Elissa Farman’s Voyage Across the Sunset Sea

Elissa Farman’s voyage across the Sunset Sea was an audacious search for lands beyond the known world, made possible by the dragon eggs she had stolen and the ship bought with their sale. Under the name Alys Westhill, she sailed west from Oldtown in the Sun Chaser, found three previously uncharted islands, and pressed onward when her companions turned back. Her ship was never seen again, but the account leaves open the possibility that it survived far beyond Westeros’s known waters.

The ship and the ambition

The expedition’s defining vessel was the Sun Chaser, a four-masted carrack built in Braavos with money Elissa had obtained from her stolen dragon eggs. Unlike the galleys that routinely emerged from the Arsenal, it was designed for deep water rather than bays, coves, and shallows. Its broad beam and deep hull could hold the provisions needed for a long voyage; its great spread of sail was compared to that of the swan ships of the Summer Isles. The ship was not simply a means of escape. Its construction made a prolonged passage into the open sea conceivable.

Elissa’s purpose exceeded the familiar hope of finding a westward trading route to Yi Ti or Leng. Her surviving writings indicate that she had believed since childhood that the world was much larger and stranger than the maesters imagined. She envisioned other lands and seas lying between Westeros and the eastern shores of Essos and Ulthos: another Essos, another Sothoryos, another Westeros. The imagined geography included rivers, plains, mountains, islands, unfamiliar creatures and fruits, and cities beneath strange stars. These were possibilities she sought to encounter, not riches she expected to find along a known route.

The idea of sailing west had precedents, but none offered a reassuring model. Brandon the Shipwright had taken a fleet into the Sunset Sea thousands of years earlier and never returned; his heir, Brandon the Burner, destroyed the shipyards. Ironborn from Great Wyk had also been driven to remote islands in northern waters and established the seat called the Lonely Light. Elissa chose a different course: rather than follow those northern voyages, she intended to seek warmer seas and steady winds farther south.

From Braavos to Oldtown

On the eve of departure from Braavos, the Sealord summoned Elissa to his palace. He warned her that men were searching for her across the narrow sea, asking questions and offering rewards, and urged her to sail far and fast. The warning made clear that the voyage began under pressure: remaining in Braavos risked discovery, while the open sea offered both escape and the uncertain destination she desired.

By the last days of autumn, the Sun Chaser had reached Oldtown, but Elissa, still using the name Alys Westhill, remained at the docks while she sought a crew. She wanted sailors who shared her ambition and would not lose heart, rebel, or force a return. The task was difficult. Some men laughed at her or called her mad, and one rival captain warned of the dangers of strange beasts. Elissa answered practical doubt with the resources she had: much of the gold from the sale of the eggs lay safely in the Iron Bank of Braavos, allowing her to offer three times the wages other captains could pay.

The effort gathered momentum when Donnel Hightower sent his grandsons Eustace and Norman to question Elissa and, if they judged it prudent, take her into custody. Instead, both joined the expedition, bringing their ships and crews. Their decision drew more sailors to the venture. On the twenty-third day of the third moon of 56 AC, the Sun Chaser left Oldtown by Whispering Sound with Eustace Hightower’s Lady Meredith and Norman Hightower’s Autumn Moon.

The king’s attempt to stop Elissa came too late. Jaehaerys recognized that Alys Westhill was Elissa Farman and sent word to Donnel Hightower, ordering her arrest and return to the Red Keep for questioning. Donnel dispatched ships after the three vessels, but the pursuit failed: the sea was too vast, and none of his ships could match the Sun Chaser’s speed with the wind behind it. Jaehaerys considered pursuing her by dragon, but Alysanne, Grand Maester Benifer, and Septon Barth opposed the plan because the charts showed no islands or rocks where a dragon could rest. He abandoned the attempt.

Landfall and the parting of the ships

Nearly three years after the ships sailed, the Lady Meredith limped back into Oldtown. Its sails were patched and salt-stained, its paint faded, and the banner at its mast had been bleached almost beyond recognition. The returning crew included only a handful of Eustace’s original men. Most of the sailors who came ashore were Summer Islanders, recruited in Sothoryos to replace those lost during the voyage. The ship’s holds carried valuable cargo, but not from lands beyond the Sunset Sea; Eustace’s return marked the end of his attempt to reach them.

Before turning back, however, the voyagers had reached land farther west than any recorded on their charts. A storm had separated the Sun Chaser from the two Hightower ships. At dawn, a lookout aboard Elissa’s ship saw birds circling a hazy mountain peak, and the Sun Chaser made for it. The land proved to be three small islands, which Elissa described as a mountain attended by two hills. With help from three boats sent from the Sun Chaser, the damaged Lady Meredith was towed to shelter.

The ships spent more than a fortnight there repairing and restocking. The islands were uninhabited, but springs and streams supplied fresh water. The voyagers also found wild pigs, large grey lizards, and trees bearing nuts and fruit. Elissa named the islands Aegon, Rhaenys, and Visenya. Even the largest, she judged, was only a third the size of Dragonstone. To Eustace, the available spices and pink fruit made the discovery sufficient; Elissa regarded the islands as only a beginning, with the possibility of a further continent still beyond the horizon.

The disagreement could not be resolved. Eustace believed the ships might be facing a thousand leagues of empty ocean, and his crew would not consent to sail farther. The expedition therefore divided: the Lady Meredith turned east, while Elissa and the Sun Chaser continued west. Eustace later explained that his men feared a giant kraken had pulled the Autumn Moon beneath the sea; he believed they would have refused his command and chosen another captain had he insisted on pressing onward.

The return and the unresolved fate

The Lady Meredith’s return was itself a long ordeal. Contrary winds forced the ship to tack repeatedly, and a grey lizard taken aboard bit the steersman, whose injured leg had to be removed. A pod of leviathans later crossed the ship’s path, and a huge white bull struck its hull, cracking it. Eustace changed course for what he thought would be the nearest landfall, the Summer Islands, but the ship was farther south than he realized and instead reached the coast of Sothoryos.

The crew remained there for a year while they tried to make the Lady Meredith seaworthy. Eustace reported valuable local resources, including emeralds, gold, and spices, but also described a country dangerous to his men: some disappeared, others died, and sickness repeatedly left much of the crew unable to work. Summer Islanders eventually came upon them and helped Eustace reach Tall Trees Town, from which he was able to sail home. His account closes the known adventure of the returning ship, not the story of Elissa’s westward passage.

Elissa Farman, born to House Farman and last known as Alys Westhill, disappeared with the Sun Chaser. The narrative offers no certain account of where her voyage ended. Many years later, Corlys Velaryon recalled seeing a weathered ship in the harbor at Asshai-by-the-Shadow that he believed could only have been the Sun Chaser. The identification remains a reported possibility rather than proof: Elissa’s ship was never confirmed to have returned, and her search beyond the Sunset Sea remains unresolved.