Doran Martell

Doran was born in 248 AC, the firstborn and heir of a mother who ruled Dorne in her own right. Four siblings followed him: Mors and Olyvar, who never made it past childhood, and then Elia and Oberyn, years younger still. That gap, together with his mother's failed pregnancies, left him growing up largely alone, and perhaps that is where his habit of keeping his thoughts to himself comes from.

He was sent as a squire to Salt Shore, seat of House Gargalen. Years later, on a journey through the Free Cities, he met Mellario of Norvos. It was not a marriage arranged for convenience, as most noble unions in Westeros are: they fell in love. In 273 AC his mother took his younger siblings on a tour of the Seven Kingdoms to look for suitors, and Doran stayed behind at Sunspear as castellan, together with his wife.

His mother died in 279 AC and Doran inherited Dorne. When his sister Elia died during the fall of House Targaryen, Prince Oberyn wanted Dorne to declare for the surviving heir, Viserys Targaryen, but Doran chose to wait. Talks with Jon Arryn left the matter unresolved, though people never stopped suspecting the Martells still hated the Lannisters underneath.

His marriage to Mellario, which had begun as a love match, faded over the years. They had three children, Arianne, Quentyn and Trystane, the last born in 287 AC. Mellario never grew used to Dornish ways, and not long after Trystane's birth Doran sent Quentyn away as a ward to Lord Anders Yronwood's household — the price of peace after Lord Edgar Yronwood died of wounds taken in a duel with Oberyn, who was sent away from Dorne for a time as a result. Mellario never forgave him for it, and in time she went back to Norvos.

For years, Doran and Oberyn worked in secret to bring down Robert Baratheon's reign and ruin House Lannister. Oberyn traveled to Braavos, where Viserys and his sister Daenerys lived under the protection of Ser Willem Darry, and there he sealed a pact no one else knew about: Dorne would back Viserys's claim to the Iron Throne in exchange for his marriage to Arianne.

Doran went as far as planning to send Arianne to Tyrosh as cupbearer to the Archon, so she could meet her betrothed without anyone growing suspicious. Mellario fought the idea, threatening to harm herself if he took another of her children from her, and Doran, unwilling to hurt her, kept Arianne in Dorne. He meant to tell her about the betrothal once she turned sixteen, but in the end he kept it from her, convinced her fiery temper would ruin everything.

In the meantime, he put forward suitors far too old for her, like Lord Walder Frey, and let her turn down others closer to her own age, like Ser Edmure Tully or Willas Tyrell. It wasn't indecision: he feared that not seeking her a husband at all would raise suspicion, and he already knew she would refuse every single one.

Doran began suffering from gout. By 298 AC he could still walk, leaning on a cane, but he moved from Sunspear to the Water Gardens. Two years later the illness had worsened so much that he could barely get around without a wheelchair or a litter. Not wanting his enemies to know how vulnerable he had become, he stayed shut away at the Water Gardens, out of curious sight.

There he prefers to sit among the orange trees and watch the children play in the pools, drinking strong wine and receiving almost no visitors: he summons Oberyn twice a month and Arianne only twice a year. To those who take him for weak, he would say, if he spoke as much as he thinks, that his brother Oberyn was always the viper, showy and dangerous, while he has chosen to be the grass the viper hides in.

When Joffrey Baratheon took the Iron Throne, Doran refused to swear him fealty and even weighed backing Renly Baratheon instead. Tyrion Lannister won him back with three things at once: a seat on the small council, justice for Elia's death, and a promise that his youngest son, Trystane, would marry Princess Myrcella Baratheon, who would be raised in Dorne as his ward.

By the time it came to travel to King's Landing to claim that seat, his gout already kept him from making the trip, so he sent Oberyn in his place, charged with claiming the council seat and demanding the justice promised for their sister.

Obara Sand, the eldest of Oberyn's daughters, went to see her uncle at the Water Gardens to tell him how angry Dorne was over her father's death, and offered to march on Oldtown. Doran refused: under the law, what happened to Oberyn hadn't been murder. On the road to Sunspear, Nymeria Sand later suggested he join forces with her sister Tyene to kill Lord Tywin Lannister, his children, and his grandson King Tommen; Doran turned her down as well.

He returned to Sunspear to show his people he still ruled, though the crowds threw rotten fruit at his litter as he reached the castle gates. Inside, his daughter Arianne was waiting, preparing a feast for his return. Tyene proposed marrying Myrcella to Trystane quickly and crowning her in place of her brother Tommen, since under Dornish law her claim to the throne would be stronger; Doran said no to that too. To keep the peace, he kept Oberyn's daughters confined, all but Sarella, who wasn't in Dorne, and finally met Myrcella and her sworn shield, Ser Arys Oakheart. Around then, Ser Gregor Clegane's skull arrived from King's Landing — he had died of the poison Oberyn dealt him — sent by Cersei Lannister as a gesture of peace.

Convinced her father meant to pass her over for Quentyn, Arianne plotted with a handful of conspirators to crown Myrcella, seize Dorne for herself, and confine Doran to the Water Gardens. Doran's guards foiled the plot at the Greenblood: Myrcella was wounded by Ser Gerold Dayne, and Ser Arys died there too. Doran had Arianne arrested and kept her locked away alone at Sunspear for weeks.

When he finally released her, they argued over her betrayal, and Doran told her what he had been hiding since Elia's death: that he had been working to restore House Targaryen, and planning to take from Tywin Lannister everything he loved before killing him. With Viserys now dead, his plan turned to allying with Queen Daenerys Targaryen, and he had already sent Quentyn to Essos to escort her back to Westeros.

When Ser Balon Swann arrived at Sunspear, Doran held a feast in his honor with all the lords of Dorne present, and there he finally received Ser Gregor Clegane's skull. Arianne sat at his right, already aware of her father's plans. Ser Balon told him Queen Cersei wanted Myrcella to travel overland to King's Landing to see her brother, wanted Doran to take his seat on the small council, and wanted Trystane to see the city; Doran suggested going by ship instead, but Balon refused.

In private, Doran told his daughter, Tyene, Obara, Nymeria, and Areo Hotah what the trap really was: along the road, men would shout "Halfman," kill Trystane, and Balon would falsely claim to have seen Tyrion Lannister among the attackers — all of it Cersei's doing. Doran said a "friend" in the capital had warned him, and that Balon's refusal to travel by sea had confirmed his suspicions.

To head off the scheme, he had Balon see Myrcella's wounds; following Arianne's lead, she blamed Ser Gerold Dayne for them and for Ser Arys's death, and asked that he be brought to justice. Doran sent Obara to escort Balon to High Hermitage, Darkstar's seat, sent Nymeria to King's Landing to claim Dorne's council seat, and sent Tyene, disguised as a septa, to win the trust of the new High Septon. While he waited for word from Quentyn, news reached him that a fleet was sailing for Westeros from Lys.