| Vaes Dothrak | |
|---|---|
| Dothraki city | |
 Vaes Dothrak, by Matthew Cowdery © Fantasy Flight Games | |
| Location | Dothraki sea, central Essos |
| Government | Dosh khaleen |
| Religion | Dothraki religion |
| Notable places | Horse Gate, Western Market, Eastern Market |
| Organizations | Dosh khaleen, khalasars |
Vaes Dothrak is the only city of the Dothraki people. It is located in the northeast of the vast Dothraki sea, beneath the Mother of Mountains and near a lake, the Womb of the World. Vaes Dothrak has no walls.[1]
The city is ruled and inhabited by slaves and the dosh khaleen, the wives of all the khals who have come before. It is forbidden to wear a blade or shed a free man's blood within the confines of the city.[2] The name Vaes Dothrak means City of Riders in the Dothraki language.[3]
Layout
- See also: Images of Vaes Dothrak
The heart of the Dothraki sea and Dothraki culture, Vaes Dothrak is one of the largest cities of the known world, due to its expansive layout, and also one of the smallest, due to its low population. The city is large enough to hold every khalasar, were they all to return at once.[1]
Vaes Dothrak has broad, windswept streets paved in grass and mud. There are carved stone pavilions, manses of woven grass, wooden towers, stepped pyramids faced with marble, and roofless log halls. Some of these palaces are protected by horny hedges instead of walls. All of the buildings were built by slaves brought from the lands the Dothraki have plundered.[1]
The godsway runs from the Horse Gate of Vaes Dothrak to the Mother of Mountains. It is lined with monuments and holy symbols from a hundred different religions on both sides, showing the vast range and power of Dothraki conquests.[1][2] Along the way it passes through the Western and Eastern Markets, the lake named the Womb of the World, and a pit where important ceremonies are done in Vaes Dothrak.[2]
Hall
Located near the Eastern Market, the cavernous wooden feasting hall has walls rising forty feet high. It has a silk roof which can be raised or lowered.[1] Inside the hall are three firepits. Those high in honor sit at a high bench, and those low in honor must sit at the back of the long hall.[2] Surrounding the palace are horse yards fenced with high hedges, firepits, and hundreds of grass-covered round earthen houses.[1]
Markets
The Western Market is a grand bazaar used by traders from the Free Cities.[1] It is a great square of beaten earth surrounded by mud-baked brick, animal pens and whitewashed drinking halls. Hummocks rise from the earth and beneath the square lie large storerooms. The interior of the square is made up of stalls and crookback aisles shaded by woven grass.[4] Products offered in the Western Market include Lysene perfumes, Myrish lace, fine wools, Pentoshi dyes, goldwork from Lannisport, ornately-patterned breastplates, and helms in the shapes of fanciful beasts.[4] Food and ingredients in the market includes garlic, hot pepper, and sausages.[4]
In the Eastern Market, traders from Yi Ti, Asshai, and the Shadow Lands come to trade.[1] Animals in the market include manticores in silver cages, grey elephants, and striped white and black horses (zorses) of the Jogos Nhai.[4] Food sold in the Eastern Market includes tree eggs, locust pie, and green noodles.[4]
Traders are free to cross the Dothraki sea unmolested to Vaes Dothrak as long as they keep the peace, do not profane either the Mother of Mountains or the Womb of the World, and give the traditional gifts of salt, silver, and seed to the dosh khaleen.[4] The Steel Road and the Stone Road originate in Vaes Dothrak and head east through the Bones.[5] Other routes head west to the ruins of Vaes Leqse and Yalli Qamayi.[6]
History
Scholars believe the ancestors of the Dothraki came from the lands beyond the Bone Mountains in the Further East of Essos,[5] and the Dothraki themselves believe that their race was born in Vaes Dothrak.[7]
The disparate buildings of Vaes Dothrak were built by slaves in the fashion of their original lands.[1] The monuments of the godsway were brought to Vaes Dothrak after being plundered from distant lands.[1]
The exiled Ser Jorah Mormont has traveled as far east as Vaes Dothrak.[8]
Recent Events
A Game of Thrones
Magister Illyrio Mopatis of Pentos is said to have friends in Vaes Dothrak.[9]
After wedding Khal Drogo outside Pentos,[8] Daenerys Targaryen travels with his khalasar to Vaes Dothrak,[1] where she is presented to the dosh khaleen. Daenerys ceremonially eats a horse heart and washes in the Womb of the World.[2] When a drunken Viserys Targaryen threatens his sister with an unsheathed sword in the long hall and demands the crown he was promised by Drogo, the khal has him killed by having molten gold poured on his head.[2]
Daenerys often spends her mornings in the Eastern Market, sampling its foods and observing spellsingers and Shadow Men and exotic travelers from Asshai, Qarth, Yi Ti, Bayasabhad, Shamyriana, and Kayakayanaya.[4]
Byan Votyris leads a caravan of four hundred horses to Vaes Dothrak from Pentos by way of Norvos and Qohor, so Ser Jorah Mormont suggests that Daenerys see the new wares in the Western Market. Daenerys exchanges one of her silver medallions for a feathered cloak from the Summer Isles. She also acquires a dozen flasks of scented oils, and she buys a fertility charm for Doreah. A birdseller teaches a parrot to say Daenerys's name, but she refuses to take the bird.[4] A wineseller attempts to poison the pregnant Daenerys, but he is stopped by her khas and Jorah. The assassination attempt leads Drogo to announce he will lead his khalasar against the Seven Kingdoms.[4]
Drogo's khalasar departs Vaes Dothrak for Lhazar.[10] Daenerys loses her child Rhaego, and Drogo's khalasar disbands after the khal dies.[11] Daenerys burns Drogo's body on a pyre and hatches dragon eggs in the flames.[12]
During his coma, Bran Stark has a vision of Vaes Dothrak beneath the Mother of Mountains.[13]
A Clash of Kings
Daenerys thinks that other khals would attempt to slay her meager khalasar and drag her back to Vaes Dothrak to join the dosh khaleen. Her khalasar travels through the red waste[14] toward Qarth.[15]
A Storm of Swords
Following the siege of Meereen, the envoy Ghael informs Daenerys that Yunkai has dispatched riders to Vaes Dothrak to bring a khalasar against her.[16]
Quotes
Vaes Dothrak was at once the largest city and the smallest that she had ever known. She thought it must be ten times as large as Pentos, a vastness without walls or limits, its broad windswept streets paved in grass and mud and carpeted with wildflowers. In the Free Cities of the west, towers and manses and hovels and bridges and shops and halls all crowded in on one another, but Vaes Dothrak sprawled languorously, baking in the warm sun, ancient, arrogant, and empty.[1]
—thoughts of Daenerys Targaryen
Only the crones of the dosh khaleen dwell permanently in the sacred city, them and their slaves and servants, yet Vaes Dothrak is large enough to house every man of every khalasar, should all the khals return to the Mother at once. The crones have prophesied that one day that will come to pass, and so Vaes Dothrak must be ready to embrace all its children.[1]
In this place, the crones of the dosh khaleen had decreed, all Dothraki were one blood, one khalasar, one herd.[1]
—thoughts of Daenerys Targaryen
We are in Vaes Dothrak. No one may carry a blade here or shed a man's blood.[2]
The Eastern Market was a place of wonder and magic for Dany. But the Western Market smelled of home.[4]
—thoughts of Daenerys Targaryen
Only the birth of her dragons amidst the fire and smoke of Khal Drogo's funeral pyre had spared Dany herself from being dragged back to Vaes Dothrak to live out the remainder of her days amongst the crones of the dosh khaleen.[17]
—thoughts of Daenerys Targaryen
Chapters that take place in Vaes Dothrak
- A Game of Thrones: 36. Daenerys IV
- A Game of Thrones: 46. Daenerys V
- A Game of Thrones: 54. Daenerys VI
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 36, Daenerys IV.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 46, Daenerys V.
- ↑ The Tongues of Ice and Fire Wiki
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 54, Daenerys VI.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The Bones and Beyond.
- ↑ The Lands of Ice and Fire, The Known World.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Beyond the Free Cities: The Grasslands.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 11, Daenerys II.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 3, Daenerys I.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 61, Daenerys VII.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 68, Daenerys IX.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 72, Daenerys X.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 17, Bran III.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 12, Daenerys I.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 27, Daenerys II.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 71, Daenerys VI.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 71, Daenerys X.