#skahaz mo 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.

[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: The Kingbreaker (Barristan III) [Chapter 67]

Welcome to this week's episode of How to Not Catch a Killer.

A pale shadow and a dark, the two conspirators came together in the quiet of the armory on the Great Pyramid's second level, amongst racks of spears, sheaves of quarrels, and walls hung with trophies from forgotten battles.

"Tonight," said Skahaz mo Kandaq. The brass face of a blood bat peered out from beneath the hood of his patchwork cloak. "All my men will be in place. The word is Groleo."

Goodness, this guy totally passes the vibe check. Not a radar ping in sight.

A blood bat now. What does that mean?

+.+.+

"Groleo." That is fitting, I suppose. "Yes. What was done to him … you were at court?"

"One guardsman amongst forty. All waiting for the empty tabard on the throne to speak the command so we might cut down Bloodbeard and the rest. Do you think the Yunkai'i would ever have dared present Daenerys with the head of her hostage?"

Is that the 18th time we've been reminded that masked Shavepate could have been present when the attempted poisoning happened?

+.+.+

No, thought Selmy. "Hizdahr seemed distraught."

"Sham. His own kin of Loraq were returned unharmed. You saw. The Yunkai'i played us a mummer's farce, with noble Hizdahr as chief mummer. The issue was never Yurkhaz zo Yunzak. The other slavers would gladly have trampled that old fool themselves. This was to give Hizdahr a pretext to kill the dragons."

Ser Barristan chewed on that. "Would he dare?"

"He dared to kill his queen. Why not her pets? If we do not act, Hizdahr will hesitate for a time, to give proof of his reluctance and allow the Wise Masters the chance to rid him of the Stormcrow and the bloodrider. Then he will act. They want the dragons dead before the Volantene fleet arrives."

Chief mummer according to the guy who wears theatre masks.

Wait for it.

+.+.+

His queen was the Mother of Dragons; he would not allow her children to come to harm. 

Can you please read these words and acknowledge how silly they are.

+.+.+

"No." The two of them had argued this before. "There is a peace, signed and sealed by Her Grace the queen. We will not be the first to break it. Once we have taken Hizdahr, we will form a council to rule in his place and demand that the Yunkai'i return our hostages and withdraw their armies. Should they refuse, then and only then will we inform them that the peace is broken, and go forth to give them battle. Your way is dishonorable."

You know what is honourable? Staging a coup because an untrustworthy masked weasel told you to.

Arresting Hizdahr is breaking the peace deal, genius.

+.+.+

"We discussed this. You agreed it would be my way."

"I agreed," the Shavepate grumbled, "but that was before Groleo. The head. The slavers have no honor."

"We do," said Ser Barristan.

The Shavepate muttered something in Ghiscari, then said, "As you wish. Though we will rue your old man's honor before this game is done, I think. What of Hizdahr's guards?"

"Your way is stupid," the Shavepate said. "The hour is ripe. Our freedmen are ready. Hungry."

The Shavepate is going to suggest some pretty outrageous ideas throughout this chapter, and grumble every time he's forced to concede.

<- Tyrion XII

Tyrion plucked at his scar and wondered if he ought to make a show of indignation. When you bugger a man you expect a squeal or two. He could curse and swear and rant of robbery, refuse to sign for a time, then give in reluctantly, protesting all the while. But he was sick of mummery, so instead he grimaced, signed, and handed the scroll back to Brown Ben.

Except he's not actually conceding anything. The Shavepate is getting everything he wants: Hizdahr removed from power, and war with Yunkai / the Sons of the Harpy.

+.+.+

Selmy did not fear Khrazz, much less Steelskin. They were only pit fighters. Hizdahr's fearsome collection of former fighting slaves made indifferent guards at best. Speed and strength and ferocity they had, and some skill at arms as well, but blood games were poor training for protecting kings. In the pits their foes were announced with horns and drums, and after the battle was done and won the victors could have their wounds bound up and quaff some milk of the poppy for the pain, knowing that the threat was past and they were free to drink and feast and whore until the next fight. But the battle was never truly done for a knight of the Kingsguard. Threats came from everywhere and nowhere, at any time of day or night. No trumpets announced the foe: vassals, servants, friends, brothers, sons, even wives, any of them might have knives concealed beneath their cloaks and murder hidden in their hearts. For every hour of fighting, a Kingsguard knight spent ten thousand hours watching, waiting, standing silent in the shadows. King Hizdahr's pit fighters were already growing bored and restive with their new duties, and bored men were lax, slow to react.

I'm sorry, how many kings and princes have died on your watch?

All I want in life is for Arya Stark to humble this man.

+.+.+

"Have no fear. We will have Marghaz in chains before he can make mischief. I told you, the Brazen Beasts are mine."

Hear that reader? We have to keep repeating it.

The Brazen Beasts are his.

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. - Daenerys IX, ADWD

+.+.+

"You say you have men amongst the Yunkishmen?"

"Sneaks and spies. Reznak has more."

Reznak cannot be trusted. He smells too sweet and feels too foul. "Someone needs to free our hostages. Unless we get our people back, the Yunkai'i will use them against us."

Really? He smells too sweet?

#JusticeForReznak

+.+.+

"Would you miss them so much, old man? A eunuch, a savage, and a sell sword?"

Hero, Jhogo, and Daario. "Jhogo is the queen's bloodrider, blood of her blood. They came out of the Red Waste together. Hero is Grey Worm's second-in-command. And Daario …" She loves Daario. He had seen it in her eyes when she looked at him, heard it in her voice when she spoke of him. "… Daario is vain and rash, but he is dear to Her Grace. He must be rescued, before his Stormcrows decide to take matters into their own hands. It can be done. I once brought the queen's father safely out of Duskendale, where he was being held captive by a rebel lord, but …"

"… you could never hope to pass unnoticed amongst the Yunkai'i. Every man of them knows your face by now."

I could hide my face, like you, thought Selmy, but he knew the Shavepate was right. Duskendale had been a lifetime ago. He was too old for such heroics.

Now feels like a good time to remind you of all the evidence pointing to Arya freeing Jon in King's Landing.

etc. etc.

Sorry, I'll accumulate it all some other time.

+.+.+

"Would you miss them so much, old man? A eunuch, a savage, and a sell sword?"

[...]

"Daario might piss on us if we were burning. Elsewise do not look to him for help. Let the Stormcrows choose another captain, one who knows his place. If the queen does not return, the world will be one sellsword short. Who will grieve?"

"And when she does return?"

"She will weep and tear her hair and curse the Yunkai'i. Not us. No blood on our hands. You can comfort her. Tell her some tale of the old days, she likes those. Poor Daario, her brave captain … she will never forget him, no … but better for all of us if he is dead, yes? Better for Daenerys too."

How strange, it seems like the Shavepate is eager to get rid of the Dothraki savage, and sellsword lover.

If we do not act, Hizdahr will hesitate for a time, to give proof of his reluctance and allow the Wise Masters the chance to rid him of the Stormcrow and the bloodrider.

Is Barristan picking up on this? Of course not.

+.+.+

Better for Daenerys, and for Westeros. Daenerys Targaryen loved her captain, but that was the girl in her, not the queen. Prince Rhaegar loved his Lady Lyanna, and thousands died for it. Daemon Blackfyre loved the first Daenerys, and rose in rebellion when denied her. Bittersteel and Bloodraven both loved Shiera Seastar, and the Seven Kingdoms bled. The Prince of Dragonflies loved Jenny of Oldstones so much he cast aside a crown, and Westeros paid the bride price in corpses. All three of the sons of the fifth Aegon had wed for love, in defiance of their father's wishes. And because that unlikely monarch had himself followed his heart when he chose his queen, he allowed his sons to have their way, making bitter enemies where he might have had fast friends. Treason and turmoil followed, as night follows day, ending at Summerhall in sorcery, fire, and grief.

Her love for Daario is poison. A slower poison than the locusts, but in the end as deadly. 

Blah blah blah biased Targaryen history.

+.+.+

"We have hostages as well," Skahaz Shavepate reminded him. "If the slavers kill one of ours, we kill one of theirs."

"Hostages," insisted Skahaz mo Kandaq. "Grazdar and Qezza are the blood of the Green Grace. Mezzara is of Merreq, Kezmya is Pahl, Azzak Ghazeen. Bhakaz is Loraq, Hizdahr's own kin. All are sons and daughters of the pyramids. Zhak, Quazzar, Uhlez, Hazkar, Dhazak, Yherizan, all children of Great Masters."

"Innocent girls and sweet-faced boys." Ser Barristan had come to know them all during the time they served the queen, Grazhar with his dreams of glory, shy Mezzara, lazy Miklaz, vain, pretty Kezmya, Qezza with her big soft eyes and angel's voice, Dhazzar the dancer, and the rest. "Children."

"Children of the Harpy. Only blood can pay for blood."

"So said the Yunkishman who brought us Groleo's head."

"He was not wrong."

"I will not permit it."

"What use are hostages if they may not be touched?"

Wow, now we're contemplating killing children. Any red flags, Barry? No? No one home?

I will not be giving Barristan Selmy an ounce of credit for not killing child hostages. Please.

+.+.+

"Prince Rhaegar had two children," Ser Barristan told him. "Rhaenys was a little girl, Aegon a babe in arms. When Tywin Lannister took King's Landing, his men killed both of them. He served the bloody bodies up in crimson cloaks, a gift for the new king." And what did Robert say when he saw them? Did he smile? Barristan Selmy had been badly wounded on the Trident, so he had been spared the sight of Lord Tywin's gift, but oft he wondered. If I had seen him smile over the red ruins of Rhaegar's children, no army on this earth could have stopped me from killing him. "I will not suffer the murder of children. Accept that, or I'll have no part of this."

Hey, remember the time Barristan Selmy mildly disagreed with Robert Baratheon killing 14-year-old Daenerys and her unborn child, then sat quietly like an obedient dog while Ned Stark abandoned his position as Hand of the King?

+.+.+

The Shavepate took an axe down off the wall, inspected it, and grunted. "So be it. No harm to Hizdahr or our hostages. Will that content you, Ser Grandfather?"

Poor thing has to settle for only a coup. Life's unfair.

+.+.+

Though the bat's brass mouth did not move, Ser Barristan could sense the grin beneath the mask. "Long has Kandaq waited for this night."

That is what I fear. If King Hizdahr was innocent, what they did this day would be treason. But how could he be innocent? Selmy had heard him urging Daenerys to taste the poisoned locusts, shouting at his men to slay the dragon. If we do not act, Hizdahr will kill the dragons and open the gates to the queen's enemies. We have no choice in this. Yet no matter how he turned and twisted this, the old knight could find no honor in it.

I am begging you to use your brain instead of a sword one time.

+.+.+

Elsewhere, he knew, King Hizdahr was consulting with Reznak mo Reznak, Marghaz zo Loraq, Galazza Galare, and his other Meereenese advisors, deciding how best to respond to Yunkai's demands … but Barristan Selmy was no longer a part of such councils. 

Here's an idea, why don't you wait and see what their plan is?

+.+.+

As the afternoon melted into evening, he bid his charges to lay down their swords and shields and gather round. He spoke to them about what it meant to be a knight. "It is chivalry that makes a true knight, not a sword," he said. "Without honor, a knight is no more than a common killer. It is better to die with honor than to live without it." The boys looked at him strangely, he thought, but one day they would understand.

"As for Lord Rickard, the steel of his breastplate turned cherry-red before the end, and his gold melted off his spurs and dripped down into the fire. I stood at the foot of the Iron Throne in my white armor and white cloak, filling my head with thoughts of Cersei. After, Gerold Hightower himself took me aside and said to me, 'You swore a vow to guard the king, not to judge him.' That was the White Bull, loyal to the end and a better man than me, all agree." - Catelyn VII, ACOK

+.+.+

Afterward, back at the apex of the pyramid, Ser Barristan found Missandei amongst piles of scrolls and books, reading. 

Whatcha reading there, sweet Missandei?

+.+.+

The memory was still bitter. Old Lord Whent had announced the tourney shortly after a visit from his brother, Ser Oswell Whent of the Kingsguard. With Varys whispering in his ear, King Aerys became convinced that his son was conspiring to depose him, that Whent's tourney was but a ploy to give Rhaegar a pretext for meeting with as many great lords as could be brought together.

There could be plenty of reasons why Varys was sowing fear. Your guess is as good as mine.

+.+.+

Rhaegar had chosen Lyanna Stark of Winterfell. Barristan Selmy would have made a different choice. Not the queen, who was not present. Nor Elia of Dorne, though she was good and gentle; had she been chosen, much war and woe might have been avoided. His choice would have been a young maiden not long at court, one of Elia's companions … though compared to Ashara Dayne, the Dornish princess was a kitchen drab.

Shut the fuck up.

A young maiden. Barristan would have been roughly 45 at the time. Gross.

+.+.+

Even after all these years, Ser Barristan could still recall Ashara's smile, the sound of her laughter. He had only to close his eyes to see her, with her long dark hair tumbling about her shoulders and those haunting purple eyes. Daenerys has the same eyes. Sometimes when the queen looked at him, he felt as if he were looking at Ashara's daughter …

I'll admit this is curious.

Barristan has no romantic feelings for Daenerys, yet still projects his long-lost love for Ashara onto Daenerys. He claims they have similar eyes, and that he often feels as if he's looking at Ashara's daughter. Daenerys is not Ashara Dayne's daughter.

Impossible to not be thinking about Rhaegar, Jon Connington, and Aegon here.

+.+.+

But Ashara's daughter had been stillborn, and his fair lady had thrown herself from a tower soon after, mad with grief for the child she had lost, and perhaps for the man who had dishonored her at Harrenhal as well. She died never knowing that Ser Barristan had loved her. How could she? He was a knight of the Kingsguard, sworn to celibacy. No good could have come from telling her his feelings. No good came from silence either. If I had unhorsed Rhaegar and crowned Ashara queen of love and beauty, might she have looked to me instead of Stark?

The vagueness of 'Stark' is hard to ignore.

The crannogman saw a maid with laughing purple eyes dance with a white sword, a red snake, and the lord of griffins, and lastly with the quiet wolf . . . but only after the wild wolf spoke to her on behalf of a brother too shy to leave his bench. - Bran II, ASOS

Who is more likely to grab a young maiden's attention: Brandon Stark or Ned Stark?

+.+.+

Rain, he thought. A storm is coming. If not tonight, upon the morrow. 

Buddy, you have no idea.

+.+.+

The faces of all the kings that he had served and failed floated before him in the darkness, and the faces of the brothers who had served beside him in the Kingsguard as well. He wondered how many of them would have done what he was about to do. Some, surely. But not all. Some would not have hesitated to strike down the Shavepate as a traitor.

Thanks, but I already knew there were better Kingsguard.

+.+.+

Twelve levels down he found the Shavepate waiting, his coarse features still hidden by the mask he had worn that morning, the blood bat. Six Brazen Beasts were with him. All were masked as insects, identical to one another.

Locusts, Selmy realized. "Groleo," he said.

"Groleo," one of the locusts replied.

"I have more locusts if you need them," said Skahaz.

This is the biggest fucking idiot in the entire story. Don't even try to tell me Victarion is dumber than this. You're wrong.

+.+.+

When Selmy reached those floors, he found the doors to the interior of the pyramid chained shut, with a pair of Brazen Beasts posted as guards. Beneath the hoods of their patchwork cloaks, one was a rat, the other a bull.

"Groleo," Ser Barristan said.

"Groleo," the bull returned.

Gosh, Hot Pie in King's Landing, and now Arya and Gendry in Meereen? They sure get around.

+.+.+

The archway leading to the royal bedchamber was guarded by a pair of sandalwood lovers, shaped and smoothed and oiled. Ser Barristan found them distasteful, though no doubt they were meant to be arousing. The sooner we are gone from this place, the better.

Is he talking about Meereen?

The man can sit through any atrocity being committed by a Targaryen, but finds art distasteful. He really is a boomer.

+.+.+

The robe was green satin, richly worked with pearls and silver thread. Under it the king was quite naked. That was good. Naked men felt vulnerable and were less inclined to acts of suicidal heroism.

The woman Ser Barristan glimpsed peering through the archway from behind a gauzy curtain was naked as well, her breasts and hips only partially concealed by the blowing silk.

I will condemn him for the bed slave, but I will not vilify the man for having sex with another woman. Not when Daario Naharis exists.

+.+.+

"Ser Barristan." Hizdahr yawned again. "What hour is it? Is there news of my sweet queen?"

"None, Your Grace."

Hizdahr sighed. "'Your Magnificence,' please. Though at his hour, 'Your Sleepiness' would be more apt." 

[...]

"I dreamed you found Daenerys."

"Dreams can lie, Your Grace."

"'Your Radiance' would serve. What brings you to me at this hour, ser? Some trouble in the city?"

+.+.+

"To ask a question. Magnificence, are you the Harpy?"

Hizdahr's wine cup slipped through his fingers, bounced off the carpet, rolled. "You come to my bedchamber in the black of night and ask me that? Are you mad?" It was only then that the king seemed to notice that Ser Barristan was wearing his plate and mail. "What … why … how dare you …"

"Was the poison your work, Magnificence?"

King Hizdahr backed away a step. "The locusts? That … that was the Dornishman. Quentyn, the so-called prince. Ask Reznak if you doubt me."

Watch as Barristan Selmy conveniently forgets he mistakenly reached the same conclusion.

The thought hit him like a slap across the face. Quentyn had grown up amongst the courts of Dorne. Plots and poisons were no strangers to him. Nor was Prince Lewyn his only uncle. He is kin to the Red Viper. Daenerys had taken another for her consort, but if Hizdahr died, she would be free to wed again. Could the Shavepate have been wrong? Who can say that the locusts were meant for Daenerys? It was the king's own box. What if he was meant to be the victim all along? Hizdahr's death would have smashed the fragile peace. The Sons of the Harpy would have resumed their murders, the Yunkishmen their war. Daenerys might have had no better choice than Quentyn and his marriage pact. - The Discarded Knight, ADWD

+.+.+

"Have you proof of that? Has Reznak?"

DO YOU HAVE PROOF IT WAS HIZDAHR?

+.+.+

They're all poisoners, these Dornish. Reznak says they worship snakes."

"They eat snakes," said Ser Barristan. 

So does Myrcella!

+.+.+

"I … hot spices do not agree with me. She was my wife. My queen. Why would I want to poison her?"

Was, he says. He believes her dead. "Only you can answer that, Magnificence. It might be that you wished to put another woman in her place."

You know what I do when I want to replace my dragon queen? Have two elaborate dragon thrones made.

King Hizdahr had replaced the bench with two imposing thrones of gilded wood, their tall backs carved into the shape of dragons. - The Discadrd Knight, ADWD

If crowning a bed slave is the best reasoning he can come up with, maybe it's time to take a step back.

This chapter alone should be evidence enough of how vulnerable Hizdahr is without Daenerys.

+.+.+

Ser Barristan nodded at the girl peering timidly from the bedchamber. "That one, perhaps?"

The king looked around wildly. "Her? She's nothing. A bedslave." He raised his hands. "I misspoke. Not a slave. A free woman. Trained in pleasure. Even a king has needs, she … she is none of your concern, ser. I would never harm Daenerys. Never."

A bed slave! Inexcusable.

Dany stepped away from her. "No. Irri, you do not need to do that. What happened that night, when you woke . . . you're no bed slave, I freed you, remember? You . . ." - Daenerys II, ASOS

+.+.+

"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 …"

"… burning men who meant harm to your queen. Harpy's Sons, as like as not. Your friends."

Burning men who meant to harm the queen? What is he talking about? Drogon killed men working in the fighting pits, and spectators.

The licking lips thing continues to be bizarre.

"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. - Daenerys IX, ADWD

+.+.+

"Not my friends."

"You say that, yet when you told them to stop killing they obeyed. Why would they do that if you were not one of them?"

Could just as easily be their puppet.

+.+.+

"Tell me true," Ser Barristan said, "did you ever love her, even a little? Or was it just the crown you lusted for?"

Excuse you? Does she love him?

She loves Daario. He had seen it in her eyes when she looked at him, heard it in her voice when she spoke of him. 

This is ridiculous. It's a marriage of convenience, what are we doing here?

+.+.+

"Lust? You dare speak to me of lust?" The king's mouth twisted in anger. "I lusted for the crown, aye … but not half so much as she lusted for her sellsword. Perhaps it was her precious captain who tried to poison her, for putting him aside. And if I had eaten of his locusts too, well, so much the better."

Second time the possibility Hizdahr was the target is brought up.

+.+.+

"If you are not the Harpy, give me his name." Ser Barristan pulled his sword from the scabbard. Its sharp edge caught the light from the brazier, became a line of orange fire.

Azor Adumbass.

+.+.+

Ser Barristan heard a door open, somewhere to his left. He turned in time to see Khrazz emerge from behind a tapestry. He moved slowly, still groggy from sleep, but his weapon of choice was in his hand: a Dothraki arakh, long and curved. A slasher's sword, made to deliver deep, slicing cuts from horseback. A murderous blade against half-naked foes, in the pit or on the battlefield. But here at close quarters, the arakh's length would tell against it, and Barristan Selmy was clad in plate and mail.

[...]

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.

Selmy blocked the cuts at his head and let his armor stop the rest, whilst his own blade opened the pit fighter's cheek from ear to mouth, then traced a raw red gash across his chest. 

I've learned three things about the Dothraki.

The Dothraki struggle with men in armor.

Qotho danced backward, arakh whirling around his head in a shining blur, flickering out like lightning as the knight came on in a rush. Ser Jorah parried as best he could, but the slashes came so fast that it seemed to Dany that Qotho had four arakhs and as many arms. She heard the crunch of sword on mail, saw sparks fly as the long curved blade glanced off a gauntlet. 

[...]

It was enough. Ser Jorah brought his longsword down with all the strength left him, through flesh and muscle and bone, and Qotho's forearm dangled loose, flopping on a thin cord of skin and sinew. The knight's next cut was at the Dothraki's ear, so savage that Qotho's face seemed almost to explode. - Daenerys VIII, AGOT

The Dothraki require a fool to meet them in an open field.

He nodded. "Mind you, Princess, if the lords of the Seven Kingdoms have the wit the gods gave a goose, it will never come to that. The riders have no taste for siegecraft. I doubt they could take even the weakest castle in the Seven Kingdoms, but if Robert Baratheon were fool enough to give them battle …" - Daenerys IV, AGOT

The Dothraki and all their horses would instantly die in the north (see every Stannis Baratheon chapter).

+.+.+

"Spare me," he begged. "I do not want to die."

"Few do. Yet all men die, regardless." Ser Barristan sheathed his sword and pulled Hizdahr to his feet. "Come. I will escort you to a cell." By now, the Brazen Beasts should have disarmed Steelskin. "You will be kept a prisoner until the queen returns. If nothing can be proved against you, you will not come to harm. You have my word as a knight." He took the king's arm and led him from the bedchamber, feeling strangely light-headed, almost drunk. I was a Kingsguard. What am I now?

A donkey.

I'm sure the Wise Masters and Sons of the Harpy will sit tight while he overthrows their king, and waits for Daenerys to return.

+.+.+

The boy addressed the king as if Ser Barristan were not there, as if there were no dead man sprawled upon the carpet, his life's blood slowly staining the silk red. Skahaz was supposed to take Reznak into custody until we could be certain of his loyalty. Had something gone awry? "Come where?" Ser Barristan asked the boy. "Where does the seneschal want His Grace to go?"

"Outside." Miklaz seemed to see him for the first time. "Outside, ser. To the t-terrace. To see."

"To see what?"

"D-d-dragons. The dragons have been loosed, ser."

Seven save us all, the old knight thought.

What do you mean? They're her children!

Way to go, Quentyn. The dragons escaping while her peace deal goes up in flames feels a little symbolic.

Skahaz was supposed to take Reznak into custody until we could be certain of his loyalty.

Unbelievable.

Final thoughts:

I've decided the best way for him to die is to fall down a flight of stairs immediately after Daenerys is murdered by a child right in front of him.

-> return to menu <-

[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.

[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,

[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?"

[aboveallarescuer]

Gorgeous comic that I commissioned from @pepelinkri depicting Dany’s visit to the Astapori refugees. This is a very underrated book scene that encapsulates who Daenerys Targaryen is: a compassionate and selfless leader who is determined to go to any lengths to help her people (despite not receiving anything in return for it) and who inspires her allies to do better in the process.

Every day she sent them what she could, but every day there were more of them and less food to give them. It was growing harder to find drivers willing to deliver the food as well. Too many of the men they had sent into the camp had been stricken by the flux themselves. Others had been attacked on the way back to the city. Yesterday a wagon had been overturned and two of her soldiers killed, so today the queen had determined that she would bring the food herself. Every one of her advisors had argued fervently against it, from Reznak and the Shavepate to Ser Barristan, but Daenerys would not be moved. “I will not turn away from them,” she said stubbornly. “A queen must know the sufferings of her people.”

[...]  What kind of mother has no milk to feed her children?

[...] “You should not linger here overlong, Your Grace. The Astapori are being fed, as you commanded. There’s no more we can do for the poor wretches. We should repair back to the city.”

“Go if you wish, ser. I will not detain you. I will not detain any of you.” Dany vaulted down from the horse. “I cannot heal them, but I can show them that their Mother cares.”

[...] There was an old man on the ground a few feet away, moaning and staring up at the grey belly of the clouds. She knelt beside him, wrinkling her nose at the smell, and pushed back his dirty grey hair to feel his brow. “His flesh is on fire. I need water to bathe him. Seawater will serve. Marselen, will you fetch some for me? I need oil as well, for the pyre. Who will help me burn the dead?” By the time Aggo returned with Grey Worm and fifty of the Unsullied loping behind his horse, Dany had shamed all of them into helping her. Symon Stripeback and his men were pulling the living from the dead and stacking up the corpses, while Jhogo and Rakharo and their Dothraki helped those who could still walk toward the shore to bathe and wash their clothes. [...]

Before midday a dozen fires were burning. Columns of greasy black smoke rose up to stain a merciless blue sky. Dany’s riding clothes were stained and sooty as she stepped back from the pyres. (ADWD Daenerys VI)

[asoiaf-artbrdr]

Skahaz mo Kandaq

Posting some more councilors from Meereen! The Shavepate is described pretty straightforwardly as having a heavy brow, small eyes, a big nose, and yellowy skin. I fear I may have made a more attractive man than was intended... Of course, that's always a matter of personal preference, yeah? Regardless of his looks, he's a reliable commander and a fierce man.

[asongoficeandfiresource]

Edit Request Meme: Secondary Characters in Dany’s Meereenese storyline (requested @rainhadaenerys)