Hey youtubers it's Charlie, happy memorial day. Since there wasn't any new Game of
Thrones episode this week I wanted to do a special bonus video. And it's all about
Dorne and the Martells. We got a bunch of new information about filming locations and
characters so this video is going to be a short introduction to Dorne and a breakdown
of the new characters that they're casting. They haven't picked the actors yet, only
the characters.
Quick heads up too. Since my weekly giveaway is normally tied to the episode reviews. I'm
going to use this bonus video for it this week. Just as a way to say thank you to all
you guys for being awesome, I'm giving away a 20 Dollar Amazon Giftcard to a random subscriber
from the comments. All you have to do to participate is be a subscriber and leave a comment on
this video.
So a bunch of you have also been asking me about Oberyn Martell VS the Mountain next
week. I'm just going to wait to talk about that till the episode airs just to avoid spoilers.
Also, even though I'm going to be talking about Dorne and the new characters, none of
it will be spoilery, unless you don't want to know anything about new characters. They're
pretty awesome though.
Let's start with Dorne for anyone who's all like WTF Martells. Most of what we know
about Dorne from the show is that House Martell rules there and they still have a prince,
Oberyn Martell's older brother Doran. I already explained why Dorne gets a prince
and the other seven kingdoms only have Lords, but basically it's because they resisted
Aegon's Conquest. They were just extra badass.
In the first couple of episodes this season, Oberyn kind of let slip little facts about
Dorne's culture. For instance, they don't hold women as subservient to men. For instance,
if Brienne lived there she could be a Knight no problem. There wouldn't be any gender
inequality. And if Cersei had been born there, she would get the status a male heir would
get.
Oberyn himself is something of a sexual omnivore just humping his way across the world. But
in general, people are much more openly promiscuous there. Including the noble women. So where
Cersei would be called a whore for sleeping with a bunch of men in King's Landing, were
she in Dorne. There wouldn't be as much of a stigma.
The First Men actually settled Westeros by crossing a land bridge that extended from
Dorne to the eastern continent. But during their war with the Children of the Forest,
it's said the Children broke the Land Bridge to keep more people from coming.
Dorne's culture is mostly influenced by Rhoynar, they were people that were defeated
by the Valyrian Freehold about a thousand years before the events on the show. Those
people sailed with like 10 thousand men to Dorne, their leader Nymeria, the same name
as Arya's Direwolf, made a pact with the Martells and they conquered the area that
would become modern day Dorne.
So a lot of the Rhoynar culture sank in.
The current falling out between Dorne and the Crown is mostly related to the Lannisters.
Specifically Tywin Lannister over the fate of Princess Elia. She was Prince Doran and
Oberyn's sister who was married to Rhaegar Targaryen.
That's the person Oberyn was talking about the Mountain murdering during Robert's Rebellion
and the sack of King's Landing.
Supposedly the Mountain was only doing it on the orders of Tywin Lannister, since he's
one of Tywin's bannermen. Prince Doran also suspects the same thing as Oberyn, so he's
allowing Oberyn to learn more about what happened. Although the murdering spree Oberyn teased
is just him going above and beyond the call of duty in the name of revenge.
Which is where we are as of Episode 8.
Moving on to Season 5 News. Mostly Dorne related. The crew was spotted scouting locations in
Spain, which essentially doubles for the terrain you find in Dorne. In support of this assumption,
there have been casting calls for 12 new characters from the books. Most of them are Martell characters
from Dorne. The rest are all scattered at various locations.
Starting with Oberyn's family though. Number 1 - Prince Doran Martell, he's the ruler
in Dorne, but he has gout which makes it hard for him to walk. Which is why he sent Oberyn
to King's Landing in episode 1. On the show he just said he was ill and sent his regrets.
He's in his 50s, very smart and very powerful.
He's not like Tywin Lannister though, I always thought of him as being a lot more
calculating. He's not evil though. Just very wise.
Then there's Trystane Martell, he's Prince Doran's youngest son. When Tyrion arranged
for Mryrcella to go to Dorne in Season 2, he also arranged for her and Trystane to become
Betrothed.
Then there's the Sand Snakes. Some of them, there are 8 of them total. They're Oberyn
Martell's bastard daughters. He mentioned them to Cersei when they were walking in the
Garden during episode 6.
They're all born of septas, common and high born women. But the one thing they all share
in common is they have Oberyn's eyes. The nickname Sand Snakes is just a riff on Oberyn's
nickname The Red Viper.
The ones the show is casting include Obara, who I always thought of as the unofficial
leader of their group, she was also raised as a fighter. So she's like Brienne levels
of badass, with a very hot temper.
The other Sand Snakes are Nymeria and Tyene. Both not quite as hot headed as Obara, but
also very deadly.
Then there's Areo Hotah, he's kind of like Barristan Selmy. He's Prince Doran's
personal bodyguard, who has been with him for a long long time.
The other Season 5 characters, aren't Martell or Dorne characters, so here they are in no
particular order:
There's Septa Unella. She's part of a special group of religious leaders in Kings
Landing that rule on matters of faith.
The High Septon, who is the head of the faith of the seven in King's Landing. He's like
the pope for that faith.
Lollys Stokeworth, who everyone will remember Bronn talking about having just wed. She was
also a book character that had a bunch of moments they cut out of the show.
Maggy The Frog. She is a fortuneteller from Cersei's past in Lannisport. When Cersei
was a little girl she went to her for a reading. She basically gave her this really horrific
prophecy about her future. The character is supposed to make a brief appearance. So maybe
there will be a flashback, because she was supposed to be pretty old when Cersei went
to see her as a child.
There's Yezzan, who's a slaver in Meereen. and then there's the Waif.
So because some of you might have read the books and know a lot about each of these characters,
please use spoiler tags if you want to speculate about them in the comments.
Since next week's episode is called The Mountain and The Viper, I might do another
bonus Dorne video. But regardless, there will be a new bonus video and a new round of the
giveaway next Sunday. So be sure to subscribe to get everything.
Feel free to leave me suggestions for the bonus video too.
Right now click here to catch up on Episode 7 and Click here to learn more about The Wildlings.
Thanks for watching, see you guys tomorrow. High Fives!