The Western Market is one of two markets found at Vaes Dothrak, the other being the Eastern Market.
Market
The Western Market of Vaes Dothrak is a great square of beaten earth. Warrens of mud-baked brick, animals pens, and white-washed drinking halls surround the square. Hummocks lead to cool and cavernous storerooms. Awnings of woven grass shade the market itself, which consists of a maze of stalls and crookback aisles.[1]
Traders from the Free Cities come to the Western Market to sell their wares.[2] While crossing the Dothraki sea to reach Vaes Dothrak, caravans give handsome gifts to khals for safe passage.[3] Although the Dothraki themselves are disinterested in trading, they allow the trading caravans to conduct their business. Traders are expected to remain peaceful in the city, not profane the Mother of Mountains or the Womb of the World, and honor the dosh khaleen with gifts of salt, silver, and seed.[1] Caravan guards are expected to relinquish their blades.[1]
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.[1] Food and ingredients in the market includes garlic, hot pepper, and sausages.[1] Wines from the Free Cities and the Seven Kingdoms are sold in the Western Market.[1]
Recent Events
A Game of Thrones
When the khalasar of Khal Drogo returns to Vaes Dothrak, it passes through the Western Market on the way to his feasting hall near the Eastern Market.[2] When Daenerys Targaryen, Drogo's pregnant bride, eats a stallion heart, her brother Viserys is away seeking wine in the Western Market. When the exile later drunkenly threatens Daenerys during a feast, Drogo has Viserys killed.[4]
Daenerys enjoys spending her mornings at the Eastern Market, but she prefers the Western Market because it reminds her of home. 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 purchases sausages made from horsemeat for her handmaids and khas. She exchanges one of her silver medallions for a feathered cloak from the Summer Isles, acquires a dozen flasks of scented oils, and buys a fertility charm for Doreah. A birdseller teaches a parrot to say Daenerys's name, but she refuses to take the bird.[1]
A wineseller offers a variety of wines, and Daenerys asks to try a summerwine from Dorne. When the wineseller is told Daenerys is a princess, he insists she instead take a cask of dry Arbor red from House Redwyne. Jorah interrupts and demands that the wineseller sample the wine first, but the merchant refuses. Jorah blocks the cask when it is flung at Daenerys, and Doreah prevents the princess from falling. Jhogo trips the wineseller with his whip. When Captain Votyris arrives, he awards the wineseller's wares to Daenerys. Jorah tells Daenerys his suspicions of the wine being poisoned because of a letter he had received from Magister Illyrio Mopatis. The assassination attempt leads Drogo to announce he will lead his khalasar against the Seven Kingdoms.[1]
Quotes
Viserys: I'm tired of eating horsemeat and I'm sick of the stink of these savages.
Jorah: The Western Market will have food more to your taste, Your Grace. The traders from the Free Cities come there to sell their wares.[2]
The markets came alive when a caravan had come in. You could never tell what treasures the traders might bring this time, and it would be good to hear men speaking Valyrian again, as they did in the Free Cities.[1]
—thoughts of Daenerys Targaryen
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 54, Daenerys VI.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 36, Daenerys IV.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Beyond the Free Cities: The Grasslands.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 46, Daenerys V.