Her bastard last name of “Rivers” does indicate a noble lineage outside of wedlock though. Some believe Lord Lyonel Strong impregnated a serving wench, others say a wood witch, while some say Lord Lyonel wasn’t her father at all. The many secondary sources that make up the narrative in Fire & Blood disagree on her true parentage. Though at least 40 years old, Alys looks unusually (some would say supernaturally) young for her age. Alys’s magical abilities fall within the historical realm of “could be real, could be nasty rumors cast upon her by weak, superstitious men.” Martin’s world leave a bit more room for skepticism and interpretation. Aside from the obviously powerful Melisandre, the magical folk of George R.R. The world of Game of Thrones has very few actual magic-users … or at least magic-users like you’d see in Middle-earth or a game of Dungeons & Dragons. The low-born bastard child of House Strong is not only an important player in the Dance of the Dragons but a major figure in Westerosi history itself.Īlys Rivers is, for lack of a better word, a witch. Martin’s Game of Thrones prequel Fire & Blood to have not been presented on House of the Dragon yet (with no disrespect intended to the incoming Cregan Stark, who has also yet to make his debut). On each of these objects, the dragon’s body is outlined by a trek, a darker outline pigment, which is filled in with a blue wash.For the uninitiated, Alys Rivers is arguably the most prominent remaining character from George R.R. This particular dragon pattern was taken from a Kangxi Period (1662-1722) Chinese porcelain, and was sufficiently popular to have been adapted on a number of different forms. This mark is probably for Theodorus (Dirck) Witsenburgh, the owner of De Witte Ster (The White Star) factory from 1690 until his death in 1700, and then presumably used by his family as owners until 1705. The jar was made around 1700 in the city of Delft, and is marked with the letters IW. The blue and white ovoid jar and cover is painted with four scaly dragons against a ground of entangled flowering vines continuing onto the cover. However, Delft potters and especially the ceramic painters imitated motifs from Chinese porcelain without understanding their symbolism. Although the mythical dragon is a rare motif on Delftware, there are several Delftware objects with a rather similar depiction to the dragon. The dragon is revered as a divine creature that symbolizes good fortune, far from the terrifying and evil creature it came to represent in the West, where, through Europe’s own legends, it was the dragon-slayer who was the symbol of might, supremacy and heroism. In Chinese art, the dragon is often depicted clutching or chasing after a pearl, which is emblematic of the beast’s supernatural powers. Auspicious, mythical and intriguing, the dragon was a creature that found its way onto Delftware from the Chinese porcelain and other decorative arts imported by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in the seventeenth century.

Dragon outline