Command of a khalasar in the Dothraki sea is not inherited so much as continuously reconquered, and Drogo held his — some forty thousand riders strong, among the largest the grass has seen in a generation — by being better at war than every rival who tested him. Illyrio Mopatis brokered his marriage to Daenerys Targaryen as payment for Dothraki support against the Iron Throne, a transaction Drogo treated with roughly the interest a khal gives any foreign bride, until, by the text's own account, something like genuine devotion grew between them despite neither speaking the other's tongue at the start. He fights bare-chested with a curved arakh, wears his hair in an unbraided warrior's queue only a defeat can cut short, and is escorted always by three sworn bloodriders — Qotho, Haggo, and Cohollo — whose deaths follow hard upon his own.
Khal Drogo
- Life
- 298 AC, near Vaes Dothrak, of a poisoned wound and the price of a failed blood-magic ritual
- House
- Dothraki; khal of his own khalasar
A Dothraki khal of considerable renown, last reported gravely wounded and in failing health after a duel fought in defense of his khaleesi's honor.
The arc of Khal Drogo
This carries the character’s road through the published novels. Read on only if you do not fear to know.
These partings name deaths, endings, and roads not yet ridden in the books. Unveil them only if both roads are known to you — or if you do not fear to know.
How does Khal Drogo die?
A festering wound from a duel with Mago, worsened by Mirri Maz Duur's tending, leaves him in a wasting fever; a desperate blood-magic ritual meant to save him instead leaves him alive but mindless, and Daenerys ends his suffering herself.
How many riders did Khal Drogo command?
His khalasar numbered roughly forty thousand at its height — one of the largest riding under a single khal in living Dothraki memory.