Samantha Tarly

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House Tarly.svg Lady
Samantha Tarly
House Hightower.svg
The mistress of the Hightower by viscardiac.png
The mistress of the Hightower, by viscardiac ©

Alias Lady Sam[1]
Title Lady of Oldtown[1]
Allegiances
Culture Marcher
Born In 112 AC or 113 AC[2]
Died In 143 AC or after[2]
Father Lord Donald Tarly
Mother Lady Jeyne Rowan
Spouses
Issue Six children[1]
Books

Samantha Tarly, known as Lady Sam, was a member of House Tarly who wed first Lord Ormund Hightower and later his son, Lord Lyonel Hightower.

Appearance and Character

Archmaester Gyldayn describes Samantha as fierce, fiery, and beautiful.[1] She was the founder of the Bank of Oldtown.[3]

History

Dance of the Dragons

Samantha was the daughter of Lord Donald Tarly and Lady Jeyne Rowan. She was the second wife of Lord Ormund Hightower, head of House Hightower and a supporter of the greens during the Dance of the Dragons.[1]

Lord Ormund died at the First Battle of Tumbleton in 130 AC. According to Mushroom, the fifteen-year-old Lord Lyonel Hightower was infatuated with his father's widow, who was only two years older than the young lord, but Samantha refused his advances.[1] House Hightower declined King Aegon II Targaryen's demand for new armies after the Moon of the Three Kings.[4]

During the False Dawn, Lord Corlys Velaryon attempted to make peace between the warring factions. Lord Lyonel initially reacted angrily to the Sea Snake's offer, but Samantha allegedly persuaded her step-son to agree to the Corlys's terms by allowing Lyonel to seduce her and promising to marry him if he made peace. Sam was related to the Tarlys and Rowans, houses which supported the blacks of Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen. Munkun believes that Lord Hightower accepted the terms because of the end to Tyrell neutrality, however.[1]

Regency of Aegon III

Lord Lyonel announced his intention to marry his father's widow, but the reigning High Septon forbade the union as a form of incest. However, Lyonel kept Samantha as his paramour for thirteen years and fathered six children on her.[1] Lyonel and Lady Sam attended the coronation of King Aegon III Targaryen and his wedding to Queen Jaehaera Targaryen, with their presence being so great a scandal that the High Septon refused to travel with them.[5]

Relations between the Hightowers and the Faith of the Seven soured when the High Septon commanded Lady Sam to remove herself from her step-son's bed and take vows as a silent sister as penance. When she refused, the High Septon condemned her as a shameless fornicator and forbade her to set foot in the Starry Sept until she repented. Instead, Samantha mounted a warhorse and burst into the Starry Sept as the High Septon was leading prayer, claiming that while she could not set foot there, the High Septon had said nothing of her horse's hooves, and commanded her men to close the doors, as the sept should be closed to all if it was closed for her. Though the High Septon grew furious, he had no choice but to relent.[5]

After the death of Queen Jaehaera in 133 AC, Lady Sam wrote a letter proposing that Aegon III take two wives: her sister Sansara, and Lord Lyonel's sister, Bethany. Samantha also appended the names of thirty-one other maidens from Houses Ambrose, Beesbury, Cobb, Costayne, Florent, Grimm, Hightower, Redwyne, and Varner who might be suitable as queens. According to Mushroom, Sam offered to suggest the names of boys as well if Aegon were interested, but no other chronicles mention this postscript, and the letter has been lost to history.[6]

Lyonel and Sam hosted Lord Alyn Velaryon when he stopped at Oldtown during his voyage toward the Iron Islands in 133 AC. Alyn became a close friend of the pair due to the courtesy he showed Sam.[7]

Lady Sam protected Lotho Rogare after the fall of House Rogare. The Hightowers remained extremely wealthy as they had not entrusted any of their gold to Lys before the Rogare Bank ran dry. Lotho helped Sam found the prosperous Bank of Oldtown.[3]

Lord Lyonel and Lady Sam made their way to King's Landing with six hundred men in 136 AC when the new regents were to be chosen by lot.[3] Lord Torrhen Manderly and the regents planned for Aegon III to visit Lyonel and Samantha in Oldtown during a royal progress to mark his coming of age, but the king abruptly cancelled the progress and dismissed his regents.[3]

Later Life

A new High Septon eventually reversed the position of his predecessor, allowing Lyonel to marry Sam, and by the same occasion legitimized their six chidren.[8][1]

Along with Johanna Lannister, Sharis Footly, and Alys Rivers, Samantha is featured in Archmaester Abelon's When Women Ruled: Ladies of the Aftermath.[5]

Family

 
 
 
 
 
 
Donald
 
Jeyne
Rowan
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ormund
Hightower
 
Samantha
 
Lyonel
Hightower
 
Sansara
 
Alan
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Six children
 


References

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Fire & Blood, Aftermath - The Hour of the Wolf.
  2. 2.0 2.1 See the Samantha Tarly calculation.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Fire & Blood, The Lysene Spring and the End of Regency.
  4. Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons - The Short, Sad Reign of Aegon II.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Fire & Blood, Under the Regents - The Hooded Hand.
  6. Fire & Blood, Under the Regents - War and Peace and Cattle Shows.
  7. Fire & Blood, Under the Regents - The Voyage of Alyn Oakenfist.
  8. Which bastards in Westeros were automatically legitimized once their parents married? (September 8, 2017)