♛ HELENA SERRETT
↳ details; female, 25, born in the eighth month of 481AC. ↳ status; asexual, estranged from her husband lord myles serrett, childless. ↳ faceclaim; jessica brown findlay. ↳ hails from; highgarden, the reach. ↳ loyalty; feigned loyalty to house lannister for the entirety of her marriage, until hearing of the midsummer attack in sunspear and knowing she would no longer hide her loyalty to house tyrell and her family.
↳ position/title; lady serrett of silverhill, former princess of the reach. ↳ religion; faith of the seven. ↳ spoken languages; common tongue. ↳ reason for being in sunspear; formally to make her loyalty to her family aware on the political stage by being by their side during the peace summit, however also because she did not want to return to an empty highgarden. her brothers are yet to know of what has occurred in her marriage until she presents herself in sunspear. she is also seeking to get to know her brothers once again, wanting to begin again; especially now her brother is engaged.
♛ PERSONALITY
↳ type; isfj-a (the defender). ↳ alignment; lawful good. ↳ star sign; virgo. ↳ positives; intelligent, analytical, empathetic, daring, brave. ↳ negatives; unruly, outspoken, high-strung, over-thinker, critical.
♛ BIOGRAPHY
↳ family lineage.
Born in the eighth month of 481AC, Helena Tyrell was the most traumatic birth of all three times Lady Ensley brought a child into the world. It was an uncharacteristically humid August that year, and Ensley had definitely suffered for the entirety of it, being heavily pregnant with her third child. After two days of pain and impassioned prayers for the baby to turn from being breach throughout the castle of Highgarden, Helena was finally born just as her father Rylic had decided to go hunting with his men, tired of waiting for his wife to birth a child that was no doubt beyond any midwives help at this point. Surprisingly Helena, as her mother named her alone that Summer’s afternoon, was born with a strong set of lungs and completely healthy; in that moment there became the two pearls of Highgarden, a daughter Ensley had so wished for. Her relationship with her mother was the polar opposite of that with her father; two extremes, one could say. On one hand, Rylic Tyrell was disappointed in having a daughter; a waste of time and money when considering the dowry that would have to be included in her marriage. Whilst he was not cruel to his only daughter, he certainly paid her very little attention in comparison to the eye he seemed to keep on his sons. On the other hand, Helena’s relationship with her mother was one of complete dependence; often finding each other attached by the hip as Helena grew into the mirror image of her mother - graceful, poised and elegant.
Ensley tried her hardest to ensure her husband’s indifference toward his daughter did not sting as much as it could have, purposefully going out of her way to ensure her daughter had a personal companion in her mother. After much pleading, Ensley and Helena spent three months as guests of House Hightower in Oldtown, solely for the purpose that Helena may study whatever sparked her interest, from philosophy to arithmetic in the Citadel itself. Whilst they had insisted on Emeric and Cedric joining them, Rylic had insisted that his sons must remain under his eyes and his eyes only. Eventually, whilst Helena was a well-rounded student in the majority of her studied subjects, her passion ended up being for painting. The girl was encouraged by her mother, accompanying her to varying landscapes and helping her paint until she was able to do so on her own. Whilst the pair of them were beyond the walls of Highgarden, where the walls had ears, Ensley would quietly talk to her daughter about how important it was to always ensure her voice was heard by her husband, lest she loose yourself in who they wanted her to be. It puzzled the young girl at first, as her mother was entirely meek and obedient in the face of her father’s stern instructions regarding the upbringing of his children however that soon changed with time and maturity. Helena began to understand her mother meant best for her and her sons, and simply tried to do what could in whatever time she had where she was certain she was not being watched or listened to. Helena needed to be her voice when she was unable to be, in ensuring the protection of her family, especially Emeric as their heir, who seemed to become quieter and quieter as each day passed. Helena was envious of her brother Cedric’s ability to take care of himself as the golden boy, often leaving the family home for weeks at a time for the sake of keeping up relations with the other Houses of the Reach, whilst in a heated exchange he angrily admitted to her that his distance was the direct result of their home no longer being a home - the sooner she realised, the better. As political intrigue and death seemed to take over Highgarden, with uncles and cousins dropping to their untimely end, Helena found the perfect balance that suited her; spending more time in the rolling hills of the Reach with her mother, and finding the correct midpoint between Emeric’s determination to serve his family and Cedric’s ability to mentally distance himself from the strain.
Whilst Highgarden’s daughter was a fast learner, far more attentive than her eldest brother who seemed to always have a far away look in his eye and far more obedient than her middle brother who would rather argue the extent of usefulness of specific arithmetic in a tree, there was one lesson that Helena could not seem to wrap her mind around; the matter of chivalry and courtly love. Her mother tried to explain how the culture had stemmed from the Reach itself, through one of Garth Greenhand’s sons John the Oak. Whilst Helena understood the history and the social context behind her mother’s lessons, she failed to see the attraction in any matters of courtly desire and flirtation. Whilst many other noble girls of the Reach whispered of their future husbands, of tourneys and being the Queen of love and beauty, Helena found herself feeling as though something inside her must be missing. As Helena grew into womanhood, she found no interest in the tales women shared of their wedding nights and of lust, or even whispers of women that found comfort in eachother. Even when Rylic Tyrell arranged a match for her marriage to Myles Serrett, son of Lord Ossifer Serrett of Silverhill, Helena distinctly felt no attraction or lust toward the man.
After the strange sudden wrapped deaths of her parents, Helena obediently married into House Serrett and left behind her family home of Highgarden for that of Silverhill in the Westerlands. She remembered bitterly thinking on how her mother had not wanted her to marry beyond the hills of the Reach, for fear of being too far from home. She personally found the Serretts to be foolishly arrogant and ambitious people, though kept her thoughts to herself. Her husband treated her well, in some ways Helena thought perhaps too well as the man failed to understand his wife was not the least bit interested in doing her wifely duties. She often slept in her own bedchambers at Silverhill, and when Myles would visit to attempt to start their family, Helena found herself feigning sleep, sickness or her monthly bleed. Luckily for her, Myles was meek enough to accept her excuses with a little grumbling but no serious consequences. He was lucky to sleep with his wife at least once a month when she knew she could no longer avoid her duties, though this was only done with the secret protection of moon tea a trusted maid servant she had brought with her from Highgarden attained for her from the apothecary. As a result of Helena’s secret intake of moontea, as well as quietly starting rumours of her own husband’s impotence among her ladies, she has been planting the seeds of her husband’s inability to do his duty as a man. The woman spent much time frequently accompanying her husband and his family in visiting the Lannister’s of Casterly Rock and their cousins of Lannisport.
After hearing the striking news of the sister in law’s death, Helena found herself quietly growing more and more resentful toward her husband’s lion masters. Her brother had become a widow three year after marriage, and knowing Emeric, he was too broken to contemplate letting another woman come close enough to him to legitimately provide an heir for Highgarden - at least for a long time. That left her middle brother Cedric to do the job of providing an heir for the sake of duty, the same brother that had been the best at distancing himself from the burden and could put himself first with such ease. She remained with the Serretts when her brother declared for the independence of the Reach, quietly feigning loyalty to her husband and his family and by proxy, the Lannister King. She would write to her brothers, informing them of what little she had managed to overhear around Silverhill - the nobles of the Westerlands had only been more suspicious of the Traitor King’s sister, though she remained emotionally collected enough to understand and dismiss their stern eyes. Her act continued until news spread to Silverhill of an attack at the Dornish Midsummer Ball, an attack in which all had been targeted by an unseen foe. There had been some confusion in the reports, no doubt due to the distance, about the severity of the injuries that had befallen on her family, with some even whispering of their deaths. With life being increasingly sacred during these troubling times, Helena knew she could no longer stand to allow herself to hear people speak ill of her family, regardless of how distant they had become or how badly her reputation would be impacted. She laid with her husband that night, solely to have access to his seal once he fell asleep after a night of heavy wine infected with the milk of the poppy to help him sleep deeper and longer than he usually did. Feigning a letter from Myles himself ordering his guards to accompany her to Sunspear with ultimate haste with the help of his seal, she scrawled a letter left upon her husband’s desk explaining her regret for how she treated him and what she had resigned herself to do. Arranging for a chest of clothes to be packed into a carriage from her private chambers, she knew once the carriage crossed the boarders into the Reach she was free from any orders her husband could issue his guards upon awaking in the morning. She would be home eventually, but Dorne called first.
↳ personality.
Of all three of Highgarden’s children, Helena has always been the most emotionally mature of the trio. Whilst Emeric wallows in his pain and Cedric remains in denial, Helena spent time and energy in conserving her wellbeing after their twisted deaths and the smallest of suspicions it had brought up in her gut regarding her extent her eldest brother had been willing to go in order to secure their wellbeing. By channeling all her feelings of confusion, fear and hurt into her love of painting, often getting through multiple canvases a day in the first months after the joint funeral, Helena began to strengthen her resolve and see her healing manifest physically. Her paintings had been full of dark tones at first and often depressing in content, before slowly lightening with time and including streaks of greens, yellows and purples. She is not one to let her emotions get the better of her, though that does not paint her in a cold fashion but rather in a reasonable one. She believes one must always bide their time and do what is needed at the correct time, and is well aware of the consequences that befall her reputation for estranging herself from her husband. She is always open to listening to the problems of others, willing to either hold their hand and listen to them rant about their issues as someone to listen or give them advice for how they could possibly overcome the burden. Her treatment of her husband especially shows a darker streak in Helena that consists mainly of being sneaky and manipulative, though this comes down her independent nature and her refusal to put herself through something she knows she would not enjoy nor want for the sake of a man. She had not leaned on her brothers or her father growing up for support, and whilst her mother had been her guardian angel she was soon dead long before her time, leaving Helena to embark on the turbulent waves of marriage with no female companion to help her.
↳ the splitting of the kingdoms.
Helena was not intending on making herself present at the Dornish peace summit, as her husband Myles Serett, son of Lord Ossifer Serrett, much preferred to keep himself from the drama and scandals of the many courts within Westeros and insisted on his wife remaining within the safe cage of Silverhill by his side. She knew better than to exchange letters regarding the peace summit with her brothers despite her desperation to be involved and help in some way, for fear of their letters being intercepted by the Serretts and the details of the Reach’s trade and numbers of the Redwyne fleet be discovered by the Lannisters earlier than counted on. Helena only fled to Sunspear once hearing of the attack that had befallen all the celebrators at the Midsummer Ball, knowing she would be safe riding within the boundaries of the Reach and doubted the Martell guards of Dorne would intercept her due to the very different culture in Dorne - it was not particularly strange to see a woman travelling alone.
♛ STATUS: TAKEN.