A Song of Ice and Fire - A Chapter a day discussion
This topic is about
A Clash of Kings
A Clash of Kings
>
11/08/15 - Chapter 40: Daenerys III
date
newest »
newest »
Your point 8, I wonder about that myself. I'm guessing Quaithe thinks Daenerys is very important, seeing as she hatched 3 dragons out of stone eggs which hasn't been done in hundreds of years. I kind of like Quaithe. I hope she is a good person, not another Mirri Maz Duur. Your point 10, *SPOILER FOR A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE* (view spoiler)
1. Daenerys and Xaro are riding in a palanquin through the city. She takes off a tight collar that Xaro swore would protect her from all poisons. I forgot who the Pureborn are. It’s said they’re notorious for offering poisoned wine to those they thought were dangerous but so far they haven’t even given her water. She figures they never saw her as a queen, just an amusing horse girl with a curious pet. They’re going back to his manse, I think.
2. She’d dressed herself as one of them, one breast bared, hoping to gain the Enthroned’s help. I’m thinking these are the leaders of Qarth. They would never take her seriously if she continued to dress like a Dothraki.
3. Okay, here it’s explained the Pureborn are descendants of ancient kings and queens of Qarth. They command the Civic Guard and fleet. She had to jump through several hoops in order to speak to them. They heard her pleas but they seemed bored with her. They only came to see the dragons. In the end they said no to her, though they were nice about it.
4. Xaro says she ought to have wept; in Qarth, crying is a very common expression and there’s no shame in it. People cry here all the time. It’s what the civilized do here. That’s a neat concept.
5. I forgot about the Sorrowful Men, a sacred guild of assassins so named because they always whisper, “I am so sorry,” right before they kill their victims. I wonder if they’re a rival of the Faceless Men?
6. There are three main factions among the merchant princes here: the Ancient Guild of Spicers, the Tourmaline Brotherhood, and the Thirteen -- Xaro belongs to the third one. The three often fight for dominance in Qarth, always contending with the Pureborn. Xaro has helped Dany with making a bit of coin by basically charging everyone who wants to meet the Mother of Dragons. All sorts of merchants gift her with their wares. She gave them all to the Pureborn as gifts, more like bribes, but it wasn’t enough. She kept the beautiful crown, though. She feels like a beggar, and can understand why Viserys became hateful.
7. I find this highly interesting to take note: a part of Dany wanted to give up and go back to Vaes Tolorro and make the dead city bloom, but she doesn’t because she sees that as defeat. Now a big part of me wonders if in the end she will settle there after all, and let someone else, cough cough, rule Westeros. A lot of fans seem to think Dany will never sit the Iron Throne. I kind of like that possibility.
8. Dany had left Ser Jorah behind wit the other dragons to keep them safe, despite his many protestations. Today she rides with Rhaegal, who seems quite fierce with his claws and teeth.
9. Apparently Lord Redwyne fought for her father against Robert’s rebellion, one of the few who remained true to the last.
10. Xaro says war is bad for trade. He’s a man of peace, not war. And war is what Daenerys Stormborn wants. She tells him he doesn’t need to fight, only lend her his ships. Ugh, he begs her to marry him and flatters her with sweet words. Does he not hear how fake he sounds? It’s funny that his “flowery protestations” amuse her. When she first wore her garb with a breast hanging out, Ser Jorah could scarcely look away, but Xaro never even noticed, yet his palace is full of pretty boys, lol. Xaro doesn’t want Dany to go to Westeros. Of course not, he wants her dragons.
11. Dany messes with him, saying if she won’t get any help from the Thirteen she’ll go to the Spicers or the Brotherhood instead. Xaro says the Spicers are liars and braggarts and the Brotherhood is a bunch of pirates. When she says she’ll go to Pyat Pree then, Xaro sits up abruptly and says the warlocks are bitter liars that eat dust and drink of shadows, interesting choice of words. Xaro offers his home and heart to her, among lots of other treasures, but she doesn’t want that. She wants ships and soldiers.
12. The palanquin stops suddenly. Dany gets out and sees a large crowd watching a firemage performing a stunt. Jhogo points out a cutpurse in the crowd. There’s actually a few of them, harvesting coin from the unknowing people. The firemage impresses Jhogo, and somehow Quaithe is there, in her mask. She says a year ago that firemage could barely perform the simplest of tricks, but now he can do that stunt because of Daenerys; with her around his power grows. Dany asks what she means. She evades the question but warns Dany that she must leave Qarth soon or she will never leave at all. Dany asks where should she go, then? This prophesy intrigues me a lot:
“To go north, you must journey south. To reach the west, you must go east. To go forward you must go back, and to touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow.”
I have no clue what all that means, lol. A part of me wonders if she wants to go to Westeros she should keep sailing east, all around the globe, until she hits the western side of Westeros. But why would she want to go north? I mean, that’d be awesome if she brought her dragons to the Wall...but I doubt she even knows anything about the Wall or the Others at this point.
13. Dany thinks Quaithe wants her to go to Asshai. She asks if the people in Asshai wil give her an army and a fleet, or gold at least? She asks what she’ll get in Asshai that she won’t find in Qarth. Quaithe says, “Truth,” then disappears into the crowd. I’ll bet Quaithe set that firemage and cutpurse stunt up just so she can speak to her! Rakharo and Aggo spurn Quaithe and say not to trust that sorcerer who won’t even show her face. They call her “spawn of shadows,” how interesting.
14. When Dany gets back in the palanquin Xaro says her savages are wiser than they know. Wth, man? What happened to flattery? He could’ve called them body guards or something, but savages? He says the truths she’ll find at Asshai won’t make her smile. Because smiling is more important than knowing the truth, I guess.
15. Back at the Manse she chops up food for her dragons and notices they’re getting bigger. Already she knows she must train them first before taking them to war, or they’ll destroy her kingdom.
16. Ser Jorah repeats that she won’t get any help in Qarth. I smiled when Dany makes fun of Xaro for saying he dreams of her day and night and Jorah tells her Xaro dreams of her dragons. Jorah explains that in a Qartheen wedding the bride and groom keep their possessions but at the wedding the bride asks for one thing from the groom and he must give it to her, and vice versa. Xaro would ask for a dragon, she would be required to give it to him, and suddenly he would be the ultimate ruler of Qarth. That’s not worth one ship. She tells him what Quaithe said to her but Jorah councils her to move east, not to Asshai. I think that’s southeast of there? Jorah says if they go west she risks her life. He adds Illyrio would sell her out for gold; he is not her friend. He already sold her once to Khal Drogo. Dany blushes but knows it’s true. Jorah bashes Illyrio so much here, lol. He is sure that if he knew the dragon eggs would hatch he’d have kept them for himself. Still, Dany is sure Illyrio is a friend. He would buy her a fleet and men if she asked. Ha! I love this: “Nothing knits a broken realm together so quick as an invading army on its soil.” When Dany says she’s their queen Jorah reminds her she’s a stranger who comes with an army of outlanders who can’t even speak the Common Tongue. Before she sails she must win over at least some of the lords to her cause. (Try the north!) He tells her the longer she stays in one place the more likely her enemies will find her. But who will send assassins after her now? Does anyone else care that she’s still alive and will they believe she hatched three dragons?
17. Dany calls her dragons, “My furious children.” She believes the comet led her to Qarth for a reason and she wants to speak to Pyat Pree tomorrow to hear what he has to say to her.
I kind of like Quaithe too! But she's really mysterious, althought she doesn't sound like a bad person.*SPOILER FOR A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE* (view spoiler)
About your point 5, I don't know! But I don't think the Sorrowful Men are mentioned again, as far as I can remember. And I wonder if there are more of this group of assasins.
About your point 7, I never thought Daenerys would sit the throne, for a lot of reasons. One and the most important, people don't know about her. And even if she can somehow train the dragons and be a good leader, would people accept her with all their hearts back in Westeros? The families there are well known to them, and I see it as a bigger change for them to accept leaders of one of those families. And there's this thing about her father being crazy and burning people alive. How could they know she's not like her father if they don't know her at all? But there's so much to talk about! And I think she would do better and be happier if she stays in the are, and gives up Westeros. But, who knows!
About your point 12, I didn't understand it either. And I am pretty sure she has no idea what's going on in the Wall. Maybe it will solve later!
Well we still have at least two more books left to read, but probably more, depending on how long it takes George Martin to finish his epic story. And a lot happens in each book, so a lot can happen between now and then. Maybe Daenerys can come to the rescue and impress the kingdom and become queen, but maybe not. It's taking a long ass time for her to get to Westeros, so I'm thinking more as you. At the very least, I believe she will help destroy the Others, but as far as where she will rule... I'm not very confident it is the Iron Throne. That would be too simple.
Yes, of course you are right. It could be she goes to Westeros in the next, but it's been five books and she hasn't move there. That's why I wrote it. I think she will have something to do up in the North, but for some reason I don't think she'll rule. In Westeros, at least. Maybe I think that because of what you said, it would be too simple. But I guess we'll have to see!
2-She regrets about the gold she gave the Pureborn as a gift, which was enough to buy a ship and some swords. She asked what if Ser Jorah goes and asks to get the gold bacl, and Xaro replied she would be killed at night by one of the Sorrowful Men. I forgot about them! They are a sacred guild of assasins, who always say “I am so sorry” before killing. Dany thinks the Qartheen were nothing but polite. Lol. I wonder if they are mentioned again later.
3-There are three factions that contended with the Pureborns: the Ancient Guild of Spicers, the Tourmaline Brotherhood, and the Thirteen, to which Xaro belonged. And the warlocks brooting over all. I also forgot about the names of the factions, but they are not mentioned so often I believe.
4-Some of the gold she used was Xaro’s, and after he gave it to her, a lot of people started giving her a bunch of gifts she sold, but she kept the Crown so she would not be called beggar, like her brother, but Queen. I wonder what Crown that is. A gift, maybe.
5-Interesting she realised Viserys went mad after all the beggin, and now that she’s living it, she knows what her brother went through. She knows why he went mad, and thinks she will too, if she let it. But then thought of the dragons, who make all the difference. It seems she could understand a little more why her brother was like that. But he was an asshole anyway.
6-Jorah stayed and took care of the dragons, he thought it was folly right from the beggining to go with the Pureborn. She thinks, while talking from where the best wine is, about Lord Redwyne, who fought for her father and was loyal, and wonders if he would fight for her as well.
7-Daenerys asks Xaro for his ships, not for the first time, and he asks to marry her. He didn’t look at her the way Jorah did, and for what she thinks, it seems Xaro likes little boys, which is awful, but sadly kind of normal there. She says she won’t change her mind about Westeros, but Xaro says even if she has ships, she doesn’t have the crew to sail them or the gold to pay men. So, she says she could ask the other factions, or Pyat Pree. It seems Xaro fears him in a way, like most seem to do.
8-They come across a firemage, and the show sounds awesome. But as he acts, he has kids to cut the purses of the people watching, who are not natives. Maybe the people who live there know? Quaithe was there in the crowd, and told Daenerys the man could do that because of her, and Daenerys is puzzled. The woman in the mask said it was because she is the Mother of Dragons. She touched Dany’s wrist, and it tingled after a while. Quaithe said to leave the city, or she won’t leave it at all. Said she should go to Asshai. To find the truth, whatever that means. I always wonder why Quaithe warns her so much. Why does she care about Daenerys.
9-Her bloodriders and Xaro don’t like Quaithe. I wonder what role she plays in that society. When she’s back and starts to feed her dragons, she realised they are bigger, but they need a lot of years to grow and be adults, and they would need train. She has no idea how to train a dragon, and I don’t know where she could find out about it. I wonder if there are books about how to train your dragon, lol.
10-She sits and talkd to Jorah, who told her to go East. He doesn’t want her to go to Westeros, and I wonder why. He said a hard truth for her, Illyrio, who she thinks it’s a friend to her family, sold her to Drogo. And he would not have given her the eggs if he knew they would be living dragons some day. He also says a fact I always think about: people in Westeros have no idea who she is, and she would be a stranger, followed by people who couldn’t speak the Common Tongue. She has to win at least a few lords before sailing. Maybe that’s why he said to go east?
11-Finally, Jorah told Daenerys she should not stay long in one place, killers would find her. If they sent people to kill her when she was pregnant, they will sure send now that she has dragons. But people in Westeros does not know about dragons, or don’t believe in them. She decides she will see Pyat Pree on the morrow, she’s on Quarth for a reason. The comet didn’t bring her there for nothing.