[House Martell — Houses]
House Martell of Sunspear is one of the Great Houses of Westeros . It rules the peninsula of Dorne in the far south of the continent. Though loyal to the Iron Throne , the Martells were never conquered by the Targaryens and have pursued a more isolated role in wider political events since Robert's Rebellion .
House Martell's sigil is a red sun pierced by a golden spear, on an orange field, a combination of the original Martell sigil - a yellow spear - and the emblem of Princess Nymeria - a red sun - to symbolize the marriage of the warrior-queen to Mors Martell . Their house words are "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken."
House Martell started out as local kings in Dorne, which was long divided between many petty kings of the First Men and Andals . About a thousand years ago, Rhoynar refugees fleeing conquest by the Valyrian Freehold in Essos migrated across the Narrow Sea to Dorne, led by their warrior-queen Nymeria . Mors Martell was smitten with Nymeria and chose to join forces with her through marriage-alliance. With their combined strength, they conquered and unified the rest of Dorne . To symbolize their union, the original golden spear sigil of Mors Martell was combined with the red sun sigil of Nymeria, creating the red sun pierced by a golden spear sigil that House Martell has used as a sigil ever since. Like their Rhoynar ancestors, House Martell styled its rulers as "princes" instead of "kings", and kept using the titles, resisting the Targaryen invasion and keeping local laws and traditions even after joining the Seven Kingdoms after a matrimonial alliance.
Doran and Trystane are killed by Ellaria and the Sand Snakes. Later, Ellaria and the Sand Snakes meet with Olenna Tyrell to persuade her to join the forces of House Tyrell with Dorne, to exact vengeance for the deaths of various members of both House Martell and Tyrell. Ellaria aligns Dorne and the forces of the now-extinct House Martell with Daenerys in support of a Targaryen restoration.
In contrast, a ruler of House Martell is always succeeded by their eldest child, even if it is a daughter. The current ruler of Dorne (when House Martell is fully introduced in Season 5) is Prince Doran Martell , who has been the head of House Martell for many years. The immediately preceding head of House Martell, however, was Doran's mother , who was also the mother of Elia and Oberyn. Doran's mother actually had a younger brother, Lewyn Martell . Under the inheritance laws of the rest of Westeros, Lewyn would have succeeded ahead of Doran's mother, but because Dornish inheritance laws are gender-blind he did not (and therefore he was free to join the elite Kingsguard ).
In the style of their Rhoynar ancestors who lived in city-states in Essos (near the location of the later Free Cities ), House Martell styles its rulers as " Prince of Dorne " (or "Princess") instead of "King" or "Queen". All members of House Martell are called a Prince/Princess, though the current head of the household is the ruling Prince/Princess. There is little functional difference between the "Prince of Dorne" and a "Lord Paramount of the North", though the title "Prince" is considered to be, at least nominally, more prestigious.