“Moon of my life”
“My sun and stars”
These two quotes from A Song of Ice and Fire are quite well known now, and they sound so cute and simple. But what if you analyze what they actually mean, and who says them?
Daenerys refers to her husband, Khal Drogo, as “my sun and stars” which is to say that he emits his own light (or glory); he casts light down on the shadows; he protects her from the darkness; he is both the centre of the universe and all points of light surrounding it.
Khal Drogo refers to Dany as “moon of my life.” The moon does not have its own light, it merely reflects the light of the sun. Dany shines brighter than the rest, but still less than he does, and only in direct influence from Khal Drogo.
Within the Dothraki culture, this makes perfect sense, as the wife of the Khal is second in command, but only for so long as her husband is alive. Once Khal Drogo falls off his horse and his people stop respecting him, his light source essentially goes out, and all those who circled around him found a new “light source”. With Dany’s own light waning, she has to muster up her courage and declare herself as a sun, capable of emitting her own light, or risk losing the small group of loyal people who stayed behind after Drogo’s death.
It is also an interesting set of phrases because of a certain legend we hear early in the series. Doreah tells Daenerys a story of the origin of dragons. She says that there used to be two moons in the sky until the second moon wandered too close to the sun and cracked open, spilling a thousand dragons into the world.
Well Dany has three dragon eggs, Drogo gets sick and Dany performs the death ritual for him, which includes a funeral pyre. She puts the dragons eggs with him, then walks in after them as he is burning. The moon wandering too close to the burning sun, the eggs crack open and dragons are born, bringing dragons back into the world.
It was particularly clever foreshadowing. Not to mention she is pale with white blonde hair, a pretty perfect moon stand in, and he is tall with copper skin, perfect for the sun.
