Crackpot - Daario Naharis

[LordStoneheart]

He's Young Griff's mother.

[bent branch]

They were catapulting dead plague victims, not hostages. Tho Dario may in fact be dead... as we know Barristan wanted the Tattered Prince to rescue the hostages and he has thus far been missing from the battle, we also know that Tyrion is trying to get the second sons to rescue the hostages to show their loyalty to Dany.

Ever since my re-read of Barristan, I have been ruminating on the death of Groleo and the return of Hizdahr's sister and two cousins that were taken hostage. The problem with this is that they returned the wrong hostages. If they wanted to compel Hizdahr to kill the dragons, surely it would have made more sense to keep these three particular hostages. Instead, they returned the hostages against Hizdahr while keeping the hostages they had against Dany, Daario, Hero and Jhogo and killed Groleo.

Selmy observes Groleo's head thus (ADWD-Chapter 59):

"His beard was brown with caked blood, but a trickle of red still leaked from his neck. From the look of him it had taken more than one blow to part his head from his body."

So with this description it appears that this may have not been a straight forward execution. Was Groleo perhaps killed in some other fashion and his head subsequently hacked off to present to Hizdahr? Selmy wonders why they chose Groleo to kill (ADWD-Chapter 59):

Why him of all the hostages? Jhogo, Hero, and Daario Naharis commanded fighting men, but Groleo had been an admiral without a fleet. Did they draw straws, or did they think Groleo the least valuable to us, the least likely to provoke reprisal? the knight asked himself...but it was easier to pose that question than to answer it. I have no skill at unraveling such knots.

Later, in Chapter 67-ADWD, Skahaz mo Kandaq and Selmy discuss the reason the reason Dany's hostages were kept and Hizdahr's returned:

"Tonight," said Skahaz mo Kandaq. The brass face of a blood bat peered out from beneath the hood of his patchwork cloak. "All my men will be in place. The word is Groleo."

"Groleo." That is fitting, I suppose. "Yes. What was done to him...you were at court?"

"One guardsman amongst forty. All waiting for the empty tabard on the throne to speak the command so we might cut down Bloodbeard and the rest. Do you think the Yunkai'i would ever have dared present Daenerys with the head of her hostage?

No, thought Selmy. "Hizdahr seemed distraught."

"Sham. His own kin of Loraq were returned unharmed. You saw. The Yunkai'i played us a mummer's farce, with noble Hizdahr as chief mummer. The issue was never Yurkhaz zo Yunzak. The other slavers would gladly have trampled the that old fool themselves. This was to give Hizdahr a pretext to kill the dragons."

Ser Barristan chewed on that. "Would he dare?"

"He dared to kill his queen. Why not her pets? If we do not act, Hizdahr will hesitate for a time, to give proof of his reluctance and allow the Wise Masters the chance to rid him of the Stormcrow and the bloodrider. Then he will act. They want the dragons dead before the Volantene fleet arrives."

Okay, this is one possible answer for why they returned Groleo's head and kept the other three hostages. But if this was the case, why not start with Daario or Jhogo's head? Groleo truly was the least likely hostage to return if they were trying to send some message about getting rid of people Hizdahr wanted gone. There is something very wrong about this hostage situation and there is still more to be revealed.

There are other passages talking about the hostages, but I need to get to bed so I'll just shortcut to the things I have been contemplating:

1) Dany's hostages were all killed in an escape attempt and Groleo's head was presented and Hizdahr's relatives returned in an attempt to make something of the whole mess.

2) The other three of Dany's hostages escaped and Groleo was killed in retaliation and Hizdahr's relatives were returned in an attempt to have the dragons killed before the escape was noticed. But if Daario, Jhogo and Hero escaped where are they? Why haven't they returned?

3) Dany's hostages were kept to manipulate Selmy. We see that Selmy is deeply concerned about them and is willing to make compromises to get them back. If this is the case, who came up with this plan? It would have to be someone who had been close to Dany's court. Is it Skahaz, Ben Plumm, Reznak, Daario? I am certain that Hizdahr is only a cat's paw. Selmy knows there is something wrong about this situation, but he isn't very good at figuring out nefarious plots.

I really haven't figured out any good explanation for what is going on, but there is definitely something wrong about this whole hostage situation.

[Lady Blizzardborn]

I thought it was theorized that he was the only Blackfyre left to lead 1 of the rebellions in westeros that we know little about.

Yep but since it's only theorized it is open to interpretation, plus he could have fathered children (daughters) before even if he did lead one of the rebellions. Also there were three other children Daemon had whose names we don't know. Maelys was descended from one of those younger three. So there's still room for Daario in the family tree. :D

[MaesterSam]

The only possibility I have for daario is perhaps a bastard of aerion brightflame, do I agree with this and thinj its true? No but if He is anyone other than just daario thats where my money is

I lean toward this also. It would give us the bright dragon Moqorro prophesied earlier in his "dragons old and young, bright and dark, true and false" speech.

[Lazy Sparrow]

I suppose he could also be baby Aegon, though this would make him only a year or so older than Dany.

Really I think Daario is just Daario. His slightly Valyrian characteristics could just be the partial Valyrian blood of the Free Cities, and to add a layer to Dany's attraction to him.

[Lady Blizzardborn]

Who is Daario Naharis and whats his beef, there's no note of his age, other than hes older than Dany. He's got eyes that are "almost purple" and he obviously dyes his hair..... secret Targ, possible Rhaegar??? Dont actually believe it myself, but opinions please

:drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:

He's the last Blackfyre, descended either from Haegon or from one of Daemon's nameless daughters in Tyrosh.

[plectrum]

unless he is euron who is howland who is lady stoneheart who is arthur dayne who is rhaegar again who is oberyn who is ned dayne who is varys

I'm working on a theory that everyone in ASOIAF is secretly everyone else. The whole story is really just one dude talking to himself in the mirror. Probably Bran.

[Jak Scaletongue]

I'm working on a theory that everyone in ASOIAF is secretly everyone else. The whole story is really just one dude talking to himself in the mirror. Probably Bran.

Can't wait to read that one! It would explain sooo much!

[bemused]

But seriously, folks.. there is more to Daario than meets the eye.. I'm sure he has an agenda, as so many do..

This doesn't mean that the advice he gives Dany is bad advice, and it doesn't mean that he doesn't actually care for her.. I tend to think their relationship is "not to be" anyway, but my money is on - He will turn out not to be such an unsuitable match for Dany, after all.. or not for the reasons she thinks.

(She thinks he's unsuitable so often, it's just begging for a contradiction.)

But I don't think he's a secret Targaryen, or Dayne, or Blackfyre or Brightflame. ... I do think it's well within the realm of possibility that he could be a secret Martell, though - a son of Oberyn. All the bastards that Oberyn has recognised publicly have been daughters, but that doesn't mean we've seen all of them. And that doesn't mean he has only produced daughters. He may have had very good reason for being reticent about recognising any sons he might have had.. and particularly Daario, if he is Oberyn's son.

Oberyn travelled widely in the free cities, signed the Martell/Targaryen marriage pact, spent time in the Second Sons (for research?). Would the interested parties in the pact not think that a sellsword company would provide Viserys with a core army when he returned (a la the Blackfyres)? .. But it should be one you can trust ..We know Oberyn did form a company. We just don't know exactly when.

Even for the time Oberyn was supposed to be in Dorne (after his known travels), he was rarely seen in public, so he could have had secret trips to Essos . Now I want to bring up the whole plan involving Arianne and the Archon's daughter. I can't imagine that would be the sort of thing that would be arranged and agreed by letter, or even entrusted to a regular emissary, so I imagine that was all arranged by Oberyn as well.

The triumverate of captains leading the Stormcrows seems a rather cautious arrangement for a sellsword company (Generally just out to fight for gold, how many opinions are necessary, to lead?) but it could be a good arrangement, if (for x number of years) one was a boy/ young man learning to lead.

It's always seemed very odd that the company just went with Daario when he took over..no muss, no fuss.. in spite of the fact that he was choosing the less lucrative offer, murdering his two "peers" and appeared to be placing his men's lives on the line merely because he lusted after Dany.. I don't buy that a good number of the men wouldn't have stood with Prendahl and Sallor, causing mayhem in the company. ... But if most of the company knew that Daario was to be their real leader, while Prendahl and Sallor were just safety mechanisms that year by year served less purpose - then, siding with Daario makes more sense.

Their uncommon loyalty to Daario will be noted in one of Barristan's TWoW chapters... and may not be unlike the kind of devoted following Oberyn inspired in Dorne

Daario has noticeable similarities to Oberyn, though not physical. Both are libertines ( or at least have strong sexual appetites) and both are ruthless. Daario can be reckless.. but wasn't Oberyn a bit reckless (perhaps more so in his youth)?

I can't believe Daario's absolute fury over Quentyn's proposal.. He's not so infuriated over Hizdahr's proposal and Dany's acceptance.. Yes, Quentyn lied, and had secrets.. him and probably half the sellswords in Essos. So where does this anger come from? Think of the way Daario snatched the document first.. He had to realise that move was a no-no. I rather suspect it could have been because it was coming from Dorne (He might even have had an inkling of what it might be.).. and before the document turned up, he may have seen himself as possibly being able to fill the same role as Quentyn.

Imagine for a moment that he is Oberyn's son and that he knew he was being groomed to lead Viserys' sellsword company when the time came.. Perhaps he was to have been introduced to Viserys in Tyrosh at the same time as Arianne. Then, Viserys was killed.. Dany was married off and then disappeared for a while... Before other plans could be made for Daario, Oberyn was killed. (Doran may not even know of his existence, since he hasn't been publicly recognised).. But when Dany appears in Slaver's Bay .. maybe he thinks he can get her to 'marry' Dorne after all (in his own person).

One thing is for sure... the level of his anger over Quentyn misrepresenting himself simply doesn't stand up to scrutiny. As for Quentyn being a rival, Quentyn would only truly be a rival if there was some sort of equivalency between them, so just maybe they're more equivalent than it seems.

There are two more things that may be suspicious... 1) Daario's "girls".. and 2) poison.

1) Is Daario's frequent caressing of the hilts of his weapons really just meant to be suggestive? ..or is it also a "tell" (something similar to the way Jon flexes his hand when thinking or facing a hard decision). Why does he make a point of entrusting his girls to Dany when there may have been other ways to keep them safe. If he died, it would hardly matter to him that they were safe (if they were normal, though valuable weapons). I've wondered in the past if there could be some proof of his identity or of some purpose hidden inside the hilts ...or if some master armourer might turn up who made them and could attest to who ordered them and why.. Just speculation... but if Daario is sincere when he calls Dany "beloved", his girls may reveal something about him that he might want her to know if he should die.

“I will leave my girls with you,” her captain had said, handing her his sword belt and its gilded

wantons. “Keep them safe for me, beloved. We would not want them making bloody mischief amongst the Yunkai’i.”

Of course , like some posters above, I'm not sure there has not been bloody mischief made amongst the Yunkai'i, and I think Daario would be all for it, may even expect it... But though they're the weapons he's used to, and would therefore fight most comfortably with, he wants Dany to have custody of the girls.

And if we're tempted to engage in word play.. Think of the way "sword" has been used as a euphemism.."a bloody sword is a beautiful thing", and so on.. His sword belt has not one but two blades (his "wantons")* ... and they're "gilded". Makes me think of "gilding the lily". Well, Dany finds him sexually attractive, and from her POVs we know he's sexually adept.. but put together with his wild claims of the numbers of women he's had (hundreds, no, thousands), I definitely think more is being made of his wantoness, to perhaps obscure other motivations.

* We don't know either of his parents, and he may also be a bastard in whom the ambitions or bloodlines of two families could come together in an important way.

2) There've been a number of instances of Daario, Quentyn and poison being mentioned almost in the same breath, to the extent that I'm pretty sure GRRM is being playful with us.

First, Barristan warns Quentyn to leave Meereen because after the attempt to poison Dany (and possibly Hizdahr), Quentyn would make an excellent scapegoat.

“The Red Viper was your uncle. And you have good reason to want King Hizdahr dead.”

“So do others,” suggested Gerris Drinkwater. “Naharis, for one. The queen’s …”

*****

..... “Daario would kill Hizdahr in a heartbeat if he dared,” Ser Barristan went on. “But not with

poison. Never. And Daario was not there in any case. ..."

But after the delivery of Groleo's head, while discussing rescuing Dany's other hostages with Skahaz, Barristan thinks..

Her love for Daario is poison. A slower poison than the locusts, but in the end as deadly.

And later he has this exchange with Hizdahr..

“Tell me true,” Ser Barristan said, “did you ever love her, even a little? Or was it just the crown you lusted for?”

“Lust? You dare speak to me of lust?” The king’s mouth twisted in anger. “I lusted for the crown,

aye … but not half so much as she lusted for her sellsword. Perhaps it was her precious captain who tried to poison her, for putting him aside. And if I had eaten of his locusts too, well, so much the better.”

“Daario is a killer but not a poisoner.” Ser Barristan moved closer to the king.

Over the course of these exchanges, Oberyn is brought up right away to make sure he's in the back of our minds. Then a Dornishman links Daario and poison. Barristan shoots that down, but next, he thinks Dany's love for Daario is poison (and we all know Daario worked at trying to make Dany love him), so, then?....

Then Hizdahr links lust, Daario and poison together for us ( just as, five books in, our minds would link lust, Oberyn and poison)..True, Barristan is speaking of Hizdahr's lust for the crown..Hizdahr speaks of Dany's lust for Daario .. but we know they share lust for each other.

Of Dany, Barristan thinks.. She loves Daario. He had seen it in her eyes when she looked at him, heard it in her voice when she spoke of him.

And I think if he were to put the same question to Daario that he asks Hizdahr.. "Did you ever love her, even a little ?" , the answer would certainly be yes, and calling her beloved at their last meeting was sincere. But whether that will matter, who can say?

I suspect that GRRM is toying with us - hinting at connections, but blurring the lines.

ETA: Meant to say, Barristan's final opinion is that Daario would not use poison. If we look at the bastards we know Oberyn had.. not all of them are prone to using poison, so I'm not too put off by that.

Edited again for clarity.

[Daendrew]

Benjaario Mopatis, it is known.

[Daendrew]

It is odd that Dany mentions his eyes are almost purple three times.

The only other person to make that statement is Dunk when he met Egg for the first time.

Could he be a Blackfyre/Brightflame descendant?

http://asearchoficeandfire.com/?q=almost+purple&scope%5B%5D=agot&scope%5B%5D=adwd&scope%5B%5D=twoiaf&scope%5B%5D=acok&scope%5B%5D=thk&scope%5B%5D=trp&scope%5B%5D=asos&scope%5B%5D=tss&scope%5B%5D=tpatq&scope%5B%5D=affc&scope%5B%5D=tmk

[Viking]

Daario is Nissa Nissa, you heard it here first.

[Lord Wraith]

He's Young Griff's mother.

Read the post pure brilliance. I :laugh:

But seriously, folks.. there is more to Daario than meets the eye.. I'm sure he has an agenda, as so many do..

This doesn't mean that the advice he gives Dany is bad advice, and it doesn't mean that he doesn't actually care for her.. I tend to think their relationship is "not to be" anyway, but my money is on - He will turn out not to be such an unsuitable match for Dany, after all.. or not for the reasons she thinks.

(She thinks he's unsuitable so often, it's just begging for a contradiction.)

But I don't think he's a secret Targaryen, or Dayne, or Blackfyre or Brightflame. ... I do think it's well within the realm of possibility that he could be a secret Martell, though - a son of Oberyn. All the bastards that Oberyn has recognised publicly have been daughters, but that doesn't mean we've seen all of them. And that doesn't mean he has only produced daughters. He may have had very good reason for being reticent about recognising any sons he might have had.. and particularly Daario, if he is Oberyn's son.

Oberyn travelled widely in the free cities, signed the Martell/Targaryen marriage pact, spent time in the Second Sons (for research?). Would the interested parties in the pact not think that a sellsword company would provide Viserys with a core army when he returned (a la the Blackfyres)? .. But it should be one you can trust ..We know Oberyn did form a company. We just don't know exactly when.

Even for the time Oberyn was supposed to be in Dorne (after his known travels), he was rarely seen in public, so he could have had secret trips to Essos . Now I want to bring up the whole plan involving Arianne and the Archon's daughter. I can't imagine that would be the sort of thing that would be arranged and agreed by letter, or even entrusted to a regular emissary, so I imagine that was all arranged by Oberyn as well.

The triumverate of captains leading the Stormcrows seems a rather cautious arrangement for a sellsword company (Generally just out to fight for gold, how many opinions are necessary, to lead?) but it could be a good arrangement, if (for x number of years) one was a boy/ young man learning to lead.

It's always seemed very odd that the company just went with Daario when he took over..no muss, no fuss.. in spite of the fact that he was choosing the less lucrative offer, murdering his two "peers" and appeared to be placing his men's lives on the line merely because he lusted after Dany.. I don't buy that a good number of the men wouldn't have stood with Prendahl and Sallor, causing mayhem in the company. ... But if most of the company knew that Daario was to be their real leader, while Prendahl and Sallor were just safety mechanisms that year by year served less purpose - then, siding with Daario makes more sense.

Their uncommon loyalty to Daario will be noted in one of Barristan's TWoW chapters... and may not be unlike the kind of devoted following Oberyn inspired in Dorne

Daario has noticeable similarities to Oberyn, though not physical. Both are libertines ( or at least have strong sexual appetites) and both are ruthless. Daario can be reckless.. but wasn't Oberyn a bit reckless (perhaps more so in his youth)?

I can't believe Daario's absolute fury over Quentyn's proposal.. He's not so infuriated over Hizdahr's proposal and Dany's acceptance.. Yes, Quentyn lied, and had secrets.. him and probably half the sellswords in Essos. So where does this anger come from? Think of the way Daario snatched the document first.. He had to realise that move was a no-no. I rather suspect it could have been because it was coming from Dorne (He might even have had an inkling of what it might be.).. and before the document turned up, he may have seen himself as possibly being able to fill the same role as Quentyn.

Imagine for a moment that he is Oberyn's son and that he knew he was being groomed to lead Viserys' sellsword company when the time came.. Perhaps he was to have been introduced to Viserys in Tyrosh at the same time as Arianne. Then, Viserys was killed.. Dany was married off and then disappeared for a while... Before other plans could be made for Daario, Oberyn was killed. (Doran may not even know of his existence, since he hasn't been publicly recognised).. But when Dany appears in Slaver's Bay .. maybe he thinks he can get her to 'marry' Dorne after all (in his own person).

One thing is for sure... the level of his anger over Quentyn misrepresenting himself simply doesn't stand up to scrutiny. As for Quentyn being a rival, Quentyn would only truly be a rival if there was some sort of equivalency between them, so just maybe they're more equivalent than it seems.

There are two more things that may be suspicious... 1) Daario's "girls".. and 2) poison.

1) Is Daario's frequent caressing of the hilts of his weapons really just meant to be suggestive? ..or is it also a "tell" (something similar to the way Jon flexes his hand when thinking or facing a hard decision). Why does he make a point of entrusting his girls to Dany when there may have been other ways to keep them safe. If he died, it would hardly matter to him that they were safe (if they were normal, though valuable weapons). I've wondered in the past if there could be some proof of his identity or of some purpose hidden inside the hilts ...or if some master armourer might turn up who made them and could attest to who ordered them and why.. Just speculation... but if Daario is sincere when he calls Dany "beloved", his girls may reveal something about him that he might want her to know if he should die.

“I will leave my girls with you,” her captain had said, handing her his sword belt and its gilded

wantons. “Keep them safe for me, beloved. We would not want them making bloody mischief amongst the Yunkai’i.”

Of course , like some posters above, I'm not sure there has not been bloody mischief made amongst the Yunkai'i, and I think Daario would be all for it, may even expect it... But though they're the weapons he's used to, and would therefore fight most comfortably with, he wants Dany to have custody of the girls.

And if we're tempted to engage in word play.. Think of the way "sword" has been used as a euphemism.."a bloody sword is a beautiful thing", and so on.. His sword belt has not one but two blades (his "wantons")* ... and they're "gilded". Makes me think of "gilding the lily". Well, Dany finds him sexually attractive, and from her POVs we know he's sexually adept.. but put together with his wild claims of the numbers of women he's had (hundreds, no, thousands), I definitely think more is being made of his wantoness, to perhaps obscure other motivations.

* We don't know either of his parents, and he may also be a bastard in whom the ambitions or bloodlines of two families could come together in an important way.

2) There've been a number of instances of Daario, Quentyn and poison being mentioned almost in the same breath, to the extent that I'm pretty sure GRRM is being playful with us.

First, Barristan warns Quentyn to leave Meereen because after the attempt to poison Dany (and possibly Hizdahr), Quentyn would make an excellent scapegoat.

“The Red Viper was your uncle. And you have good reason to want King Hizdahr dead.”

“So do others,” suggested Gerris Drinkwater. “Naharis, for one. The queen’s …”

*****

..... “Daario would kill Hizdahr in a heartbeat if he dared,” Ser Barristan went on. “But not with

poison. Never. And Daario was not there in any case. ..."

But after the delivery of Groleo's head, while discussing rescuing Dany's other hostages with Skahaz, Barristan thinks..

Her love for Daario is poison. A slower poison than the locusts, but in the end as deadly.

And later he has this exchange with Hizdahr..

“Tell me true,” Ser Barristan said, “did you ever love her, even a little? Or was it just the crown you lusted for?”

“Lust? You dare speak to me of lust?” The king’s mouth twisted in anger. “I lusted for the crown,

aye … but not half so much as she lusted for her sellsword. Perhaps it was her precious captain who tried to poison her, for putting him aside. And if I had eaten of his locusts too, well, so much the better.”

“Daario is a killer but not a poisoner.” Ser Barristan moved closer to the king.

Over the course of these exchanges, Oberyn is brought up right away to make sure he's in the back of our minds. Then a Dornishman links Daario and poison. Barristan shoots that down, but next, he thinks Dany's love for Daario is poison (and we all know Daario worked at trying to make Dany love him), so, then?....

Then Hizdahr links lust, Daario and poison together for us ( just as, five books in, our minds would link lust, Oberyn and poison)..True, Barristan is speaking of Hizdahr's lust for the crown..Hizdahr speaks of Dany's lust for Daario .. but we know they share lust for each other.

Of Dany, Barristan thinks.. She loves Daario. He had seen it in her eyes when she looked at him, heard it in her voice when she spoke of him.

And I think if he were to put the same question to Daario that he asks Hizdahr.. "Did you ever love her, even a little ?" , the answer would certainly be yes, and calling her beloved at their last meeting was sincere. But whether that will matter, who can say?

I suspect that GRRM is toying with us - hinting at connections, but blurring the lines.

ETA: Meant to say, Barristan's final opinion is that Daario would not use poison. If we look at the bastards we know Oberyn had.. not all of them are prone to using poison, so I'm not too put off by that.

Edited again for clarity.

I wondered this. Always thought there was more to the Dornish plan than was apparent.

Well since we are talking crackpot perhaps its Gerion Lannister but he's probably the Shrouded Lord.

[Lord Neddard Stark]

I wonder how many characters in the series would drop dead if Daario died.