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The wedding of Drogo and Daenerys Targaryen occurs in 298 AC outside the Free City of Pentos. Drogo, a khal of the Dothraki, marries Daenerys Targaryen, the sister of Viserys Targaryen.[1]
Prelude
Viserys Targaryen and his sister Daenerys have lived in exile in the Free Cities in the aftermath of Robert's Rebellion. While the exiles are staying with Illyrio Mopatis in Pentos, the magister negotiates a betrothal between Daenerys and Drogo, the greatest khal of the Dothraki sea. In return, Drogo will help Viserys recover the Iron Throne from the Usurper, King Robert I Baratheon.[2][1][3]
Daenerys is to meet Drogo for the first time at a feast held at his manse. Illyrio has the girl wear a silk gown of deep plum, gilded sandals, a tiara, golden bracelets crusted with amethysts, and a heavy golden torc emblazoned with Valyrian glyphs, to emphasize the fact that she is a princess.[2] Other notables in attendance for the meeting are Khal Moro and his son Rhogoro, the brother of the Archon of Tyrosh, and the exiled knight Ser Jorah Mormont.[2] Viserys accepts Jorah's offer of service that night.[1]
After Drogo agrees to marry Daenerys, he allows the siblings to live in his manse while he joins his khalasar outside of Pentos.[1] The city's magisters double the city guard while the Dothraki are nearby.[1]
Viserys, while willing to wed Daenerys to Drogo to achieve his goals, is resentful of having to give her up, and the night before the wedding tries to enter her room and claim her maidenhead. Illyrio, however, has the foresight to post guards on her room and ensure the impetuous Viserys does not undo "years of planning".[3]
Wedding
The wedding is held in a field outside of Pentos, with the ceremony beginning at dawn and continuing until dusk. Daenerys and Drogo are seated on a large earthen ramp raised among the grass palaces of the Dothraki guests. Seated below the couple in places of high honor are Drogo's bloodriders and Viserys, Illyrio, and Jorah, although Viserys is angered at having to sit below Daenerys. Daenerys wears wedding silks, and Viserys wears a tunic of black wool that depicts the dragon of House Targaryen in scarlet.[1]
Food served during the feast include steaming joints of meat, thick black sausages, Dothraki blood pies, fruits, sweetgrass stews, and delicate pastries from the kitchens of Pentos. Viserys is angered when slaves offer each course first to Daenerys and Drogo. Daenerys, too afraid to eat, refuses each offering and instead sips honeyed wine.[1]
Drogo largely ignores Daenerys during the wedding.[4] He tosses bronze medallions to women who dance before him with drums playing in the background. Warriors start mating with the dancers, and one of the men is slain when two of the warriors fight with arakhs over the same woman. A dozen men die before the day is through.[1]
When the sun starts to go down, Drogo halts the feasting so that Daenerys can receive her bride gifts. From her brother, Daenerys receives three handmaids, Irri, Jhiqui, and Doreah, though the bride believes the women were actually provided by Illyrio. Jorah gives Daenerys a small stack of books detailing the histories and songs of the Seven Kingdoms. Illyrio gives the bride a chest containing fine velvets and damasks and three petrified dragon eggs from the Shadow Lands. Haggo gives Daenerys a leather whip with a silver handle, Cohollo an arakh chased in gold, and Qotho a double-curved dragonbone bow, but the bride declines the weapons of the bloodriders out of Dothraki tradition and instead gives them to Drogo. Other Dothraki guests give Daenerys slippers, jewels, silver rings, medallion belts, painted vests, soft furs, sandsilks, and even a gown made from the skins of a thousand mice, which Illyrio assures Daenerys is very lucky. Daenerys also receives jars of scent, needles and feathers, and tiny bottle of purple glass. As his own gift to his bride, Drogo gives Daenerys a magnificent silver mare, which the girl takes for a brief ride.[1]
After the sun has gone down, the bride and groom ride out into the fields, Daenerys on her new mare and Drogo on his stallion, so that their marriage can be consummated. As a thirteen-year-old girl who had been abused by her brother for most of her life and had been given no say in the marriage, Daenerys is terrified of her bridegroom and expects to be raped. Despite his fierce reputation, however, Drogo proves to be a surprisingly considerate lover. Although he and Daenerys share no common language, he establishes that he understands the word "no," then begins touching her gently, trying to arouse her. Drogo does not begin to have intercourse with her until Daenerys expresses her approval and initiates it.[1]
Aftermath
After the wedding, Drogo's khalasar departs Pentos for Vaes Dothrak so that Daenerys can be presented to the dosh khaleen.[1][4] Illyrio invites Viserys to remain with him in Pentos, but Viserys insists upon accompanying Drogo to ensure the khal honors their alliance.[4] Drogo initially ignores Daenerys during the day, but every night, contrary to his behavior at the wedding's consummation, he couples with her roughly, uncaring of her bruises and sores from riding and ignoring her cries of pain, until Daenerys considers suicide. However, Daenerys has a dragon dream that gives her new confidence and strength. Eventually, Daenerys initiates sex with Drogo, marking the beginning of a loving relationship between them. On the far end of the Dothraki sea, on her fourteenth nameday, Daenerys reveals that she is pregnant.[4]
Attendees
From Pentos
Princess Daenerys Targaryen- King Viserys III Targaryen
Magister Illyrio Mopatis
Dothraki
Other guests
Ser Jorah Mormont- Doreah
Quotes
Daenerys Targaryen wed Khal Drogo with fear and barbaric splendor in a field beyond the walls of Pentos, for the Dothraki believed that all things of importance in a man's life must be done beneath the open sky.[1]
—thoughts of Daenerys Targaryen
Magister Illyrio had warned Dany about this too. "A Dothraki wedding without at least three deaths is deemed a dull affair," he had said. Her wedding must have been especially blessed; before the day was over, a dozen men had died.[1]
—thoughts of Daenerys Targaryen
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 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 11, Daenerys II.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 3, Daenerys I.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 5, Tyrion II.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 23, Daenerys III.