Quentyn Martell (Lord Tywin's Gift)

## Quentyn Martell

Prince **Quentyn Nymeros Martell**, better known simply as **Quentyn Martell**, is a knight from House Martell. he is the second child and eldest son of Doran Martell, Prince of Dorne, and Lady Mellario of Norvos.

## Appearance and Character

Quentyn is short-legged and stocky, thickly built, with a plain face, brown hair, brown eyes, and stubble on his cheeks. He has a high forehead, broad nose, and square jaw. He does not smile easily. Quentyn is sensible and dutiful, but solemn and not handsome.

Quentyn is cautious by nature and filled with doubts, fears, and insecurities. He does not want to be remembered as a failure, and cannot bear the thought of his father's disappointment, nor does he want friends to die for nothing.

Fostered at Yronwood, Quentyn came to see Cletus Yronwood, his dearest friend, as a brother in all but blood, and Cletus's father, Lord Anders, as a second father.

Quentyn speaks the Volantene and Ghiscari tongues. While he can read and write High Valyrian, he has had little practice in speaking it. A virgin, Quentyn is uncomfortable around girls.

## History

Quentyn was born the second child of Doran Martell, Prince of Dorne, and his wife, Lady Mellario of Norvos. At a young age, Quentyn was sent to be fostered by Lord Anders Yronwood, whom he served as a page and later squire. Quentyn was fostered at Yronwood to repair the relationship between House Martell and House Yronwood, which had been damaged by a duel between Quentyn’s uncle, Prince Oberyn Martell, and Lord Edgar Yronwood, more than a decade before. Edgar and Oberyn had both taken cuts during this duel, but while Oberyn recovered, Edgar's wounds festered and he eventually died. This led to whispers that Oberyn had fought with a poisoned blade, so sending Quentyn to Yronwood was to settle this blood debt. Mellario felt Quentyn was too young to be sent away, however, and the boy's fosterage was one of the strains on his parents' marriage.

When Quentyn first arrived at Yronwood, he was smitten with Lord Anders's eldest daughter, Ynys. His crush lasted until the day she wed and left Yronwood. He received his first kiss from one of the Drinkwater twins, though Quentyn never knew which one.

Once, when Quentyn had already been at Yronwood, Prince Doran wrote him a letter in which he instructed Quentyn to do all his maester and master-at-arms required of him, as Quentyn would one day rule Dorne, and he therefore needed to be strong of both mind and body. While Quentyn's elder sister, Princess Arianne Martell, is Doran's heir by Dornish custom, the Prince of Dorne had negotiated a secret marriage pact by which Arianne is to wed the Blackfyre pretender, Aegon Blackfyre and Quentyn would instead become the successor to Dorne.

At Yronwood, Quentyn befriended Anders's eldest son, Cletus, Cletus's cousin Archibald, Gerris Drinkwater, and Willam Wells. Quentyn received his knighthood at the age of eighteen, from Lord Anders Yronwood, after turning down the same offer made by his uncle, Prince Oberyn.

Quentyn has been riding horses since he was six, and has been trained with spear and sword and shield since he was old enough to walk. Amongst the people in Dorne, Quentyn is little known.