Meereen

Meereen is the greatest of the cities of Slaver’s Bay. The Great Masters ruled it until Daenerys Targaryen and her army of the Unsullied arrived. After Dany’s arrival, Meereen fell into chaos as a mysterious group arose and started causing chaos. Eventually, the violence died down when Dany married one of the Meereenese nobles. However, the group resurfaced when the Queen flew away on her dragon from one of the city’s fighting pits, and her husband got arrested.

Meereen Details

• Name: Meereen.
• Year Founded: Thousands of Years Ago.
• Location: Slaver’s Bay, Essos.
• Religion: Gods of Ghis.
• Government: Great Masters, Monarchy.
• Notable Places: Temple of the Graces, Gret Pyramid, Purple Lotus, Daznak’s Pit.
• Organizations: Sons of the Harpy, Shavepates, Graces, Great Masters.
• Emblem: Harpy.

Geography

Meereen is on the northeast coast at the mouth of the Skahazadan. It is the northernmost of the cities in Slaver’s Bay, and to its north lies the Dothraki Sea. Yunkai is about fifty leagues to the South, and Astapor is fifty farther.

City Structure

Meereen is as massive as Yunkai and Astapor combined. It has different-colored bricks and walls thicker and higher than its neighbors. With better-maintained structures, Meereen’s walls have incredible defense towers. The north wall runs along the riverbank and bay shore, and the riverbank has higher walls. On the walls are bronze harpy heads used as a defensive mechanism during wars. They get used to pouring boiling oil on enemies. The city has fighting pits, gardens, brothels, hovels, palaces, temples, granaries, wide brick streets, twisted alleys, and fountains.

Meereen dumps its sewage in the Skahazadhan using great brick sewers, and no one drinks from the river because of this. Instead, the people use wells.

Fighting Pits

Meereen has many fighting pits and boasts many champions participating in different events. Some include Daznak’s Pit, Golden Pit, and the Pit of Ghrazz. Some combat in the fighting pits are highly religious and seen as a sacrifice to the gods of Ghis. Those slain are remembered and honored with their names engraved on the Gates of Fate.

Sometimes, criminals get condemned to the fighting pits as a form of judgment. Also, other contests involving women, children, and wild animals get held through follies. Any animal killed during a fight gets used in preparing stew for the hungry.

Nobility

The nobles of Meereen live in stepped pyramids, with the largest being the Great Pyramid, sitting at a staggering height of eight hundred feet, with no other pyramid standing half as tall. The nobles painted their pyramids to the colors of their houses. The pyramid of Rhazdar is painted yellow and green, Naqqan is green and black, while Pahl is pink and white. Though the pyramids symbolize the height of the state’s power, between them are poorer districts.

Tall cedars grew along the coast of Meereen long ago. However, their fate is unknown as they either got cut down by the Old Ghiscari Empire or burned by dragonfire during the wars with the Valyrian Freehold. The current predominant plants in the region are prickly ben, daggerleaf, lady’s lace, harpy’s gold, waspwillow, dusky roses, and wild mint.

People and Customs

The Meereenese are stubborn and are the descendants of the Ghiscari. They speak a bastard form of Valyrian and use Ghsicari terms like ‘Magnificence’ and ‘His Radiance’ to address nobility. The high born of the city wear tokars, and some prefer ones with a specific color. Women paint their nails while men shape their hair into shapes of wings, horns, and spikes, using combs, irons, and wax. The people also love a delicacy made from dogs.

Death

Like the Starks of Winterfell, the Meereenese lay the dead in crypts below their manses. Sometimes, the deceased’s bones may get laid at the Temple of the Graces, where men light candles in their memory.

Religion

The people of Meereen worship the gods of Ghis and pray at the temple of the Graces. The priestesses wear different colors, showing their various roles. White Graces are girls of noble birth too young to serve at the temple’s pleasure gardens. The Blue Graces care for the sick, and the Red Graces stay at the pleasure gardens, waiting every night for a man to sleep with them. A Red Grace will remain at her spot till dawn if no one comes for her. Other Graces include green, pink, gold, and purple.

Economy

Meereen thrives on slaves. It breeds and trains soldiers and sends young boys and girls to brothels. Unlike Astapor, Eunuchs of the city lose only their testicles. The municipality collects one-tenth of the profit from the fighting pits. 

History

Thousands of years ago, a King under the Ghiscari Empire ruled Meereen. However, it fell when it made war with the Valyrians. During the great calamity that befell Ghis, the survivors turned to slavery to survive. After the Ghiscari fell to Valyria, the Freehold took Meereen and learned slavery from it, adapting it into its conquest of Essos.

After the Doom of Valyria, the great slaver cities of Slaver’s Bay took control of the Valyrian slave trade. Strong Belwas was bred and trained in the fighting pits of Meereen before being sold to Qohor. A year before Daenerys’s birth, the city suffered a plague.

Relevance in A Song of Ice and Fire

A Game of Thrones

Ser Jorah Mormont tells Khal Drogo to send his slaves to Meereen because the city recently suffered from a plague.

A Clash of Kings

When Drogo dies, Khal Pono, from the broken Khalasar, rides to Slaver’s Bay to sell thousands of slaves. Daenerys reaches Qarth and meets Strong Belwas, a man who got bred and trained in the fighting pits of Meereen.

A Storm of Swords

When the Great Masters of Meereen learn Daenerys is heading for them, they begin preparing for an attack as she has conquered Astapor. They heat the earth around the city and let their fleet sail. They also brutally kill and nail sixty-three slave children along the coastal road to deter Dany from coming. When her forces arrive, they send out their champion, Oznak zo Pahl, who gets killed in single combat by Strong Belwas. 

Daenerys besieges Meereen and sends men through its sewers to free the slaves within the city. Now freedmen, the city falls from within, and Dany wins. She orders one hundred and sixty-three Great Masters to get nailed like the slave children. Dany takes residence in the Great Pyramid. King Cleon of Astapor sends an emissary, Lord Ghael, offering alliance as his city suffers.

A Dance with Dragons

Daenerys outlaws slavery in Meereen and closes the fighting pits, halting trade as merchant ships change course. Unpleased with the new reforms, the Sons of the Harpy rise and begin killing freedmen and Unsullied soldiers. To cull the problem, Dany forms the Brazen Beast and takes children from the noble families as hostages.

Quentyn Martell arrives and asks for Dany’s hand in marriage, but she rejects him. She eventually marries Hizdahr zo Loraq and the killings from the Sons of the Harpy end. Meanwhile, Yunkai mobilizes other slaver cities and marches against Meereen. Bloody flux begins spreading outside the city and infects civilians who escaped the fighting at Astapor. Dany agrees for the fighting pits to reopen, and during one of the contests, Drogon appears, and Daenerys flies away on him to prevent carnage. 

When Hizdahr proves to be incompetent as King, Ser Barristan Selmy arrests him and holds a meeting with Grey Worm to determine how to face Yunkai. Meanwhile, Victarion Greyjoy sails for Meereen on his brother Euron Greyjoy’s orders. Jorah returns to Slaver’s Bay with Tyrion Lannister and joins the Second Sons. Yunkai besieges Meereen and begins flinging corpses into the city.

Relevance in Adaptation

In HBO’s Game of Thrones, Meereen critically impacted Westeros and Essos. It was a regular stop from the Free Cities to the Jade Sea. When Davos tries convincing Salladhor Saan to join Stannis Baratheon, he tells him that after the war, he can retire and make easy money raiding Meereenese silk merchants. 

After Daenerys conquers Meereen, she stays at one of the tallest structures in the known world and the tallest in the city, the Great Pyramid. During a conflict in the fighting pits, she flies away on Drogon. The remaining slaver cities led a fleet against the city despite Tyrion’s peace treaty. By nightfall, Meereen suffers immense damage. However, Dany returns and successfully destroys the slaver cities.

Meereen: A City of Blood

Though it was a center of prosperity, Meereen used the blood of thousands of slaves to prosper. It thrived on people’s suffering, and people got treated worse than livestock. Even though Daenerys tried to bring positive change to an archaic tradition, Meereen fought back.

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