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— ALIASES OF ICE AND FIRE | Arianne Martell -> The Queenmaker 👑☀️
“If the lords of the Seven Kingdoms grew accustomed to Queen Cersei's rule, it would be that much easier for them to bend their knees to Queen Myrcella.” — AFFC, The Queenmaker
I came back!!!
So, as a little present (And following the "female POVs in ASOIAF" series) I give you Arianne Martell "The Queenmaker" along with the sweetest Lannister, Myrcella Baratheon.
I can only say that I am looking forward for Arianne on TWOW.. (And hoping for a good and beautiful and long life for Myrcella... 😢).
Operation Stumpy Re-Read
AFFC: The Queenmaker (Arianne I) [Chapter 21]
She's arrived!
Beneath the burning sun of Dorne, wealth was measured as much in water as in gold, so every well was zealously guarded. The well at Shandystone had gone dry a hundred years before, however, and its guardians had departed for some wetter place, abandoning their modest holdfast with its fluted columns and triple arches. Afterward the sands had crept back in to reclaim their own.
I've seen people speculate that improving irrigation in parts of Dorne could feature in the kingdom's endgame, so I suppose we should keep an eye on that.
+.+.+
"My uncle brought me here, with Tyene and Sarella." The memory made Arianne smile. "He caught some vipers and showed Tyene the safest way to milk them for their venom. Sarella turned over rocks, brushed sand off the mosaics, and wanted to know everything there was to know about the people who had lived here."
Ahem.
The best snake sauce had a drop of venom in it, he had heard, along with mustard seeds and dragon peppers. Myrcella had taken to Dornish food as quick as she had to her Dornish prince - The Soiled Knight, AFFC
As far as I know, swallowing snake venom won't kill you, but who knows in The World of Ice and Fire.
+.+.+
"And what did you do, princess?" asked Spotted Sylva.
I sat beside the well and pretended that some robber knight had brought me here to have his way with me, she thought, a tall hard man with black eyes and a widow's peak. The memory made her uneasy. "I dreamed," she said, "and when the sun went down I sat cross-legged at my uncle's feet and begged him for a story."
Do you remember what Oberyn looks like?
Beneath, his face was lined and saturnine, with thin arched brows above large eyes as black and shiny as pools of coal oil. Only a few streaks of silver marred the lustrous black hair that receded from his brow in a widow's peak as sharply pointed as his nose. A salty Dornishmen for certain. - Tyrion V, ASOS
I'm not suggesting she's crushing on her uncle. I'm suggesting women who have positive relationships with father figures tend to be attracted to men who look and/or act like them.
+.+.+
"He told about Prince Garin, I remember, the one that I was named for."
"Garin the Great," offered Drey, "the wonder of the Rhoyne."
"That's the one. He made Valyria tremble."
"They trembled," said Ser Gerold, "then they killed him. If I led a quarter of a million men to death, would they call me Gerold the Great?" He snorted. "I shall remain Darkstar, I think. At least it is mine own."
Who is this ray of sunshine?
+.+.+
Arianne watched him warily. He is highborn enough to make a worthy consort, she thought. Father would question my good sense, but our children would be as beautiful as dragonlords. If there was a handsomer man in Dorne, she did not know him. Ser Gerold Dayne had an aquiline nose, high cheekbones, a strong jaw. He kept his face clean-shaven, but his thick hair fell to his collar like a silver glacier, divided by a streak of midnight black. He has a cruel mouth, though, and a crueler tongue. His eyes seemed black as he sat outlined against the dying sun, sharpening his steel, but she had looked at them from a closer vantage and she knew that they were purple. Dark purple. Dark and angry.
Unreliable narrator Arianne Martell.
I don't care if beauty is subjective, she has to be wrong. Darkstar is almost 30 and unmarried, I'm choosing to believe nobody wants him.
In other news, I find it interesting we're getting a detailed description of a member of House Dayne in this chapter. You'll see.
+.+.+
He must have felt her gaze upon him, for he looked up from his sword, met her eyes, and smiled. Arianne felt heat rushing to her face. I should never have brought him. If he gives me such a look when Arys is here, we will have blood on the sand. Whose, she could not say.
I think I know.
+.+.+
If the sailors could be believed, the east was seething with wonders and terrors: a slave revolt in Astapor, dragons in Qarth, grey plague in Yi Ti. A new corsair king had risen in the Basilisk Isles and raided Tall Trees Town, and in Qohor followers of the red priests had rioted and tried to burn down the Black Goat. "And the Golden Company broke its contract with Myr, just as the Myrmen were about to go to war with Lys."
A slave revolt in Astapor: Yes.
Dragons in Qarth: Yes. Two books ago, but yes.
Grey plague in Yi Ti: Incheresting. Preview? Yes.
A new corsair king had risen in the Basilisk Isles and raided Tall Trees Town: ???
Qohor followers of the red priests had rioted and tried to burn down the Black Goat: Faith Militant, High Sparrow preview?
Golden Company broke its contract with Myr: Yes. Aegon and Daenerys things.
What's the corsair king thing about?
+.+.+
Arianne knew better. If Quentyn has the Golden Company behind him . . . "Beneath the gold the bitter steel," was their cry. You will need bitter steel and more, brother, if you think to set me aside. Arianne was loved in Dorne, Quentyn little known. No company of sellswords could change that.
The implication is that she believes her own father will cut through Dorne with the Golden Company if the Dornish don't comply with his wishes. That's wild. I don't know how things manage to get this fractured.
+.+.+
Ser Gerold rose. "I believe I'll have a piss."
Taking the piss, are you?
+.+.+
"Watch where you set your feet," Drey cautioned. "It has been a while since Prince Oberyn milked the local vipers."
"I was weaned on venom, Dalt. Any viper takes a bite of me will rue it." Ser Gerold vanished through a broken arch.
+.+.+
Arianne left them to their banter. Drey and Spotted Sylva were her dearest friends, aside from her cousin Tyene, and Garin had been teasing her since both of them were drinking from his mother's teats, but just now she was in no mood for japery.
Wow, it's amazing how often I'm being told this!
I have never been as fearless as my cousins, for I was made with weaker seed, but Tyene and I are of an age and have been close as sisters since we were little girls. - The Soiled Knight, AFFC
x
Someone told, she thought. Someone told. Garin, Drey, and Spotted Sylva were friends of her girlhood, as dear to her as her cousin Tyene. - The Princess in the Tower, AFFC
x
Instead, she made herself think about the Sand Snakes, Tyene especially. Arianne loved all her bastard cousins, from prickly, hot-tempered Obara to little Loreza, the youngest, only six years old. Tyene had always been the one she loved the most, though; the sweet sister that she never had. - The Princess in the Tower, AFFC
x
She and Tyene had learned to read together, learned to ride together, learned to dance together. When they were ten Arianne had stolen a flagon of wine, and the two of them had gotten drunk together. They shared meals and beds and jewelry. - The Princess in the Tower, AFFC
So, Tyene is Arianne's favourite cousin and is good with poison. Is there anything else I need to know about her, author?
Tyene. Obara is too loud. Tyene is so sweet and gentle that no man will suspect her. - The Captain of the Guards, AFFC
Excellent, thanks.
+.+.+
She leaned her back against a fluted pillar and wondered if her brother was looking at the same stars tonight, wherever he might be. Do you see the white one, Quentyn? That is Nymeria's star, burning bright, and that milky band behind her, those are ten thousand ships. She burned as bright as any man, and so shall I. You will not rob me of my birthright!
We're back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Nymeria and ships!
+.+.+
My brother is not as clever as he thinks. A clever man would have left from Oldtown, even if it meant a longer voyage. In Oldtown he might have gone unrecognized.
Is this foreshadowing?
+.+.+
"How was your piss?" Arianne inquired archly.
"The sands were duly grateful." Dayne put a foot upon the head of a statue that might have been the Maiden till the sands had scoured her face away.
+.+.+
"It occurred to me as I was pissing that this plan of yours may not yield you what you want."
"And what is it I want, ser?"
"The Sand Snakes freed. Vengeance for Oberyn and Elia. Do I know the song? You want a little taste of lion blood."
That, and my birthright. I want Sunspear, and my father's seat. I want Dorne. "I want justice."
I hear you, I understand you, all I ask is that you use another word.
+.+.+
Ser Gerold drew his sword. It glimmered in the starlight, sharp as lies. "This is how you start a war. Not with a crown of gold, but with a blade of steel."
I am no murderer of children.
Lies, eh?
Red flags, Arianne.
+.+.+
"No, my lady. What I know is that Daynes have been killing Oakhearts for several thousand years."
His arrogance took her breath away. "It seems to me that Oakhearts have been killing Daynes for just as long."
"We all have our family traditions." Darkstar sheathed his sword.
One single sentence forced me to read the entire House Dayne wiki. I am not happy.
+.+.+
"My queen, I am your man." Garin dropped to both knees.
Confused, Myrcella clutched Arys Oakheart by the arm. "Why do they call me Grace?" she asked in a plaintive voice. "Ser Arys, what is this place, and who are they?"
[...]
"Princess Arianne?" The girl threw her arms around her. "Why do they call me queen? Did something bad happen to Tommen?"
"He fell in with evil men, Your Grace," Arianne said, "and I fear they have conspired with him to steal your throne."
Obviously I'm not a big fan of this plot, but I especially don't like how they're talking to her. I would be terrified for my brother if I was hearing this.
+.+.+
Ser Gerold went to one knee. The moonlight shone in his dark eyes as he studied the child coolly.
"There was an Arthur Dayne," Myrcella said. "He was a knight of the Kingsguard in the days of Mad King Aerys."
"He was the Sword of the Morning. He is dead."
"Are you the Sword of the Morning now?"
"No. Men call me Darkstar, and I am of the night."
+.+.+
Beneath his cloak, the knight wore a cloth-of-gold doublet embroidered with the three green oak leaves of his House. On his head was a light steel helm topped by a jagged spike, wound about with a yellow scarf in the Dornish fashion. He might have passed for any knight, but for the cloak. Of shimmering white silk it was, pale as moonlight and airy as a breeze. A Kingsguard cloak beyond all doubt, the gallant fool.
Back in white, ready to be a hero!
Even so, to wear his white cloak openly in the shadow city would be asking for attack. He had brought three with him: two of wool, one light and one heavy, the third of fine white silk. He felt naked without one hanging from his shoulders.
Better naked than dead, he told himself. I am a Kingsguard still, even uncloaked. - The Soiled Knight
+.+.+
That was a shock. "Dead?"
"Murdered by the Imp. The queen has assumed the regency."
"Has she?" A woman on the Iron Throne? Arianne thought about that for a moment and decided it was all to the good. If the lords of the Seven Kingdoms grew accustomed to Queen Cersei's rule, it would be that much easier for them to bend their knees to Queen Myrcella.
I wouldn't count on that happening.
+.+.+
"Good," she said. "And the handmaid? Is she convincing?"
"From a distance. The Imp picked her for this purpose, over many girls of nobler birth. Myrcella helped her curl her hair, and painted the dots on her face herself. They are distant kin. Lannisport teems with Lannys, Lannetts, Lantells, and lesser Lannisters, and half of them have that yellow hair. Dressed in Myrcella's bedrobe with the maester's salve smeared across her face . . . she might even have fooled me, in a dim light.
Is the author suggesting the Pisswater Prince was Aegon's distant kin?
+.+.+
The moon had crowned the Moonmaid as they set out from the dust-dry ruins of Shandystone, striking south and west.
Isn't the sun doing that? Ha!
+.+.+
Nymeria's blood is in me, along with that of Mors Martell, the Dornish lord she married. On the day they wed, Nymeria fired her ships, so her people would understand that there could be no going back. Most were glad to see those flames, for their voyagings had been long and terrible before they came to Dorne, and many and more had been lost to storm, disease, and slavery. There were a few who mourned, however. They did not love this dry red land or its seven-faced god, so they clung to their old ways, hammered boats together from the hulks of the burned ships, and became the orphans of the Greenblood. The Mother in their songs is not our Mother, but Mother Rhoyne, whose waters nourished them from the dawn of days.
Please enjoy this Dornish history.
And also more Nymeria with her ships.
+.+.+
"I'd heard the Rhoynar had some turtle god," said Ser Arys.
"The Old Man of the River is a lesser god," said Garin. "He was born from Mother River too, and fought the Crab King to win dominion over all who dwell beneath the flowing waters."
These gods and their petty feuds with one another.
+.+.+
"I understand you've fought some mighty battles too, Your Grace," said Drey in his most cheerful voice. "It is said you show our brave Prince Trystane no mercy at the cyvasse table."
"He always sets his squares up the same way, with all the mountains in the front and his elephants in the passes," said Myrcella. "So I send my dragon through to eat his elephants."
Let's hope the Golden Company have better military tactics than Trystane Martell.
+.+.+
"Rosamund?" asked Myrcella. "No. I tried to teach her, but she said the rules were too hard."
"She is a Lannister as well?" said Lady Sylva.
"A Lannister of Lannisport, not a Lannister of Casterly Rock. Her hair is the same color as mine, but straight instead of curly. Rosamund doesn't truly favor me, but when she dresses up in my clothes people who don't know us think she's me."
He repeated it.
+.+.+
"Oh, yes. We traded places on the Seaswift, on the way to Braavos. Septa Eglantine put brown dye in my hair. She said we were doing it as a game, but it was meant to keep me safe in case the ship was taken by my uncle Stannis."
Shoutout to Alayne and Young Griff.
+.+.+
Arianne had hoped to reach the river before the sun came up, but they had started much later than she'd planned, so they were still in the saddle when the eastern sky turned red. Darkstar cantered up beside her. "Princess," he said, "I'd set a faster pace, unless you mean to kill the child after all. We have no tents, and by day the sands are cruel."
Is there ulterior motive here? I'm coming up with nothing.
+.+.+
"I know why my princess wears a veil," Ser Arys said as she was fastening it to the temples of her copper helm. "Elsewise her beauty would outshine the sun above."
She had to laugh. "No, your princess wears a veil to keep the glare out of her eyes and the sand out of her mouth. You should do the same, ser." She wondered how long her white knight had been polishing his ponderous gallantry. Ser Arys was pleasant company abed, but wit and he were strangers.
Pretty much exactly how I would react.
+.+.+
In centuries past, many a host had come down from the Prince's Pass with banners streaming, only to wither and broil on the hot red Dornish sands. "The arms of House Martell display the sun and spear, the Dornishman's two favored weapons," the Young Dragon had once written in his boastful Conquest of Dorne, "but of the two, the sun is the more deadly."
Kind of sounds like Doran (sun) and Oberyn (spear).
+.+.+
They stopped to water the horses again, drank deep from their skins and wet their veils, then mounted for the last push. Within half a league they were riding over devilgrass and past olive groves. Beyond a line of stony hills the grass grew greener and more lush, and there were lemon orchards watered by a spider's web of old canals. Garin was the first to spy the river glimmering green. He gave a shout and raced ahead.
Arianne Martell had crossed the Mander once, when she had gone with three of the Sand Snakes to visit Tyene's mother. Compared to that mighty waterway, the Greenblood was scarce worthy of the name of river, yet it remained the life of Dorne.
This is a stupid idea:
In 270 AC, during a visit to Sunspear, he [Aerys II] told the Princess of Dorne that he would "make the Dornish deserts bloom" by digging a great underground canal beneath the mountains to bring water down from the rainwood. - The World of Ice and Fire
But I could see further development of this:
Most of the First Men who chose to remain in Dorne, instead of wandering north in search of sweeter lands, settled close to the banks of the Greenblood, digging canals and ditches to bring its life-giving waters to the trees and crops they planted. - The World of Ice and Fire
Don't ask me why I've suddenly become invested in this.
+.+.+
Arianne saw no orphans. Where is her crew? she wondered.
Garin reined up beneath the willow. "Wake up, you fish-eyed lagabeds," he called as he leapt down from the saddle. "Your queen is here, and wants her royal welcome. Come up, come out, we'll have some songs and sweetwine. My mouth is set for—"
The door on the poleboat slammed open. Out into the sunlight stepped Areo Hotah, longaxe in hand.
+.+.+
Hotah thumped the butt of his longaxe upon the deck. Behind the ornate rails of the poleboat, a dozen guardsmen rose, armed with throwing spears or crossbows. Still more appeared atop the cabin. "Yield, my princess," the captain called, "else we must slay all but the child and yourself, by your father's word."
Princess Myrcella sat motionless upon her mount. Garin backed slowly from the poleboat, his hands in the air. Drey unbuckled his swordbelt. "Yielding seems the wisest course," he called to Arianne, as his sword thumped to the ground.
Thank god, cooler heads are prevailing.
+.+.+
"No!" Ser Arys Oakheart put his horse between Arianne and the crossbows, his blade shining silver in his hand. He had unslung his shield and slipped his left arm through the straps. "You will not take her whilst I still draw breath."
[...]
Ser Arys Oakheart gave her one last longing look, then put his golden spurs into his horse and charged.
. . .
+.+.+
Arianne Martell had never seen anything half so gallant, or half so stupid. "Noooo," she shrieked, but she had found her tongue too late. A crossbow thrummed, then another. Hotah bellowed a command. At such close range, the white knight's armor had as well been made of parchment. The first bolt punched right through his heavy oaken shield, pinning it to his shoulder. The second grazed his temple. A thrown spear took Ser Arys's mount in the flank, yet still the horse came on, staggering as he hit the gangplank. "No," some girl was shouting, some foolish little girl, "no, please, this was not supposed to happen." She could hear Myrcella shrieking too, her voice shrill with fear.
[...]
He even managed to keep hold of his sword. He struggled to his knees beside his dying horse . . .
. . . and found Areo Hotah standing over him.
The white knight raised his blade, too slowly. Hotah's longaxe took his right arm off at the shoulder, spun away spraying blood, and came flashing back again in a terrible two-handed slash that removed the head of Arys Oakheart and sent it spinning through the air. It landed amongst the reeds, and the Greenblood swallowed the red with a soft splash.
Arys Oakheart was courteous, and would talk to her cordially. Once he even objected when Joffrey commanded him to hit her. He did hit her in the end, but not hard as Ser Meryn or Ser Boros might have, and at least he had argued. - Sansa I, ACOK
In all fairness to Arys Oakheart (ew), hearing all those stories of disgraced Kingsguard probably influenced his decision-making here.
+.+.+
Arianne did not remember climbing from her horse. Perhaps she'd fallen. She did not remember that either. Yet she found herself on her hands and feet in the sand, shaking and sobbing and retching up her supper. No, was all that she could think, no, no one was to be hurt, it was all planned, I was so careful.
Hang on! It's not over yet.
+.+.+
She heard Areo Hotah roar, "After him. He must not escape. After him!" Myrcella was on the ground, wailing, shaking, her pale face in her hands, blood streaming through her fingers. Arianne did not understand. Men were scrambling onto horses whilst others swarmed over her and her companions, but none of it made sense. She had fallen into a dream, some terrible red nightmare. This cannot be real. I will wake soon, and laugh at my night terrors.
There goes the Maiden's face. . . I'm sorry.
The good news is, I don't think George is going to be merciful when it comes to Darkstar.
+.+.+
"The prince said I must bring you back to Sunspear," he announced. His cheeks and brow were freckled with the blood of Arys Oakheart. "I am sorry, little princess."
Arianne raised a tear-streaked face. "How could he know?" she asked the captain. "I was so careful. How could he know?"
"Someone told." Hotah shrugged. "Someone always tells."
Knowing Doran Martell we'll never be told how he found out.
"I am three-and-twenty, for seven years a woman grown."
"I know. If I kept you ignorant too long, it was only to protect you. Arianne, your nature . . . to you, a secret was only a choice tale to whisper to Garin and Tyene in your bed of a night. Garin gossips as only the orphans can, and Tyene keeps nothing from Obara and the Lady Nym. And if they knew . . . Obara is too fond of wine, and Nym is too close to the Fowler twins. And who might the Fowler twins confide in? I could not take the risk." - The Princess in the Tower, AFFC
Final thoughts:
I know what's happening, and I still find the last few pages of this chapter difficult to follow.
-> return to menu <-
ARIANNE MARTELL APPRECIATION WEEK 2022
Day 4- The Queenmaker/ The Princess in the Tower
The moon had crowned the Moonmaid as they set out from the dust-dry ruins of Shandystone, striking south and west. Arianne and Ser Arys took the lead, with Myrcella on a frisky mare between them. Garin followed close behind with Spotted Sylva, whilst her two Dornish knights took the rear. We are seven, Arianne realized as they rode. She had not thought of that before, but it seemed a good omen for their cause. Seven riders on their way to glory. One day the singers will make all of us immortal. Drey had wanted a larger party, but that might have attracted unwelcome attention, and every additional man doubled the risk of betrayal. That much my father taught me, at the least. Even when he was younger and stronger, Doran Martell had been a cautious man much given to silences and secrets. It is time he put his burdens down, but I will suffer no slights to his honor or his person. She would return him to his Water Gardens, to live out what years remained him surrounded by laughing children and the smell of limes and oranges. Yes, and Quentyn can keep him company. Once I crown Myrcella and free the Sand Snakes, all Dorne will rally to my banners. The Yronwoods might declare for Quentyn, but alone they were no threat. If they went over to Tommen and the Lannisters, she would have Darkstar destroy them root and branch.
AFFC, The Queenmaker
What you meant does not matter, little princess," Areo Hotah said. "Only what you did." His countenance was stony. "I am sorry. It is for my prince to command, for Hotah to obey."
Arianne expected to be brought before her father's high seat beneath the dome of leaded glass in the Tower of the Sun. Instead, Hotah delivered her to the Spear Tower, and the custody of her father's seneschal Ricasso and Ser Manfrey Martell, the castellan. "Princess," Ricasso said, "you will forgive an old blind man if he does not make the climb with you. These legs are not equal to so many steps. A chamber has been prepared for you. Ser Manfrey shall escort you there, to await the prince's pleasure."
"The prince's displeasure, you mean. Will my friends be confined here as well?" Arianne had been parted from Garin, Drey, and the others after capture, and Hotah had refused to say what would be done with them. "That is for the prince to decide," was all the captain had to say upon the subject. Ser Manfrey proved a bit more forthcoming. "They were taken to the Planky Town and will be conveyed by ship to Ghaston Grey, until such time as Prince Doran decides their fate."
AFFC, The Princess in the Tower
My name is Gerold Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way and I'm so extra
That is Nymeria's star, burning bright, and that milky band behind her, those are ten thousand ships. She burned as bright as any man, and so shall I. You will not rob me of my birthright!
5/? - ladies of ice and fire
Why does Gerold Dayne remind me of some 13-year-old’s edgy deviantart oc?
Dreams of Robber Knights
“My uncle Oberyn brought me here, with Tyene and Sarella.’ The memory made Arianne smile. ‘He caught some vipers and showed Tyene the safest way to milk them for their venom. Sarella turned over rocks, brushed sand off the mosaics, and wanted to know everything there was to know about the people who had lived here.’
'And what did you do, princess?’ asked Spotted Sylvia.
I sat beside the well and pretended that some robber knight had brought me here to have his way with me, she thought, a tall hard man with black eyes and a widow’s peak.”
A Feast for Crows Chapter 21 (The Queenmaker).
Arianne Martell’s memory mixed with her fantasy of a knight who bears a strong resemblance with Oberyn.
