Why are the Unsullied so specialized? Where do their puppies come from?

[Game Of Thrones]

The thing is, we never ever hear about puppy farms, or dog breeders angry about Drogon eating their chihuahuas.

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

The thing is, we never ever hear about puppy farms, or dog breeders angry about Drogon eating their chihuahuas.

If the puppy-strangling is a systemic part of the training regimen, they may have dog breeders whose sole purpose is churning out puppies that will eventually be strangled. We're never told exactly where they get them. And honestly on the grand scale of the Unsullied not making any sense, "Where do the dogs come from?" strikes me as being a bit low on the pole.

[The King in Black]

So Ramsay was training an unsullied bodyguard for himself all along.

[Archmaester Drew]

This is what I mean when I say I wonder if the cost of producing them is worth what they bring in. There were thousands of them in the city when Dany was there, and yet we're led to believe that people mainly buy them in smaller batches of, say, 100. If it's unprecedented for Dany to buy so many at one time, why are so many of them available at one time? It's not like people are showing up constantly when Dany's there and buying them off in hunks. The Astapori say things like, "Oh so-and-so wants to buy some," but does it ever materialize? Is it just a marketing ploy to get Dany to commit?

Given that the sunk cost is so great, why sink that much into so many of them if you're not going to sell them all? Wouldn't it make more sense to sell the ones you already have before expending so much into creating more? That'd be like a baker having 500 loaves of bread at any one time even though he may only sell five loaves in a given day. If the Unsullied have been sold for hundreds of years, wouldn't the Astapori have a better sense of demand?

These dudes do not make sense, even within a fantasy context. From a microeconomic standpoint, they don't make sense. They're just a plot element included to give Dany a free army. Which, plot-wise, is what was necessary, but it doesn't make their ridiculousness any less pronounced.

The surplus of Unsullied were the defense of the city. The Good Masters got greedy thinking they could have one of the only three dragons in the world and didn't suspect that the dragon wouldn't co-operate after the transaction...

;)

[Dimples]

So Ramsay was training an unsullied bodyguard for himself all along.

Ramsay does what takes the Good Masters 10 years in only 1. Pure genius.

[I'm the Party Pooper]

Am I a terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible person for thinking it would easier to kill a baby than a puppy?

Yeah, you are.

This is what I mean when I say I wonder if the cost of producing them is worth what they bring in. There were thousands of them in the city when Dany was there, and yet we're led to believe that people mainly buy them in smaller batches of, say, 100. If it's unprecedented for Dany to buy so many at one time, why are so many of them available at one time? It's not like people are showing up constantly when Dany's there and buying them off in hunks. The Astapori say things like, "Oh so-and-so wants to buy some," but does it ever materialize? Is it just a marketing ploy to get Dany to commit?

Given that the sunk cost is so great, why sink that much into so many of them if you're not going to sell them all? Wouldn't it make more sense to sell the ones you already have before expending so much into creating more? That'd be like a baker having 500 loaves of bread at any one time even though he may only sell five loaves in a given day. If the Unsullied have been sold for hundreds of years, wouldn't the Astapori have a better sense of demand?

These dudes do not make sense, even within a fantasy context. From a microeconomic standpoint, they don't make sense. They're just a plot element included to give Dany a free army. Which, plot-wise, is what was necessary, but it doesn't make their ridiculousness any less pronounced.

The point is, they are going to sell them all.

They said normally the unsullied are bought in smaller batches, 100 people.

They said nothing onto how frequently this happens:

100 soldiers sold in a day is 36500 soldiers sold in a year.

20 soldiers sold in a day is 7300 soldiers sold in a year.

Their product is not gonna be wasted if they keep it in their city for more than a year, so selling off way less than 20 soldiers - like 4 - in a day on average is compatible with their business model.

An exact estimate of how many they sell on average a day could be done by taking into account the amount of time they require to train new soldiers. But the estimates I've done here are good enough.

People from all over the world come there - on ships - to purchase unsullied, not just essos.

There are many sellers of unsullied in Astapor, to satisfy Danerys's needs they had to unite all their stacked soldiers.

That doesn't mean they would have been unable to sell off all those soldiers they had stacked away. They would have just done microselling.

I'm sorry but when you have a business that lasts for hundreds of years, the correct way to go is to assume that the business is profitable and efficient. If they were going to waste a so large amount of soldiers, they would knew it since decades, and they would have limited their production rates since a long time ago. Assuming the contrary is assuming they are dumber then a child.

[Game Of Thrones]

I'm sorry but when you have a business that lasts for hundreds of years, the correct way to go is to assume that the business is profitable and efficient. If they were going to waste a so large amount of soldiers, they would knew it since decades, and they would have limited their production rates since a long time ago. Assuming the contrary is assuming they are dumber then a child.

So killing 40,000 slaves and 30,000 puppies to make 8,000 Unsullied is profitable?

[I'm the Party Pooper]

So killing 40,000 slaves and 30,000 puppies to make 8,000 Unsullied is profitable?

Of course not, the Good Maesters had run their business for hundreds of years in loss balances, because they are so good that they are actually running a no-profit charity funding business: they do it to improve the living conditions of slaves and for generosity to merchants acquiring them, not for their own good.

or

Of course not, the Good Maesters are so rich that they are wasting large amounts of valuable resources since hundreds of years, 'cause who cares about producing just the right amount of products they are able to sell, 'cause in hundreds of years nobody thought that unsullied could be trained without such a harsh and bloody expensive training.

C'mon..! Of course it's profitable. And of course they can't train them any differently, or they wouldn't be producing unsullied - but rather only highly skilled normal-soldiers.

The unsullied are forged with a temper that is not similar to anything appearing in RL human history, if they claim to obtain such result they have to go through that process in-universe, I don't really see what argument you can put against it to state the opposite. 'Cause you know better than them?

[WarLord]

I would choose the 300 Spartans over unsullied any day.

[The King in Black]

Screw unsullied training i wanna know how the GM breed those soldiers. OR the dogs for that matter

[RuthBolton]

The Unsullied would make much more sense if cut post-puberty.

They probably just get the puppies that weren't made into lunch yet.

[LordStoneheart]

Do we need to hear about puppy farmers to say they exist?

[nastydream]

Are you guys seriously arguing about puppy farms? :lol:

[SeanF]

Kraznys might have been trolling Daenerys, to an extent. He clearly relished the reaction he was getting from her.

[Mal Malenkirk]

I'm sorry but when you have a business that lasts for hundreds of years, the correct way to go is to assume that the business is profitable and efficient. If they were going to waste a so large amount of soldiers, they would knew it since decades, and they would have limited their production rates since a long time ago. Assuming the contrary is assuming they are dumber then a child.

Or we can assume they exist by athor's fiat, you know. That's the power of writing. Ideas that would crash if they had to stand on their own legs can thrive in your imaginary world if you write it so.

[LordStoneheart]

Are you guys seriously arguing about puppy farms? :lol:

Lol it does sound a bit ridiculous but yeah, I think it makes a lot of sense.

[nastydream]

Kraznys might have been trolling Daenerys, to an extent. He clearly relished the reaction he was getting from her.

I don't know about Kraznys but I definitely liked her reaction :cool4:

[Nictarion]

I don't know about Kraznys but I definitely liked her reaction :cool4:

Best kill in the story. Face whipped off and burnt to a crisp by a dragon. Talked shit to the wrong girl didn't he.

[Game Of Thrones]

Best kill in the story. Face whipped off and burnt to a crisp by a dragon. Talked shit to the wrong girl didn't he.

Was I the only person who was horrified when Kraznys had his eyes melted away?

[Marcus Agrippa]

Slavers bay in general makes very little sense. Expecting to get answers on why they waste that many slaves is like getting answers on why Crassus didn't take the local help to fight off the horse archers. From an economic standpoint I can only assume that they charged around 3000 percent for what it was to keep an Unsullied alive through out their life. SO you are at least looking at 500 dragons per one unsullied. Using the book I will explain- During the seige of KL by stannis- beef was going for one gold dragon. You gotta figure thats a massive price hike. Since Astapor has to feed 8000 of them which lets say a meal is one thing of beef, some vegetable and a thing of fruit probably twice a day you are looking at maybe a stag a day for each unsullied memember over eight years old. Seven stags equal 1 moon. 30 moons equal one dragon. so 1 moon a month covers an unsullied. However that doesn't include the puppies the trainers and the slave stock lost in population and the equipment costs. so I would hazard after that its probable that were looking at 4 moons a month for each unsullied. Lets say they sell the average unsullied at 20. o each unsullied costs at the very least 960 so 32 dragons. That doesn't included 2/3s slave losses or the loss during famines or disease. ALso I don't remember where they were kept. I still can't imagine the barracks cost that much.