Alys Boleyn

Rickar Boleyn - brother

Dante Karstark - betrothed

Lady **Alys Boleyn** is a major PoV character in Book 1. She is the eldest child and only daughter of Lord Barroth Boleyn, a minor lord sworn to House Karstark, as well as the older sister of Rickar Boleyn. Alys is impulsive and highly independent. Both of these traits drove her to run away from home prior to the beginning of the story, to escape from an unwanted betrothal to Dante Karstark.

## Background

Alys was born as the eldest of two children and only daughter of Lord Barroth Boleyn, the head of House Boleyn and Lord of Burmstone Keep. Her mother was Maria Boleyn, originally of House Pine, a knightly house in service of her family, which eventually died out after Maria's marriage with Barroth though.

As a young girl, Alys was influenced by her mother, teaching her kindness and an open mind and in her childhood, she would regularly interact with travellers at Burmstone Keep, or people from the surrounding hamlets. The young Boleyn lady was well-liked during these times and she gained a lot of valuable impressions from the peasantry, even if her general outlook on the outside world remained naive, coined by the romantic fairytales her mother shared with her.

A cut in her life happened when her mother died, when Alys was only eight years old, as she gave birth to their second child, Alys' young brother Rickar. This sent Alys and Barroth himself into a downwards spiral and her life was nothing as it used to ever since.

Only slowly recovering from the loss, the young Rickar helped and Alys doted on her younger brother. Barroth however changed and she noticed this, as he became more protective of her than ever before. Never having known such strictness in her life, Alys reacted by trying her best to break free of the bonds he imposed upon her.

What he forbade, she'd find a way to do and as such, she often stole away from Burmstone Keep, to continue wandering through the lands of her family. She became a skilled rider in the process, though with her trips never taking long, she nonetheless missed out on many important survival skills.

During one of these trips, she also had a brief encounter with the local hunter Leo York, just barely older than her. While they only had a single, pleasant talk and Alys quickly forgot about him, she left a profound impact onto the outcast Leo, who became obsessed with her in time.

Much to Alys' sorrow, her father eventually tried to find a good match for her. Among his initial batch of suggestions, which she rejected with horror, was also Alphyn Frostborn, himself almost twice her age at the time and with a bastard son just a year younger. However, the greatest problem only came when her father made her a suggestion she was unable to reject. Having struck a deal with his liege lord, Brogar Karstark, Barroth offered his daughter a way into one of the most powerful houses of the North, by having her marry Brogar's nephew, Dante.

Unwilling to give up on her freedom, Alys came up with a drastic plan. From her mother's stories, she still knew locations such as Braavos and Dorne. Deciding to travel south, she ran away from home, taking just the essentials with her, she quickly realized she bit off more than she could chew. However, stubborn to a fault, she also refused to return, instead making her way to the nearby Thaumaturge castle, where she spent a night as the guest of Lord Lionel Frostborn. Though seeing through her story, Lionel actually let her go on purpose, to further his own goals, giving her valuable help to cross the border of her kingdom and to travel into the Riverlands.

Her actions eventually motivate her father to send men after her, most prominently the hedge knight Edrick, an old friend, whom he trusts with bringing her back home safely.

## Book 1

### Butterfly

Alys is first introduced when she wanders down the road south of Harrenhal. It is there that she reflects about her choices, as it rains and she is freezing. A chance encounter with the farmhand Tomard clues her in on the fact that tonight is the most dangerous night for her to be around Harrenhal, as Harmund Hoare has returned and decided to lead his men for a hunt through the surrounding lands. Tomard offers her safety at the farm of Woody Lincoln, a retired soldier, but she refuses, instead preferring to escape the danger on her own by picking a route through the forest.

Alys comes to regret her choice though when a group of Ironborn, consisting of Torvin Breaker, Hjalgar Holgarsson and Gabin Strad, led by Harmund's younger brother Harlan, pick up her trail after Harmund got her location from Tomard before executing him. She is chased through the forest, hiding eventually, in a spot where Torvin finds her. Horrified at his appearance, she is nonetheless spared a terrible fate, when Torvin shows mercy and allows her to escape.

Arriving back at the road, she notices a group of travellers in the distance. Seeking help from them, they reveal themselves as Edward Anturion and his bodyguards, Alisa Karstark and Carvin Granver. Realizing that Alisa is one of the few people that could recognize her, she reveals her identity in return for protection. Edward is surprised to see a noble Northern lady in these lands and when Harlan catches up to them, he does not hesitate to protect her. Though angered at this, Harlan can't do anything and eventually, he agrees to lead the group to Harrenhal, Alys included. Having little choice, she decides to accompany Edward and his companions, seeking further shelter with him.

### The Iron Price

After arriving in Harrenhal, Alys is given a few hours to recover, where she warms up, eats hot stew and spends time calming down after the experience she has just been through. Thankful for her rescue, she keeps close to her companions and together with them, she meets the kings youngest son, Harrick Hoare. He informs them that his father wishes to speak to them.

King Harren himself is every bit as cruel as Alys has imagined him. Fearing for her safety, Carvin and Alisa previously give her advice on how to face such a man, with her deciding to follow Carvin's advice to act strong and with determination, to prove that she is not scared of the king. However, actually seeing him quickly causes her determination to be replaced by fear, as she is terrified of him.

Harren however is more amused by her presence than anything else, even if his mood is a particularly foul one on this day. Barely speaking during their interaction, Alys gets a glimpse into Edward's plans, before Harren ordered Harrick to bring them to their quarters for the night. During the trip through the castle, she also encounters Harren's half-wit thirdborn, Harndon, who can only be controlled thanks to the presence of Harrick.

Arriving at her room, Alys quickly falls asleep, after the stress of the past hours. She awakes next morning, now well-rested, only to meet with Harren's squire, Adrew Frey, who informs her that Alisa wishes to speak to her. He brings her to her and for the first time, the two women have a genuine conversation. Here, they notice their similarities and Alisa actually expresses sympathy for the younger girl. They bond over their shared experiences, with Alisa even admitting that she misses her home sometimes, a sentiment Alys shares just too well by now.

Eventually, they meet up with Edward, who is in Harrenhal's Great Hall, to witness the king's justice. Two men come in and Alys realizes that one of them is Woody Lincoln, whose farmhand had offered her protection. As it turned out, Harmund Hoare and his men, first and foremost his best friend Rell Vessels, had stumbled upon the farm, brutalizing the girls Woody had tried to hide. The public nature of their crimes makes it impossible for Harren to cover it up, something he clearly hates and as such, he has decided to actually hear them out and to even punish Harmund, even if he opts to do the last one in private. However, when Woody's farmhand becomes too bold with his demands, Harren snaps and beats the man to death in front of his shocked court.

Disgusted by the Ironborn king, Alys leaves the hall, accompanied by the similarly disgusted Carvin. Outside, they meet with Hjalgar Hoare and Torvin Breaker, the former of whom Carvin decides to challenge to a friendly archery contest. While taking their shots, Alys and Carvin bond in a similar way to her bonding with Alisa earlier, in their case over the siblings they left behind and Carvin tells her about his sister, Ilish.

### Masquerade

A few days after the events of Chapter 5, Alys has left Harrenhal again, to her great relief, as she accompanies Edward through the Riverlands, together with the Ironborn captain Alynne Hollard, who is supposed to lead them to a group of bandits Edward seeks to ally with. However, their leader, a man only known as Bear, is of great concern to Carvin and Alisa, who have heard of him before.

Arriving at Bear's camp, the group is outnumbered by the bandits even with Alynne's Ironborn to support them. As Edward, Alynne and Alisa leave to negotiate with the bandit leader, Alys and Carvin remain outside, where the girl quickly notices the hungry looks of Bear's men. What potentially saves her is an argument, breaking out between the young Ironborn scout Wilbur and another of the raiders. This argument ends in violence and Bear sees himself forced to intervene, which he does by swiftly and brutally, by killing the raider that fought with Wilbur, gutting him in the process.

### Valar Morghulis

Alys herself does not appear in this chapter, but it is mentioned that she is among those that accompany Edward Anturion to Raylansfair, travelling aboard his ship with raiders previously belonging to Alynne Hollard's crew.

### What Is Dead May Never Die

During the early stages of the Raid on Raylansfair, Alys is dragged to the city by Edward, at this point already clearly unwilling to follow him. She is brought to the archive, where Edward reveals the true reason for him helping her. Her northern blood is used to fend of ancient wards placed upon the lower archive by First Men. For this, he coerced her into allowing him to cut her palm, drawing a bit of her blood, much to her fear and the concern of Carvin and Alisa, the latter of which was originally supposed to give her blood.

Cutting deep, Alys was left in pain, as Edward took her blood, nearly enough to make her faint. He then shows a truly ruthless side of his, when he sends one of the Ironborn into the archive with a purposefully botched protective sigil. Taken with him, now truly and openly against her will, Alys fights to remain conscious, fearing for what Edward might do with her blood if she faints now. And as expected, the Ironborn without a proper sigil is the first to die, horrifying her and permanetly tarnishing her opinion on Edward.

Though the archive itself holds even greater danger for Alys. As it turns out, her northern blood is not as pure as even herself thought, making her vulnerable for the magic of the archive, which eventually comes to affect her. By this time, most Ironborn are either dead or fleeing, with Wilbur previously offering to take her with him, an offer she refuses to remain with Carvin and Alisa, who in turn show only begrudging loyalty to Edward anymore.

When the magic fully targets her, Alys receives painfully physical hallucinations of her greatest fears confronting her. Among these is her own father, blaming her for ruining the family. She is forced to flee, Alisa and Carvin by her side, as Edward heads deeper into the archive all by himself. On her way out, Alys is attacked and wounded by a hallucination, though Carvin saves her, giving her to Alisa, who brings her to safety just as she faints.

### Valar Dohaeris

After the raid, Alys flees by ship, being brought aboard Edward's vessel by Alisa. She is still shaken by her encounter in the archives and is shown to need time to fully recover. With the remaining followers of Edward, among them Bear and his bandits, surviving Ironborn and the Second Sons, now led by Morgrem Dermont, she receives preciously little though.

Instead, she is brought to a meeting with Edward, who himself has been wounded during the raid. He reveals to her that he still intends to make up on his promise to bring her to Dorne and though she has grown wary of him after the raid, she remains by his side, as he explains that he first plans to travel to Merman's Rest, where he would discuss his next steps with his leader, the pirate king Aeron Blacksails.

## Book 2

### Fires Far

After several weeks of journey around Westeros, Alys and her companions arrive at the Merman's Rest, where Edward plans to meet with his king. Fascinated by the place despite its dreadful reputation, Alys nonetheless minds stern warnings, given to her by Wilbur, whom she has befriended during their journey. After crossing the water into Merman's Rest itself, these warning are repeated by Alisa, who tricks Edward into giving her and Alys a few moments alone by feigning interest into a foreign whore.

Though intrigued by the colourful place and its people, Alys keeps these warnings close as Edward brings her to the court of Aeron Blacksails. There, she witnesses his argument with the rival captain Gregor Harlaw, before being led to the king and his council by Aeron's second-in-command, Sargasso Saan. Introduced to the council and lastly the king himself, Alys is quickly intimidated, though considering the warnings she received, she manages to successfully lie to Aeron, making him believe her name would be Alys Snow instead of Boleyn and keeping her identity a secret.

After witnessing Edward's plea for more coin out of the pirates, she decides to step in. While not trusting him, she has come to the conclusion that he is the smallest evil she has to deal with in Merman's Rest, surrounded by so many dangerous pirates, and as such, she pleads in his favour, trying to convince Aeron Blacksails that Edward has truly changed since he last saw him, a fact she herself barely believed in.

### Thorns

After seemingly succeeding at winning Aeron's support for Edward, the king invites Alys alongside the captains to a dinner at his mansion. She is given a new dress and one of Aeron's slaves does her hair, something she considers to look pretty, but fake at the same time.

Catching a bit of fresh air, she witnesses Gregor Harlaw leaving Merman's Rest and she is approached by Edward, who thanks her for his support. Still with the scars from his actions in Raylansfair visible on her hands, she refuses to accept his gratitude, stating she merely did it to get his protection, before leaving him without a further word.

Heading back inside, she listens to a dinner conversation between the captains Melvan Tiren and Jadith Linster, whose grisly details horrify her. Jadith mocks her for this, though Melvan and especially Sargasso Saan are more sympathetic. Sargasso even invites her to stay and have a further conversation, though Alys is caught by the fear that he might know about her true identity.

## Appearance

Alys is a young woman in her very late teens, having turned seventeen as the story starts. With light brown hair and green eyes, she is usually considered to be very beautiful, though young-looking for her age, with even just slightly older characters referencing to her as a child. Even though she is on the run, Alys takes care of her appearance, dressing in fine travelling clothes that quickly give away her status as a highborn lady. Her facial expressions are usually stern and she comes off as a bit haughty in the way she looks and acts.

## Personality

Alys is a headstrong young woman, with a very independent streak. She yearns for freedom, never satisfied with the strict bonds her family and society imposes upon her. A dreamer, she has grown up with stories of Dorne and came to idolize the place, where even she, as a woman, could keep her freedom. Generally trying to keep an open mind with others, she is approachable, yet judgemental of those that scare her. In return, she often develops an irrational trust towards those she perceives as heroic and noble, even if this streak of hers is diminished after her travels with Edward and seeing how he truly can be.

However, Alys can also come off as somewhat shallow. She has been spoiled by her father, as strict as he always has been with her and it genuinely surprises her that not everyone had that much luck in life. This is not done out of maliciousness though, as she is genuinely trying to improve the lives of those around her. Her general reaction to the conditions of the smallfolk do make her appear haughty though, but in time, she comes to develop a more realistic outlook on the realities of the common folk.

## Relationships

### Barroth Boleyn

As Barroth's daughter, Alys does love her father, even if her most prominent action in the story proper might not make it look that way. She loves him and cares for him, however, his overprotective and strict nature has caused her great frustration in her past. Nonetheless, it was him pushing her into a marriage with another noble that caused her to run away from him and her home, with a heavy heart. As for Barroth, he heavily regrets his role in her step, seeing himself as solely responsible for her decision.

### Rickar Boleyn

Not much is known about the relationship between Alys and Rickar. However, she is shown to miss him deeply on account of thinking about him alongside her father, indicating that the siblings are very close.

### Edward Anturion

At first, Edward made a good impression on Alys. His first action which she witnessed, saving her from Harlan Hoare, did wonders for their relationship and she came to saw him as noble and gallant, an odd, yet very welcome hero and saviour. A bit wary due to his background as a pirate, Alys nonetheless kept open to his many less benign qualities and her distrust grew as they became more prominent. Eventually, he horrified her during his actions in the Raid on Raylansfair, losing any trust she ever had in him and going further, she came to see him as just barely better than the cutthroats at Merman's Rest.

### Alisa Karstark

Between Alys and Alisa, the two women noticed several baffling similarities, which they used to bond. For Alisa, this was particularly surprising, as she hadn't bonded with anyone in a long time. Quickly growing fond of Alys and coining her nickname "Little Lady", she became protective of her, especially against the horrors of Harrenhal. As for Alys herself, she considered Alisa a genuine friend in time, trusting her the most out of her new companions. The two have arguably the closest connection out of Edward Anturion's group and by the time of Book 2, Alisa is loyal to Alys even above her actual employer, Edward.

### Carvin Granver

In contrast to the quick friendship that formed between her and Alisa, Alys and Carvin needed slightly longer to connect. However, both bonded over the siblings they left behind, with Carvin eventually opening up and telling her about his sister, Ilish and the regret he feels for leaving her alone after their father's deaths. In return, Alys grew to like Carvin a lot, seeing him as a friend, especially as he proved his loyalty to her by selflessly saving her life in the archives.

### Torvin Breaker

First meeting as enemies, with Torvin joining in Harlan Hoare's hunt for her, Alys had a bad first impression of Torvin, fearing his brutish appearance. However, he surprised her with kindness, by helping her to escape from Harlan. It was this action that earned him her gratitude, though she remained wary around him ever since.

### Dante Karstark

Dante and Alys have never met before, yet despite this, their fates are connected due to the heads of their families arranging a marriage between the two. While Dante never minded and would have gone through with it, Alys panicked at this thought, triggering her running away from Burmstone Keep. As such, her opinion on Dante was largely negative for a long time. However, due to meeting his cousin Alisa, it has actually slowly improved, though he remains a man she would be happy with never meeting.