Don't Wake the Dragon

A Game of Thrones

Danerys 1:

Across the narrow sea, in the free city of Pentos, Viserys Targaryen presents a beautiful silk dress to his thirteen year old sister, Daenerys. He tells he that it is a a gift from Magister Illyrio Mopatis who has allowed the siblings the use of his home and has promised her more luxorious gifts to come. Daenerys questions the motives of their host, but Viserys assures her that Illyrio is doing so because he knows that Viserys will not forget him when he comes into his crown.

The Targaryen's were the rulers of Westeros for hundreds of years, until the usurper: Robert Baratheon and his Stark and Lannister allies overthrew their kingdom and put their king to the sword. Since then Viserys and Daenerys, the two remaining heirs have been on the run in foreign lands. Viserys was eight when the revolution occurred and dreams fervently of having his kingdom returned to him. Daenerys was born out at see, while their mother was fleeing Westeros; therefore she has no recollection. Instead she remembers the kindness of Ser William Darry who helped them escaped, and housed them in the island nation of Braavos until his death. Since then they have been traveling from place to place. At first the people of free cities accepted them, but the more the usurper has sat on the throne, the less the people of the free cities seem to care for their plight.

Though traditionally, Targaryen's wed brother to sister to keep the bloodlines pure, Viserys has promised his sister to the leader of a vast barbarian tribe: Khal Drogo of the Dothraki horde. With their hundred thousand plus horde of Dothraki screamers, Viserys hopes to retake his kingdom and avenge the deaths of his father Aerys and brother Rheagar who perished during Robert's Rebellion.

Daenerys' slave servants prepare her bath and warn her that it is too scalding hot, something which does not bother her. As her brother says time and time again, they are the blood of the dragon; heat such as that should not bother them.

As Daenerys bathes, Illyrio and Viserys enter. Illyrio assures Viserys that the common people of Westeros secretly toast his name and eagerly await his return. In conjunction with the Dothraki and the support of noble houses loyal to the Targaryen's such as Dorne who lost Elia Martell brutally at the hands of the Lannisters, Viserys is confident in his ability to take back his kingdom.

The three of them go to meet Khal Drogo, who is to inspect Daenerys, the young girl mentions to her brother that she doesn't wish to marry Drogo and just wants to go home. Viserys forcefully tells her that the only way to go home is with Khal Drogo's army and that he'd, "let his whole khalasar fuck you sweet sister, all forty thousand and their horses too if that's what it took to get my army." He then commands his sister to stand up straight and smile as Khal Drogo apporaches.

Commentary:
This is our first chapter away from the continent of Westeroes, where most of the action of this series takes place. Think of Westeros as medieval Europe. Though it isn't mentioned by name, Pentos is one of the western most cities on the giant continent of Essos, which could be analogous to Asia. Since it is the most western, it is more of a familiar setting to those of Westeros than some of the other cities we will meet later on. Almost all locations in this series are pretty fucked up. The Starks are the closest thing to good guys we are going to get for a while, so Winterfell may not have seemed so bad, if overly harsh. But both sides of the narrow sea are not pleasant places to be. This is apparent in Pentos. It is a "free city" with no slaves, however it is obvious that powerful men such as Illyrio can do whatever they want. And having a rampaging horde of conqueror-rapists so close isn't good for anybody involved.

Anyway we meet our first non-Stark protagonist (not counting poor Will), Daenerys Targaryen.

 Daenerys is thirteen in the books. I'd first like to say thank God that she's aged up in the HBO series. The shit she goes through would be too much to read about happening to the thirteen year old.

Also Emilia Clarke is hot as hell, but that's neither here nor there.

This chapter is all about setting Daenerys up as a character we can't help but feel bad for. Her life royally sucks. She has known nothing but fear, from her unseen enemies, from starvation, and worst of all...her brother. Daenerys is helplessly used as a pawn for her brother and his allies with no say in the matter. When she does, we hear her brother's response. Given her reactions to Viserys warnings of "Waking the Dragon", we know that he has abused her plenty in the past. She has to put up with his constant criticism, threats, etc. Despite all this though she isn't stupid. She can see past Illyrio's charms much better than Viserys, who is clearly blinded by his promises. She is good at assessing their situation.

I'm sort of divided on her. I think in this first book, Daenerys' storyline is the strongest aspect of it. Seeing her growth to a weak willed shell of a woman to what she becomes is fascinating. Unfortunately much of what happens later seems like filler. But as of now she is a young woman in a horrible situation that we are all desperately hoping she'll find a way out of. To sum up her life: she has gone her whole life thinking she'd marry her abusive brother (yuck) and is now suddenly being sold as basically property to a fearsome warrior who she knows is going to rape the shit out of her.

Speaking of her darling brother:

Viserys Targaryen is a piece of fucking work. When I first read this chapter I was totally like: well here we have it! This guy is our villain, at least for book one. It makes sense, so far the protagonists have been Starks, who clearly support the current king, and his sister who he physically, emotionally, and sexually abuses. He has a seemingly decent scheme to do it. Of course we really don't know the Dothraki well yet.. and neither does he.

Of course I loathe Viserys, yet I love chapters with him in it. He's such a fun villain. Right now he is quite sinister, to the point of being downright scary. But as Daenerys grows as a character, we begin to see him for what he really is.

My assessment of his credibility was wrong when I read this first chapter, but that was deliberate on the author's part. He is meant to come of as legitimately threatening right now since besides the nebulous Others, he's all we got as an antagonist so far, except for little punks like Theon Greyjoy. Plus we are seeing him through the eyes of his victim. When you see him for the first time in the show, you get a better picture how far out of his league he is.

Of course even my first time reading I knew he wouldn't be the main villain for long. I had pegged Illyrio as being the one pulling his strings. Five books in now I know the truth about Viserys. Illyrio remains enigmatic however.

I was expecting someone fatter.

This chapter makes no attempt to hide that he is pulling Viserys' strings. He is clearly manipulating him and his sister. He is the one making all the connections. The problem with him is after a few more minor scenes in this book, he disappears until book 5. There isn't too much to say for him right now, or later on for that fact. But *SPOILER* he's still kicking after book 5 so he's definitely someone to watch.

Some more things to mention: we hear more about dragons here. The Targaryen's are connected to them. We also see things from their point of view, namely the rebellion. The last chapter painted the rebellion as a heroic fight against a madman. This chapter paints it as a slaughter causing the deaths of many innocents. Both sides have shades of the truth; not everybody on one side was wholly good or evil. Viserys's feelings on the usurper may be one of the few humanizing things about him...even if he is beyond paranoid about it to the point of being insane.

There are two other major characters I introduced here. Khal Drogo is the big one. We don't know much about him other than is prowess in battle and the vastness of his horde. He certainly is an intimidating figure, but we'll discuss him proper later. Ser Jorah Mormont, is also introduced. He is a man from Westeros, giving him an interesting link to the Targaryens. He is only mentioned once though so he'll have to wait too.

Finally this chapter mentions a third religion to compete with the Seven and the Old Gods. This is the Lord of Light who is worshiped by Red Priests. As of now this is not important, merely giving some flavor to this foreign land. The only thing you need to take away right now about this religion is that it would be exotic to Westeros. As book 2 though they will play a key role.

Anyway thank you for reading and be sure not to wake any dragons.

-Sean