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Tyrion VI ADWD is chockfull of monologues and passages about Daenerys, which is interesting given that Tyrion hasn’t met her yet (and he won’t meet her by the end of ADWD, even). It’s not surprising, of course, given that in this chapter he’s still journeying with Young Griff and JonCon, who are on their way to meet Dany. And while everyone knows and appreciates the Dany passages in this chapter, I haven’t seen an analysis of the structure of the chapter yet. I believe that GRRM structures each Dany passage in Tyrion VI ADWD deliberately.

The structure is that there are three dichotomies posed within the chapter, and each monologue contributes to said dichotomies. They are: Young Griff’s immaturity & entitlement vs. Dany’s strength and independence; Cersei’s tyranny vs. Dany as a savior-queen; and Dany as the hope of the Essosi slaves vs. Dany as the bane of the Essosi slavers. These dichotomies form the central basis of the perspectives about or regarding Dany that permeate Tyrion, Victarion, Quentyn, and JonCon’s viewpoint chapters in ADWD, as well as Dany’s own chapters.

Having just survived saving Young Griff from a Stone Man, being tormented in his dreams by “the Sorrows” and visions of his father, and making sure that he’s not infected with greyscale, Tyrion immediately is faced with a Young Griff who feels sullen at being treated like a child:

Young Griff’s greeting was less effusive. The princeling was in a sullen mood, angry that he had been forced to remain on the Shy Maid instead of going ashore with Yandry and Ysilla. “We only want to keep you safe,” Lemore told him. “These are unsettled times.”

Though Tyrion doesn’t verbalize this to his face, he echoes JonCon and Septa Lemore’s sentiment that Young Griff is just a boy:

The lad did not seem appeased. The perfect prince but still half a boy for all that, with little and less experience of the world and all its woes.”

They played on deck, sitting cross-legged behind the cabin. Young Griff arrayed his army for attack, with dragon, elephants, and heavy horse up front. A young man’s formation, as bold as it is foolish. He risks all for the quick kill. He let the prince have first move. Haldon stood behind them, watching the play.

Tyrion is toying with Young Griff throughout their game of cyvasse, provoking him, his cynical way of having fun. In Tyrion VII ADWD, he’ll be surprised to learn that JonCon and Young Griff actually took his advice about sailing West rather than East, which to me indicates that he wasn’t truly trying to provoke Young Griff to play a game of thrones, but rather merely to pass the time with this young man who displays his immaturity very openly. Even so, it’s telling that after Tyrion notes how childish Young Griff is, his first monologue about Daenerys emphasizes her maturity:

“Must?” Tyrion made a tsking sound. “That is not a word queens like to hear. You are her perfect prince, agreed, bright and bold and comely as any maid could wish. Daenerys Targaryen is no maid, however. She is the widow of a Dothraki khal, a mother of dragons and sacker of cities, Aegon the Conqueror with teats. She may not prove as willing as you wish.”

One way in which Young Griff’s immaturity plays out is in his entitlement. He truly believes that Daenerys, who is by this point a Queen Regnant, ruling Meereen by conquering it, with her own three dragons, having gone through immense hardship, will just do as he tells her to. That she “must” abide by his claim. He cannot conceive of a reality where a Queen who is ruling in her own right, who already has thousands of people to protect under her reign, has her own priorities and will not stop everything and do as a boy claiming to be her nephew tells her to do. And is it that surprising? He has been sheltered his whole life. Contrasting that, Tyrion points out that she’s the widow of a Khal, the mother of dragons, a sacker of cities, and then explicitly calls her Aegon the Conqueror. These are not just random titles; being Khal, mother of dragons, sacker of cities, Aegon the Conqueror are all titles that evoke strength and independence, in direct opposition to a maid who will do as the perfect prince tells her to do. We see how GRRM subverts the prince/maiden trope right here––Young Griff expects that Dany is the maiden waiting for her perfect prince, and yet Tyrion points out the opposite, that she is a ruling Queen in her own right, already a conqueror. It’s also interesting to note that Khal, dragon-rider, and conqueror are all typically “male” roles, both within ASOIAF and in fantasy more generally. Here appears yet more subversion: the perfect prince is neither a Khal, nor a dragon-rider, nor a conqueror, and certainly not a ruler, while the maiden actually occupies these central roles.

When Young Griff points out that Tyrion doesn’t know her (which is correct), we get one of the most seminal Dany-centric monologues in the series:

The dwarf shrugged. “I know that she spent her childhood in exile, impoverished, living on dreams and schemes, running from one city to the next, always fearful, never safe, friendless but for a brother who was by all accounts half-mad … a brother who sold her maidenhood to the Dothraki for the promise of an army. I know that somewhere out upon the grass her dragons hatched, and so did she. I know she is proud. How not? What else was left her but pride? I know she is strong. How not? The Dothraki despise weakness. If Daenerys had been weak, she would have perished with Viserys. I know she is fierce. Astapor, Yunkai, and Meereen are proof enough of that. She has crossed the grasslands and the red waste, survived assassins and conspiracies and fell sorceries, grieved for a brother and a husband and a son, trod the cities of the slavers to dust beneath her dainty sandaled feet. Now, how do you suppose this queen will react when you turn up with your begging bowl in hand and say, ‘Good morrow to you, Auntie. I am your nephew, Aegon, returned from the dead. I’ve been hiding on a poleboat all my life, but now I’ve washed the blue dye from my hair and I’d like a dragon, please … and oh, did I mention, my claim to the Iron Throne is stronger than your own?”

The thing is, when Illyrio first mentioned the plot to Tyrion, this is how he characterized Dany:

“Not Stannis. Nor Myrcella.“ The yellow smile widened. “Another. Stronger than Tommen, gentler than Stannis, with a better claim than the girl Myrcella. A savior come from across the sea to bind up the wounds of bleeding Westeros.” “Fine words.” Tyrion was unimpressed. “Words are wind. Who is this bloody savior?” “A dragon.” The cheesemonger saw the look on his face at that, and laughed. “A dragon with three heads.” (Tyrion I ADWD)

“Viserys was Mad Aerys’s son, just so. Daenerys … Daenerys is quite different.” He popped a roasted lark into his mouth and crunched it noisily, bones and all. “The frightened child who sheltered in my manse died on the Dothraki sea, and was reborn in blood and fire. This dragon queen who wears her name is a true Targaryen. When I sent ships to bring her home, she turned toward Slaver’s Bay. In a short span of days she conquered Astapor, made Yunkai bend the knee, and sacked Meereen. Mantarys will be next, if she marches west along the old Valyrian roads. If she comes by sea, well … her fleet must take on food and water at Volantis.” (Tyrion II ADWD)

“If Daenerys is no more than a sweet young girl, the Iron Throne will cut her into sweet young pieces.” “Fear not, my little friend. The blood of Aegon the Dragon flows in her veins.” Along with the blood of Aegon the Unworthy, Maegor the Cruel, and Baelor the Befuddled. “Tell me more of her.” (Tyrion II ADWD)

Tyrion himself is doubtful about Dany, especially when he points out that Illyrio has a lot of faith in a girl he sold to the Dothraki. Illyrio emphasizes her strength, her gentleness, her political claim, and the miracle of her very existence, as well as, like Tyrion, directly comparing her to Aegon the Conqueror, and differentiating her from Aerys II and Viserys. Of course Illyrio explains to him that instead of dying or fleeing, Daenerys births three dragons and then conquers Slaver’s Bay. And just as Illyrio has to convince Tyrion that Daenerys is a viable claimant to the Throne, not a maid who’ll be cut by the spikes of the throne or mad like her father and brother, so too does Tyrion have to explain to Young Griff that Daenerys is strong, a queen and conqueror, and not a shy maiden. This is why he emphasizes Dany’s pride, strength, and ferocity. Tyrion is also incredibly intelligent, which is why he understands the significance of Dany earning the loyalty of the Dothraki (a strength-based culture), of the fact that for a girl who has been on the run since her birth, exiled, who has known no real home, who has been penniless and starving and scared, who was sold as a sex slave to a Dothraki Khal by her own brother, that her pride had to keep her spine upright, had to help her endure all of this. He gives a very beautiful summary of Dany’s arc so far, directly emphasizing that, unlike what her detractors may think, she is not just “some young girl” or “little queen”––she is the real deal.

This, of course, makes Young Griff mad, very likely because Tyrion’s monologue highlights all the things Young Griff isn’t, and all the things she’s achieved that he hasn’t:

Aegon’s mouth twisted in fury. “I will not come to my aunt a beggar. I will come to her a kinsman, with an army.” “A small army.” There, that’s made him good and angry. The dwarf could not help but think of Joffrey. I have a gift for angering princes. “Queen Daenerys has a large one, and no thanks to you.” Tyrion moved his crossbows.

Note that Tyrion compares Young Griff to Joffrey, another entitled, immature Prince-turned-King. I do not think that he means that Joffrey is violent or sociopathic; rather, the comparison is in how easily angered Young Griff and Joffrey are when reality doesn’t meet their demands. Young Griff, who has been coached and hidden and sheltered his whole life, reacts much like Joffrey does to any mild pushback. I will also say, to be fair, that Tyrion is deliberately trying to anger Young Griff here; yet the comparison remains. There is another one to be made:

At first the magisters and archons and merchant princes were pleased to welcome the last Targaryens to their homes and tables, but as the years passed and the Usurper continued to sit upon the Iron Throne, doors closed and their lives grew meaner. Years past they had been forced to sell their last few treasures, and now even the coin they had gotten from Mother’s crown had gone. In the alleys and wine sinks of Pentos, they called her brother “the beggar king.” Dany did not want to know what they called her. (Dany I AGOT)

Neither Aegon nor Viserys want to be beggar kings. Viserys refused to own up to the reality that he was one, and it destroyed him. Aegon continues in the same vein of immaturity and overly relying on his kingmakers. By contrast, Dany is aware that she is a beggar queen, even when crowned, and refuses to let it poison her heart:

The crown was the only offering she’d kept. The rest she sold, to gather the wealth she had wasted on the Pureborn. Xaro would have sold the crown too—the Thirteen would see that she had a much finer one, he swore—but Dany forbade it. “Viserys sold my mother’s crown, and men called him a beggar. I shall keep this one, so men will call me a queen.” And so she did, though the weight of it made her neck ache.

Yet even crowned, I am a beggar still, Dany thought. I have become the most splendid beggar in the world, but a beggar all the same. She hated it, as her brother must have. All those years of running from city to city one step ahead of the Usurper’s knives, pleading for help from archons and princes and magisters, buying our food with flattery. He must have known how they mocked him. Small wonder he turned so angry and bitter. In the end it had driven him mad. It will do the same to me if I let it. Part of her would have liked nothing more than to lead her people back to Vaes Tolorro, and make the dead city bloom. No, that is defeat. I have something Viserys never had. I have the dragons. The dragons are all the difference. (Daenerys III ACOK)

Of course, neither Aegon nor Viserys had dragons, but Daenerys birthed the dragons through her own bravery and sacrifice, a bravery that is in this chapter directly emphasized through Tyrion’s first two monologues about her. And unlike Aegon and Viserys, Dany did not simply expect or demand things to change when she was a Beggar Queen in Qarth, she knew that commanding people or using her dragons would not change their perceptions of her. Thus, we see the first dichotomy highlighted in Dany-centric monologues in this chapter is between Young Griff’s childishness and Dany’s strength as a Queen and Conqueror.

After establishing that Daenerys probably won’t just smile and nod and give in to Young Griff’s demands, Tyrion then makes his suggestion to sail West. This is where the second dichotomy shows up, another one that is central to FeastDance: Cersei/Dany.

“Westeros is torn and bleeding, and I do not doubt that even now my sweet sister is binding up the wounds … with salt. Cersei is as gentle as King Maegor, as selfless as Aegon the Unworthy, as wise as Mad Aerys. She never forgets a slight, real or imagined. She takes caution for cowardice and dissent for defiance. And she is greedy. Greedy for power, for honor, for love. Tommen’s rule is bolstered by all of the alliances that my lord father built so carefully, but soon enough she will destroy them, every one. Land and raise your banners, and men will flock to your cause. Lords great and small, and smallfolk too. But do not wait too long, my prince. The moment will not last. The tide that lifts you now will soon recede. Be certain you reach Westeros before my sister falls and someone more competent takes her place.”

Note the immediate differences between how Tyrion characterizes Dany and how he characterizes Cersei (and even if you claim that Tyrion is very biased against Cersei, I doubt anyone would disagree with his assessment of Cersei). Where he says that Dany is fierce, strong, and proud, not as willing as Young Griff wishes, not a maid, and specifically calls her Aegon the Conqueror, and then cites her actual achievements to justify these claims, he says that Cersei is as gentle as Maegor (so cruel), selfless as Aegon the Unworthy (so extremely hedonistic), and wise as Aerys II (directly comparing her to the Mad King that was in many was the ruin of his entire family). He then calls her greedy. Not only is his depiction of Cersei more extreme, but the positioning of calling her one thing and comparing her to a figure that was the exact opposite (gentle/cruel, wise/mad, selfless/selfish and hedonistic) adds to the overall structure of dichotomies present within the chapter. As a side note, I also want to point out that Jaime thinks that Cersei fashions herself as “Tywin with teats” but is actually passionate, “all wildfire”. One Lannister brother compares a Queen to Aegon the Conqueror “with teats”, and another Lannister brother compares a Queen not to Tywin “with teats” but implicitly to Aerys. It’s not surprising that this dichotomy exists. Cersei and Daenerys are the only two female ruling viewpoints present within the current narrative. Their arcs are paralleled throughout FeastDance. GRRM himself intended this.

Tyrion highlights even more differences in his next Dany-centric monologue:

“I told you, I know our little queen. Let her hear that her brother Rhaegar’s murdered son is still alive, that this brave boy has raised the dragon standard of her forebears in Westeros once more, that he is fighting a desperate war to avenge his father and reclaim the Iron Throne for House Targaryen, hard-pressed on every side … and she will fly to your side as fast as wind and water can carry her. You are the last of her line, and this Mother of Dragons, this Breaker of Chains, is above all a rescuer. The girl who drowned the slaver cities in blood rather than leave strangers to their chains can scarcely abandon her own brother’s son in his hour of peril. And when she reaches Westeros, and meets you for the first time, you will meet as equals, man and woman, not queen and supplicant. How can she help but love you then, I ask you?”

Here, Tyrion emphasizes not Dany the Conqueror, Queen, or Khal, but Dany the Breaker of Chains, the rescuer, the savior. He claims that she is “above all” a savior. So “above” her identities as Queen, Khal, Conqueror, she is first and foremost a savior, a rescuer. He points out that Dany drowns slaver cities in blood because she couldn’t leave strangers to their chains. Again, this is in direct contrast to Cersei, who is as cruel as Maegor, mad as Aerys II, and hedonistic and selfish as Aegon IV. Of course, Tyrion here is trying to persuade Young Griff that Dany may not turn him away either, but it’s startling to note the contrast between his monologue on Cersei and his monologue on Daenerys. He accurately highlights that Daenerys is the type of person who couldn’t just move on from Slaver’s Bay or abandon the slaves to their fates, and that indeed, she likely wouldn’t abandon her own nephew in his “hour of peril”. This may suggest that, rather than the fiery confrontation between them that so many fans theorize, Daenerys may likely have love and compassion for Young Griff. Even so, what stands out is that even Tyrion thinks that Young Griff’s chances with Dany are better than his chances with Cersei.

Given that Tyrion claims that Daenerys is above all a savior, it’s only fitting, then, that the last dichotomy shows up after: Dany as the hope of the Essosi slaves vs. Dany as the bane of the Essosi slavers. Upon hearing news of Dany in Selhorys, Haldon and Tyrion set out to suss the truth of the rumors they hear about her:

“The priest is calling on the Volantenes to go to war,” the Halfmaester told him, “but on the side of right, as soldiers of the Lord of Light, R’hllor who made the sun and stars and fights eternally against the darkness. Nyessos and Malaquo have turned away from the light, he says, their hearts darkened by the yellow harpies from the east. He says …” “Dragons. I understood that word. He said dragons.” “Aye. The dragons have come to carry her to glory.” “Her. Daenerys?” Haldon nodded. “Benerro has sent forth the word from Volantis. Her coming is the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy. From smoke and salt was she born to make the world anew. She is Azor Ahai returned … and her triumph over darkness will bring a summer that will never end … death itself will bend its knee, and all those who die fighting in her cause shall be reborn …” “Do I have to be reborn in this same body?” asked Tyrion. The crowd was growing thicker. He could feel them pressing in around them. “Who is Benerro?” Haldon raised an eyebrow. “High Priest of the red temple in Volantis. Flame of Truth, Light of Wisdom, First Servant of the Lord of Light, Slave of R’hllor.”

Haldon and Tyrion venture into Selhorys and see a huge throng of people listening to the preachings of a man; these people are slaves and they are followers of R’hllorism. The man preaching is Benerro, the High Priest of the Volantene Red Temple, which means he is a central figure in the Temple of R’hllorism. His words clearly carry weight, as the crowd Tyrion notices is quite large. What’s notable is that Benerro himself is a slave, and the followers of R’hllorism as well as the priests themselves slaves; they are preaching a religious war against slavery, whose spark must start in Volantis, cautioning the Volantenes that the Triarchs Nyessos and Malaquo have allied with the forces of darkness, poisoned by the words of the Yunkai’i. Note here that the slavers are aligned with the darkness in the light/dark dichotomy present throughout ASOIAF. We will continue to see the growing influence of the Volantene Red Priests and their cries against slavery, their exclamations that the slaves of Volantis must side with Dany, throughout the rest of ASOIAF. It’s not hard to see why the Triarchs are terrified of the Red Priests’ influence.

Of course, GRRM then further showcases why the Volantene Triarchs are so scared. His voice for the slavers of Essos is given to Qavo Nogarys, a customs officer whose first reaction to Tyrion is asking if he can buy him as a slave, which pretty much gives us a good idea of what side Qavo is on (a slaver who interacts with the Volantene nobility, the old blood, to quite a degree). Qavo summarizes the slaver viewpoint in quite a colorful manner:

“Sweet?” Qavo laughed. “If even half the stories coming back from Slaver’s Bay are true, this child is a monster. They say that she is bloodthirsty, that those who speak against her are impaled on spikes to die lingering deaths. They say she is a sorceress who feeds her dragons on the flesh of newborn babes, an oathbreaker who mocks the gods, breaks truces, threatens envoys, and turns on those who have served her loyally. They say her lust cannot be sated, that she mates with men, women, eunuchs, even dogs and children, and woe betide the lover who fails to satisfy her. She gives her body to men to take their souls in thrall.”

“The best calumnies are spiced with truth,” suggested Qavo, “but the girl’s true sin cannot be denied. This arrogant child has taken it upon herself to smash the slave trade, but that traffic was never confined to Slaver’s Bay. It was part of the sea of trade that spanned the world, and the dragon queen has clouded the water. Behind the Black Wall, lords of ancient blood sleep poorly, listening as their kitchen slaves sharpen their long knives. Slaves grow our food, clean our streets, teach our young. They guard our walls, row our galleys, fight our battles. And now when they look east, they see this young queen shining from afar, this breaker of chains. The Old Blood cannot suffer that. Poor men hate her too. Even the vilest beggar stands higher than a slave. This dragon queen would rob him of that consolation.”

Where the Volantene slaves see that Dany heralds a religious, moral, spiritual fight against slavery, against darkness itself, the slavers claim that Dany is a sorceress, bloodthirsty and sexually rapacious, that she feeds infants to her dragons and fucks anything that moves (even accusing her of bestiality), and that she takes men in her thrall. Where the Volantene slaves urge their fellow slaves to side with Daenerys against the Triarchs of Volantis, the slavers stew in fear and hatred of Daenerys, eyeing their slaves with a new terror because they are terrified of the revolution Daenerys is inspiring. Where the Volantene slaves see Daenerys as Azor Ahai (and it’s not hard to understand why they connect an anti-slavery revolutionary to a mythical hero of fire and light), the slavers see Daenerys as “clouding the sea of slavery”, as destroying the roots of the institution itself, one that “spans the world”, and not just the part of Slaver’s Bay she’s ruling in. What’s interesting is that Qavo characterizes Dany’s revolution as a “sin”, invoking religious guilt, in direct opposition to the Red Priests claiming Dany as a religious/spiritual figure, a messiah.

So even though Tyrion previously had doubts about Dany being a “sweet young girl”, we see that the slavers see her as anything but. In fact, they overtly sexualize her and Otherize her, using tropes to characterize her as a vicious temptress who leads men astray, who is bloodthirsty and hedonistic and promiscuous. Qavo also mentions the Black Wall. In Volantis, only the highest born of the Volantene nobility, the ones of Old Blood, can live “behind” the Black Wall. In a not-so-subtle form of architectural symbolism, we see that as in Slaver’s Bay, slavery is baked into the construction of Volantis itself: a literal black wall separates the rest of Volantis, even freedmen, from the highest of Volantene nobility of the oldest/purest Volantene blood.

Tyrion will come to his own conclusions about Daenerys, which will stand in contrast to his own cynicism about her and Young Griff and everyone else; at the end of ADWD, Dany will save Tyrion and Penny (without knowing who they are) from lions in Daznak’s Pit. Thus, sorting through this information Tyrion receives from both slavers and slaves is part of the journey Tyrion is making to Daenerys, part of the undoing of his built up cynicism in ADWD.

Of course, at the end of this chapter, Jorah kidnaps Tyrion with the express intent to give him over to Daenerys. The chapter that follows right after this, conveniently, is Dany IV ADWD…

…in which Dany, who was called a monster by the slavers, and who calls herself a monster (”we are not so different, Daario and I; we are both monsters”) to criticize herself (a habit she engages in quite often in ADWD especially), is also the chapter in which Dany refuses Daario and Skahaz’ violent solutions to confronting the Meereneese nobility and in which Dany seriously considers marrying Hizdahr zo Loraq if it will mean bringing peace to Meereen and helping her freedmen. This is, perhaps, GRRM’s answer to the dichotomies he’s placed within the structure of Tyrion VI ADWD: she’s a queen, a mother, and a conqueror, and yet her heart is in conflict, with her ultimate priority being her people.

In short, though, I find it fascinating that GRRM poses three dualities in Tyrion VI ADWD, structuring them as anti-parallels to highlight the various facets of Dany: she is strong, proud, and fierce, independent with her own set of impressive achievements, in contrast to Young Griff who is entitled, demanding, childish, immature, and largely sheltered; she is a rescuer, a savior, the breaker of chains, in contrast to Cersei who is cruel, greedy, and hedonistic; she is the Messiah to Volantene slaves and the figurehead of their religious war against slavery, in contrast to the Monster, the sorceress and oathbreaker who is the very bane of the slavers all over Essos. This structure sets the overall tone of the opinions we get regarding Dany from other characters in ADWD, posed in almost a question and answer format, and are relevant both to assessing Daenerys herself and understanding Tyrion’s relation to Daenerys. If he is giving all this information about Daenerys to various people and receiving information about her, he will ultimately have to see for himself if this mother of dragons really is a rescuer; or if his cynicism will win out in the end.

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