The Queen's Hand

Ian McElhinney as Barristan Selmy in HBOs GOT

Quentyn Martell is dead, after three days of fighting death. The dragons he loosened have burned parts of Meereen and made their home in two of the pyramids. Only the rains gave quelched the flames in the city. Looking at Quentyn's burned body, Barristan muses about the death by fire and how ugly it is. He admires Missandei for being with the prince day and night and wonders if Dany is dead at all, fiercely denying it without putting his doubts to rest.

When the Shavepate enters, his mind shifts to questions of politics. The Green Grace whom Barristan send to the Yunkai'i to negotiate for release of the hostages has not yet returned. The Yunkish demands to restore Hizdahr to his throne and to slay the dragons still stand. Since the imprisonment of Hizdahr, the Sons of the Harpy have taken up their killings again, and the toll of the current night and day alone has reached 23, as the Shavepate reports, who demands hostages to be killed instead of Barristan's way to collect blood money from the pyramids. Barristan declines and calls the council into session.

In absence of Daenerys, all the commanders meet as equals under his supervision at a table in the throne room, from which Hizdahr's dragon thrones have been removed. Belwas returns to the council as well, visibly weakened by the poison, but alive. The first discussion point concerns the Dornish, who have been imprisoned. Most demand their death for treason, but Barristan just states that he needs them for something and moves to the next matter, the dragons. Hundreds of sheep were brought to the fighting pits, and as for now, the dragons go there when they are hungry and don't attack humans. They are not controlled either, however. The representative of the Stormcrows has no faith in the negotiations with the Yunkai'i, claiming that they are liars and that they need to free Daario somehow. The discussion moves to the object of the peace, and to everyone's surprise Barristan tells them that if the Green Grace should return without success, he would attack the Yunkai'i, shattering Hizdahr's peace.

That takes the discussion to strategy. For hours they ponder the question how best to deploy their troops, and in the end, the question of the dragons arises. Barristan says he is sure that they will join the fight once it commences, being drawn by blood and violence, but he doesn't say that he isn't sure at all whether the dragons will make any difference between the parties. After the discussion, he goes to the Dornishmen, who tell him how and what they did. Archibald Yronwood proves to be the more prudent of the two, grasping what Barristan wants, who sends them to the Yunkai'i with the rest of the Windblown deserters. Their task is to persuade the Tattered Prince to change sides and to free the hostages.

Barristan stands atop the pyramid again, watching the city and musing about the dragons. Rhaegal is the more dangerous of the two, he is certain. After that, Barristan gets the message that the Green Grace returned. He thinks she is a loyal, faithful friend to Daenerys. Obviously, the negotiations weren't succesful, so Barristan is determined to command the attack. The Green Grace advises him to restore Hizdahr, since the peace is too precious to risk it, but Barristan doesn't concur. Before the conversation can go any futher, the Shavepate enters the room and tells him that the Yunkai'i have flown bodies over the walls with all six trebuchets.

And there goes the peace. Barristan is determined to attack the Yunkai'i, and the negotiations are only a fig leaf with which he conceals it to preserve his honor. His plan seems sound enough: preparing the troops inside the walls, giving everybody an assigned task, and arrange a signal that can be seen in the whole city (the beacon fire) to be able to start every second. The chances are good, since the Yunkai'i are still weakened and they have reason to believe that two of the companies could go over. Barristan makes good use of all the advice he gets, not dismissing anything just because he hasn't thought of it or because he doesn't fully comprehend it. He even accepts clever advice from Missandei, which all speaks for him. He definitely is a good hand.

It remains unclear what bodies are thrown into the city. It doesn't seem too likely that they are the hostages, although I wouldn't object Daario dying (another thing with Joqho, though). I think it more likely to be plague corpses, as to bring the disease into Meereen too. The nobles of the city could barricade in their pyramids, while Dany's power base would suffer, so it seems a valid strategy for the Yunkai'i at that point. I would guess that Barristan isn't the kind of guy to be shocked by such strategies, so after the cliffhanger of this chapter's end he is likely to command the attack to commence immediately. We'll don't know until "The Winds of Winter", of course.

The last big questions centers around the Green Grace. Barristan thinks she's one of Daenerys' truest friends, but somehow I don't believe it. She seems false to me, like the Shavepate does, although the aggressive manner of the latter somehow make it more unlikely that he plays a double role than with the Green Grace, who seems more sinister. Barristan of course isn't the guy to dwell too deep into politics and insight into human nature, but one shouldn't discount the Green Grace too early as the poisoner: she would know that Hizdahr doesn't like locusts, and no one would suspect her. And from the beginning, she manufactured the peace and tried to defend it, and most importantly she is the chief arranger of the marriage with Hizdahr, so she may well be the harpy. Possible that she manufactured the body hauling herself when she "negotiated" with the Yunkai'i.

As to side notes, it's interesting that Barristan fears death in bed and wants to die on the battlefield. Perhaps this sentiment is, subconsciously, responsible for his determination to attack. Second, the knights of the round table he founds in the council are somewhat a blatant parallel, but then again, the theme of a table where everyone is equal is older than the Camelot tales and can be found in various cultures. Third, Barristan obviously knighted two of his squires now, having succesfully disposed Hizdahr. His fear of death certainly plays a role in this. It remains to be seen how knightly they will truly be. Fourth and last, we get some additional knowledge of the dragons: they are drawn to blood and violence, which leaves all sort of indications, especially regarding the use of them by the Targaryen kings as I discussed prior in my essay at the Tower of the Hand. If the dragons get all violent upon seeing it and can't differentiate friend from foe, you really don't want to have three of them on the battlefield at once.