Ocelot is only known by this name, with his real one never being revealed in the story.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Verro shows this when he does not stop an old woman from attacking his comrade Axel, while said comrade is about to rape the woman's daughter. This allows the woman to give her daughter time to escape, another thing Verro could have prevented, but doesn't.
  • Trentan follows Aisha loyally, but even he is shown to have some sort of a moral conscience, when he gets visibly uncomfortable whenever she does something involving her god.
• Evil Counterpart: Aisha is this to Desirea, her R'hllor counterpart. While R'hllor has moral ambiguity going on, the same can't be said for Aisha's god, the Great Other. However, the two women have some similarities at second glance. Both have come to Dorne to make a move against the enemies of their god, they are both The Fundamentalist and both are in a position of such power at a very young age, although Desi puts this up to eleven.
• Evil Is Bigger: Ser Mordekhai Crusher is one of the tallest and most evil members of the cast.
• Evil Is Deathly Cold: The Great Other, naturally.
• Evil Is Petty: Several of the freaks are shown to be especially petty in their actions, especially in their behaviour to poor Missy. Tom the Animal is the most serious offender of this, as he isn't even above giving her mocking nicknames and generally teasing her.
• Evil Mentor: Aisha tries to be this towards Gwendis, though not to much success so far.
• Evil Old Folks: Albin Manwoody's exact age is not stated, but he is at least in his fifties. On top of that, he is one of the stories main villains, being also among the few characters who are clearly and irredeemably evil.
• Evil Sorcerer: Benedict Blackmont surrounds himself with several of these, most notably Noctis.
• Evil Sorceress: Aisha, the priestess of the Great Other, has quite a number of strange magical powers.
• Expy:
  • Forovos Norvoshi holds more than a fleeting resemblance to Tycho Nestoris of the Iron Bank. Like him, he is a keyholder of the bank who gets interested in a conflict in Westeros, where he ends up supporting a faction that starts of as an underdog. He is also one to Jaqen H'ghar, due to him being a Faceless Man.
  • Jamison Dayne does not only resemble Jaime Lannister when it comes to his first name. Like Jaime, he is a famous swordsman, who takes great pride in his skill and takes his self-worth from it. Regarded as one of the best knights of his time, Jamison is highly arrogant and often insufferable towards others in conversation, something he seems to take delight in. Furthermore, he is in love with a woman he can't have and he has a brother who is not much of a fighter, but a cunning administrator instead.
• Extreme Mêlée Revenge: When she finally snaps and stabs Ronny, Missy absolutely loses it and it ends with her stabbing him again and again, many more times than she actually needed to do to kill him.
• Eyepatch of Power: Efran Sand has lost an eye due to some unspecified incident in his past and covers it up with an eyepatch, which certainly adds to his generally badass look.

F

• Face Stealer: Forovos Norvoshi, as a former Faceless Man, is capable of this.
• Facial Horror: It is not described in too much detail what Mordekhai did to Shana Sand's face and if the wounds were inflicted to her before or after her death, but Missy is barely able to recognize her when seeing the head.
• False Flag Operation: In order to force the Kingdom of Blackmont into the war against House Manwoody and to gain the allies he needs to save his own house, Garrison Fowler orders one of his men, Ser Russal, to attack Blackmont villages near the Manwoody border, while wearing Manwoody colours. The surviving peasants naturally report an attack by Manwoody man, giving Benedict Blackmont the impression that his kingdom is under attack as well and that he needs to ally with the Fowler's if he wishes to survive.
• False Friend: Aisha poses as this to Gwendis, while using her for her own gain, to direct her at the enemies of her god. While it remains unclear if Aisha truly has bad intentions, she is at the very least far less friendly and well-intentioned towards Gwendis than she appears to be.
• Family Relationship Switcheroo: For the first fiteen years of his life, Emerson Allyrion has been raised as the bastard son of Morgan Allyrion. A year before the events of the story, he found out that he was indeed the trueborn son of Morgan's older brother, Mason. When Mason died without an apparent issue, Morgan ascended to lordship, therefore cheating Emerson out of his inheritance.
• Famous Ancestor: With the story putting a heavy focus on the old and powerful houses of Dorne, all of them are bound to have at least some famous ancestors.
  • During her first Histories&Lore part, Gwendis gives a good overview of famous Blackmont ancestors. She also mentions Samwell Dayne, who was a similarly famous figure in the past of House Dayne.
  • Interestingly, many of the characters that appear in this story are famous ancestors during the time of the source material, about 700 years later. The most prominent of them is Nymeria herself of course.
• Fate Worse than Death: Arguably, this is what happened to Missy after months of Cold-Blooded Torture.
• Faux Affably Evil:
  • In his conversations with Missy, Albin Manwoody is affectionate, to a degree that seems almost genuine and he seems to honestly enjoy her company, but he is still the man responsible for her current situation and is also not above intimidating her, by sending her the head of one of her supposed allies as a warning not to betray him.
  • The same goes for quite a number of his freaks, aside from Tom the Animal, who all act perfectly friendly towards Missy when she is spending time with them, but who have all participated in the torture that broke her and occasionally still take delight in teasing and tormenting her.
• The Fettered: Gwendis has a firm set of morals, which she uses to govern the Kingdom of Blackmont in her father's absence. Sure enough, these morals are not a weakness, but instead drive her to do reasonable decisions to help the smallfolk. Once her father gets involved, things go sour for the smallfolk and this results in a peasant rebellion.
• Feuding Families: The Manwoody's apparently have a history with the other noble houses of the Red Mountains and Albin declaring war on them is not the first time they clash. However, it is likely the first time that a Manwoody king declared war on every single house in the Red Mountains.
• Fiery Redhead: Dalia Sand, the leader of the Wild Suns and experienced sellsword also has a wild mane of red hair. Her daughter Desirea has inherited the colour, though has a more calm personality and is not a fighter.
• Fish out of Water:
  • At the beginning of Chapter 2, Gwendis decides to leave Blackmont with Aisha, after the priestess informs her of a mysterious vision that foresaw her death if she would stay. She is then put through a life on the road, without any of the comfort she got used to during her life at Blackmont, something that clearly takes a toll on her.
  • In a way, the rather blunt and occasionally downright rude Jamison is completely unfamiliar with the finer nuances of actual diplomacy. He is sent on an important mission to secure an alliance with Lucifer Dryland specifically to show that he can adapt.
• Foil:
  • Aisha and Desirea are not only each other's Evil Counterpart (from their respective perspectives), but also very much a Foil to each other. Both are the most important figures of their respective religion, which is fundamentally opposed to the other. They are both fanatical in their faith and on a mission to destroy the enemies of their gods, something they believe as a righteous and good mission. However, whereas Aisha is a cold, distanced and occasionally downright creepy woman, who uses others for her gain, Desirea is still very much a child, which occasionally shines through, and her main contact is with her mother Dalia, whom she loves dearly and acts affectionately around. She is also a lot more honest about her plans than Aisha, who keeps every information she lets through intentionally vague.
• Forced to Watch: Eventually, it is revealed that Missy, back when she was still Kortney Caron, was forced to watch as her lover Norano got tortured and eventually executed, an experience that thoroughly broke her.
• Foreshadowing: Gwendis' vision at the end of Chapter 1 is full of this, hinting at the later events of Nymeria's War, showing the potential fates of other characters, as well as one possible fate for herself. Some of these events are set in stone, though others are potentially a case of Fauxshadowing, as it has been revealed that some events are only one possible outcome to the situations.
• For the Evulz: There is absolutely nothing to gain for Albin Manwoody and his freaks in torturing and breaking Missy into becoming his mistress. In fact, due to her status as the eldest child of Lord Trevas Caron, this might even give him a strong new enemy. The only thing he truly gets out of this is a sick form of entertainment.
• Four Lines, All Waiting: A necessary drawback of having a dozen Point-of-View characters, something the source material is struggling with as well, is that sometimes, a couple of characters or storylines aren't seen in months of writing.
• Four-Star Badass: Vorian Dayne is the head of his house and ruler of his kingdom, which makes him the leader of its armies. He is also known as the best knight in Dorne
• Framing the Guilty Party: Garrison Fowler does this when he frames the Manwoody invaders of having attacked the outskirts of the Kingdom of Blackmont. While they are innocent of this particular incident, the Manwoody's are very much guilty of a lot of other things and have outright stated their intention of attacking the Kingdom of Blackmont regardless in due time.
• A Friend in Need: Joran Storm at least tries to be an ally to the people of Gravesend, due to personal bonds he made with them, though his companion Myke subverts this by focussing on his mission instead of their problems.
• Friendly Sniper: After warming up to Nealia, Manda Za becomes this.
• From Bad to Worse: Aside from being a general theme, the Kingdom of Blackmont gets hit particularly hard by this.
  • Kortney Caron's desire to start a new life with her lowborn lover Norano is brutally cut short when they are captured by Manwoody troops just after they entered Dorne. In the following it is shown quite heavily what happens to noble girls with such naive dreams in Westeros, when Norano gets tortured to death, whereas she gets tortured into insanity, forced to accept the name "Missy" as her own and forced to be Albin Manwoody's concubine.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Nymeria Martell started of as one of several rhoynish rulers, the Princess of Ny Sar and not even the most powerful of them, especially when compared to Prince Garin of Chroyane. After Garin's death and the loss of a large part of her people to the Valyrian Hegemony, she leads her people across the Narrow Sea, before settling in Dorne and becoming a major nightmare for the petty kings of the region, who likely weren't even aware of her existence before her landing and subsequent declaration of war.
• The Fundamentalist: Aisha and Desirea are both fanatically devout to their religion. Out of the two, Aisha seems to be even stronger in her belief, likely due to her being twice as old as Desirea, who is still just a child.

G

• Gender Is No Object: The Rhoynar have little difference between men and women when it comes to their social standing and female rulers are quite common among them, as seen with Nymeria. Part of her war is to establish the rhoynish customs, which includes this one, in all of Dorne and she already firmly establishes it in the regions she has conquered.
• Genius Bruiser: It would be easy to see Jamison's swordmanship and swagger as the only thing of note about him, but behind his dangerous skills lies a surprisingly sharp mind and while he is less educated than his brother, he is anything but dumb.
• The Ghost: A number of major characters is mentioned long before they are introduced. The most prominent examples of this are the members of House Yronwood, who are the most powerful noble family in all of Dorne, yet haven't appeared in the story so far.
• Gilded Cage: Aisha invokes this image in her talk with Gwendis, where she utters her first ominous warning about her future. Sure enough, the princess feels like being trapped in one when she is later betrothed to Desmor Fowler against her will.
• Glory Days: Lucifer Dryland is subtle about it, but he is clearly dissatisfied with the state of his house, which has once been among the proudest and strongest in Dorne. By the time of his rule, he is the last trueborn Dryland left alive, though his bastard daughter Dalia and her daughter Desirea are similarly present.
• Going Native: Slowly, but steadily, the regions conquered by Nymeria adapt to the foreign Rhoynar culture and their customs, such as equal laws of inheritance for men and women. There is some resistance against it, but quite a number of Westerosi settle in quickly.
• Gondor Calls for Aid:
  • The war against House Manwoody forces an unlikely alliance between the houses Blackmont and Fowler.
  • Similarly, the peasant rebellion in the Blackmont lands eventually causes Gwendis to send her brother for negotiations to Starfall, where he gains the help of House Dayne against their father's will. Notably, Benedict has an intense dislike of his deceased wife's house.
  • The threat of Nymeria and her Rhoynar forces Vorian Dayne to consider an alliance with Lucifer Dryland, with whom his house used to be at war many years ago.
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: Nymeria's main advisors are her husband Mors Martell and her general Varyn. Though both are ambiguous and neither of them can be clearly seen as the more good or bad choice, Mors is typically the one to advice his wife to act patient, understanding and diplomatic, whereas Varyn argues for displays of force and harsh methods of dealing with her enemies.
• The Good Chancellor: Gwendis Blackmont serves as the head of the royal council in her father's absence. It's not only a position she wholeheartedly enjoys, but also one she uses to make politics that help her kingdom and the smallfolk living there. She is also notably opposed to war and tries to maintain peace as good as possible.
• Good Is Not Soft: Though Garrison Fowler is a caring father and thoughtful king, who wishes to protect his people, this does not mean that he can't be a ruthless politician, willing to Kick the Dog if it keeps his people safe. Still, he doesn't feel good about the bad things he is forced to do.
• The Good King: Vorian Dayne, the well-loved King of the Torrentine, is a perfect knight and upholder of the virtues that come with it, which makes him a good king by default.
• Good Versus Good: A natural consequence of having Sympathetic P.O.V. characters in all storylines, even the ones that are sooner or later forced to fight against each other, as Nymeria's War goes on.
• Gray-and-Grey Morality: In addition to the trope above, there are few characters who can be seen as outright good or bad, with most of them having some shade of grey instead. Even the most central protagonists are rarely truly white characters and express some ambiguous views, such as Nymeria's warmongering against the other rulers of Dorne.
• Grim Up North: Even though the story is set in the most southern part of Westeros, it still manages to include this trope in some capacity. The most northern kingdom of Dorne is the Kingdom of Manwoody, which is a harsh and terrifying place to live in, ruled by a madman of a king. It is also the only kingdom without a Sympathetic P.O.V., as the main Point-of-View for it, Missy, is more a prisoner than a genuine resident. On top of that, many of the characters who come from further north are portrayed as cold or downright brutal, such as Wyllem Pyke and Bjorn Harlaw, who both come from the Iron Islands.
• Grumpy Old Man: Lucifer Dryland is a harsh, cynical man who is easy to anger, has very few softer sides and a highly inflated opinion of himself and his kingdom, with his arrogance making him downright obnoxious at times.
• Guile Hero:
  • Nymeria herself is less of a warrior and more of a commander and tactician, which means she is mostly using her wits to get what she wants. Considering that her goal is to unite all of Dorne, she wants quite a lot.
  • Gwendis is definitely far from a physical person, having a slim, petite build. Her weapon is her mind and she uses it to twist situations to her advantage as much as possible, up to the point where she, despite the prejudice against female rulers, manages to become her father's head of the council in his absence.

H

• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Isabella, the youngest child and only daughter of Garrison Fowler, has golden-blonde hair and is the sweetest and most innocent of the Point-of-View characters, as well as the characters in general.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Lucifer Dryland and Albin Manwoody both suffer from it, though Albin has it a bit more pronounced, due to his insanity. It really doesn't take much for him to become the madman he is feared as.
• Handsome Lech:
  • Jamison Dayne is very much Tall, Dark, and Handsome. He is also a womanizer, who can't really resist the urge to seduce pretty women around him, something that is especially prominent in his Histories&Lore part.
  • As his cousin Naemon proves, this trait runs in the family.
• Happily Married: For all accounts, the marriage between Benedict Blackmont and Valaena Dayne was a Perfectly Arranged Marriage. This makes her death an Benedict's prolonged mourning process all the more tragic.
• Happiness in Slavery: Played With in case of Missy. She certainly thinks that she is happy as Albin Manwoody's mistress and bedslave. However, this is only after she has been mentally broken into near-insanity and in her few moments of clarity, she is appropriately horrified at what happened to her.
• Has a Type: Naemon has a serious thing for redheads.
• Hate Sink: Albin Manwoody has just about zero redeeming traits. He is a cruel madman, a Psychopathic Manchild and a warmonger, who is terrifying towards his family, his household and th surrounding kingdoms who have to live with the threat he poses. He is, at this point, by far the most easily hateable character in the entire story.
• The Hedonist: Naemon doesn't really have much of a sense of responsibility, save for love for his sister and some loyalty for his father, but aside from that, all he truly wants to do is to live his life to the fullest.
• Heel–Faith Turn: Though never having been a clearly evil person, Dalia was a dedicated sellsword and therefore not someone with a particularly firm set of morals before she joined the cult of R'hllor, which at least aims to better the life of the people.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: Some of the most central Point-of-View characters use the sword as their weapon of choice.
• Heroic Bastard:
  • Nealia Sand, the bastard daughter of Vorian Dayne, is one of the most important characters in the story and the first Point-of-View character to be introduced after Nymeria herself. She herself is a bit of an Anti-Hero, but nonetheless well-intentioned and brave.
  • Played With in case of Dalia. As a Flamebearer of R'hllor, she is far from a classical hero and more a case of a Knight Templar. However, she is less of a fanatic than others of her faith and overall assists her daughter in their strife of cleansing Dorne from the influence of the Great Other. YMMV if this is truly a noble goal.
• Heroic BSoD: Missy suffers one when she snaps back into her old self.
• Hero-Worshipper: The interaction between Naemon and his cousin Davos has signs of this, as the young Davos is clearly putting a lot of value onto the opinion of his accomplished cousin.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Aisha aims to please her god, whom she sees as the only one that truly exists, by crushing his enemies. She genuinely sees this as something good, even if it includes lying and manipulating, as well as eventually fighting against Desirea, who is only a child.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Behind Emmett Allyrion's slow-witted exterior lies a boy that is, in his own way, rather thoughtful if naive and handicapped. He is also notably the only Allyrion to treat his cousin Emerson with nothing but respect and love.
  • Missy is far more than the broken concubine of Albin Manwoody. She is actually Kortney Caron, the runaway daughter of Trevas Caron of Nightsong, who yearned for a life with her lowborn lover Norano and ended up trapped in a nightmare at the court of Kingsgrave.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Ronny is killed by a girl he helped torturing into insanity.
• Honest Advisor: Part of his unquestionable loyalty to Princess Nymeria involves Varyn telling her the absolute truth, even if it is far from pleasant.
• Hordes from the East: In an interesting twist of this trope, the leader of these eastern hordes is our central protagonist, Nymeria Martell. While they are portrayed sympathetically and are fugitives from the war that destroyed their homelands, Nymeria and her Rhoynar are still foreign invaders, who crossed the eastern sea and settled with the goal of uniting Dorne under their rule.
• Horrible Judge of Character:
  • Benedict Blackmont keeps a number of Obviously Evil sorcerers close to him, some of whom can't be up to anything good, such as Noctis or his personal assassin Lyla Sand. In return, he voices distrust of Isabella Fowler.
  • Zig-Zagged with his daughter Gwendis and her trust towards Aisha, which is clearly very little and constantly shaken. Aisha herself manages to be just barly enough a case of Ambiguously Evil to keep up a reason for her to be trusted.
• Human Pincushion: In one of Kortney's flashbacks, she remembers that her lover, Norano, got absolutely riddled with arrows as he was executed.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Gwendis is certainly far more competent as a ruler than both, her father and her brother, though as a daughter, she has no chance of ever being more than the sidekick to them or to her future husband. Nonetheless, she does her utmost to keep the Kingdom of Blackmont safe through the politics she makes in her father's absence.

I

• I Call It "Vera": House Dayne has two named swords in this story. One of them is the famous Dawn, wielded by Malcolm Dayne, whereas the other one is called Darkness and is wielded by his brother, Jamison.
• I Don't Like the Sound of That Place:
  • Kingsgrave is every bit as dark and messed up as it sounds.
  • Though the court of Blackmont is not quite as bad as the abovementioned example, it still has an even darker history and is filled with scheming sorcerers and worse.
• I Gave My Word: Paired with a healthy dose of Papa Wolf, Myke's commitment to finding Kortney Caron against all odds, no matter how hopeless it seems, is crossing into this territory.
• If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten!: It is heavily implied that the freaks occasionally demand such a proof of loyalty from Missy, to make sure that she is still absolutely loyal to them and hasn't switched back into her old self.
• Ignored Epiphany: Albin is absolutely horrified when he learns of the defeat of his troops at the hands of the Blackmont/Fowler alliance, but quickly shuts down any possibility that he could surrender to them, instead considering fleeing or continuing the war.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: After being captured by the Ironborn under Bjorn Harlaw, Lysera is forced to marry Bjorn's brother Hargan. It is averted with Dianna, who is taken hostage by Bjorn himself, with intention to deliver her to Efran for interrogation.
• Important Haircut: Back when Raina Serviene's house was destroyed by a rival house, she cut her hair very short and began to pose as a boy, to mark a new part of her life, being on the run from anyone who mightstill wish to kill her.
• Impoverished Patrician: For a while, this happened to Nymeria and the Rhoynar people as a whole, after the loss of their homelands. Things have started to improve since they settled on the Martell lands, especially for Nymeria, but the nobility of her people is naturally still far less wealthy and important than they used to be.
• Inadequate Inheritor:
  • Naemon views himself as one, on account of having no sense for politics and finding no joy in actually ruling a kingdom. He views his sister Gwendis, who can't inherit due to her gender, as a far more suitable heir.
  • It is not outright stated, but this is a problem Lord Morgan Allyrion has to face. His only son, Emmett is lack-witted and likely wouldn't make a good lord, whereas the rightful heir, his nephew Emerson, is someone he isn't fond of in any way.
• Incompatible Orientation: Relatively early, it is made clear that Ilor has the hots for Nealia. Unfortunately for him, she is exclusively into other women, as he finds out when she has a one-night stand with the Yi Tish woman Ying Yu.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: While Jamison is indeed an arrogant Jerkass, what truly makes these traits shine is his feeling of being not good enough to marry his crush Isabella, which is also the main reason for his yearning for glory.
• The Ingenue: Isabella is among the most innocent and pure-hearted of the characters in the story. Though she does have moments in which she reveals herself to be quite smart, her innocence makes her come across as naive and dreamy at times and makes her largely unaware to the true nature of the plots her father and her aunt are weaving.
• In Harm's Way: Some of Jamison's eagerness to get into a fight gives off such a vibe.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Isabella's eye colour reflects her personality quite well here.
• Insane Equals Violent: Just what exactly the extent of Albin Manwoody's madness is not quite revealed, but one thing is for sure, he loves violence, as shown with his treatment of poor Missy.
• In-Series Nickname: Quite a large number of characters have a nickname on top of their given name. Examples include Jamison "The Sword of the Night" Dayne, Vorian "The Sword of the Evening" Dayne, Garrison "The Blind King" Fowler, Yorick "The Bloodroyal" Yronwood, Albin "The Mad King" Manwoody, Naemon "The Vulture Knight" Blackmont, Tom "the Animal", Larry "the Kind", Mizro "the Sharp" and Thomos "the Thunder".
• Interclass Romance:
  • Technically, Nymeria and her husband Mors are this. Though her power has massively dwindled after the destruction of her Rhoynar homelands, she is still the ruling princess of the entire Rhoynar people, whose numbers go into the hundred thousands, whereas Mors is a mere dornish lord, far less powerful than the kings. Though he is nobility, he is still far below the royal Nymeria in terms of status and power.
  • Albin and his common concubine Missy are a more classic example, even if they aren't exactly big on the romance part of their relationship, with him having tortured her into submission. This is subverted once it is revealed that Missy is none other than Kortney Caron, who comes from an important noble house of the Stormlands.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Jamison and his mentor Laroy, several decades his senior, have formed one.
• Interrupted Intimacy: During their journey, Gwendis more or less walks in on Aisha and Trentan in the middle of the act, which reveals to her and to the readers that the priestess and the thief are in a relationship.
• In the Back: Raina Serviene disposes of a peasant rebel in such a way, during the fall of Gravesend, saving the life of Ser Myke in the process.
• In the Hood: Zereth's face is always hidden by a dark hood.
• Ironic Nickname: One of the more prominent of Albin Manwoody's freaks is named Larry the Kind. While probably not the worst of them, he is still part of a group of sadistic torturers and therefore anything but kind.
• It's All About Me: This is Albin Manwoody's main motivation for his war against the entire rest of the Red Mountains. He has no greater goal but to unite them under his banner, to make him the greatest king that ever lived.

J

• Jerkass: Quite a number of characters, though some stick out even among them:
  • Tom the Animal is a horrible person even for the standards of the freaks, Albin's personal torturers. He is petty and selfish, being by far the most openly and physically cruel towards Missy, save for his king. Whereas the other freaks have at least some minor moments in which they are less cruel towards Missy (though neither of them has enough for a Pet the Dog moment), Tom is just acting in pure spiteful jerkishness just about all the time.
  • Jamison can come across like this in his worst moments, though he mostly qualifies as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
  • Alistair Upton, being Jamison's best friend, shares many of his more jerkish qualities and unlike his friend, we haven't quite seen another side of him so far. He is also more petty and aggressive than Jamison, although he still does not qualify as evil by any means.
  • Tomas Toland is very much the Token Evil Teammate of the Point-of-View charactrers, for very good reason, being smug and cold even while killing innocent people on the orders of his king.
• Jerkass Gods: The Great Other qualifies in the way he utterly torments Gwendis for continuing to resist his influence, trying to force and bully her into submission.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • This certainly applies any time Jamison is in the right with one of his statements, which, all things considered, does happen quite often.
  • General Varyn is a harsh, unforgiving man and some of his traits can be seen as jerkish, yet he is a sharp-minded man who always gives rational and thoughtful, if utterly pragmatic advice.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
  • Jamison in his nicer moment is not quite the bad guy he appears to otherwise. Especially his genuine love for Isabella is a massive moment hinting at his heart of gold.
  • Trentan is a rude and abrasive young man, who seems to hate Gwendis solely for her noble birth, ignoring the good she tried to do for the Kingdom of Blackmont. However, he is shown to have standards when he starts to hesitate to follow Aisha's orders.
• Jumped at the Call: Being a father figur for Kortney, it doesn't take much for Myke to take up on the mission to locate and save her from danger somewhere in Dorne.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: As his war against the other kingdoms of the Red Mountains predictably grows worse, so does Albin Manwoody's sanity and he becomes notably more unhinged when news of his army's defeat reaches his ears.
• Just Following Orders: This is Ser Russal's justification for leading the Fals Flag Operation into the Blackmont lands that ends with him murdering innocent peasants to lure the kingdom into an alliance with his against the perceived threat of the Manwoody army.

K

• Kangaroo Court: There is absolutely no justice to be expected in the utter travesty that is the court of Manwoody. Led by a violent madman, it is generally decided against the accused.
• Karmic Death: Ronny is murdered by exactly the same woman whom he has brutally tortured for months before and this confrontation is provoked and initiated entirely by him.
• Kick the Dog:
  • Albin and his freaks are very fond of this trope, with Missy as the dog.
  • Jamison's treatment of Emerson quickly crosses into this territory.
• Knight In Shining Armour:
  • Vorian Dayne is known as a perfect knight, who takes his vows very seriously. He is known to be the best and most noble knight in all of Dorne and so far, almost everyone in the story has praised him for this.
  • His nephew Naemon also shapes up to be this, having a very good concept not only of fighting, but also of the virtues a knight should follow, something he sees as even more important than martial skill.
• Knight Templar: Aisha, who fully believes herself to do the right thing, is a lying, manipulative cheat, who drags Gwendis and Trentan into a dangerous war between her and followers of R'hllor and who sees following the orders of the Great Other to be a wonderful thing.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Played With in case of Albin Manwoody, who at least somewhat considers surrendering to the Blackmont/Fowler alliancer after they crush their armies. He ultimately decides against this though.

L

• Lady Looks Like a Dude: Raina Serviene invokes this trope in her diguise as Ser Rai.
• Large Ham: Albin Manwoody just loves being a loud, larger-than-life guy, who suffers not only from megalomania, but also from a serious case of No Indoor Voice, especially when agitated.
• La Résistance: The peasant rebels in Blackmont could arguably qualify, being a group of low farmers and general smallfolk who aim at bettering their conditions of living against their apathetic king Benedict Blackmont.
• Lecture as Exposition: During her Histories&Lore part, a younger Gwendis Blackmont gives a spontaneous lecture to her brother Naemon about the origins of their house, when she realizes that he knows nearly nothing about it.
• Legend Fades to Myth: According to an implication from Aisha, several of the First Men in Dorne have apparently worshipped the Great Other, yet in the present-day Dorne, knowledge of the demon god has largely faded, with even the well-educated Gwendis not knowing much about him.
• Light Is Not Good: Played With in case of Dalia and Desirea, who are not exactly bad people, but who follow the religion of R'hllor, which never quite manages to rid them of moral ambiguity.
• A Lighter Shade of Grey: A majority of the Point-of-View characters are flawed, yet ultimately good people. Arguably, Naemon qualifies as even more towards the lighter side, whereas Missy and Jamison are clearly grey characters and Tomas is a full-blown Villain Protagonist, yet the other Point-of-Views are all this trope to some extent.
• Lightning Bruiser: This is part of what makes Ser Mordekhai so dangerous.
• The Lost Lenore: Benedict is clearly not yet over the death of his beloved wife, Valaena, who died about ten years before the story started. It even causes him to withdraw from his children and even from his kingdom largely.
• Lovable Coward: As it turns out, Naemon is this. While he is brave when it comes to protecting others, he has such a strong dislike for serious fights to the death that he likes to avoid them whenever possible.
• Love at First Sight: Between Jamison and Isabella.

M

• Machiavelli Was Wrong: The fearsome and dark Benedict Blackmont only manages to inspire a peasant rebellion against him through his mismanagement of the kingdom, whereas his far more well-intentioned daughter Gwendis effectively kept the kingdom stable for her time as the head of the council.
• Mad Love: Obviously, Albin the Mad's feelings for Missy, the girl he tortured into insanity.
• The Magnificent: A very large number of characters have such a nickname. Some of the most prominent examples include Mizro the Sharp, Thomos the Thunder, Larry the Kind and Tom the Animal.
• Mama Bear: Dalia's love for her daughter, Desirea is absolute and she is also a badass and therefore more than capable of giving in to her Mama Bear tendencies.
• Master Swordsman: Jamison's goal is to become the best fighter in all of Dorne and the sword is his weapon of choice. Considering his reputation, he is on a very good way to succeed at this goal.
• Mauve Shirt: Septon Kevan, Donovar Toland, the Purple Ocelot and Ser Yandry all qualify.
• The Mentor: Ser Laroy Ladybright is Jamison's mentor and one of his best friends.
• Mid-Season Twist: Chapter 2 of 3 in Book 1 holds strong twists for quite a number of characters:
  • Gwendis, waiting for herself to be married off to Skyreach is approached by Aisha, the Dark Priestess who, offers her a way out of her miserable situation, by taking her with her when she leaves Blackmont. She claims that this course of action would save Gwendis' life. After a bit of consieration, Gwendis ultimately agrees to this, leaving Blackmont and changing her own fate for the better or the worse.
  • Missy snaps back into her true identity as Kortney Caron, revealing her as the girl Myke has been searching for all along, something the freaks learn about as well.
• Miles Gloriosus: For all his bark, Albin Manwoody does cower relativly easy once his army is defeated, even genuinely considering surrendering to some of his enemies, revealing himself as quite a bit of a coward.
• Missing Mom: Valaena Blackmont, mother to Gwendis and Naemon, has died ten years before the start of the story. The circumstances behind her death are quite mysterious and a source of speculation for the Blackmont children.
• The Mistress: Missy's role at the court of Kingsgrave comes down to this.
• Mood Whiplash: Whenever one of the more easy-going Point-of-Views follows directly before or after one of the more serious Point-of-Views, the result of almost always this.
• Morality Pet: Mors Martell serves as this to his wife, Nymeria, as the one to keep her in a morally more or less good line. This often leads him to clash with the far more pragmatic Varyn.
• Morton's Fork: Due to the choice-based nature of the story, the readers are often forced to decide between one of two evils. This happens very commonly, especially in some of the more grey storylines.
• The Mourning After: Certain comments show that Benedict is still mourning his late wife, Valaena.
• Ms. Fanservice: Though she is not a particularly passionate or lustful person, Aisha intentionally wears Stripperific attire to show that she is not ashamed of her well-proportioned body.

N

• Named Weapons: House Dayne's ancestral sword, Dawn, as well as Jamison's personal sword, Darkness.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Staying near characters nicknamed "The Dark Priestess", "The Animal" or "The Skeletal Knight" is generally a health danger for many characters, as expected by names like these.
• Necessarily Evil: This is the justification Garrison Fowler and Ser Russal use to justify their attack onto the Blackmont lands, to draw them into a war against House Manwoody. They both know it is an evil thing to do, but also know that it is the only chance their kingdom has at surviving.
• Nice Guy:
  • Wylie, the Cool Old Guy who travels with Dianna is a very kind old man.
  • Naemon Blackmont is one of the few Point-of-Views that apply, perhaps even the only one.
  • Nymeria's husband, Mors Martell, is the Token Good Teammate of her inner circle, which in itself is already one of the more morally well-intentioned groups in the story.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Garrison Fowler's False Flag Operation against House Blackmont was very much a case of Necessarily Evil, yet at the same time, it ruined any chance he could have for a longer alliance with the Blackmont's. By making a marriage alliance with them, he accidentally triggered Gwendis' escape from Blackmont, ruining any possible marriage alliance and making Gwendis' situation really dire.
  • A posthumous example for Norano, Kortney's lover. By running away with his beloved, he only manages to get himself killed and her subjected to a Fate Worse than Death as Mad Albin's bedslave and he also triggers the dangerous rescue mission of Myke and Joran.
• Nice to the Waiter: Gwendis eventually starts to be more kind to the low thief Trentan.
• Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Ser Mordekhai Crusher, the Skeletal Knight.
• Noble Demon: After capturing Dianna, Bjorn Harlaw reveals himself to be this, surprisingly, at least in the boundaries his cultural background as an Ironborn raider allows for. He refuses to rape her, speaks rather polite with her and treats her fairly for a prisoner.
• Noble Fugitive:
  • Nymeria and the entire surviving nobility of the Rhoynar is this after the destruction of their homelands.
  • Raina Serviene, whose house was wiped out, now poses as the male knight Ser Rai.
  • To avoid an unwanted marriage which, according to Aisha would eventually result in her death, Gwendis Blackmont decides to run away from Blackmont with her. She soon comes to regret her choice, but doesn't quite manage to muster the courage to surrender to her father's men who are out to bring her back, mostly out of fear that Aisha was saying the truth about her death.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Mors Martell marrying Nymeria and giving her people a new home means that he is dragged into a war against the entire region and draws the contempt of several high-ranking nobles sworn to him.
• No Kill like Overkill: Missy's murder of Ronny is quite gruesome, as she stabs him way more often than necessary.
• No Name Given: The Purple Ocelot's true name is never mentioned in the story.
• Number Two:
  • Gwendis is this (at least inofficially) to her father, as the head of the council and the one who deals with the day-to-day business of her kingdom.
  • Nymeria has her general, Varyn, who is the second-in-command of her military and one of her most trusted and loyal advisors.
  • Dalia has her former lover, Mizro the Sharp, father of her daughter and second-in-command of her sellsword group, together wit Kazhor the Sarnori.

O

• Oblivious Adoption: For a majority of his life, Emerson Allyrion had no idea that he is the truebonr son of is supposed uncle and therefore the rightful heir to House Allyrion of Godsgrace. Instead, he is raised as his uncle's bastard son.
• Occult Blue Eyes: The Great Other is displayed as having these.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Ser Yandry's battle against the forces of Tomas Toland is a crushing victory for House Martell, yet we don't get to see much of it, due to the Point-of-View for this part, Tomas, being knocked out relatively early into the fight.
• Off with His Head!: The Purple Ocelot meets this fate at the hands of Zereth.
• Old Master: Ser Laroy Ladybright, who is several decades older than Jamison and nonetheless skilled enough to hold his own in a fight alongside him against superior numbers of thugs.
• Old Retainer: Nymeria's general, Varyn, has served the Rhoynar loyally for decades. The same goes for the Dayne bannerman Laroy Ladybright and for Blackmont's Maester Mortin.
• Old Soldier: Myke is the quintessential example of this trope. Varyn and Laroy also qualify.
• One-Steve Limit: Amazingly in a cast of that size, no two characters have the same name.
• The One That Got Away: Part of Jamison's huge crush towards Isabella comes from the fact that she is the one girl he could never have, due to her being actually of a higher social position than him.
• Only Friend: Generally, Trentan seems to be the only person even remotely on Aisha's side. Similarly, she is the only one who, at least according to him, treats him with respect and kindness, making his feelings for her far more understandable.
• Only in It for the Money: A majority of Efran Sand's forces doesn't truly believe in his goal and is merely there for the coin he has promised to pay them.
• Only Sane Employee:
  • Occasionally, Gwendis shifts into this trope, when her policies are the only thing preventing the Kingdom of Blackmont from collapsing. Whenever her father overrules her authority, things usually turn to the worse.
  • Mors Martell and Varyn both see themselves as this, especially when compared to each other.
• Open Secret: Aisha never really states that she serves the Great Other as long as she stays in Blackmont, but doesn't really hide it either, with her talk about serving a dark god who claims to be the only true one.
• Orcus on His Throne: For various reasons, five of the six Dornish kings refuse to leave their seats, leaving the fighting to their vassals and family members. Vorian Dayne doesn't leave his seat because for most of Book 1, no threat had come close to his kingdom. Benedict Blackmont is too embroiled in his study of sorceries to leave Blackmont and Albin Manwoody is too paranoid to leave Kingsgrave. Because of his age and blindness, Garrison Fowler is forced to stay at Skyreach.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Malcolm Dayne has such a problem. He is The Wise Prince, but very much in the shadow of his father, who is The Good King and absolutely loved by his people. Unlike his brother Jamison, he is not much of a fighter, gaining far less fame than him and therefore being less well-liked by the smallfolk. His paternal cousin, Naemon, also overshadows him by being almost as famous as Jamison as a knight.

P

• Paper-Thin Disguise: Myke feels this way about Raina posing as a boy.
• Parental Abandonment: A large number of characters has lost one of even both parents before the story starts.
• Parental Favoritism: It's not much of a secret that Benedict favours his daughter, Gwendis, to the point where she is even allowed to lead the small council in his absence, despite being a woman, as well as to remain unmarried at the age of nineteen. It probably helps that she is her mother's spitting image. Her brother Naemon meanwhile is on a very bad standing with their father, due to him more or less blaming Benedict for the death of their mother.
• The Patriarch: Every house in Dorne has one, although Nymeria has plans of introducing equal primogeniture in the territories she conquered, naturally leading to the rise of several matriarchs instead.
• People of Hair Colour:
  • Every member of House Blackmont has dark hair, which is quite fitting, considering their name.
  • The Dayne's are famous for their platinum white hair and lilac eyes, with Jamison being the only one to avoid this, by having dark hair. Fittingly he is also the Black Sheep of his family.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage:
  • The marriage between Nymeria and Mors was done out of political necessity, yet they are shown to love each other quite a lot regardless of that.
  • Similarly, the marriage between Benedict Blackmont and Valaena Dayne was arranged to renew the friendship between the two houses and they ended up genuinely loving each other, to the point where Benedict never truly got over her death.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Considering that she told the truth in the first place Aisha's desire to save Gwendis' life could count as that. Of course, it is Aisha we're talking about, so the truth is likely not as well-intentioned.
  • Verro does not stop an older woman from attacking his companion Axel, in order to give her a chance to save her daughter, whom Axel intends to rape. While the woman dies in the attempt, she indeed manages to save her daughter and to go out on her own terms.
• Pintsized Powerhouse: Nealia is a bona fide action girl, yet also a slim and petite young woman.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: It seems that Mordekhai and Tom the Animal both take special pleasure in tormenting Missy because of her being a woman and not a man, whom they would likely just kill.
• Praetorian Guard:
  • Nymeria eventually attains a number of royal guards, led by the accomplished warrior Farrah of Ghoyan Drohe.
  • House Blackmont has, among others, Ser Kegan Drinkwater and Ser Thomos the Thunder.
• Pragmatic Villainy: If she is a villain at all Aisha certainly manages to be pragmatic enough to hide this and not to indulge into meaningless acts of petty cruelty.
• Pretty Boy: This generally applies to the Dayne's, who have Valyrian heritage and therefore share their pretty features. Jamison is the only Dayne to avert this.
• Princess Classic:
  • Played absolutely straight with the sweet-natured and innocent Isabella Fowler.
  • Both, Nymeria Martell and Gwendis Blackmont both subvert this. Nymeria is a warrior princess and ruler of her people, a great tactician and ambitious leader, whereas Gwendis is a shrewd and cunning Politically-Active Princess, who uses her image as a Princess Classic shamelessly for her advantage.
• Private Military Contractors: A majority of Efran Sand's forces consists of sellswords, who are Only in It for the Money. Dalia and her Wild Suns, as well as Tryden and his Company of the Rose, are also this in their work for the Kingdom of Brimstone.
• Professional Killer: This is the profession of choice for Lyla Sand, Zereth and the Purple Ocelot.
• Properly Paranoid: Eventually, it turns out that Benedict Blackmont was justified with his distrust of the Fowler's and refusal to have Isabella in his halls, as her father Garrison is behind a False Flag Operation that dragge the Kingdom of Blackmont into a bloody war against House Manwoody.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: As in the source material, the Dothraki and Ironborn qualify. In the story, they are represented by the pirate and warrior Verro, as well as the Ironborn raiders Bjorn and Hargan Harlaw, all three of which serve the bandit lord Efran Sand in his war against House Dalt.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Albin Manwoody is not only a madman, he also has the emotional range of a child and therefore suffers from extreme mood swings and childish desires and ideas of the world, as well as a megalomanical streak.
• Punch-Clock Villain:
  • Being Only in It for the Money, Zereth might not be a likable guy when not working for Albin Manwoody, but neither is he actively a villain.
  • Verro and some of Efran Sand's other followers also qualify.
• Pyrrhic Victory: The skirmish between Martell forces under Ser Yandry of Olivegrove and Toland forces under Tomas Toland end with a costly victory for House Martell, which includes the loss of Ser Yandry, one of their most loyal commanders.

Q-R

• The Quest: The most classic example of a quest in this story is Myke's mission to find and save Kortney Caron, the missing daughter of his liege lord and a girl that is like a daughter to himself.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: Vorian Dayne is a famous knight and therefore a fearsome warrior on top of him being the ruler of the Kingdom of the Torrentine and head of House Dayne.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Not only Efran's Ironborn sellswords indulge into this, but this seems to be a common modus operandi for his forces in general, as some troops of his are first introduced while doing such a thing to an innocent village.
• Red Baron: Jamison "The Sword of the Night" Dayne, Yorick "The Bloodroyal" Yronwood and Mordekhai "The Skeletal Knight" Crusher are all different shades of badass, which is reflected in their nicknames.
• Realpolitik: The political landscape in Dorne has heavy influences of this. Garrison Fowler is the undoubted master of this trope among the cast, even if he his not a bad man.
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
  • Nymeria Martell quickly proves herself to be a cunning and very reasonable ruler after establishing her rule as the rhoynish princess. This is already shown when she decides to leave the lost Rhoynar homelands instead of fighting a hopeless battle against the Valyrian dragonlords an she only continues with these policies after her landing in Dorne.
  • Though her father is quite the opposite of this, Gwendis Blackmont is a very reasonable ruler whenever she is in charge of the small council and therefore the kingdom, with her thoughtful policies aiming at helping the poor smallfolk of the kingdom.
  • Garrison Fowler's policies in the Kingdom of Skyreach might be a major case of Good Is Not Soft, but the man is nonetheless a caring ruler, who has his subjects best interests at heart and the skill to back it up, setting him apart from quite a number of other kings.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni:
  • Nymeria's closest advisors are her husband Mors Martell and her general, Varyn. Mors is an idealistic and good-natured man, who cares for his subjects and wants to enforce passionate, understanding rules, whereas Varyn is a cold, pragmatic and harsh man, who encourages displays of strength.
  • Jamison and his mentor Laroy have a classic dynamic, with Jamison being headstrong, passionate, very emotional and aggressive, whereas Laroy is calm, thoughtful and highly in favour of intelligent and well-planned decisions.
• Regent for Life: With Benedict Blackmont's priorities clearly not being the capable government of his kingdom, any person that sits at the top of the small council is technically this. At the beginning of the story, his daughter Gwendis is this, though later, her uncle Braddock assumes the position.
• Relationship Reveal: Aisha and Trentan are caught in the act by Gwendis.
• Religion is Magic: One of the most magical characters in the story, Aisha, gets her powers from her god, the Great Other, something that is explicitly explained. Her counterpart, Desirea, a priestess of R'hllor, is also capable of magical feats, as usual for followers of her god.
• Religion of Evil: Unlike the source material, the cult of R'hllor is portrayed more sympathetically, mostly due to the strong presence of their enemies, who are a genuine, straight example of this trope. The followers of the Great Other follow one of the few gods that are not morally ambiguous in the story, as he is a fullblown Card-Carrying Villain. The two Great Other cultists shown in the story, Aisha and Mordekhai, are also all around terrible people (especially in Mordekhai's case) and among the more prominent villains.
• Rescue The Princess: This is the essence of Myke's quest to find and save Kortney Caron.
• Royal Blood: A large number of characters comes from one of the royal families of Dorne, including the majority of the Point-of-View characters, either as trueborn members of the royalty, or as bastards.
• Royal Brat: Compared to his more concerning tendencies, this is one of Albin Manwoody's less prominent traits, but he still shows a childishly spoiled mindset whenever he sees something he wants.
• Royally Screwed Up: Some background information confirms that Albin Manwoody is far from the first Manwoody ruler that tries to declare himself King of the Red Mountains, to wage war against the other kingdoms.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something:
  • The rulers of Dorne are, with the exception of Benedict Blackmont and Yorick Yronwood actively working towards their goal, mostly through cunning political moves, or moves that are not so cunning. Nymeria is perhaps the most active example, due to her waging war against every other king in the setting.
  • The Point-of-View characters that are part of the royalty are almost exclusively among the more active characters, with the sole exception of Isabella Fowler. Even her Foil Gwendis ends up as a physically active Point-of-View.
• Rule of Seven: During her conquest, Nymeria is opposed by seven kings: Albin Manwoody, Benedict Blackmont, Vorian Dayne, Lucifer Dryland, Garrison Fowler, Yorick Yronwood and Donovar Toland.
• Ruling Couple: Nymeria Martell and her husband Mors rule over their subjects more or less jointly, even if Nymeria is the one who has more authority, mostly due to her being more capable than her husband. Mors nonetheless plays an active part as one of her most important advisors.

S

• Sacrificial Lamb: The freaks, Matt the Mute and Ronny, are both just barely introduced when they get killed off, by the Purple Ocelot and Missy respectively. Their death happens so early in the story that it barely qualifies as a spoiler.
• Sacrificial Lion: On the contrary, The Purple Ocelot, Septon Kevan and Donovar Toland are all established as important characters in the setting, but neither of them survives the first chapter.
  • By the end of Book 1 POV characters Myke, Dalia and Dianna have all died, not to mention several secondary characters all throughout Dorne.
• Sadistic Choice: Due to the choice-heavy nature of the fic, the author does offer quite a number of these.
  • Gwendis is trapped in a whole situation of these. After leaving with Aisha, who had a murky vision that this would save her life, she is forced to decide between giving in to Aisha's god, who basically tries to force her into servitude, or to resist, both of which pose dangers to her physical and mental health, on top of angering Aisha or making herself a threat for Aisha's dangerous enemy. Almost every single of her choices ever since feature this.
  • As Albin Manwoody's slave, Missy is part of the most dangerous storyline, surrounded by quite a number of clear antagonists. Therefore, many of her decisions pose unpredictable dangers for herself and others. The most important example of this so far is the way she deals with Shana Sand, who had been captured by Albin's freaks. If she doesn't get involved, the girl will die. If she gets involved, she puts herself at danger and depending on how she decides to help her, drags others into this danger as well. This ends with the deaths of Shana and the Purple Ocelot.
  • Though it is not quite as bad as the examples above, Nymeria's storyline shows how this trope is a constant in the day-to-day affairs of a ruler, especially in wartime, as she is forced to balance between showing strength and showing mercy, both of which pose risks regarding her support and public opinion about her.
• Samus Is a Girl: Raine Serviene is introduced as a boy, even if her true identity is quickly guessed by Myke.
• Scars Are Forever:
  • As a result of her torture, Missy sports quite a number of notable scars all over her body.
  • Raina receives a facial scar during her attempt to save Myke in Gravesend.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Dallin Dalt and his troops retreat from a battle between Nymeria's forced and those of Efran Sand, a move that leaves Dianna at the mercy of Bjorn Harlaw.
• Secret Relationship: It is unknown how long the fling between Aisha and Trentan has been going on, but one thing that is for sure is that both are quite heavily embarrassed by Gwendis finding out about them.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Mors Martell is a thoughtful and idealistic advisor to his wife, Princess Nymeria, whereas her general Varyn is a warrior with a harsh, pragmatic mindset to match.
• Sex Equals Love: Due to his youth, Trentan seems to fall for Aisha, who enters a physical relationship with him, even ignoring some glaring instances of her acting like the Great Other cultist she is and becoming highly protective of her.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: Kortney Caron's yearning to start a new life with her lover Norano is cut short when They get captured just a few miles into Dorne, Norano gets tortured to death and she gets tortured into insanity, until she becomes Missy, Albin Manwoody's bedslave.
• Sheltered Aristocrat: Despite her yearning to improve the lot of the citizens of Blackmont, Gwendis has never truly experienced their suffering and has therefore no actual knowledge of them. Her actions are well-intentions and she is quite capable at administrating the Kingdom of Blackmont, but never had much of an experience outside of the castle walls. Realizing how much worse a life on the road is comes as a huge shock for her when she leaves Blackmont alongside Aisha.
• Shrouded in Myth: The Great Other, being a demon god of old, is no longer worshipped in Westeros and generally little is known about him. Even his priestess, Aisha, is very reluctant to reveal information about him, indicating that she doesn't know much more.
• Silk Hiding Steel:
  • In case of Nymeria, it is a very thin amount of silk, due to her status as a warrior princess and determined ruler, but she can nonetheless pull out the charm if a situation requires it.
  • Gwendis is a Politically-Active Princess with high ambitions, yet she maintains a dignified, gentle aura throughout all this, using her pleasant appearance and good manners as a weapon to gain an advantage in political discussions.
• Sibling Yin-Yang:
  • Gwendis is a determined and ambitious young woman, who would love nothing more than to actually rule over her father's Kingdom of Blackmont, while Naemon, the actual heir, is laid-back and carefree, afraid of responsibilities and whose only desire is to live his life to the fullest.
  • Malcolm Dayne is a calm, smart and pleasant young man, who is shaping up to be a great ruler with a clever mind and political cunning, if not a particularly skilled fighter, whereas his brother Jamison is a hot-headed and arrogant man who measures his worth in his fame and fighting ability and who is anything but pleasant in conversation.
• Sliding Scale of Continuity: The story is currently somewhere in Level 4, having started about a year ago and receiving constant updates, but not being too overwhelming for new readers yet. It can be assumed that it is going to be in a full Level 5 in the near future though.
• Smug Snake: Albin considers himself the greatest king in all of Dorne, whereas he actually is not even nearly as powerful as he thinks he is and his overly ambitious plans come to bite him back in the ass soon enough. His torture of Kortney Caron was also an incredibly dumb move, which he likely saw as quite well-thought, considering that it will potentially rile the Marcher Lords and the entire Stormlands against him.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat:
  • During their shared council meetings, Gwendis and Lyla are constantly fighting one of these.
  • Whenever Jamison meets someone who can shoot back at him, he finds himself in one.
• The Sociopath: Quite a number of freaks have this mindset, with Tom the Animal being the strongest contender. Unsurprisingly, their king, Albin Manwoody, is also the biggest sociopath in the story.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Mordekhai doesn't raise his voice in most situations, which only makes his unlimited acts of brutality all the more unsettling, as they are committed by someone who barely says a word.
• Sore Loser: Alistair Upton is genuinely pissed at Naemon for winning their duel and even tries dishonourable methods up to the outright attempt to wound or kill his opponent in their fight. He eventually calms down after being scolded by his mother.
• Spanner in the Works: Against her knowledge, Gwendis Blackmont serves as a spanner for the plans of Garrison Fowler. After having dragged her father's kingdom into a war against House Manwoody through a False Flag Operation, Garrison hopes to create a lasting bond between the two neighbouring kingdoms, first by offering his daughter Isabella to Benedict Blackmont's heir Naemon, then, after Benedict's refusal, by offering his thirdborn and only unmarried son Desmor as a husband for Gwendis. These plans are rendered moot when Gwendis runs away from Blackmont under the manipulations of the Dark Priestess Aisha. While Garrison still gained an ally in the war against House Manwoody, he failed to create the lasting and strong alliance he hoped for.
• Spare a Messenger: Several messengers actually, as the Manwoody soldiers that raid the villages at the borders of Blackmont spare about half of the population. This is explained by them being part of a False Flag Operation under the command of Garrison Fowler. They want to spare as many messengers as possible to convince the Blackmont's that they are under attack by House Manwoody.
• Spell My Name with a "The": The Purple Ocelot.
• Spoiled Brat: Due to his arrogance and cockiness, Jamison can be this at his worst moments.
• The Squire: Davos Dayne is eventually assigned as squire to his cousin Naemon.
• The Starscream: House Toland takes the generally troublesome times in Dorne as a reason to declare their independence against their previous overlords, their head, Donovar, crowns himself king and declares war on House Martell.
• Stay in the Kitchen: This mindset is kept by the more traditional Andals and characters like Gwendis, who are capable and cunning in their own right, suffer especially from this, whereas the Rhoynar hold views that encourage the equal treatment of men and women, such as their acceptance of female warriors and them being ruled by Princess Nymeria.
• Stepford Smiler: Gwendis uses this as part of her general Silk Hiding Steel routine. She slowly loses the smile as she continues to be pushed from hardship to hardship.
• Stockholm Syndrome: After being tortured into insanity and forced to forsake her former name, Missy is also forced to be Albin Manwoody's concubine, basically his bedslave, a position where she is raped constantly by him. Eventually, she starts to consider herself as his genuine lover, despite everything that happened.
• Straight for the Commander: This is the way Forovos Norvoshi manages to end the war between House Martell and House Toland, by assassinating King Donovar Toland and the Toland general, Tylan Sager.
• Straight Gay: Nealia is exclusively into other women, something that isn't quite obvious by her behaviour.
• Stupid Evil: More often than not, Albin Manwoody's behaviour slips into this, such as him declaring war against four other kingdoms at once, falling for simple tricks and deceits and abducting and torturing Kortney Caron, daughter of a neutral, but powerful lord for absolutely no reason beyond For the Evulz.
• Swords Are Heroic: Swords seem to be the weapon favoured by the utmost majority of characters in the story. There are some minor exceptions, but other than that, it is played straight.

T

• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Jamison Dayne and Naemon Blackmont both have such looks.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Similarly, this trope applies to both, Jamison and Naemon as well.
• Tap on the Head: Myke is knocked out in such a way during the fighting in Gravesend.
• A Taste of Defeat: After many parts of building himself up as the greatest king in all of Dorne, Albin Manwoody hits rock bottom when his armies are crushed by a Blackmont/Fowler coalition. He falls into a Villainous Breakdown, unable to fully comprehend what happened to him and his armies.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
  • As a result of their marriage pact falling through, House Blackmont and Fowler stand against House Manwoody due to an Enemy Mine situation and are not in a genuinely solid alliance. This is a source of great concern for Garrison Fowler, who has put a lot of hopes into such an alliance.
  • Due to Nymeria threatening both of their kingdoms, the former enemies Lucifer Dryland and Vorian Dayne reluctantly go into an alliance against the Martell's. However, neither actually holds any fondness for the other, to say the least.
• Thicker Than Water: Blood ties are treated as very seriously in Dorne, so an alliance is usually expected to be sealed by a marriage pact. The failure of said pact threatens the stability of the entire alliance.
• Those Two Guys: Lien and Ying Yu are introduced in that way.
• Thousand-Year Reign: The majority of the royal houses of Westeros have a very long history, often even longer than a mere thousand years. Nymeria's arrival shakes things up quite heavily for them.
• Took a Level in Badass: Jamison's goal is to take enough levels to be worthy of the love of his life, Isabella Fowler. For this goal, he trains to be the best knight in all of Dorne.
• Took a Level in Cynic: As their journey together grows on and the priestess becomes more and more secretive, Gwendis Blackmont's usual optimism fails her and she starts to become quite bitter about the ordeal. Being tormented by the Great Other makes things not any more easy for her.
• Torture Cellar: The dungeons of Kingsgrave hold one, the home of Albin's freaks.
• Torture Technician: Once again, the freaks, who are very skilled at torture.
• Tragic Mistake: Kortney's decision to run away with her lover Norano turns out to be one.
• Trauma Conga Line: As the prisoner and plaything of Albin Manwoody and his freaks, Missy's life is basically one huge Trauma Conga Line. It all started when she, still back in her original identity as Kortney, was captured by Manwoody forces, alongside her lover Norano. Ever since, she has been tortured and broken into insanity, had to witness the death of her lover and was forced to accept the Missy persona. And her suffering doesn't show any signs of slowing down.

U-V

• Undying Loyalty:
  • Ser Laroy Ladybright is one of House Dayne's oldest and most loyal bannermen, a fatherly friend and mentor to Prince Jamison and unquestionably loyal to his king and prince.
  • Myke of the Marches has grown so close to House Caron that he considers Kortney like his own daughter. This is enough for him to risk his life to save her when he learns of her disappearance.
  • General Varyn might be more of a Sour Supporter towards Nymeria, but his loyalty to her and the rhoynish people is out of question, as he would support her even when he doesn't believe in her goal.
• The Un-Favourite: Benedict Blackmont has withdrawn from his children for the most part after the painful loss of his beloved wife. Nonetheless, he still interacts with them occasionally and in there makes it clear that his sharp-minded and ambitious daughter Gwendis is his favourite over his lazy and hedonistic son Naemon. His soft spot for her goes as far as to leave her unmarried at the age of nineteen and allow her a position as the head of his small council.
• The Unfettered: Albin Manwoody is all kinds of evil, though one of his worst traits is his willigness to do just about anything to assure his goals, without any obvious moral restraints. Fittingly, he is a major sociopath and not of the high-functional variety.
• Unobtanium: Valyrian Steel of course. Due to the story being set before the Doom of Valyria, it is available in far higher quantities than usual, up to the point where a valyrian noblewoman has guards with Valyrian Steel armour.
• Unreliable Narrator: There is really no proof, nor much of a good reason to trust the things Aisha claims about her god, the enemies of said god or the visions she sees thanks to him.
• Villainous Breakdown: After the loss of his armies and his son being forced into fleeing with the remainder of his troops, it finally dawns upon Albin that pissing off four royal houses at once was not a good idea. This results in him having a heavy breakdown, where he ends up screaming at his advisors, throwing a general tantrum and being shown completely helpless for the first time.
• Villains Never Lie: Aisha claims to always tell the truth at the very least, but her being Aisha the truth of this statement, as well as her status as a villain is quite questionable.
• Vow of Celibacy: By joining the order of Maester's, Garrison Fowler's secondborn son, Andren, took one. This actually becomes a plot point when this only leaves Desmor, Garrison's youngest son, as the possible match for a marriage alliance.

W

• War Is Hell: The story does not shy away from showing the brutal reality of war, be it by showing the aftermath of a looted village and the way the smallfolk suffers from this, or by showing the ruthless plundering of farms and the way some soldiers act in situations like these.
• Warrior Monk: As a Flamebearer of R'hllor, Dalia is a member of the fighting order of the church of R'hllor and this trope by default. She, a badass fighter and Mama Bear is also subordinate to her daughter Desirea, who is a priestess.
• Warrior Prince:
  • Nymeria Martell is a female version of this. That said, she also slightly subverts it. As rhoynish nobility, she is undoubtedly skilled with weaponry, but what she is mostly remembered for is not her skill as a fighter, but her ability to command an army, as a tactician and leader.
  • Most of the male members of royal houses play this trope straight. Examples include Jamison Dayne, Naemon Blackmont, Arvin Manwoody, Ferris and Desmor Fowler and Mors Martell.
• The Watson: Isabella is a Princess Classic and therefore far less politically skilled and knowledgeable about the finer aspects of dornish diplomacy than most other members of the royalty. This fact makes her perfect to receive exposition which helps the readers with understanding quite a number of connections in other storylines.
• We ARE Struggling Together: Nymeria uses this trope to her advantage, invoking it in the way the rest of the dornish kings react to her landing. She fully counts on most of them either ignoring her or focussing on lesser threats, such as the recent declaration of war from Albin Manwoody, to pick them off one by one.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Desmor Fowler is extremely eager to win the respect of his father and prove his worth to his house. The fact that he is constantly unable to do so and fails even at a simple marriage frustrates him greatly and turns him crabby and bitter.
• Wham Episode: Yorick's Interlude ends with Yronwood's army taking over Ghost Hill and taking Tomas Toland prisoner.
• Who Needs Enemies?: Being surrounded by dark sorcerers and evil cultists in his pursuit for magic has caused Benedict Blackmont to become isolated from his children and his kingdom, putting him into a very bad position once he is forced to deal with problems he hasn't spent any time to understand.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Isabella is by far the most idealistic, yet also naive of the Point-of-View characters, displaying views that are far more innocent than what we see from the others.
• Won the War, Lost the Peace: Garrison Fowler is ultimately under the threat of this, when his manipulations to lure House Blackmont into the war against House Manwoody via a False Flag Operation come back to threaten him. His inability to secure a marriage alliance with them means that nothing will prevent Benedict Blackmont from taking revenge should he ever find out, which would mean a lot of bad blood between the two houses.
• World of Action Girls: The Rhoynar culture treats men and women equally, therefore generally accepting women as fighters. With their influence spreading over Dorne over the course of the story, there's guaranteed to be some even outside the Rhoynar ranks:
  • Nymeria herself is a slight subversion of this. Despite being capable of combat, she is mostly famous for being a military leader and tactician as opposed to a mere warrior.
  • Among the Rhoynar, there are Nymeria's captains Dianna and Farrah. The former is actively fighting in Nymeria's campaign to end the threat of the bandit lord Efran Sand, whereas the latter has been introduced as a respected soldier from the army of Nymeria's predecessor, Prince Garin, and her reputation is enough for her to be chosen as the leader of the royal guard of House Martell.
  • Outside of the Rhoynar, there is Nealia Sand, the bastard daughter of King Vorian Dayne. After leaving her home in favour of a more simple life, she has taken up sellsword work and is shown to be quite capable at it.
  • The sellsword company Nealia works for, the Company of the Rose, also employs other women as fighters, among them the YiTish sisters Lien and Ying Yu.
  • Dalia Sand is good enough of a fighter to have taken control of her own sellsword company, the Wild Suns.
• World of Badass: Almost every character has a skill that qualifies them as badass, be it as a fighter, a schemer or anything else. It is justified since the brutal world of Dorne makes it necessary for most characters to be either a badass fighter or a Guile Hero in some capacity.
• Worthy Opponent: If his fair treatment of Dianna is any indication, Bjorn Harlaw seems to consider the forces of Nymeria to be this for him and his Ironborn, even if he gave them a crushing defeat the first time they fought.
• Would Hit a Girl: Would torture a girl even, as seen with Albin Manwoody and his freaks, who have no problem with regularly doing this to young women, such as Missy and Shana Sand.
• The Wrongful Heir to the Throne: Naemon believes himself to be this when compared to his sister Gwendis. Whereas she is cunning, finds joy in ruling and has a lot of ambition, as well as the desire to help the smallfolk, Naemon has no skill at all when it comes to politics, is overwhelmed and afraid by these responsibilites and overall heavily disappointed that his older sister cannot take on them for him.

X-Z

• Xanatos Speed Chess: Garrison Fowler is the stories unquestionable master of this trope, as he manages to adjust his plans incredibly quickly under any circumstance, to somehow get out on top in the end.
• Yandere: Some of Albin Manwoody's affection towards Missy has shades of this.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Just as it seems that Missy has finally found a potential ally in Willem Pyke, one of her most brutal parts happened, where she is more or less forced to remember her former identity, resulting in her almost breaking down from the mental stress this puts her through.
• You Can't Go Home Again:
  • The entirety of the Rhoynar lives this trope, due to them having lost their homelands to the Valyrian Hegemony. Led by Nymeria, they have built up a new home in Dorne, but many of them still clearly miss their old empire.
  • After running away from Blackmont, Gwendis is also unable to return, due to the threat of her being married off to House Fowler in such a case. Due to a vision the Dark Priestess Aisha had, she is convinced that such a marriage would result in her death.
• You Monster!: Albin Manwoody is quite often called a monster by those around him or by others who have nothing to do with him otherwise.
• Young Conqueror: Due to the death of most other high-ranking Rhoynar, Princess Nymeria is led to lead her people in the conquest of Dorne. She is in her twenties during the early stages of this war.
• 0% Approval Rating: There is absolutely no one who likes Albin Manwoody, even among his own court. Of course, there are supporters, but they are mostly about as sadistic as he is and don't hold any personal fondness towards him.

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