Mago's Role with Dany?

[Red Wedding Cake]

So Mago is not dead in the books. And, in fact, he’s going to be a recurring character in Winds of Winter. He’s a particularly nasty bloodrider to one of the other Khals that’s broken away after Drogo dies. This is the challenge the shows face as we go forward. There will be divergences, they’re trying to be faithful and Dan and David are doing a wonderful job. But the books are plotted so intricately that you do step on a butterfly in season one and in season four you’re going to have to deal with that. There’s also another character, [the singer] Marillion, who also got his tongue ripped out in season one, and that doesn’t happen with the books. Joffrey makes that decision, but it’s an unnamed bard. Marillion [has more to do]. We ought to call it The Tongue Effect instead of The Butterfly Effect.

http://shelf-life.ew.com/2011/07/12/george-martin-talks-a-dance-with-dragons/

What, exactly, is Mago's role in TWoW? I'd like to call upon the hivemind to hammer out the possibilities. How important could he be? At most, he could be the next Walder Frey/Bowen Marsh nobody to kill a beloved character. At least, he can be roasted and toasted in Daenerys' first chapter.

We last saw Daenerys with Drogon in the Dothraki Sea with Khal Jhaqo's khalasar around them. She is in a position of power with Drogon by her side, and she has sworn vengeance on Jhaqo and Mago and the rest for the brutality they showed Eroeh. She was raped by his blood riders, and then they slit her throat.

It was a cruel fate, yet not so cruel as Mago's will be. I promise you that, by the old gods and the new, by the lamb god and the horse god and every god that lives. I swear by the Mother of Mountains and the Womb of the World. Before I am done with them, Mago and Ko Jhaqo will plead for the mercy they showed Eroeh. (GoT ch68)

It is noteworthy that we are revisiting a minor character from four books ago. With all the mire Daenerys has found herself in in Mereen, the only explanation that she be separated from the battle is she go on some journey of self discovery. As Quaithe of the Shadow said in Clash of Kings:

To go north, you must journey south, to reach the west you must go east. To go forward you must go back and to touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow. (CoK ch40)

So much of that could have been fulfilled by circumnavigating the world, passing through the shadow lands and attacking Westeros from the East. It is unfortunate GRRM has said Qarth is as far East as we will go. Therefore, I will interpret it as an urge for Daenerys to find herself, as Daenerys imagines Quaithe telling her in less cryptic terms:

Remember who you are, Daenerys, ... The dragons know. Do you? (DwD ch71)

A large reason for Daenerys' long stay in Essos is her attachment to the people. She freed them, and she sees herself as their mother, Mhysa. This is does not work with House Targaryen's words, Fire and Blood. She is mother of dragons. Dragons do not plant trees. The instability of Mereen, Astapor, Yunkai; the dragons burning the children as they grow larger, show Daenerys trying to be something she is not. Daenerys needs to be more like the dragons to go forward.

How can Daenerys interact with Mago to get back in touch with her vengeful side? Let's take a quick firey death off the table for Mago, or even a slow painful torture sprinkled throughout the next 1000 pages. To be a significant recurring character in the Winds of Winter, Mago must either be the hunter or the hunted.

The possibilities of Mago the hunter are slim and slimmer to me. He could escape a firey death, randomly appear later and kill Daenerys with little warning. It is important to note that Mago is Khal Jhaqo's blood rider. Once a khal dies, Dothraki tradition demands the bloodriders live just long enough to avenge him in battle. Perhaps he does capture Daenerys, and instead of killing her she is brought back to Vaes Dothrak to serve in the dosh khaleen with the rest of the widowed khaleesi.

If Mago is hunted, he could flee to Vaes Dothrak. But once there, then what? There doesn't seem to be anywhere else of importance in the Dothraki Sea. GRRM struggled to fill out a Dothraki Sea map outside of Vaes Dothrak.

Does Daenerys just kill Mago and Jhaqo and take their khalasar? There's gotta be more to it than that...

[Red Wedding Cake]

What if the Dothraki are able to kill the dragon? GRRM has a history of building his characters through losing their greatest strength, and the dragons are a huge part of Daenerys' strength. It doesn't seem likely because the only thing that can pierce dragonskin are sharpened weirwood arrows. But it would take the wind out of Daenerys' sails and keep us guessing how she'll make it out of there.

[Bishop Cruz]

What if the Dothraki are able to kill the dragon? GRRM has a history of building his characters through losing their greatest strength, and the dragons are a huge part of Daenerys' strength. It doesn't seem likely because the only thing that can pierce dragonskin are sharpened weirwood arrows. But it would take the wind out of Daenerys' sails and keep us guessing how she'll make it out of there.

That's not entirely true, regular steel weapons CAN kill dragons, old powerful Dragons were flat out killed via attrition in King's Landing during the Dance of the Dragons. Dragons are powerful and fearsome, but nowhere near invincible. I do agree it's unlikely if only because Drogon is not chained up, and he can take to the skies. Then again, all it takes is one lucky shot. Dorne proved that.

[Table8]

I tend to think Mago will serve as the impetus for Dany to turn to the dark side. he's a nobody Dothraki whose earned Dany's wrath for raping and killing a girl. While the girl's death is heinous, it's not something extraordinary considering how barbaric the Dothraki are supposed to be. Dany wants vengeance and I think that hatred will result in something fierce - something that will serve as a crossroads in Dany's life.

Of course it's impossible to predict exactly what will happen. But note - the reason it's so hard is because Mago has barely appeared in the series. If George has plans for Mago, we can only assume its because he will have a serious impact on Dany. This can't be simply another case of Dany carrying out poetic justice - it's got to be something more significant. That significance just might be Dany showing her Targ madness.

[LordToo-Fat-to-Sit-a-Horse]

So Mago is not dead in the books. And, in fact, he’s going to be a recurring character in Winds of Winter.

Recurring character means that Dany is not going to have her dragon eat him immediately. Jhaqo on the Other hand...

Now Bloodriders are supposed to avenge their khals, and take Khaleesis to Vaes Dothrak to join the Dosh Khaleen.

Now of course Mago was not Drogo´s Bloodrider, so it´s unclear if he should take dany to Vaes Dothrak, or just avenge his khal, jhaqo, if dany has him killed.

But Dany needs to visit that city:

To go north, you must journey south, to reach the west you must go east. To go forward you must go back and to touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow.

to me that sounds like returning back.. Pass beneath the shadow (of the Mother of Mountains).. where she will fulfill the HotU vision:

Beneath the Mother of Mountains, a line of naked crones crept from a great lake and knelt shivering before her, their grey heads bowed.

They will declare her as the Stallion who mounts the World and she will unify all the Khallasars under her command..

[Lord Of The Batch Kingdom]

Pass beneath the shadow, I interpreted as going to the Shadowlands. This is where Illyrio procured her dragon eggs and where Quaithe said Dany would find
truth.

If Dany still has this epic Mordor-like, Shadowland excursion to go on its safe to say she isn't showing up in Westeros until Book 7. If she makes it to Westeros at all.

[purake]

Pass beneath the shadow, I interpreted as going to the Shadowlands. This is where Illyrio procured her dragon eggs and where Quaithe said Dany would find

truth.

If Dany still has this epic Mordor-like, Shadowland excursion to go on its safe to say she isn't showing up in Westeros until Book 7. If she makes it to Westeros at all.

ugh this promises for a good read

[WhineHaus]

IIRC, Dany was found by Khal Jhaqo, so she still needs to meet Mago. I wonder how long Drogon will even stick around. Having left Dany alone for most of her last ADWD chapter, it's possible that Drogon flies off after he's finished eating. That would leave Dany by herself and vulnerable.

[Anima]

Pass beneath the shadow, I interpreted as going to the Shadowlands. This is where Illyrio procured her dragon eggs and where Quaithe said Dany would find

truth.

If Dany still has this epic Mordor-like, Shadowland excursion to go on its safe to say she isn't showing up in Westeros until Book 7. If she makes it to Westeros at all.

If you read Red Wedding Cake's post you'll notice he talked about that interpretation and added that GRRM has said that the story wouldn't go farther east than Quarth, so Dany going to the shadowlands will not happen.

[Pod The Impaler]

Look at it this way - the Dothraki have a better chance of killing her than her dragon. Whatever she may be, she is a nearly-naked girl who can die in the blink of an eye. Drogon pretty much goes his own way, too - so just unleashing him on them directly might not be in the cards.

That being said, the Dothraki are a culture of riders who respect the greatness of a mount. What is greater than a dragon - a huge black dragon named after the greatest khal of their lifetime ? These Dothraki would remember her as only Drogo's wife, and never would have guessed she would be able to hatch dragons, let alone ride one. When they left her, she had lost everything with her khal's death. Now what is she to them - a Khaleesi? A Maegi ?

Eroeh was nothing to them, so what we may have here is a parallel of Dunsen, or Polliver being on Arya's death list. Only Dany even remembers her name.

I don't think GRRM is going to give us the straightforward path to her vow of righteous vengeance for Eroeh being fulfilled. The confrontation will not be simple or direct. The gods hear, but somewhere in there is also the "be careful what you wish for".

[Juan_Snow]

I kind of take GRRM's comments here with a grain of salt. You have to keep in mind that ASOIAF is his baby. Any change to him whether large or small may seem like a big deal. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Mago's part ended up being pretty small.

[Bael Abel]

Well, she can't kill him in a bloody way while in Vaes Dothrak, so he could be a recurring part of her arc there, if that is where she is going. I think a quick death by dragon is too kindly for how much Dany hates him. She wants him to suffer, and if we can take clues from what she did to the Great Masters, he won't go cleanly.

[Talking Hodor]

If they were going to take her back to Vaes Dothrak, they would have attempted it in book 1. They don't care about her and underestimated her, to their detriment. Drogon's going to be feasting on some crispy jerked Mago and Jhaqo while Daenerys regains control of her khalasar.

[Talking Hodor]

Daenerys may return to Vaes Dothrak of her own free will, with a khalasar behind her, with the intention of uniting the other khalasars. The crones there could give her their blessing or something, then it's hiyo Silver and away to Westeros!

[Talking Hodor]

Well, she can't kill him in a bloody way while in Vaes Dothrak, so he could be a recurring part of her arc there, if that is where she is going. I think a quick death by dragon is too kindly for how much Dany hates him. She wants him to suffer, and if we can take clues from what she did to the Great Masters, he won't go cleanly.

Dragonfire would kill them without bloodshed.