Xaro Xhoan Daxos

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Xaro Xhoan Daxos
John Matson Xaro Xoan DaxosII.png
Xaro Xhoan Daxos

Allegiance the Thirteen
Culture Qartheen
Books

Played by Nonso Anozie
TV series Season 2

Xaro Xhoan Daxos is a merchant prince of Qarth. He is a member of the Thirteen, a prominent group of traders within the city. In the television adaptation Game of Thrones he is portrayed by Nonso Anozie as an immigrant from the Summer Isles.

Appearance and Character

See also: Images of Xaro Xhoan Daxos

Xaro is a languid, elegant man with a bald head and a great beak of a nose which is crusted with rubies, opals, and flakes of jade, giving him the aspect of some strange glittery bird.[1] His fingers are long and elegant. He can cry at will, a skill typical of Qartheen men.[2] Though he wishes to marry Daenerys Targaryen, it is heavily implied he has a homosexual orientation.[3]

Recent Events

A Clash of Kings

When Jhogo returns to Vaes Tolorro after discovering Qarth, he is accompanied by three representatives of the city, one of them being Xaro.[4] Having seen her dragons, Xaro escorts Daenerys Targaryen to Qarth, where he offers her use of his palace during her stay.

Xaro offers Daenerys his knowledge, telling her which members of the Pureborn to bribe, the ways of reaching the Pureborn, and who to go to next after she is rejected by them. Xaro also seeks to marry her, though Daenerys later learns he wishes to marry her so he can claim one of her dragons via a Qartheen marriage custom. It is also revealed that he does not seem interested in women, as Daenerys can tell that Xaro hardly deigns to notice her bare breast when she is wearing a Qartheen gown. Daenerys notices the beautiful boys who surround the merchant prince, flitting through his palace halls in wisps of silk.[2]

After the destruction of the House of the Undying, Xaro offers to take Daenerys sailing around the Jade Sea but is rejected. He then tells her to leave the city.[5]

A Storm of Swords

Aboard the Balerion Daenerys contemplates the threats to her and thinks of Xaro Xhoan Daxos. She privately hopes he is not among her enemies, but remembers that the Qartheen merchant had coveted her dragons.[6]

A Dance with Dragons

Xaro arrives on his ship Silken Cloud in Meereen to visit Daenerys. He brings forth a gift of thirteen ships, stating that they are hers on the condition she sails from Slaver's Bay to Westeros as her presence has disrupted the slave trade which many cities of Essos, such as Volantis and Qarth, depend on for their economies.

During Xaro's visit Daenerys again dons a Qartheen gown, leaving one breast bare in his honor. She notes that half of the men in the hall have stolen glances at her, but not Xaro. He arns her of many threats to her, including Pyat Pree. Daenerys has the ships he brought inspected by Groleo, but she later refuses the offer. Xaro's reply is to leave a bloodstained glove on a satin pillow, a declaration that Qarth has declared war on Daenerys.[3]

Wealth

Xaro owns eighty-four vessels, including Vermillion Kiss, the galleas Silken Cloud, and his pleasure barge.[5][3] He tells Daenerys that he does not own any warships.[2] He also offers thirteen galleys, including Banded Lizard, Narraqqa, and Pureborn Princess, although Daenerys thinks the galleys were provided by all of the Thirteen and not specifically by Xaro.[3]

Xaro offers Daenerys the hospitality of his home while she is in Qarth. She had expected a grand residence but she had not expected a palace larger than many a market town. She thinks Xaro’s palace makes Magister Illyrio's manse in Pentos look like a swineherd’s hovel.[1] The palace easily accommodates Daenerys’s little khalasar and their horses. An entire wing is given over to her. She has her own gardens full of fragrant lavender and mint, a marble bathing pool stocked with tiny golden fish, a scrying tower and warlock's maze.[1] She also has slaves to tend to her every need. In her private chambers the floors are green marble and the walls are draped with colorful silk hangings that shimmer with every breath of air. It is in the palace that Daenerys hears the news from Quhuru Mo, the captain of the Cinnamon Wind, that the Usurper is dead.[1]

During Daenerys's stay with Xaro, he gives her many gifts, including:

  • perfume and pomegranates.
  • tumbling monkeys.
  • spitting snakes, scrolls from lost Valyria.
  • an idol's head and a serpent's foot.
  • a palanquin of ebony and gold, and a matched set of bullocks to bear it, one white as ivory and one black as jet, with horns inlaid with jewels.
  • A thousand knights, each in shining armor. The armor is made of silver and gold, the knights of jade and beryl and onyx and tourmaline, of amber and opal and amethyst, each as tall as Daenerys’s little finger.

Game of Thrones

Nonso Anozie as Xaro in Game of Thrones

In the television adaptation, Game of Thrones, Xaro Xhoan Daxos is an immigrant Summer Islander. He has black skin, thinning hair, and a beard. Xaro seeks to become the King of Qarth, in a coup where he kills his fellow Thirteen—the ruling council of Qarth—and assists Pyat Pree in stealing Daenerys's dragons. After defeating Pyat Pree in the House of the Undying, Daenerys then finds her handmaid Doreah in bed with Xaro, and she punishes them by locking them in his vault, where they will most likely die.

Quotes by Xaro

A craven's knife can slay a queen as easily as a hero's.[3]

– Xaro, to Daenerys Targeryen


I no longer lust for dragons. I saw their work at Astapor.[3]

– Xaro, to Daenerys Targeryen

References and Notes