Game Of Thrones: Khal Drogo Only Died Because Of Daenerys

Summary:

• In Game of Thrones, most characters died because of their own mistakes in the past.
• Khal Drogo, however, was killed off because of his inevitable future conflict with Daenerys had he lived.
• Drogo would have never bent the knee before his wife, and Dany would have never released her right to the Iron Throne.

Most Game of Thrones characters died because of their personality flaws or mistakes in judgment. They had mistreated someone; they had made the wrong choice; they had trusted the person they shouldn’t have trusted… You get the point. Most local deadmen of note had done something that earned them that death sentence.

Khal Drogo, not so much. His death was scripted due to an off-page conflict.

Drogo And Daenerys Were A Problem For George Martin

Daenerys Targaryen began her journey in Game of Thrones as the wife of Khal Drogo, the Khaleesi. From merely being an object her husband wanted to possess, she became the person he loved, and she loved him back. After Viserys’s death, they intended to conquer Westeros together with the help of the Dothraki army.

But that’s where the problem arose.

Khal Drogo wanted his and Daenerys’s son to become the King of the Seven Kingdoms; Daenerys, in turn, wished to sit on the Iron Throne herself as she believed it to be her birthright. At one point, this would have created a conflict Dany couldn’t possibly win — and she was the main character, not her husband Drogo.

Drogo And Dany: Immovable Object vs Irresistible Force

In the case of Drogo, Daenerys, and the Dothraki army crossing the Narrow Sea and reaching King’s Landing, the Targaryen heir would have inevitably declared herself the Queen of Westeros. This title is much more important than that of a Khaleesi and even a Khaal — hence, the husband and wife’s power dynamic would’ve changed.

For a peaceful resolution, Khal Drogo would have needed to bend the knee before his wife, but it wasn’t in his nature. The man who had never known submission, he would not have bowed before Daenerys, regardless of how much he loved her. And Dany, in turn, would not have released her grasp on the Iron Throne after having it.

This is basically the eternal problem of the immovable object meeting the irresistible force, and George Martin really didn’t want to deal with it later down the line. Thus, Khal Drogo had to die — not because of his own mistake but because of the plot vs character conflict. Using his death to hatch the dragons for Dany was a nice bonus.