A Game of Thrones, Chapter 68, Daenerys
Summary
Dany finally wakes from the nightmares. Her son is dead, Drogo lives, but his spirit is gone, only body remains. Dany learns of maegi’s betrayal. She will not be able to bear children and her husband is gone forever. Dany doesn’t give up, she takes Drogo out to the plains and tries to bring him back using every sex trick she was taught. When night passes and Drogo is still gone she kills him.
Quotes
Her son was tall and proud, with Drogo’s copper skin and her own silver-gold hair, violet eyes shaped like almonds. And he smiled for her and began to lift his hand toward hers, but when he opened his mouth the fire poured out. She saw his heart burning through his chest, and in an instant he was gone, consumed like a moth by a candle, turned to ash.
“My son was alive and strong when Ser Jorah carried me into this tent,” she said. “I could feel him kicking, fighting to be born.”
“That may be as it may be,” answered Mirri Maz Duur, “yet the creature that came forth from your womb was as I said. Death was in that tent, Khaleesi.”
“Where is Khal Drogo? Show him to me, godswife, maegi, bloodmage, whatever you are. Show me Khal Drogo. Show me what I bought with my son’s life.”
“When will he be as he was?” Dany demanded.
“When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east,” said Mirri Maz Duur. “When the seas go dry and mountains blow in the wind like leaves. When your womb quickens again, and you bear a living child. Then he will return, and not before.”
“Tell me again what you saved.”
“Your life.”
Mirri Maz Duur laughed cruelly. “Look to your khal and see what life is worth, when all the rest is gone.”
Commentary
Looks like all the characters we sympathized with are going through agonizing pain (or just die). Dany is no exception. Drogo is still technically alive, but the man she loved is gone and so is her child. She paid terrible price for nothing.
This chapter brings a very interesting question of what’s really important in our existance. Is life in itself really that valuable? What is body for if the mind is gone? Drogo did not die, yet as Mirri said, death would be cleaner for him. What is life good for when everything else is gone?
I’ll let everyone digest this tragedy on their own. I want to focus on two things here. One is Mirri’s betrayal. She was definitely pleased with how things turned out. She was proud of the fact that it was her doing that “the stallion who mounts the world will burn no cities”. Was this her plan all along? She didn’t seem to celebrate the victory until Dany faced her. She also made a lot of sense saying that she informed her of risks that come with this spell.
I also keep thinking about the way Dany felt the dragon eggs. Did Mirri’s magic, that turned Dany’s son into a monstrosity, awaken the dragon in her? Targaryens were trying to wake the dragons for hundreds of years. Was Dany son’s sacrifice the first step to bringing the dragons back? It makes a lot of sense to me.
Tags: Daenerys
