He was the guy who was supposed to save the alliance between the Iron Throne and Sunspear. Trystane Martell had one of the shortest, and frankly, weirdest arcs in the entire run of Game of Thrones. If you ask a casual fan, they probably remember him as the handsome Dornish prince who spent all his time in a garden before getting a spear through the face. That's a shame.
Trystane Martell wasn't just some background character meant to fill space in Season 5 and 6. He was the son of Doran Martell and the fiancé of Myrcella Baratheon. In the context of the "Dorne plot"—which many fans still complain about years later—Trystane was actually the emotional center of a very messy political game. He represented the last shred of innocence in a show that usually eats people like him for breakfast. Honestly, his death signaled the moment the show stopped caring about George R.R. Martin’s nuanced political maneuvering in favor of pure shock value.
The Trystane Martell We Met in Dorne
Let's look at the facts. We first see Trystane in the Water Gardens of Dorne. He’s playing a game with Myrcella. They’re actually in love. In a world where marriages are usually forced or transactional, Trystane Martell and Myrcella were a rare exception. It felt real. Toby Sebastian, the actor who played Trystane, brought a certain gentleness to the role that made the subsequent violence feel way more jarring.
Doran Martell, played by Alexander Siddig, clearly had big plans for his son. By wedding Trystane to Myrcella, he wasn't just making peace; he was securing a Martell seat on the Small Council in King's Landing. Trystane was literally the bridge between the North and South. He was heir to Dorne (in the show’s simplified version of the Martell lineage) and was headed to the capital to take his place as a power player.
Then everything went south.
The Massive Divergence from the Books
If you’ve read A Song of Ice and Fire, you know the Trystane Martell we see on screen is basically a different person. In the books, he’s much younger. He's not even the heir. That role belongs to his sister Arianne Martell, a character the show completely cut. It’s one of those decisions that still baffles the book-reading community. By cutting Arianne and Trystane’s brother Quentyn, the showrunners put the entire weight of the Martell future on Trystane’s shoulders.
It made his character more important but also more vulnerable.
In the books, Trystane is just a kid playing Cyvasse (a chess-like game) with Myrcella. He isn't part of some grand romantic tragedy yet. The show took those pieces and turned them into a Romeo and Juliet subplot that ended in a cargo ship off the coast of King’s Landing. It's a classic example of Game of Thrones streamlining complex political webs into personal dramas. Some people liked it. Most people thought it felt rushed.
That Infamous Death Scene
We have to talk about the spear.
Trystane’s death is often cited as one of the "jumping the shark" moments for the show’s writing. After Myrcella dies from the poison kiss given by Ellaria Sand, Trystane is left alone on a ship. He’s mourning. He’s painting a stone for Myrcella’s eyes. Then, the Sand Snakes—Obara and Nymeria—show up.
It makes no sense geographically. How did they get on the boat? Why were they even there? Trystane is given a choice of who to fight. He picks Nymeria. Then Obara stabs him through the back of the head while he’s facing the other way.
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It was brutal. It was sudden. It was also the end of the Martell line as we knew it. This moment effectively erased the Sunspear influence from the main plot until that random "New Prince of Dorne" showed up in the series finale. Trystane Martell deserved better than being a footnote in the Sand Snakes' revenge quest. He was a Prince of the Blood, and his death was handled with remarkably little ceremony for a character of his rank.
Why Trystane Martell Still Matters to Fans
Why do we still care? Because Trystane represents the "What If" of the series. What if Doran’s plan had worked? If Trystane had reached King’s Landing and taken his seat on the council, the entire dynamic of Season 6 would have shifted. Cersei would have had a Martell hostage/ally in the Red Keep. Jaime might have had a reason to actually govern instead of just being Cersei’s muscle.
Trystane was the symbol of a Dorne that was sophisticated and patient. When he died, that version of Dorne died too. We were left with a version of the story that was much louder but significantly less smart.
The fan reaction to Trystane Martell is usually one of sympathy. He wasn't a warrior. He wasn't a schemer. He was just a young man who wanted to marry the girl he loved and live in a garden. In Westeros, that’s a death sentence.
Deep Tracking the Martell Family Tree (Show Version)
To understand Trystane's position, you have to look at who was left.
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- Oberyn Martell: Dead (The Mountain).
- Doran Martell: Dead (Stabbed by Ellaria).
- Trystane Martell: Dead (The spear incident).
- Elia Martell: Long dead (The reason for all the anger).
By the time the credits rolled on the first episode of Season 6, the Martell family—the actual, legitimate line—was extinct in the show's continuity. It was a massive swing by the writers. It effectively ended the Dornish subplot until they needed a vote for Bran the Broken at the very end.
Trystane's role was to be the catalyst for the final breakdown of diplomacy. His existence was the only thing keeping the Sand Snakes from a full-scale coup. Once he was gone, the "Old Way" of Dorne was gone.
Practical Takeaways for Your Next Rewatch
If you're going back through Season 5, keep an eye on Trystane’s interactions with Jaime Lannister. There’s a scene where Jaime is trying to be a father to Myrcella without admitting it, and Trystane is just... being a decent guy. It’s one of the few times Jaime meets someone who isn't trying to kill him or use him.
Pay attention to:
- The contrast between Trystane’s colorful Dornish clothing and the drab colors of the King’s Landing ship.
- The way he treats Myrcella—he’s one of the few men in the show who treats a woman as an equal partner in a relationship.
- Doran’s subtle cues to Trystane about his future responsibilities.
If you want to dive deeper into what Trystane could have been, go read the "Queenmaker" chapter in A Feast for Crows. It gives you a much better sense of the Dornish political climate that the show tried (and mostly failed) to capture.
Ultimately, Trystane Martell is a reminder that even in a world of dragons and ice zombies, the smallest political players often carry the heaviest weight. His death wasn't just a plot point; it was the moment the show's political heart stopped beating in favor of pure spectacle.
Check out the official HBO viewer's guide or the Fire & Blood histories if you want to see how the Martells usually handle these situations. They are usually much more patient than the Sand Snakes gave them credit for.
Watch the Dorne scenes again with the knowledge of how Trystane ends. It makes his optimism in the Water Gardens feel incredibly tragic. He thought he was starting a new life; he was actually just waiting for the boat ride that would end it.