Unaligned

Skahaz mo Kandaq

the Shavepate

House: a Ghiscari noble of Meereen, of the pyramid of Kandaq

A Meereenese noble who commands the Brazen Beasts, the city's new watch, and has served as one of Queen Daenerys Targaryen's more forceful councilors since the city's fall.

Ghiscari nobility traditionally style their hair into elaborate, fanciful shapes, a fashion Skahaz mo Kandaq abandoned entirely the day he threw his lot in with Daenerys Targaryen, shaving his head bare to mark, as plainly as a man can, that he has abandoned old Meereen along with its hairstyles. Enough of his kin and followers did the same to earn the whole faction a nickname — the shavepates — and Skahaz has spent his position as the Shavepate building and commanding the Brazen Beasts, a new city watch of freedmen and shavepates who patrol Meereen behind brass masks shaped like animal faces, answerable to the queen rather than to any of the Great Masters they were recruited, in no small part, to police.

The arc of Skahaz mo Kandaq

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

Skahaz pushes Daenerys toward collective punishment of Meereen's Great Masters for the Sons of the Harpy's killings, a harsher line than Reznak mo Reznak's, and names King Hizdahr outright as the Harpy behind them once the poisoned locusts nearly kill the queen. Hizdahr's own ascension costs Skahaz his command of the Brazen Beasts, handed instead to the king's cousin Marghaz zo Loraq, and the honorless title of Warden of the River offered in its place — an offer Skahaz declines, retiring to his own pyramid rather than accept the demotion. When Daenerys vanishes on Drogon, it is Skahaz, working alongside Barristan Selmy, who moves to secure the city in her absence, taking both Hizdahr and Reznak into custody until their loyalties can be proven one way or the other.

Where the books leave Skahaz mo Kandaq: Skahaz mo Kandaq's shaved head, once a private rebellion against Ghiscari fashion, became the sigil of a movement — and his ruthless counsel against Meereen's Great Masters has cost him Daenerys's favor as often as it has served her.

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

SourcesADWD · DaenerysADWD · The Queen's HandTWOIAF · Beyond the Free Cities

Why is Skahaz mo Kandaq called the Shavepate?

He shaves his head to reject the elaborate hairstyles favored by Meereen's Ghiscari nobility, a gesture of loyalty to Daenerys's new order that his followers — the shavepates — have adopted alongside him.

Does Skahaz mo Kandaq lose command of the Brazen Beasts?

Yes — after Daenerys marries Hizdahr zo Loraq, the new king replaces him as commander with his own cousin, Marghaz zo Loraq, offering Skahaz a lesser post he declines to accept.