The pit of the Great Pyramid is found beneath the structure and is used as a prison by the Great Masters.[1]
Layout
The pit is 40 feet deep (12.19 meters) and large enough to hold 500 men.[1] It is accessible through by passing three massive arches and going down a torch-lit ramp into the vaults beneath the Great Pyramid, past cisterns, dungeons, and torture chambers. The entrance has a pair of huge, forbidding iron doors with rusted hinges, closed with a length of chain whose link is as thick around as a man's arm.[1]
Recent Events
A Dance with Dragons
After Hazzea is said to have been killed by Drogon, Daenerys Targaryen decides to have her dragons confined to the pit below the Great Pyramid. Rhaegal and Viserion are chained inside the pit, though Drogon evades capture. The links of the dragons' chains are as large as a man's bound fist. Both dragons are chained to the wall and floor.[1] The doors are guarded by Unsullied.[1]
Viserion eventually snaps one of his chains,[2] and he melts his other chains using his dragonfire. During wedding feast celebrations, Daenerys invites Prince Quentyn Martell to see her dragons. When they arrive at the pit they are greeted with the sight of Viserion, who has shattered one chain and melted the others. He is clinging to the roof of the pit, like some huge white bat. His claws dig deep into the burnt and crumbling bricks. When they espy Rhaegal, he is still chained and gnawing on the carcass of a bull.[3] Daenerys lies and tells Quentyn that Drogon is hunting. Rhaegal roars at the sound of her voice and Viserion replies.[3]
Sometime thereafter Rhaegal manages to also loose himself within the pit. With both dragons unchained, the Unsullied inform Daenerys that once the iron doors glowed red-hot and no one dared touch them for a day.[2] The doors are later guarded by Brazen Beasts.[4] The confinement of Rhaegal and Viserion slows their growth compared to that of Drogon.[4]
When attempting to steal a dragon, Quentyn notes that the iron doors have become dinted by the dragons trying to get out; the thick iron is cracked and splitting in three places and the upper corner of the left hand door looks partially melted.[4] Quentyn sees that there is still a thick iron collar about Rhaegal's neck chain, with three feet of broken chain dangling from the collar. On the floor are shattered, twisted, and partly melted chains.[4] He looks for Viserion and sees that he has dug himself a hole in the Great Pyramid’s interior walls, a hole big enough to sleep in. A broken chain dangles from his neck.[4] Quentyn's plan to steal the dragons goes awry, and he dies from burns caused by Rhaegal's dragon flame. With the iron doors left open by Quentyn and his cohorts the dragons escape and are loosed upon the city.[5]
Since leaving the Great Pyramid, the dragons have established their own lairs. Rhaegal has chosen to lair in the black pyramid of Yherizan, while Viserion has selected the black pyramid of Uhlez.[5]
Quotes
The Great Masters had used the pit as a prison. It was large enough to hold five hundred men … and more than ample for two dragons. For how long, though? What will happen when they grow too large for the pit? Will they turn on one another with flame and claw? Will they grow wan and weak, with withered flanks and shrunken wings? Will their fires go out before the end?[1]
—thoughts of Daenerys Targaryen
Caggo: We were told these beasts are smaller than the queen's monster.
Quentyn: The pit has slowed their growth.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 11, Daenerys II.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 23, Daenerys IV.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 50, Daenerys VIII.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 68, The Dragontamer.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 70, The Queen's Hand.