Contents
DAENERYS — Chapter 51
Overview
Daenerys hosts Yunkai’s leaders to seal peace and the reopening of Meereen’s fighting pits, but feels defeated by their slave market at her doorstep. She quietly prepares contingencies, aiming to flip enemy sellswords via Pretty Meris. Daenerys introduces Quentyn to her dragons, warns him of dangers, and spends a restless wedding night.
The chapter cements a fragile, compromised peace, exposes Dany’s mistrust of Hizdahr and Yunkai, and sets covert plans that could shatter the truce.
Summary
At a grand feast in the Great Pyramid, Daenerys endures Yunkish revelry celebrating a peace that includes reopening Meereen’s fighting pits and permitting slaveowners to bring slaves into the city. She bristles at the new slave market set up just beyond her walls, seeing it as a public humiliation. Hostages have been exchanged: Yunkish envoys dine within while Dany’s allies—Jhogo, Groleo, Hero, Hizdahr’s kin, and Daario—sit in the Yunkish camp.
During the garden mingling, Brown Ben Plumm justifies his defection to Yunkai as survival, confirming Dany’s fear that her inability to unleash dragons made her look weak. After he departs, Daenerys confers with Ser Barristan about turning enemy sellswords; she rejects overt approaches for now, orders the release and return of Pretty Meris as a signal to the Windblown, and considers but heeds caution about Bloodbeard. News of the pale mare (bloody flux) afflicting Yunkai’s allies is noted but not relied upon.
Dany discusses the Dornish marriage offer with Ser Barristan, judging Quentyn’s promise of distant support inadequate. She summons Quentyn and brings him to the dragons’ pit, where Viserion and Rhaegal’s terrifying display underscores her power and his discomfort. She kisses Quentyn’s cheeks, declares herself a dragon, warns him of dangers from Daario and Hizdahr’s followers, and urges caution as they return.
Late that night, Hizdahr, pleased with the peace, beds Dany and speaks of a hoped-for heir. Sleepless and unsatisfied, Dany is visited by Missandei; she asks for memories of Naath to soothe her fears about the blood to come in the pits. She finally drifts into uneasy dreams of smoke and fire as morning approaches.
Who Appears
- Daenerys TargaryenQueen of Meereen; hosts Yunkai for peace, trades hostages, plots to sway sellswords, shows Quentyn her dragons, and wrestles with a hollow marriage.
- Hizdahr zo LoraqKing-consort; champions peace, entertains Yunkai, secures reopening of fighting pits, and beds Dany hoping for an heir.
- Ser Barristan SelmyAdvisor and protector; cautions against sellsword treachery, executes Dany’s plan to signal the Windblown via Pretty Meris, escorts Quentyn.
- Quentyn MartellDornish prince-suitor; drinks at feast, meets Dany’s dragons with visible fear, is warned of dangers, and persists in his suit.
- Brown Ben PlummCaptain of the Second Sons; defends his defection as survival, reinforcing Dany’s perceived weakness without dragons.
- Yurkhaz zo YunzakYunkish supreme commander; attends feast with other slaver lords to formalize peace and the pits’ reopening.
- Pretty MerisWindblown officer; Dany orders her freed and sent back as a covert signal to win over the company.
- BloodbeardCaptain of the Company of the Cat; present at feast, deemed dangerously dishonorable; Barristan advises against courting him.
- Gylo RheganCaptain of the Long Lances; present at feast, a potential target for Dany’s quiet outreach.
- The Tattered PrinceLeader of the Windblown; implicated in prior deceptions; potential recipient of Dany’s signal via Pretty Meris.
- MissandeiNaathi handmaid; comforts sleepless Dany with gentle memories of home.
- ViserionWhite dragon; breaks chains, breathes fire in the pit, responds to Dany’s presence.
- RhaegalGreen dragon; chained, roars and breathes fire while gnawing a bull carcass.