Who was Arkillia?

This is inspired partly by the information on Nochet's queens by Jeff Richard and the musing of Joerg Baumgartner's on G+.

The question is who exactly was Arkillia and whether the information on Nochet's queens can help us answer this question.

The canon knowledge concerning this affair is as follows:

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The Tragedy of Sarotar and Arkilia

Sarotar was the eldest son of Prince Saronil and considered by all to be the best of the House of Sartar. He fell in love with Arkilia, an Esrolian noblewoman, and his love was returned. However, Arkilia’s Grandmother had ambitions of making her Queen of Nochet and had arranged for her to marry a powerful man of another Esrolian house. Sarotar rescued Arkilia from Nochet and returned with her to Boldhome.

Furious, the Grandmother arranged for Arkilia’s dejected lovers to murder Sarotar with the aid of traitors. The assassins murdered Sarotar, but his kinsman Dorasor avenged him. Many believe that Sarotar’s assassination was the beginning of the doom of the House of Sartar and his half-brother High King Tarkalor always maintained that Sarotar would have been a far greater king than he.

Sarotar is remembered in the poem of the Lovers of Boldhome:

King Sartar the Great, who courted the Horse Queen and won her Love; Prince Saronil the Bridgemaker, who loved his doomed Runaway Woman; King Tarkalor, who left his land for a year to win the Feathered Queen. But none loved so great as Sarotar, who gave his life for Arkillia.

 

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The Tragic Prince and the Sad Lady

This famed ballad about Sarotar son of Saronil and his love Arkillia, an Esrolian noblewoman, describes events circa 1540 to 1546. Conflicting vows of love and duty led to Sarotar’s murder by Arkillia’s other suitors. The ballad is sometimes combined with either the mournful Song of Marlesta the Dancer, the daughter of tragic couple, or with the Song of Vengeance, which details the bloody vengeance taken by Sarotar’s brother and cousin upon his murderers.

The story is also a popular play in the Holy Country, and contrasts the fierce loyalty of the Sartarites with the manipulative schemes of the Esrolians. In all versions, Arkillia is portrayed as the tragic victim of events.

 

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In 1546 Sarotar, the eldest son of Saronil, died a tragic death which was later immortalized in a Kethaelan play. Sarotar loved the woman Arkillia, a merchant’s daughter called “the Sad Lady” in the play. Sarotar died for her love, they say, but his daughter Marlesta the Dancer, later renounced his ways, denied her heritage, and joined the Puppeteer Troup

So, those are the established facts (in the sense that they known about, not necessarily that they are true).

When Sarotar died in 1546, Esrolia/Nochet was embroiled in some rather big changes. Reverend Grandmother Bruvala had died and her daughter - queen Brengala - had retired, taking her mother's place. She in turn had placed her daughter Norina on the throne, who would in 1551 be killed by Sartarite assassins in retaliation for the killing of Sarotar. Though these are fundamentally large changes, House Norinel's hold on power seems strong.

So, who was Arkillia, a woman whose Grandmother supposedly had ambitions of placing her on the throne?

I think three main scenarios present themselves as likely.

1) Bruvala or Brengala (I think it might be safe to assume that Brengala was mostly calling the shots at the late stage of Bruvala's life during which Sarotar and Arkillia had their affair) intended Arkillia to take the throne, not Norina. This would very likely mean that Arkillia is a granddaughter of Bruvala, perhaps even the elder sister of Norina. However, this scenario leaves open the question that why did Arkillia not actually end up becoming queen? Maybe the Sarotar affair sullied her chances, but somehow that doesn't feel right.

2) Arkillia was daughter of one of Bruvala's sons, thus born into another house. In this case the scheming Grandmother would be from that house (perhaps Delaeos, which ends up taking the throne in '51 after one of their number becomes Belintar).

This does raise a few interesting questions, though. Why did Sartar's assassins kill Norina in retaliation? One would think their ire would be directed solely at this other house. Secondly, is it even realistic to assume anyone could break the Bruvala/Brengala/Norina (ie. House Norinel) axis? They seem pretty solidly in power at this stage (and indeed it seems that it takes a Belintar to momentarily break their power).

A potential answer to these questions is that perhaps an Arkilia-Sarotar match represented a serious threat to the throne (an outsider with an army sounds dangerous and could be the leverage that could break Norinel's hegemony). This would be a slight twist to the known facts. Maybe the Grandmother of the rival house was actually in favor of the marriage and the rival suitors were supported or forwarded by House Norinel in an effort to quell the situation.

3) The third option is that Arkillia is Queen Bruva's daughter and thus she was the daughter of a traitor and would-be usurper. However, again we are faced with contradictory facts. Why is it said her Grandmother wanted her to become a queen? Why would a possibly secret heir or at least a woman with questionable heritage have a host of suitors? And again, why would Sartar's assassins kill queen Norina in retaliation for this affair?

To possibly answer those questions, let's consider that she was raised by her father, who would probably have to have gone back to her original family to protect himself and the life of the child. Alternatively, he could have remarried an ambitious house willing to take on the burden for the chance of raising a queen. This would setup a rival dynasty to House Norinel. Whence the host of suitors? Well, the Grandmother of this rival house would be looking for some powerful allies to help her gain the throne. In this case, Sarotar's entry and love for Arkillia mixes things up (though in this case the Grandmother would have no appreciation of Sarotar's potential in helping win the throne). Why queen Norina dies in retaliation remains a question, though.

4) Arkillia was not related to Bruvala at all. In this case, anything is possible really. However, this doesn't feel like the right direction to go in my opinion, considering what we know and what happened.

So, those are the scenarios I'm proposing. Personally, I like #2 or #3 best as the most interesting alternatives. It also occurs to me that we do not really know what happened to Arkillia herself. Let me know what you think!