Dalla

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Dalla
Dalla by Jason Engle.jpg
Dalla, by Jason Engle © Fantasy Flight Games

Allegiance Mance Rayder
Culture Free folk
Died In 300 AC, Near Castle Black
Spouse King Mance Rayder
Issue Aemon Steelsong
Books

Dalla is a wildling and the wife of Mance Rayder. She has a sister, Val.[1]

Appearance and character

According to Jon Snow, Dalla looks so heavily pregnant that it's surprising she can move.[2]

Mance Rayder thinks his new queen is good[1] and wise.[3] Melisandre agrees that Dalla's words are wise.[4]

History

Val's fine white clothes were given to her by her sister.[5]

Recent Events

A Storm of Swords

Dalla, by Tobba © Fantasy Flight Games

The pregnant Dalla is cooking a brace of hens when Jon Snow is brought to Mance Rayder. When Jon wonders if Mance had abandoned the Night's Watch for Dalla, the King-Beyond-the-Wall informs him that he met Dalla upon his return to the lands beyond the Wall, after secretly attending King Robert I Baratheon's visit to Winterfell.[1]

Mance instructs Varamyr to protect Dalla during the battle beneath the Wall,[3] but the skinchanger is incapacitated when Melisandre magically burns Orell's eagle.[6] Jon protects the tent during the battle, tasking Val to act as midwife in the chaos.[3] Dalla gives birth to a son, but dies in childbirth.[7][6]

After the battle, Dalla's son, the so-called "wildling prince", is kept at Castle Black, and fed goats' milk and potions made by Maester Aemon. When Gilly arrives at Castle Black, he is given over to her care, to nurse alongside her own infant son.[7]

A Feast for Crows

Jon Snow, now the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, hears that Melisandre plans to sacrifice Dalla's son for his king's blood, in order to wake a dragon.[8] To protect the baby, Jon arranges for him to be secretly switched with Gilly's son.[9][10] Dalla's baby is sent with Gilly, Samwell Tarly, and Maester Aemon to Oldtown,[11] while Gilly's babe remains at Castle Black. For much of the journey, Gilly is overcome with grief at being separated from her child,[10][12] but eventually comes to love Dalla's child as much as she loves her own.[13] At Maester Aemon's funeral aboard the Cinnamon Wind, Gilly suggests that when the baby turns two years old, he should be named Aemon Battleborn or Aemon Steelsong, in honor of the late maester and because the boy was born during the battle beneath the Wall.[14]

A Dance with Dragons

Jon Snow recalls how he convinced Gilly to secretly take Dalla's baby and leave her own child behind.[9]

Jon speaks with Melisandre about sorcery, and mentions what Dalla had told him about it.[4]

Quotes by Dalla

Dalla, by Eluas ©

We free folk know things you kneelers have forgotten. Sometimes the short road is not the safest, Jon Snow. The Horned Lord once said that sorcery is a sword without a hilt. There is no safe way to grasp it.[3]

—Dalla to Jon Snow

Quotes about Dalla

The good woman at the brazier is Dalla. Treat her like you would any queen, she is carrying my child.[1]

It's a wise woman I've found. A true queen.[3]

Mance Rayder to Dalla

Fire is a cruel way to die. Dalla died to give this child life, but you have nourished him, cherished him. You saved your own boy from the ice. Now save hers from the fire.[9]

Jon: Dalla told me something once. Val's sister, Mance Rayder's wife. She said that sorcery was a sword without a hilt. There is no safe way to grasp it.
Melisandre: A wise woman. A sword without a hilt is still a sword, though, and a sword is a fine thing to have when foes are all about.[4]

Family

 
Man of the
Night's Watch
 
Free folk
woman
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mance
Rayder
 
Dalla
 
Val
 
Jarl
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Aemon
Steelsong
 


References