In Game of Thrones, the great houses of Westeros
are the Starks, Greyjoys, Tullys, Arryns, Lannisters, Tyrells, Baratheons, and Martells. All these families are important to the story,
but some of these plotlines are totally different in the books compared to the TV show, especially
the Martells of Dorne. Dorne is a land of scorching deserts and red
mountains, of scorpions, snakes, and oases. Dorne has its own distinct culture, cause
a thousand years ago, a foreign princess called Nymeria led her people to migrate to Dorne. So Dorne has more equality for women – Dornish
women have equal rights to inherit and rule as a man does. And Dorne is more relaxed about sex – paramours
and bastards and homosexuality are more accepted in Dorne. Three hundred years ago, when Aegon Targaryen
conquered Westeros, Dorne was the only kingdom to resist him, using guerrilla tactics to
escape his dragons. Dorne only joined the other kingdoms much
later – and not by conquest, but by marriage between the Martells and Targaryens. So Dorne has a proud history of independence
and defiance – the Martell words are “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken”. Eighteen years ago, the King of Westeros was
Aerys Targaryen, and the heir to the throne was Prince Rhaegar, the older brother of Viserys
and Daenerys. Rhaegar married Elia Martell, the beloved
sister of Doran and Oberyn Martell. And their uncle Lewyn was in the Kingsguard. So the Martells were closely tied to the Targaryen
throne, giving them lots of political influence and prestige. Rhaegar and Elia had two kids – future rulers
of Westeros. But unfortunately, King Aerys was a mad cruel
tyrant, and Prince Rhaegar ran off with Lyanna Stark to have a prophecy baby, so Robert Baratheon
fought a war to make himself King. Rhaegar and Lewyn were killed in battle. Tywin Lannister attacked King’s Landing,
and his soldier, the Mountain, Gregor Clegane [and Amory Lorch], raped and killed Princess
Elia and her two children. Elia was meant to become Rhaegar’s queen,
her children were gonna rule Westeros. But all that was lost, and King Robert married
Cersei, so a Lannister became the queen instead of Elia. So Elia’s brothers Doran and Oberyn were
furious and aggrieved. They lost their beloved sister, and her children,
and their uncle Lewyn, and lost their political prospects with the Targaryens. Ever since, they’ve wanted revenge against
the Lannisters, and to get a Targaryen back in power – they want “Vengeance. Justice. Fire and blood.” But they don’t get it right away. The Prince of Dorne is Doran Martell. He’s a “cautious”, “patient”, ruler,
who thinks carefully before taking action. Doran is full of pain and grief. He suffers from gout, a disease that causes
swollen painful joints – “and he still mourns his sister Elia”. So Doran sits in a wheelchair in a palace
called the Water Gardens, watching children play. The kids remind him of his responsibility
to protect the people of Dorne. He wants revenge against the Lannisters, but
he also wants to protect innocent lives. So Doran won’t start a war that he might
lose – Doran plays the game of thrones to win. Oberyn is the opposite to Doran. Known as the Red Viper, he’s “dangerous”
and “unpredictable”. Provocative and passionate, a warrior and
a womaniser. When he was sixteen, Oberyn had sex with Lord
Yronwood’s paramour, and they fought a duel over her. Oberyn used a poisoned weapon, so Yronwood
was killed, which was a problem cause the Yronwoods are the second most powerful house
in Dorne. To prevent conflict, Doran gave his son Quentyn
to be fostered with the Yronwoods. And Oberyn went overseas for a while – fighting
as a mercenary, studying as a maester, and fathering bastards all over the world. So Doran and Oberyn are very different, but
Doran says they work together closely. He says if Oberyn is a viper, Doran is the
grass, hiding the viper before it strikes. In Book 2, Westeros is at war, and King Joffrey
needs allies. So Tyrion Lannister offers an alliance with
Dorne, and Doran accepts. Princess Myrcella goes to Dorne and is betrothed
to marry Trystane, Doran’s younger son. Myrcella and Trystane are young kids in the
books, and they develop an adorable innocent friendship – but soon, their families’
feuds threaten their peaceful lives [like Montague and Capulets]. Tyrion invites Doran to come to King’s Landing
and join the small council. But instead of cautious patient Doran, the
Red Viper arrives. Oberyn demands “justice” for the death
of Elia, and wants vengeance against Gregor and Tywin. So in Tyrion’s trial by combat, Oberyn fights
the Mountain. He wounds Gregor with a poisoned spear, but
Gregor kills Oberyn. It’s not clear what Doran and Oberyn’s
plan was here – [Doran says conflicting things] – but this attempt at justice just
makes things worse. Oberyn’s death inflames the Dornish people
into uproar. They want war against the Lannisters to avenge
Oberyn and Elia, and leading the call are Oberyn’s daughters, the Sand Snakes. Oberyn had eight bastard daughters, by five
different mothers. They all have different personalities and
skills – but they all have Oberyn’s “viper eyes”. The eldest, Obara, is a warrior – strong
and fierce and angry. Nymeria is beautiful and ladylike, but deadly
with hidden blades. Tyene seems innocent and sweet, but she’s
an expert with poisons. After Oberyn’s death, the Snakes come to
Doran and demand war. So Doran imprisons the Sand Snakes, to keep
the peace. It seems like Doran is playing nice with the
Lannisters. People think he’s just too weak and “afraid”
to avenge his siblings. So Doran’s daughter takes action. Arianne Martell is Prince Doran’s heir – meaning
she’ll rule Dorne after he dies. But Arianne feels that Doran doesn’t trust
or respect or love her. He never shares his plans with her, and never
teaches her to rule, and never arranged a good marriage for her. Arianne believes that Doran wants to make
his son Quentyn his heir instead of her – and Arianne refuses to be cheated of her of birthright. So Arianne starts a secret plot – she plans
to crown Myrcella as Queen of Westeros, a rival to King Tommen, to provoke war between
Dorne and the Lannisters. This war would give the Martells their vengeance,
and would position Arianne to rule Dorne, instead of Quentyn and Doran. So Arianne seduces Myrcella’s guard, Ser
Arys, and she and her friends take Myrcella, but she’s caught by Doran’s guard Areo
Hotah. Ser Arys is killed, and this emo asshole Darkstar
attacks Myrcella. Darkstar cuts off part of Myrcella’s face,
before fleeing into the desert. So Arianne’s plot goes terribly wrong. And it turns out the whole thing was based
on a “misunderstanding”. Doran doesn’t hate Arianne, or want Quentyn
to rule Dorne – Doran has plans for Arianne. It turns out that all this time that Doran
avoided war, and made peace with the Lannisters, he was secretly planning revenge – he’s
“worked at the downfall of Tywin Lannister since the day they told [him] of Elia”. Doran reveals that after Robert took over
Westeros, the Martells made a secret pact with the Targaryens to marry Arianne to Viserys
Targaryen. The plan was that the Martells would help
Viserys take back the Throne, and destroy the Lannisters – for “Vengeance”, “Justice”,
“Fire and blood”. But since Doran was so cautious and patient,
he didn’t want to risk war until Viserys was ready, and had an army. So for like ten years Doran didn’t tell
Arianne or Viserys about the marriage pact. And Doran didn’t help Viserys and Daenerys
while they grew up on the streets of Essos. Viserys died never knowing about the pact. And Doran’s secrecy just alienated his own
daughter to the point where she plotted against him. So Doran’s plan failed. But now that the Viserys is dead, Doran has
a new plan – instead of Arianne marrying Viserys, he’ll have his son Quentyn marry
Daenerys. That way Dorne can help Daenerys take the
Throne, and get vengeance on the Lannisters, and Quentyn and Daenerys can be King and Queen
of Westeros, while Arianne can rule Dorne. It’s a nice plan – but like the previous
plan, it’s a fucken disaster. Quentyn Martell goes on a long and dangerous
journey to Meereen, to marry Daenerys Targaryen. He tells himself it’s a “grand adventure”,
like the heroes in the stories – a young prince and his friends travel to distant lands,
to marry “The most beautiful woman in the world”. But Quentyn learns that adventure stinks. His best friend gets killed by pirates. He’s forced to join with mercenaries, and
to fight in war-torn Astapor. The whole journey is traumatic and horrible,
and when Quentyn finally meets Daenerys, and offers to marry her, she laughs. Cause Quentyn’s nickname is Frog, and Daenerys
knows fairy tales about frogs who turn into enchanted princes for their true love. But sadly, Quentyn is “Neither enchanted
nor enchanting”. Quentyn isn’t a handsome Prince Charming. He’s short and awkward [and thicc] and kinda
fugly. His personality is like his father’s – he’s
“sensible”, “dutiful”, and “dull”, while Daenerys is attracted to hot bad boys
with blue beards like Daario. Quentyn says Dorne will help Daenerys take
Westeros, but Dorne is no help to Daenerys now – she’s busy trying to bring peace
to Meereen. So Daenerys marries Hizdahr instead, and then
she fucks off on a dragon and disappears, leaving Quentyn feeling like an idiot. He crossed half the world to marry Daenerys. If he goes home without her, he’ll disappoint
his father and fail his country. So Quentyn decides to be brave and bold like
the heroes in the stories. He plans to steal one of Daenerys’ dragons,
and fly it to find Daenerys, and win her heart, and take her back to Dorne for fire and blood. But it turns out -- being a brave young prince
is not enough to tame a ten-tonne fire-breathing lizard – and Dany’s dragons burn Quentyn
alive. Quentyn’s last word is “Oh”. So life is not like a fairy tale. And another Martell plan for fire and blood
ends in disaster. Back in Dorne, Doran doesn’t know his son
is dead. He’s still waiting for Quentyn to come home,
with Daenerys. A Targaryen does land in Westeros – but
not the Targaryen he was expecting. In the books, there’s this kid called Young
Griff. Varys and Illyrio claim that Young Griff is
Aegon Targaryen, the son of Rhaegar Targaryen, and Elia Martell. Everyone thinks that Aegon died in Robert’s
Rebellion. But Varys claims that they secretly swapped
out the baby, so some other baby died, and the real Aegon survived – and Varys and
Illyrio have a conspiracy to make this Aegon King of Westeros. There are hints that this Aegon is fake, and
he’s not really Elia’s son – go watch the Varys video. But real or fake, Aegon could take the Iron
Throne – his army has taken some castles, and Tommen’s throne under Cersei is weak. So Aegon asks Doran for an alliance. Doran hopes that this kid really is his long
lost nephew, Elia’s son. But Doran is cautious, and wants to make sure
that Aegon’s legit, so Doran sends Arianne to check him out. After her plot with Myrcella, Arianne seems
to have changed, to have become loyal and obedient to Doran. He tells her to just meet with Aegon, and
report back, to be patient and careful. But Arianne still has ambitions. Arianne feels jealous that if Quentyn marries
Daenerys and they take the Throne, Quentyn will be king of Westeros, while Arianne will
only rule Dorne – will she have to kneel to “King Quentyn”?. This sibling rivalry might lead Arianne to
take bold action. Fans speculate that Arianne might yolo it
and suddenly marry Aegon. Cause if Aegon becomes King, his wife Arianne
would be Queen of Westeros – so she wouldn’t have to kneel to anyone. But like every other Martell plan, this might
end badly. It is very possible that Aegon and Arianne
will take the Throne in King’s Landing. But eventually, Daenerys and her dragons will
arrive – and she won’t be happy to find a fake Targaryen sitting on her Throne. Author George Martin has hinted that there’ll
be a second Dance of the Dragons, a civil war between Targaryens – meaning that Aegon
and Daenerys might fight. One character has a dream that dragons are
coming, and everywhere the dragons dance, the people die. So the ending of the books will be different
to the TV show, but it seems likely that Daenerys and Aegon’s conflict, along with Cersei
and Aerys’ wildfire, will cause King’s Landing to burn. And if Arianne is with Aegon, she’ll burn
too. Like Oberyn and like Quentyn, Arianne’s
desire for fire and blood, may end in fire and blood. The Sand Snakes might also be doomed. Obara Nymeria and Tyene swear obedience to
Doran. Doran sends Obara with Areo and Ser Balon,
to go kill Darkstar, the edgelord who attacked Myrcella. It’s 3 v 1. But Darkstar is “dangerous” – and he
might steal Dawn, a legendary magic sword. We’re warned that Darkstar might kill Obara. If Obara survives Darkstar, she might go to
nearby Oldtown. Cause Obara’s mother was from Oldtown, and
she seems to have some major mommy issues, cause she now “hates” Oldtown – says
she wants to attack, and burn the city. [Raiding Oldtown is a time-honoured tradition
for the Dornish]. And interestingly, Obara’s sister Sarella
is at Oldtown, studying as a maester at the Citadel, in disguise. Sarella loves Oldtown as much as Obara hates
it. So it could be dramatic if Obara attacks the
city – at the same time that Euron and his apocalyptic magic are approaching. Fundamentally, Obara is motivated by anger
– she’s “chasing after something she can never catch”. Maybe at Oldtown, or with Darkstar, Obara
will be killed, tragically consumed by her fury. Meanwhile, Tyene and Nymeria are going to
King’s Landing. Doran wants Tyene to infiltrate the High Sparrow’s
sept, and for Nymeria to join Queen Cersei’s council. Cersei is about to go on trial for adultery
and treason. And her champion is Robert Strong, the reanimated
corpse of the Mountain, Gregor Clegane, who killed Elia and Oberyn. The Lannisters say Gregor is dead. They even send Gregor’s skull to Dorne,
which raises the question, how does Gregor have a head without his skull? Was someone else’s giant skull sent to Dorne? Or does Gregor now have someone else’s head,
or some gnarly necromantic clusterfuck under his helmet Bran has a dream of “darkness
and thick black blood” beneath a giant’s helm. Maybe that’ll be dramatically revealed during
Cersei’s trial by combat. Cause Nymeria says that if Gregor appears
again, Cersei “will be exposed as a liar before all the Seven Kingdoms”. Nymeria and Tyene will be furious that the
man who murdered their father still fights for the Lannisters. Maybe they’ll take revenge. Nymeria says that she wants to murder Tommen. And there is that whole prophecy that Cersei’s
children will die. And Nymeria will be perfectly placed on the
queen’s council, with her hidden blades, and with Tyene’s poison. So maybe the Sand Snakes will kill Tommen,
and maybe Myrcella as well, in a horrific bloody act of vengeance. Maybe the deaths of her children will lead
Cersei to burn King’s Landing, or maybe it’ll be Dany’s dragonfire – but either
way, in the flames, Nymeria and Tyene’s obsession with vengeance may end with their
deaths by fire and blood – just like Oberyn Quentyn Arianne and Obara before them. All of Doran’s plans for vengeance justice
fire and blood go terribly wrong. Partly because he’s too cautious, and untrusting
– Barristan says Doran “keeps his secrets” “Too well”. And Doran waits too long. Doran’s first line describes the orange
trees in his Water Garden – “The blood oranges are well past ripe” – he waits
too long, so they fall and splat upon the ground. If Doran had attacked the Lannisters earlier,
while Tywin and Gregor were still alive, then maybe the Martells could’ve got justice
for Elia’s murder. But now that Tywin and Gregor are dead, they
can only get vengeance on Tywin’s family, who had nothing to do with Elia’s murder. So at this point, a war for vengeance will
only cause more death and suffering. Oberyn’s paramour Ellaria says vengeance
is an endless terrible cycle of violence. Oberyn died avenging Elia. Now the Sand Snakes want to avenge him. If they die, will their younger sisters have
to die for them? There’s no meaning in death. Having Gregor’s skull doesn’t make Ellaria
happy – a skull can’t warm her bed or make her smile. As Quentyn’s friend tells him right before
he gets himself burned, “Men’s lives have meaning, not their deaths”. Justice can have meaning, but Obara Nymeria
and Tyene’s obsession with vengeance, by murdering children, and starting wars, can
only end badly. And Arianne puts her country at risk for the
sake of her pride and ambition. Ellaria says that “Doom and death are coming”
to Dorne. You can imagine Doran sitting in the Water
Gardens, when Quentyn’s bones come home. And he’ll realise that all his careful plots
and plans have only got his family killed. Tragically, the Martells’ might for justice
and vengeance just causes more injustice and death. Sometimes fire and blood only makes ash. There are more theories and details about
Dorne that we couldn’t fit in this video. So we made a little extra bonus Dorne video,
that you can watch now on Nebula. Nebula is an independent creator-owned video
site where we don’t have to worry about YouTube’s demonetisation or The Algorithm. Nebula has exclusive content from people like
Lindsay Ellis, MinuteEarth, TierZoo, Wendover, and more. You can get Nebula in a bundle with CuriosityStream
– CuriosityStream has thousands of documentaries, like David Attenborough nature flicks, and
The Real War of Thrones, which explores the real history that inspired Game of Thrones. With the link below, you can get CuriosityStream
and Nebula for a year for just 15 bucks. You get heaps of quality content, including
this little Dorne video, and you’re supporting some of the smartest creators online – and
Alt Shift X. Sign up at curiositystream.com/AltShiftX. Thanks for watching. Please like comment and subscribe. Links to the artists are in the description,
as well as some essays to read more about Dorne. Thanks to Patrons Danielle LaPlante, Jake
Rosenberg, Devorah Lynch, Amber Leon Helleman, Zeki Kazan, and EdithWithTheManHands. Cheers.
The first time I read “The Princess in the Tower,” I was so hyped cause I thought Doran was a genius. I was so ready to see some ass-kicking Dornish action taking down Cersei and helping Dany to the throne.
Re-reading it after ADWD and the TWOW spoilers and I really just see the truth of the overripe blood orange analogy. All his plots are just...rotten.
Alt shift x does such a good job condensing the storylines down and providing many possible branching points for them too. Such a joy to see a video dedicated to my favorite of the kingdoms.
Pleasantly surprised to see theory channels like AltShift still alive and kicking, despite mainstream hype around the story ending with the show.
Every time I see Alt Shift X post an asoiaf video I get so excited!
"Revenge is a fool's game." - Arthur Morgan.
PR : I think Doran may be an actual mastermind since...
Alt shift x : Nah he's just an idiot
Papa Alt Shift did it again
Doran's plan is to let his enemies live long and fulfilling lives. He wants to wait for all players to die or decide to stop playing the game of thrones, then show up and say he won by W.O. It is even fun to see Doran regret that Tyrion took his chance to get revenge at Tywin, forgetting that he did nothing against the Lannister for fifteen years.
<Twitches>
All I ever wanted in life was for GoT to be good enough for Alt Shift X to never stop making weekly videos