Ellaria Sand
Ellaria Arena
Ellaria Sand is the baseborn daughter of a Dornish lord and the paramour of Prince Oberyn Martell, with whom she has four daughters, the youngest of the women known as the Sand Snakes. Her devotion to Oberyn takes her from Dorne to the court of King's Landing, where she finds herself caught up in the scheming of the realm's great houses.
Described as striking rather than conventionally beautiful, with a fierce and gentle heart, she worships a Lysene goddess of love and shares with Oberyn a relationship far removed from the customs of the rest of Westeros.
Chapter 1
A place beside the prince
Oberyn Martell
Margaery Tyrell
Cersei LannisterWhen Prince Oberyn takes the seat offered to his brother Doran on the Small Council, Ellaria travels with him to the capital. Among the first places they visit is Chataya's brothel, where Oberyn indulges one of the tastes they share as a couple: taking a third person to bed together.
The court also invites them to the wedding of King Joffrey Baratheon and Margaery Tyrell. At the feast, Queen Cersei Lannister makes sure Ellaria is seated as far as possible from the Tyrell table, a small gesture that says plainly how uneasy Dorne's place at court really is.
Chapter 2
The price of the combat
Tyrion Lannister
Gregor CleganeWhen Oberyn is chosen to judge Tyrion Lannister, Cersei offers him marriage in exchange for a vote against the dwarf. Ellaria thinks he should take the offer, and even pictures the three of them sharing a bed together, a fantasy that says a great deal about how she understands desire and power.
Ellaria watches Tyrion's trial by combat, where Oberyn faces Ser Gregor Clegane. It is there that she sees the man she has shared two daughters and a lifetime of travel, wagers and court quarrels with die.
Chapter 3
The return to Dorne
After Oberyn's death, Ellaria brings his remains back to Dorne. When the elder Sand Snakes are arrested for plotting, Prince Doran decides to confine Ellaria and her four daughters to the Water Gardens, away from the scheming, so they won't be drawn into it.
There, removed from the politics of Westeros, she raises her daughters with the same quiet strength that has always marked her, though Oberyn's absence weighs on every decision she makes for them.
Chapter 4
The shadow of revenge
Tywin LannisterEllaria is present when Balon Swann arrives in Dorne bearing Ser Gregor Clegane's head as an offering. Soon after, she overhears Obara arguing with Prince Doran and starts putting the pieces together: the deaths of Gregor Clegane, Tywin Lannister, Robert Baratheon and Amory Lorch look to her like revenge for the murder of Princess Elia and her children.
She then fears for her own daughters, so young and so admiring of their older sisters, who might be swept into that revenge without ever having sought it. Doran reassures her and tells her to go back to them.