Alara Caron

House Stark

Cleoden Durrandon - half-brother

Mathias Durrandon - half-brother

Jaycen Caron - step-father

Meghan Caron - mother

{Ryman Caron} - half-brother

Gareth Caron - half-brother

Bethany Caron - half-sister

{Briala Caron} - half-sister

Edric Dondarrion - grandfather

Gendel Dondarrion - uncle

Gladys Dondarrion - aunt

Dromon Tarth - lover

**Alara Caron** is a sellsword in service of House Stark, and a major PoV character. She is product of an affair between King Qarlton II Durrandon and Lady Meghan Caron, and while she is unacknowledged by her biological father, she was raised in Nightsong as a Caron. Quick-witted and highly independent, Alara finds herself signing up to a distant war against the Andal invaders.

## Background

Alara Caron was born as the fifth child of Lord Jaycen Caron, the lord of Nightsong, a keep in the Dornish Marches. House Caron is traditionally sworn to House Durrandon of Storm's End and has a reputation of being exceptionally loyal and close to the Durrandon's. In the case of Alara's mother, Lady Meghan Caron, this was taken a bit more literally.

Lady Meghan used to be the mistress of Storm King Qarlton II Durrandon, behind the back of the Storm Queen and behind the back of her own husband. During her time as the kings secret mistress, Meghan gave birth to several children, all of them displaying the red hair that was common in her husbands family, aside from the last one, Alara, who had the dark hair and deep blue eyes that were commonly found with members of House Durrandon. Mainly because of her birth, Jaycen started to suspect his wife’s infidelity and decided to confront her. Meghan broke down, confessing everything and promising to end the relationship with the Storm King. To avoid a public scandal for him and for his king, Jaycen agreed.

While Meghan vowed that Alara was his child, he always remained sceptical about this, especially because of her looks. He secretly suspected her to be a Durrandon bastard and always treated her accordingly, at least in private. Because of this, Alara grew up as a loner with only a loose connection to the rest of her family. While she got along with her mother and her four older siblings, she never had a deep friendship to them or to any other person at Nightsong.

An especially bad relationship was between her and her alleged father, who treated her like the bastard she likely was, at least most of the times. On rare occasions, Lord Jaycen showed himself impressed by her stubbornness and even considered that she might be his real daughter after all.

One of the few people she deeply liked was the old Master-at-arms of Nightsong, who taught her how to use a weapon. The other was her eldest brother, Ryman Caron, who held a sweet-spot for his baby sister and always made time for her.

Deeply dissatisfied with her role in life, Alara always dreamt of adventure, always trying to escape her monotone and loveless life in Nightsong. One night, when she was sixteen years old, she decided to take things into her own hands. At night, she stole a horse from her fathers stables, a light armour from the guard and took valuable weapons and a bit of money with her.

To avoid getting captured by anyone her father might send after her, she travelled to the Valyrian Freehold at first, where she lived as a common sellsword, for the first time in her life free and truly happy. Because of the sigil of her house and because of her singing voice, she was nicknamed 'Nightingale' by the people she met in Essos, gaining a good reputation under this name.

## Appearance and Character

Alara is 5'6 tall, with a lean and wiry physique. She has long, pitch black hair, paired with very pale skin and deep blue eyes, giving her a look similar to the one commonly found with House Durrandon. She is strikingly beautiful, but absolutely hates to be reduced to her looks. While her hair is long, she wears it in a strict bun, only letting it down when she feels safe. Usually, she has a cold look in her eyes, as well as a slightly mocking smirk on her face, but whenever she is genuinely happy about something, she shows a pretty smile. Her beauty is often tarnished by the cold and aloof look on her face. She does not like to wear a dress, instead she mainly wears light armour. However, if needed she can look absolutely stunning in a dress. Alara has a very melodic and pleasant sounding voice.

Alara fights with a longsword in close combat and is very skilled with it, thanks to the training she received. In combat, she prefers to fight in a very fast style, often dodging attacks rather than parrying them. She is also a skilled archer, even though her true talent lies in close combat. She wears a fine longsword forged by Nightsong's best blacksmith. The sword had no name until she came into combat with Argos Sevenstar, where her bronze blade miracuously cut his steel blade in two. Her sword quickly became known as *Steelbreaker* amongst the Northmen, but she considers this moniker crude and dull.

## Recent Events

### Book 1: Age of the New

#### Chapter 1: Forging Alliances

The wandering sellsword from the Stormlands, Alara Caron, finds herself looking for a contract in the North. She takes her sword to the Dreadfort, but her service is denied due to her gender. Alara decides to offer her services to House Stark of Winterfell. Alara is met by a mass of Stark soldiers preparing for war when she arrives at Winterfell. Asking for directions to King Theon Stark's whereabouts, Alara is introduced to Brodin and Steffon Cale, a blacksmith and an old soldier. Brodin points her to the Godswood, where Alara ultimately finds Theon praying. As she approaches, she is attacked by Teran Woodmill, a paranoid minor lord awaiting Theon's attention. Theon quickly separates the fight, and Alara introduces herself and her sword to Theon, to which he graciously accepts. Alara finds herself later talking with Brodin about his smithing expertise, when suddenly an abundance of Bolton banners and men holding them charge over the hills towards Winterfell. Theon and Rogar meet each other on the field, and the Bolton's present a gift to the Stark's, which Alara finds to be Harmond Hornhill's decomposing head, before accepting their alliance.