Difference between revisions of "Siege of Astapor"

From A Wiki of Ice and Fire
Jump to: navigation, search
(Fall and Aftermath)
m
(31 intermediate revisions by 16 users not shown)
Line 3: Line 3:
 
| caption =  
 
| caption =  
 
| battle_name = Siege of Astapor
 
| battle_name = Siege of Astapor
| conflict =  
+
| conflict = [[Targaryen campaign in Slaver's Bay]]
| date = {{Date|300}} ish ?
+
| date = {{Date|300}}
 
| place = [[Astapor]]
 
| place = [[Astapor]]
| result = Astapor fall
+
| result = Astapor sacked and burned<br>Migration of survivors
| combatant1 = Freedmen
+
| combatant1 = '''Astapor'''
| combatant2 = [[Yunkai]]
+
| combatant2 = [[File:YunkaiHarpie.png|30px]] '''[[Yunkai]]''':
| commander1 = [[Cleon|Cleon, Butcher King]] King [[Cleon the Second]]
+
*[[File:Windblown.svg|20px]] [[Windblown]]
[[King Cutthroat]]  
+
*[[Company of the Cat]]
[[Queen Whore]]
+
[[File:GhisHarpie.png|30px]] '''[[New Ghis]]'''
| commander2 = [[Yunkai]] generals [[Tattered Prince]] [[Bloodbeard]]
+
| commander1 = [[Cleon|Cleon the Butcher King]]†<br>King [[Cleon the Second]]†<br>[[King Cutthroat]]†<br>[[Queen Whore]]
 +
| commander2 = [[File:YunkaiHarpie.png|20px]] [[Wise Masters]]<br>[[File:Windblown.svg|20px]] [[Tattered Prince]]<br>[[Bloodbeard]]
 
| strength1 = [[Unsullied]] defenders
 
| strength1 = [[Unsullied]] defenders
| strength2 = [[Windblown]] company
+
| strength2 = Yunkish slave soldiers<br>2,000 Windblown (foot and horse)<br>3,000 [[Company of the Cat]]<br>Iron legions from [[New Ghis]]
[[Company of the Cat]]
 
legion from [[New Ghis]]
 
 
| casualties1 =  
 
| casualties1 =  
 
| casualties2 =  
 
| casualties2 =  
 
}}
 
}}
  
The '''Siege of Astapor''' takes place prior to the Yunkish march to [[Yunkai]] for provisions and fresh horses and thence to lay siege to [[Meereen]] the city ruled by Queen [[Daenerys Targaryen]].
+
The '''siege of Astapor'''{{ref|ADWD|23}} or '''fight beneath the walls of Astapor'''{{ref|ADWD|25}} takes place after the [[fall of Astapor]] to [[Daenerys Targaryen]] and before the [[siege of Meereen]] by [[Yunkai]].
  
 
==Prelude==
 
==Prelude==
The [[Yunkai]], in their fight against [[Daenerys Targaryen]], contract the [[Windblown]] [[mercenary]] company from [[Volantis]]; their first task was to travel east to [[Slaver's Bay]] and take over [[Astapor]] from the freedman salves.
+
After the [[fall of Astapor]], [[Daenerys Targaryen]] free the city's [[slaves]] and names a council to rule the city. [[Cleon]] slays the council after Daenerys departs, however, and proclaims himself king.{{ref|ASOS|71}}
  
 +
[[Yunkai]], one of the remaining [[Slaver Cities]], declares war on Astapor, and the Yunkai'i hire several [[sellsword]] companies, including the [[Long Lances]], the [[Company of the Cat]], and the [[Windblown]].{{ref|ADWD|6}} The Yunkish are also joined by two [[iron legions]] from [[New Ghis]], and Cleon is defeated in a [[battle at the Horns of Hazzat]].{{ref|ADWD|16}}
  
By the time the [[Windblown]] scramble from the ships that have brought them from Old [[Volantis]] they hear the news that King [[Cleon]] the Butcher King is dead, King [[Cleon the Second]] is also dead and the [[Astapor]]i are now ruled by [[King Cutthroat]] and [[Queen Whore]].  
+
The armies of the Yunkai'i descend on Astapor.{{ref|ADWD|16}} When Cleon commands the Astapori to march out against the Yunkai'i, the Butcher King is slain by his own soldiers. Another man declares himself [[Cleon the Second]], but his throat is cut eight days later. That man's killer claims the crown, as does the first Cleon's concubine. The supporters of the rival monarchs fight within Astapor.{{ref|ADWD|23}}
  
 +
Meanwhile, the forces of Yunkai and its allies besiege Astapor, devour the Astapori crops, and slaughter their herds. Inside, the Astapori starve; [[King Cutthroat]] and [[Queen Whore]] accuse each other of feasting on the flesh of the slain. Men and women gather in secret to draw lots and gorge upon the flesh of those who draw a black stone. The [[pyramid of Nakloz]] is despoiled and set aflame by those who claim that [[Kraznys mo Nakloz]] is to blame for all their woes. Others blame Daenerys but many still love her. There are rumors that King Cleon sent for Daenerys and she is coming at the head of a great host, with food for all. There are other rumors that she has been seen mounted on a [[dragon]] flying high above the camps of the Yunkai'i.{{ref|ADWD|30}}
  
Meanwhile the forces of [[Yunkai]] and its allies and [[sellsword]]s have besieged Astapor.  They devour the [[Astapor]]i crops and slaughter their herds.  Inside the [[Astapor]]i starve, eating cats and rats and leather, a horsehide was a feast.  [[King Cutthroat]] and [[Queen Whore]] accused each other of feasting on the flesh of the slain.  Men and women gathered in secret to draw lots and gorge upon the flesh of him who drew the black stone. 
+
Inside the desperate city the [[Green Grace (Astapor)|Green Grace]] has a vision that dead King Cleon will deliver Astapor from the Yunkai. The despairing Astapori heed this vision and attempt to break the siege, making the decision to have Cleon's corpse disinterred and strapped onto the back of a starving horse to lead Astapor's new and inferior [[Unsullied]] on a sortie outside the city's gates.{{Ref|ADWD|30}}
 
 
 
 
The pyramid of Nakloz was despoiled and set aflame by those who claimed that [[Kraznys mo Nakloz]] was to blame for all their woes. Others blamed Daenerys but more still loved her.  There were rumours that King [[Cleon]] had sent for [[Daenerys Targaryen]] and she was coming. Every day the citizens told each other that Daenerys was on her way, at the head of a great host, with food for all, there were other rumours that she had been seen mounted on a [[dragon]] flying high above the camps of the [[Yunkai]]’i.  Every day the citizens looked for her.
 
 
 
 
 
Inside the desperate city the Green Grace has a vision that dead King [[Cleon]] will deliver [[Astapor]] from the [[Yunkai]]. The despairing [[Astapor]]i heed this vision and attempt to break the siege, making the disastrous decision to have dead [[Cleon]]’s corpse disinterred and strapped onto the back of a starving horse to lead [[Astapor]]'s new and vastly inferior [[Unsullied]] on a sortie outside the city’s gates.  
 
 
 
 
 
Battle begins when the new [[Unsullied]] march out the city’s gates on the sortie against the forces of [[Yunkai]] and its allies and sellswords.  The sortie immediately proves to be a disaster, the new [[Unsullied]] march right into the iron teeth of a legion from [[New Ghis]] and are cut down to a man by the legion, and the [[sellsword]]s, who quickly join the battle and finish the massacre.
 
  
 
==Battle==
 
==Battle==
The battle began at dawn. It is told from [[Quentyn Martell]]'s point of view, as a recollection.
+
The fight beneath the walls of [[Astapor]] begins at dawn when the new [[Unsullied]] march out of the gates in a sortie against the forces of [[Yunkai]] and its allies and [[sellsword]]s. Some of the [[Windblown]] are asleep when the battle commences so they must quickly don their armor. Three hundred yards away Astapor's Unsullied pour through the gates and form up in ranks beneath Astapor's crumbling red brick walls. Having joined the mercenaries in disguise, Prince [[Quentyn Martell]], Ser [[Archibald Yronwood]], and Ser [[Gerris Drinkwater]] join the Windblown horse line as drums beat in the distance. Gerris points out to Quentyn the Butcher King, sitting tall upon an armored horse in a suit of [[copper]] scale that flashes brilliantly in the [[sun]].{{ref|ADWD|25}}
  
Some of the [[Windblown]] were asleep when the battle commenced so had to quickly don their armour. Three hundred yards away [[Astapor]]’s [[Unsullied]] were pouring through the gates and forming up in ranks beneath [[Astapor]]’s crumbling red brick walls. [[Quentyn Martell]], Ser [[Archibald Yronwood]] and Ser [[Gerris Drinkwater]] joined the Windblown horse line as drums beat in the distance.  Gerris pointed out the Butcher King to Quentyn, the Butcher King sat tall upon an armoured horse in a suit of copper scale that flashed brilliantly in the sun.
+
As the Yunkishmen run about in ''[[tokar]]s'' trying to arrange their half-trained slave soldiers, Unsullied spears crash through the siege lines. The Windblown and the [[Company of the Cat]] are ahorse in minutes, however, and they thunder down on the Astapori flanks. At the same time, an [[iron legion]] from [[New Ghis]] pushes through the Yunkish camp from the other side and meets the Unsullied spear to spear and shield to shield. The rest of the battle is butchery.  
  
 +
[[Caggo]] cuts the Butcher King down, fighting through the king's protectors on his monstrous warhorse and opening Cleon the Great from shoulder to hip with one blow of his curved [[Valyrian steel]] ''[[arakh]]''. Cleon's fall breaks the Astapori Unsullied; they throw down their spears and shields and run, only to find the gates of Astapor shut behind them. The Windblown ride down and slaughter the frightened eunuchs, slashing right and left through the Unsullied.{{ref|ADWD|25}}
  
As the Astapori advanced the Yunkishmen were still running about in fluttering [[tokar]]s trying to get their half-trained slave soldiers into some semblance of order as [[Unsullied]] spears came crashing through [[Windblown]] siege lines.  
+
After the defeat of their Unsullied outside the walls, the Astapori impale the Green Grace upon a stake in the [[Plaza of Punishment]] and leave her until she dies. In the [[pyramid of Ullhor]], survivors hold a great feast with [[poison]]ed wine in the night so they will die by the morning. The [[bloody flux]] then kills three men in every four.{{ref|ADWD|30}}
The [[Windblown]] and the [[Company of the Cat]] were ahorse in minutes and came thundering down on the Astapori flanks even as a legion from [[New Ghis]] pushed through the Yunkish camp from the other side and met the [[Unsullied]] spear to spear and shield to shield. 
 
The rest of the battle was butchery.  
 
  
 +
A mob of Astapori eventually slay the guards and open the main gate, allowing the legions to come pouring into Astapor, followed by the [[Yunkai]]'i and the [[sellsword]]s on their horses. [[Queen Whore]] is killed in the fighting, and [[King Cutthroat]] is torn apart by dogs in a [[fighting pit]].{{ref|ADWD|30}} The legions seal the doors of the [[Temple of the Graces]], which is full of sick Astapori, and set the building afire. The blaze spreads throughout Astapor, however.{{ref|ADWD|30}} There is no way out, for the Yunkai'i have sealed the broken gates to keep the dead and dying inside the city.{{ref|ADWD|25}}
  
It was [[Caggo]] who finally cut the Butcher King down, fighting through the King's protectors on his monstrous warhorse and opening [[Cleon]] the Great from shoulder to hip with one blow of his curved [[Valyrian]] [[arakh]], it is claimed that [[Cleon]]’s copper armour rent like silk, and from within came an awful stench and a hundred wriggling grave worms. [[Cleon]] had been dead after all - the desperate Astapori had pulled him from his tomb, clapped him into armour, and tied him onto a horse in the hopes of giving heart to their [[Unsullied]].  The act of cutting the Butcher King down earned [[Caggo]] the name ''Corpsekiller''.  
+
==Aftermath==
 +
The [[Tattered Prince]] takes the lion's share of the [[Windblown]]'s Astapori plunder.{{ref|ADWD|25}} [[Caggo]] becomes known as ''Corpsekiller'' for having cut down the already-dead [[Cleon]] in battle, although he does not care for the name. The allied hosts march north to [[Yunkai]] to take provisions before continuing on to [[Meereen]].{{ref|ADWD|25}}
  
 +
Hundreds or thousands of Astapori survivors eventually pour into the countryside, but many have the bloody flux. The Yunkai'i command their sellswords to hunt the survivors and drive them back to Astapor or north to Meereen to prevent the Astapori from going near the Yellow City of Yunkai.{{ref|ADWD|30}}
  
Dead [[Cleon]]’s fall broke the [[Unsullied]]; they threw down their spears and shields and ran, only to find the gates of [[Astapor]] shut behind them.  Slaughter followed, the [[Windblown]] rode down the frightened eunuchs, slashing right and left their wedge went through the [[Unsullied]] like a spear point.  
+
In Meereen, [[Daenerys Targaryen]] receives the news of the fall from three escaped Astapori, a brickmaker, a weaver, and a cobbler. From her terrace at the [[Great Pyramid]] she thinks the sky to the southwest in the direction of Astapor is smudged and hazy with smoke.{{Ref|ADWD|30}}
  
 +
==Quotes==
 +
{{quote|The [[Astapor|Red City]] was the closest thing to hell he ever hoped to know.{{ref|ADWD|25}}|thoughts of [[Quentyn Martell]]}}
  
When the [[Windblown]] burst out the other side, the [[Tattered Prince]] wheeled them round and led them through again. It was only on coming back that Quentyn got a good look at the faces beneath the spiked bronze caps and realised that most were not older than he – green boys screaming for their mothers, but he killed them all the same.  By the time he left the field his sword was running red with blood and his arm was so tired he could hardly lift it. 
+
{{Quote|We were dancing with cripples at [[Astapor]].{{ref|ADWD|25}}|[[Beans]] to [[Books]]}}
  
 +
{{quote|That was butchery, not battle.{{ref|ADWD|25}}|[[Denzo D'han]] to the [[Windblown]]}}
  
[[Quentyn Martell]] later thinks to himself that the fight beneath the walls of [[Astapor]] seemed real enough to him but according to [[Denzo D'han]], the veteran of a hundred battles, it was butchery, not battle.
+
{{quote|By the time he'd left the field, his sword was running red with blood and his arm was so tired he could hardly lift it.{{ref|ADWD|25}}|thoughts of [[Quentyn Martell]]}}
  
== Fall and Aftermath==
+
{{quote|Ash and bone is Astapor, and ash and bone its people.{{ref|ADWD|30}}|thoughts of [[Daenerys Targaryen]]}}
After the defeat of the [[Unsullied]] the Green Grace was impaled upon a stake in the Plaza of Punishment and left until she died.  In the pyramid of Ullhor, the survivors had a great feast that lasted half the night, and washed the last of their food down with poison wine so none need wake in the morning. 
 
  
 
+
==References==
Soon after came the sickness, the [[bloody flux]] that killed three men in every four, until healthy men slew the guards at the main gate.  The guards were torn apart and the gates thrown open.  The legions of [[New Ghis]] came pouring into [[Astapor]], followed by the [[Yunkai]]’i and the [[sellsword]]s on their horses.
+
{{references}}
 
 
 
 
When the city fell the butchery began. 
 
  
  
The Temple of [[Graces]] was full of the sick who had come to ask the gods to heal them.  The legions sealed the doors and set the temple ablaze with torches.  Within the hour fires were beginning in every corner of the city.  As they spread they joined with one another.  The streets were full of mobs, running this way and that to escape the flames, but there was no way out, the [[Yunkai]]’i held the gates.
+
{{Targaryen campaign in Slavers Bay}}
  
 +
[[Category:Astapor]]
 +
[[Category:Battles|Astapor, Siege of]]
 +
[[Category:Targaryen campaign in Slaver's Bay]]
 +
[[Category:Yunkai]]
  
Riding through the city [[Quentyn Martell]] saw a river chocked with corpses and the Green Grace in her torn robes impaled upon a stake and attended by a cloud of glistening flies.  Dying men staggered through the streets, bloody and befouled, children fought over half-cooked puppies.  There were flames and fires everywhere.  Flames whirling from brick pyramids larger than any castle Quentyn had ever seen, plums of greasy smoke, coiling upward like great black snakes.  The [[Yunkai]] sealed the broken gates to keep the dead and dying inside the city.
+
[[es:Asedio de Astapor]]
 
+
[[fr:Siège d'Astapor]]
 
 
Soon there is nothing left in [[Astapor]] but corpses.  What [[Astapor]]i that still survive creep out of their hidey-holes and pour out into the countryside, hundreds of them, maybe thousands, all starved and sick – many have the [[bloody flux]].  The [Yunkai]] command the sellswords to hunt them down and turn them, driving them back to [[Astapor]] or north to [[Meereen]] to prevent the [[Astapor]]i from going near the Yellow City. 
 
 
 
 
 
[[Daenerys Targaryen]] receives the news of the fall from three escaped [[Astapor]]i: a brickmaker, a weaver and a cobbler.  Afterwards she goes out to her terrace and it seems to her that the sky was darker to the southwest, smudged and hazy with the smoke of the Red City’s passing.
 
 
 
 
 
The [[Tattered Prince]] took the lion’s share of the [[Windblown]]'s [[Astapor]]i plunder.
 
 
 
 
 
[[Quentyn Martell]] reflects to himself that the sights he saw riding down the red brick streets of [[Astapor]] would haunt him forever and that the Red City was closest thing to hell he ever hoped to know.
 
 
 
==Quotes==
 
{{Quote|We were dancing with the cripples at Astapor}} [[Beans]], on the Siege of Astapor
 
 
 
 
 
==References and Notes==
 
{{references}}
 
 
 
[[Category:Battles|Astapor]]
 

Revision as of 22:00, 17 May 2020

Siege of Astapor
Conflict Targaryen campaign in Slaver's Bay
Date 300 AC
Place Astapor
Result Astapor sacked and burned
Migration of survivors
Combatants
Astapor YunkaiHarpie.png Yunkai: GhisHarpie.png New Ghis
Commanders
Cleon the Butcher King
King Cleon the Second
King Cutthroat
Queen Whore
YunkaiHarpie.png Wise Masters
Windblown.svg Tattered Prince
Bloodbeard
Strength
Unsullied defenders Yunkish slave soldiers
2,000 Windblown (foot and horse)
3,000 Company of the Cat
Iron legions from New Ghis

The siege of Astapor[1] or fight beneath the walls of Astapor[2] takes place after the fall of Astapor to Daenerys Targaryen and before the siege of Meereen by Yunkai.

Prelude

After the fall of Astapor, Daenerys Targaryen free the city's slaves and names a council to rule the city. Cleon slays the council after Daenerys departs, however, and proclaims himself king.[3]

Yunkai, one of the remaining Slaver Cities, declares war on Astapor, and the Yunkai'i hire several sellsword companies, including the Long Lances, the Company of the Cat, and the Windblown.[4] The Yunkish are also joined by two iron legions from New Ghis, and Cleon is defeated in a battle at the Horns of Hazzat.[5]

The armies of the Yunkai'i descend on Astapor.[5] When Cleon commands the Astapori to march out against the Yunkai'i, the Butcher King is slain by his own soldiers. Another man declares himself Cleon the Second, but his throat is cut eight days later. That man's killer claims the crown, as does the first Cleon's concubine. The supporters of the rival monarchs fight within Astapor.[1]

Meanwhile, the forces of Yunkai and its allies besiege Astapor, devour the Astapori crops, and slaughter their herds. Inside, the Astapori starve; King Cutthroat and Queen Whore accuse each other of feasting on the flesh of the slain. Men and women gather in secret to draw lots and gorge upon the flesh of those who draw a black stone. The pyramid of Nakloz is despoiled and set aflame by those who claim that Kraznys mo Nakloz is to blame for all their woes. Others blame Daenerys but many still love her. There are rumors that King Cleon sent for Daenerys and she is coming at the head of a great host, with food for all. There are other rumors that she has been seen mounted on a dragon flying high above the camps of the Yunkai'i.[6]

Inside the desperate city the Green Grace has a vision that dead King Cleon will deliver Astapor from the Yunkai. The despairing Astapori heed this vision and attempt to break the siege, making the decision to have Cleon's corpse disinterred and strapped onto the back of a starving horse to lead Astapor's new and inferior Unsullied on a sortie outside the city's gates.[6]

Battle

The fight beneath the walls of Astapor begins at dawn when the new Unsullied march out of the gates in a sortie against the forces of Yunkai and its allies and sellswords. Some of the Windblown are asleep when the battle commences so they must quickly don their armor. Three hundred yards away Astapor's Unsullied pour through the gates and form up in ranks beneath Astapor's crumbling red brick walls. Having joined the mercenaries in disguise, Prince Quentyn Martell, Ser Archibald Yronwood, and Ser Gerris Drinkwater join the Windblown horse line as drums beat in the distance. Gerris points out to Quentyn the Butcher King, sitting tall upon an armored horse in a suit of copper scale that flashes brilliantly in the sun.[2]

As the Yunkishmen run about in tokars trying to arrange their half-trained slave soldiers, Unsullied spears crash through the siege lines. The Windblown and the Company of the Cat are ahorse in minutes, however, and they thunder down on the Astapori flanks. At the same time, an iron legion from New Ghis pushes through the Yunkish camp from the other side and meets the Unsullied spear to spear and shield to shield. The rest of the battle is butchery.

Caggo cuts the Butcher King down, fighting through the king's protectors on his monstrous warhorse and opening Cleon the Great from shoulder to hip with one blow of his curved Valyrian steel arakh. Cleon's fall breaks the Astapori Unsullied; they throw down their spears and shields and run, only to find the gates of Astapor shut behind them. The Windblown ride down and slaughter the frightened eunuchs, slashing right and left through the Unsullied.[2]

After the defeat of their Unsullied outside the walls, the Astapori impale the Green Grace upon a stake in the Plaza of Punishment and leave her until she dies. In the pyramid of Ullhor, survivors hold a great feast with poisoned wine in the night so they will die by the morning. The bloody flux then kills three men in every four.[6]

A mob of Astapori eventually slay the guards and open the main gate, allowing the legions to come pouring into Astapor, followed by the Yunkai'i and the sellswords on their horses. Queen Whore is killed in the fighting, and King Cutthroat is torn apart by dogs in a fighting pit.[6] The legions seal the doors of the Temple of the Graces, which is full of sick Astapori, and set the building afire. The blaze spreads throughout Astapor, however.[6] There is no way out, for the Yunkai'i have sealed the broken gates to keep the dead and dying inside the city.[2]

Aftermath

The Tattered Prince takes the lion's share of the Windblown's Astapori plunder.[2] Caggo becomes known as Corpsekiller for having cut down the already-dead Cleon in battle, although he does not care for the name. The allied hosts march north to Yunkai to take provisions before continuing on to Meereen.[2]

Hundreds or thousands of Astapori survivors eventually pour into the countryside, but many have the bloody flux. The Yunkai'i command their sellswords to hunt the survivors and drive them back to Astapor or north to Meereen to prevent the Astapori from going near the Yellow City of Yunkai.[6]

In Meereen, Daenerys Targaryen receives the news of the fall from three escaped Astapori, a brickmaker, a weaver, and a cobbler. From her terrace at the Great Pyramid she thinks the sky to the southwest in the direction of Astapor is smudged and hazy with smoke.[6]

Quotes

The Red City was the closest thing to hell he ever hoped to know.[2]

—thoughts of Quentyn Martell

We were dancing with cripples at Astapor.[2]

Beans to Books

That was butchery, not battle.[2]

By the time he'd left the field, his sword was running red with blood and his arm was so tired he could hardly lift it.[2]

—thoughts of Quentyn Martell

Ash and bone is Astapor, and ash and bone its people.[6]

—thoughts of Daenerys Targaryen

References