I don't know when this would ever be politically necessary or when an alliance would be needed, but for some reason the idea of a Stark marrying into House Martell or a Martell marrying into House Stark would be super interesting to me. As far as the canon we currently have there has never been a Martell-Stark marriage of any kind. Just the idea of people from opposite sides of the realm, opposite weather/climate, opposite terrains, but also both being similar in how they are both different from the rest of the seven kingdoms. They each have their own culture completely separate from the rest of Westeros, and they prefer being independent from everyone else is fascinating. Not to mention they're the only two regions that have never had their swords added to the Iron Throne (haha!) I don't know, I just think a family connection through marriage would be interesting to explore.
I won’t even lie that one au i set up that’s the north having absolute primogeniture is at least in part me trying to make up a reason for the martells to marry into the northern houses lmao. i love to throw around that one line from twoiaf -
Archmaester Brude, who was born and raised in the shadow city that huddles beneath the crumbling walls of Sunspear, once famously observed that Dorne has more in common with the distant North than either does with the realms that lie between them. "One is hot and one is cold, yet these ancient kingdoms of sand and snow are set apart from the rest of Westeros by history, culture, and tradition. Both are thinly peopled, compared to the lands betwixt. Both cling stubbornly to their own laws and their own traditions. Neither was ever truly conquered by the dragons. The King in the North accepted Aegon Targaryen as his overlord peaceably, whilst Dorne resisted the might of the Targaryens valiantly for almost two hundred years, before finally submitting to the Iron Throne through marriage. Dornishmen and Northmen alike are derided as savages by the ignorant of the five 'civilized' kingdoms, and celebrated for their valor by those who have crossed swords with them."
It’s a similarity that even makes sense if you think about it, there’s plenty of first men that settled into dorne & were living there when nymeria & mors took it over! and a lot of the similarities are based in geography even despite the “difference” - thinly people makes sense for both the desert (ntm the losses against the dragons) & the frozen tundra, & similarly the north doesn’t change culturally that much because it’s so remote, dorne was kinda doing its own thing because the marches (and desert) are such a good geographic barrier. but the same thing that makes them similar makes it less likely for them to intermarry - they are so far from each other they don’t really interact lol.
i think there’s also a bit of interaction between the rr era characters, you have ned & doran as patriarchs, the hot headed brother who dies violently in oberyn & brandon, tragically dead and involved with rhaegar elia & lyanna, catelyn & mellario the foreign wife. i think it’s also interesting that oberyn studied with the maesters, as a slight benjen parallel too.
i think in an au where we see them together, it’s because there’s a political incentive there. this is why i’ve theorized about potential endgame martell-stark marriages - it makes sense as a match that would knit parts of the realm together (esp bc like, what of the great houses are even standing at the end lol. lannister, stark, martell, tully, maybe greyjoy. targaryen, baratheon, tyrell are all likely screwed & sweetrobin, i mean, who knows lol. just saying, there’s probably not a lot of options). i put them together for my au because like, makes sense that if they’re trying to force absolute primogeniture they’d try to get some help/backing from the martells. and once the connections there i mean - clearly it gets fostered, we have a few connections between the starks & the vale, a few between them & the blackwoods, it’s a relationship they’re likely to keep up! it just has to happen first!!!
