Cleon

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King
Cleon
the Great
Cleon TheMico.jpg
Cleon, by The Mico ©

Aliases
  • Cleon the Great
  • The Butcher King
  • King Cleaver
Title King of Astapor
Culture Astapori
Died In 300 ACAstapor
Spouse At least four wives[1]
Issue Three daughters
Books

Cleon is a butcher and cook enslaved to Grazdan mo Ullhor.[2]

Character

It is said Cleon can cut up a pig faster than any other man in Astapor.[1] He has three daughters by his first wife and two of his newer wives are with child.[1]

Recent Events

A Storm of Swords

Cleon's master, Grazdan mo Ullhor, is killed during the fall of Astapor to Daenerys Targaryen.[3] She installs a ruling council of three men to rule after her departure: a healer, a priest and a scholar.[1]

Cleon stirs up the people of Astapor, claiming that the council is attempting to reinstall the deposed Good Masters. With the backing of the people, Cleon executes the council members and installs himself as king. He also has the male children of the deposed Good Masters kidnapped and castrated to train them into new Unsullied.[1]

Cleon the Great sends Ghael to Daenerys in Meereen, offering a pact between Meereen and Astapor to attack Yunkai. To seal it, he would put aside his wives and wed her.[1]

A Dance with Dragons

Lord Ghael delivers a gift on behalf of Cleon to Daenerys, gilded leather slippers decorated with green freshwater pearls.[4]

Cleon is defeated in the battle at the Horns of Hazzat. He is forced to flee back to Astapor, with his faux Unsullied following him in retreat.[5] Ghael beseeches Daenerys to aid Cleon with her more experienced Unsullied, but the Queen of Meereen declines.[5]

Cleon is slain by his own men when he commands them to march out and attack the Yunkai'i. He is succeeded by a string of unsuccessful rulers, including a man calling himself Cleon the Second, his concubine, called Queen Whore, and Cleon the Second's killer, called King Cutthroat.[6] When the Yunkai'i attack during the siege of Astapor, Cleon's body is disinterred and clad in armor after the Green Grace of Astapor sees a vision that he would deliver them from the Yunkai'i.[7] The corpse is then strapped onto a horse to lead the remnants of his new, inferior Unsullied into battle. They are opposed by the Windblown, the Company of the Cat, and an iron legion from New Ghis,[8] however, and all of the Astapori soldiers are killed.[7] Caggo is nicknamed Corpsekiller for striking down Cleon's body.[8]

Quotes

I have given Astapor a butcher king.[1]

—thoughts of Daenerys Targaryen

Great Cleon bid me tell you not to be afraid. Astapor remembers. Astapor will not forsake you.[1]

Daenerys: I should have gone to Astapor.
Barristan: Your Grace could not have saved them. You warned King Cleon against this war with Yunkai. The man was a fool, and his hands were red with blood.[7]

Behind the Scenes

Cleon may have been inspired by Cleon, a slave leader during the First Servile War.

References

Preceded by 1st King of Astapor
299300 AC
Succeeded by