In Fire & Blood, an interesting question is raised about where the Dornish go during Aegon’s Conquest. The Dornish, led by Meria Martell, use guerilla tactics to persevere against relentless Targaryen attack. They vanish from their castles, buring their crops and causing Targaryen forces to swelter in the southern heat.
In fact, Aegon is so sure of the Dornish’s absence that he declares victory after completing a full sweep of their lands. As if called out to battle, the vanished Dornish suddenly reappear and wreak havoc on the retreating Targaryen forces. Understanding the secret behind this Dornish magic trick may be key to understanding what is in store for Arianne Martell.
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MELTING INTO THE SAND
While it is never explicitly stated how the Dornish vanish, we do get some hints. We know that House Wyl uses a cavern system built deep into the mountains.
King Aegon himself descended on the mountain fastnesses of the Wyls with Balerion, and reduced half a dozen of their keeps and watchtowers to heaps of molten stone. The Wyls took refuge in caves and tunnels beneath their mountains, however, and it was found that the Widow-lover lived another twenty years.
FIRE & BLOOD, pg. 33
The Wyls aren’t the only ones who use the mountains to vanish from sight. Joffrey Dayne and the Vulture King also do so.
Lord Caron and his wife and children had been carried back to Dorne as captives. Rather than pursue, Ser Addam returned at once to Oldtown to relieve the city, but Ser Joffrey [Dayne] and his army had melted into the mountains as well.
FIRE & BLOOD, pg. 34
The second [Vulture King]… knew the mountains well, however, and when pursued he would simply disappear, to reappear at will.
FIRE & BLOOD, pg. 289
However, the mountains’ hidden caverns and paths don’t explain how vast populations in East Dorne are evacuated and retaken so quickly.
Wherever the Dornish are hiding, it must…
- Have access to water
- Be safe from dragonfire
- Be in close proximity to the evacuation point
- Be relatively large
The hiding place must be close because of how quickly the Dornish evacuate. They are also immediately aware of when the Targaryen forces come and go. It must be big because large populations disappear, not to mention an entire army.
But somewhere east of the Hellholt, amidst the red sands, [Harlan] Tyrell and his entire army disappeared. No man of them was ever seen again.
FIRE & BLOOD, pg. 33
The remains of which the Dornish suggest are not buried in the sand.
Setting out with his garrison at Hellholt to conquer Vaith and retake Sunspear, Lord Harlan Tyrell and his entire army vanished in the sands, never to be heard from again. The reports of travelers in the area claim that occasionally the winds shift the sands to reveal bones and pieces of armor, but the sandy Dornishmen who wander the deep desert say that the sands are the burial grounds of thousands of years of battles, and the bones might be from any time.
DORNE: DORNE AGAINST THE DRAGONS, THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE
There are some very interesting similarities in how this “vanishing” is described, particularly in themes of the underground.
“The Yellow Toad has melted into the sand,” Queen Rhaenys told King Aegon.
FIRE & BLOOD, pg. 32
The same was the case when the Targaryens at last came to Sunspear, where Princess Meria (mocked by her foes as the Yellow Toad of Dorne but to this day a hero to the Dornish) had herself vanished into the sands.
DORNE: DORNE AGAINST THE DRAGONS, THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE
Dornish spearmen appeared from nowhere, like desert flowers after a rain.
FIRE & BLOOD, pg. 32
…but Ser Joffrey [Dayne] and his army had melted into the mountains as well.
FIRE & BLOOD, pg. 34
We also know water is an extremely important component of Dornish history and architecture. The Water Gardens are an extremely important fixture in Dorne, and are also the location where Doran does most of his plotting. Perhaps more importantly, the land itself is excessively dry and hardly arable.
The children of the forest called Dorne the Empty Land, and for good reason. The eastern half of Dorne is largely barren scrub, its dry, stony soil yielding little, even when irrigated.
DORNE, THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE
Even Garth Greenhand could not make flowers bloom in an environment so harsh and unforgiving if the tales told in the Reach can be believed. (Dorne’s own legends make no mention of Garth.)
DORNE, THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE
The Dornish make the most of their land by settling near the Greenblood:
Some there were who saw a beauty in that stark, hot, cruel land and chose to make their homes there. Most of them settled along the banks of the river they named the Greenblood. Though meager when compared to the Mander, the Trident, or the Blackwater Rush, the waters of the Greenblood are truly the lifeblood of Dorne.
DORNE, THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE
They then proceed to build an irrigation system. And where this irrigation system doesn’t reach, water is accessed through wells, or groundwater.
The sandy Dornishmen are more Rhoynish and are used to the harsh way of life in the desert. The rivers of Dorne are paltry when compared to the Mander or the Trident, but they bring water enough to irrigate fields and sustain villages and towns. Outside of them, however, men live in different fashion: moving from desert oasis to desert oasis, crossing the sands with the aid of what wells they know of in the midst of the wastes, raising their children along with their goats and their horses.
DORNE: QUEER CUSTOMS OF THE SOUTH
According to George R. R. Martin, Dorne is inspired by southern Spain, specifically Moorish culture. From this we can derive the irrigation system likely used by the Dornish. Qanats were an ancient system of water supply used primarily in the Middle East (also a likely inspiration for Dorne); however, the Moors also brought qanats to Spain. In Madrid, they are called viajes de agua.
The qanats themselves are long horizontal tunnels built into the side of mountains. They are able transport groundwater to distant cities and farms using only gravity. In other words, they are the perfect form of water supply for Dorne. Not only that, but they have also been used to hide from invaders.
I believe a vast network of cavernous, qanat-like tunnels exists beneath Dorne. The Dornish hid in them throughout history, primarily to escape dragonfire.
There is significant pretense for underground architecture in A Song of Ice and Fire.
To the ignorant eye, Castamere seemed a modest holding, a fit seat for a landed knight or small lord, but those who knew its secrets knew that nine-tenths of the castle was beneath the ground.
THE WESTERLANDS: HOUSE LANNISTER UNDER THE DRAGONS, THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE
When seen from the harbor, Nefer appears to be no more than a small town, but it is said that nine-tenths of the city is beneath the ground. For that reason, travelers call Nefer the Secret City. By any name, the city enjoys a sinister reputation as a haunt of necromancers and torturers.
BEYOND THE FREE CITIES: EAST OF IB, THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE
So many of the warriors that Jar Har sent down below the ruins returned mad or not at all that the god-emperor finally decreed the vast underground cities‘ ruins should be sealed up and forgotten.
THE BONES AND BEYOND: LENG, THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE
In 270 AC, during a visit to Sunspear, [Aerys II] told the Princess of Dorne that he would “make the Dornish deserts bloom” by digging a great underground canal beneath the mountains to bring water down from the rainwood.
THE TARGARYEN KINGS: AERYS II, THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE
Hiding in the underground qanat system also makes sense thematically for Dorne. But perhaps most interesting is the realization that in both the mountains and desert, the Dornish hide using caves.
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ARIANNE IN THE CAVES
In Arianne’s second sample chapter, her party, on the way to Storm’s End to treat with Young Griff, enters a cave. In this cave, Arriane wonders about Quentyn, Daenerys, and Young Griff.
Nym and Tyene may have reached King’s Landing by now, she mused, as she settled down crosslegged by the mouth of the cave to watch the falling rain... Prince Trystane had remained safely back at Sunspear, after a tearful parting from Princess Myrcella. That accounts for one brother, thought Arianne, but where is Quentyn, if not with the griffin? Had he wed his dragon queen? King Quentyn. It still sounded silly. This new Daenerys Targaryen was younger than Arianne by half a dozen years. What would a maid that age want with her dull, bookish brother? Young girls dreamed of dashing knights with wicked smiles, not solemn boys who always did their duty. She will want Dorne, though. If she hopes to sit the Iron Throne, she must have Sunspear. If Quentyn was the price for that, this dragon queen would pay it. What if she was at Griffin’s End with Connington, and all this about another Targaryen was just some sort of subtle ruse? Her brother could well be with her. King Quentyn. Will I need to kneel to him?
No good would come of wondering about it. Quentyn would be king or he would not. I pray Daenerys treats him him more gently than she did her own brother.
ARIANNE II, THE WINDS OF WINTER
Arianne, in the same natural structure historically used by the Dornish to avoid Targaryen dragonfire, wonders about her brother, who was just burned alive by Targaryen dragonfire. Not only that, but she also refers to Daenerys as “this new Daenerys Targaryen”. She is most likely referencing “the first Daenerys”, daughter of Aegon IV and sister of King Daeron II. The first Daenerys was wed by King Daeron to Moran Martell, prince of Dorne, which according George R. R. Martin was a major cause of the Blackfyre Rebellion.
“That was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and helps lead to Daemon becoming the first Blackfyre Pretender.“
GEORGE R. R. MARTIN (source)
This creates a historical parallel to the current situation with Arianne, Daenerys, and Young Griff. Rather than a Targaryen woman wedding a Dornish man in spite of a Blackfyre man, a Blackfyre man will wed a Dornish woman in spite of a Targaryen woman.
It also happens to be the case that Moran Martell constructed the water gardens for the first Daenerys, so the importance of water architecture is restated. And the cave Arianne enters resembles the cavernous qanats.
The passageway Arianne had chosen for herself turned steep and wet within a hundred feet… Daemon Sand moved to her side and raised his torch. “Look how the stone’s been shaped,” he said. “Those columns, and the wall there. See them?”
“Faces,” said Arianne. So many sad eyes, staring.
“This place belonged to the children of the forest.”
“A thousand years ago.” Arianne turned her head. “Listen. Is that Joss?”
It was. The other searchers had found Elia, as she and Daemon learned after they made their way back up the slippery slope to the last hall. Their passageway led down to a still black pool, where they discovered the girl up to her waist in water, catching blind white fish with her bare hands, her torch burning red and smoky in the sand where she had planted it.
ARIANNE II, THE WINDS OF WINTER
I believe there are two purposes to this passage. One focuses on the still black pool and faces carved in limestone, which seems to suggest a connection between the children of the forest and the Faceless Men. There is a still black pool in the House of Black and White, and there is also a still black pool in Winterfell’s godswood, above the crypts. The “two fish” Elia catches in the pool may refer to Bran and Rickon (remember they are half Tully), or perhaps Bran and Arya. Meera also catches fish in Bloodraven’s cave.
The other purpose of this passage is to allude to the Dornish avoiding dragonfire via the caves, or otherwise descending into the underground, and suggest Arianne will do the same in the future. Her descent into the caves, with references to sand and fire suggest this, but instead of escaping dragonfire, she is escaping rain.
The likely sequence of events for Arianne seems to be that she will wed Young Griff, and Young Griff will take King’s Landing.
Daenerys’s arc seems to be building up to the fact that she feels entitled to the Iron Throne, and she certainly won’t let Young Griff take it from her, regardless of whether he is a Targaryen. She will bathe King’s Landing in dragonfire (kind of like in the show, but it will make much more thematic sense) in the Second Dance of the Dragons.
It was then that pasty, pudgy Teora raised her eyes from the creamcakes on her plate. “It is dragons.”
“Dragons?” said her mother. “Teora, don’t be mad.”
“I’m not. They’re coming.”
“How could you possibly know that?” her sister asked, with a note of scorn in her voice. “One of your little dreams?”
Teora gave a tiny nod, chin trembling. “They were dancing. In my dream. And everywhere the dragons danced the people died.”
ARIANNE I, THE WINDS OF WINTER
“The second [Dance of the Dragons] will be the subject of a book. The first will be mentioned from time to time, I’m sure. “
GEORGE R. R. MARTIN (source)
Arianne’s death as foreshadowed in the caves will likely be a result of this dance.
“You could have died,” Arianne told her, when she’d heard the tale. She grabbed Elia by the arm and shook her. “If that torch had gone out you would have been alone in the dark, as good as blind. What did you think that you were doing?”
“I caught two fish,” said Elia Sand.
“You could have died,” said Arianne again. Her words echoed off the cavern walls. “… died … died … died …”
ARIANNE II, THE WINDS OF WINTER
However, she may not be burned alive during the second Dance. Instead, she will flee into the cellars of the Red Keep, escaping the dragonfire by going underground. Recall that the skulls of Balerion, Meraxes, and Vhagar (among others) were moved to the cellar by Robert Baratheon.
From there the skulls ranged upward in size to the three great monsters of song and story, the dragons that Aegon Targaryen and his sisters had unleashed on the Seven Kingdoms of old. The singers had given them the names of gods: Balerion, Meraxes, Vhaghar…
Tyrion stood in that dank cellar for a long time, staring at Balerion’s huge, empty-eyed skull until his torch burned low, trying to grasp the size of the living animal, to imagine how it must have looked when it spread its great black wings and swept across the skies, breathing fire.
TYRION II, A GAME OF THRONES
This is significant because these are the dragons the Dornish originally hid from in the First Dornish War. Daenerys also names her ships after them.
“Vhagar,” Daenerys told him. “Meraxes. And Balerion. Paint the names on their hulls in golden letters three feet high, Arstan. I want every man who sees them to know the dragons are returned.”
DAENERYS V, A CLASH OF KINGS
There is also pretext for descending far into the cellars and “catching two fish”.
A flickering light brushed the wall ever so faintly, and she saw that she stood at the top of a great black well, a shaft twenty feet across plunging deep into the earth. Huge stones had been set into the curving walls as steps, circling down and down, dark as the steps to hell that Old Nan used to tell them of. And something was coming up out of the darkness, out of the bowels of the earth…
Arya peered over the edge and felt the cold black breath on her face. Far below, she saw the light of a single torch, small as the flame of a candle. Two men, she made out. Their shadows writhed against the sides of the well, tall as giants. She could hear their voices, echoing up the shaft.
ARYA III, A GAME OF THRONES
My tin-foil prediction is that Arianne will survive the second Dance by descending into the Red Keep’s cellars, only to encounter two strangers in the dark and be promptly murdered. This seems very Martin-esque to me, but ultimately it’s all speculation. as there’s no reason to believe Elia’s cave fiasco will be repeated in every regard. There’s also the question of the fish representing two stark children, which remains unanswered.
I do believe Arianne will escape dragonfire using the cellars, however. Whether or not she will survive the ordeal remains to be seen.
References:
Reddit post from which I learned about qanats. (I was previously only aware of the viajes de agua.)
Blog post about Iranian qanats mentioning how they are used to hide from invaders.
Reddit post that Aegon will take King’s Landing. I know this is a popular idea, and I didn’t want to explain in depth here. But I was looking for a post that explains it well and found this one.
And I suppose I should link an explanation of Young Griff being a Blackfyre.
The Library of Progg 