Dothraki Army - Incompetent Huns

[Aldarion]

So as a result of discussions on Dothraki with multiple users here I decided to write an article about Dothraki army. And then I kept writing. And kept writing, until I ended up with a four-part series.

Here be the Part 1 of series about our favorite lobotomized horse nomads:

https://warfantasy.wordpress.com/2023/12/17/fantasy-army-dothraki-part-1-organization-logistics-strategy/

Quote

Dothraki are the local Essosi nomads from A Song of Ice and Fire book and A Game of Thrones TV series. They are one of the most prominent groups in Essos, and are the local to-go horse nomads. While Martin claims that they are an “amalgman of a number of steppe and plains cultures”, discussions about their military capability mostly focus on two specific models: the Huns and the Mongols, and more often the latter.

But how good of nomadic army Dothraki really are? I will be addressing this question in four parts.

Historical Model

In an interview (available on Youtube here), George Martin had stated that he has based Dothraki on “a number of influences from the horse tribes from the Eurasian steppes. Certainly there is a lot of Mongols in them, but they are not purely the Mongols, I added some sort of material about the Huns, there is some material there that I took from Amerindian tribes such as the Sioux and the Cheyenne, the horse tribes of the Great American Praeries. And there is a certain amount that is pure fantasy – you know, where you have a little fun, and you mix all this stuff together, you come up with a thing and then you add few fantasy twists on it… Because this is after all, a fantasy series.”.

This is repeated nearly word-for-word in So Spake Martin: “The Dothraki were actually fashioned as an amalgam of a number of steppe and plains cultures… Mongols and Huns, certainly, but also Alans, Sioux, Cheyenne, and various other Amerindian tribes… seasoned with a dash of pure fantasy. So any resemblance to Arabs or Turks is coincidental. Well, except to the extent that the Turks were also originally horsemen of the steppes, not unlike the Alans, Huns, and the rest.

There do exist many other cultures and civilizations in my world, to be sure. The peoples of Yi Ti have been mentioned, as have the Jogos Nhai. I am not sure to what extent those peoples will ever enter this present story, however… their lands are very far away.

(I also have peoples and tribes that are pure fantasy constructs, like the Qartheen and the brindled men of Sothoryos).

In general, though, while I do draw inspiration from history, I try to avoid direct one-for-one transplants, whether of individuals or of entire cultures. Just as it not correct to say that Robert was Henry VIII or Edward IV, it would not be correct to say that the Dothraki are Mongols.”

But as will become obvious later, Dothraki are absolutely nothing like the Eurasian nomads, especially the Mongols. Even the American Indians would likely feel insulted by comparison of their own tactics and military capabilites to those of Dothraki. There is not a “certain amount that is pure fantasy” – Dothraki are, in fact, nearly 100% pure fantasy, are are very different from (and inferior compared to) any and all of their “historical inspirations”.

User Craving Peaches from A Song of Ice and Fire forum has noted that Dothraki are possibly based on the Sea Peoples that had destroyed the Hittite Empire and had also attacked Egypt. They would rape, pillage and burn, never building anything, and were likely unarmored or only lightly armored. Sarnori themselves are a good parallel to Hittites as they utilized chariots and were also very prone to infighting.

But since claims about capabilities of the Dothraki are usually based on their alleged Mongol and, to a lesser extent, Hunnic inspiration, this is what I will be focusing on.

Rest of the text on the link.

Edited December 17, 2023 by Aldarion

[SeanF]

1 hour ago, Aldarion said:

So as a result of discussions on Dothraki with multiple users here I decided to write an article about Dothraki army. And then I kept writing. And kept writing, until I ended up with a four-part series.

Here be the Part 1 of series about our favorite lobotomized horse nomads:

https://warfantasy.wordpress.com/2023/12/17/fantasy-army-dothraki-part-1-organization-logistics-strategy/

Rest of the text on the link.

Armour is useless, according to Hollywood, and GRRM began as a scriptwriter.

[Here's Looking At You, Kid]

The Dothraki khalasars will make short work of any army the incompetent lords of Westeros could put in battle.  In the real world we are seeing how an army of basically young reservists are suffering huge loses in the field against an adversary whom they have underestimated for years.  A that is even with a lot of help from external powers.  That is what the armies of Westeros are.  Farmers doing part-time work as soldiers.  The Dothraki would mow them down like a lawnmower does to green grass.  Westeros farm boys will fall to the arakh as if they are nothing but weeds.  

The khalasars won't be alone when Daenerys lands in Westeros.  The Unsullied will be there.  The best part and what I find really exciting are the three dragons.  I eagerly expect there will be a Field of Fire much bigger than the one Aegon unleashed on the Lannisters and other Westeros fools.  

[Bronn of the Bathwater]

Hmm no. Any Westerosi general would take the battle to a location that would temper the advantage of the Khalasars cavalry. I.E rivers, mountains, bogs, swamps, valleys, uphill., and then use the climate against them, rain, snow, ice etc, all things a Khalasar has no experience in. 

Khalasar camps also sprawl with no rhyme or reason every night. Their horses could be poisoned quickly overnight. 

I believe the dothraki suck at seige warfare. So that would work against them too.

Also, the dothraki are a superstitious bunch, so Terror tactics and "omens" and other rubbish could spook them into pissing their breeches and going home. 

 

[Aldarion]

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

The Dothraki khalasars will make short work of any army the incompetent lords of Westeros could put in battle.  In the real world we are seeing how an army of basically young reservists are suffering huge loses in the field against an adversary whom they have underestimated for years.  A that is even with a lot of help from external powers.  That is what the armies of Westeros are.  Farmers doing part-time work as soldiers.  The Dothraki would mow them down like a lawnmower does to green grass.  Westeros farm boys will fall to the arakh as if they are nothing but weeds.  

The khalasars won't be alone when Daenerys lands in Westeros.  The Unsullied will be there.  The best part and what I find really exciting are the three dragons.  I eagerly expect there will be a Field of Fire much bigger than the one Aegon unleashed on the Lannisters and other Westeros fools.  

Please do read what was written before spouting utter crap.

Westerosi armies aren't comprised of farmers and in any case armies of part-timers or even militiamen can in fact be significantly superior to armies of full-time professionals.

Unsullied are hardly any better than Dothraki and are significantly inferior to Westerosi infantry, but that is an issue I will tackle at another time.

But I guess you really can't expect a Dothraki fan to have any clue what they're talking about.

[SeanF]

24 minutes ago, Aldarion said:

Please do read what was written before spouting utter crap.

Westerosi armies aren't comprised of farmers and in any case armies of part-timers or even militiamen can in fact be significantly superior to armies of full-time professionals.

Unsullied are hardly any better than Dothraki and are significantly inferior to Westerosi infantry, but that is an issue I will tackle at another time.

But I guess you really can't expect a Dothraki fan to have any clue what they're talking about.

Dotrhaki, armoured in mail, or in silk shirts with hardened leather armour, trained in tactics like the feigned retreat, careful not to get to close quarters with armoured cavalry, and working closely with other arms of battle, could be highly effective. 

But, that's not what we're shown.  Now it may be that we just have to accept rule of cool, and they will wipe out their enemies in Westeros, but it would not be realistic.

As an aside, it's remarkable how often the feigned retreat worked.  I guess that with all but the best-trained soldiers, there's a psychological need to get to grips with people who are harassing you with arrows.

[Aldarion]

37 minutes ago, SeanF said:

Dotrhaki, armoured in mail, or in silk shirts with hardened leather armour, trained in tactics like the feigned retreat, careful not to get to close quarters with armoured cavalry, and working closely with other arms of battle, could be highly effective. 

But, that's not what we're shown.  Now it may be that we just have to accept rule of cool, and they will wipe out their enemies in Westeros, but it would not be realistic.

Agreed.

38 minutes ago, SeanF said:

As an aside, it's remarkable how often the feigned retreat worked.  I guess that with all but the best-trained soldiers, there's a psychological need to get to grips with people who are harassing you with arrows.

It wasn't just arrows. Feigned retreat worked even with non-missile troops, though obviously horse archers will have found it easier (as well as more profitable) to execute and so became famed for it.

Feigned retreat worked due to three factors:

• Psychologically, when a human sees enemy fleeing, it will trigger a "hunt" reflex in order to either catch a prey or remove the threat that may come to haunt him later.
• Strategically, it makes sense to eliminate the enemy army before it can reform.
• "Fog of War" is a real issue, and makes it difficult to determine when enemy is running away and when he is just withdrawing.

And of course, as you noted, arrows are an issue and even well-armored soldiers will find it difficult to tolerate missile bombardment for a long period of time. That certainly would make any feigned retreat attempt far more effective, but it wasn't a strict requirement.

[SaffronLady]

2 hours ago, Aldarion said:

But I guess you really can't expect a Dothraki fan to have any clue what they're talking about.

Kid is a Dany fan.

[Aldarion]

1 hour ago, SaffronLady said:

Kid is a Dany fan.

In my experience, that often leads one to become a Dothraki / Unsullied fan as well.

I mean, those two are objectively the shittiest military forces in the setting outside things like Wildlings and Clanker Lords. But logic among Dany fans is that Daenaery is awesome and so she must have the moste awesomer military forces as well, and that means that the Dothraki and the Unsullied must be awesome as well and better than anything else we have seen or will see in the setting.

I will grant that they will probably do well against the Wight hordes... even though I would still prefer good 15th century heavy infantry pavise wall in that situation. And it is possible (though not certain) that that will indeed be all they will face to begin with. But Dany fans often (I will not say "always") conclude that the hype must be real and that castrated Spartans and Huns that had suffered head trauma way too many times must somehow be better than basically 14th / 15th century armies.

[SaffronLady]

6 minutes ago, Aldarion said:

In my experience, that often leads one to become a Dothraki / Unsullied fan as well.

I mean, those two are objectively the shittiest military forces in the setting outside things like Wildlings and Clanker Lords. But logic among Dany fans is that Daenaery is awesome and so she must have the moste awesomer military forces as well, and that means that the Dothraki and the Unsullied must be awesome as well and better than anything else we have seen or will see in the setting.

I will grant that they will probably do well against the Wight hordes... even though I would still prefer good 15th century heavy infantry pavise wall in that situation. And it is possible (though not certain) that that will indeed be all they will face to begin with. But Dany fans often (I will not say "always") conclude that the hype must be real and that castrated Spartans and Huns that had suffered head trauma way too many times must somehow be better than basically 14th / 15th century armies.

Ah. I was more trying to say "if the horselords were Dany's enemies, they'd shit on them like they shit on the slavers".

Agreed with assessment.

[SaffronLady]

8 minutes ago, Aldarion said:

I would still prefer good 15th century heavy infantry pavise wall in that situation.

And this reminds me of that song with a very long Hungarian title I should listen to again, celebrating the White Knight's victory at Nandofehevar aka Belgrade.

[Aldarion]

1 hour ago, SaffronLady said:

And this reminds me of that song with a very long Hungarian title I should listen to again, celebrating the White Knight's victory at Nandofehevar aka Belgrade.

What is the song?

[SaffronLady]

10 hours ago, Aldarion said:

What is the song?

I found the lyrics, but the song itself eludes me.

[SeanF]

19 hours ago, Aldarion said:

Agreed.

It wasn't just arrows. Feigned retreat worked even with non-missile troops, though obviously horse archers will have found it easier (as well as more profitable) to execute and so became famed for it.

Feigned retreat worked due to three factors:

• Psychologically, when a human sees enemy fleeing, it will trigger a "hunt" reflex in order to either catch a prey or remove the threat that may come to haunt him later.
• Strategically, it makes sense to eliminate the enemy army before it can reform.
• "Fog of War" is a real issue, and makes it difficult to determine when enemy is running away and when he is just withdrawing.

And of course, as you noted, arrows are an issue and even well-armored soldiers will find it difficult to tolerate missile bombardment for a long period of time. That certainly would make any feigned retreat attempt far more effective, but it wasn't a strict requirement.

I’ve said before, the Dothraki are like the Tharks of Barsoom, or the Fremen in Dune.  They bear little relation to any real-world culture, and they are far too violent to survive.

Real steppe horse-based societies *were* violent, but they also went to great lengths to keep violence within bounds.  They didn’t slaughter each other at weddings, or on a whim.  Nor did tribes routinely slaughter each other as soon as they met up.  They often met up to trade, breed animals, make marriage alliances, or jointly plan raids.

People (including slaves), were just far too valuable to low-population societies, living on the edge of survival, to waste.

what you’re really identifying is that Dothraki society (not just methods of warfare), is implausible.

 

Edited December 19, 2023 by SeanF

[Aldarion]

5 hours ago, SeanF said:

I’ve said before, the Dothraki are like the Tharks of Barsoom, or the Fremen in Dune.  They bear little relation to any real-world culture, and they are far too violent to survive.

Real steppe horse-based societies *were* violent, but they also went to great lengths to keep violence within bounds.  They didn’t slaughter each other at weddings, or on a whim.  Nor did tribes routinely slaughter each other as soon as they met up.  They often met up to trade, breed animals, make marriage alliances, or jointly plan raids.

People (including slaves), were just far too valuable to low-population societies, living on the edge of survival, to waste.

what you’re really identifying is that Dothraki society (not just methods of warfare), is implausible.

 

Less implausible and more impossible. Though Plains Indians could be right assholes to each other (scalping, raping and so on), most of their warfare IIRC was actually based on intimidation, with the goal of stealing horses rather than killing the enemy.

6 hours ago, SaffronLady said:

I found the lyrics, but the song itself eludes me.

Thanks! Found it, I think.

[SaffronLady]

2 hours ago, Aldarion said:

Thanks! Found it, I think.

Yeah this is the one. One of my favorite Ungarn songs by virtue of it being the only one I know by name.

[Lord Varys]

The issue is kind of odd, as the question is not how 'realistic' some culture or military equipment is, but more what narrative role certain groups play in the story.

The Dothraki as such might eventually play a role in the Dany plot ... but so far she has yet to win their allegiance. However, if she does, then their role is not going to be that of moronic cannon fodder as there would be no need to introduce them as such.

After all, the Dothraki last featured prominently in AGoT, and up until the last Dany chapter of ADwD (and the silly show) we didn't even have textual evidence that Dany might have the time and opportunity to get even with the Dothraki khals she wants to punish, nor any good reason to believe she could end up as their divine leader.

If the latter were to happen there will be a narrative reason for this, a reason why Daenerys will get access to hundreds of thousands of capable and willing fighters ... and that reason is likely not going to be for such a campaign to fail in a fight against peasants with sticks.

The entire Aegon plot shows that a Targaryen pretender might be able to win the Iron Throne only with a core contingent of 10,000 foreign and opportunistic sellswords. Dany has three dragons and could thus the same easily enough. But that isn't her plot, obviously.

In that sense this is similar to people going on about how Euron Greyjoy should be crushed completely by Paxter Redwyne as he is actually commanding the largest military fleet in Westeros while Euron is actually lacking the Iron Fleet right now, which happens to be the actual proper Ironborn war fleet. However, the plot is constructed as such that Euron Greyjoy as a character and danger would be entirely pointless if some featured extra with, perhaps, ten lines in the entire series were actually to crush him.

Or would could go on about how Aegon's landing in the Stormlands is hopeless as the Golden Company are a bunch of self-serving sellswords with only 1,000 knights (and that only if all of them were at Griffin's Roost/Storm's End which they are not) about to face 30,000-40,000 of the Reach's finest, possibly even under the command of 'the finest soldier of the Realm' (which shouldn't amount to much, of course, but, anyway).

Realistically, nobody should declare for Aegon as he not only pretends to be a dead guy but is put forth by a bunch of landless exiles with zero support from an actual Westerosi nobleman of standing and influence. Even if both Dornish armies were to come to his aid eventually they should still be crushed by the Tyrells.

But that is not all that likely to happen.

Larger armies, better equipment, etc. will not be the deciding in those cases. And if push comes to shove magic will do the trick. As will most likely be the case with Euron vs. Paxter.

We could go on about Stannis vs. Roose. Stannis lost effectively his entire cavalry and the Freys and Boltons should easily enough make short work of whatever 'cavalry' the clansmen brought. But that is not likely what's going to happen there, either.

[Aldarion]

1 hour ago, Lord Varys said:

The entire Aegon plot shows that a Targaryen pretender might be able to win the Iron Throne only with a core contingent of 10,000 foreign and opportunistic sellswords. Dany has three dragons and could thus the same easily enough. But that isn't her plot, obviously.

 

In a country where nobody really knows who to follow, and the authority of only group kinda-sorta keeping things together is unravelling.

At any rate, Aegon will not "win the Iron Throne only with a core contingent of 10 000 sellswords". He needs them to initially establish his legitimacy, but once he wins a battle, he can - and almost certainly will - rather quickly and relatively easily gain widespread support in Westeros. That was basically what the plan was with Drogo's khalasar - there was no need to conquer entire Seven Kingdoms with them, but simply get them (and Golden Company) to Westeros, win perhaps one battle, and then have the Targaryen loyalists basically land in their lap.

1 hour ago, Lord Varys said:

In that sense this is similar to people going on about how Euron Greyjoy should be crushed completely by Paxter Redwyne as he is actually commanding the largest military fleet in Westeros while Euron is actually lacking the Iron Fleet right now, which happens to be the actual proper Ironborn war fleet. However, the plot is constructed as such that Euron Greyjoy as a character and danger would be entirely pointless if some featured extra with, perhaps, ten lines in the entire series were actually to crush him.

 

Euron is going to rely on magic BS to win the day, that is quite clear.

Nobody is expecting him to actually win a head-on engagement against the Redwyne fleet.

1 hour ago, Lord Varys said:

Or would could go on about how Aegon's landing in the Stormlands is hopeless as the Golden Company are a bunch of self-serving sellswords with only 1,000 knights (and that only if all of them were at Griffin's Roost/Storm's End which they are not) about to face 30,000-40,000 of the Reach's finest, possibly even under the command of 'the finest soldier of the Realm' (which shouldn't amount to much, of course, but, anyway).

 

Golden Company are literally Swiss mercenaries of Planetos. "Never breaking contract", reliance on pikemen and so on... no, they are not your typical "self-serving sellswords".

And yes, Reach cavalry would easily wipe them out in the open. Good thing Connington isn't dumb enough to face them out in the open with no plan... and it was also raining heavily. Which just so happens to be one of things that can severely hamper effectiveness of heavy cavalry.

Remember another battle where a numerically inferior army faced attack by a more numerous heavy cavalry based army led by hotheads... and it had rained recently?

In case you cannot remember:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Agincourt

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/Map_Agincort.svg/1052px-Map_Agincort.svg.png

1 hour ago, Lord Varys said:

Realistically, nobody should declare for Aegon as he not only pretends to be a dead guy but is put forth by a bunch of landless exiles with zero support from an actual Westerosi nobleman of standing and influence. Even if both Dornish armies were to come to his aid eventually they should still be crushed by the Tyrells.

But that is not all that likely to happen.

Realistically, people choose the best option available. And with Tywin dead, who is the best option? Tommen, who is in power of increasingly more deranged Cersei? Stannis, who is starving in the North? Daenaerys, who has not shown any inclination to even try to get to Westeros and help fix things there so far?

1 hour ago, Lord Varys said:

We could go on about Stannis vs. Roose. Stannis lost effectively his entire cavalry and the Freys and Boltons should easily enough make short work of whatever 'cavalry' the clansmen brought. But that is not likely what's going to happen there, either.

You are forgetting the Manderlys here.

Stannis is not going to win merely with his own forces and ingenuity, even though he likely is one of the best commanders in Westeros and Essos right now.

[Lord Varys]

13 minutes ago, Aldarion said:

In a country where nobody really knows who to follow, and the authority of only group kinda-sorta keeping things together is unravelling.

At any rate, Aegon will not "win the Iron Throne only with a core contingent of 10 000 sellswords". He needs them to initially establish his legitimacy, but once he wins a battle, he can - and almost certainly will - rather quickly and relatively easily gain widespread support in Westeros. That was basically what the plan was with Drogo's khalasar - there was no need to conquer entire Seven Kingdoms with them, but simply get them (and Golden Company) to Westeros, win perhaps one battle, and then have the Targaryen loyalists basically land in their lap.

The Iron Throne is in KL, and to win it Aegon has to take it. And technically he is opposed by 30,000-40,000 Reach men which should win the day easily enough, even if he had full Dornish support.

Aegon might get declarations of support and lords bending their knee after he takes Storm's End and then KL ... but in winter and in a war-torn Westeros that won't translate into him gaining troops left and right.

13 minutes ago, Aldarion said:

Euron is going to rely on magic BS to win the day, that is quite clear.

Nobody is expecting him to actually win a head-on engagement against the Redwyne fleet.

I'd say magic and, perhaps, smarter naval battle tactics. But sure enough - I'd actually also expect him to win a mundane battle against the Redwynes simply for narrative reasons. This is a story, and Euron is a major antagonist while Paxter is a featured extra with almost no lines.

13 minutes ago, Aldarion said:

Golden Company are literally Swiss mercenaries of Planetos. "Never breaking contract", reliance on pikemen and so on... no, they are not your typical "self-serving sellswords".

They are, as Harry Strickland shows. They are going to sell Aegon out if he were to lose. And they will break camp and retreat again if the campaign is not going to look profitable.

13 minutes ago, Aldarion said:

And yes, Reach cavalry would easily wipe them out in the open. Good thing Connington isn't dumb enough to face them out in the open with no plan... and it was also raining heavily. Which just so happens to be one of things that can severely hamper effectiveness of heavy cavalry.

Where is it raining heavily? The 30,000-40,000 Tyrell men are not all heavy cavalry. They should have just as many archers and professional men-at-arms as Aegon has, since the latter does not only not yet have the entire Golden Company at Griffin's Roost/Storm's End but is also outnumbered 5:1 or 6:1. There will be some rabble among the Reach men, to be sure, but their strength is drawn from the castles and towns of the Reach where we would expect to have the best trained feudal levies in all of Westeros.

There is chance that a bumbling general is going to make things very hard for the Tyrell effort ... but you would have to be an utter moron to lose against 5,000-6,000 men with 30,000-40,000 men. Even if Mace or Randyll were to march with only half their strength they would still have 15,000-20,000 men - more than double than Aegon will have after he has taken Storm's End.

13 minutes ago, Aldarion said:

Realistically, people choose the best option available. And with Tywin dead, who is the best option? Tommen, who is in power of increasingly more deranged Cersei? Stannis, who is starving in the North? Daenaerys, who has not shown any inclination to even try to get to Westeros and help fix things there so far?

Sure, but that is then a narrative, non-military reason: People favoring a (perhaps) false dragon to a (confirmed) false boy stag can make some sense. Aegon is likely to win because Tommen's government will collapse from the inside rather than be defeated on the field.

The chance that Aegon could defeat the Tyrells on the field are actually pretty bad - and he could never hope to besiege or storm the city. If he wins, then because the Reach men refuse to fight him or outright defect to his side. All that is prepared by the infighting in Tommen's government.

13 minutes ago, Aldarion said:

You are forgetting the Manderlys here.

They brought how many men to Winterfell? 300, I think, 100 of them knights. They could wreak some havoc, to be sure, but unless theirs were a carefully coordinated betrayal in the middle of the battle - like Roose planned it for the Karstarks - they should have little effect. Even more so as the Freys should actually expect something like that. There is no chance in the world that even Hosteen Frey expects them to jointly butcher Stannis. Rather, the guy is looking forward to slaughter the Manderlys on the way to Stannis if he gets the chance. He does think Wyman did the same with his kin on the way to Barrowton, after all.

13 minutes ago, Aldarion said:

Stannis is not going to win merely with his own forces and ingenuity, even though he likely is one of the best commanders in Westeros and Essos right now.

Well, if he wins, it will likely be due to him using the terrain to his advantage and seeing the enemy commanders make grievous mistakes - which is also a great way to neutralize military advantages in numbers and equipment.

And to be sure - the terrain advantages can only be exploited only once. He could still be crushed like a bug if Roose is smart enough to check things out before he unleashes his own forces. The Karstark double betrayal is going to have a huge effect, one imagines, but once it is revealed it is revealed. Ditto with the lake. If both will play out during the original Frey attack, even Ramsay could put Stannis down.

And the clansmen want to die in the fighting. Their attacks will be suicidal, so Stannis could lose too many men in the first battle, long before he even gets close to Winterfell.

Stannis best chance is not so much a military victory of his side, but a disintegration of the Bolton camp - like Aegon has to hope team Tommen is going to collapse. And chances are not so bad there as the only glue tying most of the Northmen at Winterfell to the Boltons was 'Arya Stark'. With her gone, Roose and Ramsay might be murdered by some turncloak Northmen in Winterfell itself.

[Craving Peaches]

If Dothraki alone win battles against other armies in Westeros it will be brain dead writing. Everything works against Dothraki being successful when they are in Westeros - opposing armies, fortresses, terrain, supplies etc.