(1) Hi! So, at this point I don´t really know if I’m just being extra harsh towards Dany because I dislike her, but I never liked the way she conquered Yunkai. I mean, it’s conquer, that in itself feels weird. But when she summoned the Second Sons and gave them alcohol so her armies could attack them more easily, that was something I found so unsettling. And there’s where I don’t know if I’m being extra harsh or something, because her plan was to avoid more deaths (cont...)
(2) (not that it actually matters anyway because she was the one trying to conquer a city, not the other way around), and of course the mercenaries would have been ruthless towards her. Mero himself was just disgusting enough. But the idea that she gave them wine as an offer for them to reevaluate the situation, the fact that she gave them the certainty that they would have an entire night to think and to relax with alcohol before the battle and made them think (cont...)
(3) they were on a temporary truce situation makes me feel uncomfortable. Because, while certainly different situations, it reminds me of the red wedding, and the taboo of violate the guest rights. In this case they weren’t her guests or anything, but I feel like the core of the situation is not that different, does that make sense? She did something similar with the Yunkai’i, making them believe they had three days. And I wonder if that’s something GRRM thought about or was just her being smart
It's one of Dany's cleverest moves in the books, and one of the least problematic. She seems the most herself in this chapter. Her priorities are honestly articulated, her goals are not clouded by emotion, there is none of the irritating hypocrisy that overlays her actions in the Lhazareen city or later in Meereen.
She came to Slaver's Bay for an army, she got one in the most ruthless way, and it is good but not sufficient and she lacks the means to transport them.
So they march to the next place to get more. At Yunkai, she essentially repeats the Astapor ploy without the massacre. The casualties are surprisingly few, even among her enemies. She gains new soldiers by pardoning all who bend the knee. Yunkai releases their slaves with weapons and goods, a peaceful kind of plunder.
It's an elegant move, honestly. THIS Dany is a character who is not lying to herself. She wants to conquer Westeros and plunder cities on her way there, and she’s got no problem freeing some slaves on the way, and if they want to tag along, she’ll let them. Otherwise, they can go do their own thing, none of her business. It’s calculating and effective. There is no delusion of a higher calling, no mantle of benevolence, no claim to responsibility for the fall-out.
There is not even a claim to credibility.
As you point out, she violates the spirit of these negotiations by trickery, just as she did in Astapor during the sales meeting. Which the Yunkish envoy should have realized the moment she let Drogon burn his tokar. He didn’t, because he trusted in the concept of safe conduct while Dany plays semantics.
Ser Jorah Mormont scowled. “You told the sellswords—”
“—that I wanted their answers on the morrow. I made no promises about tonight. The Stormcrows will be arguing about my offer. The Second Sons will be drunk on the wine I gave Mero. And the Yunkai’i believe they have three days. We will take them under cover of this darkness.”
She is a raider passing through. It’s not supposed to be heroic. It’s pure conquest and plunder.
It’s when she lets her emotions take over that things become more volatile for Dany. And unfortunately, they start doing that very quickly. She is lonely. She crushes on ruthless Daario immediately, but she is also angsting about Mirri’s “promise” of infertility. She tries to be content with her dragons.
That’s her tragedy. She is excellent at being a ruthless Targaryen conqueror but it already cannot fill the emptiness in her heart, which is the result of her abusive upbringing.
So, fatally, when her plan succeeds and the slaves emerge from Yunkai, she is punched in the gut by the Mhysa moment. All of a sudden “Mother of Dragons” has a rival in “Mhysa”, and Dany starts to fool herself about her own intentions. She wants both. Conquest and “Motherhood”. The Meereen crucifixions will do the rest, and the concept of a righteous cause seduces Dany into commiting to something she is NOT good at: boring administrative work, long-term plans, compromise.
It’s a bad fit. That’s when her flaws are exposed to daylight. When the conflict between her inner desires plays out on the stage of a city in chaos. When the fall-out of her actions as a raider begins to matter. And lost credibility is part of that.
Not to mention the dark irony.
Treachery on treachery, the queen thought wearily. Is there no end to it? (ADWD, Daenerys IX)
In the grasslands Dany eventually lets go of her pretensions at Mhysa, and she’ll return to what she is good at. Whatever her next move is, it will probably make Astapor and Yunkai look meagre in comparison.
