This Long-Forgotten Game of Thrones Detail May Be the Key to Daenerys Targaryen’s Victory

Robert: I do know this: If the Targaryen girl convinces her horselord husband to invade and the Dothraki horde crosses the Narrow Sea…We won’t be able to stop them.

Cersei: The Dothraki don’t sail. Every child knows that. They don’t have discipline, they don’t have armor, they don’t have siege weapons.

Robert: It’s a neat little trick you do. You move your lips and your father’s voice comes out.

Cersei: Is my father wrong?

Robert: Let’s say Viserys Targaryen lands with 40,000 Dothraki screamers at his back. We hole up in our castles. A wise move. Only a fool would meet the Dothraki in an open field. They leave us in our castles. They go from town to town, looting and burning, killing every man who can’t hide behind a stone wall, stealing all our crops and livestock, enslaving all our women and children. How long do the people of the Seven Kingdoms stand behind their absentee king, their cowardly king hiding behind high walls? When do the people decide that Viserys Targaryen is the rightful monarch after all?

Cersei: We still outnumber them.

Robert: Which is the bigger number, five or one?

Cersei: Five.

Robert: [holds up his left fingers] Five…[clutches his right fist]…One. One army, a real army, united behind one leader with one purpose. Our purpose died with the Mad King.