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Although this page is based on canonical information, the actual name of this subject is pure conjecture.
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"Robert's Rebellion - Oberyn Martell"[a] is the seventh short of the fourth season of Histories & Lore. It is the sixty-sixth short of the series overall. It was released on February 17, 2015 in Game of Thrones: The Complete Fourth Season. It was narrated by Pedro Pascal as Oberyn Martell and written by Dave Hill.
Premise[]
Oberyn Martell reveals the Dornish perspective of Robert's Rebellion - or the War of the Usurper as they call it - including the murder of his sister, Elia Martell, during the sack of King's Landing.[3]
Narration[]
Oberyn Martell: Twice the Targaryens tried to conquer Dorne with soldiers. Twice they failed.
Only when the dragon kings came bearing husbands and wives did my ancestors relent and agree to join their Seven Kingdoms. House Martell could have waged war until the end of days, but how could we resist a peace we could take to bed?
For centuries, the Iron Throne had no more loyal ally than the Princes of Dorne. Since we had never fallen to them, we kept our ancestral title. Perhaps this is what drew Rhaegar Targaryen to us.
His royal parents had not produced a sister for him to wed, so he had to look elsewhere for a princess, and there was only one in Westeros. Elia of House Martell, my sister.
She was not the most beautiful woman in the world or even in Dorne. But, rare for a woman from our land, her flower came with no thorns. She was kind and clever with a gentle heart. I loved her. I feared for her.
For years, I fended off lesser men from her. But when Rhaegar came, even I failed.
He was beautiful, and the crown prince of the Seven Kingdoms. And our mother had worked so hard to secure the match. How could Elia not accept it?
They were wed, and he took Elia from her home, from those who loved her and would die for her and locked her in his Red Keep above his sty of a city surrounded by false friends. She bore him a daughter and a son, though each almost cost her her life.
Elia loved Rhaegar, she obeyed him, and he chose to steal away Lyanna Stark, a pale northern girl whose veins ran with ice like all of her people. Instead of disciplining his faithless son, King Aerys executed the Starks when they came seeking justice and ignited a revolt.
I know how the maesters describe the war now but calling it "Robert's Rebellion" does not change what it was. The War of the Usurper.
Dorne sided with the Crown, for when we swear oaths, we keep them. We needed no threats from King Aerys, though he made them anyway, locking Elia and her children in the Red Keep to ensure our loyalty.
Even in his madness, he knew that no true Dornishman would ever take up arms against our beloved princess and that we would fight to the death for whatever side she was on.
At the Trident, Dorne lost ten thousand men and two princes. My uncle in the Kingsguard and Elia's gallant husband Prince Rhaegar, who was too slow or too arrogant for Robert's war hammer.
As Robert's army marched on King's Landing, the Mad King sent his own wife and child away but kept my sister and hers inside.
In his madness, Aerys thought the Dornish had betrayed his son at the Trident and was only too happy to welcome his one true friend back into his ranks. Tywin Lannister.
Lord Tywin's army sacked his friend's city while Lord Tywin's son murdered the king he had sworn to protect.
All of this could have been forgiven. War is terrible, and men must become terrible to wage it. But the Lannisters knew that as long as Elia and her children, Prince Rhaegar's heirs, lived, no usurper could safely sit the Throne.
So Lord Tywin's dog, "Ser" Gregor Clegane, the Mountain, made Elia watch as he murdered her daughter and dashed her infant son's head against a wall.
Then with her baby's blood still on his hands, he raped Elia and murdered her. When Lord Tywin later presented their bodies to Robert Baratheon wrapped in pretty Lannister cloaks, I have been told the red color graciously hid the blood from men's eyes.
The Targaryens talk of fire and blood. In Dorne, our blood is fire. If Robert Baratheon had dared set foot in Dorne during his reign, he would have lost the foot. And it is not even him we blame for Elia.
The Lannisters think their gold buys them power. The Lannisters think their Mountain buys them strength. But if they want peace, they cannot buy it with mountains of gold or one Mountain of steel. They must pay in blood.
Appearances[]
Individuals[]
- King Daeron II Targaryen (unnamed)
- Queen Myriah Martell (unnamed)
- Princess Daenerys Targaryen (unnamed)
- Prince Maron Martell (unnamed)
- King Aerys II Targaryen
- Prince Rhaegar Targaryen
- Princess Elia Martell
- Prince Oberyn Martell
- Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (unnamed)
- Prince Aegon Targaryen (unnamed)
- Lyanna Stark
- Lord Rickard Stark (mentioned indirectly)
- Brandon Stark (mentioned indirectly)
- Ser Jaime Lannister (unnamed)
- Lord Robert Baratheon
- Prince Lewyn Martell (mentioned indirectly)
- Queen Rhaella Targaryen (unnamed)
- Prince Viserys Targaryen (unnamed)
- Ser Gregor Clegane
- King Joffrey Baratheon (mentioned in text)
- Margaery Tyrell (mentioned in text)
- Lord Mace Tyrell (mentioned in text)
Houses[]
Locations[]
Events[]
- Aegon's Conquest
- Conquest of Dorne (mentioned indirectly)
- Robert's Rebellion
Miscellaneous[]
Cast[]
Behind the scenes[]
- This is the eighth of ten shorts on Robert's Rebellion.
References[]
- ↑ Cian Gaffney (July 15, 2014). Game of Thrones Season 4 DVD/Blu-ray Release Date Confirmed. HBO Watch. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
- ↑ Histories & Lore: Season 4, Short 7: "Robert's Rebellion - Oberyn Martell" (2015).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Game of Thrones: The Complete Fourth Season (2015).
- ↑ Vanessa Cole (July 22, 2017). Game of Thrones writer Dave Hill gives a behind the scenes look at the creative process. Watchers on the Wall. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
Notes[]
- ↑ In Game of Thrones: The Complete Fourth Season, this short is simply titled "Robert's Rebellion."