independent & private lady jena of house dondarrion from george r. r martin’s a world of ice and fire. set in the world of the books but tentatively open to the possibility of a show verse depending on my own personal reception to it. loved by kore ( she / they, 21+) this blog is a side to @amongvipers. i can also be found on @aprincesstoo and @realmsdelite . due to the nature of the world in which jena lives triggering themes will be presented, including but not limited to: mentions of violence, general misogyny, pregnancy, infant death, stillbirth and childbirth.
a study in: the deconstruction of the lost lenore, the sudden rise to political prominence, a journey in motherhood, the exploration of the role of princess consort.
character portrayal notes below the cut:
jena dondarrion was born on february 24th, 170AC, as the youngest child and the last surviving daughter of lord leslyn dondarrion and his lady wife, lady alynne dondarrion nee morrigen. a surprise child, she was born when her mother was nine and thirty, and her older siblings were one and twenty and seven and ten. an older brother, lorent who was born in 149AC, and an older sister that was named rosalei who was born in 153AC, her older brother lorent was killed by a sudden illness in the year 169AC, a year before she was born, and her older sister rosalei died in 184AC, in a wheelhouse accident. she is an extrovert, she is kind, open, very engaging, very warm. she tries to move about the world with a bit of a pragmatic mindset in the sense that she likes having her day planned to the point there is no surprises and she knows when she can pause and when she can stop to take a break. though breaks for her usually involve doing something, because she is very much an exceedingly restless individual - as much as she does try to conceal that from the court and realm at large, it seeps through in the little things. the consistent, nervous fidgeting that she does in the privacy of her and baelor's chambers.
house dondarrion had fallen very far out of favor with their liege lord, which is the house baratheon, as a result of their association with house cole, subsequently, as well, the kingmaker himself. lands and coin were stripped from them as a result in the years that followed the dance of dragons. though they are an old house, and proud, they are considered smaller and less great then the other marcher houses as a result of their very public dishonor in recent years. this was of course, until her father lord leslyn sheltered prince aemon the dragonknight and baelor the first on their way back from dorne when they returned via the boneway. though there was a swearing by the king that they had been restored to royal favor, there was also a promise of royal reward by prince aemon that had never came, which would, over a decade later - when it came time to chose the bride for king daeron the good's eldest son.
she had ? honestly imagined that she would wed the second son of a notable stormland house. perhaps the first son, but she wanted to keep her expectations realistic, not quite so low, but well within reach enough so that she would not be disappointed by her father's choice of groom. jena did not necessarily really want a prominent match as much as she wanted a respectable one. she wanted security and stability in a partner, and she wanted kindness and honor and nobility, and ? decency, and she didn't really care about the title that her partner had as long as they were a good man. but this ? westeros, and it is not her choice. and she was resolved that whatever partner that her lord father would pick for her she would embrace as best she could, and she was determined that no matter who it was, she would try her best to make that house a home. she would try her best to make the best of it, because there was no controlling it, there was no way that she could make him choose better or worse for her then whoever he ended up going with. she would not be swayed whatever way the wind turned, jena would remain steadfast, and focused, aiming all of her energies toward that end.
she was ? nervous whenever she was told that she would wed the future king. she knew of the targaryens as a whole, who were often ? said to be impulsive and more then a little temperamental she knew of baelor's namesake, but she knew little of prince baelor in comparison beyond some feats in tourneys that he had participated in as a squire. she did not make assumptions as to the sort of man her husband to be was, but she could not help but attempting to paint a picture, and the uncertainty of the sort of man that came to mind as a result was ? she was far more restless then usual when they met for the first time. she just ? she didn't know who she could ask to know what sort of man he was, but all she wanted to know was whether or no he was a good man.
but she did grow to love baelor. she loved him within the year she knew him. he was pretty much everything she had ever imagined for herself in a partner. he was kind, brave, dedicated, intelligent, chivalrous, honest, fair. he was good, and she admired that, before she grew to do more then merely care for him. it has next to nothing to do with the crown for her personally, not anymore, though it is ? it is a part of him, and she's accepted that, it is something she looks forward to in her future because it is a symbollic of the fact that they are going to have that future together. she would accept him just as well without the crown, though, the initial dual purpose of their marriage was very much political, it was both to strengthen the alliances of the other marcher lords to the iron throne, as well as fullfillment of a promise long ago sworn at last. there is a lot of expectance upon her shoulders as a result of their union, there is a lot riding on their marriage proving ' successful' , which, the implications of what that means within the confines of their society was essentially sire a healthy son, which, made her very, very worried when she found out she was pregnant with valarr, and then, matarys. it was her duty to the realm, and to the crown, and to her husband in the providing him with a ' true' successor as well, and she was terrified of failure. she knew how important it was that baelor have a ' legitimate' successor. ie. a trueborn boy.
ser manfred dondarrion is the son of her father's younger brother, simon, who had warded with them since he was six years old, in 178AC. jena and manfred grew up as essentially siblings, though they were cousins in truth, and they had treated each other as such ever since, frustrating though jena often found him at times, there is a not small level of fondness there for her. though the two of them do end up clashing during the tourney of ashford meadow in 209AC over his treatment of the hedge knight ser duncan the tall in her survival au. his father, succeeded hers as lord of blackhaven when her father passed in 189AC from health complications, and subsequently ser manfred became it's heir.
her mother alynne dondarrion is still alive, and currently ? lives at crow's nest castle, where she has lived since the death of her lord father in 189AC. jena had offerred her a place in the red keep which her mother had denied, though she had promised that she would visit often, and write, which the two of them do even still at least weekly - she had claimed that she had wanted to live out the rest of her life in peace, away from the chaos of politics.
jena loves nothing more then being a mother. she was surprised, honestly, over how much she loved it. like, it was an avenue of which she learned to slow down and appreciate the little things. she carried both valarr and matarys everywhere with her after they were born, she rarely ever left them with a nurse unless it was absolutely necessary. she woke up with them at nights, she fed them herself, she dressed them herself, she did everything for them because she did not want to adhere to the seeming standard which was royalty not having such a direct hand in raising their children. she wanted them to be bound by love, not by a sense of duty, or expectation to family.
her sister rosalei had two kids before she was killed with her lord husband, ser gunthor estermont, the heir, at the time, to greenstone, a girl and boy, a set of twins by the names of cassandra and lomas estermont ( born 171AC )
