Old Palace

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The Old Palace by Yann Tiseron © Fantasy Flight Games
The Old Palace by Yann Tiseron © Fantasy Flight Games

The Old Palace is a palace in Sunspear, the seat of House Martell in Dorne.[1] It includes the Tower of the Sun and the Spear Tower,[1] as well as a feast hall and a solar for the Prince of Dorne.[2][3] Sunspear has also been referred to simply as the Old Palace.[4]

Layout

Rising from the Old Palace is the slender Spear Tower, a massive tower of stone. It thrusts up from the surrounding community, stretching one hundred and fifty feet tall, with a spear of gilded steel atop that adds a further thirty feet. Highborn prisoners can be confined in cells at the top of the Spear Tower.[1][2]

The Tower of the Sun has a dome of gold and leaded glass. Beneath the dome sits the throne room, a large round room with thick windows and many colored glass. The floors are made of pale marble. Within the throne room there are two seats on a dais, near twins to one another, the only difference being that one is inlaid with the Martell spear on its back and the other features the blazing Rhoynish sun that flew from the masts of Nymeria's ships. The spear seat is used by the ruling Prince of Dorne.[1]

A long gallery with a rough-cut stone floor connects the feast hall with the solar of the prince.[3]

History

The Old Palace was built after the union of the Rhoynar with the Dornishmen, as the Sandship had been the seat of House Martell prior to Nymeria's War. The Old Palace's towers are built in the Rhoynish fashion.[5]

During Aegon's Conquest, Rhaenys Targaryen flew to abandoned Sunspear, where her demand for submission was rejected by Meria Martell, Princess of Dorne.[6]

In the Defenestration of Sunspear during the First Dornish War, Lord Rosby was thrown from the top of the Spear Tower.[7]

When King Baelor I Targaryen visited Dorne after the death of his predecessor, King Daeron I Targaryen, he was hosted by the Prince of Dorne in the Old Palace.[8]

Recent Events

A Feast for Crows

While at the Water Gardens, Doran Martell, the Prince of Dorne, tasks his seneschal, Ricasso, with opening his apartments in the Tower of the Sun.[1]

Because of his gout, Doran must be carried by Areo Hotah up the long stone stairs of the Tower of the Sun when he returns to Sunspear. Doran has Areo imprison the older Sand Snakes in the cells atop the Spear Tower.[1]

While a guest at Sunspear, Myrcella Baratheon has chambers in the Tower of the Sun.[9] Following her failed attempt to crown Myrcella, Arianne Martell is imprisoned in the Spear Tower.[2]

A Dance with Dragons

Doran hosts a feast for Ser Balon Swann in the Old Palace's feast hall, after which he meets with the Sand Snakes and Arianne in his solar.[3]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 2, The Captain Of Guards.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 40, Princess In The Tower.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 38, The Watcher.
  4. George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Sunspear.
  5. The World of Ice & Fire, Dorne: Sunspear.
  6. The World of Ice & Fire, The Reign of the Dragons: The Conquest.
  7. The World of Ice & Fire, Dorne: Dorne Against the Dragons.
  8. The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Baelor I.
  9. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 13, The Soiled Knight.