History Characters / ASongOfIceAndFireHouseDayne

** King Vorian Dayne the Sword of the Evening, the last Dayne king.

** Ser Joffrey Dayne, who fought back against attempts by the Targaryens to conquer Dorne by leading an army to the gates of Oldtown and burning the countryside around it.

** Wylla, the woman who Ned stated to be Jon's mother, is revealed to be a servant of the Daynes. [[spoiler: But if she is actually TheBeard for something bigger, like it is heavily suggested, it's not revealed why the choice fell on her and why she would keep a secret for Ned Stark.]]

* AncestralWeapon: Their greatsword, Dawn. Rumoured to be forged [[ThunderboltIron from a fallen star]].

* AmbiguousSituation: The mysterious circumstances surrounding her suicide, especially the fact that her body was never recovered, have led to the possibility that she might be alive. Still, her suicide is treated as a fact in-universe, and most of the speculation regarding the tragedy in the books concern the reasons ''why'' she did it.
* CultureClash: Barristan Selmy is still visibly miffed on her behalf about how one of the Stark brothers had sex with her at Harrenhal, thus dishonoring her in his eyes. However, given that Dornish people don't place as much importance on a woman's virginity as the rest of Westeros, it's more likely than not that Ashara wouldn't consider herself dishonored.
* DidTheyOrDidntThey: It's rumored that she and Ned were lovers, and she may possibly be Jon's mother. However, the exact circumstances are vague; Ned seemed to have a crush on her at the Tourney of Harrenhal, and in the present he feels deep sadness and regret whenever she's mentioned. Catelyn speculates on the connection between them, Cersei accuses Ned of possibly causing her suicide by stealing her child, and Edric and Allyria Dayne outright believe they were in love. There's also the fact that Barristan resents the Stark who "dishonored" her, but he never states which Stark it was, indicating that it could have instead been Brandon Stark, given his reputation in life as a lady-killer.

* TheLostLenore: To Barristan Selmy (who never confessed his love) and possibly Eddard (who may have had an affair with her during the tourney at Harrenhall).

** Possibly the case with Ned Stark, as he is not very fond of hearing about Ashara. Whatever happened between them, it left him bitter at the mere mention of her name even years after, outright commanding Winterfell to never speak her name again.

* PetTheDog: Danced with Eddard at the Tourney at Harrenhal, after Brandon asked her to because Ned was too shy to ask himself.
* PosthumousCharacter: Died shortly after the end of Robert's Rebellion, having received the greatsword Dawn from Ned Stark.
* RavenHairIvorySkin: Unlike the rest of her silver-haired family, Ashara was described as having pale skin and long, black hair, which added to her famous beauty.

* TheUnreveal:
** In spite of being the purported causative factor in the deaths of both Ashara and Arthur, Ned Stark is in surprisingly good standing with House Dayne, and he is referred to in a friendly and familiar manner.
** It's not entirely known why Ashara killed herself, though the official story states that she defenestrated herself due to the anguish she felt after learning about the death of her brother Arthur. Though it would explain a lot if she and Ned really were involved, especially if [[spoiler: she's Jon's real mother,]] then she would have had her brother killed by her boyfriend/possible former betrothed [[spoiler: who is also, possibly, the father of her child, be it Jon or the stillborn daughter, and he then leaves her to return to Winterfell and be with Catelyn]]. That would be a series of hard blows to take, and explain her suicide and Ned's deep shame in the present.

* AncestralWeapon: Their greatsword, Dawn.

** Dyanna Dayne was the wife of King Maekar I, and mother to his six children including Aegon V.

* LadyInWaiting: She was a lady-in-awaiting to Princess Elia, which explained why she figured in many other main characters' pasts.

** Ser Barristan Selmy reminisces that Ashara was about the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen and the only person he would have even considered losing his knightly Kingsguard vows for. He regrets every day of his life not winning the Tourney at Harrenhal to crown her his Queen of Love and Beauty not only because of the mentioned aspects, but also because he reckons that Rhaegar would not have crowned Lyanna when he won and eventually precipitated the ordeal that led to Robert's Rebellion. Having passed years after the fact, Ser Barristan still pains not to have told her at the very least that he was in love with her.

* {{Foil}}: To Arya; his encounter with her makes her realize how violent and broken she's getting; while Edric, despite seeing a lot of bloodshed, still remains quite the NiceGuy, by rather direct contrast.

* {{Foil}}: He's what Oberyn Martell would be, if Oberyn were a lot more smug and a lot less competent.

* SkunkStripe: Inverted. He has silver hair with a black stripe.

* UnrequitedTragicMaiden: Invoked. Ashara was a great beauty from a noble family whose suicide got the rumormongers going, and one of the more long-lived in-universe theories is that she killed herself after a ill-fated dalliance with a Stark brother. They even get to Catelyn, Ned's eventual wife, who was so hurt by said rumors that she forbid mention of Ashara within Winterfell.

Edric's aunt and Arthur's sister, Ashara was a lady-in-waiting to Princess Elia at the time of Robert's Rebellion. She died by throwing herself out of the Palestone Sword tower near the end of it. There are several in-universe rumors claiming she was Jon Snow's mother.

* LadyInWaiting: To Princess Elia.

* RavenHairIvorySkin: Unlike the rest of her Valyrian-colored family.

* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Reputed to be this.

* AlliterativeFamily: The older generation seems to have this going on, as the three Dayne siblings all have names that start with "A": Arthur, Ashara, and Allyria. It's unknown if Edric's father adheres to this pattern.