Mirri Maz Duur
| Mirri Maz Duur | |
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 Mirri Maz Duur, by Roman Papusev © | |
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| Titles | |
| Culture | Lhazareen |
| Born | In 257–259 AC[1], Lhazar[2] |
| Died | In 299 AC[1], the Dothraki Sea[2] |
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| Played by | Mia Soteriou |
| TV series | Game of Thrones: Season 1 |
Mirri Maz Duur is a Lhazareen godswife and maegi.[3] In the television adaptation Game of Thrones, she is played by Mia Soteriou.[4]
Contents
Appearance and Character
Mirri is a heavyset woman, with black hair, a plain face, and a flat nose. She is about 40 years old when Daenerys first meets her.[3] According to Mirri, when she was younger, she was more beautiful.[3]
According to Mirri, she knows every secret of childbirth, and has never lost a baby.[3]
History
Mirri was a godswife in the temple of the Great Shepherd, a Lhazareen deity. Her mother had been the godswife before her, and taught her all the spells and songs, as well as how to make the sacred smokes and ointments. As a young woman, Mirri traveled to Asshai to learn the arts of the shadowbinders. In Asshai, a moonsinger of the Jogos Nhai taught her their birthing songs, a woman of the Dothraki taught her their herb lore, and Maester Marwyn taught her Westerosi medicine and human anatomy. Marwyn also taught Mirri the Common Tongue of Westeros.[3]
Recent Events
A Game of Thrones
Khal Drogo's khalasar fights and defeats Khal Ogo outside Mirri's home town in Lhazar. The Dothraki then attack and conquer Mirri's home, enslaving the local people. When Khaleesi Daenerys Targaryen rides through the burned town, she sees Mirri being raped by one of Drogo's warriors, and puts an end to it.[5]
While Daenerys gives Mirri and the other Lhazareen rape victims protection from further attacks, Daenerys's husband Drogo is suffering from his battle wounds. Though Drogo is unconcerned, and he and his bloodriders dislike the Lhazareen slave woman they consider to be a maegi, Daenerys convinces him to let Mirri Maz Duur treat him. She pulls the arrowhead from Drogo's chest, sews up the wound, and makes him a lambskin poultice of firepods and sting-me-not.[3]
The poultice itches, and Drogo tears it off, causing the wound to fester. Drogo's condition deteriorates, until he falls from his horse, a symbol to his warriors that he can no longer lead them. As Drogo lingers near death, Daenerys convinces Mirri Maz Duur to use her blood magic to preserve his life. Though Mirri warns her that "only death may pay for life", Daenerys insists. Mirri performs a sorcerous ritual, sacrificing Drogo's red stallion in his tent, singing and dancing with dark shadows whirling around her. As the ritual continues, Daenerys goes into labor, and Ser Jorah Mormont brings her into the tent so that Mirri can help her give birth.[6]
However, Mirri betrays Daenerys in revenge for the attack on her village, and the ritual only brings Drogo to a catatonic vegetative state, while causing his son Rhaego to die in Daenerys' womb. Mirri justifies herself, saying that Daenerys had known the true price, and now there will be no "stallion who mounts the world", burning cities and trampling nations to the ground. Mirri also implies, perhaps prophetically, that Daenerys will never again bear a living child.[5]
Daenerys has Mirri Maz Duur burned to death upon Drogo's funeral pyre. Mirri initially sings, but as the flames engulf her she screams. Eventually, she falls silent, and Daenerys walks into the flames. The next morning, Daenerys is found, unharmed, with three dragons hatched from the eggs that had been placed on Drogo's pyre.[7]
A Clash of Kings
When Daenerys enters the House of the Undying in Qarth, she is told in a vision that she would be betrayed "once for blood, once for gold and once for love".[8] She believes Mirri was the first betrayal, for blood.[9]
A Dance with Dragons
After Daenerys marries Hizdahr zo Loraq, he hopes that they will conceive a son. Though Daenerys recalls Mirri's words, she keeps her doubts to herself.[10]
Quotes
This is bloodmagic, lady. Only death may pay for life.[6]
—Mirri, to Daenerys Targaryen
Daenerys: You warned me that only death could pay for life. I thought you meant the horse.
Mirri: No. That was a lie you told yourself. You knew the price.[5]—Daenerys Targaryen and Mirri Maz Duur
The stallion who mounts the world will burn no cities now. His khalasar shall trample no nations into dust.[5]
—Mirri, to Daenerys Targaryen
Daenerys: I spoke for you. I saved you.
Mirri: Saved me? Three riders had taken me, not as a man takes a woman but from behind, as a dog takes a bitch. The fourth was in me when you rode past. How then did you save me? I saw my god's house burn, where I had healed good men beyond counting. My home they burned as well, and in the street I saw piles of heads. I saw the head of a baker who made my bread. I saw the head of a boy I had saved from deadeye fever, only three moons past. I heard children crying as the riders drove them off with their whips. Tell me again what you saved.
Mirri: Look to your khal and see what life is worth, when all the rest is gone.[5]
Daenerys: Your life.
—Daenerys Targaryen and Mirri Maz Duur
Daenerys: I thank you, Mirri Maz Duur, for the lessons you have taught me.
Mirri: You will not hear me scream.
Daenerys: I will, but it is not your screams I want, only your life. I remember what you told me. Only death can pay for life.[7]
—Daenerys Targaryen and Mirri Maz Duur
—thoughts of Daenerys Targaryen
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 See the Mirri Maz Duur calculation.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Mirri Maz Duur.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 61, Daenerys VII.
- ↑ HBO: Game of Thrones: cast and crew
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 68, Daenerys IX.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 64, Daenerys VIII.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 72, Daenerys X.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 48, Daenerys IV.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 63, Daenerys V.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 50, Daenerys VIII.
External Links
- The Mirri Maz Duur article on the Game of Thrones wiki.