Daenerys, Quaithe, and Asshai

[Bowen Marsh]

Quaithe is very keen on protecting Daenerys and her dragons.  She also beckons the young Targaryen heroine to visit Asshai.  For truth, she claims.  Quaithe also said "Dragons are fire made flesh and fire is POWER!"  Whosoever can control dragons will have great power.  

Quaithe has a lot of knowledge.  Asshai is similar to Oldtown because it is a center for learning.  You could say they are on opposite ends when it comes to curriculum.  Magic in Asshai, science in Oldtown.  We already saw the philosophical clash between magic and science.  Mellisandre and Cressen.  I do not think this will be the only clash between these two philosophies.  The maesters have had the upper hand for many centuries with the spellbinders and the Children of the Forest having kept a fairly low profile.  At least in the west and most of the east.  I can see how this might change when the long night comes and science has no explanation for the climate change. 

• Bloodraven kept himself hidden for years.  Why did he choose to keep his existence secret from Aemon?  A mistrust of the maesters?
• What arcane knowledge might be hidden in Asshai?  
• There are no children and no animals in Asshai.  The poison in the air is more harmful to them in comparison to the adults.  That sounds suspicious to me.  It will take a lot more to poison a large animal like an ox compared to an average human.  Blood sacrifices to the gods?  
• The mask.  Fashion trend or protection device?  
• Asshai covers more area than KL, Oldtown, and Volantis combined.  We must assume that there once was a large population long ago.  Human populations grow.  Not in this place.  It reduced itself.  Too many blood sacrifices?  Natural disaster, like the Doom?
• Ghost Grass.  All that magic and they can't stop this weed.  

 

 

[ChuckPunch]

Dropped plot point. 

[Moiraine Sedai]

Arcane knowledge.  Necromancy.  Human sacrifice carried out with enthusiasm will cause a decline in the population.  

The toxic air is the result of magic gone wrong.  The mages were working with dangerous magic and it went wrong.  Like a reactor meltdown in modern terms.  I would not put it past Martin to send us this cautionary tale of environmental disaster.  

[Megorova]

There's a story told to Dany by one of her Dothraki maids. According to that story, long time ago, there was second moon in the sky. It got scalded by the sun, and cracked like an egg. Out of that moon appeared first dragons. That second moon was above Asshai.

I think, that this second moon is a giant space ship. First dragons of Planetos were genetically engineered animals, transported by that ship. Then, while the ship was passing near Planetos, some sort of emergency situation happened in there, and the ship was critically damaged. The dragons were able to escape, and went to the planet's surface. Aliens from that ship, genetically modified Valyrians, and taught them magic, and how to control dragons. Shadow near Asshai is either that space ship itself, if it is visible, or if it's in a stealth-mode, then the Shadow is indeed a shadow, casted by that ship. The Ghost grass is result of radiation, emanating from the ship. Unnatural seasons of Planetos, is result of terraforming device, working on that ship. The Others are robots from that ship. Some sort of cold/ice-based technology. Nearly all magic on Planetos, including method, with which are made living masks of Faceless Men, is a technology from that ship. People in Asshai live underground, to protect themselves from radiation. Children and animals are not allowed to live there, for the same reason - radiation is more harmful for them, than for adults.

Quaithe's cryptic message to Dany, that to touch the light, she needs to pass under the shadow, means that she needs to come to Asshai, to the Shadow-ship, and to touch the light means to touch some sort of control pannel, thru which Dany will be able to take over control of the ship, and stop that terraforming device and the Others.

Could be, that the ship is the Ark, from GRRM's other series Tuf Voyaging.

Or everything is simpler than that - the truth, that Dany will find in Asshai, is that her son Rhaego is alive. And the reason, why children and animals are not allowed into Asshai, is because that's a sacred city, and the only child, that is allowed to be there, is the promised Prince, and champion of god R'hllor - Rhaego. And the only animals, that are allowed to come there, are dragons.

In Bran's coma-dream, he did saw dragons in Asshai near the shadow.

[Here's Looking At You, Kid]

5 minutes ago, Megorova said:

In Bran's coma-dream, he did saw dragons in Asshai near the shadow.

I guess that debunks the rumor of no animals in Asshai.  It might be helpful remembering we know little of Asshai.

[Lost Melnibonean]

When Daenerys arrived in Qarth (Daenerys II, Clash 27), she wrestles between her desire to rest and enjoy Renly's peach, and her desire to avenge her house and reclaim her father's crown...

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When all the men had gone, her handmaids stripped off the travel-stained silks she wore, and Dany padded out to where the marble pool sat in the shade of a portico. The water was deliciously cool, and the pool was stocked with tiny golden fish that nibbled curiously at her skin and made her giggle. It felt good to close her eyes and float, knowing she could rest as long as she liked.

...

But before she could do that she must conquer.

...

Her doubts made her shiver. Suddenly the water felt cold to her, and the little fish prickling at her skin annoying.

And then Quaithe, the only person in Qarth outside of her khalasar not trying to exploit Daenerys, advises her...

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"To go north, you must journey south. To reach the west, you must go east. To go forward you must go back, and to touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow."

Daenerys III, Clash

Many commenters seem to agree with Daenerys that Quaithe was advising Daenerys to go to Asshai to gain knowledge...

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Asshai, Dany thought. She would have me go to Asshai. "Will the Asshaii give me an army? she demanded. Will there be gold for me in Asshai? Will there be ships? What is there in Asshai that I will not find in Qarth?"

"Truth," said the woman in the mask. And bowing, she faded back into the crowd.

But Quaithe never actually advised Daenerys to go to Asshai. In fact, she would later advise Daenerys to remember who she is: the blood of The Dragon. Rather, Quaithe suggested that Daenerys would not find truth in Qarth.

Quaithe was advising Daenerys that she must give up her desire to live a sheltered peaceful life eating peaches and resting in pools with nibbling fish. She must remember who she is and go back to the Dothraki Sea. 

In Clash, the Undying Ones told Daenerys that she must light three fires, " . . . one for life and one for death and one to love." 

The first was quite obviously Drogo’s pyre, which gave life to the dragons. 

I think she will light the second in Vaes Dothrak. All the khalasars will return to Vaes Dothrak...

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“Only the crones of the dosh khaleen dwell permanently in the sacred city, them and their slaves and servants,” Ser Jorah replied, “yet Vaes Dothrak is large enough to house every man of every khalasar, should all the khals return to the Mother at once. The crones have prophesied that one day that will come to pass, and so Vaes Dothrak must be ready to embrace all its children.”

Daenerys IV, Game 36

Where they will become "one blood, one khalasar, one herd." (Daenerys IV, Game 36) And Daenerys’s babe will be the stallion that mounts the world...

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As the smoke ascended, the chanting died away and the ancient crone closed her single eye, the better to peer into the future. The silence that fell was complete. Dany could hear the distant call of night birds, the hiss and crackle of the torches, the gentle lapping of water from the lake. The Dothraki stared at her with eyes of night, waiting.

Khal Drogo laid his hand on Dany's arm. She could feel the tension in his fingers. Even a khal as mighty as Drogo could know fear when the dosh khaleen peered into smoke of the future. At her back, her handmaids fluttered anxiously.

Finally the crone opened her eye and lifted her arms. "I have seen his face, and heard the thunder of his hooves," she proclaimed in a thin, wavery voice.

"The thunder of his hooves!" the others chorused.

"As swift as the wind he rides, and behind him his khalasar covers the earth, men without number, with arakhs shining in their hands like blades of razor grass. Fierce as a storm this prince will be. His enemies will tremble before him, and their wives will weep tears of blood and rend their flesh in grief. The bells in his hair will sing his coming, and the milk men in the stone tents will fear his name." The old woman trembled and looked at Dany almost as if she were afraid. "The prince is riding, and he shall be the stallion who mounts the world."

"The stallion who mounts the world!" the onlookers cried in echo, until the night rang to the sound of their voices.

Daenerys V, Game 46

Of course, Rhaego would go on to die in the womb, another wee Targaryen dragonbaby, the child that Daenerys unwittingly sacrificed to Wake the Dragon. But Daenerys is the Mother of Dragons, and she refers to her dragonlets as her children. If Daenerys returns to Vaes Dothrak and unites the Dothraki, it will be with the aid of her child Drogon. And how will Drogon do that? Dragons are fire made flesh, and fire is power. 

Daenerys will return to Vaes Dothrak, "beneath the shadow of the Mother of the Mountains"...

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"To go forward you must go back, and to touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow."

Daenerys III, Clash 40

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Have patience, Princess. Do not make your brother's mistake. We will go home, I promise you."

Home? The word made her feel sad. Ser Jorah had his Bear Island, but what was home to her? A few tales, names recited as solemnly as the words of a prayer, the fading memory of a red door . . . was Vaes Dothrak to be her home forever? When she looked at the crones of the dosh khaleen, was she looking at her future?

...

... But with the khal off hunting, it was pleasant to lie back on soft cushions and be carried across Vaes Dothrak, ...

The day was warm and cloudless, the sky a deep blue. When the wind blew, she could smell the rich scents of grass and earth. As her litter passed beneath the stolen monuments, she went from sunlight to shadow and back again. Dany swayed along, studying the faces of dead heroes and forgotten kings. She wondered if the gods of burned cities could still answer prayers.

If I were not the blood of the dragon, she thought wistfully, this could be my home. She was khaleesi, she had a strong man and a swift horse, handmaids to serve her, warriors to keep her safe, an honored place in the dosh khaleen awaiting her when she grew old . . . and in her womb grew a son who would one day bestride the world. That should be enough for any woman . . . but not for the dragon. With Viserys gone, Daenerys was the last, the very last. She was the seed of kings and conquerors, and so too the child inside her. She must not forget.

Daenerys VI, Game 54

[Lord Lannister]

If Quaithe's intention is to somehow help or protect Dany, she's really doing a crappy job at it. The only reason for her to be all mysterious and vague is if she's deliberately trying to keep Dany mistrustful and suspicious of everyone and everything around her. A few morsels of truth, a lot of things that could be true and some cryptic warnings, and Dany's paralyzed by indecision and could end up pushing away potential allies.

[867-5309]

Magic vs. Science.  We are seeing this war playing out in Westeros.  Essos seems to accept magic just fine.  Mellissandre won her confrontation with the maester.  Magic is on the rise again.  It is possible Bloodraven is corrupted and chose to hide himself from Aemon.  A part man-part tree has a right to distrust a maester.

Necromancy.  Dany was thinking of bringing back Drogo's mind when she thought of powers so old they predate Asshai.  Necromancy is a good guess.  This is one method to keep the city peopled even when they have no children.  

What happened to the population is a great mystery.  Maybe fertility was sacrificed for longevity.  The inhabitants gave up the ability to have children in exchange for long lives and the secret to necromancy.  The population will go down because people can move away, necromancy is not completely successful, and war.  

Quaithe is most like Mellissandre.  She can only see a little of the future.  It's like looking through a small keyhole.  Dany handled her advise properly.  She was warned to distrust Quentyn and yet she didn't overreact and treat him like an enemy.  She was cautious but she still gave him a chance at friendship and alliance.  Dany handled Quaithe's advice better than Jon handled Mellissandre's advice.  Let's see how well Stannis handles Mellissandre.

It's normal for Quaithe to take an interest in someone who hatched three dragon eggs without a dragon.  The birth of Dany's dragons is not how dragon eggs normally hatched.  Dany practically incubated those eggs herself.  She really is the Mother of Dragons.  If there is any truth to Bran's vision of dragons in Asshai, perhaps Quaithe has eggs that she wants hatched.  

[Megorova]

12 hours ago, Here's Looking At You, Kid said:

I guess that debunks the rumor of no animals in Asshai.  It might be helpful remembering we know little of Asshai.

Though that part of his vision (about dragons in Asshai) could have been from the future, after Dany arrived there with her three, after Meereen and after Vaes Dothrak.

11 hours ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

Quaithe was advising Daenerys that she must give up her desire to live a sheltered peaceful life eating peaches and resting in pools with nibbling fish. She must remember who she is and go back to the Dothraki Sea. 

Wrong about this part. When she's already in the Dothraki Sea, Quaithe visited her again. That's when Dany saw, that her mask is made of starlight. And then Quaithe again said to her to remember who she is, and to go beneath the shadow to touch the light (which is in Asshai, because the Shadow is near Asshai).

11 hours ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

Of course, Rhaego would go on to die in the womb, another wee Targaryen dragonbaby, the child that Daenerys unwittingly sacrificed to Wake the Dragon. But Daenerys is the Mother of Dragons, and she refers to her dragonlets as her children. If Daenerys returns to Vaes Dothrak and unites the Dothraki, it will be with the aid of her child Drogon. And how will Drogon do that? Dragons are fire made flesh, and fire is power. 

Rhaego is alive.

Lives of three dragons were bought with three deaths - 1. Drogo's; 2. horse's, that was killed after Dany smothered Drogo with a pillow, and then that horse was placed on the bottom of funeral pyre, and the pyre was build above that horse's carcass, another horse NOT Drogo's stallion; 3. Mirri Maz Duur.

Drogo - Drogon, horse - Rhaegel, Mirri - Viseryon.

Mirri's died the last, her life force was the freshest, that's why Viseryon's egg hatched first, and Drogon's egg hatched the last out of three, because by that time, Drogo was dead for many hours, so his life force was already weak.

So Rhaego's life had nothing to do with payment for Dany's dragons.

Now about blood magic - it doesn't kill whoever is present there during blood sacrifice:

1. During that ritual, aside from unborn Rhaego, there was four more people - Drogo, Mirri, Dany and Jorah. If those four didn't died, then why would Rhaego die?
2. People knew, that Shiera Seastar was bathing in blood, which means, that her handmaids had seen it, and it didn't killed them.
3. When Sam's father invited two warlocks from Qarth, and they bathed Sam in blood, aside from those two animals, whose blood was used for the bath, no one else died.
4. When Meggi the Frog was tasting Cersei blood, her friend, that was also present there, didn't died because of blood magic, she was killed by Cersei.
5. When Melisandre was using blood magic, it was seen by Davos, and it didn't killed him.

Thus based on all of that, blood magic doesn't kill people, that just happened to stumble into the middle of ritual. Which means, that blood magic didn't killed Rhaego.

The shadows also doesn't kill, unless it's a special shadows, created specifically for this purpose (like Mel's shadow baby, that killed Renly). Thus the shadows, that danced in Drogo's tent, also didn't killed Rhaego. And mere moments before beginning of Dany's labour, her baby was alive and kicking.

So why did Rhaego died, if he wasn't killed by blood magic, by shadow magic, and his death wasn't payment for dragons' lives? Thus Rhaego isn't dead.

Ask yourself this - What evidences there are, that Rhaego is dead? -> There's no evidences of it. No body, and nothing that could have caused his death. Thus he is alive. And most likely he is in Vaes Dothrak, living with dosh khaleen. Because those crones are spiritual guides of Dothraki, so it's logical, that the Stallion that will mount the world, is raised by them.

[Lost Melnibonean]

45 minutes ago, Megorova said:

Though that part of his vision (about dragons in Asshai) could have been from the future, after Dany arrived there with her three, after Meereen and after Vaes Dothrak.

Wrong about this part. When she's already in the Dothraki Sea, Quaithe visited her again. That's when Dany saw, that her mask is made of starlight. And then Quaithe again said to her to remember who she is, and to go beneath the shadow to touch the light (which is in Asshai, because the Shadow is near Asshai).

These are quotes are from the three chapters that occur in Vaes Dothrak...

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The Horse Gate of Vaes Dothrak was made of two gigantic bronze stallions, rearing, their hooves meeting a hundred feet above the roadway to form a pointed arch.

Dany could not have said why the city needed a gate when it had no walls . . . and no buildings that she could see. Yet there it stood, immense and beautiful, the great horses framing the distant purple mountain beyond. The bronze stallions threw long shadows across the waving grasses as Khal Drogo led the khalasar under their hooves and down the godsway, his bloodriders beside him. 

Daenerys IV, Game 36

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No steel was permitted within the sacred confines of Vaes Dothrak, beneath the shadow of the Mother of Mountains; she had to rip the heart apart with teeth and nails.

Daenerys V, Game 46

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If Khal Drogo had been with her, Dany would have ridden her silver. Among the Dothraki, mothers stayed on horseback almost up to the moment of birth, and she did not want to seem weak in her husband's eyes. But with the khal off hunting, it was pleasant to lie back on soft cushions and be carried across Vaes Dothrak, with red silk curtains to shield her from the sun. Ser Jorah saddled up and rode beside her, with the four young men of her khas and her handmaids.

The day was warm and cloudless, the sky a deep blue. When the wind blew, she could smell the rich scents of grass and earth. As her litter passed beneath the stolen monuments, she went from sunlight to shadow and back again. Dany swayed along, studying the faces of dead heroes and forgotten kings. She wondered if the gods of burned cities could still answer prayers.

Daenerys VI, Game 54

That's a whole lotta shadows to pass under, no? 

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Beneath the Mother of the Mountains, a line of naked crones crept from a great lake and knelt shivering before her, their grey heads bowed. 

Daenerys IV, Clash 48

[Megorova]

6 minutes ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

These are quotes are from the three chapters that occur in Vaes Dothrak...

Daenerys IV, Game 36

Daenerys V, Game 46

Daenerys VI, Game 54

That's a whole lotta shadows to pass under, no? 

Daenerys IV, Clash 48

I'm not doubting, that next she will go to Vaes Dothrak, and I'm also sure that second fire, the one for death, will be lighted there, and the scene with crones is after the fire in which Dany will burn all Khals (for kidnapping her baby).

But it's obvious, that Dany will go to Asshai, reasons:

1. Bran saw dragons in Asshai. The only dragons in the world, are Dany's three. Thus the dragons, that Bran saw in his coma-dream are Drogon, Rhaegel and Viseryon. And because there's no reason for all three of them to fly there, unless they will be brought there by Dany, and this means, that she will go to Asshai.

2. What "light" is there in Vaes Dothrak? While Asshai's shadow magic is actually based on both elements - shadow and light. There's a Shadow near Asshai, which means, that somewhere there, there also something, that is the Light.

3. When Dany, based on what Quaithe said to her, figured out, that the shadow is Asshai's Shadow, she did asked Quaithe what will she find in Asshai, and Quiathe answered her, that she will find there truth. 

4. What Quaithe said is four part riddle, not three parts.

"1. To go north, you must journey south. 2. To reach the west, you must go east. 3. To go forward, you must go back. 4. To touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow."

1. This is something from beginning of her travel, after Drogo's death. Something about her aborted sea travel to Pentos? when instead of going there, she went to Astapor. Pentos is in the north, and Astapor is in the south.

2. To eventually be able to go to Westeros, she needs an army and ships, and she will get both in the west, in the Slaver's Bay. And Meereen is also on the east from Pentos and even from Astapor.

3. To go forward, to accept that she's a blood of the dragon, she needs to return to Vaes Dothrak, where she will be reunited with another dragonseed - her son Rhaego.

4. Shadow and Asshai's light.

[OtherFromAnotherMother]

23 minutes ago, Megorova said:

1. Bran saw dragons in Asshai. The only dragons in the world, are Dany's three. Thus the dragons, that Bran saw in his coma-dream are Drogon, Rhaegel and Viseryon. And because there's no reason for all three of them to fly there, unless they will be brought there by Dany, and this means, that she will go to Asshai.

Not necessarily. This could be a vision in the past.

Also, Bran's vision does not say three. Just 'dragons'.

[Megorova]

12 minutes ago, OtherFromAnotherMother said:

Not necessarily. This could be a vision in the past.

Also, Bran's vision does not say three. Just 'dragons'.

Why Bran would have seen some very distant past, if all other visions were of the present, future and of very recent past, like from his fall? So most likely that was the vision of the future.

Also yes, there was nothing about exact number of the dragons. Though think about it like this - there are at least two dragons in Asshai, so either one of them is Drogon and the other one Rhaegel or Viseryon, or those two in Asshai is Viseryon and Rhaegel without Drogon, or another option - all three together.

Option one - Drogon and one of the other two. -> What happened with the third? If one of those two is Drogon, then it means that Dany brought him to Asshai. And the other one also. Unless the third dragon is dead, or Dany left him/her in Vaes Dothrak with Rhaego, then all three should be together in Asshai.

Option two - Viseryon and Rhaegel. -> I don't see a reason for them to leave their comfortable life in Meereen, where there's lots and lots and lots of food (thanks to war and pale mare, they are able to eat plenty of human meat), and fly all the way to Asshai - what for? So if they will go to Asshai, then it means that someone brought them there. Maybe that could have been done by Victarion and dragon binding horn, though why would he out of all places in the world, would have brought them to Asshai? There's no reason for that. Another option, is that the horn is in possession of Moqorro, and he's the one who has brought dragons there. This option also doesn't make any sense. If he could have controlled the dragons, then he would have brought them to Volantis, not to Asshai. So the only person that could have brought dragons to Asshai is Dany herself. And if she brought there Rhaegel and Viseryon, then she also brought there Drogon.

Which brings us back to the beginning - Dany's three dragons in Asshai in the future. Any other option, doesn't make more sense than this one.

[The Commentator]

59 minutes ago, OtherFromAnotherMother said:

Not necessarily. This could be a vision in the past.

Also, Bran's vision does not say three. Just 'dragons'.

Or it can be a vision of what may and what could rather than what was or what will be.  We just do not know.  Yet.

3 hours ago, Megorova said:

Rhaego is alive.

I doubt this.  It was necessary for Rhaego to die in order for Dany to embrace the role of Mhysa (the slaves reaching out as she rode by on her silver) and become the Mother Of Dragons.  We know how much George emphasized repeatedly in the story how devotion to family can compromise a person's dedication to their duties (Jon's story arc is only one example of compromised dedication) and leads to poor decisions.  Rhaego had to die in order to make sure Dany is dedicated to the freedom of the slaves and to bond her to the dragons.  Rhaego was one of the sacrifices that she paid to have her dragons.  Every song must have its balance and the soul of Rhaego probably paid for Rhaegal.  Viserys paid for Viserion and Drogo paid for Drogon.  Mirri's and the horse was just the blood to feed the magic (dragon bursting from her brow).  

[OtherFromAnotherMother]

39 minutes ago, Widowmaker 811 said:

Or it can be a vision of what may and what could rather than what was or what will be.  We just do not know.  Yet.

It could also be present time. There is a quote from the Feast for Crows Prologue of sailor's seeing dragons in Asshai.

[Lost Melnibonean]

2 hours ago, OtherFromAnotherMother said:

Not necessarily. This could be a vision in the past.

Also, Bran's vision does not say three. Just 'dragons'.

I think it was a foreshadowing of the hatching...

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He lifted his eyes and saw clear across the narrow sea, to the Free Cities and the green Dothraki sea and beyond, to Vaes Dothrak under its mountain, to the fabled lands of the Jade Sea, to Asshai by the Shadow, where dragons stirred beneath the sunrise.

Bran III, Game 17

Bran's vision here traces Daenerys's arc through Game and the birth of her dragons. The eggs came from the Shadow Lands beyond Asshai; that the dragons were stirring beneath the sunrise was a hint that they were about to hatch.

[Lost Melnibonean]

30 minutes ago, OtherFromAnotherMother said:

It could also be present time. There is a quote from the Feast for Crows Prologue of sailor's seeing dragons in Asshai.

I think that was thrown in to show how rumors and fables twist the tales, but there is usually at least a kernel of truth. In this case the eggs originated in the Shadow Lands beyond Asshai. 

[Megorova]

41 minutes ago, Widowmaker 811 said:

It was necessary for Rhaego to die in order for Dany to embrace the role of Mhysa

41 minutes ago, Widowmaker 811 said:

Rhaego had to die in order to make sure Dany is dedicated to the freedom of the slaves and to bond her to the dragons. 

It wasn't necessary for him to die. Because him dying for real, and Dany just thinking, that he is dead, would have had the same results.

He is alive, but she didn't knew it, still doesn't know it. She did what she did, while thinking, that her child is dead. For result of her actions, it doesn't matter, that actually he was alive all that time, while she thought that he is dead.

46 minutes ago, Widowmaker 811 said:

Dany to embrace the role of Mhysa (the slaves reaching out as she rode by on her silver)

I think, that being Mhysa, mother to all those slaves, or like Dany thought about herself - rabbit queen with floppy ears, is a mistake, straying from her real path.

In my opinion this is the same things:

1.1. "Ten thousand slaves lifted bloodstained hands as she raced by on her silver, riding like the wind.“Mother!”  they cried. “Mother, mother!”  They were reaching for her, touching her, tugging at her cloak, the hem of her skirt, her foot, her leg, her breast. They wanted her, needed her, the fire, the life, and Dany gasped and opened her arms to give herself to them . . . "

2.1. "The Undying were all around her, blue and cold, whispering as they reached for her, pulling, stroking, tugging at her clothes, touching her with their dry cold hands, twining their fingers through her hair. All the strength had left her limbs. She could not move. Even her heart had ceased to beat. She felt a hand on her bare breast, twisting her nipple. Teeth found the soft skin of her throat. A mouth descended on one eye, licking, sucking, biting . . ."

1.2. "She lifted her veil and let it flutter away. She took her tokar off as well. The pearls rattled softly against one another as she unwound the silk.

“Khaleesi?” Irri asked. “What are you doing?”

“Taking off my floppy ears.”

~

“Belaquo will win,” Irri declared. “It is known.”

“It is not known,” Jhiqui said. “Belaquo will die.”

“One will die, or the other will,” said Dany. “And the one who lives will die some other day. This was a mistake.”

~

“Magnificence, the people of Meereen have come to celebrate our union. You heard them cheering you. Do not cast away their love.”

“It was my floppy ears they cheered, not me.

~

The tumult and the shouting died. Ten thousand voices stilled. Every eye turned skyward. A warm wind brushed Dany’s cheeks, and above the beating of her heart she heard the sound of wings.

~

Above them all the dragon turned, dark against the sun. His scales were black, his eyes and horns and spinal plates blood red.

~

“Kill it,” Hizdahr zo Loraq shouted to the other spearmen. “Kill the beast!”

Ser Barristan held her tightly. “Look away, Your Grace.”

“Let me go!” Dany twisted from his grasp. The world seemed to slow as she cleared the parapet. When she landed in the pit she lost a sandal. Running, she could feel the sand between her toes, hot and rough. Ser Barristan was calling after her. Strong Belwas was still vomiting. She ran faster.

~

“Drogon,” she screamed. “Drogon.”

"

2.2. "Then indigo turned to orange, and whispers turned to screams. Her heart was pounding, racing, the hands and mouths were gone, heat washed over her skin, and Dany blinked at a sudden glare. Perched above her, the dragon spread his wings and tore at the terrible dark heart, ripping the rotten flesh to ribbons, and when his head snapped forward, fire flew from his open jaws, bright and hot. She could hear the shrieks of the Undying as they burned, their high thin papery voices crying out in tongues long dead. Their flesh was crumbling parchment, their bones dry wood soaked in tallow. They danced as the flames consumed them; they staggered and writhed and spun and raised blazing hands on high, their fingers bright as torches.

Dany pushed herself to her feet and bulled through them. They were light as air, no more than husks, and they fell at a touch. The whole room was ablaze by the time she reached the door. “Drogon,”  she called, and he flew to her through the fire."

 

Becoming Mhysa was a mistake, same as going to the Undying. And both times Drogon saved her from those vultures - the Udying and her slave-children, that wanted to devour her and what she really is - Mother of the dragons.

To become Queen of Meereen was a mistake. To become mother of slaves was a mistake. That is not her path.

" “I am dreaming,” she said. “A waking dream, a walking dream. I am alone and lost.”

Lost, because you lingered, in a place that you were never meant to be, murmured Ser Jorah, as softly as the wind."

"I gave you good counsel. Save your spears and swords for the Seven Kingdoms, I told you. Leave Meereen to the Meereenese and go west, I said. You would not listen.

“I had to take Meereen or see my children starve along the march.” Dany could still see the trail of corpses she had left behind her crossing the Red Waste. It was not a sight she wished to see again. “I had to take Meereen to feed my people.”

You took Meereen, he told her, yet still you lingered.

“To be a queen.”

You are a queen, her bear said. In Westeros.

“It is such a long way,” she complained. “I was tired, Jorah. I was weary of war. I wanted to rest, to laugh, to plant trees and see them grow. I am only a young girl.”

No. You are the blood of the dragon. The whispering was growing fainter, as if Ser Jorah were falling farther behind. Dragons plant no trees. Remember that. Remember who you are, what you were made to be. Remember your words.

“Fire and Blood,” Daenerys told the swaying grass."

[OtherFromAnotherMother]

20 minutes ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

I think that was thrown in to show how rumors and fables twist the tales, but there is usually at least a kernel of truth. In this case the eggs originated in the Shadow Lands beyond Asshai. 

That is the most likely reason. However, I am holding onto some hope that their may be something dragon related going on in present day Asshai. Other than the origin of Dany's eggs, of course. 

Quote

"The tales are not the same," insisted Armen. "Dragons in Asshai, dragons in Qarth, dragons in Meereen, Dothraki dragons, dragons freeing slaves . . . each telling differs from the last."

Armen lists three cities. Mereen and Qarth both had dragons, maybe Asshai did too? Or maybe dragon eggs check the box for dragons being in Asshai, stirring beneath the sunrise?

Stirring beneath the sunrise could symbolically represent hatching.

[OtherFromAnotherMother]

22 minutes ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

Bran's vision here traces Daenerys's arc through Game and the birth of her dragons. The eggs came from the Shadow Lands beyond Asshai; that the drags were stirring beneath the sunrise was a hint that they were about to hatch.

I agree. The vision fits too perfectly with Dany's travels/egg hatching to be anything otherwise.