Argella Durrandon

{Davos Durrandon} - brother

{Artos Durrandon} - brother

{Mors Durrandon} - half-brother

Princess **Argella Durrandon** is a major character in Book 1 and 2. She is the only daughter, as well as the youngest and only living child of the Storm King Argilac Durrandon, which makes her the heiress to House Durrandon and the Kingdom of the Stormlands, a position which she constantly seeks to prove herself worthy of.

## Background

Argella was born in the year 20 BC, as the fourth child and first daughter of Argilac Durrandon, the Storm King. Her mother was Argilac's second wife, Lady Daeria, who originally came from the Free City of Myr and she was their thirdborn child, after her older brothers, Davos and Artos.

Having two living older brothers, Argella's chances to ever succeed her father were believed to be close to impossible and so she spent her first years being raised as a traditional princess, being expected to marry into another royal family at one point in the future. Even back then, she was her father's favourite and he was doting on her, a noticeable difference form his usually stern self. She also got along well with her brothers and was especially fond of her oldest brother, Davos.

However, Argella's life took a sharp turn when she was eight years old. Together with her mother and her brothers, she took a trip to Myr, to visit her mother's family. It was the first and so far only time she saw her maternal grandparents, their other children and her cousins. During their return across the Narrow Sea, they got into a terrible storm. Finally, in sight of Storm's End, their ship sank. The tragedy claimed the life of her mother and both of her brothers. Argella herself nearly died as well and survived only thanks to her oldest brother, Davos. He had already swam to safety, but returned when he realized that Argella was about to drown. Though he managed to save her life, he paid for it with his own.

Having lost most of her family in one day and at the age of eight had a huge effect on Argella, but on her father as well. From this day forward, she was heiress of House Durrandon, which changed her position in the family severely. She was raised no longer only as a typical princess, but her father started to teach her how to lead and how to fight, as every future ruler of the Stormlands was supposed to be a warrior. The following years hardened Argella and shaped her into the willful young woman she is today.

## Book 1

### Butterfly

Argella was first seen watching her father during his training session with the new recruits. Shortly afterwards, she attnded a meeting between her father and Corilyan Celtigar, the ambassador of Aegon Targaryen and Dragonstone, which took place during a feast in the Great Hall of Storm's End, while the soldier Drent Golton and his sergeant, Jax Montclair, stood guard behind the royal table.

During this feast, the ambassador revealed that Aegon Targaryen refused an earlier offer to marry Argella, as he wanted to stay faithful to his wives, Visenya and Rhaenys. This amused the princess greatly, even if she felt slightly insulted by the reason behind it. Her amusement soon turned to anger, as Celtigar revealed a counteroffer. Instead of Aegon Targaryen himself, Argella was offered to marry Orys Baratheon, the general of his armies and closest friend. Since Orys was rumoured to be a bastard half-brother of Aegon, both Durrandons took grievous insult to this and Argella heavily insulted Celtigar and his liege lord. Her father meanwhile reacted even more severely, and he was enraged by the suggestion his daughter could marry a bastard. He not only rejected the terms, he also decided to send a message to Dragonstone and using the sword of his close friend Emphryus Dresfel, he severed the hands of Celtigar. Afterwards, he sent Celtigar's companions to the pig pens of Storm's End, on Argella's suggestion.

Argella was also present during the war council, where Argilac revealed his intentions to claim his inheritance in Raylansfair. In order to claim the town, he decided to send his daughter and heiress, as well as his advisor Tariel to the Reach, to negotiate in this matter. To protect Argella, he decided to give her an escort of fifty men, as well as a personal guard consisting of men whom he, or his knights personally trust. This guard consistes of Emphryus Dresfel, Jax Montclair, Drent and the sellsword Garen.

### The Iron Price

One week later, the small army of Stormlanders had taken rest near a tower, where Argella decided to stay the night, to the great annoyance of Garen. After the Stormlanders had build a camp for the night, she called for Drent to visit her in her rooms at the tower. Initially, they had a casual talk, during which Argella showed a more friendly side of hers. After that, she revealed to him that she wishes to be a better, more accepted leader and for this, she needed to know the opinion of the common soldiers. Drent told her that some of her men are displeased with the way she handled things and he revealed Garen as an example.

Concerned by this, Argella decided to meet some of the soldiers, to find out what they think of her first-hand. She quickly switched into the clothes of a common servicemaid, though Drent found it unlikely that she would manage to fool anyone by changing her dress. Then, she took him outside to the camp, where they soon stumbled upon the soldier Torrence Bernile, who was drunken and genuinely mistook her for a servicemaid.

Torrence's initial advances soon got to the point where they visibly bothered the princess, so Drent decided to intervene. He punched Torrence, though underestimated the young man's strength. In the following fight, he soon got overpowered. Ultimately, Argella had to come to his aid. In her attempt to stop Torrence, the soldier accidentally hit her, which triggered her anger. She effortlessly beat Torrence up, which was made even easier by him not even trying to defend himself.

Torrence and his sister Edonia, who had arrived after hearing the commotion, were left shocked when Argella revealed her identity. Deciding to teach him a lesson, Argella hinted at her planning to cut off his hand for hitting her, which is a common punishment for striking a member of the royal family. However, she never intended to go through with this, as she simply wanted to scare Torrence. She left him in a tent, where he was supposed to spend the night loudly praying to the Seven for mercy, which she saw as a fitting punishment. Drent's reaction made it clear that he thought her capable of doing such a thing. This upset her, especially as she started to grow fond of him, so she quickly left his company again.

### Masquerade

A few days later, Argella and her company arrived at Raylansfair. To impress the smallfolk, she ordered her soldiers to wear heavy armour while entering the town, with herself riding on a white horse. Her show indeed impressed the smallfolk, though it scared them as well. In order to show them that they don't have to fear her, Argella decided to share the rations her army had left after the journey with the starving smallfolk and she sent Tariel, Montclair and Drent to distribute it.

After this, she and Emphryus were led into the Great Hall by Nora Recton, the captain of the guard. Inside the building, Argella was stopped by an angry man, one of the smallfolk that had gathered in there, who had lost family to her father's war. She dealt with him sternly, but showed mercy despite his insults. Afterwards, she met up with Lord Harlen Tyrell and Willfred Reyne, who were both present in the Great Hall to greet her. During the talk with Harlen and Willfred, Argella showed great joy in teasing Harlen's nephew, Elias, who had insulted her years ago, by rejecting her offer to dance with him during a ball at Highgarden.

### Valar Morghulis

Before she could continue the talk, Argella was confronted with a new problem. The hedge knight Ian Shortwood arrived at the Great Hall, informing her and Harlen of a fight that broke out in the courtyard, between the acting lord of Raylansfair, Harris Flowers, and the master-at-arms, Darren Tallwood. Since she saw Harlen as unfit to deal with the situation, she went out to the courtyard as well, together with Willfred and Emphryus.

There, she managed to end the fight between Harris and Darren without violence and she also met the knights Lucas Flowers and Leonard Constantine. Her way of dealing with Harris and Darren impressed Lucas, who decided to reveal the truth about Harris' actions to her. Noticing that he was uncomfortable around her companions, as a result of his recent disfigurement, she offered to take a short walk with him, so that he could continue his story in private. Lucas thankfully accepted this offer.

Together, they made their way to the city walls, where Lucas revealed the involvement of Maron Mullendore in the events that happened in Raylansfair. Argella was angered by Mullendore's actions and she vowed that he wouldn't take Raylansfair, not as long as House Durrandon would rule over it. She also did her best to mend Lucas' emotional wounds, by consoling him with mixed success. Finally, she offered Lucas to enter her service, so that she would be able to protect him from Mullendore's schemes. While he initially remained hesitant, she convinced him by arguing that House Raylan is legally extinct. He knelt in front of her and therefore entered the service of House Durrandon.

Argella was clearly moved by this, as Lucas was the first person to actually declare his loyalty to her. She furthermore seemed to make it her personal mission to rebuild his lost confidence. Quickly, she acquired two swords, after which she challenged him to a duel, to prove to him that he is still able to fight. Her mixture of merciless teasing and gentle reassurance indeed started to work, as Lucas slowly regained some of his former self. She also noticed that he clearly began to crush on her.

Shortly afterwards, Argella was present during a meeting between her, Willfred Reyne, Hobert Lowther, Harlen Tyrell, Helenys Bellward and Sherryl, where the future of Raylansfair was decided upon. Initially having the upper hand against Hobert, Argella's chances at victory were severely damaged when Sherryl revealed that she had been working for someone else all this time. She revealed that the claims of Hobert and Argella had been made up by Tariel, who wanted to take revenge on the people of Raylansfair for the way she had been treated by them in the past. On top of that, Willfred refused to support her, despite his earlier promise that he would do it in exchange for Durrandon troops to protect the southern Rock.

Without Willfred's support or a legitimate claim, Argella had to withdraw from her intentions of taking over Raylansfair in the name of House Durrandon. Unlike the similarly betrayed Hobert, she did so as calmly as possible, even though Willfred noticed her anger. Said anger grew even worse when Sherryl revealed that she had been working with Maron Mullendore all this time. The princess managed to remain calm until she had left the room, after which she snapped at Willfred for his actions, which she saw as unfathomable stupidity.

After suffering such a sound defeat, Argella left for her room, where Drent visited her soon afterwards, to inform her about the potentially dangerous Ian Shortwood. Argella quickly apologized for her earlier behaviour towards him and offered him a bottle of Arbor Gold, the same that she had ordered Elias Tyrell to fetch. She and Drent shared the wine and clearly patched up their friendship again.

### What Is Dead May Never Die

The Ironborn attack on Raylansfair takes the Stormlanders by surprise. After witnessing Lucas and the knights leave, Leonard makes a desperate attempt to win Argella's support during this fight. His pleas move her to the point where she pledges to defend the city with her soldiers, something Emphryus is very supportive of, while Tariel tries to discourage her from such a course of action. This, paired with Tariel's earlier deception, causes her to snap at the other woman, harshly reminding her of her position and stating that her decision is final. However, unwilling to let her men die for something while she remains in the castle, she ends up leading the fight by herself. Emphryus ends up impressed by this, even comparing her to her brother, Davos. He and Tariel both remain in the castle, Tariel to be safe, Emphryus to serve as the last line of defense.

Argella and her soldiers lead a charge against the Ironborn, saving one of the gates of Raylansfair from destruction and preventing the bandits led by Bear from entering the city. During the fights, Argella briefly meets Gordar Celtigar, to her horror. The Celtigar knight realizes whom she is and states harshly what her actions and those of her father have done to his family, revealing that Corilyan Celtigar has died from his wounds. Though seemingly furious, his criticism has given Argella something to think about.

As the fighting grows more desperate, Argella loses several of her soldiers, but manages to save Drent's life personally. On the urges of him and Jax Montclair, she decides to retreat to the castle, having bought the smallfolk as much time as possible. However, on the way back, they are ambushed by a single archer, unknowingly to them a disguised Sherryl, who accidentally shoots Jax in an attempt to kill the princess. Shielding her with his body, Jax takes a second arrow before pushing Argella to safety. From her hideout, she can only watch Jax writhing in agony before Edonia manages to shoot and seemingly kill the archer.

Carrying Jax to the castle, Argella is reunited with Emphryus Dresfel, himself wounded, but alive. Realizing that the castle gates have been sabotaged, the Stormlanders get ready for one final line of defense against the advancing Ironborn, who by now have taken control of most of the city. It then turns out that the arrows Jax had taken were poisoned, said poison having been taken from Helenys' pet manticore Taros. Without any chance, Jax succumbs to the poison. However, Argella ends up knighting him on his deathbed, granting him his lifelong dream and assuring him that his sons would be taken care of.

### Valar Dohaeris

Though the Stormlanders escape annihilation during the raid, it comes at a cost, as Jax and over a dozen of the soldiers are dead and Emphryus remains heavily injured. Most troubling for Argella is the fact that the ones who saved them have been Maron Mullendore and his ally Petyr Vyrwel. As expected, they instantly took Lucas as their prisoner, leaving Argella to make plans on how to free her knight.

After watching over Jax' corpse for a night, the princess meets up with Drent and orders him to gather the rest of the soldiers, while she demands to speak to Maron, hoping her authority would be enough to make him give in to her demand. Slightly uncomfortable at the presence of Orys Baratheon, she does her best to ignore him, despite admitting to Drent that she might have been wrong about him before.

After entering the Great Hall, Argella first encounters the Moggy and the Tom, having a brief chat with the latter, before the wounded Maron Mullendore arrives to have a discussion with Argella. Not even bothering with giving in to her demand, Maron calls her a spoiled little girl to her face, claiming that her name has no weight at his court and that he would make an example of Lucas. This provokes Argella to the point where she outright punches him. Maron, momentarily stunned, retaliates in kind and with this, his men and Argella's have a stand off. Knowing he has the superior numbers, Maron feels victorious, though his triumph is short lived when none other than Orys Baratheon intervenes. Intimidating Maron, he manages to defuse the situation and save Argella's life, albeit a still furious Maron demands that the Stormlanders and the Targaryen knights leave his city.

This courageous action causes Argella to finally give in and admit that she was wrong about Orys. Briefly thanking him, she then arranges a meeting for later, where she formally apologizes about her earlier actions when refusing the marriage proposal Aegon brought up. Orys forgives her graciously and the two part ways on good terms.

However, Argella's plans to free Lucas are not yet over. After sending Drent and Garen to deal with the mysterious Ian Shortwood, a hedge knight with a grudge against Stormlanders, she further convinces Arthur Nathamer to support Edonia in her own search for the person that murdered Jax Montclair, fearing that there might be another attempt on her life. After this, she takes matters into her own hand, when she leaves for the dungeons, once more disguised as a commoner.

In the dungeons, she quickly finds Lucas, by then in the middle of getting tortured by the Sphynx and Connor Frostborn. She puts an end to this, injuring the Sphynx and intimidating both torturers into fleeing the scenery. After this, she treats Lucas' wounds, but their moment is cut short with the arrival of Petyr Vyrwel, Maron Mullendore and Harlen Tyrell. In the presence of the latter, Lucas realizes his only way out and he demands a trial by combat.

Allowed to remain by his side until the trial starts, Argella does her best to prepare him as much as possible. Unable to grant him a champion, she cannot do much for him beyond what she already did and giving him company. She is there to witness the trial, cheering for Lucas when he momentarily gains the upper hand over his opponent, the Tom. Ultimately though, it is for nothing and Lucas is fatally wounded during the trial, leading to Argella having to leave without him.

## Book 2

### Fires Far

After two months on the road, Argella and her soldiers return to Storm's End, where she learns that things have changed in her absence. Determined to find a husband for her, Argilac has called for three potential suitors, all from trustworthy families, namely Bernard Buckler, Jonathan Errol and Warrick Fell. Argella reacts harshly against them, refusing to even just speak to them normally.

However, what truly troubles her is her failure in Raylansfair, failing to win the city, failing to save many of her men, even saving the life of her first knight, Lucas. She apologizes for this to her father, basically taking the guilt for the Raylansfair disaster entirely onto herself in an attempt to feel better about her own guilt. Drent intervenes here, refusing to allow her to humiliate herself like this. He speaks up publically in her favour, in a daring attempt that ends up impressing Argilac and Argella as well.

While her duties kept her away from Drent and the other friends she had made along the journey, she ends up visiting him a week later, to inform him about the upcoming tourney in Storm's End. Accompanied by the new maester, Qoherys, she reveals her plan to humiliate her suitors during the tourney, to prevent her from having to marry any of them. While Emphryus has taken it up on himself to defeat Bernard Buckler, Edonia agrees to win against Jonathan Errol. Drent at last, accepts to fight against Warrick Fell during the melee.

### Thorns

As it is requested of her, Argella spends the day of the tourney by her father's side on the royal stand, where she oversees the fighting. In fact, it is implied that she ends up with most of the actual administrative duties of the tourney, while her father simply enjoys the day. She herself makes it clear that she does not enjoy the fighting, especially since it is meant as a way for any potential suitor to prove their worth.

Her plan to humiliate Bernard Buckler backfires early on, when he surprisingly defeats Emphryus Dresfel, through his sheer determination. Argella is anything but impressed by this and accordingly nervous when the melee begins, during which Drent is supposed to fight Warrick Fell. Her father participates as well and Argella is left alone on the royal stand, where she sees, to her satisfaction, Drent's victory over Warrick.

## Appearance

Argella is described as a stunningly beautiful young woman. She is twenty years old, with the pitch black hair and the piercing, dark blue eyes her family is known for. Aside from that, she is noted to have only very few similarities with her more plain-looking father. Her skin is pale and she has delicate facial features, with high cheekbones and full lips, as well as a shapely body.

As a princess of House Durrandon, Argella dresses in the finest clothes available. No stranger to wearing more practical clothes or even armour, she nonetheless prefers silken dresses, mostly in her favourite colours, yellow or blue.

## Personality

Argella is a headstrong and decisive woman. She is intelligent and like her father, she is a naturally gifted leader. Aside from that, one of her key characteristics is her haughtiness. She has a huge opinion about herself and can even be bratty, as she doesn't tolerate disrespect and answers an insults with another insult, usually twice as harsh. She has a sharp tongue and inherited quite a bit of her fathers temper, though she can control herself a lot better. Aside from that, she is fond of teasing others, sometimes to the point of cruelty, simply for her own amusement. In general, her amusement seems to be highly important to her and she is always searching for new ways to entertain herself.

However, there is more to her. While inheriting a number of Argilac's less desirable traits and having a couple of flaws as a result of her youth, she also got influenced by her father's positive traits, as well as the gentle nature of her mother. On several occasions, Argella demonstrated a surprising amount of empathy and a lot of compassion towards those who needed her help. In her own way, Argella genuinely cares for other people, even when they are not sworn to her house. Despite her sharp tongue and fondness for sarcastic teasing, Argella does not share her fathers love for violence. She certainly has a good heart and a strong sense of justice and duty, even if it is not something she is comfortable with showing. Aside from that, she is brave and not afraid to stand up for the things she believes to be righteous, even if she ends up getting herself in danger.

## Relationships

### Argilac Durrandon

Argella loves her father dearly and unconditionally. As the only member of her direct family still alive, he is the most important person in her life and with him, she finds it easy to show genuine feelings. In turn, Argilac adores his daughter and despite concern from his vassals about being ruled over by a woman, he builds her up as his heiress and unquestioned successor. While they are not always having the same opinion, both Durrandons depend on each other and they would both always support each other in the end.

### Drent Golton

Argella first met Drent when he was assigned to guard over her during their mission to Raylansfair. Her initial goal during her interaction with him was to find out how the common soldiers would think about her. However, she soon started to appreciate Drent's company, as she greatly appreciated his honest nature. However, their possible friendship took an early and severe blow when Drent thought her to be capable of mutilating Torrence Bernile. Upset that he had such an opinion on her, she distanced herself from him for a few days. Ultimately though, she realized that she had grown fond of him and they patched up their friendship over a bottle of Arbor Gold. Eventually, they grow genuinely close, with Drent developing a not-so-secret crush on her.

### Emphryus Dresfel

Emphryus, as a loyal knight and close friend to Argilac, knew Argella from her early childhood and watched her growing up. He is very fond of the princess and unquestionably loyal, though he is not convinced that she makes for a good leader and is concerned for her future and the future of his kingdom. In turn, Argella is completely informal in the way she treats him. While she appreciates his loyal service, she does not appreciate many of Emphryus less desirable character traits and she is not afraid to criticize and chide him whenever he misbehaves. Their interaction becomes a lot more friendly during and after the Raid on Raylansfair, where Argella's decisive actions win her the undying respect of Emphryus.

### Lucas Flowers

Lucas and Argella first encountered each other during the events that led to Harris' downfall. Taking pity on the knight, Argella was exceptionally kind and understanding to him, especially as she sensed that he had suffered a huge loss not long ago. In turn, her uncompromising way of dealing with Harris impressed Lucas, who decided to ally with her. He completely revealed everything that happened, from Harris' crimes, to the events that happened in Oldtown. Argella was surprised by his openness and she went out of her way to talk him out of his guilt and self-loathing. In return, Lucas seemed to develop a crush on her, which she noticed with amusement. As the first knight who ever swore directly to her, she considered him particularly special to her and she underwent great personal risks to free him from Maron Mullendore.

### Orys Baratheon

While not a real interaction, Argella's first experience with Orys was when she and her father received the Targaryen ambassador, Corilyan Celtigar. Argella felt deeply insulted by the idea that she should marry Orys, the rumoured bastard, taking particular offense by his unclear parentage and making it clear that she considered herself to stand above him. This view got a severe blow when they actually met after Mullendore's takeover of Raylansfair. There, Orys' selfless and chivalrous behaviour ended up saving Argella's life and the princess showed herself genuinely impressed. What followed was, naturally, that she felt ashamed for her earlier words against him. They cleared things between them after a talk, in which Argella apologized for her harsh insults, recognizing Orys as the noble knight that he is.

### Maron Mullendore

Argella first heard about Maron from Lucas, who had received deep wounds and a trauma due to the man's actions. This already tarnished her view and Maron confirmed her suspicions with his actions after taking over Raylansfair. When she came to demand Lucas' freedom, he insulted and eventually provoked her into physically attacking him, resulting in a stand-off that nearly would have ended in bloodshed. Due to Argella's failure to free Lucas, she has a notable grudge against Mullendore, swearing that one day, she'd do whatever she can to cause his downfall.