#cletus yronwood

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

in asoiaf, what is the order of succession for nobles and for the throne (as i’ve read they are different)?

They are indeed different. In most of Westeros, they use traditional Andal succession, known in our world as male-preference primogeniture. This puts women at the back of the line, so to speak, but does not exclude them. A lord's eldest son inherits, even if he has older daughters, followed by the remainder of his sons by age, and then his daughters, and then would move up to the previous generations with his brothers and then his sisters. "A daughter comes before an uncle," as they say. For example, with the Starks, Ned's succession is Robb-Bran-Rickon-Sansa-Arya. (Benjen is excluded for being a man of the Night's Watch; Jon is excluded by being a bastard and a man of the Night's Watch. But of course there's complications.) This succession also includes the heirs of the heirs, so for example Hoster Tully's succession is Edmure-Catelyn-Robb-Bran-Rickon-Sansa-Arya-Lysa-Robert-Brynden.

Note there are exceptions to this, even after King Jaehaerys I Targaryen codified the laws across Westeros. Sometimes these exceptions appear to be cultural. For example, somehow House Stark has never had a ruling lady in all its reported 8000 years of existence, and the time we know they should have, Cregan Stark's eldest (and late lamented) son Rickon's eldest daughter Sansa was (forcefully?) married to Cregan's eldest son from his third marriage, her half-uncle Jonnel, who became the lord instead. Another example - after Balon Greyjoy dies, a maester insists that "By rights the Seastone Chair belongs to Theon, or Asha if the prince is dead. That is the law", and Aeron Greyjoy dismisses it contemptuously as "green land law", and thinks the Iron Islands will never follow a woman.

Sometimes these exceptions appear to be just plain misogyny - like when Big and Little Walder Frey discuss the succession of the Twins, they don't count the women in the line. Mind you the Walders are children and may not know true details; but time will tell if Edwyn's daughter Walda will inherit or if her uncle Black Walder will seize the Twins. (Probably the latter.) Of course little Walda also has the problem of being a child heiress, but child heiresses have become ruling ladies before -- like Jeyne Arryn, whose inheritance was contested multiple times by her male cousins -- or like Cerelle Lannister, who inherited at the age of 3 and ruled for a year before dying suddenly and her uncle Gerold became lord. Um. It's hard out there for a girl. 😭

And in Dorne, they use a different form of succession entirely -- Rhoynar tradition, what we call absolute primogeniture. Much simpler, there the eldest child inherits regardless of sex. So Doran's heirs are Arianne-Quentyn-Trystane-{Elia}-{Rhaenys}-{Aegon}-Oberyn. Of course, Dorne has its own exceptions: per GRRM, a few houses in the mountains, least affected by the Rhoynar, may sometimes follow Andal tradition instead, which is likely the reason why Cletus Yronwood was considered the heir instead of his older sister Ynys. (Mind you, Cletus is dead now, and Anders Yronwood only has daughters left, so sucks to be a man compared to Criston Cole, doesn't it?) And Arianne was worried that Doran was going to have Quentyn inherit instead of her, but she didn't know that Doran was actually planning to make her queen of Westeros, which would take her out of the Sunspear succession (in the same way that Myriah Martell married Daeron II Targaryen and her younger brother Maron became Prince of Dorne).

Now. The Targaryen succession to the throne is a different matter. For them, they've had the competing issues of tradition, king's choice, sexist lords voting sexism, even more tradition, and politics. (Sooo much politics.) Putting the rest of this behind a cut because it was already a long post but it got longer:

From the start, as far as we know the pre-Conquest Targaryens in Westeros used traditional Andal succession. (It's unknown how succession was handled in Valyria, or if there was a difference between the dragonrider families and any others.) There is a brief mention that Aenar the Exile's grandchildren, Aegon and Elaena, ruled together, but every other Lord of Dragonstone was indeed a lord, and hardly any daughters are even referred to. By the time we get to the Conquest trio, we know that Visenya was the eldest child, and yet her younger brother Aegon was Lord of Dragonstone. And later, Aegon was the king, with his sister-wives as his queens (though unlike later queens, they sat the Iron Throne and handled day-to-day governance of the realm).

The first time we see an issue with this succession tradition was when King Aenys died and his half-brother Maegor usurped (and later killed) Aenys's eldest son Aegon. By Andal tradition, Aegon and his sister-wife Rhaena's eldest daughter Aerea should have succeeded after Maegor died (he considered her his heir until he had children of his own), but instead Aegon's younger brother Jaehaerys became king. Political issues there: Jaehaerys actually successfully contested Maegor's rule, he was a strong teen boy with a sword and a dragon where Aerea was a girl of six who'd been in hiding most of her life, her mother Rhaena had been forcefully married to Maegor and had few supporters, Aerea had been named heir by Maegor specifically to cut out Jaehaerys, etc. Though note Aerea was considered Jaehaerys's heir... until he had children of his own. And as for Rhaena (Aenys's eldest child), she never actually vied for the throne after Maegor's death, but later in her life she bitterly told Jaehaerys "you have my throne, content yourself with that."

As for Jaehaerys and his children, from the start there were problems, when Queen Alysanne expected their eldest child Daenerys to be queen one day (why Alysanne expected the throne to follow absolute primogeniture at this point is unknown), and Jae was like, sure, our second child Aemon will be king and she'll be his wife! But Daenerys died as a child, and as for Aemon, he died too, albeit as a father of a grown daughter with a child of her own on the way. And there you have Jae sexism part 2, instead of naming Rhaenys as his heir, he instead named his second living son, Baelon, as his heir. So here's the precedent where the throne deliberately denied Andal succession tradition, and instead went with king's choice.

Then 9 years after Aemon's death, Baelon also died, and Jaehaerys held the Great Council of 101 AC, for all the lords of Westeros to decide between all of Jaehaerys's potential heirs. In the end, the final choice was between Aemon's daughter Rhaenys's son Laenor (Rhaenys herself was also in competition, though her claim was dismissed early) and Baelon's son Viserys. By a large percentage, the lords chose Viserys. According to maesters,

In the eyes of many, the Great Council of 101 AC thereby established an iron precedent on matters of succession: regardless of seniority, the Iron Throne of Westeros could not pass to a woman, nor through a woman to her male descendants.

This female-exclusive tradition is known in our world as agnatic primogeniture, or Salic law. However, this "iron precedent" was not that iron even from the beginning. Viserys and his wife Aemma only had one living child, Rhaenyra, so Viserys's brother Daemon was considered his heir until a son was born. And, well, if you've seen the first episode of HOTD you know what happened, because of Daemon's fuckup Viserys deliberately dismissed him, "disregarding the precedents set by [...] the Great Council in 101", but used the precedent of king's choice to name Rhaenyra as his heir and make all the lord of Westeros vow to obey that decision. Again, you've seen what happened next -- Viserys then remarried and had sons, whose grandfather used the Andal tradition to try to make Viserys name as heirs, but he refused to bypass Rhaenyra. In the end, though, when the Green Council formed after Viserys's death,

Ser Tyland pointed out that many of the lords who had sworn to defend the succession of Princess Rhaenyra were long dead. “It has been twenty-four years,” he said. “I myself swore no such oath. I was a child at the time.” Ironrod, the master of laws, cited the Great Council of 101 and the Old King’s choice of Baelon rather than Rhaenys in 92, then discoursed at length about Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters, and the hallowed Andal tradition wherein the rights of a trueborn son always came before the rights of a mere daughter.

So the law cited to name Aegon II king was one king's choice vs another king's choice, as well as Andal tradition and the "iron precedent" of the Great Council. And thus we got the Dance of the Dragons, Rhaenyra vs Aegon II.

But what about afterwards? What does Fire & Blood say about Aegon III, how did the maesters decide he inherited, through Aegon II (as his only living male relative), as Daemon's son, or as Rhaenyra's son? Well, it doesn't actually explain this point! The moment Aegon II died, Corlys Velaryon's men were freeing Aegon the Younger from his hostage prison, and then when the late Rhaenyra's (finally) winning army showed up at the gates of King's Landing, we just have Corlys saying, "The king is dead, long live the king." No maester commentary on the precedent at all, much to the frustration of backseat lawyers and historians in the fandom, who keep arguing one way or the other, or the various fandom teams, who keep arguing which side actually won.* 😅

*The answer is nobody. Nobody won.

And note that because Aegon III had no known living male relatives at the time (his brother Viserys was missing and presumed dead), his half-sisters Baela and Rhaena were considered his heirs, again despite this supposed "iron precedent". Leading to one of my favorite quotes from F&B:

Yet it was Grand Maester Munkun who put an end to the debate when he said, “My lords, it makes no matter. They are both girls. Have we learned so little from the slaughter? We must abide by primogeniture, as the Great Council ruled in 101. The male claim comes before the female.” Yet when Ser Tyland said, “And who is this male claimant, my lord? We seem to have killed them all,” Munkun had no answer but to say he would research the issue.

Though Aegon III's council and regents really wanted Baela to have a proper son, and when she rejected their (fat old guy) intended husband and instead eloped with a legitimized bastard, they wasted no time getting her sister Rhaena married to someone suitable, though she actually chose her husband, an older knight she'd become friends with in the Vale. And then Unwin Peake killed off Aegon II's daughter Jaehaera in order to marry Aegon III to his own daughter, and Baela and Rhaena did an end run with a new wife for their brother, a very young girl he didn't touch for 10 years... Of course, all this plotting came to nothing when Viserys did show up alive, so the lords could be satisfied with no need for an icky girl queen, the very idea.

The next time we see any competing issues of precedent for the succession to the throne was after Aegon III's second son, Baelor the Blessed, died without any children. By rights, per Andal tradition, his successor should have been his sister (and ex-wife) Daena. However, because Baelor had imprisoned Daena and her sisters in the Maidenvault for 10 years, they had few supporters, complicated by the fact that Daena had also recently had a bastard and refused to name the father. And of course, the Dance was still on everyone's mind as it had ended only 40 years before. So,

The precedents of the Great Council of 101 and the Dance of the Dragons were therefore cited, and the claims of Baelor's sisters were set aside. Instead the crown passed to his uncle, the King's Hand, Prince Viserys.

And Viserys II was followed by his son Aegon IV and so on. After this point, we do not have any real questions about gender and succession for a while. (Though some wonder, when Daemon Blackfyre vied for the throne, if he ever cited his mother Daena's stolen claim, in addition to being the unstated choice of his father Aegon IV. Also Aerys I named his niece Aelora as his heir after her brother-husband Aelor died, but she also died before Aerys did.) By the time of the Great Council of 233 AC, the claim of Vaella, only child of Maekar's eldest son Daeron, was dismissed immediately, though note she was also considered "simple", and Maekar's fourth son came to the throne as Aegon V.

And then in 283 AC, Robert Baratheon took the throne from the Targaryens. While many believe he took the throne by conquest (killing King Aerys II Targaryen's heir Rhaegar, while Aerys was killed by Jaime Lannister), maesters cite the fact that Robert was the grandson of Rhaelle Targaryen, daughter of Aegon V! So where is that "iron precedent" now, with Robert as the descendant of a Targaryen woman? And Robert's brother Stannis considers his daughter Shireen to be his heir, and people in Westeros in general consider Robert's daughter Myrcella to be his heir (after her brothers Joffrey and Tommen). Not to mention the fact that (claimant king in exile) Viserys considered Dany his heir, naming her Princess of Dragonstone.

So. Theoretically by the time of the main books, this "no women allowed ever" precedent for royal succession is still out there. In practice, however, the throne currently either follows Andal tradition of sons before daughters (but yes, including daughters), or the "whoever has the larger army" tradition of old. And that will be what truly decides the question of Aegon (or Jon) vs Daenerys, whether Rhaegar's line was disinherited by Aerys II or whether any maesters pop up to say "but iron precedent!" or what. Fire and blood, as always.

[greenbloods]

Arianne thinks of Quentyn so much throughout her POVs, fearing that he’s planning to usurp her, so I wanted to see how much Quentyn thought of her.

This is the only time I could find that he thought of her, and even then not by name. Granted, Quentyn only has four chapters in all, but it’s still such a stark contrast with how much Quentyn thinks of his father and Cletus and Gerris and Arch, of Lord Yronwood and the kiss he received from the Drinkwater twins. It’s clear through Arianne and Quentyn POVs that their relationship is strained and distant at best. And all this because Quentyn was sent away to be fostered, to pay for his uncle Oberyn’s slaying of the Yronwood lord. The difference between the the Doran-Elia-Oberyn trio and the Arianne-Quentyn-Trystane trio is so raw and palpable--the love that tied the previous generation, that should by right have been present in the younger generation too, instead spoiled by the seeds of suspicion and doubt that came about from the older generation’s actions. Where is the tenderness between Elia and Oberyn in the relationship between Arianne and Quentyn? It barely had a chance to exist. Doran and Oberyn didnt knowingly create the schism between Arianne and Quentyn but it’s because of them that Arianne dwells so heavily on Quentyn, while Quentyn barely feels the impact of Arianne on his life.

[goodqueenaly]

Hello, I've got a question about an old old post of yours (https://asoiafuniversity.tumblr.com/post/123345670592/hello-we-know-that-ariannes-plan-to-crown-mb) about the queenmaker plot.

Well mostly about the punishment of Sylva Santagar. I think I got really confused because while reading for the first time somewhere along the way I assumed that Sylva marrying lord Estermont was equal to her being disinherited? Like Arianne would be passed over if she married Viserys or the Ynys Yronwood situation. So i got really confused about her punishment being considered light. Is that a thing in Dorne that if an heiress goes to live with her husband, instead of him coming to her, she sort of forfeits her rights or did i extrapolate complete nonsense from these examples? And if she's still an heiress to Spottswood and her father died before lord Estermont would she be able to leave her husband and go back home and rule?

I'm sorry if you've answered something like this before and I hope the link works

It’s important to remember that Arianne’s fear of being disinherited by her father was not only based on the relatively dynastically (not to mention personally) unimpressive marriages Doran was (ostensibly) trying to arrange for her. As Arianne herself admits to Arys Oakheart, at fourteen Arianne had discovered Doran’s infamous letter to Quentyn, promising that “one day you will sit where I sit and rule all Dorne”. Nor did Arianne believe she lacked proof of Doran’s unwillingness to recognize her as his true heir: her main responsibility in Sunspear, as she complains, was “feasts and frolics, and the entertainment of distinguished guests”, and she was only “summoned twice a year” to the Water Gardens (compared to the oft-visiting Oberyn). So in Arianne’s mind, all the evidence in front of her suggested clearly that Doran did not want her to succeed him as Princess of Dorne: he had explicitly promised the inheritance to her brother, he gave her no actual power to act in his name (the way any other lord or prince might with his heir), and the only husbands he appeared to consider for her were old, often relatively politically weak non-Dornish men - in other words, husbands who would not have the power, the influence, or the local interest to fight for her rights in Dorne following Doran’s death.

Moreover, while GRRM noted that “[t]he vast majority” of Dornish noble families follow the absolute primogeniture established by Nymeria, the author specifically noted that there “[m]ay be a few stony Dornishmen in the mountains who go their own way, those least touched by the Rhoynar”. The Yronwoods, I think, would fit perfectly within that exception: perhaps the foremost family among those “stony” Dornish who according to Yandel “have the most in common with those north of the mountains and are the least touched by Rhoynish custom”, and the family which defiantly styles itself as “the Bloodroyal”, clinging (in the fashion of so many-real world monarchies) to an obsolete, specifically pre-Rhoynish royal title. Therefore, I am not remotely surprised if Ynys Yronwood was never (so long as brother Cletus was alive, anyway) considered the heiress to Yronwood (though it’s unclear whom Anders Yronwood believes is his heir now, or would if he (likely) has not yet learned that his son is dead).

By contrast, there is no evidence that merely by marrying a lord, even a non-Dornish lord, Sylva Santagar has automatically forfeited her inheritance rights. Indeed, even in non-Dornish Westeros, where inheritance is far more universally (and often more strictly) male-preference, women do not as an absolute rule lose the ability to inherit; after all, dynastic marriages with heiresses would be rather pointless if that were the case. Arianne herself acknowledges this standard, informing Ser Arys that “Casterly Rock will pass to the boy [i.e. Tommen] as well, through his lady mother”. Given that we see Dornish ladies who have legitimate children (and therefore were or are presumably married), I doubt Dornish law, generally more favorable to female inheritance anyway compared to the rest of Westeros, views marriage of heiresses as a bar to those heiresses becoming ladies in their own right. Nor do we have any evidence that Ser Symon changed his will to designate another successor, or specifically pass over Sylva (as we see with, say, the late Lord Wyman Webber in “The Sworn Sword”).

Now certainly, what is true in law does not always translate to practical application, and that could be the case here as well. By being married to a “foreign” lord, and becoming by that marriage the lady of an island somewhat remote from mainland Dorne, Sylva has been physically, politically, and culturally separated from her Dornish homeland. Would the rest of the Santagars, and whatever local aristocratic powers are in the area of Spottswood, see Sylva at the time of her father’s death as still the obvious heir to Spottswood, or would she appear as a “foreigner”, an Estermont, compared to say another potential Santagar heir? There’s no evidence suggesting that would necessarily happen, of course, but I’ve speculated on a similar potential with the marriage of Jocelyn Stark, and I think this consideration could come into play as various Stark restoration factions debate Sansa’s claim. Likewise, the sheer physical distance between Estermont and mainland Dorne generally, not to mention wherever Spottswood is specifically, could mean that, if there were a scenario where an unscrupulous Santagar relation decided to seize Spottswood himself on Ser Symon’s death, he could install himself as the Knight of Spottswood potentially even before Sylva was aware her father had died, and consequently potentially putting her on the back foot in asserting her claim (compare, say, Rhaenyra at the outset of the Dance, or the real-world Empress Matilda).

As far as what Sylva would do in the event of Lord Estermont’s death (probably sooner rather than later) … I think that would depend heavily on Sylvia’s personal and political connections with both Estermont and Spottswood at that moment. Assuming the Widow’s Law is still extant and more or less unchanged in modern Westeros (though assuming anything about the Widow’s Law is uncertain at best), Sylva would at least have the right to live at Estermont for the remainder of her days, with her marital household and income intact. However, whether or not she would want to is far from certain. Would Sylva have had a child or children with Lord Eldon, and would she (and/or the new powers that be at Estermont) have wanted this child or these children to be raised as Estermonts of Estermont or as Santagars of Spottswood? Would she herself have felt at home on Estermont, or would she have wanted to return to her birthplace? Would she have wanted to inherit and rule at Spottswood at that time, or would she have been content to spend the rest of her life at Estermont? All of this is a matter for speculation (though maybe we’ll hear a bit more, if only indirectly, about Sylva’s current mood at Estermont, in TWOW, given that our Aegon’s forces appear to have landed and made some headway on the island).

[istumpysk]

Operation Stumpy Re-Read

ADWD: The Dragontamer (Quentyn IV) [Chapter 68]

He stared at the candle for a long time, then put down his cup and held his palm above the flame. It took every bit of will he had to lower it until the fire touched his flesh, and when it did he snatched his hand back with a cry of pain.

"Quentyn, are you mad?"

No, just scared. I do not want to burn. "Gerris?"

I know someone who doesn't need this reminder.

"Men say that freezing to death is almost peaceful. Fire, though … do you see the candle, Gilly?"

She looked at the flame. "Yes."

"Touch it. Put your hand over the flame."

Her big brown eyes grew bigger still. She did not move.

"Do it." Kill the boy. "Now."

Trembling, the girl reached out her hand, held it well above the flickering candle flame.

"Down. Let it kiss you."

Gilly lowered her hand. An inch. Another. When the flame licked her flesh, she snatched her hand back and began to sob.

"Fire is a cruel way to die. Dalla died to give this child life, but you have nourished him, cherished him. You saved your own boy from the ice. Now save hers from the fire." - Jon II, ADWD

+.+.+

"I could not sleep."

"Are burns a cure for that? Some warm milk and a lullaby might serve you well. Or better still, I could take you to the Temple of the Graces and find a girl for you."

"A whore, you mean."

"They call them Graces. They come in different colors. The red ones are the only ones who fuck."

"If His Grace wishes for me to remove myself from court …"

"His Radiance," the seneschal corrected. - The Queensguard, ADWD

x

"Might I know which men His Grace has chosen to protect him?" - The Queensguard, ADWD

x

When His Grace had tried to put them under the command of a cousin, as he had the Brazen Beasts, Grey Worm had informed the king that they were free men who took commands only from their mother. - The Queensguard, ADWD

x

"May they defend His Grace against all threats." [...]

"His Magnificence," Reznak mo Reznak stressed. - The Queensguard, ADWD

x

"I am His Grace's to command."

"Not Grace," the seneschal complained. "That style is Westerosi. His Magnificence, His Radiance, His Worship." - The Queensguard, ADWD

x

"Your Grace," Ser Barristan called out.  - The Discarded Knight, ADWD

x

The box was his, though. His Grace made all the arrangements. - The Discarded Knight, ADWD

x

If His Grace needs a poisoner, he will look to you. - The Discarded Knight, ADWD

x

His Grace keeps two men by him when he sleeps. - The Kingbreaker, ADWD

x

"None, Your Grace."

Hizdahr sighed. "'Your Magnificence,' please. - The Kingbreaker, ADWD

x

"Dreams can lie, Your Grace."

"'Your Radiance' would serve. - The Kingbreaker, ADWD

x

"Where does the seneschal want His Grace to go?" - The Kingbreaker, ADWD

+.+.+

"I disagree. Daenerys Targaryen is not the only woman in the world. Do you want to die a man-maid?"

Quentyn did not want to die at all. I want to go back to Yronwood and kiss both of your sisters, marry Gwyneth Yronwood, watch her flower into beauty, have a child by her. I want to ride in tourneys, hawk and hunt, visit with my mother in Norvos, read some of those books my father sends me. I want Cletus and Will and Maester Kedry to be alive again. 

Well that was painful to read.

Go home, Quentyn.

+.+.+

"Do you think Daenerys would be pleased to hear that I had bedded some whore?"

"She might be. Men may be fond of maidens, but women like a man who knows what he's about in the bedchamber. It's another sort of swordplay. Takes training to be good at it."

Love that we're all thinking the exact same thing.

+.+.+

"You cannot marry her. She has a husband."

"She does not love Hizdahr zo Loraq."

Hey Quentyn, was Rhaegar any less married because he didn't love Elia?

+.+.+

"What has love to do with marriage? A prince should know better. Your father married for love, it's said. How much joy has he had of that?" Doran Martell and his Norvoshi wife had spent half their marriage apart and the other half arguing. It was the only rash thing his father had ever done, to hear some tell it, the only time he had followed his heart instead of his head, and he had lived to rue it. "Not all risks lead to ruin," he insisted.

Man, lately the author has been aggressively driving home the point about love being poison.

<- The Kingbreaker, ADWD

Prince Rhaegar loved his Lady Lyanna, and thousands died for it. Daemon Blackfyre loved the first Daenerys, and rose in rebellion when denied her. Bittersteel and Bloodraven both loved Shiera Seastar, and the Seven Kingdoms bled. The Prince of Dragonflies loved Jenny of Oldstones so much he cast aside a crown, and Westeros paid the bride price in corpses. All three of the sons of the fifth Aegon had wed for love, in defiance of their father's wishes. And because that unlikely monarch had himself followed his heart when he chose his queen, he allowed his sons to have their way, making bitter enemies where he might have had fast friends. Treason and turmoil followed, as night follows day, ending at Summerhall in sorcery, fire, and grief.

Her love for Daario is poison. A slower poison than the locusts, but in the end as deadly. - The Kingbreaker, ADWD

I'm convinced! I bet he's as pessimistic about love as every bad guy in the story would have us believe.

+.+.+

"This is my duty. My destiny." You are supposed to be my friend, Gerris. Why must you mock my hopes? I have doubts enough without your throwing oil on the fire of my fear. "This will be my grand adventure."

"Men die on grand adventures."

He was not wrong. That was in the stories too. The hero sets out with his friends and companions, faces dangers, comes home triumphant. Only some of his companions don't return at all. The hero never dies, though. I must be the hero. 

In this story the princess rejects the frog prince, then the dragon burns him alive.

Adventure stank. - The Merchant's Man, ADWD

+.+.+

Quentyn sucked at the burned spot on his palm. "Dorne remembers Aegon and his sisters. Dragons are not so easily forgotten. They will remember Daenerys as well."

I don't doubt it.

+.+.+

"Not if she's died."

"She lives." She must. "She is lost, but I can find her." And when I do, she will look at me the way she looks at her sellsword. Once I have proven myself worthy of her.

"From dragonback?"

"I have been riding horses since I was six years old."

Mounted on the dragon's back, she oft felt as if she were learning to ride all over again. When she whipped her silver mare on her right flank the mare went left, for a horse's first instinct is to flee from danger. When she laid the whip across Drogon's right side he veered right, for a dragon's first instinct is always to attack. - Daenerys X, ADWD

+.+.+

"I'll hear no more of this. You have my leave to go. Find a ship and run home, Gerris." The prince rose, blew the candle out, and crept back to his bed and its sweat-soaked linen sheets. I should have kissed one of the Drinkwater twins, or maybe both of them. I should have kissed them whilst I could. I should have gone to Norvos to see my mother and the place that gave her birth, so she would know that I had not forgotten her.

He doesn't seem that confident to me.

+.+.+

He could hear the rain falling outside, drumming against the bricks.

By the time the hour of the wolf crept upon them, the rain was falling steadily, slashing down in a hard, cold torrent that would soon turn the brick streets of Meereen into rivers.

Oh good, rain usually foretells positive things in this series.

+.+.+

Fire and water don't mix, and that's a fact. You get a good cookfire lit, blazing away nice, then it starts to piss down rain and next thing your wood is sodden and your flames are dead.

Gerris chuckled. "Dragons are not made of wood, Arch."

"Some are. That old King Aegon, the randy one, he built wooden dragons to conquer us. That ended bad, though."

I find this exchange extremely odd. It sticks out.

+.+.+

They do not understand. They may be Dornish, but I am Dorne. Years from now, when I am dead, this will be the song they sing of me. He rose abruptly. "It's time."

Hun, you're not even the heir to Dorne.

Better hope that song doesn't provoke laughter.

+.+.+

Within were three long hooded cloaks made from myriad small squares of cloth sewn together, three cudgels, three shortswords, three masks of polished brass. A bull, a lion, and an ape.

Everything required to be a Brazen Beast.

Any thoughts on these animals?

+.+.+

"How did you learn their word ["dog"]?"

"We chanced upon some Brazen Beasts and Meris asked them prettily. But a prince should know better than to pose such questions, Dornish. In Pentos, we have a saying. Never ask the baker what went into the pie. Just eat."

Or Wyman Manderly.

+.+.+

"I'll be the bull," Arch announced.

Quentyn handed him the bull mask. "The lion for me."

"Which makes a monkey out of me." Gerris pressed the ape mask to his face. 

Remember in The Merchant's Son when Gerris and Quentyn changed roles?

I think they should change masks.

+.+.+

The quartered carcass of an ox filled the wagon bed, along with two dead sheep. Half a dozen men entered afoot. Five wore the cloaks and masks of Brazen Beasts, but Pretty Meris had not troubled to disguise herself. "Where is your lord?" he asked Meris.

The Windblown sellswords disguise themselves as Brazen Beasts to get to the dragons.

Quentyn seems rather nonchalant about the huge woman not bothering to disguise herself. What a pointless risk.

+.+.+

Ser Archibald was giving the butcher's wagon the sour eye. "Will that cart be big enough to hold a dragon?" he asked.

The plan is to get the dragons out of the pyramid by chaining them to a butcher's wagon.

There are no words to express how stupid this feels.

+.+.+

"We were told these beasts are smaller than the queen's monster."

"The pit has slowed their growth." Quentyn's readings had suggested that the same thing had occurred in the Seven Kingdoms. None of the dragons bred and raised in the Dragonpit of King's Landing had ever approached the size of Vhagar or Meraxes, much less that of the Black Dread, King Aegon's monster. "Have you brought sufficient chains?"

The queen's monster, lol.

Only a monster would give a living child to the flames. - Jon I, ADWD

I can't speak to the accuracy of this. Aren't there competing theories within the universe over why they shrunk?

+.+.+

Four Brazen Beasts stood guarding the door. Three held long spears; the fourth, the serjeant, was armed with short sword and dagger. His mask was wrought in the shape of a basilisk's head. The other three were masked as insects.

Locusts, Quentyn realized. "Dog," he said.

The serjeant stiffened.

That was all it took for Quentyn Martell to realize that something had gone awry. 

Déjà vu! Wrong word, Quentyn.

<- The Kingbreaker, ADWD

Six Brazen Beasts were with him. All were masked as insects, identical to one another.

Locusts, Selmy realized. "Groleo," he said.

+.+.+

The basilisk's blade had scarce slipped from its leather sheath when the hammer's spike slammed into his temple, crunching through the thin brass of his mask and the flesh and bone beneath. The serjeant staggered sideways half a step before his knees folded under him and he sank down to the floor, his whole body shaking grotesquely.

Quentyn stared transfixed, his belly roiling. His own blade was still in its sheath. He had not so much as reached for it. His eyes were locked on the serjeant dying before him, jerking. The fallen torch was on the floor, guttering, making every shadow leap and twist in a monstrous mockery of the dead man's shaking. The prince never saw the locust's spear coming toward him until Gerris slammed into him, knocking him aside. The spearpoint grazed the cheek of the lion's head he wore. Even then the blow was so violent it almost tore the mask off. It would have gone right through my throat, the prince thought, dazed.

Look, he's doing an Aegon!

The boy stood staring, as still as if he too were made of stone. His hand was on his sword hilt, but he seemed to have forgotten why. - Tyrion V, ADWD

And both will burn, isn't that cute? Cousins. ❤️

+.+.+

The dragons, Prince Quentyn thought. Yes. We came for the dragons. He felt as though he might be sick. What am I doing here? Father, why? Four men dead in as many heartbeats, and for what? "Fire and blood," he whispered, "blood and fire."

Almost like "fire and blood" will never be the answer.

+.+.+

He did not want to do this, but he saw no other way. Why else would Daenerys have shown me the dragons? She wants me to prove myself to her. 

Do you see how her thoughtless little test got us to this point? Stupid idiot (both of them).

Then he will die here, Daenerys thought, unless there is more to him than I can see. "Is he still within?"

"Drinking with his knights."

"Bring him to me. It is time he met my children." - Daenerys VII, ADWD

+.+.+

Gerris handed him a torch. He stepped through the doors.

We have a torch sighting!

"The flames will burn so long as you live," he heard Cersei call. "When they die, so must you." - Jaime VI, ADWD

+.+.+

Rhaegal was chained to the wall and floor the last time I was here, the prince recalled, but Viserion hung from the ceiling. Quentyn stepped back, lifted the torch, craned his head back.

For a moment he saw only the blackened arches of the bricks above, scorched by dragonflame. A trickle of ash caught his eye, betraying movement. Something pale, half-hidden, stirring. He's made himself a cave, the prince realized. A burrow in the brick. The foundations of the Great Pyramid of Meereen were massive and thick to support the weight of the huge structure overhead; even the interior walls were three times thicker than any castle's curtain walls. But Viserion had dug himself a hole in them with flame and claw, a hole big enough to sleep in.

Lots of people have speculated that Viserion is nesting, so he (?) may lay eggs. I'm not sure what the point of that would be.

Not to mention, as far as we know, Viserion is a male and they can't change their sex.

As Archmaester Gyldayn notes in his fragmentary history, there is no record that Vermax ever laid so much as a single egg, suggesting the dragon was male. The belief that dragons could change sex at need is erroneous, according to Maester Anson's Truth, rooted in a misunderstanding of the esoteric metaphor that Barth preferred when discussing the higher mysteries. - The World of Ice and Fire

Viserion (Daenerys) breaking his chains, and attempting to claw himself out is symbolic. It's not that deep.

"This one heard the Astapori scratching at the walls last night," the little scribe said as she was washing Dany's back.

Irri and Jhiqui exchanged a look. "No one was scratching," said Jhiqui. "Scratching … how could they scratch?"

"With their hands," said Missandei. "The bricks are old and crumbling. They are trying to claw their way into the city."

"This would take them many years," said Irri. "The walls are very thick. This is known."

"It is known," agreed Jhiqui.

"I dream of them as well." Dany took Missandei's hand. "The camp is a good half-mile from the city, my sweetling. No one was scratching at the walls." - Daenerys VI, ADWD

+.+.+

Viserion launched himself from the ceiling, pale leather wings unfolding, spreading wide. The broken chain dangling from his neck swung wildly. His flame lit the pit, pale gold shot through with red and orange, and the stale air exploded in a cloud of hot ash and sulfur as the white wings beat and beat again.

A hand seized Quentyn by the shoulder. The torch spun from his grip to bounce across the floor, then tumbled into the pit, still burning. He found himself face-to-face with a brass ape. Gerris. "Quent, this will not work. They are too wild, they …"

Oops, there goes Quentyn's torch.

Gerris is a good lad.

+.+.+

Last and longest the beast stared at Pretty Meris, sniffing. The woman, Quentyn realized. He knows that she is female. He is looking for Daenerys. He wants his mother and does not understand why she's not here.

Is that why the author hasn't disguised her?

+.+.+

When the Windblown were too late to get out of his way, Viserion let loose with another roar. Quentyn heard the rattle of chains, the deep thrum of a crossbow.

"No," he screamed, "no, don't, don't," but it was too late. The fool was all that he had time to think as the quarrel caromed off Viserion's neck to vanish in the gloom. A line of fire gleamed in its wake—dragon's blood, glowing gold and red.

The crossbowman was fumbling for another quarrel as the dragon's teeth closed around his neck. The man wore the mask of a Brazen Beast, the fearsome likeness of a tiger. As he dropped his weapon to try and pry apart Viserion's jaws, flame gouted from the tiger's mouth. The man's eyes burst with soft popping sounds, and the brass around them began to run. The dragon tore off a hunk of flesh, most of the sellsword's neck, then gulped it down as the burning corpse collapsed to the floor.

That's probably not great news for Volantis.

George saves his most stomach-churning writing for the dragons, it's great.

+.+.+

"Down," the prince commanded. You must not let him smell your fear. "Down, down, down." He brought the whip around and laid a lash across the dragon's face. Viserion hissed.

+.+.+

And then a hot wind buffeted him and he heard the sound of leathern wings and the air was full of ash and cinders and a monstrous roar went echoing off the scorched and blackened bricks and he could hear his friends shouting wildly. Gerris was calling out his name, over and over, and the big man was bellowing, "Behind you, behind you, behind you!"

Quentyn turned and threw his left arm across his face to shield his eyes from the furnace wind. Rhaegal, he reminded himself, the green one is Rhaegal.

When he raised his whip, he saw that the lash was burning. His hand as well. All of him, all of him was burning.

Oh, he thought. Then he began to scream.

We love Dragon x Other parallels!

It slid away from Paul's axe, armor rippling, and its crystal sword twisted and spun and slipped between the iron rings of Paul's mail, through leather and wool and bone and flesh. It came out his back with a hissssssssssss and Sam heard Paul say, "Oh," as he lost the axe. Impaled, his blood smoking around the sword, the big man tried to reach his killer with his hands and almost had before he fell. - Samwell I, ADWD

Thus concludes the story of Quentyn Martell.

If you spotted any reason why Quaithe would be warning Daenerys about this supposed "sun's son" feel free to point it out, cause I got nothing.

Final thoughts:

You need to familiarize yourselves with this theory, because it's one of the all-time best (worst).

Half a million views! Lol.

-> return to menu <-

[aegor-bamfsteel]

Based on Arianne Martell’s suspicions, do you think Lord Anders Yronwood did in fact have designs on Quentyn inheriting Sunspear? If so, do you think this was due to Doran possibly having informed Anders of the Viserys betrothal, or Arianne’s assessment that he was “Criston Cole reborn” being correct?

While we don’t know much about Anders Yronwood, we do know he was at least partly in on the plot for Quentyn to cross the Narrow Sea (though whether he knew it was to wed Dàny isn’t entirely certain); Doran said “Your brother went with Cletus Yronwood, Maester Kedry, and three of Lord Yronwood's best young knights on a long and perilous voyage, with an uncertain welcome at its end” (Princess in the Tower, AFFC) and Quentyn thinks “Lord Yronwood, his second father, who had sent his own son along to keep him safe” (The Spurned Suitor, ADWD). He provided the entirety of Quentyn’s small escort, and we’re told by both Quentyn and Doran that he was genuinely a father figure to the former (like Jon Arryn and Ned Stark, rather than Ned Stark and Theon Greyjoy) despite being fostered to pay a blood debt. Now, it’s very likely that before this new plan came about and Doran intended for Quentyn to inherit Sunspear, that Anders was prepared to go along with it (I think he knew about as much as Quentyn did). But there’s never any indication that Anders would defy Doran, and has actually gone above and beyond for Doran’s plans (delaying Balon Swann, commanding the host in the Boneway, especially sending his finest knights including his son to protect Quentyn); the idea that the Yronwoods are perennially rebellious seconds is very overblown, since they’ve proven loyal in several cases when they didn’t have to be, including this instance (Arianne worries about other lords’ hosts deserting Anders to defend their own lands, not even that Anders would himself leave). While Arianne fears Quentyn becoming Lord of Sunspear over her, some of her historical parallels were for the sake of manipulating Arys (Naerys/Aemon), and her remarks on Anders as Criston Cole could be a deliberate exaggeration (since as far as she knows, it’s Doran and not Anders who had the idea of making Quentyn heir).

[agentrouka-blog]

Who inherits Yronwood, anyway?

Cletus was the heir, and therefore the oldest child, but he died, and after him comes Ynys, the elder daughter who is married to the heir to godsgrace, Ryon Allyrion. She has two children.

Does the eldest of those two children inherit Godsgrace and Yronwood both? Could Gwyneth Yronwood, the younger sister, inherit their father's seat instead? Is this an open question to be settled by the prince(ss) of Dorne? Am I missing something?

[beyondmistland]

What do you think Arianne and Quentyn Martell’s respective friend groups (Sylva Santagar, Garin and Andrey Dalt for Arianne; Gerris Drinkwater, Archibald and Cletus Yronwood for Quentyn) would think of each other and what would their hypothetical interactions look like, in your opinion?

I think Arianne's antagonistic relationship with Quentyn, coupled with Quentyn's negative past experiences with the Sand Snakes (whom Arianne is noticeably close to) would color any interaction between their individual social circles and not in a good way.

Thanks for the question, anon

[problemduetest4life]

The Merchant’s Man

*struggling to get thru the chapter*

v.s.

The Dragontamer

“I want to go back to Yronwood and kiss both of your sisters, marry Gwyneth Yronwood, watch her flower into beauty, have a child by her. I want to ride in tourneys, hawk and hunt, visit my mother in Norvos, read some of those books my father sends me. I want Cletus and Will and Maester Kedry to be alive again”

*something is up*

“And then a hot wind buffeted him and he heard the sound of leathern wings and the air was full of ash and cinders and a monstrous roar went echoing off the scorched and blackened bricks and he could hear his friends shouting wildly. Gerris was calling out his name, over and over…”

“When he raised his whip, he saw that the lash was burning. His hand as well. All of him, all of him was burning.

Oh, he thought. Then he began to scream”

*accepting his death*

Wait! He’s not dead yet!

He’s in mortal agony with only Missandei at his side

Bonus!! Ser Archibalds also having burns from putting out the flames with his bare hands

[neithergodsnormen]

Below the cut are all the individual HCs I had posted to his old blog, coming soon are the HCs I had in relation to letters and a specific verse

Quentyn and Cookies from an Anon

Quentyn is more than a little bit of a cookie lover. When he was younger he would steal cookies from the kitchens on a daily basis. This had grown tenfold when he was sent to Yronwood, often the Prince would just walk in the kitchen and take three cookies for each hand and shove just as many in his mouth before wandering out. They had become a sort of comfort food for him, as his mother or Tyene would often sneak cookies to him if he was unable to snatch any.

Quentyn Hogwarts House

Quentyn is a Ravenclaw, cos he values wisdom above all else. Just because you are smart and value wisdom don’t mean you can’t sometimes do stupid shit. Like trying to catch and tame a dragon.

Quentyn and Suicidal Ideation

After the Corsair attack on the way to Essos, Quentyn fell to the deepest despair he ever had fallen to. The deaths of Cletus, Ser Willam and Maester Kedry affect him deeply. In his mind he kept blaming himself, debating just slipping off the side of the ship and into the waves. Another thought he had was to use his dagger to slit his wrists in order to end it as atonement for their deaths. Quentyn blamed himself for their deaths until the moment of his own death. As he lay dying he thought the days of agony were perhaps a punishment from the gods for letting his friends die.

Quentyn and Arianne

Quentyn would follow Arianne everywhere as they grew up. Until the day he was sent away it was an almost perfect mirror of Oberyn and Elia. Had he not been sent to the Yronwoods their relationship probably would have stayed such a mirror of their aunt and uncle. Quentyn gets very offended any times someone suggests taking away his sister’s right as heir. If conversation of putting him in charge of Dorne is brought up to him in any manner, he will cut off communication with the offending party. This communication cut can last for years.

Favorite Quentyn Headcanons as asked by an anon

Quentyn was a big mama’s boy before he went to Yronwood. Even to this day he writes letters to her, even if he does not send them. This is done for comfort. Quentyn will support his sister as his Princess until his dying breath. If anyone even suggests that he try to take her birthright he cuts off contact from them, for they are dead to him. Quentyn cried the day he heard of Trystane’s birth and no one could comfort him. This is because he was convinced that his parents had replaced him and did not love him anymore. Quentyn blames his uncle for his being taken from his family and finds it hard to forgive him for the death of the Yronwood lord that resulted in his being taken as a glorified hostage. Quentyn’s favorite cousin is Tyene, and it is because of her and her visits that most poisons cannot touch him. She built his immune system to poison slowly over time just to see if it was possible. Quentyn suffers from severe depression and anxiety. This mostly stems from the separation he had from his family when he was five years old. Quentyn reads more than the other boys he grew up around. He’s even borrowed and read the book on dragons that his sister refers to as a dreary tome. Quentyn use to dream of dragons coming to Yronwood and flying him back home to Sunspear. Quentyn is not touched by sweetsleep not because of Tyene, but because of how many times he had to be sedated by the Maester in Yronwood. This was because he suffered severe insomnia from the time he was brought to them at age five until he was nearly ten years old. Quentyn is good at parkour, this is mostly because of the times he had to run when playing with the other boys. Because he was smaller he could not outrun the likes of Cletus, Gerris and Arch. As a result he learned to vault over things and slide under others. Quentyn likes to sing and write songs and to write poetry. This is something he usually keeps to himself.

[duxbelisarius]

"It all had to be for something."

It's painfully reminiscent of Quentyn wanting to claim Viserion or Rhaegal, so that Cletus, Willam and Maester Kedry will not have died in vain, so that he can look Doran Martell and Anders Yronwood in the face and tell them he has done his duty. Only Quent was a prince of Dorne who was far from home on a secret mission.

Rhaegar was crown prince of Dragonstone, future King of the Seven Kingdoms.

I think with Rhaegar, whatever he ascertained to his purpose, he would desire it. To me, he was an insatiable man of appetite for self interest, in the worst way.

My favorite Rhaegar (oxymoron right there) fic is by liesmyth. It’s called the piper at the gates of dawn and it’s one of those you live again and again groundhogs day fics. You’ve probably read it but if not, I would recommend. I enjoyed seeing him fail.

R wakes up after dying on the trident and is completely unrepentant for the pain he caused people. He runs off with L again and fails and dies. Eventually he gets tired of that version and just takes off w/o saying anything and does whatever he wants. Knowing that his kids and Elia are in danger but he doesn’t really care. The author describes a bunch of different lives but at the end it seems like R gets everything he wants but he’s still unhappy. Because it’s not exactly how he wanted it. Anyway it ends with him dying. Even after doing everything exactly how he wanted he still dies. It’s reads as a sort of character study of Rhaegar.

I think I've read this before. I've mentioned before that I believe Rhombus gained his sense of self/self-importance from his grandparents. So long as he believes in his own delusions, he'll always be the most dangerous thing to his family and himself. I mean look at Aerys and how dangerous he was because of what he believed to be his truth.

That's the danger of people who have an inflated sense of ego and importance. They believe that their delusion, that their reality, is the same for everyone else, because they can't see beyond themselves. It would only need to take a moment of self reflection and self-actualization for pale-face prince to realize the dangerous slope he was on. Even when he left KL and was speaking to Jaime, he did not even factor in that maybe he would not return, so sure he was in his victory and infallibility.

I think that's why the death of Rhaella and Elia and her children are so depressing. Both wives are victim's of their husband's egos, with others (their enemies), (in Elia's case) taking advantage of their short-sightedness. But it often seems that the women of asoiaf suffer for the male ego.

[xoxoctic]

Summer is for Dorne - CLETUS YRONWOOD

Cletus Yronwood, handsome despite his lazy eye, always randy, always laughing. Cletus had been Quentyn's dearest friend for half his life, a brother in all but blood. "Give your bride a kiss for me," Cletus had whispered to him, just before he died.

[sayruq]

Quentyn: *Screams*

Arianne: *Screams louder to establish dominance*

Cletus: Should we do something?

Tyene: No, I want to see who wins.

[istumpysk]

Operation Stumpy Re-Read

ADWD: The Spurned Suitor (Quentyn III) [Chapter 60]

"Let him [Beans] think what he wants, so long as he delivers the message," said Quentyn.

"He'll do that much. I'll wager you get your meeting too, if only so Rags can have Pretty Meris cut your liver out and fry it up with onions. We should be heeding Selmy. When Barristan the Bold tells you to run, a wise man laces up his boots. We should find a ship for Volantis whilst the port is still open."

It's not enough for him to die. I need his reputation destroyed as well.

+.+.+

Volantis, Quentyn thought. Then Lys, then home. Back the way I came, empty-handed. Three brave men dead, for what?

Let your father ask himself these questions.

Will Daenerys be making those same stops? Maybe.

+.+.+

His father would speak no word of rebuke, Quentyn knew, but the disappointment would be there in his eyes. His sister would be scornful, the Sand Snakes would mock him with smiles sharp as swords, and Lord Yronwood, his second father, who had sent his own son along to keep him safe …

It's not clear to me that he's wrong, which is unfortunate.

+.+.+

"It is still not too late to abandon this folly," Gerris said, as they made their way down a foetid alley toward the old spice market. The smell of piss was in the air, and they could hear the rumble of a corpse cart's iron-rimmed wheels off ahead. "Old Bill Bone used to say that Pretty Maris could stretch out a man's dying for a moon's turn. We lied to them, Quent. Used them to get us here, then went over to the Stormcrows."

"As we were commanded."

"Tatters never meant for us to do it for real, though," put in the big man. "His other boys, Ser Orson and Dick Straw, Hungerford, Will of the Woods, that lot, they're still down in some dungeon thanks to us. Old Rags can't have liked that much."

We talk about how insane attempting to tame a dragon is, but how about this?

The Tattered Prince's men are locked in dungeons because of Quentyn, and now Quentyn wants to meet with him after lying and deserting.

I swear to god this kid wants to die.

+.+.+

"No," Prince Quentyn said, "but he likes gold."

Gerris laughed. "A pity we have none. Do you trust this peace, Quent? I don't. Half the city is calling the dragonslayer a hero, and the other half spits blood at the mention of his name."

I'm confident these freedman will regret advocating for dragons.

+.+.+

"Harzoo," the big man said.

Quentyn frowned. "His name was Harghaz."

"Hizdahr, Humzum, Hagnag, what does it matter? I call them all Harzoo. He was no dragonslayer. All he did was get his arse roasted black and crispy."

"He was brave." Would I have the courage to face that monster with nothing but a spear?

Harghaz was brave.

Quentyn is foolish.

+.+.+

Gerris put a hand on Quentyn's shoulder. "Even if the queen returns, she'll still be married."

"Not if I give King Harzoo a little smack with my hammer," suggested the big man.

"Hizdahr," said Quentyn. "His name is Hizdahr."

"One kiss from my hammer and no one will care what his name was," said Arch.

They do not see. His friends had lost sight of his true purpose here. The road leads through her, not to her. Daenerys is the means to the prize, not the prize itself. "'The dragon has three heads,' she said to me. 'My marriage need not be the end of all your hopes,' she said. 'I know why you are here. For fire and blood.' I have Targaryen blood in me, you know that. I can trace my lineage back—"

He is entirely responsible for his own stupid decisions, but it's silly to pretend she had no influence.

+.+.+

"Fuck your lineage," said Gerris. "The dragons won't care about your blood, except maybe how it tastes. You cannot tame a dragon with a history lesson. They're monsters, not maesters. Quent, is this truly what you want to do?"

"This is what I have to do. For Dorne. For my father. For Cletus and Will and Maester Kedry."

"They're dead," said Gerris. "They won't care."

[...]

"No doubt. But that was not my question. Men's lives have meaning, not their deaths. I loved Will and Cletus too, but this will not bring them back to us. This is a mistake, Quent. You cannot trust in sellswords."

Gerris Drinkwater is a great character.

Barristan Selmy, wrong again.

If this one had been the prince, things might have gone elsewise, he could not help but think … but there was something a bit too pleasant about Drinkwater for his taste. False coin, the old knight thought. He had known such men before. - The Discarded Knight, ADWD

+.+.+

"They are men like any other men. They want gold, glory, power. That's all I am trusting in." That, and my own destiny. I am a prince of Dorne, and the blood of dragons is in my veins.

Maybe he's right? He does appear to suffer from Targaryen Delusion.

He's losing me.

+.+.+

At this hour the house was less than half full. A few of the patrons favored the Dornishmen with looks bored or hostile or curious. The rest were crowded around the pit at the far end of the room, where a pair of naked men were slashing at each other with knives whilst the watchers cheered them on.

I'm going to pretend underground pit fighting was happening the entire time it was banned. That tends to be what happens you outlaw things.

Side note, today I learned underground pit fighting also happens in Westeros.

Question (from yours truly) what the hell is with Biter? Is he just a bad guy or is he something more....

George treated us to a never before heard back story of Rorge and Biter.....Rorge ran a dog and bear fighting place in Flea Bottom. Biter was an orphan whom Rorge grabbed up and raised ferally to fight in the pits. (Link)

Bwah!

Barristan Selmy in shambles.

+.+.+

"My ragged raiment?" The Pentoshi gave a shrug. "A poor thing … yet those tatters fill my foes with fear, and on the battlefield the sight of my rags blowing in the wind emboldens my men more than any banner. And if I want to move unseen, I need only slip it off to become plain and unremarkable."

Including in case this becomes relevant later.

+.+.+

Then a door he had not seen before swung open, and an old woman emerged, a shriveled thing in a dark red tokar fringed with tiny golden skulls. Her skin was white as mare's milk, her hair so thin that he could see the scalp beneath. "Dorne," she said, "I be Zahrina. Purple Lotus. Go down here, you find them." She held the door and gestured them through.

Aren't golden skulls a Golden Company thing?

Zahrina tried to buy Tyrion and Jorah in a previous chapter. Is she important? Probably not.

+.+.+

He [The Tattered Prince] gestured at the bench across from him. "Sit. I understand you are a prince. Would that I had known. Will you drink? Zahrina offers food as well. Her bread is stale and her stew is unspeakable. Grease and salt, with a morsel or two of meat. Dog, she says, but I think rat is more likely. It will not kill you, though. I have found that it is only when the food is tempting that one must beware. Poisoners invariably choose the choicest dishes."

I'll keep that in mind for the future.

Daenerys wouldn't know locusts are delectable, but Hizdahr would.

Strong Belwas bellowed, "Locusts!" as he seized the bowl and began to crunch them by the handful.

"Those are very tasty," advised Hizdahr. "You ought to try a few yourself, my love. They are rolled in spice before the honey, so they are sweet and hot at once." - Daenerys IX, ADWD

+.+.+

"I am a prince of Dorne," said Quentyn. "I had a duty to my father and my people. There was a secret marriage pact."

"So I heard. And when the silver queen saw your scrap of parchment she fell into your arms, yes?"

"No," said Pretty Meris.

I have so much secondhand embarrassment right now.

+.+.+

"No? Oh, I recall. Your bride flew off on a dragon. Well, when she returns, do be sure to invite us to your nuptials. The men of the company would love to drink to your happiness, and I do love a Westerosi wedding. The bedding part especially, only … oh, wait …" He turned to Denzo D'han. "Denzo, I thought you told me that the dragon queen had married some Ghiscari."

"A Meereenese nobleman. Rich."

The Tattered Prince turned back to Quentyn. "Could that be true? Surely not. What of your marriage pact?"

"She laughed at him," said Pretty Meris.

Daenerys never laughed. The rest of Meereen might see him as an amusing curiosity, like the exiled Summer Islander King Robert used to keep at King's Landing, but the queen had always spoken to him gently. "We came too late," said Quentyn.

She did laugh, and none of the Dornishmen know what was said afterwards.

"Prince Doran." He sank back onto one knee. "Your Grace, I have the honor to be Quentyn Martell, a prince of Dorne and your most leal subject."

Dany laughed.

The Dornish prince flushed red, whilst her own court and counselors gave her puzzled looks. "Radiance?" said Skahaz Shavepate, in the Ghiscari tongue. "Why do you laugh?"

"They call him frog," she said, "and we have just learned why. In the Seven Kingdoms there are children's tales of frogs who turn into enchanted princes when kissed by their true love." Smiling at the Dornish knights, she switched back to the Common Tongue. "Tell me, Prince Quentyn, are you enchanted?" - Daenerys VII, ADWD

What she said isn't important, it's how it looks.

Quentyn is dead, it's Drinkwater and Yronwood who will tell Doran and/or Arianne what happened.

+.+.+

"Yurkhaz zo Yunzak was the man who hired you."

"He signed our contract on behalf of his city. Just so."

"Meereen and Yunkai have made peace. The siege is to be lifted, the armies disbanded. There will be no battle, no slaughter, no city to sack and plunder."

"Life is full of disappointments."

Over Barristan Selmy's dead body.

+.+.+

"How long do you think the Yunkishmen will want to continue paying wages to four free companies?"

The Tattered Prince took a sip of wine and said, "A vexing question. But this is the way of life for we men of the free companies. One war ends, another begins. Fortunately there is always someone fighting someone somewhere. Perhaps here. Even as we sit here drinking Bloodbeard is urging our Yunkish friends to present King Hizdahr with another head. Freedmen and slavers eye each other's necks and sharpen their knives, the Sons of the Harpy plot in their pyramids, the pale mare rides down slave and lord alike, our friends from the Yellow City gaze out to sea, and somewhere in the grasslands a dragon nibbles the tender flesh of Daenerys Targaryen. Who rules Meereen tonight? Who will rule it on the morrow?" The Pentoshi gave a shrug. "One thing I am certain of. Someone will have need of our swords."

"I have need of those swords. Dorne will hire you."

[...]

"I will pay you part when we reach Volantis, the rest when I am back in Sunspear. We brought gold with us when we set sail, but it would have been hard to conceal once we joined the company, so we gave it over to the banks. I can show you papers."

A very bad idea quickly getting worse.

+.+.+

The Tattered Prince finished his wine, turned the cup over, and set it down between them. "So. Let me see if I understand. A proven liar and oathbreaker wishes to contract with us and pay in promises. And for what services? I wonder. Are my Windblown to smash the Yunkai'i and sack the Yellow City? Defeat a Dothraki khalasar in the field? Escort you home to your father? Or will you be content if we deliver Queen Daenerys to your bed wet and willing? Tell me true, Prince Frog. What would you have of me and mine?"

"I need you to help me steal a dragon."

Caggo Corpsekiller chuckled. Pretty Meris curled her lip in a half-smile. Denzo D'han whistled.

The Tattered Prince only leaned back on his stool and said, "Double does not pay for dragons, princeling. Even a frog should know that much. Dragons come dear. And men who pay in promises should have at least the sense to promise more."

"If you want me to triple—"

"What I want," said the Tattered Prince, "is Pentos."

How is Dorne going to give you Pentos?

Sorry, I've hit a point where I don't remember a single thing that comes next. Is this contract still active?

That seems less than ideal.

Final thoughts:

Call me Boomer Barry, I think I'm ready to leave Meereen.

-> return to menu <-

[dwellordream]

24 hand holding - quentyn martell, cletus yronwood “give your bride a kiss for me”

When Quentyn came to Yronwood, he was a terrified, timid boy of six, who expected nothing but contempt and loathing from the family of the man his uncle had killed- poisoned, many whispered.

But when he dismounted from his pony, his legs shaking from exhaustion and anxiety, a little boy with deep tanned skin and sandy blonde hair darted forward, clutching his hand and introducing himself with a bright grin.

Now he holds that same boy’s hand, twelve years later, as he bleeds out onto the rocking deck of the ship. Even in death, Cletus is still handsome, though one eye looks the wrong way, and his face is unusually pale as parchment, all color drained from it.

“Give your bride a kiss for me,” he murmurs, and presses his bloody, parched lips to Quentyn’s bruised knuckles.

Quentyn jerks and shudders as if a shock had gone through him. I was supposed to wed your sister, he thinks. We would have been brothers for true. We were always family. We would never have been parted.

Cletus’ good eye looks skyward. The sky is blue and cloudless overhead. On a day like this at Yronwood, they would be out hawking in the meadows, breathing the sweet mountain air, listening to the birdsong and the buzz of cicadas.

It’s not winter yet, is it? Can it be?

It snowed once at Yronwood. Cletus thrust handfuls of it down the back of Quentyn’s shirt. They rolled around and tussled in the drifts. They looked nothing alike but Quentyn had never felt so similar to anyone before.

Cletus has stopped breathing now. Quentyn holds him close, resting his chin on his beat friend’s warm hair. He stays there until Archibald pulls them apart.

[mariedemedicis]

I would like a ruling Yronwood lady in f&b vol. 2 and a Ladybright lady in either Mariah or Dyanna’s retinue but like. I’m very scared of how Gyldayn is gonna talk about the Dornish :/

[stormborns]

CHAPTERS OF A SONG OF ICE & FIRE - A FEAST FOR CROWS - THE PRINCESS IN THE TOWER      Her father plucked up a cyvasse piece. “I must know how you learned that Quentyn was abroad. Your brother went with Cletus Yronwood, Maester Kedry, and three of Lord Yronwood’s best young knights on a long and perilous voyage, with an uncertain welcome at its end. He has gone to bring us back our heart’s desire.”      She narrowed her eyes. “What is our heart’s desire?”      “Vengeance.” His voice was soft, as if he were afraid that someone was listening. “Justice.” Prince Doran pressed the onyx dragon into her palm with his swollen, gouty fingers, and whispered, “Fire and blood.”