Game of Thrones Fans Have No Idea About This Unhinged Book Lore Detail

Summary:

• Game of Thrones doesn’t reveal details of the Unsullied training, but George Martin ’s books do.
• According to A Storm of Swords, the Unsullied undergo rigorous training since they’re five years old.
• To earn their spiked caps, the future Unsullied must kill their dogs and other slaves’ infants.

Like the Dothraki, the Unsullied were the core of Daenerys Targaryen’s army. Unlike the Dothraki, the Unsullied were the perfect warriors: unable to feel pain, mindlessly following orders, and with no moral compasses whatsoever. It may sound unrealistic but it’s solely due to their unique training that the Unsullied are so Terminator- ish.

In Game of Thrones, we only see the final shapes of the Unsullied and learn little about their upbringing. But in A Song of Ice and Fire, George Martin described the slave warriors’ training in excruciating detail, and it’s properly sadistic and unhinged.

What Makes the Unsullied So Undefeatable?

First and foremost, the training of the Unsullied begins at a very young age. Out of the thousands of slave boys, the slave owners pick the ones who are the most physically advanced, be it their strength or agility. The training begins as soon as they’re five years old and lasts for years until they’re proficient with all the weapons.

With no family to rely on, the boys only get as much food and water as is required for their training to continue. Being chosen at the age of five does not guarantee that one will become an Unsullied, though: many tests lie ahead, and on average, only one out of three boys finishes the training. All the others are killed or die themselves.

A special mixture of poisonous herbs is given to the boys with every meal. Over the years, it numbs their ability to feel pain, making them highly resistant to wounds and torture. Apart from that, every Unsullied is castrated and prohibited from having a family. This way, they don’t feel the temptations of flesh and other allegiances.

Finally, the Unsullied don’t even have names. Each day, they are given a new nickname which consists of a color and a creature, usually something with bad associations. According to slave owners, “it reminds them that by themselves they are vermin,” and in reality, it leaves the slave warriors without any identity.

They don’t feel pain or fear; they’re proficient with many weapons; they strictly follow orders and don’t care about their lives; they don’t have temptations or allegiances. And still, many of the trained boys don’t survive their brutal tests.

What Are the Tests for the Potential Unsullied?

Apart from years of extensive training, the candidates for the Unsullied must undergo a series of tests. Those aim to exterminate any empathy and remorse in the slave warriors, and they take place throughout their entire training. The first one starts the day the boys elected for training are cut, and it begins in a rather wholesome way.

The slave owners give each boy a puppy.

Their first friends that join them on the most traumatizing day of their lives, the dogs become the closest thing the future Unsullied have to family. After their insufferable training sessions, the puppies bring comfort to the poor boys… But after one year passes, each boy must strangle his dog or be fed to it. That’s absolutely sickening.

But arguably, it’s not the worst of the tests.

“To win his spiked cap, an Unsullied must go to the slave marts with a silver mark, find some wailing newborn, and kill it before its mother’s eyes. In this way, we make certain that there is no weakness left in them,” Kraznys mo Nakloz told Daenerys Targaryen when they were discussing her potential purchase of the Unsullied.

As if this wasn’t enough, the silver mark is not even for the newborn’s mother; it’s for their owner — since, quote, “the Unsullied are not permitted to steal.” This revelation made the future Queen of Meereen feel faint, and we can see why.

Game of Thrones didn’t reveal the unhinged “training” of the Unsullied in such detail, and we think we were better off without this information. But that’s what George Martin intended for the poor slave warriors, and we can’t just ignore what we hate.

What Do Fans Say About GRRM’s the Unsullied Lore?

Many fans agree that George Martin went too far when writing the Unsullied training and — especially — tests. Their opinions vary from “this is unrealistic” to “this is too inhumane,” but the general sentiment is there: the audience didn’t take these revelations lightly. On Reddit, Game of Thrones fans were shocked to learn this.

“So basically George took every cruel initiation conceived in fiction or history and just rolled them together? The fact they had thousands who managed to pass every one of these tests is absurd,” wrote MobsterDragon275.

Many fans agreed with them. They claimed that, apart from being unnecessarily cruel, George Martin’s description of the Unsullied’s upbringing was unrealistic and wasteful. Too many were needlessly murdered which conflicts with slaveowners’ core interests: keeping as many slaves alive as possible for trading or working.

That’s why others thought of a different explanation. According to some fans, these revelations are to be considered a hyperbole coming from an unreliable narrator — the slave owner who was trying to convince Daenerys of his warriors’ value.

“Considering this is coming from the a-hole who repeatedly insulted Danny and then got roasted by Drogon, isn't it possible he's overblowing it and making false claims to increase the reputation of the Unsullied? <...> I'm sure the training is still grueling but they probably don't actually murder newborns or choke their own dogs,” Flooding_Puddle pointed out.

Either way, most fans found George Martin’s description of the Unsullied training way too gruesome and unnecessary for comfort. The tests involving infants and puppies were found particularly disgusting, and regardless of how reliable the narrator was, the majority agreed that in this department, the author went way too far.

Source: A Storm of Swords by George Martin