Do you think Dany will vanquish her enemies next book?

[total1402]

By which I mean, do you think she'll just beat them at Mereen and leave or do you think she'll find a more permanent solution to her enemies in the East? As in literally conquer a fair sized chunk of Essos before she gets on her way to Westeros.

So far as I'am aware shes at war with Yunkai, New Ghis, Qarth and Volantis. ADWD had her pretty much helpless and penned up in Mereen against these people. The battle for Mereen is pretty soon after that and could see most of her enemies tied up in Mereen if not destroyed especially with the Iron Fleet. I can't ever see them ever leaving her alone and I think the character realised the mistake of not sacking cities like Yunkai.

Heres my speculation on what might happen

-Jorah, Tyrion and the sell-swords annialate the Yunkai army. Then the Volantine fleet arrives before Vic who then smashes them in the rear like he did Tywins fleet.

-From there Vic can easily launch a seaborne assault on the island where New Ghis is and overwhelm it with his Ironborn.

-The Unsullied can march on Yunkai and conquer it.

-In Volantis, as is hinted, the fire worshippers rise up and Volantis joins Dany.

-Note that a lot of these characters don't share Danys sensibilities and could well butcher thousands of enemies without her say so and blacken her reputation.

-Meanwhile Dany uses Drogon to get the Dothraki and then leads them to Qarth. With a dragon the Dothraki can take the city for the first time in history.

Problem solved. :) Probably won't turn out like that but its my two cents and a lot would happen "off-screen"

[iamthedave]

Yes, I think she's going to go on a conquering spree again. Why else the Tyrion travel log?

It's also the best way Martin can prevaricate and delay her coming to Westeros while still having something semi-interesting happen. Dance was all about showing unforeseen consequences of well-meaning actions, and seemingly getting Dany to embrace a harder edge (depending on how you read her last chapter). I guess we'll find out for sure what those final few words mean when it comes to Dany's eastern enemies.

[total1402]

She'll probably get all the Ghiscari nobles in one place and damn them for thinking that she was weak. (If anyone has seen that scene in I Claudius where Augustus, played by Brian Blessed berates his senators it would be so like that). I don't know if that means she'll start executing people left, right and center because that would have extreme conotations given the actions of the Mad King; even if the circumstances were very different. These people actually were plotting to kill Dany and overthrow her, Brandon Stark was not, but I doubt people in Westeros will think the same. Hidazhar is going to bite the dust. I could actually imagine, just to get the AA thing across even more that she could kill her spouse personally and Moqorro could use the blood to make Valyrian steel weapons or armour for her. Shes done blood magic once before when she was betrayed.

Also, if the fireworshippers do rise up in Volantis, do you think they'll try to invite her to Volantis and refound the Valyrian Empire? Or do all the fire worshippers believe that the Great Other marches out of Westeros so her destiny is there? A lot of the Red Priests have very different ideas.

Are there any other enemies she has to face?

F me

You realise that conquering that much stuff, mainly through the Dothraki sea, makes up an Empire as big as Westeros? Just did it on paint but I can't figure out how to get images up on this.

[Lord Damian]

Dany will come in and save the day in Mereen. The way Martin has wrote the story through to this point makes this a given. Dany is now going to finally go to Westeros. This action in Mereen will be mopped up early in Winds so that her invasion will get afloat and she will most likely land in Dragonstone where she was born, for poetic reasons.

[total1402]

Dany will come in and save the day in Mereen. The way Martin has wrote the story through to this point makes this a given. Dany is now going to finally go to Westeros. This action in Mereen will be mopped up early in Winds so that her invasion will get afloat and she will most likely land in Dragonstone where she was born, for poetic reasons.

Seems awefuly rushed if thats what happens. Why not just have the battle in ADWD and leave the cliffhanger Dany going to Westeros? just a lot of buildup to be resolved neatly at Mereen and for Dany to leave the slaves to die?

[SeanF]

I think that Victarion will destroy the slaver fleet; Barristan will attack the besieging army that's in bad shape; the Windblown and Second Sons will switch sides; the besiegers will be defeated, with or without the assistance of Dany and the Dothraki; much of the Volantene navy will revolt in her favour; and she'll carry out a ruthless purge of her enemies in Mereen.

[total1402]

Yeah I thought about that. How many fire-worshippers would be among the actual navy and if they would balk at the thought of raising arms against fire jesus woman. ;) You think those troops have secretly been sowing dragon banners and are going to murder their officers once insight of Mereen? that'd be almost as big a surprise as the Ironborn showing up. The look on Barristan and Tyrions faces is going to ridiculous when they see Vics fleet show up.

[aryagonnakill]

I don't think Dany is gonna go strait back to westeros, Volantis is much closer to westeros than slavers bay, and there are plenty of people who want her to go there. Pentos has been promised to the second sons or windblown i cant remember, and theres gotta be some kind of conclusion to ilyrio's story. Going to Qarth seems like it would take too long for the story, but you never know.

[total1402]

Could Vic sack New Ghis and Yunkai along the way or is he just heading straight for Mereen without stopping?

[Dontos the Slim]

Dany will come in and save the day in Mereen. The way Martin has wrote the story through to this point makes this a given. Dany is now going to finally go to Westeros. This action in Mereen will be mopped up early in Winds so that her invasion will get afloat and she will most likely land in Dragonstone where she was born, for poetic reasons.

I don't think she can. The battle is beginning, like, right now (at least, that's what ADWD's end led us to believe). She's pretty far away (I guess) and has no idea what transpired after the pit. Plus, the most recent writing update from GRRM had him writing about the Dothraki. So I'm thinking she'll be with them for a while. She might be able to get back to Mereen quickly on Drogon, but she'll have to wait for the Dothraki, which means she'll be with them (unless, of course, he introduces a Dothraki POV and she goes on ahead).

I think the original poster is right: the Mereen battle gets resolved without her. And that wouldn't be a letdown. They would all be fighting in her name, under her rule. So it will still be important to her ruling arc. I'm not sure I'm in love with the return to Qarth idea, though. At some point, word of what Aegon is doing will reach her, forcing her westward.

[House Balstroko]

That will depend on the pace of the book. Hopefully it will be a bit faster than Dance, at least. She'll probably reestablish her dominance across Slaver's Bay and maybe try to expand her territory in Essos. Perhaps she'll reclaim the Dothraki and maybe Pentos with the help of Illyrio.

[total1402]

I think the original poster is right: the Mereen battle gets resolved without her. And that wouldn't be a letdown. They would all be fighting in her name, under her rule. So it will still be important to her ruling arc. I'm not sure I'm in love with the return to Qarth idea, though. At some point, word of what Aegon is doing will reach her, forcing her westward.

Also a big obstacle to the Dothraki getting to Qarth is the Red Wastes. However the Qartheen did say that they had had to deal with Dothraki before their walls before. From the Sea she could attack pretty much anywhere. Though why she would attack Pentis without knowing Tyrions plan is beyond me. She could take Yunkai but I think taking Qarth would be more epic. If she has ALL the Dothraki then she can probably attack more than one city.

BTW Do you think the Dothraki "Stallion that will mount the world" is a reference to Genghis Khan? My understanding is that the Sky God reached down and chose Genghis Khan or gave him a seal or something along those lines that meant he was destined to conquer the world. Perhaps they'll think that Drogon and not Rhaego was the Stallion who would mount the world since she was both of their mothers after all...

[Feron Amathy]

Martin does seem to have sewn the seeds for a war across Essos, presumably with Dany winning, but i don't see her really holding a significant amount of the territory. Conquering all of Essos and then invading Westeros is the sort of thing that would happen in a lot of fantasy but would be absurd compared to similar real world historical situations, and given the lengths Martin has gone to show how hard this ruling malarky is, and how (rightly) lauded he's been for injecting into his work a sense of realism absent from virtually all popular fantasy (random tangent: but not the stuff most have never heard of; sick of reading that martin is the 'first' fantasy writer to do x and y when better authors have been doing it as long or longer, but just haven't happened to reach the critical mass and so acquire mainstream attention).

Anyway, yeah she'll probably lay waste to the whole continent, then go home, taking the troops and funds she's acquired in the process but not leaving much in terms of government behind. it's been her MO so far anyway, except for the spectacular failure of Mereen.

[total1402]

Martin does seem to have sewn the seeds for a war across Essos, presumably with Dany winning, but i don't see her really holding a significant amount of the territory. Conquering all of Essos and then invading Westeros is the sort of thing that would happen in a lot of fantasy but would be absurd compared to similar real world historical situations, and given the lengths Martin has gone to show how hard this ruling malarky is, and how (rightly) lauded he's been for injecting into his work a sense of realism absent from virtually all popular fantasy (random tangent: but not the stuff most have never heard of; sick of reading that martin is the 'first' fantasy writer to do x and y when better authors have been doing it as long or longer, but just haven't happened to reach the critical mass and so acquire mainstream attention).

Anyway, yeah she'll probably lay waste to the whole continent, then go home, taking the troops and funds she's acquired in the process but not leaving much in terms of government behind. it's been her MO so far anyway, except for the spectacular failure of Mereen.

Genghis Khan conquered Mongolia, China, the Persian (Khwaerenzid?) Empire and sent an expedition into Russia. If you have a hundred thousand horse archers you can devastate even massive empires. It is actually something very much in world history that nomad invasions could rapidly cause the downfall of huge empires in a shockingly short amount of time. So there are real-world examples to draw on. If a nomad invasion could (repeatedly :)) bring down a Chinese state with hundreds of millions of citizens and armies in the hundreds of thousands; then I'am pretty sure Dany can overwhelm Qarth and Yunkai with the Dothraki; especially since she has a dragon.

I don't read particularly much fantasy but Ice n Fire it never struck me as particularly more realistic or gritty compared to other fantasy books. As an aside I tend to find a lot of books which claim to try that just "preachy". I just see ice and fire as well-written fantasy, nothing more and nothing less. Also, I'am not a fan of realism taking precedent over entertainment. Otherwise you would have characters being killed without any structure for example if littlefinger were to die of dysentry or Varys were to get food poisoning and die before any of their schemes got anywhere. Or if Robb fell from his horse and snapped his neck. Or if Victarion in his plate armour slipped on the wet wood into the ocean and drowned. No, I don't consider the series realistic.

If you're curious the series that I have read are

-Wars of Light and Shadow

-The Shannara trilogy

-LotR obviously

-Dragonlance

-Feists Riftwar saga

-The Crucible trilogy

TBH very few of those present the heroes as conquerors thats normally what the villains are presented as being. So I don't get why you think its cliche, thats just my 2 cents. Sterotypical fantasy for me is Fellowship of the Ring merry adventure type stuff.

[Tharvot]

I do not think Dany will vanquish all her enemies in the East in the next book, but I do think she will leave Essos for Westeros.

After the disaster that was/is Mereen, I think Dany is about ready to GTFO. With her unsullied, her sell swords, and quite possibly an entire dothraki khalasar of about 30k plus Vic and his Ironfleet, she could quite easily land and start really knocking heads around in Westeros...not to mention the added bonus having the most powerful weapons in the world, dragons.

The big questions I have regard the dragon horn (still not sure what it does besides kill the person who uses it, supposedly it binds a dragon to the owner) and the landing location. Will she sail towards the Arbor and confront Euron or will she sail to her "home" at Dragonstone?...or will she shock everyone and end up sailing north (perhaps Pentos then over to White Harbor?).

[Jaimeisnotazombie]

she fucking better, i cant take another book in Essos.

i still think her and Vic arent going to get along, so only one is going to make it out of this book, and i hope its Vic lol.

[total1402]

I do not think Dany will vanquish all her enemies in the East in the next book, but I do think she will leave Essos for Westeros.

After the disaster that was/is Mereen, I think Dany is about ready to GTFO. With her unsullied, her sell swords, and quite possibly an entire dothraki khalasar of about 30k plus Vic and his Ironfleet, she could quite easily land and start really knocking heads around in Westeros...not to mention the added bonus having the most powerful weapons in the world, dragons.

The big questions I have regard the dragon horn (still not sure what it does besides kill the person who uses it, supposedly it binds a dragon to the owner) and the landing location. Will she sail towards the Arbor and confront Euron or will she sail to her "home" at Dragonstone?...or will she shock everyone and end up sailing north (perhaps Pentos then over to White Harbor?).

Whilst it makes sense why she would cut and run I can't see why she needs the Dothraki to do that. I mean really all she needs are the Unsullied and her dragons. Its more that I would like the filler in ADWD to actually amount to something rather than have a few chapters of her getting more troops meeting up with the gang in Mereen and then the rest of the book for her to reach Pentos. That'd be pretty dull and just make the filler in ADWD even more unjustified.

[total1402]

she fucking better, i cant take another book in Essos.

i still think her and Vic arent going to get along, so only one is going to make it out of this book, and i hope its Vic lol.

We're getting another book in Essos sadly. Shes only coming to Westeros during the final book. Thats the story GRR Martin wants to tell and he clearly doesn't want her until the finale. At the very most I would expect her to have landed in the epilogue chapter of WoW; if that. Hes set up far too much in ADWD and Feast of Crows to be neatly wrapped up in a few chapters. As others have remarked of his Arianne chapter, which is her second part, the first being her talking with Doran and the second being her going to meet someone; this clearly shows that hes not discarding established characters or storyarcs for convenience. It might be irksome IMO but he really does want elements he established like Mereen and the Martels to be prominent in the story. it would be quite easy for Dany to just leave, the author clearly just does not want that to happen any time soon and thinks the Essos tale adds something to the series.

[So1ar]

Seems awefuly rushed if thats what happens. Why not just have the battle in ADWD and leave the cliffhanger Dany going to Westeros? just a lot of buildup to be resolved neatly at Mereen and for Dany to leave the slaves to die?

rushed? if dany doesn't get a move on i'll die of old age before she steps foot on westeros. also, she left the freed slaves to die in astapor. if george wants to finish this in 7 books we don't have time for dany to wander around essos and "free" the slaves from every city. i would like for dany to take care of business in mereen and gtfo of essos.

[Faint]

We're getting another book in Essos sadly. Shes only coming to Westeros during the final book.

I don't know about that. The author has gone on about the two battle sequences left unresolved from the previous book occurring early in The Winds of Winter. There is also no telling what type of time jumps are likely to occur within the next book itself. There are POVs that have had chapters separated by months of time (i.e., Arya, Sam).