Contents
DAENERYS — Chapter 24
Overview
Daenerys confronts a tightening blockade and rising murders in Meereen. Pressed by the Green Grace, she offers to wed Hizdahr if he can end the killings for ninety days. Daario returns urging ruthless slaughter; Daenerys rejects his plan and bars him from her presence, choosing a path of constrained compromise.
Summary
Galazza Galare visits Daenerys at the Great Pyramid amid news of a growing river-and-sea blockade and fresh killings by the Sons of the Harpy. The Green Grace urges political reconciliation through marriage to a highborn Ghiscari, proposing Hizdahr zo Loraq to legitimize Daenerys’s rule and still the bloodshed.
Daenerys receives Hizdahr. He promises influence, heirs, and a chance at peace, arguing the slave-tied cities oppose her on economic grounds. When pressed about love, he offers pragmatism. Daenerys tests him: if he can end the murders for ninety days and nights, she will consider marriage, hoping the attempt buys time and stability.
After Hizdahr departs, Ser Barristan counsels returning to Westeros, but Daenerys insists Meereen needs healing first. Then Daario arrives from Lhazar with modest successes and reinforcements. He urges decisive violence—assassinating Great Masters or trapping them at a wedding—declaring it better to be butcher than meat. Daenerys, offended and wary, rejects his counsel and his advances.
To separate desire from duty, Daenerys orders the Stormcrows back into the field and forbids Daario private audience, though she longs for him. Alone, she wrestles with the cost of rule, recognizing the blood already on her hands while refusing to become the “butcher queen,” and resolves to pursue peace through Hizdahr’s trial.
Who Appears
- Daenerys TargaryenQueen of Meereen; weighs marriage for peace, tests Hizdahr with a ninety-day ultimatum, rebuffs Daario’s ruthless plan and bars him.
- Hizdahr zo LoraqNoble suitor; offers influence and peace, accepts Daenerys’s trial to end killings for ninety days in exchange for marriage.
- Daario NaharisStormcrows captain; returns from Lhazar, urges massacres of Great Masters, clashes with Daenerys, then is sent away from her presence.
- Galazza Galare (Green Grace)High priestess; counsels Daenerys to marry a Ghiscari king, specifically Hizdahr, to reconcile Meereen.
- Ser Barristan SelmyAdvisor and protector; urges return to Westeros, later tasked to manage Daario’s reports and keep him from Daenerys.
- QezzaGreen Grace’s young kinswoman and hostage; serves at Daenerys’s table, symbolizing stakes of reprisal.
- GrazharGreen Grace’s young kinsman and hostage; cupbearer trained by Barristan, reminder of the children at risk.
- MissandeiHandmaiden and translator; attends Daenerys before Daario’s arrival and helps with wardrobe.
- IrriHandmaiden; summoned to help Daenerys prepare and later to comfort her sleeplessness.
- JhiquiHandmaiden; helps dress Daenerys before meeting Daario.
- Reznak mo ReznakSeneschal; mentioned as likely to rejoice at a wedding, reflecting courtly politics.
- Skahaz mo Kandaq (the Shavepate)Harsh enforcer; advocates executing hostages and extracting confessions, contrasted with Daenerys’s restraint.