Why Gerold "Darkstar" Dayne is the most dangerous man in Dorne?

[James Arryn]

2 hours ago, Rondo said:

He must not be an easily solved problem. The threat is not physical.  It must be political.  Gerold Dayne comes from a respected house with a fabled sword.  

I’m saying the physical is probably at least part of it, in order to keep the head with the information, if there is any, in it on his shoulders. Plus I think there are two many other hints at his prowess and the ~ fear he instils in Adrianne and her companions. 

His being from a great house would not matter if he was murdered in an alley or desert or died in a duel or drunken brawl. He’s a lot less prestigious that Laenor Velaryon, for example. 

[Arrow of the Morning]

I think the "most dangerous man in Dorne" moniker given by Doran is due the fact Darkstar is an unpredictable and shrewish individual and probably a fairly skilled fighter and nothing more.

I don't believe he has anything special or know anything special at all, like about what happened in the Tower of Joy or about Arthur Dayne.

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

21 minutes ago, Arrow of the Morning said:

I think the "most dangerous man in Dorne" moniker given by Doran is due the fact Darkstar is an unpredictable and shrewish individual and probably a fairly skilled fighter and nothing more.

I don't believe he has anything special or know anything special at all, like about what happened in the Tower of Joy or about Arthur Dayne.

That said, Darkstar was alive during that time, and High Hermitage is closer to the ToJ than Starfall is. So he probably heard stories and rumors, at least.

[LynnS]

3 minutes ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

That said, Darkstar was alive during that time, and High Hermitage is closer to the ToJ than Starfall is. So he probably heard stories and rumors, at least.

Why hasn't he taken the Dawn sword by now?

[Arrow of the Morning]

1 hour ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

That said, Darkstar was alive during that time, and High Hermitage is closer to the ToJ than Starfall is. So he probably heard stories and rumors, at least.

Yes, High Hermitage is closer but not by much and Dornish houses that are closer to the ToJ would know even more and I never heard that members of other noble houses like House Manwoody are "the most dangerous of Dorne". All this only works in the assumption that other people widely know about Jon parentage or that they are suspicious and there is no evidence of this.

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

1 hour ago, LynnS said:

Why hasn't he taken the Dawn sword by now?

IIRC, the lord of Starfall is still alive.

[Groo]

Doran might have just been exaggerating to make a point. Arianne knew he was dangerous, knew he was unpredictable, and was somewhat scared of him. She used him in her plot anyways. That was very foolish. That might be all Doran meant rather than making some objective statement about the most dangerous person in Dorne.

[three-eyed monkey]

Edric "Ned" Dayne is the Lord of Starfall. He's about 12 years old and was Lord Beric's squire, but seemingly departed the BwB when Stoneheart replaced Beric, probably to return home to Starfall.

According to tradition, the wielder of Dawn is given the title, Sword of the Morning, and only a knight of House Dayne who is deemed worthy can carry the sword. We're not told who it is that deems one worthy enough but this is probably at the discretion of the Lord of Starfall. Ned Stark returned the sword after the ToJ. Arthur's older brother was alive then, and was the Lord of Starfall. However, we never heard of anyone becoming the next Sword of the Morning, so the implication is that the sword is at Starfall waiting for the next worthy knight of House Dayne to arise.

Edric seems like the worthy type, but he is not yet a knight. Nor is he likely to become one before the end, given that the 5-year gap was abandoned. Had he been 5 years older then he would probably be the next Sword of the Morning, and destined to try to emulate his uncle and become a member of the Kingsguard, probably serving fAegon. As such he would have been the device to bring Dawn into the mix, paralleling his uncle's relationship with fAegon's supposed father in the process, had the 5-year gap happened.

There were no older Daynes of Starfall to replace Ned, so Darkstar and the cadet-branch of House Dayne at High Hermitage were created. Darkstar is now the device to bring Dawn into the mix, but interestingly he is not a like-for-like replacement for Ned. Ser Gerold is a knight but not the worthy type, given that he tried to kill a young girl to start a war, so he's been characterized differently than Ned. Ned is polite, Darkstar has a cruel tongue. Ned seems proud of Arthur, while Darkstar seems unimpressed and puts Arthur's greatness as a knight down to his great sword. GRRM could simply have created an older version of Ned, but clearly he decided to go with a different dynamic when he created Ser Gerold. That suggests to me that he has added more layers to what he originally intended.

Of course, GRRM has maintained the Rhaegar-Arthur element by making Darkstar a Dayne, as that will be important in gaining the trust of Jon Conn and fAegon. If Darkstar is a Targaryen bastard, which I feel is clearly hinted at in Arianne's line about their children being as beautiful as dragonlords, then it does add a whole new layer to a potential Darkstar-fAegon relationship, with the king being a fake Targ and the kingsguard being a real Targ, albeit a bastard. All this scenario needs to ignite is for Darkstar to learn his true identity. (If you're in the camp that thinks Ashara has returned with Jon Conn and Aegon then it's easy to see where such a revelation might come from, but let's not get into that argument now.)

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

On 4/11/2022 at 12:45 AM, Groo said:

Doran might have just been exaggerating to make a point.

I don't think so. What Doran didn't say is that other people merely adopt the dark, but Darkstar was born in it, moulded by it. He did not see the light until he was already a man. By then it was nothing to him but blinding.