Skahaz mo Kandaq

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Meereen.pngSkahaz mo Kandaq
the Shavepate
Meereen.png
Sir Heartsalot Shavepate.jpg
Skahaz mo Kandaq, by Sir-Heartsalot ©

Aliases
  • The Shavepate[1]
  • Skahaz Shavepate[1]
Title Commander of the Brazen Beasts (formerly)
Allegiances
Culture Ghiscari
Born Meereen[2]
Spouse Unknown[1]
Books

Skahaz mo Kandaq, also known as the Shavepate, is a Ghiscari noble of the city of Meereen.[1]

Appearance and Character

Skahaz has a a beetled brow and small eyes with heavy bags beneath them. His big nose is dark with blackheads, and his oily skin looks more yellow than the amber of most Ghiscari.[1] Daenerys Targaryen and Ser Barristan Selmy consider him to be ugly.[1][3][4]

Skahaz is a stern[5] man who often scowls.[6][7] He rarely smiles,[1] but when he does so his smile can look savage.[8] The ruthless nobleman[1][3] is an effective torturer[9] who is willing to kill hostages.[10] He has an iron grip.[8]

Skahaz dislikes Hizdahr zo Loraq.[11] The Shavepate is hated by the Sons of the Harpy for having abandoned the old ways of Meereen.[1]

The Shavepate carries a sword.[5] His attire includes a pleated black skirt, greaves, and a muscled breastplate,[12][13] and he wears brass helms shaped like the heads of serpents,[12] cats,[8] blood bats,[10] and wolves.[13]

Recent Events

A Dance with Dragons

After the fall of Meereen to Daenerys Targaryen, Skahaz becomes one of her councilors. Since Ghiscari traditionally style their hair into fanciful shapes, he shaves his black and red hair to show he has abandoned old Meereen to serve the new ways. Several of his kin and followers do the same, becoming known as the shavepates.[1] Skahaz offers to put aside his wife to marry Daenerys, but she declines.[1]

After several of her freedmen are killed by the Sons of the Harpy, Daenerys allows Skahaz Shavepate to use torture to uncover the murderers.[3] Under Daenerys's orders, Skahaz creates the Brazen Beasts, an organization composed of shavepates and freedmen that serves as a city watch to Meereen. The guardsmen wear brass masks in the shapes of fanciful beasts to protect their identities from the Sons of the Harpy, who have promised death to the families of any man who serves the dragon queen.[5]

Skahaz supports the reopening of the fighting pits of Meereen,[3] and he argues with Daenerys on several occasions over her refusal not to harm any of her cupbearers who are serving as hostages.[9] Many Meereenese ships participate in Yunkai's blockade of Slaver's Bay, so Skahaz provides Daenerys with a list of Meereenese participants and advises her to seize their family members. The queen refuses to do so in the interests of peace, however, and burns the list.[6] If the Yunkai'i were to conquer Meereen, Skahaz says he would put his own family to death to prevent them from being raped and enslaved.[5]

Daenerys marries Hizdahr zo Loraq[11] against Skahaz's advice,[8] and the new king replaces the Shavepate as commander of the Brazen Beasts with his own cousin, Marghaz zo Loraq.[11] Hizdahr names Skahaz as Warden of the River in charge of the Skahazadhan, but the Shavepate declines and retires to the pyramid of Kandaq.[8]

Daenerys reluctantly agrees to reopen the fighting pits, but she disappears on Drogon from Daznak's Pit.[11] Skahaz suspects that Daenerys's new husband tried to poison her at the arena.[14] Skahaz takes his suspicions to Ser Barristan Selmy that Strong Belwas had eaten poisoned locusts that may have been meant for Daenerys, and he accuses Hizdahr of being the Harpy.[8]

Barristan, Skahaz and Grey Worm seize Hizdahr and take control of Meereen.[10] With Barristan serving as Hand of the Queen in Daenerys's absence, they prepare for war with Yunkai.[13] Skahaz opposes Barristan's decision to send Galazza Galare to meet with the Wise Masters of Yunkai, as well as the participation of pit fighters in Barristan's council.[13] Skahaz also wants Ser Cletus Yronwood and Ser Gerris Drinkwater to be hanged for their part in the freeing of Rhaegal and Viserion from the Great Pyramid.[13]

The Winds of Winter

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Warning
This information has thus far been released in a sample chapter for The Winds of Winter, and might therefore not be in finalized form. Keep in mind that the content as described below is still subject to change.

As the second siege of Meereen resumes, Skahaz and the Brazen Beasts man the walls of the city.[15]

Quotes by Skahaz

Ser Barristan Selmy and Skahaz, by Alexandre Dainche © Fantasy Flight Games

Your Grace has not asked for my counsel, but I say that blood must pay for blood. Take one man from each of the families I have named and kill him. The next time one of yours is slain, take two from each great House and kill them both. There will not be a third murder.[1]

—Skahaz to Daenerys Targaryen

The Sons of the Harpy are laughing in their pyramids. What good are hostages if you will not take their heads?[9]

—Skahaz to Daenerys Targaryen

Barristan: Your way is dishonorable.
Skahaz: Your way is stupid.[10]

Barristan Selmy and Skahaz

Quotes about Skahaz

Skahaz by Marc Fishman ©

Skahaz was the Shavepate ... and the vilest of traitors to the Sons of the Harpy and their ilk.[1]

—thoughts of Daenerys Targaryen

It was a blunt, brutal, angry face. She could only pray it was an honest one as well.[1]

—thoughts of Daenerys Targaryen

She trusted Skahaz more than she trusted Hizdahr, but the Shavepate would be a disaster as a king. He was too quick to anger, too slow to forgive.[9]

—thoughts of Daenerys Targaryen

Daenerys: The Shavepate has ways of finding the truth.
Hizdahr: I do not doubt that Skahaz would soon have me confessing. A day with him, and I will be one of the Harpy's Sons. Two days, and I will be the Harpy. Three, and it will turn out I slew your father too, back in the Sunset Kingdoms when I was yet a boy. Then he will impale me on a stake and you can watch me die ... but afterward the killings will go on.[9]

References