A Storm of Swords ÔÇö Daenerys II
In Astapor Kraznys mo Nakloz shows off his Unsullied in Valyrian obscenities that his translator softens; Daenerys pretends not to understand a word.
The chapter retold
In Astapor's training yards, the slaver Kraznys mo Nakloz shows off his Unsullied to Daenerys Targaryen with a salesman's cruelty, narrating their conditioning in fluent, obscene Valyrian and trusting his translator, the slave girl Missandei, to soften every insult for his foreign customer's ears. Dany listens to every word of the unsoftened original ÔÇö she speaks High Valyrian fluently, a fact Kraznys has not bothered to consider possible in a Westerosi girl ÔÇö and lets him keep insulting her, banking the information and the humiliation both for later use.
The scene is a masterclass in underestimation: Kraznys sees a naive foreign girl haggling for soldiers; the reader sees a queen assembling both an army and a grievance list in the same conversation. Astapor's Unsullied ÔÇö bred to feel nothing, obey absolutely, and die without complaint ÔÇö are being appraised by the one buyer in the yard who intends to make that obedience serve something other than slavery, though neither Kraznys nor his translator understands that yet.
This movement: Dracarys
- In Astapor Dany trades Drogon for the Unsullied ÔÇö then speaks Valyrian, and the whip changes hands: Dracarys.
- Jaime loses his sword hand to Vargo Hoat's Brave Companions and learns what he is without it.
- Arya falls in with the Brotherhood Without Banners and watches a dead man rise from his seventh death.
- Tywin re-arranges the realm at his table: Tyrion to Sansa, Cersei to Willas ÔÇö the children object; the Hand doesn't care.