Tyene Gargalen

## Lady of Salt Shore

Arson

## Other information

Character's biography

Tyene is the twin sister of Andros Gargalen. She became Lady of Salt Shore following his death in 393. She is the older sister of Elia Gargalen, a lady in waiting in service to Princess Obara Martell.

## Appearance

She is an attractive woman with long curly black-brown hair and dark eyes. Her complexion is warm, and she favors red and orange when it comes to clothing. Though she's from a principal banner house sworn to House Martell, she prefers to dress down, rather than up.

## Personality

Tyene is a loner type who keeps a small circle of trust, but at the same time, she understands the importance of diplomatic and social relations between her House and others. She dislikes conflict and pointless drama, considering the two things a waste of time and energy. She exercises neutrality when able and prefers to be left alone.

Towards most, she is cautious and civil at best. She can be noncommittal and detached, especially where intimate relationships are concerned. She is distrusting, paranoid, and also vindictive. She has a bit of a cruel streak.

## Biography

In 374, Andros and Tyene were born to Lord Quint Gargalen and his young wife Arianne Allyrion. Her mother was only four and ten when Tyene was born, and a year later she gave birth to her younger sister Elia. It was a rough and difficult pregnancy that resulted in health complications for his young wife, but Quint Gargalen was a prideful man who put his desire for a *strong* son over his wife’s wellbeing. This desire turned into a full-blown obsession when all his children, and especially Andros--his only son--exhibited various symptoms of sickness. Quint ignored the maester’s warnings and continued on his path of fathering a healthy son, resulting in consecutive miscarriages, and inevitably his second wife’s death in 377. Arianne’s death was a gruesome post pregnancy affair involving a stillborn son, and the guilt he felt for her death--and his previous wife’s--kept him from marrying a third time. He shifted his focus on managing his lands and rearing his heir, Andros, whose health gradually improved as time passed.

Tyene spent her formative years with her sister and best friend Elia, honing her natural gifts as an agent when together they learned how to be aware of their surroundings and how to use their resources to their advantage, namely in gleaning information. It was their first taste in espionage. The sisters were close with Maester Yoda who became a father figure to her and her sister, rather than their own who demanded much of their brother’s time. He was an old and shriveled man, but wiser than even his advanced years implied. He was knowledgeable in alchemy and treated his sickly charges’ symptoms. Tyene’s especially were the most troublesome of her siblings’ to treat given their elusive and often fleeting nature. She suffers from bouts of extreme fatigue, headaches, and physical weakness, and other side effects such as mood swings and cold feet and hands. Her illness is mainly treated through various teas and other alchemical concoctions.

During her youth, she and Elia were especially close despite their glaringly different personalities. Tyene was quiet and withdrawn due to her sickness draining her energy; and her sister Elia was daring and impulsive, emboldened by her beauty. However, both lived in fear of their their ill meaning brother, who would often speak cruelly to them and strike them if they misspoke. Their father turned a blind eye so long as Andros didn’t push his limits, believing that the interactions would toughen up his lamb-hearted daughters. Quint, after all, saw himself a realist, and the world was a harsh place, and he wanted to rid his daughters of their delusions and other childish fancies they had.

In 383, she met her father’s new ward, a boy named Olyvar Vaith when he bumped into her in the hallway. He was an awkward boy, and his awkwardness made the situation all the more awkward… But his seemingly harmless character made him easy for the young and usually shy Tyene to trust, and so began their friendship--much to the chagrin of her sister Elia who’d become immediately enamored by the young Olyvar. Their bond grew when her younger sister Elia was warded off at Sunspear in 385 following a vicious argument with their brother Andros, and Andros’ lessons became more demanding of his time. She found most of her leisurely time spent in Olyvar’s company due to their closeness in age, and while he experimented in his sciencey pursuits, she entertained herself at his expense. They were “harmless” pranks at first--switching his shoes so that he had two left boots, mixing up his ingredients when he practiced his teas, adding laxatives to his food, hiding his spear when he was supposed to be practicing… her introduction to the art of sabotage. As their friendship grew, however, so too did Andros’ ire towards them, and his dislike for Olyvar Vaith, a scion from a lowly house who thought too much of himself.

The two became very close, spending the time they didn’t devote to their respective lessons with one another. Sometimes they snuck off at night to walk along the Salt Shore and talk until morning. They talked about a number of things--their families, their goals, the things they enjoyed. He confided in her his love of fire, and gave her her first lesson in arson, but only after she begrudgingly agreed not to prank him with it. It was in 387 after they were caught by a wave while hiding from guards (and her father) that Quint was forced to put an end to whatever relationship had developed between the two. For the first time in her life, her father struck her in the cheek, and days later she was betrothed to Daeron Martell, a Prince of Dorne. To enforce it, he had his heir Andros pay closer attention to the two. This had the desired effect, as their nightly adventures came to a swift end; however, it did little to their friendship, which only worsened Andros’ feelings towards his sister and the warrior both.

In 388, Maester Yoda died, and she found herself more reliant on her friend Olyvar Vaith, and especially dependent on his skills in alchemy. From him she learned the very basics needed to brew her own medicines, but she feigned helplessness, preferring his attention over the new Maester Luke, and needing a reason to spend time with him that her father and brother would allow. In 389, Oylvar became a member of House Gargalen’s household guard after swearing his fealty--cause for celebration, were it not for her father’s death later that same year. Andros became Lord of Salt Shore, and things changed drastically. He worked Olyvar like a dog and assigned tedious and sometimes menial tasks to him, anything it took to keep him from his sister without dishonoring him. And he tasked Tyene with building and strengthening ties they had in their homeland and in neighboring areas, further honing her skills in espionage and spreading their family’s extensive spy network.

In 390, following a tournament in Starfall, Dorne was attacked by Saan pirates. Andros sent Olyvar to Vaith to deal with the problem, while he remained on his lands. It was the first time in her life where she was unprotected by her father and Olyvar both, and Andros exerted his full cruelty to his sister Tyene. It was said that not once was he kind to her in public, and it was believed by many that he struck her when they were alone. She hid her bruises in modest clothes, and spent most of her time indisposed--supposedly due to her illness. For years she endured his verbal and physical abuse, until 393 when she was sent to Sunspear to be reunited with her sister Elia, and get to know her betrothed Prince Daeron--and unknowingly to Andros, Olyvar as well, who had been spirited to Sunspear. The Tyene Elia and Olyvar were greeted by was vastly different from the one they knew years earlier. She was quiet, paranoid, withdrawn, seemingly afraid of physical affection, and she had developed a vindictive side of her own. While in Sunspear, she became an expert at espionage.

Andros was killed while Tyene was in Sunspear. Promptly she returned home, with Olyvar at her side, but her sister Elia chose to remain behind and serve Princess Obara as her faithful lady in waiting.

In 395, just a moon before her marriage to Prince Daeron Martell, Tyene visited Sunspear once more to speak with Princess Obara. While there, she told Obara she was too ill to marry and believed herself to be infertile, claiming to have the same illness that took her own mother’s life. She had Elia lie on her behalf, and the the betrothal was quickly ended. Relations between House Gargalen and House Martell suffered afterwards, but Elia has remained steadfast in her loyalty, and so too has Tyene in her hopes of mending relations, though she wishes to stay apart of politics and war, and focus instead on the governing of her lands.

In 398, she accompanied Princess Obara to King’s Landing as a show of support for her liege during the Great Council. The trip took a toll on her health, however, and she has remained indisposed until recently.