Brienne of Tarth has Targaryen blood.

[Ravenkingsamurai]

I think the WOIAF has hown that Brienne has targ blood: on pg 232 ( the stormlands section) it mentions that the "Tarths boast of blood-ties to the Durradons, Baratheons and more recently the Targaryens." That last section suggests a marriage withing the last 100 years-so around Aegon the V reign. Given that all other Targ marraiges have been accounted for in the family tree, this leaves a few possibilities for who married into the Tarths: either Aerion brightflames child, Rhaegels children or, more likely, Eggs sisters.

There is however, an even more interesting possibility that someone suggested prior to WOIAF; that Dunk fell in love and married one of Eggs sisters and that child married a Tarth. In this case, Brienne is indeed Dunks descendant.

What are your theories on this?

[Liz Stark-Targaryen]

She very well may. Many of us believe Brienne is a grandchild or great-grandchild of Dunk. Not a stretch to believe Dunk fell for a Targ, or at least, a woman with Targ blood.

[Lord Varys]

My take is that Dunk is going to marry Daella, and their (only) daughter then marries into House Tarth, becoming the mother of Lord Selwyn Tarth, Brienne's father.

That is the most likeliest possibility, I think, as we would else have to assume that both Dunk and a Targaryen woman marry independently of each other into House Tarth which sounds somewhat strange. The fact that Dunk's arms can be found in the Tarth armory also suggest that the daughter of Dunk's who married into House Tarth was a trueborn daughter of his, rather than a hidden bastard (such a bastard would not have been given the arms of the well-known Ser Duncan the Tall).

It would also be quite ironic if Dunk ended up falling in love with and marrying the very sister Egg was originally betrothed to. The family tree revealed that Daella is older than Egg, making her closer in age to Dunk than Egg himself.

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

I'd guess either a child of Rhae or a child of Daella married into House Tarth..

[Lord Varys]

Well, perhaps Prince Maegor became the Lord Consort of the Ruling Lady of Tarth...? That would be fun. How old is Selwyn again? In his fifties...?

Another funny option would be if Vaella the Simple was married to somebody. Nobody ever said she wasn't, and Brienne main very well have had a simple girl among her ancestors...

[Ravenkingsamurai]

Well, perhaps Prince Maegor became the Lord Consort of the Ruling Lady of Tarth...? That would be fun. How old is Selwyn again? In his fifties...?

Another funny option would be if Vaella the Simple was married to somebody. Nobody ever said she wasn't, and Brienne main very well have had a simple girl among her ancestors...

If that was the case, why did they keep the name Tarth? I think its more likely that its a female Targaryen marrying into the Tarths.

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

Well, perhaps Prince Maegor became the Lord Consort of the Ruling Lady of Tarth...? That would be fun. How old is Selwyn again? In his fifties...?

Another funny option would be if Vaella the Simple was married to somebody. Nobody ever said she wasn't, and Brienne main very well have had a simple girl among her ancestors...

Selwyn was 54 in 300AC.. my guess would be that his mother is the direct Targaryen descendant... Far away enough to not have it be part of most conversations, like for Robert, Stannis and Renly..

[C.T. Phipps]

I always assumed that Brienne was Duncan's descendant.

[The hairy bear]

My take is that Egg is going to marry Daella, and their (only) daughter then marries into House Tarth, becoming the mother of Lord Selwyn Tarth, Brienne's father.

I think you meant Dunk, here.

And while it seems the easiest possible solution, it would require Maekar to allow the match of his daughter to the lowest of the knights. Not very Maekar-ish. But there might be solutions to that, such as being some kind of "boon" for Dunk's role in the 3rd Blackfyre Rebellion, or that it was a very late marriage agreed after Maekar's death.

[Mithras]

I think you meant Dunk, here.

And while it seems the easiest possible solution, it would require Maekar to allow the match of his daughter to the lowest of the knights. Not very Maekar-ish. But there might be solutions to that, such as being some kind of "boon" for Dunk's role in the 3rd Blackfyre Rebellion, or that it was a very late marriage agreed after Maekar's death.

House Frey was founded by a knight who won lands, gold and title through some deeds.

I take this even further and claim that House Stark was founded by Brandon the Builder who was in fact the LH. And for his heroic deeds, he took a female CotF wife after the LN.

[Lord Varys]

Stupid spelling error is corrected.

The Third Blackfyre Rebellion could figure into all that. Say, Dunk is going to save Maekar/Aerys singlehandedly from some assassins sent by Bittersteel at the outset of the war (such a thing could occur during the ball in which Aelora is attacked, combining two interesting events in one D&E story - 219 AC is Aerys' tenth anniversary on the Iron Throne, after all).

This whole 'there may be a time when the Realm needs the hand and foot of this hedge knight' thing should play out eventually with Maekar/Dunk rather than Dunk & Egg, as they are already friends. They should become close in a weird an uncomfortable way as they are both responsible for Baelor's death, and both regret it very much.

Another factor could be that it is not impossible that Maekar married for love, too. Or grew to love his future wife very much after he had first met her. He apparently did not remarry after her death, not even when he became Prince of Dragonstone and eventually king... Thus it is not completely unlikely that Maekar would allow Daella and Egg to follow their hearts, even if they chose spouses who were beneath them.

But even if Maekar did oppose those matches, they Dunk & Daella (and Egg & Betha) could have circumvented him by going directly to Aerys I. Surely Bloodraven was happy with the Egg-Betha-match, and the Aerys I as head of House Targaryen could have given Dunk and Daella permission to marry, even against Maekar's wishes.

And then, well, there is still the question of Dunk's birth and heritage. Just because we don't know his parents does not necessarily mean that he is of low birth. Dunk's memory of Bloodraven staring at him while he was still living in Flea Bottom could be a very subtle clue - not necessarily towards Dunk being Bloodraven's son but rather that there is more to Dunk that people realize...

But even this is wrong, we should not be surprised if Ser Duncan is already a landed knight - perhaps even a small lord - by when the Third Blackfyre Rebellion begins. Loyal service to the Crown should be rewarded, and even more so if you are very good friends with a royal prince (or, most likely, a lot of royal princes).

[aryagonnakill#2]

Lord Varys, I think the realm will need this hand and foot thing likely played out at Summerhall given the "if not for the valor of the Lord comm"

[Lord Varys]

Summerhall is (hopefully) not everything.

Dunk seems to have played a last important role during Summerhall, but he clearly did important stuff before that, too. For instance, slaying Daemon III and defeating the Laughing Storm.

I really think Dunk and Maekar will find their own interpretation as to why Dunk's survival and Baelor's death have meaning, even if this meaning is not exactly correct. And Maekar eventually befriending/favoring Dunk is most likely an important part of that.

[scotcat]

Like many others, I always assumed Brienne was Dunk's descendant.

As for the targaryen blood - if there is any - it's not out of the question. Dunk could have married a Targaryen woman - he was pretty well in with the Royal family, being Hand of the King - but it could also have come from the Tarth side as well.

[The Red Widow of Coldmoat]

Like many others, I always assumed Brienne was Dunk's descendant.

As for the targaryen blood - if there is any - it's not out of the question. Dunk could have married a Targaryen woman - he was pretty well in with the Royal family, being Hand of the King - but it could also have come from the Tarth side as well.

Hand of the King? Where are you getting that from? Dunk became Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, but obviously that wasn't going to make it easy for him to marry anyone from the royal family, what with the Kingsguard vows and all

[Ibbison from Ibben]

I think the most likely scenario is Daella marrying the Tarth heir just before BFR3.

Daella was a year or two older than Egg (who was born in 200 AC), so in 219 she would be 21-22. We know from TMK that Bloodraven was keeping a very close eye on the Blackfyres in the decade preceding BFR3, waiting for them to invade from Tyrosh. Tarth is in a strategically important location for anyone attempting to invade, or repel an invasion, from Tyrosh. It would make sense for the crown to make darn sure Tarth was in its camp. A marriage to Maekar's eldest daughter would do nicely. If it occurred in 216, Daella would be 17-18, a likely age for marrying.

Lord Varys - I have a new question regarding your Daella and Dunk hypothesis. Wouldn't Dunk's marriage be noted in the White Book? If so, Jaime would have known about it, and instantly recognized the possibility of Brienne's ancestry. I strongly suspect Dunk's blood entered the Tarth line through unconventional means. Dunk seems to have a tendency to father bastards.

[Lord Varys]

Ibbison,

Dunk's marriage would have been chronicled in the White Book, but not the marriage of his and Daella's daughter into House Tarth. I'm not sure Jaime would necessarily know about that, as he has also no idea about the rumors around Ossifer Plumm and Elaena, or why Pennytree is a royal fief.

The common guess is that Dunk lived at Pennytree/became its lord/knight at one point, and perhaps even lived there with Daella (if they preferred a rural life after Maekar rose to the throne and Aerion lived at court), and it only went back to the Crown when Dunk joined the Kingsguard after his daughter had already married into House Tarth.

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

Daella was born in 199 AC, and thus would have gotten married around 215 AC. Her son could have been the father of Selwyn (b. 245/246 AC), and married to Dunks daughter (by an unknown wife). If Dunk married a few years after Egg, the girl would have been betrothed by the time Dunk is known to have been a KG (236AC). If he married around the same time as Egg, the girl could have gotten married when Dunk joined the KG.

We don't know if Selwyn was an only child, after all, or the eldest... We've seen how it can take quite a few years of marriage before a child is born..

[Ibbison from Ibben]

Ibbison,

Dunk's marriage would have been chronicled in the White Book, but not the marriage of his and Daella's daughter into House Tarth. I'm not sure Jaime would necessarily know about that, as he has also no idea about the rumors around Ossifer Plumm and Elaena, or why Pennytree is a royal fief.

Gotcha.

The common guess is that Dunk lived at Pennytree/became its lord/knight at one point, and perhaps even lived there with Daella (if they preferred a rural life after Maekar rose to the throne and Aerion lived at court), and it only went back to the Crown when Dunk joined the Kingsguard after his daughter had already married into House Tarth.

But that whole scenario is based on nothing more than wishful thinking. There's no supporting data. It would be nice for Dunk, sure, but incredibly improbable.

Marriages are the heart and soul of family politics in a world like Westeros. Maekar had four sons and two daughters. He was denied the opportunity to forge any alliances with the marriages of his four sons. Daeron the Drunken had to fill in for the dead Valarr. Aerion married in-family, and that was probably the only match Maekar could find for him. King Daeron sent Aemon to the Citadel. Egg picked his own wife. Maekar simply couldn't afford to let either of his daughters make a weak marriage. He needed the alliances.

[Ibbison from Ibben]

As for Vaella -

The family would probably want to marry her off just to make sure she was taken care of. Since she wasn't that great of a catch, she would get handed to a loyal, but lesser house allied to the Targs. Many of the Crownlands houses would qualify. Like maybe Stokeworth. She would be an ancestor of Lollys.