Ynys
Character Details
Gina Torres
Gina Torres as Ynys Yronwood
Name: Ynys Yronwood
Aliases: None yet
Faction: Dorne
Organization: House Martell(?)
Occupation: Mistress of Keys
Rank: Noble Lady
Age: Aug 9 78 (44)

Description

The widow of Gallowsgrey, or in all honesty Ynys Yronwood, is a queenly tall woman who retains the muscularity of her Dornish youth, though the lean shape which was her pride in those years has long since been curved by the carrying of a quartet of children. Her long oval face is anchored by gently arched black brows, deep-set dark brown eyes large enough to drown in, a strong nose, and lips of exceptional fullness. Beneath her left eye she has a small black beauty mark; the passage of time has marked her in other ways, softening her dark caramel skin, leaving lines less subtle year by year, threading silver in amidst her bountiful mane of tight black curls.

She speaks in a velvety, unhurried voice and has in the main velvety, unhurried ways; to clasp her hand or kiss her cheek is to feel how smooth a woman's skin can be; she wears a honeyed, spicy scent, mellow and sensual, a great many bracelets, and a hanged man signet ring of heavy dark gold.

Background

The only daughter in the small, thriving brood of the then-heir to Yronwood and his Uller bride, Lady Ynys (b. 78 AC) grew up a true, proud daughter of the Boneway, who yet favoured her mother's colouring and high temperament.

Her loves, her quarrels, her rivalries (most notably with Lady Sabela Dayne, for in those days they were accounted the two most beautiful women in Dorne), were cut short in the year 98 AC, when as part of a scheme of cross-border alliances she was betrothed to a lesser Tyrell of Highgarden — and married to the heir of House Trant of Gallowsgrey, in an upset related differently depending upon where you hear the tale. She considered her stormlord far more satisfactory a husband than a mere flowerboy; for him, she was a storm made flesh; in time their passion waned, but children, succession, renown in matters besides the circumstances of their union, all came to them in time — Baduin of House Trant was a most puissant knight; more songs were sung of his deeds in Westeros even than of Ynys Yronwood's seat on a horse in Dorne — and when their passion waned their pride sufficed to uphold them.

Ynys_03.jpg

A life lived amongst ancient enemies was, curiously, easier with than without Yronwood blood: that cast-yron sense of self weathered every storm of Gallowsgrey and its environs. A great lady is a great lady wherever she may find herself. Ruling without question over her husband's keep; setting her own standards throughout his lands; beguiling, conquering, or simply surviving her detractors… And, in Ynys Trant's case, bringing sandsteeds to the stormlands; swimming like a fish in her new home's rivers and lakes; learning and putting to use its abundant flora; and raising her three sons as better men and better husbands than their neighbours and her daughter to wed, without question (for one woman can only do so much with a kingdom), a Dornishman.

The deaths of Lord Trant and his brother in the early days of 123 AC, of an excess of heroism to which in retrospect it seemed they had been aspiring all their days, left Ynys's eldest son Lord of Gallowsgrey — and his wife lady in her stead. Thus a chapter opened in fierce joy was closed with a murmur of regret, and a resolution to step out of the endless rain and into the sun.

RP Hooks

  • Connected by blood with the houses Yronwood, Uller, and Trant; and by gossip with Dayne and Tyrell… others as well? Perhaps we can work something out.
  • Her intended marriage and the one she actually made were part of a diplomatic scheme to improve relations between Dorne and Westeros at the end of last century. With kin on both sides now she's forever caught in the middle: are you too?
  • A lifelong enthusiast for riding, hawking, dancing, drinking, knife games, and certain other traditional Dornish pastimes. >.>
  • Knows a lot about bees.

Quirks

  • Neither Fish Nor Fowl

The usual story. Too Dornish, too exotic for the general Westerosi taste; and yet her long marriage to a stormlord has made her a stranger in her own land…

  • Prideful

The daughter of a house which once ruled half of Dorne and has never forgotten this fact, Ynys considers herself the next thing to a princess. Her own belief in herself bore her up through all she was obliged to face in the early years of her marriage; and her confidence, her unconsciously regal bearing, the stamp of the genuine about all that she did, brought her acceptance far sooner than timidity and toadying could have done. … Of course, there are two sides to such a coin.

  • Once Famous: Beauty

In her youth she was accounted one of the two loveliest women in Dorne, her generation's most glorious exemplar of sandy Dornish beauty — the tales abounded, particularly of her habit of throwing knives as a seduction technique, and that one rather catchy song about her seat on a horse (to put it euphemistically) may yet be sung in the winesinks of the Shadow City. In another woman's name, perhaps, but still her song.

  • All Or Nothing

Ynys's temperament tends between extremes: she loves or she hates; she exerts herself not at all or to the utmost. Engage her interest, engage her passions, engage even her sense of duty — and anything is possible. In the intervals she can come across as being a wee bit lazy.

  • Keen Nose

With the aid of which, and prompted by the change of climate from dry heat to endless rain which for a time ruined her skin and her hair, she learned the ways of the still-room with uncommon thoroughness. For her own use and her household's she can produce an array of exceptionally fragrant soaps, salves, lotions, and oils: defeating her hair's tendency to frizziness, ensuring the impeccable softness and clarity of her skin, and smelling, even to her own sensitive nose… well, just sit next to her and see what you think.

  • Wealth: Opulent

The Yronwoods aren't short of a bit of coin. Between their eagerness to see Ynys wed after the fiasco at Highgarden — and her husband's determination to have her! — the provisions made for her maintenance during her marriage and then for her widowhood were uncommonly generous.

IC Events

Ynys Logs

Related Logs

Logs featuring Ynys.

Logs that refer to Ynys.

Relationships

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Gallery

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