Shadow city
The shadow city is a settlement found outside the walls of Sunspear, the seat of House Martell in Dorne. Some consider it closer in size to a town than a city.[1][2]
Layout
[edit]Smaller and less populous than the Planky Town,[1] the shadow city is found west of Sunspear.[2] Mud-brick shops and windowless hovels are found closest to the castle walls, while further west are stables, inns, winesinks, and pillow houses, many of which have their own walls and nearby hovels.[2] The Winding Walls run through the shadow city, creating a labyrinth of narrow alleys, courts, and bazaars, with only the Threefold Gate allowing a straight path to Sunspear.[2][3]
The shadow city is often quiet during the day but lively at night.[4] Shariffs of the Prince of Dorne police the shadow city.[4]
History
[edit]The shadow city grew by Sunspear as the castle was developed by House Nymeros Martell following Nymeria's War.[5]
The Dornish lords abandoned many of their castles near the start of the First Dornish War, and King Aegon I Targaryen and Queen Rhaenys Targaryen found even the shadow city half-deserted when they came to conquer Sunspear. The Dornishmen rose in revolt when the Targaryens returned to King's Landing, however, swarming from the shadow city to retake Sunspear.[6]
The forces of King Daeron I Targaryen battled through the shadow city during his conquest of Dorne, allowing the Young Dragon to achieve the Submission of Sunspear in 158 AC. Soldiers and men-at-arms were killed in the alleys of the shadow city when the Dornish later rebelled. [7]
Archmaester Brude was born and raised in the shadow city.[1]
Recent Events
[edit]A Feast for Crows
[edit]
Doran Martell, Prince of Dorne, and his captain of the guard, Areo Hotah, feel safer at the Water Gardens than at Sunspear and its shadow city.[2][4]
In the aftermath of the death of Prince Oberyn Martell, his daughters, the Sand Snakes, stir smallfolk in calling for vengeance. A crowd throws fruit at Doran's litter when he returns to Sunspear from the Water Gardens.[2]
Tensions lessen somewhat after Doran has his Sand Snake nieces taken into captivity, but there is still lingering resentment among the Dornishmen. A trader from King's Landing is found butchered in the shadow city.[4] Ser Arys Oakheart of the Kingsguard, sworn shield of Princess Myrcella Baratheon, does not wear his white cloak when he walks through the alleys of the shadow city. On one occasion, he passes by a candlemaker's shop to a home by a moonlight courtyard for a tryst with Doran's daughter, Princess Arianne Martell, who seduces him into joining her plot to crown Myrcella as queen.[4]
Quotes
[edit]Though the Dornish may call it a city, it remains no more than a town, and a queer, dusty, ugly town at that. The Dornish built up against the walls of the Sunspear, then built up against the walls of their neighbors' homes, and so on out, until the shadow city took on its current form. Today, it is a warren of narrow alleys, bazaars filled with the spices of Dorne and the east, and the homes of the Dornish built of mud brick that remains cool even in the height of the burning summer.[3]
—writings of Yandel
Compared to Tyrosh or Myr or Great Norvos, the shadow city was no more than a town, yet it was the nearest thing to a true city that these Dornish had.[2]
—thoughts of Areo Hotah
Sunspear's shadow city oft seemed deserted in the heat of the day, when only buzzing flies moved down the dusty streets, but once evening fell the same streets came to life.[4]
—thoughts of Arys Oakheart
References
[edit]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The World of Ice & Fire, Dorne.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 2, The Captain Of Guards.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The World of Ice & Fire, Dorne: Sunspear.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 13, The Soiled Knight.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Dorne: The Coming of the Rhoynar.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, Reign of the Dragon - The Wars of King Aegon I.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Daeron I.