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Where is Sarella Sand and what is her "game"?


kittybikes

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So I just re-read FfC and DwD for like the 6th time.  I really wonder where Sarella is, Doran Martell says that as long as she is not in Dorne he is content to leave her to her "game".  This last read I got the idea that maybe she has something to do with Tyvek Lannister going missing during the bread riots.  They keep mentioning him, even though he disappeared in the 1st(?) book.  The Donish, especially the royal family HATE the Lannisters and there has to be something significant about his disappearance or else why keep mentioning it.  Just a thought.  Anyone else have any ideas what she could be up to?

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She might have appeared in the Prologue of Feast.

The first time she's specifically mentioned, we learn she's not in Dorne, and that Doran can't simply get to her, and that's she's already a woman grown.

"What of Sarella? She is a woman grown, almost twenty."

"Unless she returns to Dorne, there's naught I can do about Sarella save pray that she shows more sense than her sisters. Leave her to her . . . game.

 

In the Prologue of Feast, we meet Alleras, nicknamed the Sphinx. The name already is suspicious.. Alleras is Sarella spelled backwards.

Next, there are other subtle clues.

The Sphinx looks slight, but there's strength in those slim arms, he reflected, as Alleras threw a leg across the bench and reached for his wine cup. "The dragon has three heads," he announced in his soft Dornish drawl.

"Is this a riddle?" Roone wanted to know. "Sphinxes always speak in riddles in the tales."

"No riddle." Alleras sipped his wine. The rest of them were quaffing tankards of the fearsomely strong cider that the Quill and Tankard was renowned for, but he preferred the strange, sweet wines of his mother's country. Even in Oldtown such wines did not come cheap.

It had been Lazy Leo who dubbed Alleras "the Sphinx." A sphinx is a bit of this, a bit of that: a human face, the body of a lion, the wings of a hawk. Alleras was the same: his father was a Dornishman, his mother a black-skinned Summer Islander. His own skin was dark as teak. And like the green marble sphinxes that flanked the Citadel's main gate, Alleras had eyes of onyx.

First, Alleras has a Dornishman for a father, and a Summer Islander for a mother. Sarella's father was Oberyn Martell, a Dornishman, her mother a Summer Islander, the captain of the Feathered Kiss. In addition, Alleras speaks with a Dornish drawl, indicating he grew up in Dorne.

Leo turned to Alleras. "A lord's son should be open-handed, Sphinx. I understand you won your copper link. I'll drink to that."

Alleras smiled back at him. "I only buy for friends. And I am no lord's son, I've told you that. My mother was a trader."

And being a captain of the Feathered Kiss, Sarella's mother is most likely involved in trade.

The Sphinx was always smiling, as if he knew some secret jape. It gave him a wicked look that went well with his pointed chin, widow's peak, and dense mat of close-cropped jet-black curls.

Alleras would make a maester. He had only been at the Citadel for a year, yet already he had forged three links of his maester's chain.

We also learn a lot about Alleras' looks. Onyx eyes, widow's peak, black hair. and dark skin. The mother being a Summer Islander accounts for the skin colour. The rest..

The princeling removed his helm. Beneath, his face was lined and saturnine, with thin arched brows above large eyes as black and shiny as pools of coal oil. Only a few streaks of silver marred the lustrous black hair that receded from his brow in a widow's peak as sharply pointed as his nose.

... sounds very similar to Oberyn Martell.

 

Further, we have another part of Alleras' description..

The Sphinx looks slight, but there's strength in those arms.

A possible suggestion that Alleras is, perhaps, female. Further, Alleras drinks expensive wine, and has the means to pay for it. All of Oberyn's bastard daughters are well looked after, and if Alleras is Sarella, that could explain the funds. In addition, Alleras claims not to be a lord's son.. and indeed, Oberyn was not a lord, but a Prince. (and Sarella would not be a son, of course, but a daughter).

We also see that Alleras is very skilled with a bow. And Oberyn's daughters do seem to be trained in arms.. Obara, Nym, and Tyene, all have their own "specialty", even Elia (horse riding) and Dorea (morningstar).

 

We know that Sarella liked to learn about history

"My uncle brought me here, with Tyene and Sarella." The memory made Arianne smile. "He caught some vipers and showed Tyene the safest way to milk them for their venom. Sarella turned over rocks, brushed sand off the mosaics, and wanted to know everything there was to know about the people who had lived here."

 

And we know that she loves Oldtown

"Obara would have me go to war."

Nym laughed. "Yes, she wants to set the torch to Oldtown. She hates that city as much as our little sister loves it."

 Sarella being, of course, Obara and Nym's younger sister. :) 

 

While it is by no means confirmed, it does sound like a rather good case that can be made for Sarella being Alleras, which would mean she's currently in the Citadel, where, at the end of Feast, she's met Samwell Tarly.

And of course, she would be disguised as a boy, at a place where only males are allowed for training

Nym would sometimes join them in their sport, and Sarella was forever pushing in where she didn't belong, but for the most part they had been a company of five.

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  • 1 month later...

Sarella's 'Game' is deceiving the Maesters of the Citadel as to her true sex, all the while learning everything the Citadel has to offer, and forging her own chain completely.  At a guess her motivation is to become the first female Maester, or at minimum learning all she might before she's discovered.  Which brings up the interesting supposition, that Marwyn knows her true nature, taken her under his wing/protection within the Citadel, and as a special student of his.  The fact Alleras/Sphinx, Pate/Jaquen, and now Samwell Tarley are all in the same area of the Citadel together promises some deception/revelation and infodumps galore in Winds.  As an aside, I also believe Marwyn knows Pate is a Faceless Man/Jaquen, and either allows the FM to continue on whatever mission he's about, or Jaquen's mission isn't of any consequence to Marwyn.

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  • 3 months later...

Also she's good with a bow, and Euron Greyjoy has bigass fleet in front of Old Town. He only has one good eye (as far as we know). Lots of folks seem to be expecting Euron to be very important and something like a final boss, and Martin loves to bait folks into thinking things like that and then pulling the rug under them. So that might end up being what she's about.

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On 6/18/2016 at 1:15 AM, lujo said:

"folks seem to be expecting Euron to be very important and something like a final boss"

"Final Boss," I love it. 

The Sandsnakes all love their father and seem to try and emulate him. That being said, it's not hard to imagine why Sarella would be at the Citadel. As to whether she plans to go all the way, or just means to forge a couple links like Oberyn did, I don't think really makes a difference. She's obviously going to get caught up in Sam's buisness.

On 2/18/2016 at 3:30 PM, Tannim said:

 I also believe Marwyn knows Pate is a Faceless Man/Jaquen, and either allows the FM to continue on whatever mission he's about, or Jaquen's mission isn't of any consequence to Marwyn.

That's interesting. It's hard to imagine what person an FM couldn't get to without first getting access to/through the citadel. This is kinda supposition upon supposition, but i wonder if the FM have been hired to kill one or all of Dany's dragons. There are certainly plenty of (vastly rich) people who may want them dead, and maybe the citadel has some ancient lore for a more effective way to kill dragons. 

It's kinda far fetched, but I just couldn't figure out why the FM would need that key for a "hit."

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I think there's a possibility she's a red herring. Especially when she's tied to Aemon's dying words. 

On 12/18/2015 at 5:14 PM, Rhaenys_Targaryen said:

She might have appeared in the Prologue of Feast.

Great breakdown. But when I read all the clues about her I keep thinking "so what?" Is it possible she just is what she is, a bastard daughter of Oberyn passing for a boy at the Citadel. I'm sure she wouldn't be the first to try it. And Doran makes it pretty clear that she isn't a part of his (terrible) plans. 

She could help Sam in Oldtown, but I don't think parentage will be a factor. 

And as far as Aemon's dying rant about the Sphinx...how would he possibly know about Sarella, especially her ploy and he nickname. Some Targaryans have premonition, but I just don't buy it. It's almost too easy with her riddle about the 3 headed dragon. 

Not saying she couldn't end up being important, but I don't think who she is will matter as much as what she does. 

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