House Martell

Tyene Sand

House: bastard daughter of Prince Oberyn Martell, by a septa of the Faith

Last confirmed departing Sunspear for King's Landing among Princess Myrcella's escort, her sweet manner and her father's gift for poison both intact and both, the histories suggest, best not mistaken for each other.

A septa raised Tyene Sand on the Seven-Pointed Star before she could walk, and the household's private joke is that she still dresses the part when it amuses her — golden curls, a novice's modesty, a voice pitched for gentle mercy. It is, a maester would note, an excellent disguise for a young woman who learned her father's poisons as thoroughly as her mother's scripture, and who is, by most household reckoning, the most quietly lethal of Oberyn's eight daughters despite being among the youngest to bear a spear at all. Arianne Martell calls her the sister she never had, which says as much about Arianne's judgment of character as it does about Tyene's.

The arc of Tyene Sand

This carries the character’s road through the published novels. Read on only if you do not fear to know.

Tyene's closeness to Arianne draws her into the edges of the failed plot to crown Myrcella — the maiming of the princess and the death of Ser Arys Oakheart that follow are not laid at Tyene's door directly — but she is present for Doran's reckoning afterward, and for the assignment it earns her: donning a septa's modesty in truth rather than in jest, to travel north with Myrcella and Nymeria and cultivate King's Landing's new High Septon for Dorne's benefit, while Trystane, the trap's true target, is kept safely at Sunspear.

Where the books leave Tyene Sand: Tyene remains close in Ellaria's and her cousin Arianne's confidence through the aftermath of Oberyn's death and Arianne's own failed attempt to crown Myrcella queen, and is present when Doran finally lays his true plans bare to the household — including his conviction that the invitation south to King's Landing hides a trap laid for Trystane. Her own part in that plan sends her north rather than keeping her home: traveling with Myrcella and Nymeria, she is to trade her spear for her mother's old habit and win the confidence of King's Landing's newly empowered High Septon on Dorne's behalf.

These partings name deaths, endings, and roads not yet ridden in the books. Unveil them only if both roads are known to you — or if you do not fear to know.

SourcesAFFC · The QueenmakerADWD · The WatcherTWOIAF · Dorne

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Why does Tyene Sand dress as a septa?

Her mother was a septa of the Faith who raised her on scripture from the cradle, and Tyene has kept the habit as a private joke — one that also happens to make her look far less dangerous than she is.

What is Tyene Sand's weapon of choice?

Poison, in the tradition her father the Red Viper taught her — a craft the text treats as considerably more frightening than any blade her sisters carry.