MARTELL WEEK 2025 DAY 6: SAND SNAKES

Cynthia Addai Robinson as Obara and Lesley Ann Brandt as Nymeria

Gabriella Wilde as Tyene and Adria Arjona as Sarella

Naomi Scott as Elia and Kaylan Teague as Obella

Anna Fausta Primiano as Doreah, Sara Arjun as Loreza and Golshifteh Farahani as Ellaria Sand

ASOIAF Fancast - The Sand Snakes and Ellaria

Elia week 2024,

Elia and her nieces

Introduction

I have no idea why I am doing this. The thoughts just came into my mind and I decided to write them down. Anyway, let’s lay out the scenario I have decided to go with.

Everything is the same as GOT show canon until after the Long Night. After that is when I am going to meddle, but I am keeping some things from the final three episodes, like Daenerys burning King’s Landing and Jon killing her. Bite me, Dany stans.

We’re going to go kingdom to kingdom here, starting from beyond the Wall and descending southwards. Let’s go!

Beyond The Wall

This stays mostly the same, if I’m honest. I actually really liked Jon returning to the Wall and beyond. It was where he seemed happiest. But in my ending Jon and the Watch/Wildlings regularly trade with the North and Jon is allowed to visit Winterfell whenever he wants.

The North

We’re sticking with Sansa as Queen of the North and Northern Independence here. But Arya and Bran stay in the North. Not necessarily in Winterfell- maybe Bran goes to Greywater Watch with Meera? And Arya gets her own keep, Bear Island? Dreadfort? Karhold? Last Hearth? There are many she could choose from.

I know the topic of Sansa and marriage is a controversial one, but realistically either she or Arya is going to have to marry someone. There’s going to need to be more little Starks eventually and I’m not sure Bran can father any children, so it will have to be either Sansa or Arya.

I’m 50/50 on whether Sansa should marry again. On the one hand, she has so much marriage related trauma that she probably doesn’t want to marry again. On the other hand, I think it would be nice if she got a chance for a loving husband. Not sure who said loving husband would be. A Northern man, though.

A Glover? Or Tallhart? Cerwyn? Manderly? The show’s never explicit on who among the Northern noble houses died or even exists in show canon, so I don’t know who is and is not alive.

The Iron Islands

The Iron Islands should be an independent kingdom. There is no reason for Yara to just agree to be ruled by Bran. Though, she was stupid enough to think Daenerys would allow her (Yara) to rule the Iron Islands independently, even though she (Daenerys) proclaimed herself the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms every other second. Maybe Yara’s just stupid. She is Theon’s sister, after all.

(I joke. I love Theon, he’s one of my favourite characters.)

But, yes, Yara should be Queen of the Iron Isles.

The Vale

While I think the North, Iron Isles and Dorne should all be independent, I don’t think the Vale, Riverlands, Westerlands, Stormlands, Reach and Crownlands should be independent.

They all worship the same religion and have roughly the same culture, unlike the North (different religion and culture), Iron Isles (different religion and culture) and Dorne (same religion* but different culture).

So Robin Arryn, obviously, is the Lord of the Vale with the assistance of Lord Yohn Royce, who was nowhere near badass enough in the show. We were robbed of Badass Bronze Yohn.

…I don’t really have much more to say here. I could discuss who Robin should marry, but that’s far more speculative and headcanon-y than I want to get here. Let me know if you want me to write a GOT/ASOIAF ships essay.

*I’ve always thought it was odd that the Rhoynar didn’t seem to bring their religion to Dorne? They brought and kept their system of rulership but no religion? Odd.

The Riverlands

I don’t have a whole lot to say about the Riverlands. Edmure is their lord. They’re not independent.

I do have one thought about what I’d want the Riverlands to do: border defences! The Riverlands don’t have mountains or the Neck or any other natural border defences, but after being used as a battleground over and over again they can, and should, build manmade defences. Have watchtowers every so often along the borders. Build a big fence. Something!

The Westerlands

The big question for the Westerlands is who is the Lord? Jaime, in my ideal ending, went back to kill Cersei, not save her, and died while doing so, fully redeeming himself in death. All of their children are both bastards and dead, and Kevan and his sons are all dead too.

I can’t remember if the show includes the existence of Tywin’s sister Genna and her offspring, but if they did they’re likely all dead too as they were Freys and, well, winter came for them.

So the only living Lannister of the main branch is Tyrion. Who murdered the last lord and betrayed all of the kingdoms by advising Daenerys during her conquest attempt. I do not think he should be awarded for that.

Who, then? Some distant Lannister cousin, I suppose. If memory serves me correctly, the show does mention Stafford Lannister, if only in talking about his death in battle against Robb. Stafford has a son, Daven, who seems like a cool dudebro type guy. Let him be lord. It would be fun.

The Stormlands

Here is where it gets interesting. I’ve said I think that most of the kingdoms should stay under the rulership of one King, but not who that king should be. Well, here it is, step forward King Gendry of House Baratheon, First of That Name.

As there are no legitimate Baratheons left and Gendry is the last of Robert’s bastards left (except maybe Mya and Bella, whom if memory serves the show ignores. Again, we were robbed of Mya, at least. Though Bella seems cool.), he is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne, not any Targaryens.

This does throw into question his legitimisation- if Daenerys was never truly queen and didn’t have any right to the throne, does her legitimisation of him actually count?- I suspect most people would be willing to ignore that.

Anyways, if Gendry is King, who is the lord of the Stormlands? I have no idea. One of Robert’s other bastards? The guy had like seventeen of them, there must be others out there somewhere? Or maybe someone like Davos or one of the more trusted lords- Selwyn Tarth? An Estermont?- is lord regent until Gendry’s second son is of age? But that would be close to twenty years, assuming Gendry marries and begins producing offspring pretty quickly and manages to produce two sons straight away.

Who knows.

The Reach

This one is easy. I can’t remember if there’s even a passing mention of them in the show, but regardless we know that at least one of Mace Tyrell’s two older sons must exist in the showverse. Otherwise he wouldn’t allow Loras to join the Kingsguard.

So Willas Tyrell, Mace’s eldest son, is Lord of the Reach.

Dorne

In the show, for unfathomable reasons, they choose to have a random Martell cousin show up at the council deciding who the next king is. Now, there is a Martell cousin in the books, Manfrey Martell, but he’s described as ancient and dude in the show clearly is not. So I’m not sure if that’s meant to be him or a different random cousin the show pulled out of its arse.

I’m sure that at some point the show made reference to Oberyn having eight daughters, so the youngest five Sand Snakes (Sarella, Elia, Obella, Dorea and Loreza) do exist in the show.

I don’t know if a male legitimate cousin comes before a female illegitimate niece in Dorne. They don’t do male first primogeniture and are more lax about bastards, but does that mean a bastard would inherit over a trueborn?

An Aside About the Unsullied and Dothraki

I liked the show’s ending for Grey Worm. Sailing off to protect Missandei’s birthplace? Lovely. But what about the Dothraki? The show just sort of forgets about them, as I recall. And surely not all of the Unsullied want to go to Naath.

Here is where I get quite Daenerys critical, so be forewarned.

Daenerys took quite a lot of the Dothraki’s warriors with her. I assume not all- surely there are khalasars that don’t follow her- but if memory serves she’s got most of them. Even if these Dothraki manage to make it back to the Dothraki Sea- and that’s a long sea voyage and an overland trek without the protection of a ‘queen’ and her dragons- what’s going to be left for them?

We never see any Dothraki women or children in Westeros. Daenerys clearly left them behind. Did she leave any warriors to protect them? Will any returning Dothraki be able to reunite with wives and children or have they all been taken by other khalasars?

So no families left. I doubt other khalasars are going to be willing to accept Dothraki who left their homeland to follow the woman who burned down their sacred temple into their khalasars.

All in all, there doesn’t seem to be much point in these Dothraki returning to Essos. So what to do with them in Westeros?

Ditto for the Unsullied. They’ve got no reason to return to Essos either. They were slaves there and I doubt Daenerys’ no slavery (except for herself and her advisor) policy lasted long after she left.

Daario likely fucked off back to a sellsword company or was overthrown and killed as soon as the dragons were gone, let’s be real.

Now there are lots of areas depopulated after the wars. Many parts of the North and Riverlands don’t have noble houses and probably don’t have many peasants either. Maybe the Dothraki and the Unsullied could set up shop there.

But while the Unsullied might be content to live in one place, the nomadic Dothraki aren’t. So what to do when they inevitably want to roam?

It doesn’t help that the show is confusing as hell about how many Unsullied and Dothraki there are after the Long Night then again after Daenerys’ burning of King’s Landing.

I have no solution here. Something to think on.

Conclusion