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How did the Dornish remain Unconquered?


RockyRagnarok

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It's a pretty amazing feat IMO, they fought of Invasions from the rest of Westeros and than Aegon and the Dragons

They did eventually bow, bend and break but they held their independence longer than most of the other Great Houses and Kingdoms after Aegon's conquest...

So how did they do it? Terrain advantages? Skilled warriors? Magic?

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Aegon's or more like Lord Tyrell's men died in Dorne due to the hot weather, and the Dornish killed or captured Rhaenys and killed her dragon Meraxes. Then prince Nymor sent a letter to Aegon and Aegon decided not to attack Dorne anymore.


Much later they surrendered to Daeron I. but then traped and murdered him.


Then they joined Westeros with double marriage between houses Martell and Targaryen. Thus Dorne is unconquered.


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I like the theory that they captured Rhaenys alive and blackmailed Aegon into ending the war.



But yes, in general, it's hard and costly to conquer and hold a desert/mountains country, especially when logistics and communications are medieval. It's like conquering Afghanistan. At some point the conqueror has to wonder if all these losses are worth it. It's not like Dorne's mountains and deserts are full of gold.


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I can't even fathom how badass that letter must've been.

I like to think it's something like, "You can't burn sand, Valyrians cannot intimidate the Rhoynar. We won't fight you with men against men, we'll kill your dragons in shadow and without them, what will the Targaryens be? Naught but normal men and that, we know, is a fate worse than death."

"P.S. We have your sister-wife. Leave us alone and you can have her back."

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It's crackpot but I can't help but wonder if the Martells had some kind of last resort weapon to defeat dragons. I can't imagine Nymeria leading her people to freedom conquering all of Dorne under her banner and making a home for her people and then never making sure she had a way to defend it from the people who screwed her out of her previous home. at the very least surely she must have looked into a way to potentially stop dragons.



I think the Dornish being descended from the Rhoynar meant they had enough tales of the past and the trumped up horrors of dragonspawn to know that they would rather all die than be ruled by the Targs. So they were willing to do whatever it took to stop them including destroying their own homes, crops, livelihoods, and Dorne if necessary. They were also lucky they had the right kind of terrain to us to their advantage which made to dragons less of a weapon than they normally be in the rest of green Westeros.


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It's a pretty amazing feat IMO, they fought of Invasions from the rest of Westeros and than Aegon and the Dragons

They did eventually bow, bend and break but they held their independence longer than most of the other Great Houses and Kingdoms after Aegon's conquest...

So how did they do it? Terrain advantages? Skilled warriors? Magic?

It is known that the dragons proved useless in the desert so Aegon burned whatever settlement he could and left Dorne mostly intact.

From what we know about reptilian biology, reptiles (mainly snakes) CAN overheat in such conditions and when this happens, their minds wither and they can even mistake themselves for prey. So, the dragons would probably go delusional and prove useless in the desert and/or simply the threat alone of losing their control over the dragons wasn't worth risk.

So, Aegon likely saw his dragons acting erratic and was immediately forced to pull them back.

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It is known that the dragons proved useless in the desert so Aegon burned whatever settlement he could and left Dorne mostly intact.

From what we know about reptilian biology, reptiles (mainly snakes) CAN overheat in such conditions and when this happens, their minds wither and they can even mistake themselves for prey. So, the dragons probably lost their minds in the desert and/or simply the threat of the Targaryens losing their control over their dragons wasn't worth risk.

Dragons live in volcanoes... They're "fire made flesh". You can't compare them to normal reptiles. They're fictional creatures with a fictional biology.

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Dragons live in volcanoes... They're "fire made flesh". You can't compare them to normal reptiles. They're fictional creatures with a fictional biology.

Then why weren't they able to use the dragons on Dorne? Not saying my theory is fact, but I'm trying to think of a realistic reason why the dragons proved useless. Dorne is the only place that can boast of fending off the dragons. The most distinguishable characteristic of their region is the extreme climate.

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It's a pretty amazing feat IMO, they fought of Invasions from the rest of Westeros and than Aegon and the Dragons

They did eventually bow, bend and break but they held their independence longer than most of the other Great Houses and Kingdoms after Aegon's conquest...

So how did they do it? Terrain advantages? Skilled warriors? Magic?

you should read the books. they will tell you almost everything

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Then why weren't they able to use the dragons on Dorne? Not saying my theory is fact, but I'm trying to think of a realistic reason why the dragons proved useless.

Because the lords and soldiers abandoned the cities and went into hiding. I guess Rhaenys found it less fun to go around burning women and children rather than fighting men.

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