Previous
Chapter 10: Jon
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Game of Thrones, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Politics and Power
Climate Change and Collective Action
Gender and Power
Honor and Integrity
Identity
Summary
Analysis
Dany and Khal Drogo’s wedding takes place in a field outside of Pentos. Khal Drogo’s khalasar, or nomadic band of Dothraki people, is there too—the band consists of about 40,000 people. Before the feast, Viserys asks Illyrio if Khal Drogo will make good on his promise. In exchange for Dany’s hand in marriage, Khal Drogo is supposed to provide Viserys with an army so he can retake the crown from the Usurper. Illyrio says Khal Drogo will fulfill his promise, but there’s no telling exactly when it will happen. Drogo will have to consult Dothraki omens to determine when the time will be right. During the feast, Dothraki men and women have sex in the open. They don’t practice the same customs of shame and privacy that Dany was raised with. Occasionally, fights break out, and several men die—Illyrio says this is a sign of a lively party.
Viserys’s interest in Daenerys’s marriage to Khal Drogo is purely transactional—Viserys treats his sister Daenerys as an object he can trade for personal and political gain. Viserys’s attitude is a reflection of the prevailing patriarchal structure that governs the world in which they live, and Daenerys seemingly has no power to alter the circumstances of her life as a result of that structure. That patriarchal structure seems to be similar among the Dothraki people, as men fight one another to have sex with women without any apparent input from the women themselves.
Themes
Dany is terrified during the wedding but wills herself not to cry. She is also presented with gifts. Viserys gives her three servants. Ser Jorah Mormont gives her books on the history of the Seven Kingdoms. Illyrio gives her a chest of fine silks and three beautiful dragon eggs, which time has turned to stone. They’re a symbol of her family’s past connection with dragons. Now, there are no living dragons. Khal Drogo gives Dany a striking, silver horse. After the wedding, when Dany is alone with Khal Drogo, she begins to cry. Drogo shows her a tenderness she had not expected. She sits and undoes his braid before he undresses her, and the two begin to have sex.
The dragon eggs that Illyrio gives to Daenerys have turned to stone, symbolizing how the Targaryens’ power has calcified over time. The Targaryens were once the most powerful family in the realm but now, only two descendants—Daenerys and Viserys—remain. The horse that Khal Drogo gives Dany builds on a recurring theme in the novel of the important connection between people and animals. The Starks have a deep connection with direwolves, the Targaryens once had a similar connection with dragons, and the Dothraki people have a profound connection with horses. This passage also emphasizes again the lack of power and control Daenerys has over her own life, which is controlled (at this point) by the desires and whims of men.
Themes
