Deria Martell

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House Martell.svg
Deria Martell
House Martell.svg
Deria Martell.jpg
Art by AileLletram

Title Princess of Dorne
Allegiance House Martell
Culture Dornishmen
Book The World of Ice and Fire (mentioned)

Princess Deria Martell was the ruling Princess of Dorne during the reign of King Aenys I (and presumably also during the later years of the reign of Aegon I).

History

The First Dornish War

Princess Deria was the granddaughter of Princess Meria Martell, the Yellow Toad of Dorne. Upon Meria's death in 13 AC, Deria's father, Prince Nymor took over the rule of Dorne, but he was already old and failing.[1] The First Dornish War had already been going on since 4 AC, and Nymor wanted peace. He send Deria at the head of a delegation to King's Landing, with the skull of the death dragon Meraxes as a peace offer, a gift for the King, yet many took this act ill. Queen Visenya and Lord Orys Baratheon were amongst those who considered this an ill thing, and Lord Oakheart suggested that Deria would be sent to "the meanest of brothers to service any man who would have her".[2]

King Aegon I Targaryen instead choose to listen to Deria's message. Deria assured Aegon that Dorne wanted peace. But not by swearing fealthy to the Iron Throne - a peace between two Kingdoms, two equals. King Aegon was being councilled against this, by many - the phrase "no peace without submission" would often be heard in Aegonfort - as they claimed Aegon would look weak, should he agree. In addition, they believed the lords of the Reach and Stormlands would feel offended by such a peace, after having lost so much in the war. [2]

It is said that King Aegon was ready to refuse the offer, when Princess Deria presented him with a letter from her father. Aegon read the letter, his hands clenching it so hard they started to bleed, and once he was done, he burned the letter, and immediately flew to Dragonstone upon Balerion. He returned the next morning, agreed to the peace, and signed a treaty.[2]

The Vulture Hunt

At some point in the following decade, old Prince Nymor passed away, and his daughter Deria succeeded him as reigning Princess of Dorne in her own right. In 23 AC, King Aegon and his eldest son Aenys flew to Sunspear on their dragons, Balerion and Quicksilver, to attend a "feast of friendship" hosted by Princess Deria to mark the ten year anniversary of the peace accords.[3]

In 37 AC, Aegon I passed away and Aenys succeeded him as king, yet he proved to be a weak ruler, and even as he was being crowned, four separate local rebellions sprang up against him. By far the largest and most threatening was that of the so-called "Vulture King" in the Red Mountains, which formed the border between Dorne and the new Targaryen realm. The Vulture King called on all true Dornishmen to join him in avenging all the wrongs the Targaryens had inflicted on Dorne when they burned it to a husk during the years of the Dragon's Wroth, and avenge the thousands who had died. Hundreds of trained knights joined him, along with several thousand seasoned spearmen, and many more thousands of commoners, until his forces swelled to 30,000 men. The Vulture King led them in attacks across the border against the lords of the Dornish Marches, time and again slipping back into Dorne to hide in the mountains.[4]

Princess Deria proved to be as cunning as her grandmother, but while Meria had used force, Deria used her political savvy. Deria publicly issued denouncements against the Vulture King from Sunspear, saying that all loyal Dornishmen wanted only peace. Yet while her words were everything the Targaryens could want them to be, she did not back them up with any significant actions, and the Martells' own armies made no move against the Vulture King's rebel army hiding out along the border. Some suspected that Deria was actually playing a double game, secretly sending the Vulture King with gold and supplies to essentially fight a proxy-war against the Targaryens. A few suspected that she was even sending him soldiers. At the least, Deria never lifted a finger against the Vulture King, despite her public condemnations, and never bloodied the Martells' own spears or reputation, while still managing to officially maintain peace between Dorne and the Iron Throne.[3]

Eventually, the Vulture King became a victim of his own success: his forces grew so large that they no longer acted in guerrilla raids but marched as standing armies. With supplies becoming an issue, he had to split his forces in two: half he led west to strike at Nightsong, and the other half went east to strike at Stonehelm. The Marcher lords finally rallied, and crushed both armies in a campaign known as the Vulture Hunt. The Vulture King himself was captured and executed.[3]

Aenys's short and weak reign was soon followed by the outbreak of the Faith Militant uprising, Aenys's death, and his half-brother Maegor the Cruel usurping the throne. Yet eventually Maegor's tyranny spiraled into self-destruction, and the great lords of the realm abandoned him. By 48 AC, Maegor's reign was in its last year and on the brink of collapse: sensing this weakness, eleven years after the Vulture Hunt, reports came that Dornish armies were massing in the mountain passes and on the verge of attack. It is unclear if Deria was still alive by that point.[3]

Family

Meria
 
Unknown
husband
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Nymor
 
Unknown
wife
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Deria
 


References and Notes

  1. As Meria had ruled until her nineties, Nymor was already rather old when his "reign" began.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 The World of Ice & Fire, Dorne Against the Dragons.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 The Sons of the Dragon.
  4. The World of Ice & Fire, Aenys I.