Twitter

Where to Stream:

Game of Thrones

There are already lot of characters on Game of Thrones — I mean, you kind of need a glossary or guide to keep them all straight — and last night we were introduced to three new power players: the Sand Snakes. Who are these fierce women? Why do they hate the Lannisters? What’s their connection to Whale Rider? And why do they all speak in stereotypically “exotic” accents?

**RELATED: The Sexy Sand Snake On Game Of Thrones Has A Secret Squeaky Clean Nickelodeon Past**

First thing’s first: What are Sand Snakes?

Remember Oberyn Martell? The Red Viper? The hot guy who got his skull crushed in near the end of season four? Well, he never got married, but you might remember that he definitely liked having sex. Oberyn left behind an assortment of bastard daughters who call themselves “the Sand Snakes.”

Why are they called the Sand Snakes?

It’s a play on words. Do you remember how all bastards in the North take the last name Snow? All bastards in Dorne take the last name Sand. Since Oberyn was nicknamed the Red Viper, his daughters were called Sand Snakes. Get it? It’s a lot less scary and a lot more cute when you put it in that context.

The Oberyn we remember from last season had a lot of sex. So, exactly how many bastards did Oberyn have?

Well, in the books there are eight: Obara, Nymeria, Tyene, Sarella, Elia, Obella, Dorea, and Loreza. Five of them are the daughters of Ellaria Sand (Indira Varma), aka Oberyn’s bitter girlfriend who wants to cause a war with the Lannisters. The other three were just, you know, born of dalliances.

It’s unclear if the show will do more than nod to that many Sand Snakes, but they seem to be focusing on just the three eldest: Obara, Nymeria, and Tyene.

Which one is which?

Obara Sand (Keisha Castle-Hughes) is the oldest. She’s the gruff one in armor who’s good with a spear.

Nymeria Sand (Jessica Henwick) is the next oldest. She’s considered the most feminine, but she is as dangerous as Obara. Her favored weapon is the whip.

Tyene Sand (Rosabell Laurenti) is the youngest of the three, but Ellaria’s eldest daughter by Oberyn. Though we haven’t seen her in action yet, she is reportedly good with knives. She’s also got her mom.

So, why do they hate the Lannisters?

Well, all of the Martells in Dorne hate the Lannisters because Tywin Lannister let the Mountain rape and murder Elia Martell when King’s Landing was sacked. Elia was Prince Rhaegar’s lawfully-wedded wife and the mother of his two small children. The Mountain murdered them, too. The idea was that if they lived, they could retake the throne from Robert Baratheon. Now, they have addition reason to hate the Lannisters because the Mountain killed Oberyn in Tyrion’s trial by combat.

Ellaria and the Sand Snakes want vengeance for the deaths of Oberyn, Elia, and the two small Targaryen-Martell heirs.

What’s their plan?

Something involving Cersei and Jaime’s daughter Myrcella. Tyrion arranged a marriage between her and Prince Doran Martell’s son, Trystan, in season two. Ellaria has hinted that they will torture and mutilate Myrcella…sending her back to Cersei piece-by-piece. If you’ll recall, Doran, Oberyn’s brother, was all like, “Uh…we don’t mutilate little girls because we’re better than the rest of this crazy medieval fantasy horror world.”

This is why Ellaria needs the strength of the Sand Snakes behind her to start a war of vengeance against the Lannisters.

Hey, that Obara chick looks familiar. Why?

Probably because you remember her as that tween Maori girl who was nominated for an Oscar. She was the titular Whale Rider in Whale Rider.

What country is Dorne supposed to be? I mean, what are those accents? Are they Spanish? Are they middle Eastern? Why are they talking like that?!?!?

Dorne is located at the Southern most tip of Westeros and George R.R. Martin dumped a lot of Mediterranean, African, and Middle Eastern references into it. So, it’s like everything that’s not Northern-Western Europe or Asia.

As for the accents… you can blame Pedro Pascal. The Chilean-American actor auditioned for the role of Oberyn Martell with a fictional accent that nodded to his own Latin roots. Now, the show has hired a bunch of foreign actors from different cultures to flesh out the Dornish culture and they’re all trying to match his accent.

The Sand Snakes are cool and all, but I still miss Oberyn.

Me, too, anonymous reader. Me, too. Lets rewatch that epic fight scene together and pretend it ended before the…you-know-what happened.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS2IYyywZMs]

Like what you see? Follow Decider on Facebook and Twitter to join the conversation, and sign up for our email newsletters to be the first to know about streaming movies and TV news!

[Photos: Everett Collection & HBO]