Sun Chaser

The Sun Chaser was the ship Elissa Farman had dreamed of building for years, financed by the sale of the dragon eggs she stole from Dragonstone. Under the name Alys Westhill, she sailed it from Oldtown in 56 AC on a westward expedition. It was built for long voyages across open water rather than coastal or inland sailing, and its eventual disappearance left the search for lands beyond the Sunset Sea unresolved. The ship’s story links a private ambition to a remarkable discovery—and to a final fate known only through rumor.

Financing and Design

After leaving Fair Isle and being disowned by her brother, Lord Franklyn Farman, Elissa adopted the name Alys Westhill. She made her way to Braavos, where the Sealord, whose menagerie was renowned, bought the stolen dragon eggs. Elissa entrusted the gold to the Iron Bank of Braavos and used it to finance the Sun Chaser, turning the sale into the means of pursuing the voyage she had long imagined.

The Sun Chaser was unlike the galleys that regularly emerged from the Braavosi Arsenal. It had no oars and was designed for deep water, not bays, coves, or shallow inland routes. Four masts carried an expanse of sail comparable to that of the swan ships of the Summer Isles, while its broader beam and deeper hull provided room for provisions needed on longer journeys. Its construction embodied the practical demands of Elissa’s plan: to sail far beyond familiar waters, where a vessel would have to rely on sail and carry what its crew needed.

Departure and Pursuit

Before the expedition, Elissa had to recruit a crew. Some sailors mocked her ambition or warned that strange beasts might devour her, but the money from the eggs enabled her to offer three times the wages other captains could pay. Her effort drew the attention of the Lord of the Hightower, who sent his grandsons Eustace Hightower and Norman Hightower to question her and, if they considered it prudent, put her in fetters. Instead, both mariners joined the undertaking, pledging their ships and crews. Their decision prompted other sailors to sign on in the hope of sharing in the expedition’s potential fortunes.

On the twenty-third day of the third moon of 56 AC, the Sun Chaser left Oldtown by way of Whispering Sound, accompanied by Norman’s Autumn Moon and Eustace’s Lady Meredith. By then, Elissa was being hunted: the Sealord had warned her that questions and rewards were circulating across the narrow sea. King Jaehaerys soon identified Alys Westhill as Elissa Farman and ordered Lord Donnel Hightower to seize her and bring her to the Red Keep for questioning. Donnel dispatched a dozen swift ships, but they failed to catch the departing vessels. The Sun Chaser’s speed under sail helped it escape, and its departure put Elissa beyond the king’s immediate reach.

Jaehaerys considered pursuing her on Vermithor, reasoning that a dragon could fly faster than any ship could sail. Queen Alysanne, Grand Maester Benifer, and Septon Barth opposed the plan: the charts showed no islands or rocks where a dragon could rest across the Sunset Sea. The king reluctantly abandoned the idea. The pursuit thus ended without recovering Elissa or the eggs’ proceeds, while the expedition continued beyond the reach of the ships sent after it.

Landfall in the West

The ships encountered a storm that separated the Sun Chaser from the Hightowers. The sea drove Elissa’s vessel westward; at dawn, a lookout spotted birds circling a hazy mountain peak. Elissa sailed toward it and found three small islands, which she described as a mountain attended by two hills. The Sun Chaser returned to find the damaged Lady Meredith, and three boats from Elissa’s ship helped tow it to shelter.

The two battered vessels remained among the islands for more than a fortnight, repairing their damage and replenishing their stores. Elissa regarded the land as farther west than any previously known, and the islands appeared on no chart the voyagers knew. She named them Aegon, Rhaenys, and Visenya. Though uninhabited, they offered fresh water from springs and streams, wild pigs, large grey lizards, and trees bearing nuts and fruit. The discovery gave the expedition a safe place to recover and provision itself, but it also prompted disagreement about whether the search should continue. Eustace considered the islands and their unfamiliar produce a sufficient discovery; Elissa’s westward ambition carried the voyage farther.

Disappearance and Reported Sighting

The surviving account of Eustace’s adventure describes illness and hardship after the islands. Summer Islanders encountered the party and helped Eustace get the Lady Meredith to Tall Trees Town, from where he eventually returned home. Elissa’s own fate remained unknown. The Sun Chaser disappeared into the west while she was still seeking lands beyond the Sunset Sea, and it was never seen again in the ordinary course of the account.

A much later report offered a possible exception. On a subsequent voyage, Corlys Velaryon reached Asshai-by-the-Shadow, where he saw an old, weathered ship in the harbor. He would insist that it could only have been the Sun Chaser. The identification is presented as Corlys’s conviction, not as a confirmed return or a verified account of Elissa’s fate. The ship’s final significance therefore rests on the contrast between what its voyage established—the existence of islands beyond known charts—and what it left unknowable: whether Elissa ever crossed the Sunset Sea, and where the Sun Chaser ultimately came to rest.