| Ellaria Sand | |
|---|---|
 Ellaria Sand, by Amok © | |
|
| |
| Alias | The serpent's whore[1] |
| Allegiances | |
| Culture | Dornishmen |
| Born | Dorne[2] |
| Father | Harmen Uller |
| Lover | Prince Oberyn Martell (paramour) |
| Issue | |
| Books |
|
| Played by | Indira Varma |
| TV series |
Game of Thrones: Season 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
Ellaria Sand is the beloved paramour of Prince Oberyn Martell, and the mother of the four youngest "Sand Snakes," Oberyn's bastard daughters. Ellaria herself is the bastard daughter of Harmen Uller, Lord of Hellholt.
In the television adaptation Game of Thrones, Ellaria is portrayed by Indira Varma.
Appearance and Character
Ellaria has black hair.[3] Although Sansa Stark does not consider her to be truly beautiful, the girl does think Ellaria is eye-catching.[4] According to a semi-canon source, Ellaria is striking and sensual.[2]
Ellaria is a confident woman.[4] Doran Martell considers her to be a good woman, strong and brave, with a gentle heart.[5]
Ellaria is believed to worship a Lysene love goddess.[4] She is described by her paramour, Oberyn Martell, as being sexually adventurous and potentially bisexual.[3]
Lady Olenna Tyrell, who is angry at Oberyn for having crippled her grandson Willas Tyrell in a tourney accident, disparages Ellaria as "the serpent's whore".[1]
Recent Events
A Storm of Swords
When Prince Oberyn Martell travels to King's Landing to take the seat on the small council offered to his brother Doran, Prince of Dorne, Ellaria accompanies him. Since she is baseborn and a paramour, Tyrion Lannister worries about Ellaria's placement at the upcoming wedding of King Joffrey I Baratheon and Margaery Tyrell.[3]
Oberyn hints to Tyrion Lannister that Ellaria wants to sleep with Queen Cersei Lannister.[3][6] There is an ugly confrontation in the yard of the Red Keep when Olenna Tyrell calls Ellaria "the serpent's whore".[1]
Sansa Stark walks with Oberyn and Ellaria on the morning on the royal wedding, and they speak about Targaryen kings like Baelor the Blessed.[4] During the wedding feast, Ellaria is seated with other Dornishmen at a place of honor, but away from the Tyrells. Joffrey chokes to death during the festivities.[7]
Ellaria is present at the trial by combat for Tyrion Lannister, where Oberyn serves as his champion, and she wails in terror at her lover's death at the hands of Ser Gregor Clegane.[8]
A Feast for Crows
Thousands of Dornishmen are said to cross the Boneway to help Ellaria escort Oberyn's remains back to Dorne.[9]
After Prince Doran arrests the eldest Sand Snakes, Ellaria and her daughters are secluded in the Water Gardens, to prevent them from being used in the plots of others.[10] Doran's daughter, Princess Arianne Martell, is confined after her failed attempt to crown Princess Myrcella Baratheon. Arianne considers reaching out to Ellaria's father, Lord Harmen Uller, for help, but thinks he would be too vengeful and unpredictable.[10]
A Dance with Dragons
Ellaria is present at the feast in honor of Ser Balon Swann's arrival at Sunspear. She murmurs a prayer when Maester Caleotte opens the box containing the Mountain's skull. Ellaria does courteously drink strongwine when Ricasso leads a toast to King Tommen I Baratheon.[5]
After the feast, Ellaris is summoned to Doran's solar for a conference between the prince, Arianne, and the elder Sand Snakes. She becomes distraught when she hears Obara Sand's statement that Gregor's death "is a start". With Lord Tywin Lannister, King Robert I Baratheon, Ser Amory Lorch and now Ser Gregor dead—everyone who was part of the deaths of Elia Martell and her children during the Sack of King's Landing—Ellaria wants it to be an end. Ellaria fears for her own daughters, who admire Obara, Nymeria, and Tyene Sand, and fears where the quest for revenge will lead them. Doran comforts Ellaria, and tells her to go to her girls while promising no harm will come to them, and then continues the conference without her.[5]
The Winds of Winter
| Warning This information has thus far been released in a sample chapter for The Winds of Winter, and might therefore not be in finalized form. Keep in mind that the content as described below is still subject to change. |
Doran sends Ellaria to her father Harmen Uller's seat at Hellholt, along with her youngest daughter, Loreza Sand. Ellaria's daughter Elia is one of Arianne's traveling companions, Obella is sent to Sunspear to serve as a cupbearer to the wife of its castellan, Ser Manfrey Martell, and Dorea remains at the Water Gardens with Doran.[11]
Quotes by Ellaria
Obara: This is a start, I'll grant.
Ellaria: A start? Gods forbid. I would it were a finish. Tywin Lannister is dead. So are Robert Baratheon, Amory Lorch, and now Gregor Clegane, all those who had a hand in murdering Elia and her children. Even Joffrey, who was not yet born when Elia died. I saw the boy perish with mine own eyes, clawing at his throat as he tried to draw a breath. Who else is there to kill? Do Myrcella and Tommen need to die so the shades of Rhaenys and Aegon can be at rest? Where does it end?
Nymeria: It ends in blood, as it began. It ends when Casterly Rock is cracked open, so the sun can shine on the maggots and the worms within. It ends with the utter ruin of Tywin Lannister and all his works.
Ellaria: The man died at the hand of his own son. What more could you wish?
Nymeria: I could wish that he died at my hand.[5]—Obara Sand, Ellaria, and Nymeria Sand
Oberyn wanted vengeance for Elia. Now the three of you want vengeance for him. I have four daughters, I remind you. Your sisters. My Elia is fourteen, almost a woman. Obella is twelve, on the brink of maidenhood. They worship you, as Dorea and Loreza worship them. If you should die, must El and Obella seek vengeance for you, then Dorea and Loree for them? Is that how it goes, round and round forever? I ask again, where does it end? I saw your father die. Here is his killer. Can I take a skull to bed with me, to give me comfort in the night? Will it make me laugh, write me songs, care for me when I am old and sick?[5]
Quotes about Ellaria
Tyrion: Why should you need to go whoring? Did you tire of your paramour on the road?
Oberyn: Never. We share too much. We have never shared a beautiful blonde woman, however, and Ellaria is curious. Do you know of such a creature?[3]
She was baseborn and unwed, and had borne two bastard daughters for the prince, but she did not fear to look even the queen in the eye. Shae had told her that this Ellaria worshiped some Lysene love goddess. "She was almost a whore when he found her, m'lady," her maid confided, "and now she's near a princess." Sansa had never been this close to the Dornishwoman before. She is not truly beautiful, she thought, but something about her draws the eye.[4]
—thoughts of Sansa Stark
Ellaria Sand was Lord Harmen's natural daughter. She and her little ones had been locked away with the rest of the Sand Snakes. That would have made Lord Harmen wroth, and the Ullers were dangerous when wroth. Too dangerous, perhaps. The princess did not want to put any more lives in danger.[10]
—thoughts of Arianne Martell
Even weeping, she has a strength in her, the captain thought.[5]
—thoughts of Areo Hotah
Nymeria: I know she loved our father well, but it is plain she never understood him.
Doran: She understood more than you ever will, Nymeria. And she made your father happy. In the end a gentle heart may be worth more than pride or valor. Be that as it may, there are things Ellaria does not know and should not know. This war has already begun.[5]
Family
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 53, Tyrion VI.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Ellaria Sand.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 38, Tyrion V.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 59, Sansa IV.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 38, The Watcher.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 66, Tyrion IX.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 60, Tyrion VIII.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 70, Tyrion X.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 2, The Captain Of Guards.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 40, Princess In The Tower.
- ↑ The Winds of Winter, Arianne I
External links
- Ellaria Sand on the Game of Thrones wiki.