Balon Swann & the Hunt for the Darkstar

[malek]

Don't think there is much chance that Sir Balon will survive this "hunt". Don't think that Darkstar will be the one who will end him, too...

[DDDUnit]

Could someone remind me where we read about Arthur Dayne's death? All I can remember right now is (from Ned's PoV) repeated comments about "if it hadn't been for Howland Reed..." Are we 100% sure that Arthur Dayne is dead and gone, and not just hidden away? I haven't seen anyone post on this (let me know if you have!), and it doesn't seem any more outlandish a secret to keep than R + L = J, or that Ashara faked her own death. It could just be one more unreliable narrator moment.

That being said, if Arthur were to be alive - a possible reason why Darkstar is NOT the Lord of the Morning - Darkstar could have shared that information with Doran (a master secret keeper) and have that ability to bring him back into public eye. What purpose that would serve I'm not quite sure, other than that it would really shake up what people know about Rhaegar and his children. Arthur, if alive, would be able to set the record straight on a whole number of things.

1) Arthur Dayne would have died in service like he did. 2) Arthur Dayne was not the lord of the morning, he was a knight of the kingsguard who can own no lands or titles 3) The Lord of the Morning does not exist, Arthur Dayne's nickname was the sword of the morning because he wielded a sword called Dawn 4) The lord of Starfall was in BwB 5) The book clearly states that Gerold Dayne is a distant cousin of Arthur and is from the lowest of lesser branches of House Dayne

[Lord Varys]

Why would Darkstar possibly work for Doran? That whole Myrcella incident caused major problems for him (if Darkstar had succeeded, Myrcella would be dead, which would inevitably had led to war), and Doran did not want all of that to happen. He had no reason to harm Myrcella. In fact, if the Quentyn-Dany-plot had worked, Myrcella would have been an excellent hostage to force King Tommen to surrender to Queen Daenerys and her dragons.

Darkstar almost successfully forced Dorne into a war Prince Doran does not want to fight. At least not at this point, and most certainly not over the corpse of Myrcella.

If Darkstar truly is this 'most dangerous man in Dorne' he is supposed to be, we have to assume that he is on somebody's payroll. Doing what he did all by himself makes him a clumsy and stupid type of guy. Yeah, he might have succeeded in forcing Doran's hand had he killed Myrcella, but what he exactly could he hope to gain from that? Hotah and Arianne knew what he did, and they and Prince Doran still would have had time and resources enough to deal with him, even if they can't prevent the Iron Throne from declaring war on Dorne.

The only assumption that makes some sense is that Gerold Dayne is working for someone who wants to cause trouble between the Iron Throne and Dorne. And at that particular time Varys and Illyrio would make the most sense. They did not know that Doran sent Quentyn to Daenerys. While Arianne cooked up her little Myrcella scheme Illyrio and Varys were sending Tyrion, Aegon, and Jon Connington to Volantis to team up with Daenerys. If they need to convince Dorne to enter the war things would take even longer. Everything would go much more smoothly if Dorne and the Iron Throne were already declared enemies when Aegon, Dany, and the Golden Company would prepare themselves to invade Westeros. That way, Aegon and Dany would come to support the Martells, which would not enable Sunspear to demand anything from the future Targaryen king.

The way things turned out, Aegon and Connington are now forced to give Dorne everything the Martells want in exchange for their help.

[Greengrace]

Darkstar= Dark Star.........k aka Brandon Stark & Ashara Dayne's love child. Most eligible bachelor and bachelorette of Westeros their son is bitter and cares for nothing except vengeance for the life he was suppose to have.

[MCBC]

I think the real possibility here is that while everyone is looking for Darkstar, he is going to sneak by them all & kill Doran, who is without his best guard in Hotah.

[Ser Pollo Loco]

For the life of me, i can't figure why the hunt for darkstar or those damn tapestries are important

[Greengrace]

I think the real possibility here is that while everyone is looking for Darkstar, he is going to sneak by them all & kill Doran, who is without his best guard in Hotah.

I like this alot

[hrafna]

i feel torn on this one. i like both swann and dark star. i hate when an interesting character gets introduced and not enough is learnt about him/her before they are killed. ala prince oberyn!

[eggs]

Darkstar= Dark Star.........k aka Brandon Stark & Ashara Dayne's love child. Most eligible bachelor and bachelorette of Westeros their son is bitter and cares for nothing except vengeance for the life he was suppose to have.

Thats crack if ive ever seen it. He's way to old for that.

i feel torn on this one. i like both swann and dark star. i hate when an interesting character gets introduced and not enough is learnt about him/her before they are killed. ala prince oberyn!

Really? I thought we learned a lot about Oberyn. We pretty much got his entire life story, and we got to see him show a massive set of balls and demonstrate his skill.

[cortchuzska]

I'm not at all convinced Doran has nothing to do with Myrcella scheme

Yet this peace is fragile. as fragile as your princess.”

“Only a beast would harm a little girl.”

“My sister Elia had a little girl as well. Her name was Rhaenys. She was a princess too.” The prince sighed. “Those who would plunge a knife into Princess Myrcella do not bear her any malice, no more than Ser Amory Lorch did when he killed Rhaenys, if indeed he did. They seek only to force my hand. For if Myrcella should be slain in Dorne whilst under my protection, who would believe my denials?”

“No one shall ever harm Myrcella whilst I live.”

“A noble vow,” said Doran Martell with a faint smile, “but you are only one man, ser.

As threatening as Oberyn's casual talk with Tyrion about Lord Tywin's death...

[carmela28]

I'm not at all convinced Doran has nothing to do with Myrcella scheme

I'm not convinced either. Doran seems to have plans within plans.

[Patrick Tully]

Thats crack if ive ever seen it. He's way to old for that.

Where do you get that? There is almost no information about him. The crackpot theories are due to the lack of any info.

[Dorian Martell]

If Darkstar is Ashara's son, and she did the deed and got knocked up by a stark at the tourney at Harrenhal, he could be 18 or maybe 19 years old.

[Stallion That Mounts Texas]

Why would Darkstar possibly work for Doran?

B/c he is the Prince of Dorne and commands Darkstar's obedience. The bigger question is why would Doran let Arianne believe that she was responsible for including Darkstar. I don't think he would do that.

If Darkstar is Ashara's son, and she did the deed and got knocked up by a stark at the tourney at Harrenhal, he could be 18 or maybe 19 years old.

I read on the forum that GRRM confirmed that Darkstar was in his mid-twenties. Too old to be Aegon or the son of Ashara Dayne.

[Gannicus]

There is a lot of Darkstar working for Doran stuff going around. It's possible but I think it's equally possible Darkstar could be an agent of Varys and the Aegon contingent. We know Varys wants to create civil unrest and chaos before Aegon arrives to save the day. It seems there might not be a better way than to force Dorne into war.

I also think there is a strong possibility Dayne's intent was to injure and not kill. In fact this is way more likely if he is working for Doran.

[Stallion That Mounts Texas]

Employing Darkstar for "dirty work" runs counter to everything that we know about Doran.

[not in the face]

Doesn't it seem like overkill sending Balon Swann, Obara, and Areo Hotah to kill Darkstar? Obara seems out of place to me. Could it be that Darkstar is her creature and she is along to silence him and keep her name safe. Illyrio told Tyrion that to crown Myrcella is to kill her. Crown her or kill her, Dorne gets its war which is what Obara wants.

[aryagonnakill]

Doesn't it seem like overkill sending Balon Swann, Obara, and Areo Hotah to kill Darkstar? Obara seems out of place to me. Could it be that Darkstar is her creature and she is along to silence him and keep her name safe. Illyrio told Tyrion that to crown Myrcella is to kill her. Crown her or kill her, Dorne gets its war which is what Obara wants.

I am conflicted about Obara. Darkstar and Obara were both trained by Oberyn and so maybe she is there to help Hotah with posions or traps that only she will be familiar with and Hotah is there to do the deed. Then maybe he sent his best man and Obara to make it look like a good attempt and really they are there to ensure Swans death.

I do love the idea of either Darkstar, Swann, or Obera being the prologue. I always thought that Darkstar was the one working for Doran. He seems the most likely one because of his deep loyalty to Dorne. Doran knows how dangerous he is and would want a fighter of that caliber very loyal to him. I have no idea how any of you are thinking that Darkstar isn't actually a Dayne. That could possibly be the dumbest theory I have ever read on this site. Doran would most likely have Darkstar mutilate Myrcella to remove Arianne's suspicion. He then goes into hiding so that Doran can send Balon to him to be killed. The most dangerous man in Dorne is not a metaphor to some secret of Doran's that he knows. He is just that big of a badass.

Sorry to disappoint you, but now that we know Hotah is in on the hunt I think it is unlikely that we will get it in a prologue, since we have POV.

Where do you get that? There is almost no information about him. The crackpot theories are due to the lack of any info.

I have to agree that he is to old, but one interesting possibility about his identity is a bastard of Arthur Dayne.

[Tini]

Employing Darkstar for "dirty work" runs counter to everything that we know about Doran.

Does it? Well, I guess Doran always preferred to keep the dirty work in the family - it was mostly done by Oberyn. But Oberyn is dead, and Doran had not found a replacement for him yet.

Neither Arianne nor the Sand Snakes were working for Doran when they teamed up with Darkstar to make Myrcella queen. Arianne and the Sand Snakes are working for Doran now. Darkstar might now be working for Doran as well. I don't think so, though.

I think him just a convenient scapegoat. He was the only one involved in the Myrcella plot who was neither a childhood pal of Arianne's nor a Martell by blood. His reputation is such that people may believe him the mastermind behind the Myrcella incident. He really is the most dangerous man in Dorne: he shares Oberyn's abilities but not his loyalties, and he definitely knows too much.

Obara is along for the dirty work if Balon Swann doesn't take the bait. I think she'll make sure that neither Swann nor Darkstar survive their encounter.

[Corvo Attano]

can a Non-Dayne become the Sword Of The Morning? I know it's unlikley, but it would be extremely badass if Balon killed Darkstar in an epic chase/duel (perhaps a Darkstar POV) and Claimed Dawn.