Unaligned

Strong Belwas

House: no house; a freed eunuch, formerly a slave and champion of Meereen's fighting pits

A former pit-fighting champion serving as one of Daenerys Targaryen's personal guards, last confirmed recovering from a serious poisoning at Meereen.

Sold from Meereen's fighting pits to Qohor and from Qohor to Pentos, Strong Belwas ended in Illyrio Mopatis's household as, by his own account, the greatest pit fighter the slave cities had ever produced — a claim he supports by inviting anyone who doubts him to count his scars, since his peculiar custom in the pits was to let an opponent land a single cut before killing him, so the tally would always be plain to read. Illyrio sent him east to guard Daenerys Targaryen alongside an aged squire calling himself Arstan Whitebeard — in truth Ser Barristan Selmy in disguise — and Belwas has stood at Daenerys's side ever since through Astapor, Qarth, and the harder work of holding Meereen once it fell to her, boastful, easily bored, and considerably more dangerous than either quality suggests.

The arc of Strong Belwas

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

At the feast celebrating the reopening of Meereen's fighting pits, a bowl of honeyed locusts laid out in the royal box turns out to be poisoned — meant, by every reasonable guess, for Daenerys herself. Belwas, spotting the treat before anyone else does, devours the entire bowl unassisted; only his enormous size and constitution keep the poison from killing him outright, though it leaves him violently ill and unable to help when Drogon's sudden appearance turns the pit's celebration into a massacre.

Where the books leave Strong Belwas: Strong Belwas has guarded Daenerys since Qarth, and very nearly died in that service at a feast meant to celebrate peace — a fate his own appetite, rather than any particular courage, is what actually saved him from.

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

SourcesACOK · DaenerysASOS · DaenerysADWD · DaenerysTWOIAF · Beyond the Free Cities

Why did Strong Belwas survive the poisoned locusts?

His unusual size and strength are credited with saving him — he ate the entire poisoned bowl himself and fell violently ill, but the same dose that could have killed a smaller man left him alive.

How did Strong Belwas come to serve Daenerys Targaryen?

Illyrio Mopatis, the magister who owned him, sent him east to guard her alongside the disguised Barristan Selmy, and he has remained one of her personal guards ever since.