How Big Will Dany's Host be when she reaches Westeros?

[Brynden"Bloodraven" Rivers]

Currently, if she wins the battle of Mereen, she will approximately have 100k men. If she continues to free slaves in Lys,Tyrosh,Myr, Volantis,Qohor,Pentos and Norvos, how many fighters will she gain?

[Lord Lannister]

Speculating about specific numbers around these things is kind of like building on quicksand. 

[Jaenara Belarys]

We simply cannot predict such things. It honestly depends upon the outcome of the Battle of Meereen. 

[Daeron the Daring]

4 hours ago, Lord Lannister said:

Speculating about specific numbers around these things is kind of like building on quicksand. 

It really isn't. There aren't too many variations. She will come to Westeros at some point. She will certainly bring the Unsullied with him. On the other hand, bringing freed slaves to Westeros would make no sense. Those people aren't fighters, nor do they speak the langauage, nor would they have space on ships, no matter how many ships Daenerys acquires. She won't be putting people useless to his cause on ships, feed them for the time being, etc.. That would not be a solution. Bringing people to a ravaged and pillaged battlefield Westeros currently is. With no food. 

The real question is if the dothraki will cross the sea for her, if she manages to gain their support at first. And that is a double if (and I don't think it'll happen, but that may just be me). And even if that happens, how many will he bring/will come? 

[Mithras]

As big as the story needs.

[Daeron the Daring]

Just now, Mithras said:

As big as the story needs.

She would only need dragons then. 

[Megorova]

13 hours ago, Brynden"Bloodraven" Rivers said:

Currently, if she wins the battle of Mereen, she will approximately have 100k men. If she continues to free slaves in Lys,Tyrosh,Myr, Volantis,Qohor,Pentos and Norvos, how many fighters will she gain?

3/4 of those slaves are women, children and elderly. Out of the remaining 1/4 (adult men of fighting age) majority are not soldiers/warriors/combatants - they are house-slaves/servants - teachers, valets, cooks, grooms, fat and lazy eunuchs, pampered pleasure slaves; workers from various spheres - carpenters, stonemasons, gardeners, farmers, shepherds, etc. And out of those that are capable and willing to fight, majority will want to either go back to their own homeland, or to remain in whatever city in which they were enslaved and have spent there years of their lives.

Probably many of them already have families there, so they will want to stay in those cities with their families, and to build there a future for their own descendants, not to go with Dany to Westeros to build there a future just for her. THEY don't need nor want the Iron Throne.

Dany freed them for what? - for them to become truly free, or for them to become her tools, instead of being the tools of the slavers? Majority of those slaves, after becoming free, will want to remain free, and to live their own lives. If they will go with Dany to fight for her in those battles, again to live and die for someone else's cause, then it would be like they just changed hands - they were slaves that belonged to the slavers, and now became the slaves that belong to Dany. Why would they want to die for her? Because she freed them? Though if she REALLY freed them, aren't they free to choose their own path and not to go with her on her adventuring?  

So, in my opinion, aside from those Unsullied that Dany already has, majority of those combatants that will go with her to Westeros, will be the Dothraki-warriors.

In her army there will be 144.000 combatants.

12.000 Dothraki from 12 Khalasars. Or something close to that.

It's a parallel to the Bible - Rhaego, who is Khal of Khals (translates as the King of kings), is a parallel to the Heavenly Warrior (though Jon and Dany - the other two heads of the Dragon - are also parallels to that Messiah) - he was a leader of 144.000 horsemen-warriors from 12 tribes:

"

The Lamb and the 144,000

14 Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. ²

"

Instead of Zion, the last battle in ASOIAF will occur at the Trident - Dany saw it in her dream. The Lamb is Jon, or Rhaego.

"

The Heavenly Warrior Defeats the Beast

¹¹ I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. ¹² His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. ¹³ He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. ¹⁴ The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. ¹⁵ Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.”^[a] He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. ¹⁶ On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

king of kings and lord of lords.

"

Many details in ASOIAF are parallels to the Bible. So it's likely that for the number of combatants GRRM will be using specific numbers that he took from the Biblical battles in the Book of Revelation.

[Jaenara Belarys]

On 10/7/2021 at 7:03 AM, Megorova said:

And out of those that are capable and willing to fight, majority will want to either go back to their own homeland, or to remain in whatever city in which they were enslaved and have spent there years of their lives.

 

You also need to arm them, train them, build a little bit of unit cohesion so it holds together......

On 10/6/2021 at 11:35 PM, Daeron the Daring said:

It really isn't. There aren't too many variations. She will come to Westeros at some point. She will certainly bring the Unsullied with him

True, but how many Unsullied will be left? Will the sellswords join her? The Dothraki would certainly inflate her numbers, what about them? You can't predict that. 

[867-5309]

The distance as well as the available transportation will be the limitations.  Daenerys will have many followers but they will not be able to cross the sea.  The Unsullied, her Ironborn allies, a Dothraki cavalry, for sure.  Many families from Westeros will contribute to her army.  From families who are sick of the Lannisters and the Starks. 

[BlackLightning]

It'll be about 200,000. 500,000 max.

I think Dany will be taking sellswords with her as well. Maybe the Second Sons since I think that they will pretty much be a package deal with Tyrion. The Stormcrows and Daario Naharis will likely be staying put unless/until she summons them...which might not be for a while into A Dream of Spring. Let's say she takes 20,000 sellswords with her.

I think Dany is going to have all of the Dothraki at her back. Maybe some non-combatant women and children will be accompanying them as well to perform auxiliary support roles. Let's put them at 150,000. She has about 10,000 Unsullied to her name already. There are other Unsullied in the other Free Cities as well: let's say about 2,000.

I think there will be many former slaves who would come to adore Dany as their absolute queen if not their goddess. Many of them will want to live in peace and take control of their own lives in Essos. But I think many of them will be dying to join her on her journey to the Sunset Kingdoms...if not for the gods, for the glory of adventure and gold. Let's say 20,000 go. I think that's a conservative estimate.

I don't think Victarion has that many ironborn with him. Let's put their number at 2,000. If she plays her cards right, she can win Aurane Waters and his men to her side

And then there's the Fiery Hand. Benerro and the red priests have been giving Dany their full support from afar for a long time. I think that when the time comes they can provide her with swords and battle-ready pyromancers. Let's say that the Fiery Hand gives about 1,000 men.

On top of that, Dany could conscript men and women of fighting age (or even of age to cook, clean, and be nurses) from Free Cities that dared to defy her and lost. Dany could also receive gifts of soldiers from the lands beyond the Bone Mountains. We know Asshai uses slaves and that the Jogos Ngai and Yi-Ti almost certainly uses slaves...in exchange of Dany not bathing the far eastern empires in fire and blood, they can give her warriors, ships, gold and food that she can use for her mission to save Westeros.

Dany can easily get to 200,000-300,000. Granted, they won't all be getting to Westeros at the same time nor will they all be landing in the same place. She's bound to lose a lot of them during the voyage because a lot of people such as myself think that Euron Greyjoy or maybe Aurane Waters is going to rain on their parade (literally).

[Daeron the Daring]

On 10/17/2021 at 2:34 AM, Jaenara Belarys said:

True, but how many Unsullied will be left? Will the sellswords join her? The Dothraki would certainly inflate her numbers, what about them? You can't predict that. 

I assume the Unsullied won't take big losses that will be worth talking about, sellswords already present might or might not join Daenerys, but there aren't too many anyway. It really depends on what the Dothraki will do. If you ask me, I'd say they'll remain in Essos. That being said, I don't think her host will be any more than 20000 men (unsullied, sellswords, and maybe former slaves with military education/experience) and 3 dragons. 

Altough we might assume a formidable force would be needed to be left in Meereen.

[The Commentator]

Westeros will migrate to Essos. It’s the only way to live through winter. 

[Universal Sword Donor]

Based on what we've seen so far, the limiting factor is going to be primarily how many ships she can get to move her army and the conditions on the voyage. The iron fleet lost roughly half of its strength sailing to Mereen, The Volantenes have 300-500 ships with their slave army. Realistically I don't expect her army to be much bigger than say maybe the Golden Company, and their boats were separated and landed widely spread apart coming just from Volantis.

[Targaryeninkingslanding]

supply lines and landing point will also go a long way into shaping how large an invasion force she can reasonably muster. 100000 would be hard pressed to support during a Westerosi winter. if it was more than 60000 I would be really surprised. im with @Universal Sword Donor that we probably have a golden company sized force, but you know, with dragons and some reinforcements down the line. she will need soldiers left behind to hold the east after all.

[Brynden"Bloodraven" Rivers]

5 hours ago, Universal Sword Donor said:

Based on what we've seen so far, the limiting factor is going to be primarily how many ships she can get to move her army and the conditions on the voyage. The iron fleet lost roughly half of its strength sailing to Mereen, The Volantenes have 300-500 ships with their slave army. Realistically I don't expect her army to be much bigger than say maybe the Golden Company, and their boats were separated and landed widely spread apart coming just from Volantis.

Wait a minute, 10,000 men? That is a really conservative estimate. 

 

8 hours ago, BlackLightning said:

It'll be about 200,000. 500,000 max.

I think Dany will be taking sellswords with her as well. Maybe the Second Sons since I think that they will pretty much be a package deal with Tyrion. The Stormcrows and Daario Naharis will likely be staying put unless/until she summons them...which might not be for a while into A Dream of Spring. Let's say she takes 20,000 sellswords with her.

I think Dany is going to have all of the Dothraki at her back. Maybe some non-combatant women and children will be accompanying them as well to perform auxiliary support roles. Let's put them at 150,000. She has about 10,000 Unsullied to her name already. There are other Unsullied in the other Free Cities as well: let's say about 2,000.

I think there will be many former slaves who would come to adore Dany as their absolute queen if not their goddess. Many of them will want to live in peace and take control of their own lives in Essos. But I think many of them will be dying to join her on her journey to the Sunset Kingdoms...if not for the gods, for the glory of adventure and gold. Let's say 20,000 go. I think that's a conservative estimate.

I don't think Victarion has that many ironborn with him. Let's put their number at 2,000. If she plays her cards right, she can win Aurane Waters and his men to her side

And then there's the Fiery Hand. Benerro and the red priests have been giving Dany their full support from afar for a long time. I think that when the time comes they can provide her with swords and battle-ready pyromancers. Let's say that the Fiery Hand gives about 1,000 men.

On top of that, Dany could conscript men and women of fighting age (or even of age to cook, clean, and be nurses) from Free Cities that dared to defy her and lost. Dany could also receive gifts of soldiers from the lands beyond the Bone Mountains. We know Asshai uses slaves and that the Jogos Ngai and Yi-Ti almost certainly uses slaves...in exchange of Dany not bathing the far eastern empires in fire and blood, they can give her warriors, ships, gold and food that she can use for her mission to save Westeros.

Dany can easily get to 200,000-300,000. Granted, they won't all be getting to Westeros at the same time nor will they all be landing in the same place. She's bound to lose a lot of them during the voyage because a lot of people such as myself think that Euron Greyjoy or maybe Aurane Waters is going to rain on their parade (literally).

This is about more my predictions. It makes sense and realistically all the Free Cities except for Braavos and Lorath can combine their forces and make an armada of about 2k ships. More than enough.

[Universal Sword Donor]

16 minutes ago, Brynden"Bloodraven" Rivers said:

Wait a minute, 10,000 men? That is a really conservative estimate. 

She has 3 dragons. Her arrival is meant to ape that of Aegon the Conqueror. She won't be able to or need to bring all of her potential forces to effect a regime change. She'll pick up allies / subordinates after landing in Westeros (e.g. Dorne, Aegon). I do expect her to pick up additional ships and maybe forces elsewhere but there are real questions about how Westeros will react to armies of foreigners

 

[rotting sea cow]

Dany's army will be the largest army that Westeros has seen. How large? It'll be difficult to estimate and it will also depends on the events in Essos. My take is the army will be anywhere between 200 thousands and a million.

Some numbers

- There are about 10k Unsullied and probably as many spread out across Essos who will follow Dany. So 20k give it or take.

- There are three infantry companies of freedmen as least as large as the Unsullied. That makes 30k.

- There are about 5k ironborn. Maybe a little bit more. This is by using the typical scaling of 100 men per ship. Victarion has roughly 50 ships.

- Between 300 and 500 Volantene ships are in the way to Meeren. That's makes up to 50k men. Maybe more.

- Volantene slave army is easily other 100k men if not more. Another 100k can be easily found in the remaining Free Cities. 

- There are likely two dozens of khalasars, big an small, comprising at least 200k riders if not more. 

- Dany has the allegiance now of 3000 sellswords. This could be easily increased with the remaining companies to 10k more. 

This already makes roughly half a millions of warriors.

If Dany conquest cities like Qarth and find allegiance from other regions, or we are underestimating the size of the Dothraki and slave population in Essos, it can easily reach a million.

The question is how many she will take and how many will be left behind to enforce the changes she made.

Overall, I like the notion of a very large army because then Dany will be seen as a invader bringing a bunch of godless foreigners into the realm.

[Rondo]

A large army will take the focus away from the individuals who make up the force.  It will be large enough to deal with the Baratheons, Lannisters and Starks.  May those families burn in hell.  The size of the liberation force will be large.  But nowhere near the size that some are proposing.  The peasants and the high born families with working minds will reach out to Daenerys and beg for help.  The people who have held the power for the last years have created a lot of misery in Westeros.  The people will beg their Queen to come home and put the Starks, Stannis, and the Lannisters in line.  Sending them to hell would be better.

 

[Loose Bolt]

3 hours ago, rotting sea cow said:

Dany's army will be the largest army that Westeros has seen. How large? It'll be difficult to estimate and it will also depends on the events in Essos. My take is the army will be anywhere between 200 thousands and a million.

Some numbers

- There are about 10k Unsullied and probably as many spread out across Essos who will follow Dany. So 20k give it or take.

- There are three infantry companies of freedmen as least as large as the Unsullied. That makes 30k.

- There are about 5k ironborn. Maybe a little bit more. This is by using the typical scaling of 100 men per ship. Victarion has roughly 50 ships.

- Between 300 and 500 Volantene ships are in the way to Meeren. That's makes up to 50k men. Maybe more.

- Volantene slave army is easily other 100k men if not more. Another 100k can be easily found in the remaining Free Cities. 

- There are likely two dozens of khalasars, big an small, comprising at least 200k riders if not more. 

- Dany has the allegiance now of 3000 sellswords. This could be easily increased with the remaining companies to 10k more. 

This already makes roughly half a millions of warriors.

If Dany conquest cities like Qarth and find allegiance from other regions, or we are underestimating the size of the Dothraki and slave population in Essos, it can easily reach a million.

The question is how many she will take and how many will be left behind to enforce the changes she made.

Overall, I like the notion of a very large army because then Dany will be seen as a invader bringing a bunch of godless foreigners into the realm.

Could Dany feed that kind of horde? After all many parts of Westeros cannot now even feed their own people and winter is coming so there should be very little available food for so many new people.

[Tucu]

11 minutes ago, Loose Bolt said:

Could Dany feed that kind of horde? After all many parts of Westeros cannot now even feed their own people and winter is coming so there should be very little available food for so many new people.

Most likely not, but this might be part of the tale: a large invasion army arriving in the middle of winter causing famine.