Mellario

In Norvos, Prince Doran Martell noticed her during a festival where the city's three bells were ringing. Mellario always travelled with her personal guard, Areo Hotah, a Norvoshi axeman who would later follow her to Dorne.

When Doran returned to his homeland, she went with him, and in 273 AC the two became betrothed.

The marriage followed soon after the betrothal. Their first daughter, Princess Arianne, was born in 276 AC; five years later came Prince Quentyn, and in 287 AC the youngest, Trystane, was born.

Mellario and Doran had married for love, something uncommon among the great houses of Westeros.

Dornish customs, including how noble children were raised, clashed with what Mellario had known in Norvos. When Doran decided to send Quentyn, still a boy, to serve as squire to Lord Anders Yronwood at Yronwood, Mellario protested fiercely, accusing her husband of treating his own son like a coin used to pay off a debt.

Doran sent Quentyn away regardless, and Mellario never forgave him for it.

Years later, Doran also planned to send Arianne to Tyrosh, to serve as cupbearer to the city's Archon. Mellario threatened to harm herself if another of her children was taken from her.

This time Doran relented, and Arianne remained in Dorne, though the wounds in the marriage stayed open.

Divorce is uncommon in Westeros, but Mellario eventually returned to Norvos on her own. Because Doran was Prince of Dorne, their children stayed with him, and she was the one who had to leave them behind.

The separation left her with a bitterness she has never hidden.

When the plot to crown Princess Myrcella Baratheon queen came to light, Ser Andrey Dalt was punished for his role in it: he was sent to Norvos to serve Lady Mellario for three years.