Martell mother of Doran
Not to be confused with Martell (father of Maron).
Head of House Martell, she was Lady of Sunspear and Princess of Dorne through the reigns of Aegon V, Jaehaerys II, and Aerys II Targaryen.
She was the mother of Doran, Elia, and Oberyn Martell, and spent much of her life trying to secure good marriages for her children, a task the rest of Westeros made anything but easy.
Chapter 1
A lady companion at court
Books only
As a young woman, the princess spent time at the court in King's Landing. There she served as a lady companion to Princess Rhaella Targaryen, alongside another young noblewoman, Joanna Lannister, with whom she became friends.
Chapter 2
The children of Sunspear
248–258 ACBooks only
In 248 AC she gave birth to her first son, Prince Doran, who would be her heir. For years he remained an only child, as the princess suffered several miscarriages before she was able to have more children.
In time she had four more, though two of them, Mors and Olyvar, died as infants. In 257 AC her daughter Elia was born a month early; the girl was frail and sickly, and survived against the expectations of her own brother Doran, who thought she would die like the others. A year later her last child, Oberyn, was born.
Chapter 3
The water that never came
270 ACBooks only
Aerys II TargaryenIn 270 AC King Aerys II Targaryen visited Sunspear and promised the princess he would make the deserts of Dorne bloom, digging a great tunnel beneath the Red Mountains to bring water from the Rainwood. As with almost all his projects, the king forgot about it soon after.
Chapter 4
The journey of the suitors
273 ACBooks only
Tywin Lannister
Rhaegar TargaryenIn 273 AC, once Elia was old enough to marry, the princess arranged a journey across Westeros with her husband and younger children so the girl could meet prospective suitors. Elia turned them all down, largely because of how her brother Oberyn behaved along the way.
The princess, who had been friends with Joanna Lannister as a young woman, took Oberyn and Elia to Casterly Rock hoping to marry one of them to one of Joanna and Lord Tywin Lannister's twins. But Joanna had died shortly before giving birth to her youngest son, and Tywin showed no interest at all: he already meant to marry his daughter Cersei to Prince Rhaegar Targaryen.
Chapter 5
The last revenge
279 ACBooks only
In early 279 AC the princess betrothed her daughter Elia to Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, heir to Aerys II. As her son Oberyn would later tell it, the match was a way of settling a score with Lord Tywin Lannister, who had wanted Rhaegar for Cersei and had earlier turned down a marriage tie between the Lannisters and the Martells.
The princess never saw the wedding: she fell gravely ill around that same time and died, by most accounts, around that year.