Benerro, High Priest of Volantis's great red temple, does not leave his own city, but he sends his disciples where his prophecies point them — and Moqorro, one of the order's more accomplished priests, took ship for the east on business the text describes only as urgent and confidential, crossing paths along the way with Tyrion Lannister and Jorah Mormont, in whom he claims to see something neither man is eager to hear explained. Whatever his original errand, it ends when the ship carrying him is wrecked or burned at sea, and Victarion Greyjoy's fleet finds him clinging to the wreckage — a red priest fished half-drowned from the water by ironborn who worship a very different god and want, at first, to kill him for the trouble of the rescue.
Moqorro
a priest of R'hllor
- House
- the red temple of Volantis; a disciple of the High Priest Benerro
- Titles
- priest of R'hllor
- Allegiance
- the red temple of Volantis, disciple of High Priest Benerro; now counsel to Victarion Greyjoy
- Seat
- none
- Culture
- Volantene
- Religion
- R'hllor, the Lord of Light
- Weapon
- none recorded
- Notable for
- A red priest rescued from a wrecked ship who now serves as healer and prophet aboard the Iron Fleet
A red priest of Volantis last confirmed serving as spiritual counsel and healer aboard the Iron Fleet, following his own ship's destruction at sea.
Appearances
In the novels
- A Dance with Dragons
Key events
- unknownRises to become one of the red temple of Volantis's more accomplished disciples under High Priest Benerro.
- 300 ACSent east by Benerro on an urgent, confidential errand, crossing paths with Tyrion Lannister and Jorah Mormont along the way.
- 300 ACHis ship is wrecked or burned at sea; Victarion Greyjoy's fleet finds him clinging to the wreckage and nearly kills him before relenting.
- 300 ACEarns a place aboard the Iron Fleet by treating the festering wound in Victarion's shield hand.
- 300 ACWarns Victarion that the horn Dragonbinder must be claimed with blood before it can be safely blown.
- 300 ACOffers visions of a coming war centered on Tyrion Lannister's 'big shadow,' his true purpose still unclear.
Reading the character
Moqorro is one of the clearest embodiments of R'hllor's ambiguous morality in the text — his prophecies and healing are genuinely useful to Victarion Greyjoy, and genuinely impossible to separate from whatever larger design the red priesthood may be advancing through him. He arrives by shipwreck rather than plan, which only heightens the sense that something beyond ordinary seafaring chance has put him at Victarion's side.
His warning about Dragonbinder's fatal cost is the kind of detail the red priests specialize in: true, useful, and delivered with just enough half-explained urgency that the reader can never be entirely sure whether Moqorro is protecting Victarion or simply steering him toward whatever fate R'hllor's fires have shown the priest is coming.
The arc of Moqorro
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.
In the timeline
How does Moqorro come to serve Victarion Greyjoy?
Victarion's fleet finds him clinging to wreckage after his own ship is destroyed at sea, and Moqorro earns his place aboard by treating the festering wound in Victarion's shield hand — becoming, in effect, the fleet's healer and prophet both.
What does Moqorro tell Victarion about the horn Dragonbinder?
That it must be claimed with blood before it can be safely blown — a warning that hints at the horn's lethal cost to anyone who sounds it without the proper right.