#kandaq

[goodqueenaly]

Hello! If Daenerys returns to Meereen, what do you think will happen to Skahaz? I can see him presenting Barristan s murder as the work of the Harpy, but killing all those child hostages? Any way he wiggles out of that?

I tend to think that the horror of the murder of the child hostages will be seen through Barristan's eyes, rather than Dany's. Barristan was the one who more recently, and just as vehemently as Dany, argued with the Shavepate over killing the children; Barristan is the one who helped reinstate the Shavepate as a leading power player in Meereen; Barristan is the one who left Skahaz as the most prominent member of Dany's court/entourage not on the battlefield itself. For Barristan, who already deeply distrusts the secrecy and brutality of Skahaz and his Brazen Beasts, the Shavepate's murder of the queen's young cupbearers will I think be the ultimate betrayal: the allusion by Barristan to the murdered children of Prince Rhaegar, whom Ser Barristan was unable to save from Tywin's vicious sacking of King's Landing, will I believe prove a tragic prophecy, as his sometime ally stands over the "bloody bodies" of murdered Meereenese children. In turn, just as Barristan swore not to condone such an act, so I think Barristan will attempt to prove what he said in his mind he would have done with Robert - namely, that "[i]f [Barristan] had seen him [i.e. Robert Baratheon] smile over the red ruins of Rhaegar's children, no army on this earth could have stopped [Barristan] from killing [Robert]".

To this point as well, I also tend to think Dany is not going to be returning to Meereen immediately at the beginning of TWOW. Dany is definitely going to return to Meereen, to be sure, albeit I think relatively briefly, but she has more immediate problems - and different semi-mystical or overtly mystical demands - temporarily pulling her away from the conflicts of Meereen - namely, Khal Jhaqo and Dany's foreseen return to the Mother of Mountains, there almost certainly to be acclaimed as the stallion that mounts the world. As a result, I don't think Dany is going back to Meereen until well after (again, relatively speaking) the time of the murders has passed, giving Skahaz plenty of time, if he might so choose (and if he remains alive to do so, of course), to come up with a plausible cover story for the murders of not just the children (and, probably, Hizdahr and Reznak), but also Barristan himself (a skill Skahaz definitely has, given his plot with the locusts and his successful framing of Hizdahr for that poisoning).

All of this is to say that Dany may not be in the best position, on a strictly narrative level, either to know precisely or learn later what happened with respect to Skahaz and the child hostages or, as a consequence, to react with the sort of disgust and fury I think we'll definitely see through Barristan's perspective in this moment (which, to be clear, I think she absolutely would if and when she should ever learn the truth). I don't know that any of Dany's courtiers or new would-be advisors would know or have reason to know precisely what happened with respect to Barristan and Skahaz, especially if Skahaz publicly proclaims that it was the no-good-very-bad Sons of the Harpy who killed the old white knight and the child cupbearers. Too, I don't think Dany is going to be particularly invested in sticking around in Meereen, and so she may simply accept Skahaz (again, if he is still alive) as a suitable enough regent in her name in Meereen, or king in his own right, to continue the revolution she started. Of course, Skahaz may not survive at all - always a distinct possibility, given the instability of post-Dany Meereen exacerbated by the sudden influx of outside power players following the battle outside the city's walls - making the whole question potentially moot.

[horizon-verizon]

Thoughts on Daenerys publicly executing the former slave and how she went about it in S05x02?

In a word? Not great. Boo.

The show rewrite & repurposing of Mossader &seems like it was meant to rewrite progression of the "error" Daenerys makes with her dragons by essentially adding another one that I'm sure they didn't think was an serious error. A way for them to try to make Dany seem a worse leader & thinker than she really is. I don't like how the show basically tried to make her look tyrannical by making her violently suppress the actions of someone who was both devoted to her and really had already been shut down before when he was saying the right thing. Which was to just get rid of this harpy-hire dude at the very least and at most what she said abt sending a message.

I also hated how it made Mossader look irrational & nearly "savage" through a display of fanatics--in how he almost dreamily said he did it "for her", posing Daenyers' goddess-like stature as easily shiftable to threatening. Foreshadowing that horrible erroneous ending of her becoming a Hitler figure. Like the scene was saying to us she inspires generationally brutalized and dehumanized brown people to the point of irrational "frenzy" and she cannot even be nuanced or sympathetic as she had been before in her ruling for Mossader. This pathetic-ized person who had at one point called her Mhysa and believed in her.

But the narrative the show pushes is not even fair itself to this man (hypocritically) & is just using him to denigrate Dany; becasue why are we making the only male brown former slave besides Grey Worm do such a thing AND be as I said "fanatical" towards the white Dany??! This man, who was put on their council as the voice and reason of those freed Meereenese...appears to us as totally unreasonable bc we know and he "should" have known that there were consequences for disrupting the Westerosi-style of "fair trial" and "honor"...The trial would be a false one, bc this guy will not be let off or go free. His crimes are obvious. Even if we did posit him going free, he'd likely just go back to being a hire for the harpy!

Plus we saw how actual ineffectual and emotion-based/false honor-based actual Westerosi trials can be through both of the trials against Tyrion: at the Eyries; esp the one at the Red Keep after Joffrey dies. So much for fairness of the superior Westerosi style of justice! (another hypocrisy of the writing itself)

So the show has Dany simultaneously "fails" Mossader, and utterly. As if the bonds she has with the slaves and her mission really don't mean anything to her.

After all, does she not marry Hizdahr, reopen the fighting pits (later) to stop the killings of the freedmen...Then she kills the freedman who was supposed to rep them all??

And the points Hizdahr & Barristan Selmy tried to make against killing the dude besides the trial..."poor and young"; "Why should he want to bring back slavery? What did it do for him?"; " I don't know it, and I'm the head of a great family."...why are we even indulging in these stupid protests?!!! We know his presence is so the other nobles feel they have say and influence over Dany, but there was no rebuttal (or at least a sign from her dismissing Hizdahr, whether he sees it or not) from show!Dany against his absurd "logic" about "going easy" on this guy. Huh?!

Subsequently, she loses a lot of faith from the freedmen who beg for not only Mossader's life but for her to not bend to the masters' clear attempt to confuse the priority. Which is their total freedom at those masters' expense. Which is exactly what D&D wanted bc they hate her, refuse to understand her, and lost interest in this series.

It was just a huge mess!

CONTEXT for comparison

a)

Mossador died differently in the original book series ("A Dance with Dragons -- Daenerys II"):

In the show, he gets executed because show!Daenerys wanted to re-establish a peace of between the freedmen and the former (not so former) slavers and elites of Meereen. Some, if not all, of these elites formed the group "Sons of the Harpy", and in the show one of these are captured. Show!Mossader didn't believe that any of the Masters would just lie down and allow Daenerys' end to legal slavery in Meereen stick. And that they'd eventually somehow either get this prisoner out OR this Master would be somehow saved in the process of a the trial that was planned for him:

MOSSADOR: Sons of the Harpy, they want to put a collar back on my neck. On all of our necks. Please, Your Grace, you must kill him. DAENERYS: It would send a message. BARRISTAN: I think you should exercise restraint, Your Grace. DAENERYS: Why? BARRISTAN: For one thing, he may have valuable information. DAARIO: The Son of the Harpy has no more valuable information. BARRISTAN: How do you know that? DAARIO: Because I questioned him. HIZDAHR: And the information you did get, he is young and poor. MOSSADOR: He is born free. HIZDAHR: Why should he want to bring back slavery? What did it do for him? DAENERYS: Perhaps the only thing that gave him pride was knowing that there was someone lower than he was. MOSSADOR: They pay him. Great families afraid to do a thing. They pay poor man to do it for them. HIZDAHR: And how do you know this? MOSSADOR: Everyone knows this. HIZDAHR: I don't know it, and I'm the head of a great family. BARRISTAN: We do not know what this man did or didn't do. (to Daenerys) Give him a trial, at least. A fair trial. Show all of the citizens of Meereen that you are better than those who would depose. Teach them a better way. MOSSADOR: I do not know the place from where Old Ser comes. Things maybe are different there, I hope. But here, in Meereen, before Daenerys Stormborn, they own us. So we learn much about them or we do not live long. They teach me what they are. Mercy, fair trial: these mean nothing to them. All they understand is blood!

So he preemptively and vengefully kills the prisoner, and as you see here, he expresses no regrets about disobeying Daenerys and doing it:

DAENERYS: Why? MOSSADOR (Valyrian): For you, Mhysa. You wanted the Harpy dead, but your hands were tied. I set you free, as you did all of us. DAENERYS: He was our prisoner, awaiting trial. You had no right. MOSSADOR: He would rather rip your city apart than see slaves lifted from the dirt. DAENERYS: There are no more slaves. There are no more Masters. MOSSADOR: Then who lives in the Pyramids? Who wears gold masks and murders your children? When Grey Worm came to us, I was the first to take up the knife for you. I remember the look on my father's face as I struck down his Master, who had traded his infant son for a dog. My father died in the fighting. If we allow the Sons of the Harpy to return us to chains, he never lived. DAENERYS: The Harpy's life was not yours to take. Once, the Masters were the law-- MOSSADOR: And now you are the law! DAENERYS: The law is the law. Take him.

Mossador died differently in the original book series ("A Dance with Dragons -- Daenerys II"):

He's one of the many freedmen murdered by the Sons. And it's not until the 4th episode that her 2nd husband will appear, and he matters bc this is about how she gets on Drogon and re-orient her goals.

b) Attempt at a Summary (How Dany Actually gets to Marry Hizdahr, his role, and Riding Drogon out of the Pit.)

Bk!Dany does have an arc where she at first tries to acclimate or compromise with the former slave masters for the sake of peace in Meereen but comes to realize that her efforts is simply not going to work. She reopens the fighting pits where former slave gladiators would fight after Hizdahr zo Loraq petitions her several times and brings some famous gladiators to beg her to reopen them. She, like in the show, marries Hizdahr and makes him her royal consort when he meets her condition of bringing some 90 days of peace (the high priestess, the Green Grace Galazza Galare suggested a marriage to him). Absolutely no murders or attacks against freedmen nor those few nobles who actually are obeying Dany. In this observation and despite what another noble, Skahaz mo Kandaq, warned about Hizdahr being the the Harpy, leader of the Sons of the Harpy. He was one fo the nobles who decided to abandon the slavery society and "ways" other nobles want to keep going. Again, she wanted that peace and dismissed his warning, and Hizdahr starts to show his true colors in his dismissing Skahaz from his position as the leader of the new Meerenese "city watch", or police, and appointing one of his own cousins. He says that this is to get more of the nobles on her side. (He's not the Harpy, but he's definitely closely tied to them.)

They reopen the fighting pits to celebrate the wedding; Hizdahr insists the fighters volunteered. Hizdahr offers Dany locust treats, it turns out they are poisoned later on when we see Strong Belwas get very sick from them and it's only due to his large and heavyset body that he survives. Dany sees that he's very into the violence, in a way that gets mixed with a sexual excitement at it. During another fight, Drogon appears, Hizdahr calls for people to kill Drogon, and Daenerys jumps into the pit to calm and try to bring Drogon to heel, she's flies off, Drogon basically leading her. Dany, half starved & dehydrated, dreams of her brother and hallucinates Jorah Mormount (those close to her who've betrayed her) but it's also her reflecting on her persistent guilt for the girl Drogon killed that motivated her into the mistake of locking up her dragons. Narrowly escaping a Dothraki scout, she and Drogo fly to another place, eating horse, and that's where the scout's khal, Jhaqo, and his warriors find her. Resumably to try to rape & kill her or to to take her back to Vaes Dothrak to the dosh khaleen and become one of them forever.

In all the time Dany was gone, Hizdahr has been trying to use his marriage to Daenerys to rule Meereen in her absence and a plot (he likely enabled even by just taking instructions) to retake the city gets foiled under Barristan Selmy, Missandei, and Grey Worm's leadership. There are prisoners they take & essentially they are now running the city in Dany's name, waiting for her return. Hizdahr is one of those prisoners. But in the show, Hizdahr died at the pits when a Harpy stabs him.

[coldflasher]

you know what im thinking about right now? how much i wish we could have had an infantino street-style team-up episode with coldwest. just. imagine

[agentrouka-blog]

What's your opinion on Hizdhar?

Hi!!

This ask is one billion years old. (Okay, 4 months.) I sincerely apologize. I needed to wait until I had formed an actual opinion, something that @istumpysk's reread project has immensely helped with.

(This is not a hill I am looking to die on but my current impression.)

I think Hizdahr is a puppet. 

I believe Galazza Galare is the Harpy, a highly influential but underestimated female quasi-matriarch akin to Olenna Tyrell, and when Dany got there above all she wanted 1) stability to prevent more destruction in Meereen (like Astapor) and 2) participation in the power of the crown to ensure the interests of her specific political faction are served. She found a likely puppet in Hizdahr. 

Hizdahr is a well-connected, well-travelled, handsome man with an ancient and respected name and a mind for business. That’s where his interests align with Galazza Galare. For business you need peace. He knows how to charm and has a certain eloquence, he obviously enjoys the calculated thrill of the pitfighting, including cruel surprises (like releasing lions on unsuspecting dwarf jousters...) but nothing about how he responds to unexpected or gruesome developments suggests the mind of a far-sighted conspirator capable of directing the moves of vicious assassins. He is someone's object.

While Galazza the Harpy wields the whip (Harpy’s sons murder campaign) to frighten the freedmen and emotionally pressure Dany, Hizdahr presents the carrot, a “reformist” who just wants peace so he can make some money with his fighting pits. Marry Hizdahr and there will be peace, she says and he says.

As such she is a mirror image to Skahaz mo Kandaq (Shavepate) who on the other hand wants radical reform, absolutely uncompromising destruction of all political opponents - and also an in on the power. He too wants to marry Dany, but he has no carrot to wield. He gets a whip, though, in that Dany grants him the creation of an anonymous state police force loyal almost entirely to him. She handed a ridiculous amount of power to one very radical person. Guess who he ends up using it against?

Peace with Yunkai being hitched to the marriage to Hizdahr (representing stability over chaos) fits the interests of the Harpy perfectly. The slavers outside Meereen get to resume their slaving in peace, no war disrupts their trade, and Meereen gets to participate in trade again as well, minus slavery within their walls. Money flows.

Hizdahr’s choice to carve and use a dragon throne after their marriage implies he planned on heavily relying on her image and projected power to inform their shared rule, while expecting to take care of the day-to-day decision-making that so bored Dany. Prestige, fame, power, safety. Win-win for him and the Harpy who maneuvered him on the throne. Of course, he would only have wielded the power that Dany afforded him, which did not have to be much. Except as soon as they are married she leaves the courtly duties to him. She handed power to Team Harpy when she did not have to. She could have taken this peace and concentrated on a long game of reform and creating a formidable political legacy. But the fighting pit is a catalyst for a development that would have taken place either way. 

Before the poison becomes obvious, before Drogon arrives, Dany signals to Meereen that she rejects the role they had in mind for her. She takes off the tokar, she demands that Hizdahr escort her out of the pit mid-show. She clearly telegraphs her dissatisfaction with the peace she created because it doesn’t feel like a win, and this would have ended up informing her political decisions down the line, the same way Barristan’s decisions are informed by his prejudice. If Drogon hadn’t carried her off, she would have eventually arrived at the same point as things develop without her.

I don't for a second believe Hizdahr or the Harpy wanted to poison Dany, that's the opposite of stability. It makes a lot more sense (and is heavily hinted at) that Skahaz the Shavepate had the locusts planted to target Hizdahr, and maybe Dany too. He's the one who has consistently been advocating for more violence and uncompromising brutality in asserting the will of the crown. He had wanted to marry Dany himself, to occupy the spot that Hizdahr was awarded, which is now beyond his reach. And he controls the Brazen Beasts, who have anonymous access almost anywhere that concerns the royal couple. 

Without Dany, her dragons and the loyalty of her troops, Hizdahr has little direct power (which serves the Shavepate well) and he isn't exactly showing a lot of vision for how to deal with the fallout. There was no plan in place for her absence from his perspective. Barristan does a splendid job of letting himself be manipulated by the Shavepate into arresting Hizdahr, though, which immediately triggers the Harpy's sons again, with near forty dead within three days. He downright mocks Barristan by letting his Brazen Beasts wear locust masks during the coup, and the fact that locusts were guarding the dragonpit and didn't know the "word of the day" Quentyn used on the regular guards, implies the Shavepate was going to go for the dragons, as well, against his promise to Barristan. (Quentyn foiled that plan.) His every suggestion is aimed at escalating conflict and violence. Chaos is a ladder for someone whose House of Kandaq is painted as the lowly opposite to famous and ancient House Loraq.

Hizdahr, while the Shavepate conspires, was relaxing with a prostitute and a tiny personal guard, cowering behind a tapestry when violence erupts during his arrest. That’s not an ice cold power hungry manipulator. That’s someone utterly in over his head because the Plan Went Awry. 

Galazza Galare as the Green Grace manages to save the life of Belwas, too, which considering his bad state can’t have been easy. Another reason to suspect they don’t want Dany’s support system to collapse. They want her power, even without her, because the alternative is the chaos they don’t want.

Of course, right now Team Shavepate has the upper hand, with Hizdahr imprisoned, Galazza Galare unable to negotiate a hostage release with Yunkai, and Barristan Selmy doing a brilliant job talking himself into approving battle because he’s “a simple knight” and “not made for this”. Hizdahr couldn’t command the loyalty of Dany’s forces, but the Shavepate can move them where he wants them. 

Since both sides are ultimately evil, it’s a loss, either way. But the peace Dany had been working toward by cooperating with Team Harpy may have ended up preserving more lives among the general population than the inevitable erruption of chaos is going to cost Meereen, now that Team Shavepate is calling the shots. 

The poison attempt meant to sow chaos happened at the exact same time that Drogon decided to return. Which really only speeded up what was always going to happen. Dany hated her political achievement, she wanted out, she rode her dragon away and didn’t care about the burning people. Chaos happened with or without assassination attempt. Would have happened with or without Drogon. Because Dany, deep down, hated the peace she created. She was always leaning toward Team Shavepate. 

Peace was never going to last.

[mypage4sure]

Okay so I had been watching Order of the greenhand's video on Danerys...and actually their not bad? For all their faults, their views on Daenerys are actually pretty dang good.

That said I do low key disagree on who is the harpy video, they think the greengrace poisoned the honeyed Locus to send a message to Hizdahr, my views are more that Skahaz posioned them, to cause a disruption to the peace, I do agree that it wasn't enough to kill, nor was it meant specially for Dany.

That said, I do agree that the most likely harpy is The Greengrace.

[rainhadaenerys]

Art by TheMico

[greenbloods]

asexual characters in westeros

vaegon. too based for the red keep, too cringe for westeros (targ genes). antithesis of icky old man jaehaerys' idea of an ideal man [a hyper-militaristic strong man who has the hots for his sister-wife and enacts control over the women in his life]. peaces out of the family drama and becomes an archmaester. he and saera are two sides of the same coin. the only way to outlive the red keep is to escape it

varys. kind of low hanging fruit but cmon. though i guess this is more a show canon thing with the one scene between him and oberyn, but it still applies to book canon

larys strong. all credit to the show for making him a foot freak who mostly uses his sexuality as a power thing over alicent. however. i am just a freak for ace evil advisors scheming and conniving because the only thing they have the hots for is power and the Realm. in fact yknow what? skahaz mo kandaq the shavepate is also ace. and tyland lannister. i would make petyr ace to were it not for yknow *gestures broadly at littlefinger*

maegelle. ok so the only ways to escape jaehaerys and alysanne is to refuse to play the game of marriages, right? and you either do that by being saera, or by taking vows against marriage like vaegon. maegelle was promised to be a septa at a young age so i dont know how much being ace played into that decision, but i think it's a nice parallel between her and vaegon and rounds out the trio

maegor. nah im just fucking with you. but imagine, right?

stannis. ok canonically he does share melisandre's bed willingly and not just for shadowbaby making purposes but to me he is ace. marching off to bed like robert would march off to war, the opposite of robert in every way, ice to his fire. plus it would make the baratheon brothers bi ace and gay respectively and thats something.

cheese of notable gang 'blood and.' yep thats right diversity wins your local ratcatcher childmurderer is ace <3

meera reed. zeroooo evidence for this i just like positing stuff <33

qhorin halfhand. soorryyy to all the manceqhorin truthers out there but when when mance said "the Halfhand was carved of old oak, but I am made of flesh" that was all the confirmation i needed. plus half the watch is gay so i think everyone was looking at qhorin like he was the odd guy out who took his oath to the watch too seriously while everyone else was rolling their eyes at old man Q too proud to get it down in mole's town

blackfish. 100% ace and aro this is literally canon he doesnt want to get married hes not interested in it. in this world where to be a be a woman is to marry and to be a man is to marry and to marry is to consummate he refuses to participate in the system outright!! he takes a nice nepo uncle job with his niece in the vale and settles down for 20 years as the seven intended. aroace blackfish is real to me.

[diamondperfumes]

I will be debunking this post about Skahaz being the Harpy.

Just as Daenerys is ruminating on equally implausible answers, the author introduces a wolf, unseen and far away but present enough to interrupt her thoughts. It is a deliberately jarring, almost incongruous moment: Daenerys certainly never encounters this wolf, and the threat of a lupine predator only briefly reenters her mind once more in the chapter. The story jumps from Daenerys' musings to the wolf's howling with a sharp immediacy, juxtaposing the theoretical considerations of a clearly political plot and the dangerous ambiance of the Dothraki Sea without any apparent justification for doing so. Yet I think the author includes the howling wolf in this moment specifically to identify the person Daenerys could not - that is, the individual actually responsible for the poisoning at Daznak's Pit. After all, the chapter immediately preceding "Daenerys X" is "The Queen's Hand" - a chapter which features none other than Skahaz mo Kandaq in a "new" Brazen Beasts mask, "a wolf's head with lolling tongue". If Skahaz has not yet openly taken credit for the poisoning - instead cleverly using the naturally suspicious Barristan to frame Hizdahr for the crime and thus bring down his, Skahaz's, great political enemy - the Shavepate has slyly hinted as much (andindeed by using masks): when Barristan and Skahaz enter the Great Pyramid to depose Hizdahr, Skahaz has his Brazen Beasts wear locust masks, and even tells Barristan that he "ha[s] more locusts if [Barristan] need[s] them". Now, in "Daenerys X", the story allows Skahaz the same sort of subtle boasting: narratively transformed into the natural equivalent of his bronze disguise, Skahaz presents himself as the true poisoner, the solution Daenerys herself could not reach. If we do in fact get an admission from Skahaz on this point - and I would not be entirely surprised if he said so in the moments before he also kills Barristan Selmy - then we can look to this moment for the author's clue to that revelation[.]

I agree with the introduction of the wolf being a tie into her political plot, but the parallel is with Jon Snow being betrayed, just as Dany was betrayed by someone she trusted. Jon Snow is killed for breaking his Night's Watch vows, upon declaring war to save his sister. Dany is betrayed by the Harpy, a figure she gives weighty political authority to during her rule in Meereen. The Harpy is a key figure on her Court.

The wolf's howling makes Dany feel "sad and lonely." Not angry or hurt, but sad and lonely. Yes, Skahaz wears a wolf mask in ADWD Chapter 70, but Jon Snow dies in ADWD Chapter 69, around the same time that ADWD Chapter 71 is taking place. There is a tonal shift from Dany ruminating on who may have betrayed her, to Dany empathizing with the wolf's loneliness. How the wolf's howl makes her feel is key to interpreting the passage.

Dany falls asleep after she hears the wolf howl. To reinforce the connection to Jon Snow/the politics at the Wall, George includes this passage when she wakes up:

“It turned out that their anthill was on the other side of her wall. She wondered how the ants had managed to climb over it and find her. To them these tumbledown stones must loom as huge as the Wall of Westeros. The biggest wall in all the world, her brother Viserys used to say, as proud as if he’d built it himself."

Ants are crawling all over Dany when she wakes up, and she compares their perception of her makeshift Dragonstone to how people must see the Wall of Westeros, the biggest wall in the world. This is a very deliberate analogy for George to make. He could have used any comparison, but he chose to analogize the ants crawling on the makeshift Dragonstone to the people on the Wall, right after a night where Dany has dreams of starlight and Quaithe, when she falls asleep hearing a lonely wolf's howl.

Skahaz's Brazen Beasts wearing locust masks is a deliberate anti-parallel to the Harpy using locusts to poison Dany. The Harpy is trying to take Dany down, and Skahaz is trying to take Hizdahr down. However, Skahaz would not wear locust masks to hint to Barristan that he's the real poisoner, because it would only make Barristan suspicious of him. The irony is in freedmen wearing the faces of the very insects that slavers devour as a delicacy, and that they attempted to use to poison Dany. It's a way of mocking the slaver hegemony. While Skahaz has political reasons to have Hizdahr arrested, he gains nothing from poisoning Dany. In the aftermath of Dany's flight, Skahaz is deposed and Hizdahr, as king, holds all the power, and is able to chip away at everything Dany achieved as Queen of Meereen. If Skahaz's goal is to get rid of Hizdahr, poisoning Dany, which leaves a vacuum in her absence that strengthens Hizdahr, does not service him at all, especially because Dany is the one who gave him power.

Moreover, Barristan in that very chapter realizes that the poisoner is not Hizdahr:

“In return he gave her peace. Do not cast it away, ser, I beg you. Peace is the pearl beyond price. Hizdahr is of Loraq. Never would he soil his hands with poison. He is innocent.” “How can you be certain?” Unless you know the poisoner.

Barristan understands that the person who poisoned the locusts––the person who coerced Hizdahr's confectioner by kidnapping his daughter, the person who butchered his daughter into nine pieces when he failed to poison Dany––is the same person who so confidently guarantees that Hizdahr would never poison Dany, who engineered Hizdahr's marriage to Dany, the one whom neither Dany nor Barristan suspected of poisoning the locusts or being the Harpy.

Hizdahr is not the poisoner or the Harpy, but he is a son of the Harpy.

The person who benefits most from Dany being poisoned is the Harpy. Skahaz and Hizdahr are both narratively framed as potential poisoners. Attention is drawn as far away from the real Harpy as possible in adjudicating who the real poisoner is. Hizdahr, to gain a throne and roll back Dany's antislavery accomplishments. Skahaz, to have Hizdahr framed for the crime and removed from power. Both are presented as viable political actors with realistic motivations for wanting to poison Dany––how did Hizdahr truly secure the peace? how did Skahaz know all the details about the confectioner?––while the Harpy herself is distanced from the act, from the means of the act, and from the motivation for the act.

Barristan certainly will die defending Dany from the Harpy. But it will not be a death in the shadows. It will occur in the moment where action is taking place, where Barristan is bodily defending Dany:

“The scarab unfolded with a hiss. Dany caught a glimpse of a malign black face, almost human, and an arched tail dripping venom … and then the box flew from her hand in pieces, turning end over end. Sudden pain twisted her fingers. As she cried out and clutched her hand, the brass merchant let out a shriek, a woman screamed, and suddenly the Qartheen were shouting and pushing each other aside. Ser Jorah slammed past her, and Dany stumbled to one knee. She heard the hiss again. The old man drove the butt of his staff into the ground, Aggo came riding through an eggseller’s stall and vaulted from his saddle, Jhogo’s whip cracked overhead, Ser Jorah slammed the eunuch over the head with the brass platter, sailors and whores and merchants were fleeing or shouting or both …” (ACOK Dany V) - “The old man feinted with one end of the staff, pulled it back, and whipped the other end about faster than Dany would have believed. The Titan’s Bastard staggered back into the surf, spitting blood and broken teeth from the ruin of his mouth. Whitebeard put Dany behind him. Mero slashed at his face. The old man jerked back, cat-quick. The staff thumped Mero’s ribs, sending him reeling. Arstan splashed sideways, parried a looping cut, danced away from a second, checked a third mid-swing. The moves were so fast she could hardly follow.” (ASOS Dany V)

In the fifth chapters of her ACOK and ASOS arcs, Barristan defends Dany from an assassin––the manticore and the Titan's Bastard. It will only be fitting that he finds his end defending Dany from the Harpy of Meereen, completing the pattern of threes where some symbol/figure of an antagonistic political institution (the Sorrowful Men of Qarth & Mero of Braavos, the original commander of the initially slaver-aligned sellsword company, the Second Sons) comes to murder Dany.

[isefyres]

𝔇𝔞𝔢𝔫𝔢𝔯𝔶𝔰 𝔗𝔞𝔯𝔤𝔞𝔯𝔶𝔢𝔫'𝔰 𝔠𝔦𝔯𝔠𝔩𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔠𝔩𝔬𝔰𝔢 𝔴𝔬𝔪𝔢𝔫.

Irri - is a Dothraki handmaid to Daenerys Targaryen. Irri was born to a khal of a khalasar. It was destroyed by Khal Drogo, and she was enslaved. Irri, Doreah, and Jhiqui are given to Daenerys Targaryen by Viserys Targaryen as wedding gifts to serve as her handmaids. She is given to Daenerys to teach her how to ride horses in the Dothraki style She stays with Daenerys, even after the death of Khal Drogo and the disintegration of his khalasar.

Doreah -is a Lysene handmaid to Daenerys Targaryen. Magister Illyrio Mopatis found Doreah in a pleasure house in Lys. Viserys Targaryen bedded her while he was a guest at Illyrio's manse. Illyrio payed the House Orthys good coin for her to be given to them. Viserys Targaryen is usually kinder to Doreah than to Daenerys's Dothraki handmaids, and Daenerys has the Lyseni sew a fine sandsilk cloak for her brother. While sick during the trip to Qarth, Doreah recovers. Eventually becomes part of Daenerys court and a confidante of many women who wish to know secrets of pleasure.

Ezzara - is a Ghiscari priestess of Meereen. She is a Blue Grace. Ezzara treats the first victim of the bloody flux at Meereen, although the man dies within an hour of arrival. Ezzara accompanies Galazza Galare, the Green Grace, along with two other Blue Graces, to the Great Pyramid of Meereen to explain to Queen Daenerys Targaryen the symptoms of the disease and its possible spread in Meereen. Not trusting the Maesters, Ezzara travels with Queen Daenerys and becomes the main source of medical issues.

Sariah - Originally from Myr, she is a Mereen exotic dancer, part of Hizdahr zo Loraq court and a favorite of him of sorts, often finding herself in his bed. While not a slave, when he is killed, Sariah chooses to follow Daenerys to the new continent, finding no real home in Mereen or Myr as she does not remember her home. Sariah is multilingual and often helps with translations and such. She also helps make the queen new dresses in the style of her House based on books and recallings of the old Valyrian Households.

Kaizina Nika Elizan - of the New Lorath Empire, East of Braavos. Called the Empress of the East Shivering Sea. With the help of a mercenary company and the people, she gained control of the seat of council to call upon one ruler for Lorath and reclaimed the Ibbish Isles and Morath, a mining Lorathian colony and Saath, taking the mayority of the East of the Shivering Sea with Braavos help, wanting less taxes by having only one tax to be pay to one person. Daenerys accepted Nika's invitation to her coronation and Nika will attend her own in turn, and wishes for commerce and alliances to be made once Westeros regains peace.

Cahira of Lys - Lysani warrior, leader of a legion given to Daenerys Targaryen by Prince Lysandro, Cahira was second in command in the Orthys household when it came to training and now her direct order is to train women and help them defend themselves as well serve the Queen on her Conquest. Cahira is part of a deal made to stablish Lysani settlements on Westeros.

  Kira Kandaq - House of Kandaq Heir, attendant to Queen Daenerys in Mereen as her famiyl rises to power. The House is supposedly less hostile to the rule of Daenerys Targaryen. Skahaz mo Kandaq, known as the Shavepate, serves as one of her Meereenese advisors. The House before Daenerys came was considered a lesser House and its influence has grown due to their service to Daenerys. The house are considered traitors by the Sons of the Harpy. She becomes part of her emboy and court.

Val of the Free Folk - later on Val Weirwood, is a member of the free folk. She is the sister of Dalla, the wife of Mance Rayder. Resourceful, fast and quick witted, she is often called princess by the South and she takes advantage of this to get some attention to raise her nephew. She has a relationship with Jon Snow who she has been claiming as her own for a while and she is often found with Daenerys teaching her some Northern costumes as well the simple pleasure of gossiping and being women.

Princess Myrcella Baratheon - After her return from Dorne, Myrcella becomes a political player in the game, acting as the ruler of the kingdom as regent until Daenerys comes along. Myrcella becomes a friend and an ally and Myrcella is the one who shows that political alliances through marriage, while not ideal, is often the way to make a kingdom united, like Queen Alysanne and Queen Rhaenys did before them. Myrcella is witted even despite her murder attempt in the queenmaker plot and still beloved by the kingdom. She is often considered Daenerys heir, before Daenerys gets one of her own. Cella eventually finds friendship in Dany's handmaidens and her own cousin as well love in Aegon, who she weds.

[istumpysk]

Operation Stumpy Re-Read

ADWD: Daenerys IX (Chapter 52)

Where is Vicky? I've waited long enough.

Jhiqui brought a soft towel to pat her dry. "Khaleesi, which tokar will you want today?" asked Irri.

"The yellow silk." The queen of the rabbits could not be seen without her floppy ears. The yellow silk was light and cool, and it would be blistering down in the pit. The red sands will burn the soles of those about to die. "And over it, the long red veils." The veils would keep the wind from blowing sand into her mouth. And the red will hide any blood spatters.

You have no idea.

+.+.+

At the base of the Great Pyramid, Ser Barristan awaited them beside an ornate open palanquin, surrounded by Brazen Beasts. Ser Grandfather, Dany thought. Despite his age, he looked tall and handsome in the armor that she'd given him. "I would be happier if you had Unsullied guards about you today, Your Grace," the old knight said, as Hizdahr went to greet his cousin. "Half of these Brazen Beasts are untried freedmen." And the other half are Meereenese of doubtful loyalty, he left unsaid. Selmy mistrusted all the Meereenese, even shavepates.

It's LOCUSTS TIME!

Who poisoned the locusts? I apologize, we'll need Barry's POV to help solve this mystery. Today we'll only be covering the three major suspects.

Starting with SUSPECT #1: the Brazen Beasts (the Shavepate).

Within the first few paragraphs of the chapter we learn 1) the Brazen Beasts are guarding Daenerys instead of the Unsullied, 2) Some have doubtful loyalty.

We're off to a good start.

Ser Grandfather, Dany thought.

I would do anything for her to slip and say this out loud.

+.+.+

"A mask can hide many things, Your Grace. Is the man behind the owl mask the same owl who guarded you yesterday and the day before? How can we know?"

"How should Meereen ever come to trust the Brazen Beasts if I do not? There are good brave men beneath those masks. I put my life into their hands." 

3) They're unidentifiable.

The Shavepate was absent as well. The first thing Hizdahr had done upon being crowned was to remove him from command of the Brazen Beasts, replacing him with his own cousin, the plump and pasty Marghaz zo Loraq. It is for the best. The Green Grace says there is blood between Loraq and Kandaq, and the Shavepate never made a secret of his disdain for my lord husband. And Daario … - Daenerys VIII, ADWD

x

If I wed Hizdahr, will that turn Skahaz against me? She trusted Skahaz more than she trusted Hizdahr, but the Shavepate would be a disaster as a king. He was too quick to anger, too slow to forgive. - Daenerys IV, ADWD

We don't know if the Shavepate is lurking under one of these masks.

I put my life into their hands.

Oop.

+.+.+

Dany smiled for him. "You fret too much, ser. I will have you beside me, what other protection do I need?"

Please oh please let him be there when she's murdered. I don't ask for much.

"Barristan the Bold, they call him. Twice he has saved me from assassins." - Daenerys III, ADWD

Three!!

+.+.+

"Your Grace. We set the woman Meris free, as you commanded. Before she went, she asked to speak with you. I met with her instead. She claims this Tattered Prince meant to bring the Windblown over to your cause from the beginning. That he sent her here to treat with you secretly, but the Dornishmen unmasked them and betrayed them before she could make her own approach."

Treachery on treachery, the queen thought wearily. Is there no end to it? "How much of this do you believe, ser?"

"Little and less, Your Grace, but those were her words."

"Will they come over to us, if need be?"

"She says they will. But for a price."

"Pay it." Meereen needed iron, not gold.

"The Tattered Prince will want more than coin, Your Grace. Meris says that he wants Pentos."

[...]

"Pentos belongs to the Pentoshi. And Magister Illyrio is in Pentos. He who arranged my marriage to Khal Drogo and gave me my dragon eggs. Who sent me you, and Belwas, and Groleo. I owe him much and more. I will not repay that debt by giving his city to some sellsword. No."

This must be here for a reason.

Let's see if she keeps this same energy when she learns about Illyrio and Aegon.

+.+.+

Ser Barristan inclined his head. "Your Grace is wise."

+.+.+

"Auspicious for you, perhaps. Less so for those who must die before the sun goes down."

"All men must die," said Hizdahr

Hehe.

+.+.+

When they caught sight of the palanquin emerging from the pyramid, a cheer went up from those nearest and spread across the plaza. How queer, the queen thought. They cheer me on the same plaza where I once impaled one hundred sixty-three Great Masters.

Daenerys rejecting a cheering crowd? Nothing will make this girl happy at this point.

+.+.+

A great drum led the royal procession to clear their way through the streets. Between each beat, a shavepate herald in a shirt of polished copper disks cried for the crowd to part. BOMM. "They come!" BOMM. "Make way!" BOMM. "The queen!" BOMM. "The king!" BOMM. 

The Red Wedding taught me to be wary of these noises.

+.+.+

Behind the drum marched Brazen Beasts four abreast. Some carried cudgels, others staves; all wore pleated skirts, leathern sandals, and patchwork cloaks sewn from squares of many colors to echo the many-colored bricks of Meereen. Their masks gleamed in the sun: boars and bulls, hawks and herons, lions and tigers and bears, fork-tongued serpents and hideous basilisks.

SUSPECT #1: the Brazen Beasts (the Shavepate) are name-dropped roughly 57 times at the start of this chapter. The author wants you to be aware of their presence.

+.+.+

Dany could hear her handmaids arguing behind her, debating who was going to win the day's final match. Jhiqui favored the gigantic Goghor, who looked more bull than man, even to the bronze ring in his nose. Irri insisted that Belaquo Bonebreaker's flail would prove the giant's undoing. My handmaids are Dothraki, she told herself. Death rides with every khalasar. The day she wed Khal Drogo, the arakhs had flashed at her wedding feast, and men had died whilst others drank and mated. Life and death went hand in hand amongst the horselords, and a sprinkling of blood was thought to bless a marriage. Her new marriage would soon be drenched in blood. How blessed it would be.

You are also Dothraki in mind and spirit.

And did a whole lot less bitching at all the barbaric shit they did.

+.+.+

BOMM, BOMM, BOMM, BOMM, BOMM, BOMM, came the drumbeats, faster than before, suddenly angry and impatient. Ser Barristan drew his sword as the column ground to an abrupt halt between the pink-and-white pyramid of Pahl and the green-and-black of Naqqan.

Dany turned. "Why are we stopped?"

Hizdahr stood. "The way is blocked."

A palanquin lay overturned athwart their way. 

Enter SUSPECT #2: House Pahl.

Why House Pahl?

There's a lot of bad blood between Daenerys and House Pahl.

It was true that there was blood between her and the House of Pahl. Oznak zo Pahl had been cut down by Strong Belwas in single combat. His father, commander of Meereen's city watch, had died defending the gates when Joso's Cock smashed them into splinters. Three uncles had been among the hundred sixty-three on the plaza. - Daenerys I, ADWD

It's now a house comprised of women who don't forgive or forget.

"You have no lack of enemies, Your Grace. You can see their pyramids from your terrace. Zhak, Hazkar, Ghazeen, Merreq, Loraq, all the old slaving families. Pahl. Pahl, most of all. A house of women now. Bitter old women with a taste for blood. Women do not forget. Women do not forgive." - Daenerys I, ADWD

Not the best situation to be abruptly stopped between a pyramid of theirs and Naqqan.

+.+.+

Ser Barristan glanced uneasily to left and right. Ghiscari faces were visible on the terraces, looking down with cool and unsympathetic eyes. "Your Grace, I do not like this halt. This may be some trap. The Sons of the Harpy—"

"—have been tamed," declared Hizdahr zo Loraq. 

Apparently Hizdahr knows the Common Tongue.

Or maybe the author is being ditzy again.

+.+.+

"Why should they seek to harm my queen when she has taken me for her king and consort? Now help that man, as my sweet queen has commanded." He took Dany by the hand and smiled.

I'm skipping ahead, but I have to make a point.

Introducing SUSPECT #3: Hizdahr zo Loraq.

I know what you're asking yourselves -

"Didn't she make him king? Didn't he get his fighting pits reopened? Didn't he successfully convince her to allow the slave trade to continue in Slaver's Bay? Didn't he get everything he wanted?"

Yes.

"What's his motive? Why would he want to kill Daenerys before they produce an heir?"

I don't know, ask the dumbfuck in white.

+.+.+

The Brazen Beasts did as they were bid. Dany watched them at their work. "Those bearers were slaves before I came. I made them free. Yet that palanquin is no lighter."

"True," said Hizdahr, "but those men are paid to bear its weight now. Before you came, that man who fell would have an overseer standing over him, stripping the skin off his back with a whip. Instead he is being given aid."

It was true. A Brazen Beast in a boar mask had offered the litter bearer a skin of water. "I suppose I must be thankful for small victories," the queen said.

How is that a small victory?

The Brazen Beasts are doing things!

+.+.+

"One step, then the next, and soon we shall be running. Together we shall make a new Meereen." 

Slly goose, why walk when you can fly?

+.+.+

Around them peddlers were selling dog sausages, roast onions, and unborn puppies on a stick, but Dany had no need of such. 

My Western brain is simply aghast at the cultural practices of these primitive uncivilized people.

The wedding feast began with a thin leek soup, followed by a salad of green beans, onions, and beets, river pike poached in almond milk, mounds of mashed turnips that were cold before they reached the table, jellied calves' brains, and a leche of stringy beef. - Catelyn VII, ASOS

+.+.+

Hizdahr had stocked their box with flagons of chilled wine and sweetwater, with figs, dates, melons, and pomegranates, with pecans and peppers and a big bowl of honeyed locusts. Strong Belwas bellowed, "Locusts!" as he seized the bowl and began to crunch them by the handful.

"Those are very tasty," advised Hizdahr. "You ought to try a few yourself, my love. They are rolled in spice before the honey, so they are sweet and hot at once."

"That explains the way Belwas is sweating," Dany said. "I believe I will content myself with figs and dates."

Boy, that doesn't look good for SUSPECT #3: Hizdahr zo Loraq.

Except, if he is trying to kill Daenerys, he's doing it in a way that would guarantee he's the prime suspect. Imagine how stupid it would have been if Olenna chose to hand Joffrey the glass of wine.

For the record, the locusts were already in their box when they arrived, Hizdahr was unbothered when she declined, and he will never mention the locusts again.

+.+.+

Across the pit the Graces sat in flowing robes of many colors, clustered around the austere figure of Galazza Galare, who alone amongst them wore the green. The Great Masters of Meereen occupied the red and orange benches. The women were veiled, and the men had brushed and lacquered their hair into horns and hands and spikes. Hizdahr's kin of the ancient line of Loraq seemed to favor tokars of purple and indigo and lilac, whilst those of Pahl were striped in pink and white. 

Random SUSPECT #2: House Pahl mention.

+.+.+

"Great Masters! My queen has come this day, to show her love for you, her people. By her grace and with her leave, I give you now your mortal art. Meereen! Let Queen Daenerys hear your love!"

Ten thousand throats roared out their thanks; then twenty thousand; then all. They did not call her name, which few of them could pronounce. "Mother!" they cried instead; in the old dead tongue of Ghis, the word was Mhysa! They stamped their feet and slapped their bellies and shouted, "Mhysa, Mhysa, Mhysa," until the whole pit seemed to tremble. Dany let the sound wash over her. I am not your mother, she might have shouted, back, I am the mother of your slaves, of every boy who ever died upon these sands whilst you gorged on honeyed locusts. Behind her, Reznak leaned in to whisper in her ear, "Magnificence, hear how they love you!"

No, she knew, they love their mortal art. 

Even "Mhysa, Mhysa, Mhysa" is not cheering up grumpy? Man oh man, these people are going to die a bad death.

+.+.+

Khrazz was Meereenese, of humble birth—a tall man with a brush of stiff red-black hair running down the center of his head. His foe was an ebon-skinned spearman from the Summer Isles whose thrusts kept Khrazz at bay for a time, but once he slipped inside the spear with his shortsword, only butchery remained. After it was done, Khrazz cut the heart from the black man, raised it above his head red and dripping, and took a bite from it.

"Khrazz believes the hearts of brave men make him stronger," said Hizdahr. Jhiqui murmured her approval. Dany had once eaten a stallion's heart to give strength to her unborn son … but that had not saved Rhaego when the maegi murdered him in her womb.

Ser Jorah had killed her son, Dany knew. He had done what he did for love and loyalty, yet he had carried her into a place no living man should go and fed her baby to the darkness. He knew it too; the grey face, the hollow eyes, the limp. "The shadows have touched you too, Ser Jorah," she told him. The knight made no reply. Dany turned to the godswife. "You warned me that only death could pay for life. I thought you meant the horse."

"No," Mirri Maz Duur said. "That was a lie you told yourself. You knew the price."

Had she? Had she? If I look back I am lost. "The price was paid," Dany said. - Daenerys IX, AGOT

+.+.+

Three treasons shall you know. She was the first, Jorah was the second, Brown Ben Plumm the third. Was she done with betrayals?

How is Brown Ben Plumm your treason for love? God, what a dumb person.

+.+.+

"Ah," said Hizdahr, pleased. "Now comes the Spotted Cat. See how he moves, my queen. A poem on two feet."

The foe Hizdahr had found for the walking poem was as tall as Goghor and as broad as Belwas, but slow. They were fighting six feet from Dany's box when the Spotted Cat hamstrung him. As the man stumbled to his knees, the Cat put a foot on his back and a hand around his head and opened his throat from ear to ear. The red sands drank his blood, the wind his final words. The crowd screamed its approval.

Some of these fights appear to be foreshadowing future events. It's possible the Spotted Cat might be hinting at someone.

If Arya is slitting someone's throat, it's not Walder Frey's.

+.+.+

"Bad fighting, good dying," said Strong Belwas. "Strong Belwas hates it when they scream." He had finished all the honeyed locusts. He gave a belch and took a swig of wine.

Daenerys loves it when they scream.

Because he drank wine, a ton of people question whether it was the locusts or the wine that poisoned him.

Why does it matter? We don't have to overthink this.

+.+.+

"This one shows much promise, my sweet," Hizdahr said of a Lysene youth with long blond hair that fluttered in the wind … but his foe grabbed a handful of that hair, pulled the boy off-balance, and gutted him. In death he looked even younger than he had with blade in hand. "A boy," said Dany. "He was only a boy."

"Six-and-ten," Hizdahr insisted. "A man grown, who freely chose to risk his life for gold and glory. No children die today in Daznak's, as my gentle queen in her wisdom has decreed."

That's considered fAegon evidence.

Aurane did not resemble Prince Rhaegar as much as she had thought. He has the hair, but so do half the whores in Lys, if the tales are true. Rhaegar was a man. This is a sly boy, no more. Useful in his way, though. - Cersei VIII, ADWD

x

He was a lithe and well-made youth, with a lanky build and a shock of dark blue hair. The dwarf put his age at fifteen, sixteen, or near enough to make no matter. - Tyrion III, ADWD

+.+.+

"A boy," said Dany. "He was only a boy."

"Six-and-ten," Hizdahr insisted.

"Slay the Good Masters, slay the soldiers, slay every man who wears a tokar or holds a whip, but harm no child under twelve, and strike the chains off every slave you see." - Daenerys III, ASOS

Shut up, Daenerys.

+.+.+

Another small victory. Perhaps I cannot make my people good, she told herself, but I should at least try to make them a little less bad. 

Do you ever remember her thinking about the Dothraki this way? I don't.

+.+.+

It had been the custom to sentence criminals to the pits; that practice she agreed might resume, but only for certain crimes. "Murderers and rapers may be forced to fight, and all those who persist in slaving, but not thieves or debtors."

It's okay when we're doing Justice™.

+.+.+

Beasts were still allowed, though. Dany watched an elephant make short work of a pack of six red wolves.

The number six is a little troubling. Hopefully nothing.

+.+.+

Next a bull was set against a bear in a bloody battle that left both animals torn and dying. "The flesh is not wasted," said Hizdahr. "The butchers use the carcasses to make a healthful stew for the hungry. Any man who presents himself at the Gates of Fate may have a bowl."

"A good law," Dany said. You have so few of them. "We must make certain that this tradition is continued."

Has the novelty worn off?

+.+.+

After the beast fights came a mock battle, pitting six men on foot against six horsemen, the former armed with shields and longswords, the latter with Dothraki arakhs. The mock knights were clad in mail hauberks, whilst the mock Dothraki wore no armor. At first the riders seemed to have the advantage, riding down two of their foes and slashing the ear from a third, but then the surviving knights began to attack the horses, and one by one the riders were unmounted and slain, to Jhiqui's great disgust. "That was no true khalasar," she said.

Bwahahahaha.

First the snow, and now this? I'm starting to think these Dothraki might struggle in Westeros!

The man was no knight, but his courage had earned him that much courtesy. Khrazz did not know how to fight a man in armor. Ser Barristan could see it in his eyes: doubt, confusion, the beginnings of fear. The pit fighter came on again, screaming this time, as if sound could slay his foe where steel could not. The arakh slashed low, high, low again. - The Kingbreaker, ADWD

(Shoutout to @redwolf17 for helping me find the quote!)

+.+.+

The battle was followed by the day's first folly, a tilt between a pair of jousting dwarfs, presented by one of the Yunkish lords that Hizdahr had invited to the games. One rode a hound, the other a sow. Their wooden armor had been freshly painted, so one bore the stag of the usurper Robert Baratheon, the other the golden lion of House Lannister. That was for her sake, plainly. Their antics soon had Belwas snorting laughter, though Dany's smile was faint and forced. When the dwarf in red tumbled from the saddle and began to chase his sow across the sands, whilst the dwarf on the dog galloped after him, whapping at his buttocks with a wooden sword, she said, "This is sweet and silly, but …"

"Be patient, my sweet," said Hizdahr. "They are about to loose the lions."

Daenerys gave him a quizzical look. "Lions?"

"Three of them. The dwarfs will not expect them."

She frowned. "The dwarfs have wooden swords. Wooden armor. How do you expect them to fight lions?"

"Badly," said Hizdahr, "though perhaps they will surprise us. More like they will shriek and run about and try to climb out of the pit. That is what makes this a folly."

Dany was not pleased. "I forbid it."

"Gentle queen. You do not want to disappoint your people."

"You swore to me that the fighters would be grown men who had freely consented to risk their lives for gold and honor. These dwarfs did not consent to battle lions with wooden swords. You will stop it. Now."

The king's mouth tightened. For a heartbeat Dany thought she saw a flash of anger in those placid eyes. "As you command." Hizdahr beckoned to his pitmaster. "No lions," he said when the man trotted over, whip in hand.

And just like that, Hizdahr becomes a sadist.

That must mean someone is going to brutally kill him.

+.+.+

The dwarfs were herded off, pig and dog and all, as the spectators hissed their disapproval and pelted them with stones and rotten fruit.

Why must Penny be there? I'm not allowed to have one happy moment.

+.+.+

The boar was a huge beast, with tusks as long as a man's forearm and small eyes that swam with rage. She wondered whether the boar that had killed Robert Baratheon had looked as fierce. A terrible creature and a terrible death. For a heartbeat she felt almost sorry for the Usurper.

"Barsena is very quick," Reznak said. "She will dance with the boar, Magnificence, and slice him when he passes near her. He will be awash in blood before he falls, you shall see."

It began just as he said. The boar charged, Barsena spun aside, her blade flashed silver in the sun. "She needs a spear," Ser Barristan said, as Barsena vaulted over the beast's second charge. "That is no way to fight a boar." He sounded like someone's fussy old grandsire, just as Daario was always saying.

Sure, now you're a boar expert.

He sounded like someone's fussy old grandsire, just as Daario was always saying.

How do people read this and not see Cersei?

+.+.+

Shouting, she edged closer to the boar, tossing her knife from hand to hand. When the beast backed away, she cursed and slashed at his snout, trying to provoke him … and succeeding. This time her leap came an instant too late, and a tusk ripped her left leg open from knee to crotch.

A moan went up from thirty thousand throats. Clutching at her torn leg, Barsena dropped her knife and tried to hobble off, but before she had gone two feet the boar was on her once again. 

+.+.+

"Fighting pigs is brave, but it is not brave to scream so loud. It hurts Strong Belwas in the ears." The eunuch rubbed his swollen stomach, crisscrossed with old white scars. "It makes Strong Belwas sick in his belly too."

See what happens when you talk shit?

That's why I always have ipecac on hand.

+.+.+

The boar buried his snout in Barsena's belly and began rooting out her entrails. The smell was more than the queen could stand. The heat, the flies, the shouts from the crowd … I cannot breathe. She lifted her veil and let it flutter away. She took her tokar off as well. The pearls rattled softly against one another as she unwound the silk.

"Khaleesi?" Irri asked. "What are you doing?"

"Taking off my floppy ears."

There goes the pearly tokar. Forever.

Guys, I think she might be done with Meereen.

(Is she half naked? Lol.)

+.+.+

"Belaquo will win," Irri declared. "It is known."

"It is not known," Jhiqui said. "Belaquo will die."

"One will die, or the other will," said Dany. "And the one who lives will die some other day. This was a mistake."

"Strong Belwas ate too many locusts." There was a queasy look on Belwas's broad brown face. "Strong Belwas needs milk."

Hizdahr ignored the eunuch. 

SUSPECT #3: Hizdahr zo Loraq doesn't appear to know what's happening to Strong Belwas. Kind of strange when you're the one who poisoned the locusts.

The Dothraki girls loving the entertainment is a nice touch.

+.+.+

"Magnificence, the people of Meereen have come to celebrate our union. You heard them cheering you. Do not cast away their love."

"It was my floppy ears they cheered, not me. Take me from this abbatoir, husband." 

Look at how pouty she is over fake love.

+.+.+

A shadow rippled across his face.

The tumult and the shouting died. Ten thousand voices stilled. Every eye turned skyward. A warm wind brushed Dany's cheeks, and above the beating of her heart she heard the sound of wings. Two spearmen dashed for shelter. The pitmaster froze where he stood. The boar went snuffling back to Barsena. Strong Belwas gave a moan, stumbled from his seat, and fell to his knees.

+.+.+

Above them all the dragon turned, dark against the sun. His scales were black, his eyes and horns and spinal plates blood red. Ever the largest of her three, in the wild Drogon had grown larger still. His wings stretched twenty feet from tip to tip, black as jet. He flapped them once as he swept back above the sands, and the sound was like a clap of thunder. The boar raised his head, snorting … and flame engulfed him, black fire shot with red. Dany felt the wash of heat thirty feet away. The beast's dying scream sounded almost human. Drogon landed on the carcass and sank his claws into the smoking flesh. As he began to feed, he made no distinction between Barsena and the boar.

Won't be the last time we hear that sound.

Thunder!

+.+.+

"Oh, gods," moaned Reznak, "he's eating her!" The seneschal covered his mouth. Strong Belwas was retching noisily. A queer look passed across Hizdahr zo Loraq's long, pale face—part fear, part lust, part rapture. He licked his lips.

Will someone get Belwas some ginger ale?

I don't think she's projecting.

"Hot and sweet and poisoned. With mine own ears I heard you commanding the men in the pit to kill Drogon. Shouting at them."

Hizdahr licked his lips. "The beast devoured Barsena's flesh. Dragons prey on men. It was killing, burning …" - The Kingbreaker, ADWD

Hizdahr has suddenly transformed into a weirdo who fetishizes all violence.

+.+.+

Dany could see the Pahls streaming up the steps, clutching their tokars and tripping over the fringes in their haste to be away. Others followed. Some ran, shoving at one another. More stayed in their seats.

There goes SUSPECT #2: House Pahl. No other family mentioned.

Do I think the author is purposely misleading the reader? Yes.

+.+.+

One man took it on himself to be a hero.

He was one of the spearmen sent out to drive the boar back to his pen. Perhaps he was drunk, or mad. Perhaps he had loved Barsena Blackhair from afar or had heard some whisper of the girl Hazzea. Perhaps he was just some common man who wanted bards to sing of him. He darted forward, his boar spear in his hands. Red sand kicked up beneath his heels, and shouts rang out from the seats. Drogon raised his head, blood dripping from his teeth.

Say her name.

I know it's similar, but I don't believe the Jaime charging Drogon scene was real. It was too stupid.

+.+.+

The hero leapt onto his back and drove the iron spearpoint down at the base of the dragon's long scaled neck.

Dany and Drogon screamed as one.

Sansa couldn't help but smile a little. The kennelmaster once told her that an animal takes after its master. - Sansa I, AGOT

+.+.+

The hero leaned into his spear, using his weight to twist the point in deeper. Drogon arched upward with a hiss of pain. His tail lashed sideways. She watched his head crane around at the end of that long serpentine neck, saw his black wings unfold. The dragonslayer lost his footing and went tumbling to the sand. He was trying to struggle back to his feet when the dragon's teeth closed hard around his forearm. "No" was all the man had time to shout. Drogon wrenched his arm from his shoulder and tossed it aside as a dog might toss a rodent in a rat pit.

NOT A RAT PIT.

She called him a dragonslayer, I love it.

+.+.+

"Kill it," Hizdahr zo Loraq shouted to the other spearmen. "Kill the beast!"

Ser Barristan held her tightly. "Look away, Your Grace."

"Let me go!" Dany twisted from his grasp. The world seemed to slow as she cleared the parapet. When she landed in the pit she lost a sandal. Running, she could feel the sand between her toes, hot and rough. Ser Barristan was calling after her. Strong Belwas was still vomiting. She ran faster.

It's reverse Cinderella. Drizella lost her shoe while running towards her Prince Charming. Shoutout to @agentrouka-blog for the laugh!

All the Strong Belwas stuff happening in the background is so funny.

+.+.+

The hero was jerking on the sand, the bright blood pouring from the ragged stump of his shoulder. His spear remained in Drogon's back, wobbling as the dragon beat his wings. Smoke rose from the wound. As the other spears closed in, the dragon spat fire, bathing two men in black flame.

His flames are black? I didn't know that.

I'm not suggesting he's Black Flame from the Quaithe warning.

+.+.+

The Meereenese were screaming, cursing, howling. Dany could hear someone pounding after her. "Drogon," she screamed. "Drogon."

His head turned. Smoke rose between his teeth. His blood was smoking too, where it dripped upon the ground. He beat his wings again, sending up a choking storm of scarlet sand. Dany stumbled into the hot red cloud, coughing. He snapped.

"No" was all that she had time to say. No, not me, don't you know me? The black teeth closed inches from her face. He meant to tear my head off. The sand was in her eyes. She stumbled over the pitmaster's corpse and fell on her backside.

Lady would never.

+.+.+

Drogon roared. The sound filled the pit. A furnace wind engulfed her. The dragon's long scaled neck stretched toward her. When his mouth opened, she could see bits of broken bone and charred flesh between his black teeth. His eyes were molten. I am looking into hell, but I dare not look away. She had never been so certain of anything. If I run from him, he will burn me and devour me.

Ghost would never.

+.+.+

In Westeros the septons spoke of seven hells and seven heavens, but the Seven Kingdoms and their gods were far away. If she died here, Dany wondered, would the horse god of the Dothraki part the grass and claim her for his starry khalasar, so she might ride the nightlands beside her sun-and-stars? Or would the angry gods of Ghis send their harpies to seize her soul and drag her down to torment? Drogon roared full in her face, his breath hot enough to blister skin.

Of course she hopes for a Dothraki heaven.

+.+.+

Off to her right Dany heard Barristan Selmy shouting, "Me! Try me. Over here. Me!"

You have one job, demon.

+.+.+

In the smoldering red pits of Drogon's eyes, Dany saw her own reflection. How small she looked, how weak and frail and scared. I cannot let him see my fear. She scrabbled in the sand, pushing against the pitmaster's corpse, and her fingers brushed against the handle of his whip. Touching it made her feel braver. The leather was warm, alive. Drogon roared again, the sound so loud that she almost dropped the whip. His teeth snapped at her.

Summer would never.

The whip kills me every time.

+.+.+

Dany hit him. "No," she screamed, swinging the lash with all the strength that she had in her. The dragon jerked his head back. "No," she screamed again. "NO!" The barbs raked along his snout. Drogon rose, his wings covering her in shadow. Dany swung the lash at his scaled belly, back and forth until her arm began to ache. His long serpentine neck bent like an archer's bow. With a hisssssss, he spat black fire down at her. Dany darted underneath the flames, swinging the whip and shouting, "No, no, no. Get DOWN!" His answering roar was full of fear and fury, full of pain. His wings beat once, twice …

… and folded. The dragon gave one last hiss and stretched out flat upon his belly. Black blood was flowing from the wound where the spear had pierced him, smoking where it dripped onto the scorched sands. He is fire made flesh, she thought, and so am I.

I'm going to have to stop there, because Drogon's about as well trained as Nymeria.

+.+.+

Daenerys Targaryen vaulted onto the dragon's back, seized the spear, and ripped it out. The point was half-melted, the iron red-hot, glowing. She flung it aside. Drogon twisted under her, his muscles rippling as he gathered his strength. The air was thick with sand. Dany could not see, she could not breathe, she could not think. The black wings cracked like thunder, and suddenly the scarlet sands were falling away beneath her.

Thunder!

Why am I not getting a description of Barry's charred body? These god damn Targaryens and their dragons can't do anything right.

+.+.+

The lash was still in her hand. She flicked it against Drogon's neck and cried, "Higher!" Her other hand clutched at his scales, her fingers scrabbling for purchase. Drogon's wide black wings beat the air. Dany could feel the heat of him between her thighs. Her heart felt as if it were about to burst. Yes, she thought, yes, now, now, do it, do it, take me, take me, FLY!

Look, they're consummating the marriage.

This is so much funnier when you realize she removed clothing.

Final thoughts:

Don't you love how the show turned the Second Coming of Satan chapter into a scene where baby boy Drogon gets to heroically save his mommy from the evil ambushing Sons of the Harpy?

Great stuff, guys.

-> return to menu <-

[goodqueenaly]

I am on my third read-through of the series and am just LOVING all the delicious foreshadowing/backshadowing in Jon VI in ACoK. What's your favorite non-vision-quest chapter that strongly foreshadows events and revelations to come?

I don't know if this counts, but -

She wondered if Hizdahr was still king. His crown had come from her, could he hold it in her absence? He wanted Drogon dead. I heard him. "Kill it," he screamed, "kill the beast," and the look upon his face was lustful. And Strong Belwas had been on his knees, heaving and shuddering. Poison. It had to be poison. The honeyed locusts. Hizdahr urged them on me, but Belwas ate them all. She had made Hizdahr her king, taken him into her bed, opened the fighting pits for him, he had no reason to want her dead. Yet who else could it have been? Reznak, her perfumed seneschal? The Yunkai'i? The Sons of the Harpy? Off in the distance, a wolf howled.

Here is Daenerys, trying to figure out who wanted her dead and why. Daenerys has (correctly) figured out that someone poisoned the locusts in her box at Daznak's Pit, but is stuck on trying to explain the assassination attempt. While she acknowledges the seeming obviousness of Hizdahr as a candidate, Daenerys also (again, I think correctly) realizes that Hizdahr appears to lack the motivation to assassinate her - that, in fact, Hizdahr had every reason to keep Daenerys around, for the sake of both his interests and his (nuptial) crown. Yet Daenerys is no more able to light on a reasonable alternate candidate, and can only list various generally and/or vaguely antagonistic factions in and around Meereen.

Just as Daenerys is ruminating on equally implausible answers, the author introduces a wolf, unseen and far away but present enough to interrupt her thoughts. It is a deliberately jarring, almost incongruous moment: Daenerys certainly never encounters this wolf, and the threat of a lupine predator only briefly reenters her mind once more in the chapter. The story jumps from Daenerys' musings to the wolf's howling with a sharp immediacy, juxtaposing the theoretical considerations of a clearly political plot and the dangerous ambiance of the Dothraki Sea without any apparent justification for doing so.

Yet I think the author includes the howling wolf in this moment specifically to identify the person Daenerys could not - that is, the individual actually responsible for the poisoning at Daznak's Pit. After all, the chapter immediately preceding "Daenerys X" is "The Queen's Hand" - a chapter which features none other than Skahaz mo Kandaq in a "new" Brazen Beasts mask, "a wolf's head with lolling tongue". If Skahaz has not yet openly taken credit for the poisoning - instead cleverly using the naturally suspicious Barristan to frame Hizdahr for the crime and thus bring down his, Skahaz's, great political enemy - the Shavepate has slyly hinted as much (andindeed by using masks): when Barristan and Skahaz enter the Great Pyramid to depose Hizdahr, Skahaz has his Brazen Beasts wear locust masks, and even tells Barristan that he "ha[s] more locusts if [Barristan] need[s] them". Now, in "Daenerys X", the story allows Skahaz the same sort of subtle boasting: narratively transformed into the natural equivalent of his bronze disguise, Skahaz presents himself as the true poisoner, the solution Daenerys herself could not reach. If we do in fact get an admission from Skahaz on this point - and I would not be entirely surprised if he said so in the moments before he also kills Barristan Selmy - then we can look to this moment for the author's clue to that revelation,

[baelontargaryen]

DAENERYS TARGARYEN APPRECIATION MONTH 2022

Day 25 → Humourous side of Dany

Dany did not trouble to feign surprise. “Why Hizdahr? Skahaz is noble born as well.”

“Skahaz is Kandaq, Hizdahr Loraq. Your Radiance will forgive me, but only one who is not herself Ghiscari would not understand the difference. Oft have I heard that yours is the blood of Aegon the Conqueror, Jaehaerys the Wise, and Daeron the Dragon. The noble Hizdahr is of the blood of Mazdhan the Magnificent, Hazrak the Handsome, and Zharaq the Liberator.”

“His forebears are as dead as mine. Will Hizdahr raise their shades to defend Meereen against its enemies? I need a man with ships and swords. You offer me ancestors.”

“We are an old people. Ancestors are important to us. Wed Hizdahr zo Loraq and make a son with him, a son whose father is the harpy, whose mother is the dragon. In him the prophecies shall be fulfilled, and your enemies will melt away like snow.”

— ADWD, Daenerys IV

[eonweheraldodemanwe]

Mirri Maz Duur, Quaithe, Missandei, Marselen, Skahaz Mo Kandaq the Shavepate and Hizdahr Zo Loraq artworks of Targaryen Heroes 3 box of ASOIAF TMG.

[dinastiatargaryen]

Paralelos entre Cersei e Daenerys (Parte 3)

Daenerys se cerca de múltiplos pontos de vista para conciliar diversas demandas e tomar decisões informadas e justas.

" - Uma rainha deve escutar a todos. Os de nascimento alto e baixo, os fortes e os fracos, os nobres e os venais. Uma voz pode proferir falsidades, mas em muitas sempre é possível encontrar a verdade. - Lera aquilo num livro." - A Tormenta de Espadas // Daenerys I

"Dany reuniu seu conselho para ouvi-los. Verme Cinzento estava lá pelos Imaculados, Skahaz mo Kandaq pelas Bestas de Bronze. Na ausência de seus companheiros de sangue, um encarquilhado jaqqua rhan chamado Rommo, vesgo e de pernas arqueadas, falava pelos dothraki. Seus libertos eram representados pelos capitães das três companhias que ela formara: Mollono Yos Dob dos Escudos Robustos, Symon Costas-Listradas dos Irmãos Livres e Marselen dos Homens da Mãe. Reznak mo Reznak permanecia sentado ao lado da rainha e Belwas, o Forte, estava em pé atrás dela, com os enormes braços cruzados. Dany não teria falta de conselhos." - A Dança dos Dragões // Daenerys III

Cersei prefere ter conselheiros que apoiem tudo o que ela diz, porque ela só se preocupa que suas necessidades sejam atendidas e que suas opiniões sejam ouvidas.

" - Um governador fraco precisa de uma Mão forte, como Aerys precisou do pai. Um governador forte requer apenas um servo diligente para carregar ordens." - O Festim dos Corvos // Jaime

"Os meus conselheiros. Cersei arrancara todas as rosas, e todos aqueles com obrigações para com o tio ou os irmãos. Nos seus lugares encontravam-se homens cuja lealdade lhe pertenceria. Até lhes dera novos títulos, pedidos de empréstimo as Cidades Livres; a rainha não admitiria nenhum "mestre" na corte além de si própria." - O Festim dos Corvos // Cersei IV

Ilustração Daenerys: Drazenka Kimpel

Ilustração Cersei: Evans03

[mypage4sure]

"So you say the hostages again he woud kill them everyone if I allowed it "I heard you the first hounded times. No""

That's a lot, this gives me an amusing image of Shahaz causually and constantly hounding Selmy, like "Mmm this is good breakfast, BTW can we kill the hostages?"

[multi-muse-transect]

No joke, Black Adam would’ve been perfect if Black Adam was the villainous protagonist and the JSA were the heroic protagonists. Like Adam seemingly starts off good and heroic by saving Kandaq from Intergang but reveals brutal methods and intentions to rule the world while manipulating the hearts and minds of the people using the legend of the champion and uses Sabaac to do false flag operations to have countries rally around him and Kahndaq with the JSA coming to stop him and he gets his karma when his plan backfires on him and Sabaac starts destroying his country so he’s forced to team up with them.