Who are the Rhoynish? A Brief History of Dorne

I’ve seen many argue that the TV show removing Arianne Martell, the only female heir to anything in the books, was where the TV show went wrong. Arianne, so the argument goes, would have played well on TV, and provided a feminist counterpoint to those who complain about how woman are treated on the show. By subbing in Ellaria, the show changed the motives behind the plot to kidnap Myrcella. Arianne wanted to crown Myrcella, but Ellaria only wanted to murder her in revenge for what was actually Oberyn’s own stupidity. This made the entire Dornish plot, and the Sand Snake’s goals, not only cartoony, but rooted in something that didn’t make sense.

But I don’t fully buy that argument, because the Martells don’t come off much better in the books. Arianne’s plot in A Feast for Crows is just as poorly thought-out and badly handled as Ellaria’s is on the show, which makes that “feminist symbol” as much of a fool as Cersei, just in a different set of circumstances. Quentyn Martell (also blessedly cut) is a useless wimp. Prince Doran does nothing but sit in a chair and brood while watching naked children play in the Water Gardens for thousands of pages. (In that sense, casting Alexander Siddig and having him meet with Jaime actually did the character a favor, as he actually had something to do and an actor who could make him look formidable doing it from a wheelchair.)

So why doesn’t Dorne work? In both cases, I think Dorne fails because the series isn’t actually interested in showing a culture with our modern day kind of values and contrasting them with the values of the rest of Westeros. The things that made Oberyn work—his unfamiliar culture and belief system coming into contact with one we were familiar with—does not hold up when we are dropped into their world, with nothing for it to clash against. The world of Dorne would be far more interesting—both on page and on the screen—if Doran and company had a Maester from the Citadel to match beliefs against, or a Septon from the Faith of the Seven (which Dorne pays lip service to).

Dorne comes closest to “working” on the show when Jaime is dropped into the Water Gardens after his failed assault on the compound, as a corollary to Oberyn’s trip to King’s Landing. Unfortunately, it is short-lived, but one gets the idea that Jaime might value this open culture because of his lifestyle. (Note how amazed and touched he is when Myrcella accepts him for who he loves, as the Dornish would.)

We’ll be returning to Dorne this coming season, partly because they do have a role to play in the coming battle for control of Westeros. From the spoilers we’ve seen, it suggests that the Dornish will not be showing up on screen very much, except when someone from the outside comes to visit. Let’s hope that means the show has realized the value of the Dornish is in their contrast to the Westerosi norm, rather than as a people who just hang out and fight and fuck and fuck and fight.