Theory: Missandei poisoned the locusts to kill Hizdahr. Her modus operandi...

[The Others Take Ya]

It occurs to me that if the Green Grace is the harpy, (I think that's the leading theory on this topic), and if the theory of Missandei being an undercover faceless man sort of working for Dany is true (I posted this here), then we have a good suspect for who poisoned the locusts at Daznak's fighting pit. Missandei. Because she wanted Hizdahr to die.

Now I know most of you are thinking "A ten year old? REALLY? Stop crackpotting!" with a hard mental block, but hold on for a second and think about the Waif in the HoB&W. Arya thought she was a little girl, but she was 36. The waif and kindly man both say say "the poisons" left her that way, and based on the lie in Waif's story it's the HoB&W poisons, not her mother's. If you want to debate points on Missandei=FM agent, please take a look at this thread for way more on that and I know other threads exist to debate Harpy=Green grace. I'm starting this theory with the two assumptions of Harpy=Green Grace and Missandei=FM agent in place as if they're fact to examine this third theory of Missandei trying to poison Hizdahr.

MOTIVE:

Missandei has the motive to kill Hizdahr. I suspect that she knows or at least suspects that this "peace by marriage" to him is a sham and he is a pawn to help Dany's enemies (the Green Grace who is the Harpy) and not Dany. She tried to warn Dany off of marrying him right before the wedding.

ADWD Daenerys VII

As Dany nibbled on an olive, the Naathi girl gazed at her with eyes like molten gold and said, “It is not too late to tell them that you have decided not to wed.”

It is, though, the queen thought, sadly. “Hizdahr’s blood is ancient and noble. Our joining will join my freedmen to his people. When we become as one, so will our city.”

“Your Grace does not love the noble Hizdahr. This one thinks you would sooner have another for your husband.”

**Sept 26th edit***

Ok so my motive wasn't very fleshed out... but later on I found this:

Arrangements, did you say? Make arrangements? What sort of arrangements?”

“Ransom,” said Ser Barristan. “Each man's weight in gold.”

“The Wise Masters do not need our gold, ser,” said Marselen. “They are richer than your Westerosi lords, every one.”

“Their sellswords will want the gold, though. What are the hostages to them? If the Yunkishmen refuse, it will drive a blade between them and their hirelings.” Or so I hope. It had been Missandei who suggested the ploy to him. He would never have thought of such a thing himself. In King’s Landing, bribes had been Littlefinger’s domain, whilst Lord Varys had the task of fostering division amongst the crown’s enemies. His own duties had been more straightforward. Eleven years of age, yet Missandei is as clever as half the men at this table and wiser than all of them.

If Missandei wants to cause dissent or just end the marriage of Dany and Hizdahr then perhaps a whole drama over who poisoned who and who was trying to kill who in the new marriage was just what she wanted to cause. This way neither would feel safe around the other and the Braavos founded slavery hating faceless men would help cause the new peace/marriage to deceptive slavers to unravel. Yes the faceless men haven't explicity come out against slavery, but the city they were founded in was and is, and Braavos fought against slavers in Aegon the conqueror's time, along with Aegon himself. Perhaps this is their move to keep the dragons on their side of the slaver conflict.

It seems like Missandei didn't come up with the tactic to sow division between the sellswords and slavers out of nowhere. It could have been on her mind because she had already done the same thing in her own royal court.

*** end sept edit***

MEANS:

Missandei knew Dany did not like spicy foods because as her handmaiden, it is her job to know what type of food Dany takes for her meals. Hence the food that Missandei would poison would be the one that Hizdahr favored and Dany would not likely eat. If Dany did eat some, it would not be much of it, so the poison would have to be diluted and not enough to kill a grown person with just a few locusts.

Missandei is the most likely one who would have arranged what foods were to be available in the box at the pit, making it easy to set up which one particular dish she needed to bait her mark into being poisoned.

Missandei would have had access to all the food that was to be put in front of Dany because she could have easily said "I need to review it to approve it for the queen." or even "I am the queen's taster to make sure its not poisoned.". This would give her all the access she needed to poison what she wanted to poison after it was cooked and not involve any kitchen staff. She wouldn't need to be in front of anyone to accomplish these tasks.

Missandei also tried to tell Dany "hey you don't really need to go to the pit fights today do you?" the morning of the fights. This may have been her trying to steer Dany clear of her poisoning attempt towards Hizdahr.

ADWD Daenerys IX

“Even if the pits must open, must Your Grace go yourself?” asked Missandei as she was washing the queen’s hair.

“Half of Meereen will be there to see me, gentle heart.”

“Your Grace,” said Missandei, “this one begs leave to say that half of Meereen will be there to watch men bleed and die.”

There was a enough locusts with the right amount of poison that it would definitely have killed Hizdahr if he ate enough of them, but not enough locusts with poison to kill Strong Belwas, the very hardy, strong and possibly loyal Dany supporter. If the aim was to kill Strong Belwas then there would have been enough poison to kill him.

The people we know who would have enough expertise to poison a dish like that (just enough to kill who you want but not enough to kill the ones you don't) would be the Faceless Men.

The Queen's box was going to be a place with a limited amount of people in it, for a set amount of time, with a plan for who was to be there and who was not that Missandei had access to and understanding of. There was less chance of something going wrong and less chance of discovery then, say, a meal being delivered to Hizdahr. A poisoning here would not be directly attributed to someone trying to kill Hizdahr and then cause a man hunt among Dany's supporters. It would more likely be attributed to someone who was trying to kill Dany (and was) even though that was not the case.

OPPORTUNITY:

Missandei had time before the food was placed in front of Dany to put the poison on the food. After dressing and bathing Dany in the morning, Dany left on a slow litter, that was even delayed because a former slave carrying a stopped planquin ahead had "fallen ill" (coincidence? or planning?) so after dressing Dany in the morning she would have had time to grab a horse and make her way to the kitchens at Daznak's pit to "review" the food in her capacity as Dany's handmaiden.

If any of Hizdahr's pit fighter guards got sick, well, Valar Morghulis - they weren't on Dany's side anyway they worked for Hizdahr. Note that there were no Unsullied guards there guarding her at the pit fight, only Brazen Beasts. Why? Perhaps it was quietly arranged or somehow conveniently suggested that the Brazen Beasts be used to guard Dany as a sign of trust after the wedding so that those Dany supporters that may have been used to or liked the spicy locusts (the Unsullied) were not in harms way. Her only concern was spice loving Strong Belwas - she was lucky he was strong, unlucky he ate everything and left none for Hizdahr.

ADWD Daenerys IX

“I would be happier if you had Unsullied guards about you today, Your Grace,” the old knight said, as Hizdahr went to greet his cousin. “Half of these Brazen Beasts are untried freedmen.” And the other half are Meereenese of doubtful loyalty, he left unsaid. Selmy mistrusted all the Meereenese, even shavepates.

“And untried they shall remain unless we try them."

We don't know if Dany's Dothraki handmaidens or Barristan liked spicy food, but considering that Barristan was from Westeros it is likely he was not accustomed to it. Her Dothraki handmaidens also did not grow up on a diet that was spicy. They were not likely to be accustomed to spicy foods either.

Here are some quotes from after the dothraki feast after the horse-heart eating ceremony in AGOT Daenerys V to show what the handmaids traditional diet would be:

"The air was thick with the smells of roasting meat and curdled, fermented mare’s milk."

...

"A slave knelt before him, offering a wooden platter full of ripe figs."

...

" A serving girl laid a blood pie in front of him, and he attacked it with both hands."

...

"Cook slaves pulled a heavy iron stew pot from the firepit, dumped the stew onto the ground, and returned the pot to the flames. "

Missandei is usually always around Dany - and that day at the pit she wasn't! Was she away so people would be less likely to suspect her because she wasn't in the box and therefore wouldn't be seen around the food to reduce suspicion on her? Was she busy putting the preparations in place and needed the time to herself to avoid being seen by anyone she knew in the wrong place at the wrong time?

So what reasons do we have for Missandei not to be there that day? We're never given any, she just isn't. Perhaps from the earlier conversation the morning before the pit fights and poisoning its assumed by Dany that watching people die makes Missandei uncomfortable, as Missandei suggests this as a possible reason for Dany to not go to Daznak's pit. We know that that Missandei is not squeamish about watching people die, because she tended to Quentyn as he died slowly in agonizing, burnt pain for days. Quentyn was so horrendously burnt all the strongest handmaids ran away and the Blue Graces might have ditched him too. Missandei wasn't even fazed and was pleasantly happy to see him smiling when he died, even though the skin of his lips was burnt off. ***Hint Hint people: Quentyn was faceless and she knew he was smiling!!! Who knows what a face looks like underneath when there's no skin there? Why people who cut off the skin of a face to use it later of course!***

IN CONCLUSION:

This is why I think Missandei is the most likely suspect for who poisoned the locusts. Sadly, Strong Belwas was the wild card who pigged out on the wrong dish and ended up accidentally getting in the way of her plan. :( Poor Strong Belwas! But Missandei knew this was a possibility so she put enough poison in to kill Hizdahr, but not Strong Belwas just in case. He did eat the whole bowl. This is probably why Arya is being taught by the kindly man that "it's best if they don't take note of you at all." when trying to kill someone. If the mark can't figure out you're trying to kill them then their suspicions won't be raised so you can try again. :)

Just an aside... I find it interesting Hizdahr sounds kinda like "his dower". Is this another little play on words that hints (like Mance Rayder=Manse Raider) that he was promised something for his role as Dany's husband? hmmm....

edit: for clarity and accuracy (former slave who had fallen ill had been carrying a planquin, not on one.)

[Mrs.Grumpy]

Why would someone want to kill Hizdarh ? Even if they do, then why and how can they hire a faceless man ? Also her master was an Astapori and she taken from Naath looong time ago with her brothers.

[Meddler]

Yeah my biggest problem with this idea is motive. We don't need to establish a personal motive for Missandei if she's an FM. We need to establish a motive for someone to hire her. The Kindly Man makes it pretty clear to Arya that FM don't work on personal agendas.

[alienarea]

Very good analysis, I agree it could have been Missandei, but I don't think she is a Faceless Man.

Wouldn't it make more sense if someone who wants to marry Daenerys himself (like Euron?) or wants her to marry someone else (like Varys?) hired Missandei?

[IRON BANK]

I like this idea, however I thought the locusts had honey on them as well, and that the husband of Dany didnt eat any. Also drogon interrupted the games, I felt the poison was meant for Dany or Strong belwas leaving her open for assasination. But because of the Dragon interrupting the games they missed the oppurtunity.

[The Others Take Ya]

Why would someone want to kill Hizdarh ? Even if they do, then why and how can they hire a faceless man ? Also her master was an Astapori and she taken from Naath looong time ago with her brothers.

So first, if Missandei is a spy, and she obviously hasn't told Dany yet that she is, she has had all sorts of time and access to find out if marrying Hizdahr is a trap set up by the Green Grace (and it probably is) but she can't come out and say it because it would expose that she's a spy. So she has to act on her own.

I think one possible motive is that it's in the FM interest to save Dany because the dragons are bound in service to the FM and the old deal for the doom was "give us dragons our freedom or kill us". You can read up on this longer post with book quotes here or here's the same stuff on why I think that in short form: Since the FM may have been the ones to bring the doom on the entire continent of Old Valyria and since we know they don't kill indiscriminately, the dragons were in on the doom and wanted to die. Since the story of the slave who wanted to kill his master ended up with the slave becoming a FM because the only thing a slave had to give was their life, then if the dragons who survived wanted their slavers killed, they would have had to give their lives in service in exchange and become FM agents. I think that "rule" applied to them even if they were dragons.

So if the dragons are FM agents FM don't want them to be ruled by or re-enslaved by slavers. That wasn't the deal, the deal was we the dragons will serve the FM or kill us.

I think she wants to save Dany from the Hizdahr trap soon because with time, she'll be stuck even worse if she has a kid or gives slavers enough time and access to figure out how to enslave her dragons. And the dragonbinder horn is on its way there. From its description and use, it doesn't seem to give the dragons a choice to be bound or not and it seems like the real deal.

As to the why's and how around how Missandei got undercover as a FM I'll point you to this post (see the 6th and 9th questions specifically) and this post in the Missandei is a FM thread.

Very good analysis, I agree it could have been Missandei, but I don't think she is a Faceless Man.

Thanks for the compliment. :)

Wouldn't it make more sense if someone who wants to marry Daenerys himself (like Euron?) or wants her to marry someone else (like Varys?) hired Missandei?

I think that totally possible that someone outside hired Missandei to do it! Really good observation. :) Especially Euron because it's extremely likely he hired them before to kill Balon. I don't know if it makes more or less sense then what I just wrote above, but that's just my personal opinion.

I like this idea, however I thought the locusts had honey on them as well, and that the husband of Dany didnt eat any. Also drogon interrupted the games, I felt the poison was meant for Dany or Strong belwas leaving her open for assassination. But because of the Dragon interrupting the games they missed the opportunity.

I don't know about the taste buds of others, but if a dish is spicy and I'm not used to spice, the honey doesn't exactly help cool my taste buds enough to enjoy it. We know Hizdahr liked them as he suggested them to her, but Belwas just selfishly grabbed the whole bowl so if Belwas hadn't of done that I think its very likely he would have had some. Irri and Jhiqui probably wouldn't have suggested them to Dany because it would make chamberpot cleaning duty more of a chore. It is known.

The possibility that Strong Belwas was a target could be quite valid too. We don't know for sure if he works for Illyrio first and Dany second but Missandei as a FM spy might. I'm only in disagreement with you on Dany being a target because if Missandei was the poisoner, she would have known Dany would not have been likely to eat much of the spicy locusts and would have poisoned something else instead. If the locusts were meant for Dany I don't think Missandei is the poisoner at all then - my theory's over! lol

So to be clear you thought that there would have been a physical assassination attempt against Dany in addition to the poison during the chaos caused by poison taking affect? Or that the poison itself was the attempt?

[roxWolfox]

Well, between your previous OP of her being a FM, and now this theory, I'm getting ready to dive into the Essos chapters to do some of my own digging!

Keep up the great work... :cheers:

I'll post again when I've unravelled something.

[brut]

Although I support the Missandei = FM theory, it is somewhat hard to believe that she would poison locusts to kill Hizdahr, precisely because there are too many variables, and FM try to minimize failure risks. So, bringing Locusts to the pits is a rather non-professional attempt at assassination, which can be attributed to the Harpy.

[Mad Monkey]

Missandei is a nice girl who would never try to harm His Radiance, Hizdahr zo Loraq. Even if she is a Faceless Man, I don't see what her organization would profit from killing Hizdahr but not Daenerys. Even if the peace turns out to be false, it is a reprieve that gives Meereen time to recover its powers in the event of a betrayal. Killing Hizdahr could trigger another outbreak of violence, either spontaneously or from the Harpy whoever he turns out to be. Unless Missandei's employer wants to destabilize Meereen, or force Daenerys to withdraw from the city, killing Hizdahr would do more harm than good to her cause even if he turns out to be her enemy.

[Veltigar]

Not buying this at all. If Missandei had anything to do with the poison, than it was because she was blackmailed by the harpy (they already killed one brother, so they might have treatened to kill the other) and then the target would surely be Dany.

[Starks Among Us]

One reason Miss. would have (as a FM) for wanting to kill Hiz. is that he plans on destroying the dragons. He hates them IIRC as does Green Grace, they want them dead. If FM are in league with Dragons/slaves then they won't want them killed needlessly, especially if they have planned to use them to a greater purpose. Or if they are planning on Dany using them to a greater purpose. The FM also don't want them to be bound to anyone, including Dany, however they haven't had a chance to see if Dany will use the horn to bind them bc the horn hasn't arrived yet. Therefore, they (FM /Miss) want to kill off anyone who would try to kill or bind the dragons. Hiz wants to kill the dragons, sooo he becomes a target. If Dany upon receiving the horn decides to bind the dragons, she as well could make herself a target.

[Starks Among Us]

I would also follow the links the OP posted regarding the Miss is a FM theory, if you haven't read that thread or don't follow the theories in that thread, you will most likely not like this thread or find anything to agree with, or make arguments that have already been argued in the other thread.

[EmmaoftheCanals]

Like brut, I think this murder attempt would be too sloppy for FM. Especially this part:

<snip>

If any of Hizdahr's pit fighter guards got sick, well, Valar Morghulis - ...

<snip>

Doesn't the Kindly Man tell Arya that she can't go around killing the bodyguards of her first target (the ship insurer), but that se must kill only the intended target. The missions of the FM are always executed with precision. The poisoned locusts just leave too much up to coincidence.

Though I agree there is definitely more to Missandei than meets the eye, I'm not completely convinced she is a faceless man. There something about how she got into Dany's inner circle. I don't think the FM could've planned the slavers to "give" Dany Missandei and that Dany would take to her as she did. Even if their goal wasn't to get Missandei in Dany's presence, how would Missandei get 'new' orders from the FM? Or what would be her purpose now? As I said, not convinced. Though it would be very cool to see Arya & Missandei kick ass together in tWoW (as the OP suggested in the link)!

But of course, these two things taken together mean that Missandei might very well be the poisoner. In fact, the personal motive offered in the OP sort of corroborates that.

[brut]

There is certain merit in Missandei's motivations, and I don't disagree that part of her agenda could be killing Hizdahr. But it is hard to believe that an FM would drop the ball and miss his/her target in such disappointing way. That's why I'd rather ascribe this particular attempt to the Harpy.

Also, to answer EmmaoftheCanals' question, the FM seem to possess ways of communicating remotely. Something related to the Weirwood, or possibly the glass candles.

[EmmaoftheCanals]

Also, to answer EmmaoftheCanals' question, the FM seem to possess ways of communicating remotely. Something related to the Weirwood, or possibly the glass candles.

I had not considered this. It does make sense that they would have reliable means of fast communication... But how exactly? That is the question;).

[Starks Among Us]

There is certain merit in Missandei's motivations, and I don't disagree that part of her agenda could be killing Hizdahr. But it is hard to believe that an FM would drop the ball and miss his/her target in such disappointing way. That's why I'd rather ascribe this particular attempt to the Harpy.

Also, to answer EmmaoftheCanals' question, the FM seem to possess ways of communicating remotely. Something related to the Weirwood, or possibly the glass candles.

I agree, it would be disappointing if the FM dropped the ball this way, but this statement reminds me of something I read last night about Darkstar. People seem to equate being “the best” or “elite” as being infallible or not capable of error. People are mocking Darkstar because it is said he's the most dangerous man in Dorne, however he botched his attempt to kill Myrcella due to her horse rearing unexpectedly (IIRC) or something along those lines, however as pointed out by Ran - this does not make him any less dangerous. And the fact that people are attributing his botched attempt to him not being as dangerous as he's made out to be is not what GRRM intended. Ran makes it a point to say that even the best, (or in case of FM the elite) still have their mistakes. They are human after all and subject to human failings like the rest of us, however when they fail at something (such as an assassination) when that is what they are supposed to be experts at, it does make one question just how good they are.

My point is, there is a very good chance that Miss is a FM , in fact I subscribe to that theory, her trying to assassinate Hiz, well, I could believe it but it's not something I'm jumping all over as "OMG this is sooo good!". That being said, I think it's very possible that she is a FM and that she did attempt to kill Hiz and just because she failed does not mean she is not a FM, as Ran pointed out on the Darkstar subject even the best make mistakes, have errors, etc. sometimes. Ser Arthur Dayne was the BEST sword in the land, yet he was killed by a Crannogman, Rhaegar was supposed to be one of the BEST yet he was killed by Robert. Ned was supposed to be the most honorable, but was killed by schemers who placed no value in honor. Even the best have their shortcomings. SO just because Miss. failed in an attempt, does not necessarily mean that she is not a FM.

[brut]

Yes, I too believe that Missandei is the FM, and attempt on Hizdahr doesn't disprove it.

What I was trying to say is that an FM wouldn't even try to poison their target in a public place where chances for failure were high. As brought up by EmmaoftheCanals, Arya's training is a good example to consider.

[brut]

I had not considered this. It does make sense that they would have reliable means of fast communication... But how exactly? That is the question;).

Well, if Varys is of any indication, burning manhoods would be one way that comes to mind. And Missandei would have had an unlimited supply of those stashed around for the communication purposes (as eery as it is, no one said the manhood had to be freshly cut). Or she may be in possession of a glass candle that allows "calling home" to the Temple. It would merit the discussion if someone could re-read through the Blind Girl chapter where Arya attends the FM "council" assembly and hears voices but cannot sense if people are physically present or not (I don't have the books around to quote).

ETA: Clarity

[Starks Among Us]

Yes, I too believe that Missandei is the FM, and attempt on Hizdahr doesn't disprove it.

What I was trying to say is that an FM wouldn't even try to poison their target in a public place where chances for failure were high. As brought up by EmmaoftheCanals, Arya's training is a good example to consider.

It may be that she has to act, and act soon, and it may be one of her limited opportunities to do so. Yes she is taking a risk because others are around but I think the OP does a good job of explaining how she did do her best to limit those risks to make sure to the best of her ability that she hit her target. It's not as though she could do it in private because to do so, the blame would immediately fall upon Dany or one of her protectors. To do it in public, it still could somewhat fall on Dany but IIRC people seemed to think in the story that Dany was the intended target, not Hiz. Doing it in public somewhat effectively limits who the suspicion can fall upon, they can't cast a net too wide, obviously it would have to be someone close to the royal couple or who has access to their food. They also can't point fingers at every person who was present in the box, as it was intended for someone in that box to be the target, why would one person in the box attempt to hurt another in the box and risk suspicion? But who wasn't in the box, Miss. Close enough to the royal couple to do the deed, yet convieniently not close enough to be accused or even thought of 1) because she's just a little girl 2)because she's not present.

[The Others Take Ya]

All the above conversation is really interesting to read! Very cool! :D

Just a recent brainstorm from some Barristan chapter rereads - what if the purpose of the poisoning wasn't to kill anyone, but perhaps just to sow division? In this case the poisoning was meant to fail and the fallout between Dany and Hizdahr with one accusing the other of poisoning was really the intent?

In Barristan's council after Dany's gone, he does say in his POV that Missandei gave him the idea to destabilize the opposing side's sellsword groups by some method (I think it involved paying people off or something). He mentions how smart she is and that he would never have thought of that on his own. But could the poisoning be a similar tactic?

I find it difficult to figure out a good motive for it though other then just breaking up the marriage. I will mention that I found it interesting that Marselen of the Mother's men (Missandei's "brother", or something anyway) is the only one who doesn't seem to want to retaliate guns blazing after Admiral Groleo dies. (Hope I'm recalling all these details correctly.) Marselen seems to be more in line with Barristan's judgement while the other contingents of the unsullied aren't, and I suppose I wondered if that behavior was somehow because of Missandei. He also makes me wonder if he's Missandei's plant on the council that keeps her up on what's being discussed even though she's not on it.

There is one point where Missandei asks Barristan if she can help him out because he isn't sleeping (HOW does she know this???) and he brushes her off without thinking about it. But what help was she going to offer... hmmmm

edit: darn it Brut I can't get the image of Missandei tossing another manhood on the fire to connect with her head office out of my head. lol Grey Worm did mention they burn their manhoods on HER altar didn't they! :D

Also if Missandei isn't a FM, then the only reason I can see her watching Ser Grandfather as he sleeps if is she has a Lolita-eqse creeper crush on him. hahaha and GRRM writes so many taboo relationships I don't think it can be easily dismissed as outside the realm of possibility!!! XD