As you know by now, kids, I'm an avid storyteller. The characters I choose to cosplay mean a lot to me because of their stories - of who they are, and how they were made, and how I connected to them. I said a while ago I'd share the tale of Shiera, one of the most interesting and most underused women of G.R.R. Martin's world, and how come I chose to portray her of all people, given that you cannot find even a decent fanart with her likeness. So here we go, guys - some facts about Lady Seastar:

She was born as the only child of Aegon IV Targaryen and his last mistress, Sweet Serenei of Lys, who came from an old, noble but impoverished Lysani family (or so she claimed), or was a mere pretty-headed courtesan with a talent for spinning fantasies (or so gossip had it). An unpopular figure at the court due to her alleged aloofness and “strange foreign customs”, Sweet Serenei was rumored to use “dark magic” to maintain her beauty. Magic or not, it did not help Serenei much: she died giving birth to Shiera.

Being an illegitimate child – in spite of everybody and their uncle knowing it’s the king’s daughter – Shiera initially had a bastard’s last name, and came to this world as Shiera Waters. With her half-brothers Daemon Waters, Aegor Rivers and Brynden Rivers (all from different mothers), she was part of the so-called Great Bastards, i.e. the naughty king’s known illegitimate offspring from noblewomen.

At his deathbed – purely for the lulz and to spite his only legitimate son, Daeron, with whom he harbored a very complicated relationship – Aegon IV legitimized his bastards. The Grand Four thus became the king’s official children, and chose new names for themselves: Daemon Blackfyre (after the legendary Targaryen family sword that Aegon gave to his favorite bastard, and not to his trueborn son), Aegor Bittersteel (because he was of great combat prowess, and also had a temper), Brynden Bloodraven (after a red raven-shaped mark he had on his face), and Shiera Seastar. George Martin never explains why she decided to call herself Seastar – and my own theories about it are numerous.

Shiera had mismatched eyes: one blue and one green, but the “defect” was only said to enhance her beauty. She had a legendary massive necklace with altering sapphires and emeralds, made to match her eyes. She despised gold and wore only silver, and always dressed in shades between blue and green – teals, turquoises and aquamarines. She was a patron of arts, a trend-setter in fashion, an avid reader, a speaker of many languages, and a well-known femme fatale.

Her best known lovers were two of her half-brothers - Bittersteel and Bloodraven, who hated each other passionately, fighting for her affection (ah, the Targaryens, gotta love ‘em). She claimed she never wanted to choose between them, and that she loved them both equally. Still, rumor had it, the only brother that she was actually attached to was the eldest of the Great Bastards – Daemon Blackfyre.

And then, one fine day, Daemon Blackfyre rose to arms and rebelled against king Daeron, stating that, being the eldest and now legitimized (and wielding the family sword that the late king thought his actual son was too much of a wuss to inherit), he had better claim to throne. Bittersteel supported Daemon, while Bloodraven chose to fight for king Daeron. It was noted that both men were more avid proponents of their respective causes than Deamon Blackfyre and king Daeron themselves. What followed was a bloody, bitter, heart-wrenching civil war that tore Westeros in half. Or, as Sir Barristan put it once: “Bittersteel and Bloodraven both loved Shiera Seastar, and the Seven Kingdoms bled.”

In the end, the Rebellion was quenched: Daemon Blackfyre perished in battle, Bittersteel ended up exiled, and Brynden Bloodraven returned victorious, ready to ask for his half-sister’s hand in marriage. Her answer? Well, she more or less told him to go f*ck himself.

During her last years, Shiera was mentioned in chronicles as Sir Bloodraven's "paramour" who enjoyed making his heart ache with jealousy games, and never ever accepted his proposals, no matter how many times he asked her to marry him. Rumor had it that, just like her late mother, she resorted to dark magic to keep her beauty well past the age of forty - regular baths in virgin blood and all that crap. And while Bloodraven's downfall and subsequent rise to become one of the most mysterious figures of "A Song of Ice and Fire" (y'know, he's that dude who turned into the infamous Three-eyed crow) are a well known story, George R.R. Martin never shared with his readers what became of Shiera Seastar.

Of course, this being ASoIaF, the conspiracy theories thrive.

To my knowledge, there are three popular Shiera theories. While they could make an interesting narrative, with all due respect, all three sound kinda tinfoil to me.

1) Melisandre = Shiera + Bloodraven.
While quite interesting, this particular theory is not based on text or even subtext in Martin's actual writing. Instead, it relies on a series of superficial "hints" that are a) far-fetched (yes, GRRM does use similar words to describe both women, but to me it sounds more like a generic description of what he believes to be a smokin' hot lady than "an important hidden clue"), b) incorrect - one does not simply inherit red eyes from an albino parent, genetics don't work that way, and albinism as a trait is not something that can be broken down to passing only red eyes to one's offspring, and c) desperate - no, I don't think GRRM said that Serenei was from Lys or that Westerosi culture had advanced dying techniques just to suggest that Melisandre - who's maybe from Lys and maybe not, who maybe dyes her hair and maybe not - is Shiera's lost daughter. Not to mention that it misinterprets the infamous "seven kingdoms bled" line - to me, it's exactly what it says on the tin, i.e. Bittersteel and Bloodraven had a cockfight as to who gets to have Shiera, and manipulated their respective champions (Daemon and Daeron) into a horrible war that could have been avoided, NOT "poor Shiera got in trouble and had to flee for her life pregnant".

2) Shiera is Old Nan.
This theory assumes that, when Bloodraven fell out of favor during Maekar's reign and went North to the Night Watch, Shiera - also a persona non grata at the Court by then - followed him. Seeing in his dreams that there'd be a Brandon Stark with whom he'd have a special bond, and hearing that a Brandon was born, Bloodraven sent Shiera to Winterfell to infiltrate in the Stark family posing as a wet nurse. Only it was not THE Brandon - but Lord Rickard's brother (or even uncle). Posing as a servant, getting old, estranging herself from her once lover who continued to plot his plots at the Wall, Shiera - Nan - grew old and bitter and stopped caring about her purpose, cataract veiling her mismatched eyes. When the right Brandon was born, she just didn't give a f*ck any longer. While this may make a good story, honestly - can you see Shiera, a highly cultured and vain woman, posing as a wet nurse, of all things, just to help out the man she enjoyed emotionally torturing?

3) Shiera is none other than Quaithe.
Living for so long due to her dark magic, wearing the mask to hide mismatched eyes, speaking in tongues just for the fun of it, she appears before Dany to be her guiding star - her North Star, stella maris, i.e. Seastar. Thus, with Bloodraven with Bran, Blackfyre living through young Aegon (if you buy that conspiracy theory too), and Bittersteel making an impact through his Golden Company, all four Great Bastards still play important roles in Westeros. Now, that's just some plain wishful thinking.

And what do I think? I think GRRM has no clue as to whatever happened to Shiera Seastar. He created this very, very intriguing woman - but all he made is a sketch, just a few lines outlining a multi-layered personality. He left her story open, just like an open door - a great plot that he can return to if he decides so, or he can just leave it hanging there like a mystery, fueling conspiracy theories. Because every world's history needs some mysteries. And a mysterious woman like Shiera Seastar does deserve a mysterious ending.

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