Spice King
Rey de las Especias
The Spice King was a merchant of Qarth and one of the Thirteen, the council that ruled the city. He was among the first to step out and meet Daenerys Targaryen and her khalasar when they reached the city gates, and later crossed paths with her again to talk about ships, dragons, and what she claimed was hers by birth.
His place in the story of Qarth ended up tangled with the ambitions of the other men on that council, men he shared a table with and did not trust.
Chapter 1
The gates of Qarth
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Daenerys TargaryenWhen Daenerys Targaryen's khalasar reached the gates of Qarth, they found the Thirteen lined up to either welcome them or turn them away. The Spice King stepped forward and introduced himself, sparing Dany the trouble of his real name by claiming it was too hard for foreigners to say.
He asked to see her dragons, openly doubting they existed, but Daenerys set entry into the city as her condition first, adding that refusing her would bring terrible consequences. It took Xaro Xhoan Daxos stepping in before she and her people were allowed through the gates.
Chapter 2
A merchant without dreams
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Once she had settled in the city, Daenerys met the Spice King in the courtyard of his own mansion, where he came down to greet her as the Mother of Dragons. She asked him for ships to cross the sea, and he turned her down flat.
He told her she had a gift for drama and asked what she really wanted; when Dany answered that she meant to claim the Seven Kingdoms as her birthright, he refused her again. He wasn't going to put his ships behind someone else's wishes and dreams, he said: he admired her passion, but he trusted logic, and preferred to keep his fleet in the spice trade.
Chapter 3
The betrayal of the Thirteen
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When Daenerys's dragons went missing, Xaro Xhoan Daxos called the Thirteen together at his mansion. The Spice King, furious that Dany had called him a thief, learned instead that Pyat Pree was behind it, having carried the hatchlings off to the House of the Undying in league with the King of Qarth.
When Xaro admitted he was the warlock's accomplice, the Spice King mocked him for thinking he could crown himself with the help of three dragons the size of cats. Xaro answered that empires had been built on less. That was when Pyat Pree used his sorcery to kill him and the rest of the council.