Dothraki

The Dothraki were a race of nomadic horse-mounted warriors in Essos. They inhabited the vast central plains of Essos, then known as the Dothraki Sea. Their bond with horses was such that Dothraki are said to be born, fight, and die in the saddle.

Dothraki warriors were commonly referred to as horselords. They were also often (and half-derisively) called Dothraki screamers, because of their fierce war cries as they charge into battle and raids.

Since the Century of Blood, the Dothraki have been all but unheard of in Essos.

## Appearance

Dothraki typically had a copper-toned skin and dark almond eyes, black hair, and black eyes. Dothraki men wore their hair in long braids, oiled or greased with fat from the rendering pits. Dothraki warriors carried small bells in their braids, which rang softly when they move. They were only allowed to braid their hair after they have won a victory. A bell was added to their braid after each victory; The braid was only cut when a Dothraki warrior is defeated in battle, an act through which he let the world know his shame. Only few men died with their braids never having been cut off.

Both men and women might wear painted leather vests over bare chests and horsehair leggings cinched by bronze medallion belts, although wealthier Dothraki might also have had silver and golden medallions on their belts. Others may have worn sandsilk trousers. For footwear Dothraki wore leather boots, leather sandals which lace up to the knee, or sandals of woven grass.

The Dothraki cleaned themselves using sand to scrub them.

## Culture and Religion

### Khalasars

Dothraki lived in hordes called khalasars. Their chieftains were called khals, while the wife of a khal was known as a khaleesi. Both had their personal guard; A khal was guarded and accompanied in his daily routine by his kos, also called bloodriders. These men fulfilled the roles of guards, brothers, shadows, and friends to the khal in ways that run deeper than the oath of the Kingsguard to the king on the Iron Throne. Ancient traditions proclaimed that when a *khal* dies, his bloodriders die with him. Should the *khal* die in battle, the bloodriders lived only long enough to avenge him and then died shortly after. The *khal* and his bloodriders commonly refer to each other as "blood of my blood". Each Ko has his own khas. The khaleesi was guarded by the young men in her own khas. A khal’s heir was named the khalakka. Another important position is that of the *jaqqa rhan*, the mercy men, who moved among the corpses in battle fields, cutting off the heads of the death and dying. When the khalasar was on the move, scouts range ahead while outriders guard the flanks.

Khalasars kept two sorts of healers. The first were barren women who practice their healing with herbs, potions, and spells, and eunuch slaves, who use knives, needles, and fire.

### Social status

The Dothraki considered riding a horse as a basic marker of social status. A *khal* who cannot ride cannot rule. Custom decrees that the *khaleesi* must ride a mount worthy of her place by the side of the *khal*. Pregnant women were expected to ride on horseback almost up to the moment of birth. Doing anything else might be considered weak, however some women gave birth riding on a cart. A cart is of less prestige, and is further meant for eunuchs, cripples, the very young, and the very old. A man who does not ride was considered the lowest of the low. He was not even seen as a man, and considered to be without honour or pride.

Although some are respected, women had a lower social status than men. For example, the bloodriders of a khal would not allow themselves to be commanded by his khaleesi. Nonetheless, even the mightiest khal would bow to the wisdom and authority of the *dosh khaleen*, the widowed khaleesi’s who resided at Vaes Dothrak.

Most of all, the Dothraki followed strength. Should a khal die without an adult heir, his kos (bloodriders) would fight among themselves to take the place of the fallen khal. In the case that the khal does have a child khalakka (heir), the khalakka would be killed so as not to be a rival.

### Religion

The Dothraki worshipped a horse god. The Dothraki believed that, when someone dies, the horse god parts the grass and claims the deceased for his starry khalasar, so the deceased could ride the nightlands. The Dothraki further believed that the moon is a goddess, and that she was the wife to the sun.

### Language

The Dothraki had their own language, known to be a rough, harsh language. They use descriptive names, e.g. “Rhaesh Andahli”, meaning “the land of the Andals”, for Westeros, or the term “Milk Men” for the Qartheen, pointing towards their paleness.

### Economy

The Dothraki neither bought nor sold and did not really comprehend it. Buying and selling was considered to be unmanly. Instead, the Dothraki use giving and receiving gifts as a common way for doing trade. However, giving a gift in return might not always occur immediately upon receiving a gift. This was exemplified by the Dothraki "selling" their captives on occasion to the Slaver Cities. They called these slaves "gifts", and as payment received gifts from the slavers.

Trade was allowed in the sacred city Vaes Dothrak, where, by the leave of the *dosh khaleen*, merchants and traders gathered to exchange goods and gold, though they mostly traded with each other, and only little with the Dothraki themselves. Two markets existed in Vaes Dothrak; On the Western Market merchants from the Free Cities came to trade, while on the Eastern Market traders from Yi Ti, Asshai, the Shadow Lands, and the lands from beside the Jade Sea placed their caravans. The merchants are tolerated provided that they do not break the peace of the city, do not profane the sacred mountain or lake, and honour the *dosh khaleen* with the traditional gifts of salt, silver, and seed.

### Culinary customs

The Dothraki ate horseflesh, which they prefer to beef and pork, believing horseflesh makes a man strong. They also had black sausages, blood pies and sweetgrass stews, as well as drinking a mildly alcoholic beverage derived from fermented mare's milk. They also drunk pepper beer.

### Structures

The Dothraki did not build. A thousand years before the destruction of Vaes Dothrak, to build a house they would dig a hole in the earth and raise a grass roof over it. They could raise 'palaces' of woven grass. In Vaes Dothrak, all buildings had been made by the slaves serving there. Since the slaves all originate from different lands, they would often build after the fashion of their own people. As a result, Vaes Dothrak consisted of many different types of buildings, including carved stone pavilions, manses of woven grass as large as castles, rickety wooden towers, stepped pyramids faced with marble, and log halls open to the sky.

### Vaes Dothrak

The sacred city of Vaes Dothrak was the only city the Dothraki had. Here, only the *dosh khaleen* reside permanently, together with their slaves and servants. Regardless, the city was large enough to host all khalasars at one time, as the *dosh khaleen* had prophesised that one day all Dothraki would return to the city at the same time. Within the city, the khalasars were to set their enmities aside. It is death to draw a blade in Vaes Dothrak or to shed a free man’s blood, – although this does not entirely prevent murders within the city.

Vaes Dothrak was located in the shadow of the Mother of Mountains, a mountain which only Dothraki men were allowed to ascend. Residing at the edge of the city is the Womb of the World, a large lake from where, the Dothraki believed the first men emerged a thousand years ago upon the back of the first horse.

### Marriage, sexual relations, and childbirth

Among the Dothraki, weddings occurred beneath the open sky. The ceremony might last the entire day, during which the guest's feast, drink, dance, and fight. During the wedding feast, women dance to drums, while warriors took them before the watching khalasar freely. If two men take the same woman, they fought to the death. A wedding without at least three deaths was seen as a dull affair. During the feast, each dish was offered first to the newlywed pair; All food they refuse was offered to the rest of the participants at the wedding feast. Towards the end of the ceremony, the bride was presented with her bride gifts. As is tradition, a khaleesi would be presented with a gift from each of her husband’s bloodriders – a whip, a bow, and an *arakh*– which she was to decline and give to her husband instead. Following the receiving of the gifts, the khal and khaleesi would consummate their marriage. After the wedding, the khal is to present his new bride to the *dosh khaleen* at Vaes Dothrak.

### Death

The Dothraki believed that the stars in the sky are horses made of fire, and that the starry sky was a great herd of fiery horses racing across the sky. The Dothraki further believed that these horses of fire are ridden by deceased Dothraki, and that the more fiercely a person burned in life, the brighter said person’s star will be in death, causing maesters to say that the Dothraki believe the stars are the spirits of the valiant dead. When a horselord died, a horse is slain so he could mount it in death. The bodies of deceased Dothraki were next burned beneath the open sky. However, when a child died at an age at which he is too young to ride, the child would not ride in the night lands but instead was reborn to begin life anew.

A khal was given a funeral pyre after he dies. A great square is made from wood, in the middle of which the khal’s slain horse is positioned. Over the horse, the platform was constructed on which the khal will be placed. The wood of the platform was laid east to west, from sunrise to sunset. The platform consisted of three levels. The wood of the third of these levels were positioned from north to south. On this level the body of the khal was placed. The khal was placed upon the pyre with his head in the direction of the Mother of Mountains. His treasures were positioned around him. The pyre was only lit after the first star has been seen in the sky.

The Dothraki believed it is bad luck to touch the body of a dead man whom they have not personally killed themselves.

### Military

The Dothraki were nomadic warriors; they rode better than any Westerosi knight. The Dothraki fought from horseback, with warriors wielding *arakh*s, curved bows, and whips. The bows the Dothraki used outrange the bows used in the Seven Kingdoms.

The Dothraki rode on small, flat saddles with short stirrups.

### Miscellaneous beliefs and superstitions

The Dothraki hated and feared the sea and the ships in it, as they mistrust all water their horses did not drink. They referred to the sea as “the poison water" and the “black salt sea”.

Dothraki believed that anything of importance in a man's life must take place beneath the open sky.

The Dothraki believed that someday ghost grass will cover the world, and then all life will end.

Bloodmagic is forbidden amongst the Dothraki. The Dothraki considered a maegi to be a woman who lays with demons and practices the blackest of sorceries. A Maegi is considered to be a vile thing, evil and soulless.

When the gods are gone from a certain place, according to the Dothraki, evil ghosts feast by night. The Dothraki felt it best to shun such places.

## Recent History

Vaes Dothrak, known as Vaes Annakholo (meaning the City of Conclusion) remains silent. The Great Grass Sea is the realm of the Sarnori and the Ghiscari, not the horselords that could have risen so high and spread so far. None have seen a Dothraki khalasar numbering more than one thousand riders in over three hundred years, although many living where they once roamed regard the horselords as little more than legends of old. It is said that some few still reside in the northern aspect of the Bone Mountains, where thin-grass pastures just about sustain their steeds.

The Century of Blood started with the rise of the horselords, and ended with their near extinction from the Known World.