Mary Mertyns

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House Mertyns.svg Lady
Mary Mertyns
House Mertyns.svg
Title Lady of Mistwood[1][N 1]
Allegiance House Mertyns
Culture Stormlander
Issue Sons[2]
Books

Mary Mertyns is the Lady of Mistwood and the head of House Mertyns.[1]

Appearance and Character

The elderly Mary is spry and cheerful even in wartime.[2]

Recent Events

A Dance with Dragons

Lady Mary is sworn to Storm's End.[1]

The Winds of Winter

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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.

Mary is held under gentle imprisonment after Mistwood falls during the landing of the Golden Company. She joins their captains, Young John Mudd and Chain, at dinner when Princess Arianne Martell passes through Mistwood on her way north to meet Lord Jon Connington. Mary is annoyed at the situation but unafraid, scolding the captains at the table while wagging a leg of duck at them. She explains her sons and grandsons rode off to join Renly Baratheon when the war started. A grandson was wounded at the Battle of the Blackwater, but he has since recovered. Mary expects her kin to return and hang the sellswords. She says she knew Jon Connington's mother, and that she would be disappointed in him.[2]

Behind the Scenes

Mary is named after Mary Mertens, a friend of George R. R. Martin. At Archon in 1977, Mertens wore a shirt inspired by The Storms of Windhaven, a novella by Martin and Lisa Tuttle.[3] Later Martin dedicated Wild Cards VII to her.[4] Mertens once lived in New Orleans and Mississippi, which might be the inspiration for the owl and Mistwood of House Mertyns.[5]

Quotes

If you two are knights, I'm still a maiden. And I'll speak as I please. What will you do, kill me? I have lived too long already.[2]

—Mary to Chain and Young John Mudd

Notes

  1. In The Winds of Winter, Arianne II Mary is referred to as "dowager Lady Mertyns", indicating she is the widow of a late Lord Mertyns. It is not known if the chapter will keep that title when it is published in its finalised form.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 A Dance with Dragons, Appendix.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 The Winds of Winter, Arianne II
  3. georgerrmartin.com: Fandom
  4. George R. R. Martin, ‎John J. Miller, Wild Cards VII, Bantam Books, 1990.
  5. Ken Keller on his interactions with Mary Mertens and George R. R. Martin