Long Farewell

Today we’re working with poison, which has me super hype! There were so many interesting scenarios of poisoning in the show, as well as different types of poison used. My entry is going to be focused around the Long Farewell poison and the parallel between Ellaria Sand using it on Myrcella Baratheon, and Cersei Lannister using it on Tyene Sand. My entry will include some shoddy edits, a few quotes, and perhaps be informative and speculative as well! Hope you enjoy! :skull:

The Long Farewell

What is it?

I was unable to find what plant or substance the Long Farewell is made of, but I did learn that it comes from Asshai. Unsurprising that such a lethal and mysterious poison comes from a mysterious place so close to the Shadow Lands. While the Long Farewell is an extremely potent poison, it does take awhile for the effects to set in. We see / hear of it throughout the show primarily in Dorne with the Sand Snakes, as Tyene Sand uses this poison to coat her weapons in order to make them much deadlier. A mere scrape of her dagger could cause death due to the coating of this lethal poison. Despite it’s incredible power and potency, the Long Farewell is the only known poison to have a cure that works. If the antidote is istered after ingestion or exposure, then the poisoned will likely be saved after an incredibly close brush with death.

”Everywhere in the world, they hurt little girls.”

— Cersei Lannister

Ellaria Sand & Myrcella Baratheon

In a twisted turn of events in order to “avenge” her late paramour, Ellaria Sand uses the Long Farewell on Myrcella Baratheon. In the form of a sweet goodbye kiss, the poison is transferred from Ellaria’s lips to Myrcella’s. As one drop of this poison is potent enough to kill, Myrcella’s fate was sealed. Ellaria is foolish to think that she can get revenge on the Lannisters, who are known to always pay their debts.

Myrcella’s death comes at an unfortunate time. While sailing back to King’s Landing, Jaime finds the courage to it to Myrcella that he is her true father instead of the late Robert Baratheon as was thought by the realm. Instead of showing disgust over the incestuous relationship between Jaime and Cersei, Myrcella displays understanding which visibly puts Jaime’s mind at ease. In the loving ways that only a child can display, Myrcella its to her true father that she believes part of her has always known. It’s after this moment that the Long Farewell takes effect, and Myrcella begins bleeding heavily from her nose and becomes weak and overcome, then dies in Jaime’s arms. This was one of the most crushing moments to watch after visibly seeing how happy Jaime was to have his daughter know the truth, and to finally feel loved as a father rather than an uncle.

”And I’m glad. I’m glad that you’re my father.”

— Myrcella Baratheon

Cersei’s Revenge

Cersei Lannister is a mother not to be crossed. Though Ellaria may have thought that killing Myrcella would even the playing field after Oberyn’s death, that was far from true for Cersei after her only daughter being murdered. Our Queen allies with Euron Greyjoy and he lays siege to Yara’s ship, where the Sand Snakes are sailing to forces with Daenerys. Euron captures Ellaria and Tyene, then delivers them to Cersei for her to have her revenge.

Cersei makes the payback more personal as she has mother and daughter chained to opposite sides of a cell, just out of reach of one another. She applies the Long Farewell to her own lips through lipstick and mimics Ellaria’s method used to kill Myrcella; a kiss. Tyene is literally the luckiest person alive but that’s beside the point. After becoming aware of what was happening, Tyene and Ellaria begin to panic as Tyene’s fate becomes inevitable. Ellaria will be forced to watch her daughter die, just as Jaime watched his daughter die. Without breaking her wrists or cutting off her hands, there would be no way for Ellaria to reach Tyene in order to hold her or provide any sense of comfort during what would be a painful death.

Wrap-Up

The Long Farewell is primarily shown to us as being used for revenge purposes. Given the fact that it isn’t an immediate or fast acting poison, and the way that Tyene (and Oberyn) used the poison to coat their weapons, it’s a sneaky, clever, and cunning way to kill. Being the only poison with a known working antidote, this poison is rare and unique in its own way. I believe that the use of this particular poison gives another meaning to the name “Sand Snakes”, as they are sneaky and conniving for using it. A fitting method of murder for a snake.

Progress / Proof For Edits

The edits are fairly simple, but I wanted to make a few of them to showcase the powerful scenes in which the poison was used! I used PicsArt and Bazaart for the edits. The main thing I tried to do was make them look a bit “spookier” to fit the Halloween theme by adding stickers and filters. The total time taken for the edits was about an hour and a half.

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