Jorah Mormont

**Ser Jorah Mormont** was an exiled Northern Lord, formerly of Bear Island, who served as a bodyguard and advisor to Daenerys Targaryen. He was Daenerys' most trusted lieutenant and her closest friend, despite being exposed as a spy for King Robert Baratheon, having redeemed himself by saving her life and helping to recover her from Dothraki captivity. He was killed by Drogon after trying to assassinate Daenerys in King's Landing.

## Characterisation

With his greyscale growing more severe and his options limited, Jorah's journey back to Pentos to see the Magister Illyrio Mopatis is a desperate gamble. The gamble ostensibly seems to pay off at a heavy price; his greyscale is cured by fire, but it costs the lives of several sellswords and leaves Jorah traumatised and uncertain of why he was reborn. His journey back to Daenerys at Meereen is a brutal one, as he encounters the awful consequences of Daenerys' annexation of Slavers Bay. The depravity and suffering leads him to question the righteousness of his queen; indeed, he begins to recognise that the second chance lended by his rebirth may allow him to redeem himself for enabling Daenerys' destabilising crusade. This means that, when he finally is reunited with his beloved, he does not know what he will do.

## Story

### Season Seven

Pentos, and the luxurious villa of **Illyrio Mopatis**. The man himself is led by a servant to a seat in the garden outside. Jorah waits and stares out across the Narrow Sea. Illyrio tells him that were his eyes stronger, he might be able to make out Dragonstone at the mouth of the Blackwater. Jorah says he'd rather wait until he could see his queen there, sat on its dragonglass throne.

They discuss Daenerys, and in particular Jorah's previous spying on her at Illyrio and Varys' behest. He reaffirms his loyalty and asks Illyrio who he would prefer to support for the crown of Westeros. He accepts his past misdeeds, and that he deserved his punishment for them. Jorah says that his life has taught him to quietly appreciate irony. One great twist in particular, he says, is that it was Illyrio who gave Daenerys the eggs that hatched the first dragons seen for centuries. The man who sought to control and even kill Daenerys, was the one who gave her an unstoppable power. Jorah then shows his greyscale to Illyrio.

“For a man who can bring dragons back into the world, curing disease must seem simple.”

Illyrio looks at the greyscale in some disgust and then, with some composure, replies “Simple, yes. Easy, not so much.”

He asks what Jorah would do to see Daenerys again.

"Anything," Jorah says.

A short while later, Jorah has gathered his things and is dressed in fresh clothes, atop a new horse. Beside him rides a dark Pentoshi named Raq'in, who leads a small detachment of guards and a caravan of goods. Illyrio tells Raq'in to return with good favour, and wishes Jorah luck. He adds that he'll need it on the road he now travels. (**7.1, Behind the Wall**)

In Essos, Jorah and Raq'in ride south-east. Conversation between the two men reveals that they are heading for Volantis. Jorah tiredly remarks that he's been there before.

Raq'in replies that the only way to tell that your life has any guidance is to be at the same point on land twice, but a different man each time. Raq'in asks if Jorah is a different man this time, but Jorah doesn't reply. Raq'in tells Jorah about a man he used to follow before he was employed by Illyrio. This man was a warlord in all but name, but that he called himself a priest of the Real God. This God appeared every day, often in many places at once, and gave man glory and meaning. It made them whole with purpose and elevated their very being, that they saw beauty in what was foul, and joy in true suffering. The Real God is spectacular and true and he gives a deserving man the bounties, and the lesser man the mercy of the grave. All about them are slaves and peasants and nobles brutalising the poor, but the Real God levels all and makes legends of the smallest, and forgets the goldest.

Jorah is not impressed and says that all religions sound the same this way, that he believes what he sees.

Raq'in says that his man he followed, Halden, saw the Real God, and then Raq'in says that he saw the Real God too.

“And who is the Real God?” Jorah asks. Raq'in smiles.

“War,” he says. “You know it's true, because you follow Him too. You have seen Him too. You see Him when you close your eyes, because He wears the skin of a a beautiful woman with a head made of silver and a golden crown.”

Jorah is shaken. They approach a stretch of land ravaged by fighting, with towns burning on the horizon and bones cluttering the roadside. These are the Disputed Lands, before the Orange Shore.

“They've all seen the Real God here,” Raq'in says. “We should bring their advice to the people of your country, Ser Jorah. To warn them of what's to come.”

The band rides on.

Jorah and Raq'in pass through the last of the Disputed Lands, the final sight is of a town under siege by some decidedly bored looking troops. On the road behind them, a number of women and children are nailed to posts. Jorah looks up at them from his horse and falters. His greyscale is visibly spreading and he's struggling to keep it covered. That night they stop and make camp off the road, and Jorah watches the flames in the distance from the battle. Singing metal carries in the breeze. Raq'in notices Jorah's gaze.

“Do you know whose work this is?” he asks, and Jorah says it doesn't matter.

“I suppose not,” Raq'in shrugs. “But all of this destruction we have passed by and you do not ask once. You might not care, but I do not think so. You know what this is. You know that when your Queen took Slaver's Bay, she put all of this into motion. Volantis vouched for these lands, but when Astapor fell, they moved their troops and needed more food, so turned to the Iron Bank of Braavos. The Volantenes towns and villages were forgotten or ignored, and so their enemies came unopposed. You see, Ser Jorah, what good Daenerys Stormborn has done here.”

Jorah denies this point and says that Daenerys' good actions should not be overshadowed by the evil of others, and that the change she brings is needed and possible. “I sold slaves once, and now I follow the breaker of chains,” he says. Raq'in laughs.

“One man is not a civilisation,” he says, “and an absolute ruler who burns alive those who challenge her right to rule is no messiah.”

Jorah grimaces and looks at his greyscale again. His forearms are now like stone. His eyes are red and veins protruding.

“Do not worry,” Raq'in tells him. “We'll be there soon.”

Later that night, Jorah sleeps and the party are attacked by bandits. A fight ensues. Jorah tries to partake, but can barely hold his sword and is unable to swing it. He is saved from a quick death by Raq'in, who skilfully slays five of the bandits, who retreat into the night. A couple of other members of the expedition are killed, but the caravan they protect is kept. Jorah falls to his knees. That day, Jorah is slumped over his horse as the pair reach sight of Volantis.

“Prepare yourself, Ser Jorah,” Raq'in says, “the worst is still to come.” (**7.2, Dragonstone**)

Voltantis, at night. Jorah is bedridden in a house by the ports. Curtains have been raised around the bed, but the windows are open and the sounds of evening drift in. He is stiff and pained and the liquid applied to his skin does little. Local men stand clear and talk about him in a foreign tongue, and cast him glances. Raq'in enters the room and comments that Jorah's condition has earned him some luxuries the road could not afford.

Jorah is not interested in luxury. He knows that whatever it is ahead of him, it could prove fatal. He says he understands what the men are talking about and why they shun him. Apparently he's one of “the defilers of Meereen.” Raq'in explains that the Volantenes enjoy talking about how the Second Sons are brutalising the city they now rule.

“Vicious lies,” Jorah mumbles.

“Perhaps,” Raq'in replies.

Jorah asks Raq'in for paper, a quill and the promise of a messenger. We see him barely managing to write his letter properly, so affected is his hand. Once done, he asks Raq'in what it is he lives for. Raq'in shrugs and says that the moment he stopped questioning life was the moment he began to enjoy it.

Later on, Raq'in leads a procession through the streets of Volantis. Jorah is kept in a covered litter. It is evening, but the streets are still busy. Their display gets plenty of attention from these locals. Some throw vegetables and even spit, but they are chased away by the guards. Roquroro drops back to speak to Jorah, offering his apologies for the dreadful treatment. Jorah asks Raq'in about his value. He understands that the caravan Illyrio sent was a payment to whoever they are here to see, but he asks why it was worth sending Jorah himself so far and with such protection just to cure him.

Raq'in laughs at this, then shakes his head sadly. “A great knight of the great Targaryen queen, and yet such a low opinion of himself.”

He explains that he's incredibly valuable, presuming he does as instructed. They arrive at their destination, the Red Temple on the Volantese seafront. The waves crash high and splash up into a haze. The evening sky becomes gold and pink and the setting sun blends into the watery horizon to redden the sea. Raq'in rides to the door and speaks down to the slave soldiers who guard it. After a short exchange, they part ways and the doors of the huge temple open.

The interior of the temple is dark, lit sparsely by braziers and torches that cast long shadows and make what can be seen red and orange. There are rows of pillars and barely visible murals and hieroglyphs on the walls and ceiling. A huge brazier altar sits atop a set of stairs at the far end, with a hole in the roof directly above it. Spray from the high tide is visible above. Priests in dark red robes wait for arrivals. Jorah is helped out of the litter, and takes a couple of steps to the altar before faltering and collapsing. A tall and dark priest looks down at him and sneers, shakes his head, and looks at Raq'in.

“You bring me an old sellsword cursed by Old Valyria.” Slave soldiers appear from the shadows.

“No, Benerro,” a familiar voice says. “He brings a weapon touched by destiny.”

Melisandre appears from behind the brazier. She puts a hand to Jorah's scaling face and lifts him up. Raq'in starts to pass on kind words from Illyrio, but the slave soldier seize him and his men. They are bound and beaten. Jorah growls and grimaces and seizes up again, almost falling.

“Do not mourn the great warriors, Ser Jorah,” Melisandre says. “They form the steps for you to ascend to your place in history. To be the legend you always ignored.”

Jorah laughs at this and looks about the temple. “Is this your God?” he asks. “All I see is cheap tricks. Are you an acting troup? Does this game really fool your crowds? I've seen dragons born of ancient rocks, and a young woman go unscathed from the flames. I've seen a girl destroy dynasties and empires. What have you seen but smoke?”

A silence falls. Benerro is unimpressed, and makes as much clear.

“Our reading of the flames was clear,” he says. “You'd have us set our course to oblivion for this man.”

“Not for him,” Melisandre says, “but for the man he arms, the prince that was promised. The man whose divinity I have seen, and who shall stand against the darkness. Tell me, Ser Jorah; what would you do to see your beloved Khaleesi once again?”

Jorah answers “anything.”

She smiles, then nods to the priests. The prisoners are marched into the pyre.

“Do not fear the light, young men,” Benerro tells them. “For the night is dark and full of terrors.”

“So is your future,” Raq'in says. “It's coming for all of you. If you're lucky, it'll be these same flames.”

Jorah is taken too, and all of them stand before the pyre. Anointing oils and thrown on them. Jorah groans and gasps and steam rises from his scaled skin.

“The Lord of Light gives,” Melisandre says, “and he takes from men what they can give. Your reward is to vanquish the flames that might stop the darkness.”

All the men but Jorah and pushed into the brazier. Raq'in glares at Melisandre and then spits at her.

“You *are* the darkness,” he says.

Benerro lights the pyre. The men scream as they burn. Melisandre turns to Jorah.

“You have two choices, Ser Jorah. These men dying can be the last thing you see before this rot reaches your mind. Or you can join them, so that you will see your queen again, and fulfil her destiny and yours.”

Jorah rises to his full height and shambles up the steps. The sea continues to crash outside. The screams die away. Jorah looks into the fire. There is the brief shape of a figure stabbing another figure in the heart with a glowing sword. He closes his eyes and steps in its flames. Melisandre, Benerro and the priests watch as he shouts and cries. (**7.3, The Marches**)

The Red Temple, Volantis. Slaves stand guard at the door. Nearby, children play and shout and laugh. One throws a stone that strikes the wall of the Temple. Nothing happens. Inside the Temple, Melisandre stands at the pyre. It is filled with ash, though shiny objects can be within it. Jewels worn or carried by Jaq'in and his men. Benerro approaches and concedes to Melisandre that, as far, her vision appears to be true.

“Remarkable things,” he says, looking into the ashes.

“The word can be spread,” he adds, “by every tongue we have between here and Lorath.”

Melisandre tells him it is too soon for that. The balance is delicate. She walks away into the quiet chambers beyond the shadow of the great temple. She enters one such room where robed and masked figures tend to someone in a bed. The wadding and cloths they use are severely bloodied and a groaning voice can be heard in the background. She dismisses the acolytes, who scuttle off. Melisandre approaches the modest bed and looks down at the man lying on. What we see are blackened limbs and blood and oil stained on sheets. It looks like the stench of death.

“The flames are kinder to some than others,” she says.

“Kind?” the man slurs.

“Kind,” Melisandre replies. “If the stories are to be believed, your beloved Queen walked out of the flames without a hair lost. She was kissed by the fire by her Targaryen blood. But Mormont blood, I see, is not so beloved of the flames. The Lord of Light saw much for you to give. Sins and curses to be repaid.”

The burnt man sobs and retches. Saliva dribbles down his exposed chin.

“Please,” he says. “Please.”

“You want death. You already died, Ser Jorah. You might remember or you might not, but you will rise again soon from your own ashes. The flames spared you, and we both know why.”

Jorah groans and looks away.

“You know why, Ser Jorah,” Melisandre says. “You know why.”

The Red Temple. Jorah lies on his bed. The burnt skin has dried and calcified so that he is a black shell of incinerated flesh. Balms are applied to this flesh, but he no longer groans or gasps at the touch. He stares at the ceiling. Shadows dance in it from the torch in the corner. They form the shape of a man stabbing a smaller figure in the heart. Both figures dissolve into nothing. Melisandre walks in. She tells her that it's time.

“I cannot move,” he says.

“You will soon enough,” Melisandre replies.

The slaves pick him up and carry him on a stretcher. They leave the chamber, but Jorah's gaze lingers on the flames. They go outside the temple and down to the sea. The tide is again wild. Benerro and the other priests are there, holding torches. There are a series of braziers along a sea wall. Melisandre leads the stretcher team to the edge of the water. He is set down and lies there. Melisandre takes a torch and stands over Jorah.

“The flames have given to you what was lost. Now show the Lord what you are to Him.”

Jorah blinks up at her.

“I cannot,” he wheezes.

“Your house words,” Melisandre replies. “Here I *lie*?”

Jorah tries to respond by his throat is dry and lips black.

“Again, Ser Jorah,” she says.

He looks down. His toe twitches. Then his fingers. He looks at Melisandre and she looks back, sultry. Jorah grimaces and then gasps and his arm moves. The black skin creaks and then cracks. He shouts in pain.

“What are the words, Ser Jorah?” Melisandre shouts.

Jorah jerks upwards, and his burnt skin breaks and slivers and crumbles off him to reveal dark red skin. His eyes are wide and teeth bared. He roars but comes to his feet. Then he stumbles forward, a naked and stricken form, and runs into the sea. He falls into the tide and disappears under. There is silence and darkness, and then hands seize him and pull him up and out. The priests have pulled him out. He turns to Melisandre. His skin is pink and all hair is gone, but his burns and greyscale have gone. He limps over to her uncertainly, as close as he can get, then looks down at her strongly.

“Here I stand,” he says.

Melisandre grins before she can stop herself. (**7.4, Castle Black**)

At an apartment in Volantis, Jorah is still recovering. His hair is coming in thinly and stubbly and his skin is pink and fresh. He struggles under the Essosi sun, and stays in the shade where he can. He is visited by Melisandre, who marvels at his recovery and reassures him that soon he will be stronger than ever before. This is just as well, she says. “You'll need that strength on the road to Meereen.”

It is her intention to help Jorah back there to meet with Queen Daenerys, and admits that his presence is exactly the vouchsafe that she and the Red Temple need to demonstrate their value as allies and partners.

“An alliance forged in fire,” she says. Jorah chuckles bitterly. He notes that Raq'in and the other sellswords probably won't be acknowledged as breakwaters in that deal, not in the same way that Jorah will be. He knows he has been used by Illyrio and by the Fire Priests, but he has to get back to Daenerys. She's the only thing that matters to him now, whether he be a new man or not.

“I hope that's true,” Melisandre replies.

Jorah says he'll be watching her and the other “fire worshippers” very closely on the road, and she retorts that he would be better served by watching the road very closely.

Jorah, Melisandre, Benerro and a contingent of slave soldiers set sail from Volantis, heading for Slaver's Bay via the Summer Sea. They pass the Fourteen Flames and the ruins of Old Valyria, which Jorah watches from the deck of the ship, keeping to the shade below their sails. Members of the crew eye him suspiciously. Melisandre joins him on deck and marvels at how such a powerful dynasty could result in a poisoned pile of ruins. Jorah says that he has been there himself, ferrying Tyrion back to his Queen and saving time – and evading pirates – by going through that ruin.

Melisandre is amused by this, and in observing the distance they are now keeping, Jorah is perhaps learning from his mistakes. Repeating a march down the same road is the best way to see where one has gone wrong.

Jorah asks what it is exactly that she thinks he's done so wrong. Melisandre's gaze falls back on the ruins.

Later, Jorah watches a naval battle raging at the mouth of Slaver's Bay. The anchor is dropped and the ship waits, though the battle goes on during the day and then – lit by flaming projectiles – at night. Benerro approaches and tells Jorah that they will need to dock at Old Ghis and continue on land, a highly dangerous endeavour but unavoidable.

They come ashore near the ruined old city, which Jorah discusses with Benerro, who explains that Ghis had five wars with Valyria and lost all of them, due to their dragons. “Such beasts make false gods of men,” he says, “or women.”

They are greeted by Ghiscari envoys, who lead them to a military camp inside the necropolis. The chief envoy, Hazar, explains to them that Slaver's Bay and Ghiscar is engulfed in a state of total war across multiple fronts and conducted by various belligerents. The bay itself is prey to foreign expansion – mostly from the Summer Islands – and to pirates, while the coastal cities are fighting amongst themselves, against freemen coalitions and against frequent Dothraki raids. The land is lawless, but the sea impassable.

A caravan is arranged that will take Jorah, Melisandre et al north, taking in stops at the city states. Melisandre is confident she will be well received where they go. (**7.5, The Rose Road**)

The caravan – now reinforced by a detachment of Ghiscari – reaches Astapor, which is under siege from the sea. Jorah witnesses a raid on the walls as they arrive, one that costs the lives of multiple serfs. The caravan is escorted into the city, and they are hurried past slums and damaged quarters where the dead are piled on street corners and carted away by workers wearing elaborate masks. Those living in these areas are pale, drawn and cough blood.

The caravan is brought to Yezzan, representative of the Masters of Astapor, who accepts chests of jewels and letters from Melisandre. Yezzan explains that he is the only Master keeping his truce with Queen Daenerys, citing the slitting of his peers' throat as sufficient motivation to honour the agreement. But now he has no support from Yunkai, who allow the deposed “savage king” Cleon to assault their walls while the Summer Islanders destroy their navy. He tells them that the lands ahead only grow more dangerous the closer one gets to the end of the Bay.

Melisandre requests further military aid in exchange for the support of the Red Temple, who will “take care” of the Summer Islanders and defeat King Cleon. Yezzan grants the military aid and swears to set “the red faith” as the official religion of Astapor once promises are made. Jorah watches on suspiciously but keeps his tongue.

The caravan continues along the Bay coast and see entire fishing villages burned to the ground, legions of serfs crucified in rows and camps left abandoned to the wind. Near Yunkai, Jorah witnesses another caravan of refugees trying to flee across the desert to avoid a Dothraki khalasar. They are inevitably outrun and then ravaged by the raiders, who kill children and begin to rape women. Jorah looks to Melisandre, but she is impassive. She asks Jorah whether he is seeing anything for the first time.

The caravan reaches Yunkai, where the walls are heavily guarded and the soldiers exhausted and malnourished. Dothraki wails are audible nearby, along with the thundering of hooves. That clamour grows faster and word spreads to run. The vanguard of the caravan fights off the Dothraki, but several are killed, and they only narrowly make it through the gates.

Afterwards, they move through the city and see that starvation has taken hold just as disease has at Astapor. People clamour for meagre rations at shabby and fly-infested markets, and skeletal soldiers patrol wretched promenades. Another meeting takes place, but not in a palace. Bouzaal is the arbiter from the Masters of the City, and he meets Melisandre at a barracks. Men hurry by and horns are blown as the Dothraki attack the gates again.

“It is only a matter of time,” Bouzaal says, “and the glorious Masters have sought shelter in their great homes.”

He explains that the terms of potential allies and the “madman of Meereen” have made the truce with Queen Daenerys impossible. The people are starving due to anti-Targaryen sanctions, forcing the hand of the Masters. Jorah asks about the “madman.”

Bouzaal only responds that he remembers Jorah from his last visit to Astapor. Freeing the slaves, he claims, has turned Slaver's Bay into a chaotic hellhole. An alliance with King Cleon was needed, but now Dothraki raiders cut off the supply routes. Pirates seize their naval trade.

Melisandre promises to bring Queen Daenerys and her dragons back to Slavers Bay, to re-open trade routes and to bond Astapor and Yunkai again, with New Ghis joined too.

Bouzaal is sceptical, but accepts food from Melisandre and swears the Masters will preach the words of R'hllor if terms are met. He urges them to move on, which they do. (**7.6, Home**)

The final stretch between Yunkai and Astapor is a strange and serene zone, picked over by carrion birds and littered with bones. As the caravan passes a burning village, a bloodied old man with dilated pupils stands waiting for them. When he sees Jorah, he grins and trembles and shouts “God is here, and He is war” in Valyrian.

Further along the road, they are stopped by a group of bandits pulling a carriage dressed as a dragon, built from scrap metal and fabric. A fire burns inside its open mouth. The bandits threaten to burn the caravan unless they hand over their food and fortune. Jorah tells them that he knows dragons when he sees them.

One of the bandits, half his face a mess of black burn scars, replies that nobody who hasn't faced the flames knows a dragon truly. Then he screams and leads a pointless attack that is quickly defeated. Jorah's hand trembles and he cannot answer when Melisandre asks what troubles him.

The caravan finally reaches Meereen, where the road is lined with heads on spikes and a thick stream of running down from the city walls. Ugly pillars of smoke rise from the lower tiers of the city. They go to the lower gate where Daenerys's army had previously arrived, only to find it open and unguarded. There are screams and shouts from within, and Jorah sees a young boy running towards them, only to be caught by a swordsman, who cuts him down but then flees Melisandre's soldiers. With the soldiers on high alert, the caravan proceeds through the gate.

The lower city is the hell-hole Bouzaal described, with bodies hung from windows and near constant clashes between bandits, desperate serfs and even Sons of the Harpy, or at least those wearing Harpy masks. Evidence of cannibalism is found at every corner. There is no sign of any king of life beyond fighting, nor any sense of purpose behind the violence.

The caravan is attacked and Jorah joins the fight. Melisandre sparks a series of fires through a ruined slum that scares away the gangs and gives them an escape route. However, a number of the escort are left for dead, their bodies pillaged and left to rot naked. Jorah leads the caravan to a set of barricades manned by the Second Sons, who let them in then help fight off the bandits.

One of the Second Sons – Rubio – recognises Jorah. His eyes are bloodshot, his limbs tremble and his movements are as sudden as his stare is still. He barely seems cognizant, but when prompted says he will bring them to the “Broken Swordsman.”

Rubio leads the caravan into the inner sanctum of Meereen, the Pyramids. These have been turned into houses of debauchery and excess, filled with plundered jewels and gold and used as venues for orgies that spill out into the verandas, even those where corpses decompose. Second Sons stumble around the marble squares drunkenly, and as Jorah watches, one of them falls off the edge of a pyramid and plummets to the slums below, screaming as he goes. Other warriors laugh, and Rubio suggests that “a free family will eat well tonight.”

They reach the top of the Great Pyramid, and are made to wait in what was once the throne room. It is now a trophy room filled with skulls, animal skeletons and piles of damaged weapons and pieces of armour. Jorah is on the verge of panic and describes the city as “a monument to evil.”

Melisandre is not moved, prompting Jorah's incredulity. “How can you see what is front of us and not despair?”

She shrugs, and asks, again, what he's seeing that is new to him. She then adds, “and is this not a means to an end?”

They are interrupted by the slouching, haggard entrance of Daario Neharis, his beard wild and unkempt and his eyes tired yet wide. He greets Jorah with a false grin and a rough kiss and asks what “the old knight” makes of his empire.

Jorah tries to read him the riot act, but Daario is unapologetic. What else was a warrior to do when handed the keys to the city? Jorah's head drops as Daario carefully explains his heartbreak, the emptiness left him, and the urges he's felt since he was a slave child and soldier that no longer have any disincentive.

Jorah asks if Daario is saying that Daenerys is responsible for what Slavers Bay has become, but the tiredness in his voice makes it sound more like a statement, which Melisandre points out. Melisandre whispers to Rubio in the shadows. Daario then invokes Halden's War God as he declares himself the transcendent man, become divine through violence, but is cut off when Rubio stabs him to death.

After wondering aloud what a man is who kills a god, Rubio turns to Melisandre and asks that they negotiate a deal.

Some time later, Jorah stands looking out over Meereen as evening darkens. The city walls crumble, and the giant harpy, once pulled down by the Unsullied, has been raised in the middle of a ruined building where bandits mill. Melisandre approaches and, when challenged by Jorah, she admits that she always knew Daenerys had left Essos.

“By now,” she says, “your Queen has set foot back on Westeros for the first time since she was an infant.”

Jorah notes that she has likely never touched Westerosi ground before, since she was too young to have been set down.

“You miss her,” Melisandre says. Jorah pauses.

“Perhaps too much,” he replies. He notes that Melisandre has done well to forge deals throughout Slaver's Bay, to promulgate her faith, and to bring something valuable to a new leader.

She admits that Jorah was vital to this, since his presence gave her the authority to speak on behalf of Daenerys. He asks if that is the only reason she brought him along this road, but Melisandre only scoffs. The servants of R'hllor will take control of Slavers Bay on behalf of Daenerys, an obvious ally and agent of her god. Benerro will oversee this, while Melisandre and Jorah will sail to Westeros with haste and finally meet Daenerys.

Jorah baldly states that he is afraid that he will find the same damage in Westeros as he's found in Slavers Bay. Melisandre asks what he will do if this fear proves founded, and Jorah admits that he doesn't know. He asks why he survived Melisandre's fire.

“Only the Lord of Light knows,” she says.

A troubled and tired Jorah stands aboard the bow of another ship as it leaves Meereen and heads into Slavers Bay. Behind him, a battle rages in the city, and one of the pyramids collapses into a vast cloud of dust. Melisandre approaches Jorah and tells him to find cheer. “You're finally returning home,” she says.

He is not consoled. (**7.8, Shipbreaker Bay**)

Jorah and Melisandre are aboard their Westeros-bound ship and watch over the bow as they pass the city of Lys, on the edge of an island formation. It is a beautiful sight, both the land and the lights and structures. The sun sets pink and orange and casts the ancient city as a paradise, one which Jorah visibly appreciates. Melisandre asks if he knows who built Lys, and Jorah nods.

"The dragonlords of Valyria," he says. "It was a sanctuary from their own conquests, where they could rest and find peace they'd made impossible anywhere else. Or that the world had made impossible, by making them so powerful."

He shudders and shakes his head, and notes aloud that he never had a chance to visit it himself. It is one of many regrets he has now. There have been few things of true beauty in his life, and all of them have been spoiled. His family ruined by his dishonour. His wife ruined by her own greed. His glories in war ruined by his exile. His travels in Essos ruined by the violence and misery they contributed to.

“And your Queen?” Melisandre asks.

Jorah doesn't answer, and Melisandre notes that Jorah always knew what was right, but chose to ignore that while doing the things he wanted to do, or at least the things he wanted to believe were for the best. His wife, she notes, brought out the worst in him because he loved her. Look what that made him; "a slaver, an exile and a mercenary." The Lord of Light has brought him back to life from the fire, something she says she saw in her own flames. She doesn't know why, but presumes it must be that he can redeem himself.

Jorah asks if she has planned everything they've gone through.

"I simply obeyed my god," she says, "just as you do." (**7.9, Defender of the Vale**)

The ship arrives on the Blackwater, after the siege has finished. Jorah immediately sees the destruction to the city and the death caused and is visibly heartbroken. At port, they are challenged by Tyrell soldiers, but Melisandre talks them into a meeting with the Queen by stating that she is expecting them, the Lady Melisandre and Ser Jorah Mormont. There is a long wait before word comes giving them the all clear.

She and Jorah are escorted to Daenerys, who is with Grey Worm and Tyrion. Daenerys is delighted to see Jorah, but retains her composure as Melisandre introduces herself. While she is talking, Tyrion nods and smiles to Jorah, who can barely summon the nerve to reply in kind. Melisandre congratulations Daenerys on her victory and explains that she and her fellow followers of R'hllor have set about restoring order in Slavers Bay. They will be a solid jewel in her empire with the slightest effort on her part. The Red Temple is at her disposal, Melisandre says, and she then hints that Daenerys is Azor Ahai and thus the messiah they have been looking for.

Daenerys is grateful but guarded, and gives Melisandre and her delegation quarters and board. They will discuss an alliance and the particulars in the morning. They are dismissed, leaving Daenerys, Jorah and Tyrion. Daenerys then dismisses Tyrion, who gives Jorah his best before leaving.

Alone, Daenerys cries with joy and embraces Jorah, astonished that he is healed and overwhelmed that he has returned. She excitedly tells him about everything, about her victories and her progress but also of the betrayals, setbacks and losses. She leads him out of the Red Keep to see King's Landing properly.

From their vantage point, Jorah sees half the city aflame or ruined, stirring Jorah's visible pain. Daenerys is proud, however, beaming at the sight. She is scared, tired and slightly unstable, moving through her emotions almost at random. She needs to find Rhaegal and Viserion, and wonders where they might go. She has to continue her conquests and unite her kingdom, but has no idea how to balance so many demands and wishes.

Jorah calms her down and talks frankly about Slavers Bay, from the madness of Daario to the suffering of the Ghiscari. Daenerys doesn't care, dismissing Meereen and Slavers Bay as her past, not her future.

"I cannot look back," she says. "If I look back, I am lost."

This sparks an argument as Jorah lays down clearly just how destructive and irredeemable their path has proved to be. He can't follow that path any longer, and so pleads with her to cut her losses and end the trail. They can buy land and a house in Lys and live there in peace, once they've found her dragons.

Daenerys is both moved and hurt by this, briefly looking tempted and then confused but then angry. She accuses him of treachery, another betrayal and the worst one yet. She calls for the guards and, seeing his chance go, Jorah unsheathes his sword and swings for her. She falls and is badly cut. He moves to finish her but hesitates and weeps. Her screams rouse Drogon, who emerges from behind the Red Keep and spreads his wings, growling furiously. Jorah watches him approach in terror, then sees Daenerys.

“Forgive me, Khaleesi,” he says.

Then he swings again, but Drogon pounces and incinerates Jorah, the fire so intense and so long that it breaks Jorah down to an ash pillar that then collapses and scatters into dust. The guards finally arrive, and Drogon burns them too. A heartbroken Daenerys wails and runs her hands through the ash. Drogon moves over to her, cradling her with his wing. Then, barely able to stand, she clambers on to his back and they fly away into the night sky. (**7.10, Lord of Light**)