Did Dany already solve the Dothraki problem?

[falcotron]

There have been a few threads on how Dany will get the Dothraki to integrate into Westerosi society.

But I just caught Dany's big speech in S6E06 (a friend of mine is bingeing the show to catch up), and I noticed that she declares the entire khalasar of khalasars to be her bloodriders, and they all roar in approval.

Did the show establish what a bloodrider's job is? Because in the books, that would mean that when Dany dies, all of the Dothraki have to commit suicide. Which pretty much solves the problem.

[jcmontea]

They could do that. 

Or they could go the Dany is their god route so if she says this is their new way of life than this is their new way of life period. 

I don’t think bloodrider suicide was ever explained in the show though. 

But would be funny if they went this route. That would make her the living equivalent of the Night King... the Day Queen. Kill her and the bulk of the army dies. 

[MinscS2]

On 2017-10-03 at 10:42 AM, falcotron said:

Did the show establish what a bloodrider's job is?

Not really.  I'm not a book-reader (don't hate me ) and the fact that bloodriders need to commit suicide if their khal (or in this case, khaleesi) dies is news to me. In fact, we see none of Drogos bloodriders commit suicide after he got turned into a vegetable or when he died (or did Drogo have no other bloodriders than Qotho?), and we saw none of Moro's bloodriders (or any of the other khals that Dany burned) commit suicide either. I always assumed that Qhono was a bloodrider to Moro, and he didn't seem to hesitate about switching to Dany after she killed Moro, but perhaps he wasn't a bloodrider to Moro in the first place, just someone in his khalasar

If they had established that bloodriders need to commit suicide, then that would've sort the "issue" however: As long as Dany lives, she can keep her dothraki in line as they unquestioningly follow her command (don't want to upset our new godess do we?), and if Dany dies they commit suicide. I guess we'll find out in S8 if this will be something that needs to be sorted. If Dany survives I'd say given enough time, the dothraki would be able to integrate themselves with the westerosi population. It's not like the dothraki women and children need to be weaned into a lifestyle not made up from raping and pillaging anyway, just the men, and we'll see how many of those that actually survives.  

Valar Morghulis. 

 

[falcotron]

13 minutes ago, MinscS2 said:

Not really.  I'm not a book-reader (don't hate me ) and the fact that bloodriders need to commit suicide if their khal (or in this case, khaleesi) dies is news to me.

Not a problem at all. In fact, someone who follows the show closely but doesn't read the novels is exactly who I was hoping to get a reply from. The fact that it's news to you pretty much answers my question.

In case you're interested, this is first (I think) mentioned in AGoT Daenerys IV:

Quote

Every khal had his bloodriders. At first Dany had thought of them as a kind of Dothraki Kingsguard, sworn to protect their lord, but it went further than that. Jhiqui had taught her that a bloodrider was more than a guard; they were the khal’s brothers, his shadows, his fiercest friends. “Blood of my blood,” Drogo called them, and so it was; they shared a single life. The ancient traditions of the horselords demanded that when the khal died, his bloodriders died with him, to ride at his side in the night lands. If the khal died at the hands of some enemy, they lived only long enough to avenge him, and then followed him joyfully into the grave.

Dany then goes on to think that another of the "ancient ways" is that the bloodriders share the khal's wine, his tent, and even his wives (but of course never his horses), and she's glad that Drogo doesn't hold to that rule. Which means that maybe not every khalasar holds to the rule about bloodriders following their khal into death, either. But I'm pretty sure if Dany's deathbed wish were for all of her bloodriders to follow her into the grave, the vast majority of them would do so joyfully.

Of course this whole thing was somewhat facetious. If the show does decide assimilating the Dothraki is a problem to be solved, I doubt they're going to solve it by having all the Dothraki commit suicide. That would be a little harsh as message on immigration…

But I'll be pretty surprised if Dany makes all of the Dothraki her bloodriders in the books, because that would be saying that the entire race are now an extension of her life, to live with her and die with her and ride the night lands with her.*

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* Also because in the books, she still has her original three bloodriders.

[MinscS2]

7 hours ago, falcotron said:

Not a problem at all. In fact, someone who follows the show closely but doesn't read the novels is exactly who I was hoping to get a reply from. The fact that it's news to you pretty much answers my question.

Aye that's a fair point. Ultimately a book reader and a non-reader might have different perspectives on the show as the book reader will (for better or worse) be influenced by the books while the non reader only has the show to draw info from. 

7 hours ago, falcotron said:

In case you're interested, this is first (I think) mentioned in AGoT Daenerys IV:

Dany then goes on to think that another of the "ancient ways" is that the bloodriders share the khal's wine, his tent, and even his wives (but of course never his horses), and she's glad that Drogo doesn't hold to that rule. Which means that maybe not every khalasar holds to the rule about bloodriders following their khal into death, either. But I'm pretty sure if Dany's deathbed wish were for all of her bloodriders to follow her into the grave, the vast majority of them would do so joyfully.

That's interesting, and as you say Drogo clearly didn't seem to hold to that rule, at least not on the show. Could explain why they left the true meaning of a bloodrider on the wayside in season 1 and just used the term as someone who is closer to the Khal than his regular riders.

In regards to Daenerys deathbed; they'd need to expand on what it means to actually be a bloodrider on the show if that were to happen though, otherwise it would come across as both very cruel and very strange to have Daenerys "force" her entire dothraki horde to commit suicide, not to mention that the audience would be totally confused as to why the dothraki would even consider mass-suicide. I think that the show will simply continue to use the term bloodrider as someone personally chosen by the khal/khaleesi.

 

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Makes me wonder if Jorah's fate is suicide.