152 ASOS 9 Daenerys I: Following

Happy as she can remember ever being, becalmed aboard the great cog Balerion, Dany asks Arstan about Aerys and Rhaegar. Jealous and suspicious, Jorah warns Dany Arstan isn't who he's pretending to be and that Illyrio may be Xaro Xhoan Daxos with four chins. When he comes to her, again, this time in the middle of the night, Dany is swayed by Jorah's recommendation to change course for Astapor to arrive at Pentos by land and backed by a thousand Unsullied. But it turns out to be the preamble to a marriage proposal. Jorah kisses Daenerys and puts himself forward as husband and dragon rider.

"A wise man never makes an enemy of a king."

Daenerys is perilously naive about rule. She has been reading, which is good, and knows to hear many councilors, but Daenerys's attempts to be a wise ruler are painfully insufficient. She seems to think it's little more than a matter of being clear headed and fair minded. That even seems wise. But the chapter's focus on the many forms of enemy make it seem that Daenerys needed to have been studying since early childhood. Mention of Rhaegar's avid reading brings this to mind. Yet, when Arstan says Rhaegar's reading led him to the conclusion he must be a warrior, Dany does not ask if Rhaegar believed a ruler must also be a sword but swoons at the idea that he knew his destiny, as she feels she knows hers. Here we see Dany feeling herself propelled towards destiny by the winds of fate. Except that the winds have becalmed themselves and she's actually being towed by other ships.

Neither is Daenerys open to hearing the truth about Aerys. Her line to excuse his having been terrible to those he thought his enemies is "A wise man never makes an enemy of a king." 110 Yet, she later decides to follow Jorah's advice to test Illyrio by selling his trade goods to buy Unsullied. While Illyrio is not exactly a king, he's a lot closer to being one than Dany is. We see she's blinded to that by the idea of royal blood, arguing that Viserys was a king, "though he never reigned."110 It suggests Dany has taken to heart Viserys's propaganda about her royal blood and its special properties. She may even believe she'd rule well without study, by virtue of her royal blood.

Trusted Council

The silent center of the chapter is the idea that a king's most important judgements involve weighing council from many voices. The problem of employing clever men as councilors is hilighted in the contrast between Jorah's warning against trusting clever men and his use of the language of prophecy to sway Daenerys to distrust Illyrio.

The betrayal for love, referenced in Jorah's proposal, seems to refer to him. It adds to the chapter's pile of examples of non-obvious dangers Daenerys would be likely to face in spades, as ruler. In addition to outright enemies, a ruler might expect, among other detractors,

• too influential of councilors

• councilors with ulterior motives

• councilors whose emotional investment makes them dangerous

Preemptive Treachery

When Jorah first recommends Dany sell Illyrio's trade goods to buy Unsullied, she calls it stealing. It is only when he explains that she'll be in Illyrio's power should she enter his house as a guest and that seeing how he reacts to her having the wherewithal to aquire Unsullied will tell her whether he's a loyal supporter or not that Dany sees Jorah's purpose. However, she was right to be dubious of Jorah's council. Such a test is confrontational and takes support for granted. If supporters are to be so used, how long will they be supporters? It seems to refer back to the oarsmen who tow the becalmed Balerion.

Mnemonic device "Following" refers to

1) Being led by supporters, as Daenerys's cog is towed by oarships. Councilors may be followers, but when their council is heeded it is as though they rule. Jorah's proposal to change course for Astapor that turns out to be the preamble to a marriage proposal punctuates this idea well. When Daenerys marries, any husband must be a queen to her king. But, queens browbeat and can be the most influential of councilors.

2) The military escort of Unsullied Jorah convinces Dany to acquire so as to remain in her own power in Pentos. Without such a guard, Daenerys would be handing herself into Illyrio's power and might as well be his creature as he hers.

Ironies

Jorah thinks he'd be truer to Dany than any man, though he's just schemed to convince her to betray Illyrio and used her fixation on prophecy to stoke paranoia to manipulate her. He is not following her lead or valuing her wisdom.

Though Daenerys renamed the ships after Aegon's dragons, she does not see it as a poor omen that they are becalmed or consider the plight of the oarsmen rowing to make less progress than they would were they not towing her on a great cog.

Dany thinks she's brave and holds the Dothraki in comparison to the Dothraki's white eyes aboardship, when really she's lacking compassion while they empathize with their frightened horses.

Constructions

Expectation of a betrayal for love

Setup for the A Dance With Dragons reveal of Selmy's wish he had defeated Rhaegar to name Ashara Dayne Queen of Love and Beauty