Djenghis Khan Khal in the Dothraki horde

[Mordor]

A more megalomaniac who sees everyone that isn't a Dothraki should be submitted and ruled over, and this person managed to gather all the clans and hordes together, would they be a force to be reckon with? Can they take over Essos, and eventually Westeros?

[Bright Blue Eyes]

Not a chance in hell.

 

The Dothraki are no military threat, not to the smallest of the Free Cities on its own. Tactics from 10,000 BCE, organization is worse, logistics nonexistant.

What they are: the gang members of Planetos. Scary to shopowners and the like, but not exactly up to facing actual soldiers.

[Daemon The Black Dragon]

On 4/28/2016 at 9:23 PM, Bright Blue Eyes said:

Not a chance in hell.

 

The Dothraki are no military threat, not to the smallest of the Free Cities on its own. Tactics from 10,000 BCE, organization is worse, logistics nonexistant.

What they are: the gang members of Planetos. Scary to shopowners and the like, but not exactly up to facing actual soldiers.

They're a threat in Essos. Not a huge military threat but still a threat. Don't some of the Free Cities pay them off, so they don't attack/raid their Cities? 

[Bright Blue Eyes]

It's cheaper. That's it. The cities were never in danger, but the hinterlands are. Protecting them would require building an army large enough to either wipe out the Dothraki or patrol the entire hinterland in force.

[The hairy bear]

I wouldn't dismiss the Dothraki as a laughable threat. It's true that they are undisciplined and lack siege engines, but they have the numbers, all of them are mounted, have battle experience, and can obliterate any army of peasants or green recruits. They would be comparable to some freeriders or sellswords, and outperform most forces in an open field.

Some figures to consider: King's Landing and Oldtown are the two bigger cities of Westeros, with 500 k citizens. then goes Lannisport, with just 300 k. Surely Braavos and Volantis are bigger than that, but the rest of the Free Cities should be around those figures. Using Gibbon's 1% rule that would amount for a professional army of around 5 thousand fighters at most. Meanwhile, Drogo's khalasar had 40 thousand warriors. If only by the numbers, they could easily defeat the smaller Free Cities.

The story of the 3,000 unsullied of Qohor it's also very telling:

“It was four hundred years ago or more, when the Dothraki first rode out of the east, sacking and burning every town and city in their path. The khal who led them was named Temmo. His khalasar was not so big as Drogo’s, but it was big enough. Fifty thousand, at the least. Half of them braided warriors with bells ringing in their hair. The Qohorik knew he was coming. They strengthened their walls, doubled the size of their own guard, and hired two free companies besides, the Bright Banners and the Second Sons. And almost as an afterthought, they sent a man to Astapor to buy three thousand Unsullied. It was a long march back to Qohor, however, and as they approached they saw the smoke and dust and heard the distant din of battle. By the time the Unsullied reached the city the sun had set. Crows and wolves were feasting beneath the walls on what remained of the Qohorik heavy horse. The Bright Banners and Second Sons had fled, as sellswords are wont to do in the face of hopeless odds."

They were just this close to obliterate Qohor. So yes, they are real threat to consider.

 

[House Cambodia]

On 26/04/2016 at 2:06 AM, Mordor said:

A more megalomaniac who sees everyone that isn't a Dothraki should be submitted and ruled over, and this person managed to gather all the clans and hordes together, would they be a force to be reckon with? Can they take over Essos, and eventually Westeros?

Haven'y you just described Show Daenerys, as of the last second of the last episode?

[The Grey Wolf]

Honestly, I have to agree with BBE here.
In the real-world the Dothraki would have been wiped out years ago.
Seriously, they lack siege engines (making taking a city difficult if not impossible if the city can be supplied by the sea).
They fall apart the moment the Khal dies.
They lack infantry and are inflexible in their tactics.
They use weapons that can't pierce through good-quality armor and they don't wear armor at all!!!!!
What's more all the opposition they face is generally laughable. If the Free Cities got serious about dealing with the Dothraki they'd curbstomp them with their superior equipment and versatility not to mention they could easily bribe some Westerosi to come train their militia and fight with the additional sellswords. Plus, they'd have a good incentive to do so, the Dothraki ruined trade in the Grasslands and apparently the Stallion that Mounts the World is also against farming.
Honestly, TWOIAF really makes the Dothraki reputation a problem in that somehow they beat the Ibbenese, the Sarnori, the Qaathi, a Free City, and cities of Slavers Bay in spite of all the aforementioned when seemingly their only advantage are their numbers and the fact that they all know how to ride. Furthermore, the only one that gets explanation are Qohor and Sarnor and even then the latter only a single battle which to me doesn't make much sense when you analyze it.
The Dothraki use a feigned route to encircle a larger enemy. Ok, that makes sense, Hannibal did something similar at Cannae in the real world. What doesn't make sense is how they were able to prevent the Sarnori from breaking out and regrouping. The Sarnori had armor and decent weapons as well as much more numbers. They should have been able to fight their way out, especially when you consider that the Dothraki shouldn't have been able to hit through their armor (similar to how the ancient Persians couldn't hit through the Greek Hoplite's heavy armor), those sycthed chariots (which really don't make sense when they also have cavalry but then again they have women riding with them into war with the men so...) really should made the whole encirclement thing a proper mess, and three, since the Dothraki are all mounted the Sarnori should have been able to easily just attack the horses and pin them underneath them.
As for Qohor, that is an example of many things, the fact that the Free Cities are militarily weak because they don't take war seriously generally speaking, the unreliability of sellswords, and the further arrogance + tactical inflexibility of the Dothraki in latter times but most certainly not that they are a real danger to anyone willing to put up a proper fight that isn't doomed by GRRM from the beginning.

[The Sword of the Evening]

The Stallion who Mounts the World

 

 

It is known.

[Scorpion92]

Yeah, I think the potential of Dany fulfilling the prophecy of Stallion that Mounts the World combined with Dothraki numbers (there are 28 khalasars) and Drogon as their siege weapon (he will burn any gate or city defense from the air) is just massive. 

I see AT LEAST Dany burning and destroying the following cities reading the books: Mereen and Yunkai in Slaver's Bay (Astapor is already a ruin), Volantis, Qohor and Norvos (Dothrakis would want some payback, and Unsullied will not be there to protect them), and Pentos (because she will find out about Illyrio's involvement with fAegon and Blackfyre ambitions), the Triarchy of Lys, Myr and Tyrosh (because they are heavily involved in slavery and we had historical parallels of these three cities uniting and fighting Targaryens).

Thousands and thousands refugees of burned and sacked cities will witness her conquest and convert to religion of Red God which states that she is Azor Ahai. She will have Dothrakis, former slaves and refugees of Free CIties following her to Westeros, which will be known as third mass human migration from Essos to Westeros, after First Men and Andal arrivals. The fleets of destroyed cities will work as transport to move thousands and thousands of Essosi immigrants across Narrow Sea.

By the end of Winds of Winter, I expect Dany to "Fire and Blood" her path across Western Essos and conquer her way to the shores of Narrow Sea. Whoever stays behind (because not everyone will travel with her to Westeros, it is not realistic, or some people might simply hate her for what she is about to do), already in the burned and devastated state, will be destroyed by Long Night, because we know "ghost grass" will cover Dothraki Sea, which is equivalent of nuclear winter to me.

Those who will arrive with her (I expect a lot of ships to drown during the voyage, especially those in Shipbreaker Bay in Stormlands) will not be enough to conquer Westeros: we will have Jon Stark consolidating his power as King in the North and preparing for White Walker invasion (she will not interact with him in A Dream of Spring), Cersei still in power in King's Landing (also will not interact with her), Iron Isles will have their own saga with Aeron as King Priest after Euron's death and Theon as messenger of Bran who will try to warn ironborn of upcoming devastating Long Night (which will drown their islands and population).

Dany will be squaring off with the most powerful enemy of them all at that time - King Aegon VI, proclaimed as such in Starry Sept of Oldtown by High Septon, with Dorne, Stormlands, Reach and Westerlands and parts of other kingdoms (like Crownlands and Riverlands) except North and Iron Isles backing his claim along with popularity among small folk and Faith. 

Second Dance of Dragons will occur, and she will bring more "Fire and Blood" to South of Westeros (burning AT LEAST Highgarden, Oldtown, and Sunspear) and uniting the surviving humans to face the incoming White Walkers. She will participate in Battle for the Dawn on Blue Fork of the Trident, just like she foresaw in the vision of House of the Undying.