Warning: This post contains spoilers for Game of Thrones.
After Daenerys Targaryen lost a significant portion of her armada to Euron Greyjoy’s fleet in season 7, it was revealed that the Unsullied victory at Casterly Rock was mostly meaningless.
However — as pointed out by Reddit user pnr32 — a long-forgotten conversation between Cersei Lannister and Robert Baratheon may be the key to turning Dany’s luck around. The season one conversation centered around the possibility that Daenerys would convince Khal Drogo to cross the Narrow Sea with his Dothraki horde and make a play for the Iron Throne.
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.
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Drogo may have never made it to Westeros, but Daenerys has more Dothraki backing her than the Khal ever did. Dany has made it clear she doesn’t wish to rule over the ashes of the Seven Kingdoms, meaning it’s unlikely she’ll release her horde on the realm’s innocent people. However, we know from season seven trailers that the Lannisters will eventually meet the Dothraki in battle — while Cersei presumably stays safely behind the walls of the Red Keep.
This may end up being the perfect combination of factors to turn the tide of war in favor of Daenerys. Especially considering she also has those three dragons.
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Write to Megan McCluskey at megan.mccluskey@time.com