Ar Noy

Ar Noy is a ruined city on the Upper Rhoyne, a former outpost of Qohor that now marks the northern boundary of the lawless stretch of river between the Qohorik-controlled waters and the Sorrows. It is the first major landmark that the Shy Maid passes after leaving the Velvet Hills and Ghoyan Drohe, and its ruins signal the beginning of the most dangerous part of the journey downriver.

Location and Description

Ar Noy is a dead city, its broken walls and fallen towers overgrown with moss and vines. The dwarf Tyrion Lannister, traveling on the Shy Maid, notes that the city is ten times as large as Ghoyan Drohe, another ruined Rhoynar city they had passed earlier. The streets are choked with mud and overgrown with purple moss, and the only inhabitants are large bonesnapper turtles that bask in the sun on the banks. The city ends on a point of land where the Noyne River joins the Rhoyne, and there stands the remains of a colossal palace of pink and green marble, the collapsed domes and broken spires of Nymeria's palace, marking the site of Ny Sar, the city of the Rhoynar queen.

Narrative Significance

Ar Noy is the threshold to the most perilous part of the Shy Maid's voyage. Above the ruins, the Qohorik rule the river; below the Sorrows, the galleys of Volantis hold sway. But neither city claims the waters in between, and the stretch from Ar Noy to the Sorrows is thick with pirates who lurk in hidden caves and secret strongholds on Dagger Lake. The Halfmaester Haldon warns Tyrion that this is where the pirates are thickest, and the Shy Maid must navigate this lawless stretch carefully to avoid capture. The ruins of Ar Noy thus serve as a geographical and narrative marker, separating the relatively safe upper reaches of the Rhoyne from the dangerous middle passage where the company faces the threat of river pirates and, beyond that, the supernatural perils of the Sorrows and the stone men.