Courtesan

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The profession of courtesan exists in Essos. A courtesan is not referred to as a whore although they are most likely trained in the arts of love and may also offer sexual services.

About

Courtesans could be considered to be at the pinnacle of the prostitution hierarchy and a person who engages their services may not do so specifically for sexual reasons. Rather it is the pleasure and honour of their company that is paid for.

Engaging their company bestows as certain amount of status on the client themselves. In fact a sexual liaison may be the whim of the courtesan, not the patron. They are most likely similar to our world’s Japanese geisha, educated and trained in various cultural pursuits such as music, poetry, dance, history, literature etc.

Braavos

Braavos is also renowned worldwide for its courtesans, they enjoy high status and are famous worldwide.

Every courtesan has her own barge and servants to work them. The beauty of famed courtesans has inspired many a song. They are showered with gifts from goldsmiths and craftsmen beg for their custom. Nobility and rich merchants pay the courtesans large amounts of money to appear alongside them at events, and bravos are known to kill each other in their names.[1]

Some BraavosI courtesans are famous, respected and wealthy and enjoy a kind of celebrity status as well as a certain kind of mystique. They are cultured and beautiful.

Some families have produced many generations of courtesans, such as Bellegere Otherys’s, it is likely that there are other Braavosi courtesan families.

The Kindly Man offers Arya the chance to become a courtesan, giving a glimpse into the lifestyle of a Braavosi courtesan:

Would you sooner be a courtesan, and have songs sung of your beauty? Speak the word, and we will send you to the Black Pearl or the Daughter of the Dusk. You will sleep on rose petals and wear silken skirts that rustle when you walk, and great lords will beggar themselves for your maiden’s blood.[2]

Famous courtesans

References and Notes

  1. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 34, Cat Of The Canals.
  2. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 45, The Blind Girl.