Feared throughout the Dothraki Sea and Essos, Khal Drogo is one of the crucial characters that changed Daenerys’s life. After getting Daenerys as a gift, he makes her his queen and eventually promises to help her in the struggle to get the Iron Throne. However, a successful conquest led to an injury that sealed both his fate and Daenerys’s; this eventually led to a queen emerging from the ashes with three dragons.
Khal Drogo’s Stats
- Name: Drogo.
- Titles: Khal, Khalakka.
- Allegiances: Bharbo, Dothraki.
- Year of Birth: 267 AC.
- Year of Death: 299 AC in the Dothraki Sea.
- Wife: Daenerys Targaryen.
- Father: Bharbo.
- Aliases: Great Rider, Great Khal.
- Culture: Dothraki.
- Eye Color: Black.
- Hair Color: Black.
Appearance and Personality
Having the appearance of a typical Dothraki man, Khal Drogo has copper-colored skin with black eyes and long hair. He is well-built, tall, and walks gracefully as the blades of grass on the Dothraki Sea. His long mustache droops down to a clean-shaven chin and his braided hair adorned with bells swings fluidly in the wind. The bells on Drogo’s hair signify his legendary status as a warlord who has never gotten defeated in battle.
History
Dorgo was born to Khal Bharbo and an unknown mother sometime in or around 267 AC. Cohollo got pledged to him and became an inseparable servant. While still young, he got saved from sellswords by Cohollo, and after growing up to become a fine young man and one of the strongest warriors of the Dothraki, he chose him to be one of his bloodriders.
Political Influence
With Drogo’s khalasar being the mightiest of any Dothraki, he is a crucial influence on the politics in Essos. Owning a nine-towered manse in Pentos and having his palace in the ruins of Vaes Dothrak, he becomes a force to be reckoned with in Essos. His presence in the region leads to many cities politically strategizing to be on his calmer side.
Impact in A Song of Ice and Fire
A Game of Thrones
In the city of Pentos, Magister Illyrio Mopatis serves Daenerys Targaryen and her brother Viserys as their patron after the death of their father, Aerys II Targaryen, the Mad King. With Viserys hoping to become King, he gifts his sister to Khal Drogo. During one of Drogo’s visits to Pentos, Illyrio arranges a marriage between him and Daenerys.
The wedding goes as planned according to Dothraki Culture, with Drogo’s entire Khalasar feasting for a day outside Pentos. According to their culture, a young Daenerys gets a gift of a whip, arakh, and bow from Drogo’s bloodriders. Her new husband gifts her a beautiful silver mare, and others, including magister Illyrio Mopatis and Ser Jorah Mormont, give her dragon eggs and a stack of books containing stories from Westeros in the common language, respectively. After the gifting ceremony, Drogo takes his wife to an open field where they consummate their wedding.
Because of how tender and gentle Drogo is with Daenerys, she grows to love and become fond of him. Their marriage blossoms and Daenerys starts fitting into the position of Khaleesi. Drogo starts learning the common tongue for his new bride while she learns the Dothraki language. Though Daenerys rejects the Dothrakis’ slavery and raping tradition, Drogo bears with her and supports her for her courage. However, his relationship with Viserys sours.
Viserys follows Drogo after his sister’s wedding and becomes a contemptuous bitter person who nags at the culture of the Dothraki. His growing distaste for Drogo and his people causes his relationship with his sister to sour. With disregard and contempt for Dothraki’s customs, Viserys tries to hurt a pregnant Daenerys and gets beaten by Drogo’s men. While in Vaes Dothrak, a sacred city for the Dothraki, he pulls out a sword, a sacrilege punished by death. Upon drawing his weapon, he demands that Drogo give him his army so he can march on Westeros and reclaim the Iron Throne. However, Drogo pours molten gold over him, killing him.
With Daenerys pregnant, the dosh khaleen predicts that her unborn child will be the stallion who mounts the world. Though Drogo has no initiative to ride against Westeros, an attempt on Daenerys’s life by an assassin sent by King Robert Baratheon makes him swear the Seven Kingdoms to her.
Drogo begins warring in Lhazar. He conquers the towns in the region to get slaves to exchange for warships that will take him to King’s Landing. However, while fighting Khal Ogo, a rival, he gets wounded in the chest. Though his wound appears to be minor, he begins to deteriorate in health. Daenerys convinces him to let a Lhazareen maegi, Mirri Maz Duur, treat him. However, his condition worsens until he falls from his horse, a symbol showing he is no longer fit to be the leader of his Khalassar.
Desperate to save Drogo, Daenerys asks Mirri to use blood magic to heal him and even sacrifices his stallion in exchange. However, Mirri turns on her by using magic to kill her unborn son and put Drogo in a vegetative state. Realizing what she has done, Daenerys kills her husband to let him go and ties Mirri to his funeral pyre. She places her dragon eggs in the stake, and after it gets lit, she walks into the flames.
Appearance in Adaptation
In HBO’s Game of Thrones, Khal Drogo’s character got portrayed by Jason Momoa. The actor played Dothraki Warlord and had a similar storyline to the novels. In the series, Drogo dies after getting poisoned intentionally by Mirri Maz Duur, who hated the Dothraki for destroying her home. With no hope of him ever getting better, Daenerys killed him.
Khal Drogo: The Brutal Warlord
Though Khal Drogo is technically a villain, George R. R. Martin showed that he possessed some good in himself. After getting married to Daenerys, the brutal warlord began learning that some traditions of his were not humane. Drogo is the most influential character in Daenerys’s life as he made her the queen she was. His presence in her life gave her courage and showed her love, something she had barely witnessed before him.
FAQs
Does Daenerys love Jon Snow or Khal Drogo more?
In the series, Daenerys loved Jon snow more than Khal Drogo because Jon was a much better person than Khal, and she found more solace in his embrace.
Does Khal Drogo wield a sword?
Yes. Drogo’s sword is called the Arakh, a curved blade sharpened with whetstones and shaped like a scythe.
Was Khal Drogo a fan-favorite character in Game of Thrones?
Yes, Khal Drogo became a favorite character in Game of Thrones. Because of Jason Momoa’s portrayal of Drogo, he garnered the love of many, including Emilia Clarke, the actress portraying Daenerys.
Would House Targaryen have returned to the throne if Khal Drogo marched on Westeros?
It would have been difficult for the Dothraki to conquer the Seven Kingdoms had they marched on Westeros. Because the nomads possessed little logistical and battle-planning skills, they would have been easily destroyed at sea by Stannis Baratheon, a fearsome naval commander. If they survived Stannis and matched on land, the combined armies of the Seven Kingdoms would have been able to conquer them. However, the Dothraki would have an advantage in Westeros because of the Targaryens. Because many people hated Robert Baratheon, with the Targaryens beside the Dothraki, many houses that supported the Targaryens would have risen and fought together against Robert Baratheon.