#nymeria of ny sar

[kate-bridgerton]

Daenerys and her non-Targaryen Westerosi Ancestors

[laurellerual]

The mummers off the Ship showed her how a hero stands, and taught her speeches from The Song of the Rhoyne, ...

@insomniarama

[dorneuniverse]

Nymeria herself remained the unquestioned ruler of Dorne for almost twenty seven years

Martell Week 2024: Day 5 - Favorite 'pre-Doran' Martell

[tragedy-peanut-gallery]

So I tried my hand at @melrosing ‘s asoiaf art meme! Hope I’m not late to the party!

Note: the pose used in the red wedding scene here isn’t mine, it belongs to tiktok artist mellonsoup (@mellon_soup), so credit to them and I have their og image under the cut!

[natividadmoon]

Day 05 Martell Week: Favorite Pre-Doran Martell

That Nymeria doesn't have the last name Martell? sorry, she is the founder of the NYMEROS MARTELL house. There's not much to say, Nymeria surfing while she remembers her childhood in Rhoyne when she was a girl, both clothes are based on Egyptian clothing with Arabic influence, and fantasy obviously <3.

Arianne as a pic announcing the week (it was months ago, sorry, but I have to finish this challenge, sorry)

[agentrouka-blog]

wondering if you had any thoughts on why QitN/Lady of Winterfell Arya is such a popular theory. Are there any arguments in favor of that ending that you think have some merit? I do think Nymeria being the one to lead the wolf pack is a pretty significant detail. Do you think the wolf pack is possible foreshadowing/will have an impact in WoW/DoS?

Given the fairly indiscriminate violence and human-eating associated with Nymeria's wolf pack (an unnaturally large pack not suited for its environment), I'd hesitate to call her leadership there positive foreshadowing for Arya. Nymeria, as a direwolf, also cannot and will not mate with the other wolves, precluding any imagery of fertility and renewal. Her business is hunting. They are predators.

To me, Nymeria's pack is a metaphor for war itself, and mirrors the effects of Arya's traumatic experiences on her own darker choices. (Murder and vigilantism, mainly, to cover up her deep grief.) I have no doubt that the fate of the pack will be thematically tied to Arya's own evolving relationship with violence and community, and that specifically the wolf pack needs to "peacefully disband" if it is not tragically destroyed in battle, to make a safe space for sheep and people again.

It should also be noted that in the text Priness Nymeria herself is noted primarily for her Ten Thousand Ships, and the long sea journey looking for a new home for her people, which was also in response to her turning her back on the futility of war in favor of life as a refugee. Very little about Nymeria's eventual landing in Dorne is suggestive of Arya ruling Winterfell, except perhaps the destruction of those ten thousand ships as a mirror to the future disbanding of that wolf pack. Nymeria makes alliances and has a decisive impact on Dorne, but her rulership is decidedly not in her place of origin and she is remembered most famously for the fleet that took her there.

I don't doubt that Arya will occupy an influential role in the future, or that leadership is part of her arc. I think she'll play a big role in creating compromises, peace and mercy in the Riverlands in a way that's opposite to what the show depicted with the Frey Pies.

But I don't think that upon closer inspection any iteration of Nymeria credibly suggests a role as Lady of Winterfell/Queen in the North for Arya. I think her future is much freer and more mobile than that.

YMMV.

[duxbelisarius]

Dune At Home: The First Dornish War, Part One

This is a project I've had on the backburner ever since I finished my Military Analysis of the Dance. I mentioned in my analysis of the Velaryon Blockade that I plan to rewrite the Dance series at some point, in light of the research and further reading I've done into the subject of pre-modern warfare. One can look at this new series focused on the First Dornish War as essentially a trial run for the rewrite, but my reasons for analyzing this war in particular go far beyond that.

The First Dornish War was the largest conflict fought by the Seven Kingdoms following unification, while its outcome cast a long shadow over the history of Westeros and the Targaryen Dynasty. There's Rhaenys' death and the affect it has on her family, the recurrent desire of future monarchs to conquer Dorne and succeed where Aegon failed, to say nothing of the way in which the events of the war have influenced and continue to influence the plot of the main ASOIAF books. While F&B only devotes 10 pages to the war as compared to the 200 taken up by the Dance, the importance of the First Dornish War far exceeds it's limited coverage, and we can probably expect to learn more about it in TWOW, ADOS, and the Aegon's Conquest series planned by HBO. This more than justifies analyzing the First Dornish War and the extent to which it is consistent with George's own worldbuilding and what we know about Medieval and Early Modern war.

This first part of the series will assess the Dornish worldbuilding, what information we have about its people, geography, environment and society as a whole. The purpose of doing this is to establish a baseline of what we can know or reasonably infer about Dorne from what the books tell us, which can then be compared to how Dorne is portrayed in F&B during the First Dornish War. I also recommend checking out the Dornish installments of the Politics of the Seven Kingdoms series written by the late Steven Attewell of Race for the Iron Throne; if you want a second opinion or more detail, his series is absolutely worth your while!

Atlas of Ice and Fire estimates that Dorne's size is approximately 328 472 square miles, using a similar process to TWOIAF editor Elio Garcia; this makes Dorne slightly smaller than Pakistan (340 509 square miles) and slightly larger than the former French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, c.290 000 square miles). Atlas estimates a population of c.3 million in Dorne at the time of the ASOIAF series with his calculations again using methods similar to Elio, but the population may easily be lesser or greater than these extrapolations. Unfortunately the demographics of Planetos are a mess at best, and Dorne's population and that of the Seven Kingdoms should in theory be much smaller at the time of the First Dornish War.

ADWD's map of the south and TWOIAF's map of Dorne identify 16 and 17 populated locations in Dorne respectively, excluding Ghaston Grey, the Tower of Joy, Vulture's Roost and the Water Gardens. 7 of these settlements are located in the Red Mountains, aka the Dornish Marches: Starfall, High Hermitage, Blackmont, Skyreach, Kingsgrave, Wyl and Yronwood. Dorne is divided into eastern and western halves south of the mountains, with the eastern half beginning in the hills around the source of the Vaith and Scourge rivers and extending to the Broken Arm, and Dorne's western half comprising mostly desert save for the sulfurous Brimstone River. The aforementioned maps show only two settlements in western Dorne, Sandstone and Hellholt, while the remaining 7-8 settlements are located in Eastern Dorne: Vaith, Salt Shore, Lemonwood, Sunspear, Ghost Hill, Godsgrace, The Tor and Planky Town. All of the settlements in eastern Dorne are located directly beside the Vaith, Scourge and Greenblood Rivers or to the north of them, save for Salt Shore on Dorne's southern coast.

These dispositions reflect what we know about the settlement patterns of Dorne's past from TWOIAF: the majority of the First Men settled in the Greenblood valley or the Red Mountains, with the Daynes, Fowlers and Yronwoods settling in the latter area and the Wades, Shells and many more settling by the former. Only the unnamed Lords of the Wells ventured into the western deserts, and these were a minority. Only with the arrival of the Andals do we know of named houses settling in the west, House Uller and Qorgyle, while the Martells, Allyrions, Jordaynes, Santagars and Vaiths settled in the east along the northern coast and in the river valleys. When the Rhoynar arrived in Dorne and finally settled they mainly stayed in the east near the coast and the river valleys, further cementing the Red Mountains and eastern Dorne as the most populous areas of the country.

The distribution of Dorne's population is also consistent with the information we have about it's geography and climate. George's inspirations for Dorne in this regard were Spain and Palestine, and Morocco also fits the bill, being regions where summers are hot and dry and winters are cool and wet. These areas also have the bulk of their population situated along the coast and in the major river valleys, which is again consistent with George's worldbuilding. More than three-quarters of the land south of the Red Mountains is arid wasteland according to TWOIAF, with the bulk of this land being flat save for the hills at the source of the Greenblood and it's tributaries, and a small mountain range between The Tor and Ghost Hill on Dorne's northern coast. Dorne's southern coast is some 400 leagues/c.1200 miles long according to Rodrick Harlaw, and is largely barren outside of Salt Shore with few sources of fresh water for passing ships to utilize.

It should also come as no surprise that Dorne's population distribution coincides with those areas with an abundance of fresh water, for consumption and agricultural purposes. Eastern Dorne is mostly scrubland with hard, rocky soil that relies heavily upon the Greenblood for irrigation; alongside the Brimstone and Torrentine, the Greenblood is the only river which does not dry up during any season. Potential sources of fresh water in the Red Mountains include the Torrentine and Wyl Rivers as well as an unnamed river that ends near Yronwood, alongside groundwater from wells and rain/meltwater collected from streams, springs and cisterns. Due to the Brimstone being sulfurous, fresh water in western Dorne comes primarily from wells, watering holes and oases.

The result of Dorne's varied geography, climate and population distribution a history of political division and the emergence of Dornish subcultures following Nymeria's wars. The Rhoynar arrived in Dorne less than 700 years before Aegon's Conquest, following the destruction of the Rhoynar Principalities by the Valyrian Freehold, prior to which the First Men and Andals had warred with each other and their Reacher and Stormlord neighbours for millenia. Nymeria and her people spent more than four years in the area of the Summer Sea before arriving in Dorne and allying with Mors Martell, and it took more than a decade to unify the Dornish lands. Four Dornish subcultures emerged in the centuries after the Rhoynar settled, known to us from the ASOIAF books and TWOIAF as the Stoney, Sandy and Salty Dornish, and the Orphans of the Greenblood.

The Orphans have a small population that lives on poleboats in the Greenblood valley and near Planky Town, and retain the language and gods of the Rhoynar, while the Salty Dornish live along the coast and retain some Rhoynar customs but have adopted the common tongue and the Faith of the Seven. The Sandy Dornish live in the deserts and the river valleys, and are closer to the Rhoynar than the Stony Dornish who live in the Red Mountains, some of whom may still practice male-preference primogeniture as opposed to absolute primogeniture. Internal divisions ensured conflict too place within Dorne even after unification, with Nymeria facing two rebellions during her 27 year reign according to TWOIAF. The Yronwoods rebelled several times in the centuries before Aegon's Conquest and supported 3 of the 5 Blackfyre rebellions; following the death of Nymeria's grandson Mors II, his successors the Red Princes (2 of 3 were female) faced further rebellions and sought to suppress the Rhoynar language, driving the Orphans to speak their mother tongue in secret only.

Other aspects of Dorne's worldbuilding will be discussed in greater detail in subsequent installments, but for now I believe this is a solid baseline for us to use. Similar to my analysis of the Velaryon Blockade, I'm going to offer my potential fix-its or improvements now as opposed to saving them all for a conclusion like I did with the Dance series. I think this is process is better based on the feedback I received for the Dance, as its better to highlight those aspects that still work and what areas can be made better as opposed to just listing off flaws ad nauseum. Although not perfect, I think that Dorne's worldbuilding is a step up from how the rest of the Seven Kingdoms are portrayed, being on par with the North and Iron Islands in terms of the information we're given about their socities and their cultural diversity. With the exception of the Vale and Riverlands to some extent, Westeros between the Neck and the Dornish Marches tends to blend together; for example, we have little indication of any differences in Westerlands culture between the coast and the Western Hills, or the mining communities and peasant farmers, despite having three major POVs from the Westerlands (Jaime, Cersei, Tyrion).

Dorne's cultural diversity is significant as there should be a greater variety of cultures and languages in Westeros just based on the great distances and different terrain, even among the First Men and Andals. That being said, there is one quibble I have concerning the four Dornish subcultures, specifically the 'Stony' and 'Sandy Dornish.' Rhoynar culture had a strong affinity with water due to their original home in the Rhoyne valley and use of water magic; TWOIAF also states that those who settled in Dorne preferred to live by the sea which had been their home during their wanderings, hence the 'Salty Dornish' culture. It doesn't really follow that the 'Sandy Dornish' should be more like the Rhoynar than the 'Stony' based on this information; if anything the reverse should be the case based on geography and settlement patterns.

Access to the sea is greater in the Red Mountains than the western desert thanks to the mouth of the Torrentine and the western coast of the Sea of Dorne, whereas Dorne's southern coast is mostly uninhabitable. The greater abundance of fertile land and fresh water in the mountains would better accommodate Rhoynar refugees than the more scarce resources of the western deserts; despite TWOIAF's references to water witches making "dry streams flow and deserts bloom," the majority of Dorne's population remains concentrated in the east and the Red Mountains, suggesting these were just legends or that water magic did not significantly improve the habitability of western Dorne.

The way the 'Sandy Dornish' and their culture are described is also contradictory; despite references to their living in the river valleys as well as the deserts, TWOIAF makes it clear that outside the valleys, "men live in different fashion" and describes the 'Sandy' way of life as centered around wells and oasis which support life in the desert. We also know that five of the six kings that Nymeria exiled to the wall were from the Red Mountains: Yorick Yronwood, Vorian Dayne, Garrison Fowler, Benedict Blackmont and Albin Manwoody, with Lucifer Dryland of Hellgate being the outlier. Largescale Rhoynar settlement in the marches should have been a priority for Nymeria in light of the opposition she faced from the lords of the Red Mountains, both to repopulate an area that had seen heavy fighting and ensure that the border of Dorne was settled with people that were personally loyal to her and had arranged marriages with the local houses.

The 'Stony Dornish' should be closer to the Rhoynar than the 'Sandy' on this basis alone, and this could have had interesting implications for the story and worldbuilding. Given the significant presence of the Andals in the western deserts, it would have been interesting to see how this remoteness affected the local development and practice of the Faith of the Seven. Ellaria Sand is a bastard of House Uller who are one of the Andal houses that settled in the desert, though we only get glimpses of her in ASOS, AFFC and ADWD; by having the 'Sandy Dornish' be more distinct, we could have seen how her houses' Andal roots affected her character if at all. Perhaps she would be closer to Tyene Sand due to her training to be a Septa, and Tyene could even instruct Oberyn and Ellaria's four daughters in the Faith? In fact this raises a broader criticism of the Dornish worldbuilding, being how the practice of the Faith in Dorne differs from the rest of the Seven Kingdoms. TWOIAF mentions that the more liberal sexual morays of the Rhoynar clashed with the teachings of the Faith, but is the Dornish Faith deemed schismatic? Were there any conflicts with the Faith hierarchy? This is a subject that would be worth exploring since the in-universe author of TWOIAF, Maester Yandel, insists that the Andals learned ironworking from the Rhoynar and that there were relations between the two peoples prior to the Andal migrations. Did Rhoynar beliefs affect the development of the Faith in Essos and vice-versa, and did this have any affect on the adopting of the Faith by the Rhoynar that settled in Dorne?

We're going to cover more issues with the worldbuilding of Dorne once we start discussing the First Dornish War itself, but for now these are the extent of my issues as concerns the foundational worldbuilding. I believe George did a solid job of constructing it despite some flaws, and that greater issues mainly arise when trying to square this portrayal of Dorne with what we're shown in the Dornish Wars.

[game-of-style]

Nymeria of Ny Sar, the Warrior Princess and ancestor of House Martell - Zuhair Murad Fall 2021

[mariedemedicis]

Ladies of House Martell:

Nymeria of Ny Sar

[sunspearesque]

oberyn sleeping with yronwood’s paramour when he was a teen and then defeating his angry ass in a duel which would eventually lead to his death is the last ‘fuck you’ from his badass ancestor princess nymeria to the yronwood bloodline LMAO

[atopvisenyashill]

The Ruling Princes and Princesses of Dorne

Leaders of Dorne During and Post Nymeria’s Conquest

Morgan Martell - Wentworth Miller

I just thought it would be cool if the line came from a multiracial Morgan Martell. 

Mors Martell - Miguel Ángel Silvestre

The coming of the Rhoynar to Dorne is clearly inspired by Moorish Spain so I specifically chose a Spanish actor for Mors.

Nymeria of Ny Sar - Sofia Boutella

Since the inspirations for the Rhoynar are Moorish Spain and Dorne is Palestine, I focused on choose Maghrebi/North African and Palestinian faceclaims for the characters from here onward.

I think Sofia actually looks kinda like some of the drawings for Nymeria as well!

Morra Nymeros Martell - Hiam Abbass

I chose the name Morra because I thought Nymeria would want to name her first born, likely knowing there would be some push back against a woman inheriting, after the father whose seat she’d be taking over.

I also thought Morra would likely be a bit older considering Nymeria lived for so long

Mors II Nymeros Martell - Takfarines Bengana

The Red Princes

We aren’t told why they rule together.

I figured that meant either they were triplets and the oldest decided they should rule together, or that the oldest was sickly and decided to give their siblings ruling power to help cover the gaps they wouldn’t be able to fill as a disabled ruler.

With that in mind, I tried to find people around the same age, and gave them all “M” names because George loves naming conventions like that. I like to believe Myria is the oldest and the disabled one, with Mellei as the leader of her forces and Manfrey as her right hand in Sunspear. 

Myria Nymeros Martell - Hafsia Herzei

I completely made this name up

It should be pronounced MY-ree-uh.

I combined the “Ny” sound from Nymeria but with the M from Mors, then added the “ria” because a number of female Dornish names end in “ia.” 

Manfrey Nymeros Martell - Rami Malek 

There’s a Dornish character named Manfrey, one of Doran’s cousins. 

Mellei Nymeros Martell - Nadia Hilker

One of the two servants that Doran assigns to Arianne is named Mellei.

I figured it was likely an old fashioned Dornish name, along with Morra. 

[247reader]

Okay, so it appears tumblr's new image viewer (boo!) doesn't like large/long images, so, though it ruins my subtle rainbow theme, I've split the various Westerosi historic figures into separate images, and queued them up.

Here we have Nymeria of Ny Sar, who brought her ten thousand ships to Dorne, in clothes inspired by ancient Sumeria. The spear in particular is based on an artifact found in Girsu.

Fun fact: Enheduanna of Ur, daughter of Sargon of Akkad and famous as the first named author in history, went into exile in Girsu after losing a political battle in Ur; her exile was less dramatic than Nymeria's, and she eventually returned to Ur and resumed her position.

[docpiplup]

Credits to JK Drummond, official art of Nymeria of Ny Sar from The World of Ice & Fire

[lemonhemlock]

Who do you think should be the ruler in hotd?

I put off answering this because it was the most complex question and, as a result, I'm going to break it into two parts (part II linked here).

I've already posted my thoughts on House Hightower, so my answer will unfold in a similar way: I do not believe House Targaryen should be in charge of the affairs of Westeros (and, no, I do not believe Dany will sit the Iron Throne at the end of the series, but ofc we will only get confirmation once the final book is published).

This issue goes beyond Targaryens being awful people or the system being structurally unfair in the first place, favouring the strong and rich above the majority of population. House Targaryen are proudly descendant from the fallen empire of Valyria, which became as evil a place as you could probably conceptualize within a fictional world, before you write in their inevitable demise by hubris. House Targaryen should and do meet a similar demise in the main series.

Old Valyria was not only a slaver's empire, but they based their entire way of life on horrific blood magic. They intentionally expanded and conquered peaceful societies in order to subject those people to forced labour and human sacrifice rituals to sustain their malignant civilisation. The Great Empire of the Dawn predates Valyria and tells a similar story: of a great and vast society that reached legendary peaks only to fall as a result of corruption and depravity. We are not meant to look at these fallen empires and wax nostalgic over them.

The Targaryens are in no way as repugnantly villainous as their ancestors, but they have not escaped the rot of Old Valyria either. They take pride in being the last Valyrians left and actively look to preserve their Valyrian bloodline, keep to their Valyrian customs as much as possible and set themselves apart from society with their doctrine of exceptionalism and their refusal to assimilate. "People say Targaryens are closer to gods than men".

Incest and polygamy are one thing, but the main issue I would highlight in regard to the Targaryens is their use of dragons. It's easy to overlook because dragons are very popular mythical creatures, look cool AF and represent a very entertaining wish-fulfillment fantasy. But in-universe, dragons are a terrifying weapon of mass destruction that Targaryens use in order to subjugate an entire continent. They represent the worst type of absolutism - the one you can't fight back against because they possess a military weapon that outclasses any other and they can wield it with impunity, without any checks and balances.

The fact that the dragons die at the end of the Dance is a good thing.

After losing their dragons, the Targaryens do not necessarily get any better at ruling. At least now the balance of power with the other great houses is fairer, but the history of the dynasty continues with rebellions (of their own making) and many other questionable reigns. Their last King, Aerys II, commits such appalling abuses of power that the Westerosi lords have no choice but to depose him.

The removal of House Targaryen is not done bloodlessly and without its share of barbarity, but it is not meant to be seen as an unfair usurpation either.

I thought it very fitting that we begin HotD with our two main characters discussing Princess Nymeria finding shelter in Dorne. Alicent is trying to convince Rhaenyra to take the lesson seriously, but she is distracted and playful. She knows the story already, but does not engage with it critically. In that scene, she is merely a girl bored by a historical event she is made to recite from memory.

But we, as the audience, shouldn't discount the symbolism: Rhaenyra the dragonlord is telling Alicent the dragonless about Princess Nymeria and her people fleeing the horrors of dragonfire and extreme violence. She rips the page out. "So you remember."

Alicent will remember and, years later, when she is the one terrified for her own children's lives under Targaryen rule, she sends the page back to Rhaenyra, as a reminder of their childhood friendship. But there is nowhere for Alicent to run and no other way for her to protect herself. She has appropriated dragons for her faction (Aegon's banners hanging behind Otto as he hands Rhaenyra the page) and is now using them as her own deterrent.

Princess Nymeria found shelter in Dorne, but Dorne is not part of Targaryen rule at this moment, even though they abusively include Martell sigils on their emblems of state. Targaryens play by their own rulebook and there is no way to resist them other than controlling them via infiltration or fighting fire with fire. The Greens have failed with the former; now they will try with the latter.

[natividadmoon]

Day EXTRA Martell Week: Favorite trope/HC

Even the extra ends, yesssss! It was going to be a fuller image to show you the top and pants that I feel like the Martells wear under some tunics, but it stayed at the bust size. One of HC that I try to capture is the use of Khol on the eyes like the rings inspired by ones of Andalusian origin that a friend showed me.

The one in the drawing is a young Meria, by the way, about 30 years old, a mother and I think she was already princess regent of Dorne, so she was a determined and tenacious woman from a very young age. willing to tarnish her image in history, if that gave freedom to her lands and her people.

Nymeria drawing of the character of the day

[mswyrr]

Nymeria is everything. I need this so badly.