Sharra Arryn

Sharra was born thirty-seven years before the Conquest, a decade before Aegon Targaryen himself. She was remembered as one of the most beautiful women in Westeros, nicknamed the Flower of the Mountain.

When Aegon made his intentions known to the lords of Westeros, Sharra answered with a portrait of herself and a condition: her son would marry into House Targaryen only if Ronnel were named his heir. The offer tried to buy through marriage what the Vale might not be able to hold by force.

Aegon turned the offer down, with no explanation recorded.

The Vale managed to beat back the invaders at the battle of Gulltown, but the victory cost it the fleet: Visenya Targaryen burned it to ash riding Vhagar. With no ships left to watch the sea, the Three Sisters rose up against the Eyrie.

Sharra answered by massing the Vale's land army at the Bloody Gate, while Aegon kept adding regions to his conquest elsewhere in Westeros.

Aegon sent Visenya straight at the Eyrie, and she landed Vhagar in the castle's courtyard while Sharra was out inspecting the Stone, Snow, and Sky gates. Coming back to the throne room, the regent queen found her son sitting on Visenya's lap.

The boy asked if he could go flying with her. No further threat needed voicing. Sharra gathered the Vale's three crowns — her own, her son's, and her dead husband's — and handed them to Visenya, bending the knee to the new dynasty. House Arryn kept the Vale, now as Wardens of the East and Defenders of the Vale within the Seven Kingdoms.