Melessa Tyrell

Melessa Tyrell is the only daughter of Lord Baelor Tyrell and the younger sister of Gawen, Mern and Garth. She was wed briefly to Prince Jaehaerys Targaryen, whose child she carried during the Second Dance. Her son's claim was the basis for House Tyrell's invovlement within the war, and when the child was born a stillbirth in 299 AC, House Tyrell withdrew from the conflict.

Appearance and Character
Gentle and ladylike, Melessa Tyrell is the perfect exemplar of a young woman at court, enjoying every aspect of traditional palace culture. She likes to dance, to sing, to dress up in fancy gowns and watch tourney’s featuring brave knights and acts of gallantry, some might call her simple compared to the great schemers and boisterous court personalities that had occupied the role of Princess consort in the past, but in truth, Mel has little interest in the intricacies of politics and web weaving. This is not to say however, that she is stupid, far from it, but her interests lie with topics far more mundane than the game of thrones. Loyal to a fault, and compassionate about those that she cares about, Mel is a fairly weak willed individual, when it comes down to it, she would rather be of use to someone else than to carry out her own interests, which has made her very poor at getting her own opinions across.

Early Life
The youngest child of Lord Baelor Tyrell, and his only daughter, Melessa’s birth marked a great tragedy for the people of Highgarden, when her mother, who had always been a frail woman yet had persevered through the births of three other children, passed away. Melessa was named in her honour, and lived under her shadow throughout the majority of her early life. If her brother Gawen could be described as a problematic, then Melessa would be the golden child. Lord Baelor loved his daughter dearly, more so than all of his other children, and that was apparent by the attention that he showed her. Whilst Gawen was off rebelling, Mern was reading a book and Garth was lying drunk in an alleyway somewhere, Mel would always remain by her father’s side. When she was an infant the court had joked that she was Lord Tyrell’s tail, and age did little to displace this habit.

As she grew older and began to mature into womanhood, Mel found herself the subject of much admiration from potential suitors and lords and knights of the realm. As early as fourteen she received an offer of marriage (which her father had politely declined) and from that point onwards it was not uncommon for people to touch the subject of her marriage whenever they spoke with her father. Lord Tyrell held out however, this was his only daughter, the last vestige of his late wife, and he would not marry her off until he received an offer that blew him away. Eventually, that offer would come.

Tyland Lannister was the younger brother of Lord Loren Lannister, and on top of a strong family name he was a rather impressive specimen. Charming, charismatic, attractive: Lord Tyrell was impressed from first sight, and Mel herself was smitten. An arrangement was made to betroth Mel and Tyland and seal a bond of blood between their two houses, Tyland would come and stay in Highgarden for a time, where Mel would fall head over heels over what seemed to be the image of a perfect knight. Unfortunately, it was not to last, whilst Lord Baelor had been negotiating a dowry with the Lord of Casterly Rock, he spied a bigger fish.

Marriage to Prince Jaehaerys
Baelor Tyrell had been appointed as the King’s Master of Laws, and suddenly he found himself with access to the ear of Aegon VI. Prince Jaehaerys Targaryen had been without a wife since the death of Jynessa Martell and he was still without male issue, Lord Baelor was able to influence the king into favouring the Tyrells for a potential bride and suddenly the Lannister marriage was called off. Inwardly, Mel was distraught, though she did not outwardly show so much as a hint that she did not want to marry the Prince, who was already many years her senior.

Melessa met Prince Jaehaerys for the first time three days before they were to be wed, he was a nice enough man, but he was not what she had hoped for in a husband and his affection towards her seemed more fatherly than that of a husband and a wife. Mel suffered in silence however, she would not ruin the plan that her father had spent countless nights concocting and she did not want to embarrass House Tyrell by seeming ungrateful at the chance to marry a prince. So marry him she did, and she did everything that was expected of her as a wife.

Whilst her marriage life was not exactly the greatest, she did find herself attracted to the life of King’s Landing and countless balls and dances were enough to keep her occupied, she was never unhappy with her life as Princess consort, though that did not stop her from wondering what life would have been like under different circumstances. A few months into the marriage and Mel was already pregnant with Jaehaerys’ child, which was cause for much celebration, though of course this did not last long since Jaehaerys would pass away only a little later, leaving behind him an unhappy widow with a child still in her belly.