It occurred to me that the new generation Dornish have an incredibly gung ho, casual attitude towards politics & war. Obara’s incredibly “brilliant” plan of blitzing the Marcher castles & Oldtown( obstacles that have defied much better commanders) to Arianne’s casual decision to wipe out the Yronwoods “root & branch” in case of rebellion, to the whole picnic attitude prevailing among Arianne’s friends on their Queenmaking expedition- just ridiculous. Young noblemen all over Westeros suffer from a delusion that war is glorious, but these buffoons seem to believe that it is a trivially easy game. For a people whose last military venture 15 years ago ended in bloody defeat they sure are confident ! Only Tyene’s plan of luring the Lannisters into the deserts- Dorne’s home field advantage was even remotely well planned. What is your opinion on this matter ? Have they completely forgotten about the destruction Dorne suffered in earlier wars?
The comparison to say, the Knights of Summer in the Reach, is an apt one. The Dornish have sat out the War of Five Kings, they seem to have sat out the Greyjoy Rebellion, and they only fought in one battle of Robert’s Rebellion. So you have a generation of Dornish nobility who don’t have any experience of war and a North-like set of grievances about the death of Oberyn and Elia before him.
Add to that the impact of Dornish nationalism. The identity of the Dornish, highborn and low, is rooted in a historic saga of stalwart resistance and inevitable victory, and I doubt the stories and songs linger on the horrendous casualties inflicted on entire populations from dragons and armies alike that may have reduced Dornish manpower from 50,000 to 25,000 spears. So I don’t think the Dornish are immune to the same thinking that says that “every northerner is worth ten of these southron swords,” or that “the men of the green lands were made of softer stuff” than the Ironborn, who have a destiny to rule.
RFTIT Tumblr Backup 