Break Down of the Dothraki Race


Human society’s obsession with romance has echoed throughout the ages through stories. The most popular of romance stories usually involves two parties who would never seem normally together, such as Romeo and Juliet (Romeo and Juliet), Baby and Johnny (Dirty Dancing), Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy (Pride and Prejudice), Noah and Allie (The Notebook), and of course, Daenerys and Khal Drogo (Game of Thrones). But why is Daenerys’ and Khal Drogo’s love for one another so forbidden? Is it their differentiation in social status? No, since Khal Drogo is basically a king and Daenerys a princess. Is it their family’s refusal to accept their love? Not that either, Viserys nearly threw Daenerys at Khal Drogo in order to acquire the Khal’s loyalty and army. Surprise, surprise, it is actually race. Since the Khal and Daenerys come form VERY different race backgrounds, it is considered taboo for a woman of Daenerys’ legacy to marry herself off to a tribal man of Essos. Of course, this fetishized idea of colonizing another culture with white idealisms is reflected in todays current interpretation of this romance. This fetishization can be even further broken down to the hyper-sexualization of non-white races. And of course with the Dothraki, because of their non-white skin culture, they are automatically de-humanized into wild, sex-crazed beasts.
            What is also interesting to note is the melting pot of non-white races within the Dothraki clan. By breaking the motley down within the Dothraki clan, readers can understand the racist assumptions made of these cultures and thus better understand modern society’s inner beliefs. The most obvious of the cultures that is used for the Dothraki are the Hun and Mongolian steppe cultures. This can be seen in the Dothraki’s clothing and personal looks. They have long mustaches and braided hair that has small bells imbedded it. This hair is particularly special to the Dothraki because if a Dothraki loses a battle/fight he must cut off his hair in shame. Of course, this is not a part of Hun or Mongolian cultures. One of the major misconceptions with steppe culture is the idea that it is a pillaging based culture. And surprise, its not. Tribes within steppe cultures, especially in Mongolia, were actually primarily nomadic herders. Because of the vast grasslands that surrounded these tribes in the steppe climate, there was plenty of food sources for herding animals, such as goats, cattle, and sheep. And probably the most important aspect of steppe life was the horse culture, as they were the ones to first domesticize horses and learn how to ride them. The Dothraki do in fact have these horse-culture feature added to their stereotype, but because of the Dothraki being a combination of non-white cultures, this idea of horse culture is assumed upon other cultures within the Dothraki melting pot. Such as the Sioux, Cheyenne, and various other American Indian tribes, and these tribes were not all horse cultures. This assumption of stereotypes for indigenous tribes shows the white-medievalist beliefs that are still part of society today.


-Sydney J

Comments

  1. UnknownApril 23, 2018 at 2:15 PM

    I completely agree with your analysis that Daenerys and Khal Drogo’s love is forbidden for racial reasons. However, I would also add that simply the nature of their relationship is also cause for it to be considered taboo. Daenerys is basically sold to him which is already taboo and once married they are initially almost unable to communicate because of their language barriers. Putting this two things together and keeping in mind that Daenerys is 14 it just adds up to Khal Drogo being tall, dark, and mysterious, and it doesn’t help matters that we never get a narrative from Khal Drogo’s perspective.

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