House Targaryen

Rakharo

House: Dothraki; bloodrider sworn to Daenerys Targaryen after the death of Khal Drogo

Last confirmed riding at Daenerys Targaryen's command, helping pacify the countryside around Meereen and, more recently, searching for the queen herself after her disappearance aboard Drogon.

Drogo's death left his khalasar scattered and his widow with almost nothing, but three of his riders swore themselves to Daenerys as her bloodriders rather than abandon a khaleesi the rest of the Dothraki sea had already written off — Rakharo among them, alongside Aggo and Jhogo. Sent to scout the wasteland south of Vaes Tolorro during the khalasar's crossing of the Red Waste, Rakharo rode through the immense fossilized jaws of a long-dead dragon and returned swearing the encounter had actually happened, a claim the rest of the khalasar received with the particular skepticism Dothraki reserve for stories that make the teller sound braver than anyone can verify.

The arc of Rakharo

This carries the character’s road through the published novels. Read on only if you do not fear to know.

After Meereen's fall, Rakharo, Aggo, and Jhogo take Daenerys's khalasar out into the hinterlands to break the slavers' hold on the countryside and bring in badly needed crops — a task Ser Barristan Selmy reports they carry out with real success. When Daenerys vanishes on Drogon's back after the massacre at Daznak's Pit, Rakharo leads one of the search parties sent out across the Dothraki sea to find her, riding hard with picked men and spare horses into country that offers no guarantee she is even still alive to be found.

Where the books leave Rakharo: Rakharo remains among Daenerys's most trusted riders through the long march to Meereen and the harder work of holding it, one of three men whose loyalty the queen has never had cause to question in a city otherwise thick with people she cannot fully trust.

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.

In the timeline

SourcesAGOT · DaenerysACOK · DaenerysADWD · DaenerysTWOIAF · The Dothraki

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Does Rakharo die in the books?

No — his gruesome beheading is a television-only invention. In the novels, Rakharo survives through A Dance with Dragons and is still riding in Daenerys Targaryen's service, most recently leading a search party for the missing queen.

What is Rakharo's role in Daenerys's khalasar?

He is one of her three bloodriders, sworn to her after Khal Drogo's death, and has since helped pacify Meereen's hinterlands and hunt for the queen after her disappearance.