Kraznys mo Naklos - Charming Villain

[The Lord of the Crossing]

On 12/10/2018 at 12:33 PM, Moiraine Sedai said:

I loved how skillfully Missandei edited everything Kraznys was saying to better represent his best interest.  That is what a good subordinate will do.  Save the boss from his mistakes.  It's what Davos does for Stannis.  I admire Daenerys for picking up on this and realizing the brilliance of Missandei.  I wish Missandei will become the second dragon rider.  Missandei on Rhaegal.  She would make for a fine wing person for Dany and Drogon.

This, I would love this as well.  She would make a fine rider to guard the flank.  

 

On 12/11/2018 at 6:49 PM, The Transporter said:

The good servant anticipates.  

I hope this puts to bed the "Missandei is a psychic" idea.  She never caught on to Dany's well-played game.  I know she has golden eyes but that's not proof of being psychic.  Different book.  Different story.

The people of Na'ath make the best servants.  But you know, Missandei may not be all that rare.  Human raw material is very easy and cheap to come by.  Their training is a value-added system in which the product becomes more and more valuable as they progress in their lessons.  So one boy in three successfully complete the training.  Wow.  It's more than physical skills.  The students have to be mentally tough.  Keeping up with their constantly changing names would be mental torture.  Whose to say Krazny doesn't put his aide through the same testing?  Like maybe he killed five girls to finally end up with someone like Missandei.  

And why would he give her away?  He didn't.  Krazny just made the biggest deal of his career.  The biggest deal of any master in living memory.  He could well afford to part with Missandei.  

 

On 12/10/2018 at 8:12 PM, Geo Da Ray said:

Volkswagen and General Motors could learn a thing or two about quality control from Kraznys mo Naklos.  The man is evil but you can never accuse him of taking shortcuts in the making of his product. 

 

Ah and so the same can be said of George R. R Martin.  We can never accuse him of taking shortcuts in the making of his books.

On 12/8/2018 at 7:26 PM, Sigella said:

Agreed, this is gold.  

But overlooked since he only got one chapter before being torched in a most deserving way, so theres not much to ponder or feel disgruntled about since its a finished matter unlike others like Walder Frey.

I think so.  That makes it more special.  Investing brilliant dialogue in a minor character whose time is limited.  

On 12/9/2018 at 5:32 PM, Quoth the raven, said:

 

Absolutely.  His arc is done.  I don't think there's anything to ponder here.  But it is still a damn entertaining chapter.  It served the purpose of conveying the brutality of slavery.  

 

[Seams]

12 hours ago, Walda said:

Just a small quibble about an excellent post: in the show Dany makes sure that Missandei is included in the deal. In the book Kraznys spontaneously gifts her Missandei, believing she has no other way to communicate with her Unsullied.

Thank you for the correction! I hate when I do that. 

Now that you point it out, I think Kraznys giving Missandei to Dany is significant to the "Kraznys = Aerys" idea I have in mind. He created Missandei, and she is like Dany in the sense of being a slave who is given as part of a transaction for an army. But she is also able to help Dany speak. There is a big theme around cutting out tongues - as you point out with the recall of the Illyrio / Varys discussion of the need for more little birds. Giving Missandei is the opposite of cutting out a tongue: giving someone an extra tongue; empowering them to communicate. I think the presentation of Missandei may be the moment "Aerys" chooses Dany as his heir. 

Of course, we learn that Dany understood the high Valyrian all along, and didn't need Missandei to understand exactly what Kraznys was saying, or how to communicate with the Unsullied. 

I explored the parallels between Missandei and Daenerys in this post (under the "other butterflies" section). Missandei's home country is famous for butterflies that are lethal to non-natives. I think GRRM may be playing with the idea of monarch butterflies and monarch kings and queens through the butterfly symbolism.

Which brings me to another of your good insights.

10 hours ago, Walda said:

Dany stiffened. “I left a council to rule Astapor. A healer, a scholar, and a priest.”
“Your Worship, those sly rogues betrayed your trust. It was revealed that they were scheming to restore the Good Masters to power and the people to chains.

In another thread, I have been part of the discussion of Haldon Halfmaester, who is a healer and a scholar. Also on the boat is a septa, Lemore. I hadn't previously made the connection that Dany's failed attempt to reform governance in Astapor is led by the same kinds of people who are trying to bring fAegon / Young Griff to power in Westeros, "scheming to restore" a different Targaryen heir to power, as it were. 

The council is replaced by King Cleon, a former butcher. The connection I saw earlier between Ramsay Snow (torturer of Theon) and Kraznys (torturer of the Unsullied) may be underscored by the idea that the butcher king Cleon rises to power in spite of the attempts to install a more civilized regime. Ramsay is like the butcher king in his use of a flaying knife as a weapon. (Roose also says Ramsay doesn't know how to use a sword - he uses it like a cleaver.) 

GRRM's point may be that it never works to overthrow one tyrant because a new one always rises up to take his place.

And a new thought about

12 hours ago, Walda said:

the similarities between the Harpy and the dragon.

Sometimes I wish I could turn off my wordplay radar, but I just can't help it. I had a thought that GRRM might want us to connect 

Harpy = Phray = Frey

Are the stealth attacks by the Sons of the Harpy at all similar to the violence and backstabbing inflicted by House Frey? Dany tries to stop the Harpy murders by marrying Hizdahr zo Lorac - intermarriage is the favorite tool of Lord Walder for creating alliances and, essentially, advancing in the Game of Thrones.

I began to explore the Frey / Targaryen parallels a few months ago but there is a lot more room for analysis. In a nutshell, I think Lord Walder's descendants from his first wife (Perra Royce) are supposed to be symbolic Targaryens, like the descendants of Aegon IV. Lady Stoneheart is going to wipe them out as best she can, with the help of the Brotherhood Without Banners. Some of the heirs may assist her effort by killing off Frey relatives ahead of them in the line of succession.

It appears that Dany's sham marriage to Hizdahr ends when she becomes a dragon rider and flies away from the fighting pit. This could be interesting foreshadowing for Edmure Tully, who is also married to a "Phray" and is also feeling a bit constricted in his movements as a result. What kind of flying dragon will help Edmure to escape his current situation, if any? Or is it the escape of Brynden "Blackfish" Tully that should be compared to Dany's escape?

[Corvo the Crow]

26 minutes ago, Seams said:

appears that Dany's sham marriage to Hizdahr ends when she becomes a dragon rider and flies away from the fighting pit. This could be interesting foreshadowing for Edmure Tully, who is also married to a "Phray" and is also feeling a bit constricted in his movements as a result. What kind of flying dragon will help Edmure to escape his current situation, if any? Or is it the escape of Brynden "Blackfish" Tully that should be compared to Dany's escape?

Remember that Dany set free Drogon the black dragon before that? And Drogon returned and saved Dany. Dany, with her betrothal/marriage is made a prisoner in a sense in her own lands.

Edmure with his marriage became an actual prisoner in his own land(RL). He set Brynden Blackfish free. Not only Brynden is a black fish(sigil of Tullys) just like drogon is a black dragon(targaryen sigil) but he is also named after one of the “dragons”, Brynden Bloodraven, who is also a(two) flying animal(s), A black crow (and the blood raven)

Now since you were so nice to provide parallels, Dany lost her unborn child with her escape and Edmure also has an unborn child. Roslin will lose it during/after the rescue.

[H Wadsworth Longfellow]

I'm following this discussion.  I like the characters in Essos.  Martin created some of his most memorable characters there.  Kraznys is funny.  So are Belwas, the Handmaidens, and ofcourse, Daario.  

[Aline de Gavrillac]

On 12/11/2018 at 6:49 PM, The Transporter said:

The good servant anticipates.  

I hope this puts to bed the "Missandei is a psychic" idea.  She never caught on to Dany's well-played game.  I know she has golden eyes but that's not proof of being psychic.  Different book.  Different story.

The golden eyes are just color.  In my opinion.  M is just unusually perceptive for her age.  

[Wm Portnoy]

On 12/8/2018 at 6:42 PM, Aline de Gavrillac said:

“Ask her if she wants to view our fighting pits.  Douquour’s Pit has a fine folly scheduled for this evening.  A bear and three small boys.  One boy will be rolled in honey, one in blood, and one in rotting fish, and she may wager on which the bear will eat first.”

The boy in rotting fish.  Bears love fish.

 

[Shi Qiang]

14 hours ago, Wm Portnoy said:

The boy in rotting fish.  Bears love fish.

 

And to think Penny and Tyrion almost became a folly.  

[Eli Cross]

On 12/9/2018 at 7:32 AM, Sigella said:

Yes!  He is a truly brilliant dude. 

If only he were also timely.  -sigh-

[Eli Cross]

On 12/25/2018 at 2:00 PM, Allardyce said:

And to think Penny and Tyrion almost became a folly.  

They're still a folly.  Penny is a one-act performer.  Slap stick type comedy and what not.

[Quoth the raven,]

On 12/17/2018 at 11:55 PM, The Lord of the Crossing said:

And why would he give her away?  He didn't.  Krazny just made the biggest deal of his career.  The biggest deal of any master in living memory.  He could well afford to part with Missandei.  

True enough.