Drogo

From A Wiki of Ice and Fire
Revision as of 21:23, 19 March 2013 by Dubq (talk | contribs)
Jump to: navigation, search
Drogo
Amoka drogo.jpg
Artwork by Amoka ©

Alias Great Rider
Title Khal
Race Dothraki
Culture Dothraki
Died 298 AL
Dothraki Sea
Spouse Daenerys Targaryen
Books

Played by Jason Momoa
TV series Season 1 | Season 2
Drogo funeral Pyre. Art By Kim Pope, for the HBO TV adaptation

Khal Drogo is a powerful warlord of the fearsome Dothraki nomads. He marries Daenerys Targaryen and grows to love her, promising to invade Westeros for her sake, but dies before the invasion could begin. In the Game of Thrones TV series Drogo is played by Jason Momoa.

Appearance

Like most Dothraki, Drogo has copper-colored skin, black hair, and black eyes. He is tall and muscular, and moves gracefully. He has a long, drooping mustache and a long braid hung with tiny bells that hangs down to his thighs, symbolizing his status among the Dothraki as an undefeated warlord. See here for more images.

Drogo's favorite horse is a lean red stallion, called simply "the Red," as it is not a Dothraki custom to give individual names to animals.

History

Drogo's father was Khal Bharbo. Cohollo was pledged to the khalakka, or prince, while he was still a child, and saved young Drogo's life from sellswords on one occasion.

From an early age Drogo was an extraordinarily gifted warrior even among the fierce Dothraki; before the age of thirty he led a khalasar forty thousand strong, the largest on the Dothraki Sea. He had never been defeated. Cohollo, Qotho and Haggo served him as bloodriders.

Drogo owned a palace in the sacred Dothraki city of Vaes Dothrak. He also possessed a nine-towered mansion in Pentos, given to him by the city's ruling magisters as part of their policy of bribing the Dothraki not to loot the city.

Khal Drogo. Artwork by Anja Dalisa ©

Recent Events

A Game of Thrones

Illyrio Mopatis, serving as patron to the exiled Viserys and Daenerys Targaryen, arranged a marriage between Princess Daenerys and Khal Drogo during one of Drogo's visits to Pentos. In return for his bride, Drogo was to provide ten thousand Dothraki warriors for her brother's campaign to retake the Iron Throne.[1]

The wedding took place in the traditional Dothraki fashion, with Drogo's entire khalasar gathering in a field outside Pentos for a day-long feast, punctuated with several deadly fights and couples having intercourse in the open. In accordance with tradition, Drogo's bloodriders offered fine weapons - a whip, an arakh, and a dragonbone bow - to the new khaleesi, who then gave them to her husband. Drogo's own gift to his bride was a magnificent silver mare.

Finally he led her off to consummate the marriage. 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 was terrified of her bridegroom and expected to be raped. Despite his fierce reputation, however, Drogo proved to be a surprisingly considerate lover. Although he and Dany shared no common language, he established that he understood the word "no," then began touching her gently. He did not begin to have intercourse with her until Dany expressed her consent and initiated it.[2] This tender wedding night set the tone for their marriage, which would become a remarkably happy one.

As Daenerys' new role as khaleesi took her out of her abusive brother's control, she began to leave behind the timid, passive girl she had been, blossoming into a strong, confident young woman and a natural leader. As Dany learned to speak the Dothraki language, Drogo proved a quick study at picking up the Common Tongue of Westeros, though he retained a barbarous accent. He addressed Dany affectionately as "moon of my life," while she called him "my sun and stars." Drogo treated her with respect and valued her opinions; although he did not understand or share her objections to the traditional Dothraki practices of raping and enslaving conquered peoples, Drogo supported Dany when she ordered his warriors to cease, delighted by his wife's growing courage.[3] The pair grew to love one another deeply.

Drogo's relationship with Viserys, however, was not nearly as felicitous. While Daenerys was respectful of Dothraki culture and eager to learn about and embrace it, her brother showed nothing but contempt for the Dothraki "savages" and was increasingly impatient for the aid Khal Drogo had promised him. The issue finally came to a head when Viserys broke the ancient taboo against bloodshed in Vaes Dothrak by drawing his blade and threatening the life of Daenerys and her unborn child, demanding his crown. Drogo cunningly sidestepped the prohibition against spilling blood in the sacred city by announcing that Viserys would have the crown of gold he deserved, then upending a pot of molten gold over his head, killing him.

In Vaes Dothrak the women of the dosh khaleen proclaimed that Drogo and Daenerys's unborn child would be the Stallion Who Mounts the World, a prophesied leader in Dothraki legend.[4] Drogo had little interest in invading Westeros, a land that held nothing in particular that the Dothraki wanted and was located across the sea, which they had always feared. However, he reconsidered after an assassin tried to kill Dany and claim Robert Baratheon's reward. Enraged by the attempt on his wife's life, Drogo reaffirmed his commitment to conquer the Seven Kingdoms for her sake and seat their son on the throne of her ancestors.[5] He pillaged several towns in Lhazar to harvest slaves to exchange for warships that would take his horde across the sea. While in Lhazar, Drogo's khalasar battled and defeated the rival khalasar of Khal Ogo. Drogo slew Ogo himself, but took a wound to the chest.[3]

Though Drogo was unconcerned with his minor wound, Daenerys convinced him to let Mirri Maz Duur, a Lhazareen maegi she had rescued, make him a poultice. The poultice itched, and Drogo tore it off, causing the wound to fester. Drogo's condition deteriorated until he fell from his horse, a symbolic event in Dothraki culture that indicated he was no longer fit to lead. As he lingered near death, Daenerys convinced Mirri Maz Duur to use her blood magic to preserve his life.[6] The maegi betrayed her in revenge for the attack on her village, and the ritual only returned Drogo to a catatonic state, while causing their child to die in Daenerys' womb. Realizing that Drogo would never return to his former state, Dany smothered him with a pillow and built him a funeral pyre as his khalasar broke apart. She burned his body on the pyre along with Mirri Maz Duur and entered the flames with her petrified dragon eggs. The flames magically traded life for life, killing the maegi and hatching the three dragons while leaving Daenerys unharmed.[7]

A Clash of Kings

Dany names her black hatchling dragon Drogon in honour of the memory of her husband.

A Dance with Dragons

In Meereen Dany closes her eyes and prays to the gods,

Gods, you took Khal Drogo, who was my sun-and-stars. You took our valiant son before he drew breath. You have had your blood of me. Help me now, I pray you. Give me the wisdom to see the path ahead and the strength to do what I must to keep my children safe.

Before her wedding to Hizdahr zo Loraq in Meereen Daenerys thinks to herself that she should be eager with anticipation for her wedding and the night that is to follow. Dany remembers the night of her first wedding, when Khal Drogo had claimed her maidenhead beneath the stranger stars. She remembers how frightened she had been, and how excited. She asks herself will it be the same with Hizdahr? … but she knows in her heart that she is not the girl she was, and he is not her sun-and-stars.

References and Notes