Eroeh and Hazzea

[Red Helm]

In A Dance with Dragons, Daenerys's arc is one of inner conflict, as her identity as a Targaryen and as the Mhysa war over her soul. And such an inner conflict stems from the broader themes of war and peace within the Meereen arc, mixed in the rest of the Meereenese brilliance such as philosophical insights into freedom and slavery, analyzing the nature of decadent societies, and so on and so forth. But in my mind the contrast between Eroeh and Hazzea-completed by Daenerys X-is the absolute climax of Daenerys and her A Dance with Dragons arc by illustrating the inner struggle Daenerys goes through perfectly and the essence of Daenerys's nature.

In A Game of Thrones Daenerys rescues Eroeh, a young girl whose people-the Lhazareen-became the unfortunate victims of a Dothraki attack. Daenerys-in a role acting as a precursor to her eventual Mhysa identity-rescues this young girl due to her motherly, compassionate, tender side; Eroeh is killed because of this compassion and tenderness; raped and murdered by Mago (the very man Eroeh was rescued from) to spite Daenerys for stealing his "mount." And how does Daenerys respond to this revelation in A Game of Thrones? With rage, with utter, burning hatred. She vows to avenge Eroeh by making Mago and his ilk plead for the mercy that Eroeh never received. In short, Daenerys responds as a Targaryen; she is channel the blood and fury that is so central to the words and ways of House Targaryen in that vow.

In A Dance with Dragons Hazzea, like Eroeh, is killed as a result of Daenerys's actions. However, the nature of those actions fundamentally differ from the motherly, compassionate ones Daenerys took to rescue Eroeh; Hazzea died because of Daenerys's wroth and the fire and blood she unleashed on Slavery's Bay, epitomized by the fact that it is a dragon, the very embodiment of the Targaryen words, that does the killing. Hazzea is killed by actions opposite in nature to the ones that led to Eroeh's death. How does Daenerys respond? She tries to wholly reject her Targaryen heritage in favor of fully becoming the Mhysa. She rejects her Targaryen nature, fire and blood, and sues for peace at the expense of her happiness, body, and soul.

So a clear contrast has formed: when Eroeh died because of compassion and tenderness, Daenerys responds by embracing her heritage to its fullest extent. When Hazzea dies because of Targaryen nature, Daenerys responds to rejecting her heritage. And in the end, the Targaryen side wins out and this is marked when Daenerys forgets Hazzea's name. The very catalyst that caused Daenerys to reject her House and its principles is one that soon fades, whereas Eroeh burns as brightly as ever in the mind of Daenerys. Eroeh burns as brightly as ever because Daenerys responded to that injustice by embracing her Targaryen nature, for Daenerys is, and always will be, a Targaryen.

Indeed, the importance of House principles and heritage is a recurring theme in our author's magnum opus, such as the importance of Family, Duty, Honor to Catelyn's character, or Winter is Coming to Ned, who, like Daenerys, rejects his heritage-albeit unwittingly-and, like Daenerys, pays for it.

Eroeh and Hazzea are not the whole of Daenerys and her arc in A Dance with Dragons, but the contrast is a highly important one for it profoundly illustrates how Daenerys will always be a Targaryen and how rejecting her heritage will always be ultimately futile. The inner conflict Daenerys experiences in A Dance with Dragons reaches its resolution and climax when she forgets Hazzea's name, and I applaud George R. R. Martin (I doubt it's a coincidence two young girls die because of Daenerys's actions that are opposite in nature) for illustrating Daenerys's identity and inner conflict through such a deeply sad, but beautifully written, contrast.

[Walda]

Thankyou. That is a very insightful post.

There is also the internal conflict between the freed slaves of Yunkai calling her Mhysa, and the spectators at the fighting pits calling her Mhysa.

Dany did not really free Eroeh, she took her as her own servant. The scathing things Mirri Maz Duur said about her own 'rescue' apply to Eroeh as well. Hazzea never was a slave - although she was the reason her dragons were put into chains. There is a possibility Hazzea might have been killed by the Sons of the Harpy, a tool to rid them of the dragon threat, or at least make them easier to kill.

Judging from Hazzea's father's appearance ("a squat man with a windburnt face, shabbily dressed. His hair was a cap of coarse red-black wire cropped about his ears"(ADwD, Ch.02 Daenerys I)), she might have been Lhazarene, like Eroeh.

About the same time, we learn that Daario found some Yunkai attempting to block the Khysai pass, and the Qartheen, with help from Tolodos and New Ghis, have already made it impossible for the Lhazarene to supply Meereen with food by barge down the Skahazadhan, even if they wanted to. I can't see the lamb men regarding the dragons or Daario with any fondness, but to go West, Dany must go East, and Lhazaar is East of Meereen.

[Lord Asher Forrester]

On 26/04/2016 at 7:01 AM, Walda said:

Thankyou. That is a very insightful post.

There is also the internal conflict between the freed slaves of Yunkai calling her Mhysa, and the spectators at the fighting pits calling her Mhysa.

Dany did not really free Eroeh, she took her as her own servant. The scathing things Mirri Maz Duur said about her own 'rescue' apply to Eroeh as well. Hazzea never was a slave - although she was the reason her dragons were put into chains. There is a possibility Hazzea might have been killed by the Sons of the Harpy, a tool to rid them of the dragon threat, or at least make them easier to kill.

Judging from Hazzea's father's appearance ("a squat man with a windburnt face, shabbily dressed. His hair was a cap of coarse red-black wire cropped about his ears"(ADwD, Ch.02 Daenerys I)), she might have been Lhazarene, like Eroeh.

About the same time, we learn that Daario found some Yunkai attempting to block the Khysai pass, and the Qartheen, with help from Tolodos and New Ghis, have already made it impossible for the Lhazarene to supply Meereen with food by barge down the Skahazadhan, even if they wanted to. I can't see the lamb men regarding the dragons or Daario with any fondness, but to go West, Dany must go East, and Lhazaar is East of Meereen.

Nice topic Red Helm and nice post Walda, Maybe you're right, that can be some foreshadow of Dany going to Lhazaar or even more to the east before going to the west. I got nothing to add, just wanted to congratulate you two.

[JonCon's Red Beard]

I think it's also important to remember the figure of MMD here. She's also another woman Dany tried to save, and it ended up bad. Dany kind of assumed that saving her, MMD would be grateful. I'm not saying she thought MMD would try to thank her, but that at least she would feel she was given a great gift. At the end, MMD bit her back, so to speak. MMD is then what is happening in Slaver's Bay, specially in Astapor and Yunkai: she freed those cities and it ended up a disaster. The whole arc of Dany is meant to be seen as a cautionary tale against "messianic complex", and a deviation of the Saviour trope.

On 26/4/2016 at 2:01 AM, Red Helm said:

So a clear contrast has formed: when Eroeh died because of compassion and tenderness, Daenerys responds by embracing her heritage to its fullest extent. When Hazzea dies because of Targaryen nature, Daenerys responds to rejecting her heritage. And in the end, the Targaryen side wins out and this is marked when Daenerys forgets Hazzea's name. The very catalyst that caused Daenerys to reject her house and its principles is one that soon fades, whereas Eroeh burns as brightly as ever in the mind of Daenerys. Eroeh burns as brightly as ever because Daenerys responded to that injustice by embracing her Targaryen nature, for Daenerys is, and always will be, a Targaryen.

On 26/4/2016 at 2:01 AM, Red Helm said:

Indeed, the importance of House principles and heritage is a recurring theme in our author's magnum opus, such as the importance of Family, Duty, Honor to Catelyn's character, or Winter is Coming to Ned, who, like Daenerys, rejects his heritage-albeit unwittingly-and, like Daenerys, pays for it.

 

Agree too. The fact that the Targaryen words are somehow indication of violence, doesn't mean they are bad by itself. Dany should embrace them and knowing how to act accordingly: does she wants to be Jaehaerys or Maegor? She has used Maegor's name to threaten, but she doesn't want to be that, just like Jaime doesn't want to take over Tywin's role and send babies away with trebuchets. But he has to at least play the role if he wants things be done.

[Princess of Dragonflies]

Very insightful and gives me a reason to re-evaluate Dany as a character. Up to now, she annoyed me with her 'blood of the dragon and rightful ruler of Westeros' but wasting hella time in Slaver's bay. 

[Red Helm]

1 hour ago, Princess of Dragonflies said:

Very insightful and gives me a reason to re-evaluate Dany as a character. Up to now, she annoyed me with her 'blood of the dragon and rightful ruler of Westeros' but wasting hella time in Slaver's bay. 

I think one of the reasons A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons (therefore Meereen by extension) are lambasted as filler is because some people see A Song of Ice and Fire as nothing more than an entertaining pop-culture genre piece, thus when the series began to concern itself with philosophy and thematic richness at a much deeper level it came as a shock to some. It's instead perceived as filler as oppose to an analysis with rich themes and philosophical insights because of how unexpected the turn was (though thematic brilliance and philosophy was mostly certainly present in our story's Prologue and Act I).

If someone disliked the last two books because they were not entertained and disliked the slower pacing/geographical split, fine. Subjectivity and all. I do, however, think it's highly unfair to lambaste those two books as nothing but cheap, shallow filler that ruined the series by defiling its core or something.

[Sullen]

Interesting read, I agree with most of it.

It should be noted that Dany rejects the identity of the peace-seeking mother in her last chapters of A Dance with Dragons during her dysentery-induced hallucination bonanza though, reinforcing the dichotomy you suggested, and the fact that the Targaryen side is the stronger one. (For now, at least)

Personally, I think she's going to go to some very dark places in the upcoming novels, she'll embody destruction and lay waste to Westeros, only to revert to the "Mhysa" identity when she realizes she has to stop the Others, and die in the process.