Why do the Dornish want the Targaryens back and how are they working to bring it about?

I’m answering this in the context of the books because the show has rendered Dorne almost unrecognizable.

The gist of it is, the Martells have never really made peace with the Lannisters for killing their family members. Rather than openly rebel against Robert, the Martells made a secret marriage pact in Braavos with Willem Darry: Viserys would marry Arianne Martell in exchange for the Martells’ support in retaking Westeros.

Doran sat on his ass for a while (it is never really clear why he waited so long to engage the Targaryen siblings) and Viserys ended up dead. More than that, no one ever told either Targaryen sibling about this marriage pact. In the absence of Viserys, Doran switches his focus to Dany and sends Quentyn Martell to Meereen to offer her the same marriage deal. This obviously fails, Dany rejects the offer and Quentyn ends up dead when he tries to free and tame the dragons in the dungeon.

Around this same time, the Aegon/Connington plot is getting off the ground and this is about when Doran starts to let Arianne Martell in on the plot. The Arianne chapters from WoW so far depict Aegon as making very good progress so far in Westeros, taking Storm’s End and making a solid path in the Stormlands. The idea is that Arianne will meet with Aegon and the Dornish will end up on his side. With Quentyn dead, it looks like the ship has sailed on a Dorne/Dany alliance (the show may do something else) and the Martells are pivoting to Aegon.

The wildcard here is that Doran might already know or suspect that Aegon is not Aegon, symbolically conveyed when he examines the onyx dragon Cyvasse piece when he tells Arianne of the plan. But he so wants revenge on the Lannisters that he’s willing to ally with an impostor to do it.

Read other answers by

Kelsey L. Hayes on Quora:

• Why did Aegon the Conqueror adopt the Faith of the Seven when he was coronated in Oldtown? What was the religion followed in Valyria, especially by the Targaryens?
• If the Targaryens always bred among themselves, why did Rhaegar marry the princess of Dorne?
• Martells lost a royal marital alliance when Targaryens were dethroned. Did this add to the conflict between Lannisters and Martells?

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