This chapter starts off with Daenerys and Jorah on horseback away from the main Khalasar in the Dothraki Sea, that is essentially a great plains area in central Essos. Jorah also gives Daenerys a quick lesson on the grasses of the sea and even mentions the ghost grass that is somewhat translucent and is killing off other grasses and relates to her that the Dothraki believe that eventually it will cover the world and that will be the end of everything.
Viserys has also decided to go along In spite of assurances from Magister Illyrio that Drogo would honor the arrangement, and wise counsel that he wait in Pentos, Viserys has chosen to travel as he wants to be 100% certain that Drogo lives up to his end of the bargain.
Deciding that she wants to enjoy the beautiful day with a ride Daenerys orders the party to stop and await her return while she goes off for a leisurely ride. Jorah notes that she is starting to sound more mature, like a woman of her station and less like a young girl in the following passages.
“Wait here,” Dany told Ser Jorah. “Tell them all to stay. Tell them I command it.” The knight smiled. Ser Jorah was not a handsome man. He had a neck and shoulders like a bull, and coarse black hair covered his arms and chest so thickly that there was none left for his head. Yet his smiles gave Dany comfort. “You are learning to talk like a queen, Daenerys.” “Not a queen,” said Dany. “A khaleesi. ”
As Daenerys rides we learn that she truly has felt free and like a princess for the first time since she began riding her silver mare. But we also learn that the adjustment from being a royal refugee to being the khaleesi of Drogo hasn’t been an easy transition for her. She was not used to riding and had saddle sores and blisters. In addition he new husband rarely spoke to her and only came to her at night for sex, and often ended up crying herself to sleep. The whole transition has been so difficult that she even had thoughts of suicide.
Yet the very night she was having suicidal thoughts she has another dragon dream. In this dream the dragon breathes fire upon her, she embraces it and lets it wash over her. In this she has somehow drawn a strength that she was lacking prior.
The next day she feels more confident and courageous. Her fears seemed to have been stripped away and even the physical pains she felt from riding seem to have subsided as well. From this point onward life in the Dothraki khalasar seems much easier. She begins taking pleasure in riding, exploring the world as they come to a new area, and even finds some joy in the nights with Drogo.
After a bit she comes to a spot and dismounts wanting to feel the earth under her own feet. Her brother comes upon her and is irate. Viserys is enraged that his younger sister gave an order for him and the rest of the riders to await her to return. He grabs her and is surprised when Daenerys pushes him away as she has never put up any resistance to him in the past.
Fortunately before Viserys can do any harm Jhogo catches him around the neck with a whip and yanks Viserys off his feet. The other riders have followed and thankfully Jorah is there to translate as Daenerys hasn’t learned the language as of yet.
Jhogo is more that willing to kill Viserys for this transgression, and another thinks she should cut off one of his ears to teach him a lesson, but Daenerys tells them she doesn’t want her brother harmed.
As Jhogo jerks his whip free of Viserys he is sent sprawling to the ground Daenerys realizes how truly sad and pathetic her brother really is. It is at this point where we get an interesting power dynamic.
Both Viserys and Daenerys give orders to Jorah. Viserys commands Jorah to hit his sister and kill off the Dothraki who are accompanying him to teach her a lesson. Daenerys orders Jorah to take the horse of Viserys which will not only force Viserys to walk but also humiliate him among the Dothraki as those who do not ride have no honor or pride.
Jorah opts to obey Daenerys which forces Viserys to walk. On the way back Daenerys asks about Jorah swearing an oath to follow Viserys and Jorah tells her that her brother is no true dragon. He also asks of her if she thinks he should sit a throne. She realizes that her brother wouldn’t make a good king but does ask about the common people's hopes for his return as all her life she has been told this is what the people of the Seven Kingdoms really wanted.
Jorah again provides some more insight telling her the following:
“The common people pray for rain, healthy children, and a summer that never ends,” Ser Jorah told her. “It is no matter to them if the high lords play their game of thrones, so long as they are left in peace.” He gave a shrug. “They never are.”
Daenerys thinks it over and comes to the conclusion that Viserys will never be able to take back the Iron Throne even with an army. At the same time we also see that she hopes to take back what she thinks of as home.
When she is back in her tent and bathing she asks her servants/slaves about dragons. Irri and Jhiqui claim the dragons are all dead, killed off long ago by men. However Doreah offers up a different explanation. Doreah had served in a pleasure house in Lys and was told from a trader from Quarth that dragons came from the moon.
According to her once there were two moons, yet one went too close to the Sun and cracked open releasing thousands of dragons. The dragons breathed in and thus they can breathe fire. The tale goes that some day the remaining moon will one day drift close to the sun and once again the dragons will return.
Irri and Jhiqui laugh off the notion of the moon being some sort of egg as they believe the moon is a goddess that is the wife of the sun.
Daenerys invites Doreah to have supper with her and, gets some pointers from her that she learned from her time in the pleasure houses. That night when Drogo returns for the evening, Daenerys takes him out into the open air underneath the sky, and instead of being taken from behind as was the norm for them she rides him.
Shortly after Jhiqui realizes from the swelling of her belly that Daenerys is with child. At this point in the story Daenerys is only fourteen years old.
So this chapter really has a coming of age theme for Daenerys which seems to be triggered by her dragon dream. She seems to thereafter be taking ownership of her position as khaleesi, finding resolve to not be victim to her brothers bullying, and also taking ownership of her sexuality.
At the same time she is also demonstrates her naivety in her reaction to Jorahs opinion of Viserys, so the dragon dream may have given her courage and resolve, but it didn’t impart any sort of insight into the character of others.
This is interesting since Jorah says he dreams of his home but realizes Viserys won’t be able to take back the Seven Kingdoms. So logically the question Daenerys should ask is why the hell is he hanging around and why did he swear his sword to a lost cause.
In admonishing justice to her brother for his transgression against her she does something perhaps more cruel to him than having him beaten or maimed as one of the Dothraki suggests. In making Viserys the laughing stock of the khalasar she essentially ensures that he won’t be welcomed or respected in any capacity that he is normally accustomed to.
Essentially she sends him a message that not only is his life and well being in her hands but any control or influence he once had over her is gone completely and she is willing to see him literally reduced to one of the lowliest creatures in her new domain.
In addition to taking command of her relationship with her brother she also is taking ownership of her relationship with Drogo. In the Dothraki tradition all things of importance are done under the open sky she takes him outside and essentially takes him. Drogo even calls out her name when he reaches climax. Let's keep in mind that this isn’t being done in some remote location, this is being done in plain sight of all the rest of Drogo’s khalasar.
This sends a clear message that while Drogo may be the leader of the khalasar, she is clearly in control in some areas of their relationship. Further it also sends the message metaphorically that she has in a way tamed Drogo to her will.
Power is an interesting thing. Certainly empowerment is a central theme for Daenerys in this chapter. The one thing we do have to consider though is whether or not this is true power, or is it the illusion of power dependant on status, circumstances or other factors that can change or be taken away.
Another relevant question is to what level can she exert that power? Clearly when it comes to her brother and dealing out punishment for transgressions that level is life and death. Clearly the dothraki who travel with her were more than happy to kill or maim Viserys, but would Jorah have done the same were it just the three of them? dream
What level of power does she truly have without Drogo? As we shall see in future chapters this isn't power that she truly owns herself. It's more akin to being the first lady of the US. Influential and the source of her power really stems from the position held by her spouse.
Lastly this most recent dragon dream also seems to have given Daenerys an interest in the dragon eggs beyond just a simple curiosity or a rare treasure and she starts to have notions there may be more to them than inert lifeless relics.
Consider the following passages:
Dany saw a finger of dusty red light reach out to touch her dragon’s eggs across the tent. For an instant a thousand droplets of scarlet flame swam before her eyes. She blinked, and they were gone. Stone , she told herself. They are only stone, even Illyrio said so, the dragons are all dead . She put her palm against the black egg, fingers spread gently across the curve of the shell. The stone was warm. Almost hot. “The sun,” Dany whispered. “The sun warmed them as they rode.”
Now it's unlikely that the precious dragon eggs are left open. Illyrio presented them to her in a chest, so far more likely they would be kept secure in that chest to prevent one or more of them from accidentally being lost. Could they have been warmed in the box they are kept in? Perhaps but to the point of being nearly hot? This seems unlikely.
Yet when she slept that night, she dreamt the dragon dream again. Viserys was not in it this time. There was only her and the dragon. Its scales were black as night, wet and slick with blood. Her blood, Dany sensed. Its eyes were pools of molten magma, and when it opened its mouth, the flame came roaring out in a hot jet.
OK there are a couple of symbolic things in this dream. First the colors of house Targaryen are black and red, in her dream the black dragon is slick with blood, so we have the black and red theme here. In addition the words of house Targaryen are Fire and Blood, which are also present in this dream. Additionally she also seems to have a notion that something is going on with the dragon eggs beyond them just being valuable decorations.
She touched one, the largest of the three, running her hand lightly over the shell. Black-and-scarlet , she thought, like the dragon in my dream . The stone felt strangely warm beneath her fingers … or was she still dreaming? She pulled her hand back nervously.
While the dream in this chapter may have given her confidence, it hasn't imparted any wisdom or knowledge to her. So her being a bit nerved out by the strange warmth of the eggs maybe her slowly considering terrifying possibilities but not admitting them to herself just as of yet.
Also lets consider the passage regarding her dragon dream prior to her wedding of Drogo:
Her thighs were slick with blood. She closed her eyes and whimpered. As if in answer, there was a hideous ripping sound and the crackling of some great fire. When she looked again, Viserys was gone, great columns of flame rose all around, and in the midst of them was the dragon. It turned its great head slowly. When its molten eyes found hers, she woke, shaking and covered with a fine sheen of sweat.
Now in this first dream we never get a description of the color of the dragon, but the molten eyes do suggest that it's the same dragon in both dreams. If we assume her thighs being slick with blood could be a result of a birthing process, this passage can be a foreshadow of a later chapter in the story after Viserys is gone and she births dragons amidst a great fire.
But that is for a later chapter and another blog post..
One question this does raise though is did Illyrio know when he gifted the dragon eggs to Daenerys that this would be the result? Was it a gamble on his part, or perhaps just the nice gesture that it appeared to be?
While in a previous post I noted I think Illyrio is making moves on the basis of his faith, a big question is if this was part of it.
For now I'm gonna go with no, he didn't have a notion that this rousing of the hatchlings within the eggs would occur. If he did think it possible would he not have just kept both Targaryens in Pentos and focused on a plan to hatch and tame the dragons there.
The Dothraki are fierce enough and already command a tribute from the lords of Pentos without having dragons. Giving them greater power just seems counter productive to his goals which I will also go over in a future blog post.
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