It's like his research for the Dothraki began and ended when he found a bunch of Ming Dynasty era anti-Mongol propaganda and took it at face value
The Great Khanate's imperialism was evil, like any imperialism. Mass murder of civilians and the destruction of cities was a major tactic, and even once the empire was set up, places like the Mongol led Yuan Dynasty in China were built on racial discrimination against Han Chinese people. But the evil was all based on order; its not far off from the evil GRRM ascribes to Westerosi families like the Lannisters
Instead, GRRM just paints the Dothraki as hyper chaotic killing machines instead of as a functioning society; we see the same thing with the Ironborn and their "we do not sow" bullshit (which was NOT how medieval Norse society was built and a culture entirely based on being a pirate would collapse in a second), but even individual Greyjoy characters and least get POV bits and sympathy
From what I read in A Game of Thrones and picked up from the show is that the Dothraki never really get that. They just kind of exist as a big faceless army for Dany to back up her conquest
But yeah, stupid, often racist worldbuilding like that is one of the huge reasons I could never care much about the ASOIAF world, even when the individual political stuff and characters themselves can be super compelling on an individual level
Also sorry I dumped this whole Pent Up History Major rant in the comments
exactly! like nobody get it twisted: i am not blindly stanning the mongol empire. imperialism is inherently evil. all empires are, by their very nature, built on the bones of innocent people -- regardless of the race/ethnicity of the conquerers. the mongols are no more morally pure than the roman or english empires. i'm sorry if anything i said made it seem like i think otherwise. i know i tend to have a black-and-white view of the world, and that comes out whenever i rant about things.
the mongolian peace allowed the silk road to flourish -- at the cost of countless lives. the empire embraced multiculturalism, but how much blood was spilled to allow that luxury? genghis khan's rule brought europe silks and gunpowder... but who am i to say that this made the world a better place?
the real world has infinite complexity. it would be genuinely stupid for me to say that the dothraki would be good and wholesome rulers, because in real life there is no such thing as a flawless conquerer. all i'm saying is that George RR Martin's view of his world is steeped in racism. you cannot say that his work is 'realistic' when he obviously scorns the real-world cultures his fantasy world is based upon.
and don't EVEN get me started on the ironborn!!!!!! 'we do not sow.' how the fuck does that coincide with the norse (’vikings’), who were farmers when they weren't raiding? who conquered foreign countries in order to have access to their farmlands? how did they build their fucking longboats if they don't grow trees on their shitty island, george?!!!??!
basically the point of my rant is not that grrm should write pure wholesome societies, but that he shouldn't write societies based wholly on racist stereotypes and propaganda.
also do not apologize 4 spreading knowledge, alex, i love and appreciate ur input <333