Elissa Farman

She was born in 29 AC, daughter of Marq Farman, the second son of the Lord of the Arbor. She had an older brother, Franklyn, and a younger one, Androw. As a girl she was said to spend more hours on the water than on land: by fourteen she was already sailing her own boat, and by twenty she had gone as far north as Bear Island and as far south as the Arbor. Behind those voyages sat a fixed dream — one day to cross the western horizon and learn what the Sunset Sea was hiding.

She was fair-haired and blue-eyed, sharp-tongued and short on patience for court manners; she loved horses, dogs and hawks, and was said to sing well.

She was betrothed twice, first at twelve and again at sixteen, and neither match ever became a wedding. Her father blamed her temper for it, claiming she had frightened off both suitors.

In early 49 AC, Elissa watched her brother Androw marry Queen Rhaena Targaryen on the Arbor, an intimate ceremony held under the open sky and arranged in haste. Many wondered why a queen of Valyrian blood would choose the second son of a minor house when she could have had a far grander match. Maester Smike, writing to the Citadel, put it plainly: "the queen found the love of her life on the Arbor, but not in Androw — in Lady Elissa, his sister."

After the wedding Elissa became inseparable from Samantha Stokeworth, one of Rhaena's favourite ladies; Ser Franklyn mockingly called the group "the Four-Headed Beast." The queen took her flying on the back of her dragon Dreamfyre.

In 50 AC Lord Marq Farman died and Franklyn inherited the Arbor. His first act as lord was to order Rhaena off the island with her court, but he insisted Elissa remain behind to be betrothed once more. That same night the queen mounted Dreamfyre and flew off; the next morning, defying her brother's order, Androw and Elissa made for the docks as well.

Franklyn arrived with half a dozen men to stop his sister and got nothing but a mouthful of spit for it; when he tried to force her, it was the smallfolk themselves who overpowered him and threw him into a boat loaded with codfish. With the time this bought them, Elissa and her companions boarded the Maiden's Fancy and sailed for Lannisport. Franklyn answered by cutting her off from any share of the island's income for good.

Elissa stayed at Rhaena's side when the queen set up her court on Dragonstone. There she grew fond of Rhaena's young daughter, Princess Aerea Targaryen, telling her of her voyages and promising to teach her to sail. The girl once told her: "I want to be with you. I want to sail the seas and have adventures."

Neither Elissa nor Aerea was happy on the island; Elissa missed the western seas and often spoke of returning to them. With Franklyn denying her any income, she asked Rhaena for the gold to build a large, fast ship at Driftmark that could cross the Sunset Sea. Rhaena refused her.

In 54 AC Elissa asked Rhaena for leave to go; the queen granted it with a hard face, and saying goodbye to Aerea she could not hold back a tear. Before leaving she stole three dragon eggs and, the next day, sailed from Driftmark for Pentos and then Braavos. A fortnight later, the commander of Dragonstone's garrison discovered the theft and told Rhaena, who flew in fury to King's Landing to tell her brother Jaehaerys I. The king only remarked: "Elissa cared nothing for dragons. It was gold she wanted, gold to build a ship. She will sell the eggs. They are worth so much..."

In Braavos, Elissa took the bastard name Alys Hill and sold the three eggs to the Sealord. With that gold, deposited in the Iron Bank, she commissioned the Sun Chaser, a four-masted carrack built for long voyages. When a Braavosi asked her if she meant to reach Yi Ti, she laughed off the idea, though not the route.

On the eve of her departure, the Sealord summoned her to a farewell feast and warned her: "Be careful, my lady, but go. They are searching for you all along the narrow sea. Questions are being asked, rewards offered. I would not have you found in Braavos. We came here to be free of old Valyria, and your Targaryens are Valyrian to the bone. Go far. Go now."

As Alys Hill, Elissa arrived in Oldtown to recruit a crew, offering triple pay to any sailor willing to head west. On hearing of the venture, Lord Donnel Hightower sent his grandsons Norman and Eustace, who joined with their own ships and men. The Sun Chaser sailed from Oldtown on the twenty-third day of the third moon of 56 AC, escorted by the Autumn Moon and the Lady Meredith.

After a long and troubled crossing, the crew found three islands unknown until then and named them Aegon, Rhaenys and Visenya. A quarrel with Ser Eustace split the ships apart: the Lady Meredith turned east while Elissa held her course west, chasing the sun. She was never seen again.

Years later, Lord Corlys Velaryon believed he had spotted the Sun Chaser in Asshai, though the vessel he saw was so old and battered that even he could not say for certain it was the same ship.