Ysilla Arryn was the thirdborn child and firstborn daughter of the marriage between Lord Gunthor Arryn and his first wife, Lady Ryella Grafton. From said union, Ysilla had two elder brothers, until their untimely ends, as well as two younger sisters. Further so, from her Lord father's second marriage, she has another three half-sisters, while also having a bastard half-brother.

In 99 AC, Ysilla became the Lady of the Eyrie, at which point she married Jasper Arryn. With him she birthed, Myranda, Rodrik, Arwen, Desmara, and Alester Arryn before falling ill and finally succumbing to it in 125 AC, shortly after her husband was murdered.

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Appearance and Characteristics Edit

Ysilla Arryn has the look of her late Lady mother, Ryella Grafton, with many having regarded a great many of her features to be eerily similar to Ryella's own. Hair of raven black, eyes of a mixed blue-green, a curvaceous figure, no doubt good for child-rearing, as has already been proven by the birth of her young daughter, Amanda Belmore, and standing at 5'7', Ysilla Arryn holds a striking appearance.

Further still, Ysilla, much like her Lord father, Gunthor Arryn, holds a pentrating gaze. Moreover, Ysilla oft dresses in rather expensive and well-made dresses, andwasquite indeed the picture of a Lady, though was not afraid to spread her legs for a little horse riding, after all, her maidenheadwasyears gone.

Additionally, while regarded as quite the charismatic and warm woman, Ysilla has rather a self-serving and cold pragmatism to her. Rather being born from her need to look out for herself after the deaths of her two older brothers, and her parents' consequent absence from her life, Ysilla was forced to realise at an early age that there was only a select few whom she can trust. Though, with such said, Ysilla Arryn was most certainly not afraid to make use of an individual in order to achieve her own ends.

While not near as friendly and open as her late brother, Ser Corwyn Arryn, few in this world are. Yet, with that said, Ysilla has oft been regarded as warm and welcoming by those Lords and Ladies of the Vale whom she has met, with much of her self-serving nature and ambition being hidden behind a silk veneer. Regarding such, Ysilla has also been known to have rather a partial attachment to worldly goods, and most certainly does not hold to the religious ideals of her Lord father.

Through her experiences, from the loss of two brothers and a sister, the loss of her mother, and the loss of a husband, Ysilla has grown into a cynical and self-reliant young woman. Though, such said, Ysilla does believe her Grafton kin to be worthy of her trust, for her inheritance would so too benefit them, as she herself was half-Grafton.

It was safe to say, that becoming the Heir Apparent to her Lord father after the murders of her brothers and the death of her late husband, Ysilla has begun to shoulder the burden of inheritance, and now sits in on nigh all her Lord father's meetings and the like, while also carrying out the duties of the Lady of the Vale and the Eyrie in place of a true Lady of the Vale and the Eyrie.

History Edit

73 - 85 AC Stay Within the Nest, My Sweet Edit

Ysilla Arryn's first twelve years proved for her, rather a peaceful time. Despite growing Clansmen activity throughout the Vale of Arryn, Ysilla was but a girl, and so enjoyed her days with her younger sister, Myranda Arryn, most especially, and later so too, Zhoe Arryn. Further so, a collection of highborn ladies were so too present, for "an Arryn must have plenty of friends", as Ysilla's mother had ever insisted.

And so, Ysilla's early years proved a peaceful and formative time as she grew and enjoyed life. Even with the fierce winter of 75 AC to 78 AC that came to be known as Maegor's Breath, and the dragonblight that came after in 79 AC, Ysilla felt not its harshest touch. For the Gates of the Moon were kept most warm, with plentiful fires, and the dragonblight outbreak was kept from the Gates by her Lord father's rather rigorous patrols and 'disease checks' upon return.

While Ysilla felt sympathy for her the people of the Vale of Arryn, and her Grafton kin most especially, as but a girl, she knew there was naught she could do, and so resigned herself to her learning and duties as a daughter of the Vale.

Alas, peace would not last forever. In 85 AC, the first true licks of the War for the Mountains of the Moon did come a calling. Much to young Ysilla's dismay, both of her older brothers, Ser Corwyn Arryn, and Arthor Arryn, had their lives stolen by the Clansmen, a fact Ysilla has never let go. With both her brothers, despite the six year age gap between her and Arthor, and the eight year gap between her and Corwyn, they had always been close, and Ysilla had loved them deeply. But despite her being but a girl of two and ten, both her parents seemed to fall apart even more than her. Where she wept for days, her father fell into seclusion for a brief while, before Raising the Red Falcon banner, and so riding off to war, and her mother, her Lady mother . . Well, Ryella Grafton broke even more so, falling into complete and utter disrepair. And so, with parents absent, the young Ysilla and her sisters, Myranda and Zhoe, found comfort with their great uncle, Lord Denys Hunter, the High Steward of the Vale, and with their Septa, one, Septa Lorra.

85 - 88 AC The Nest is No More Edit

While the War for the Mountains of the Moon took a grave toll on many throughout the Vale, Ysilla Arryn

remained with the safety of the Eyrie for its duration, and so was held safe and sound above the atrocities taking place below. Though to say the Eyrie did not suffer losses of its own, would be but a falsity voiced by some fool. In 86 AC, Ysilla and her sisters lost both their mother, Lady Ryella Grafton, who flung herself from the Eyrie to meet with her end below, while also suffering the loss of their beloved great uncle, Lord Denys Hunter. So too did the aged frail figure of Ser Jasper Arryn perish this year of a cough that both came and went rather suddenly.

But as the years passed, and as the castellan, and now regent of the Eyrie, Yorbert Donniger, took charge of official affairs and the like, in her fifteenth year, Ysilla became quick to shadow him in much of his duties, and learn what she could, for someday, she began to imagine, rule of the Eyrie, and of the Vale, may just be her's. Yorbert proved most welcoming toward the company, speaking to Ysilla of how lonely such a position could be, and how it was nice to have someone to talk to about it all and explain the duties to, even if it slowed things a bit.

Furthermore, while the Eyrie was oft hardpressed for news of the war, every so often word of a battle, or an engagement would reach the Eyrie, but those that struck a cord most resoundingly throughout the Eyrie were those of the Struggle for Strongsong and the Massacre in the Mountains of the Moon. Other such horrific engagements as the Red Parlay and the Slaughter of the Villages, were kept as best as possible from the ears and eyes of Ysilla Arryn and her sisters, but in time, Ysilla would come to learn of them. While at first it would be false to say she was not shocked and taken aback by their happenings, with time, she came to understand why they had been so, and to understand both her Lord father's pain, and cruel pragmatism, as she saw it.

88 - 93 AC A Falcon Grown Edit

Where Ysilla's Lord father had once been a kind, warm, and welcoming man, such was gone now. From his eyes to his very look, her father was gone. His body may have survived the war, even if he was now bearing a significantly larger number of scars, but his character had not.

Ysilla did what she could, trying to bring her father back, trying to spend time with him, but she fast found him a recluse and fast found that while he still permitted her entrance to his chambers, all he seemed to care for was that boy. That bastard boy. Ysilla did not want to, she did what she could to feel otherwise, but she could not help it. She was but six and ten, and she felt nothing but hate for her baby bastard brother, and so, when a year passed, and her Lord father wed Lady Anya Coldwater and the bastard boy, who had been named Willum Stone, was sent away to the Redfort, internally, Ysilla did so rejoice.

And so, two years later, as was expected of her, and as her Lord father had described to her as "understanding their loss", and "repaying and thanking them for their sacrifice", Ysilla was sent in 91 AC to wed the young heir to Strongsong, the son of Lord Horton Belmore. While Lady Anya Coldwater gave Lord Gunthor Arryn his fourth daughter that same year, by the name of Teora Arryn, with Lord Gunthor's third, and Lady Anya's first, Carolei Arryn, having come the year before.

The next two years would prove largely lackluster for Ysilla Arryn, now referred to by some as Ysilla Belmore. She did not grow close with her husband as her own parents had, but rather found him dull and lacking wit, but she did as she was bid. She remembered the loss of the Belmores. She remembered how her now father-in-law, Lord Horton Belmore's own father had been crisped by the Clansmen and his corpse displayed like a trophy to all within the castle, and how Lord Horton's own three sisters had been carried off by those same Clansmen, never to be seen or heard from again.

In the sixth moon of 92 AC, Ysilla found herself with child, she was a moon gone already.

93 - 98 AC Wings Snipped, Wings Extended Edit

Once more, come 93 AC, as Ysilla Arryn gave birth to her first child, a baby girl, whom she and her husband named Amanda Belmore, for the second time in Ysilla's life, her Lord father rode off to war. Though this time, Ysilla was not to watch her father leave, but instead her husband and her father-in-law. The Rosegold Rebellion, or, as she learned from a letter written her by her sister, Myranda Arryn, the now Queen of the Iron Throne, their father so called it, "the Traitor's Folly", proved a short, yet bloody conflict. Throughout the war, Ysilla and Myranda kept in nigh constant contact, with ravens regularly flying back and forth between King's Landing and Strongsong. And so, when their Lord father repelled the invading Westermen in the Battle of King's Landing, Ysilla once more, learnt of it from her sister's letters, and so too did the same occur when their Lord father stormed out of the Capital, leaving but a few hundred men to guard her sister against the treacherous spawn of the Reach and the Westerlands.

The next years passed in relative peace for Ysilla, but when in 97 AC Ysilla first lost her dear sister and closest friend to, as common word spoke, "the Curse of Maegor and childbed fever", and as her Lord father spoke, "that damned cowardly prick Viserys", she was heartbroken once more, and reminded of the losses of her brothers, Corwyn and Arthor, and her mother, Ryella Grafton. Such was not helped when later that same year, her husband, died hawking. As it was told to her, his horse rather misstepped and its hoof landed on uneven ground, throwing him from the saddle in the process, and his head being the first part of his body to make contact with the ground, killing him nigh instantly.

Mayhaps to Ysilla's benefit, she was still black with sadness from the earlier loss of her sister, for if it had just been the loss of her husband, well . . She may not have been nor appeared so struck with grief. In the wake of her husband's passing, Ysilla did so write to her Lord father, requesting she be able to return to the Eyrie, for while she wrote such a request based off of having little reason to remain at Strongsong, and stating that with his permission, she would bring her young daughter, Amanda Belmore, with her, the truth was anything but.

Ysilla Arryn could read the succession well enough. Her brothers were dead. Her Lord father's second wife had failed to give him a son, and with enough support, she could, as she saw it, claim the position of Heir to the Vale of Arryn.

And so, since her return, Ysilla Arryn has much and more become the Heir Apparent to the Vale of Arryn, acting in the capacity of a highborn heir, and even take up such duties that would normally be placed upon the Lady of the Vale and the Lady of the Eyrie.

99 - 109 AC The Rise of Lady Arryn Edit

And her reign came sooner than she'd thought. After her father was murdered by a Tagaryen bastard, Ysilla became the new Lady of the Eyrie. Quickly she used her position to muster men and prepare for an all out war against the Crown, for their actions against House Arryn. That only intensified when Jasper Arryn sent a letter to the Hand, Prince Aegon informing him that while they might march, he'd hoped to avoid an all out war. His letter was only returned with by a warning from Lord Royce who'd been sent by the Hand, informing him that if the Vale had not sent their men home, they'd soon find their mountains and valleys awash with blood.

Any who'd known Jasper would instantly know that would be taken as a deep insult, one which would have certainly resulted in war had Ysilla not pushed the King into accepting her outrageous demands, which involved the renewal of a betrothal between the King and Zhoe Arryn, as well as the Bay of Crabs and over fifteen thousand dragons being handed to the Arryns. The wedding of Harrenhal marked the halting of tensions between the Arryns and Targaryens at least publicly, though Jasper grew to despise the Hand more than any other man he'd ever met.

And though Ysilla's reign did not begin with bloodshed nor a war, it was marked with an unwanted pregnancy with her sworn sword Abelar Dondarrion. In the months that followed the Wedding at Harrenhal between the King and Lady Zhoe, Ysilla arranged her own wedding day, to a spouse that shocked few. Her rival Jasper Arryn, a man who'd grown to be her right hand man following the death of her father, became Lord Consort and the 'father' to their first child Myranda Arryn.

In the years that followed Ysilla worked with her husband, who began serving as her voice outside of the Vale and if needed her sword within it. As the years went on, the pair lived in a rather loveless marriage, one of simple political and professional needs. Though of course the lust both shared aided them in continuing to try and create more children, and in 104 AC, Ysilla birthed Jasper a son, Rodrik Arryn, a boy who was his fathers spitting image.

To the public it seemed as though the pair were a great couple, they worked together perfectly and following 105 AC, they nearly popped out a child ever year. From Arwen in 105, Desmara in 106, and Alester in 107. Everything was perfect both in the Vale and with the two who led it. Yet that changed in 108 AC, the year of conflict between Ysilla and her husband.

In a not so shocking turn of events, Jasper given the fact that he was in a marriage that lacked love, fathered a bastard. A little girl he'd named Roslin Stone with a Crownlander as her mother. When she was barely a year old, he'd brought her to the Eyrie with him and this began true conflict between Ysilla and her husband. As expected of anyone, Ysilla informed him that he would be unable to raise his bastard in her keep of all places. That was an answer which Jasper refused to accept, it began nearly a constant fight between the two for the next year to come. Guests in the Eyrie would every once in a while see a fight between the two, knights sworn to each would do their best to ignore it and step as far away as possible when the two partners exchanged words.

109 - 113 AC The Angry Wife Edit

Ysilla relationship with Jasper changed into something different, she'd kept him by her side yet their rivalry seemed to spark once again. They'd fond themselves competing over almost everything, from things they did in behind closed doors in their bed chambers to trying to one up each other through their bannermen. It was as Autumn began to fade into the cold winter that their relationship continued to grow weary to the point that they'd all but stopped speaking to one another after a horrible fight at the Gates of the Moon.

It became an open secret that the Lady and her Lord Consort were at one another throats and even rumored amongst their bannermen that both taken others into their beds during their stay at the Gates of the Moon.

114 - 120 AC Never Ending Illness Edit

As winter came, so did an illness that would slowly begin to overtake Ysilla's body and at times mind. Some contribute it to the winter, others claimed that it was a variant of the Dragon's Breath that finally got the Lady of the Eyrie. But no matter once she'd grown ill, her husband and a council of Valemen took regency over her seat and ruled in her stead. The Lady of the Eyrie would go on to stay at the Gates of the Moon in her chambers, and portions of the castle in which were closed off to anyone who wasn't family or servants in hopes of preventing her bannermen or visitors from seeing her in such a horrible condition.

Within the first handful of years her condition rapidly deteriorated, as Jasper and the council secured their position in the Vale against Lords who'd favored themselves as her regent. Though there were few incidents during this time, the 'Lord Protector' Jasper Arryn, as he'd called himself dealt with them through diplomatic means with the underlying threat of violence should they press the matter. Leaving countless houses to despise the Arryn Regent.

120 - 125 AC The Death of the Mother Falcon Edit

As winter came to an end and spring rolled through the Vale, Ysillas condition seemed to grow better. Yet as her and the rest of the family made way for the Eyrie, it came back in full force as if the Gods wished for her to stay at the Gates of the Moon. There her condition worsened to the point that the Lady could barely even leave her room. Her angry at both the illness and the husband she'd grown to once more despise, led her to begin to push for his removal as regent whenever possible.

In 123 AC, her calls finally led to Jasper resigning his position as Regent where was replaced by their son, Rodrik Arryn. This would serve as her last true decision as Lady of the Eyrie as in the next two years she'd slowly spiral into her death.

House Arryn Edit