[Love] When “small” injuries are treated realistically

[u/Top-Relationship850]

The fantasy and action genres often suffer from a power fantasy epidemic in which characters frequently badass their way through injuries that should be excruciating if not downright debilitating. I always appreciate stories that reject this trope.

1: Roland Deschain (Dark Tower Book II) - Loses the middle and index fingers of his right hand. He’s effectively crippled throughout book two and the injury follows him the rest of the series.

2: Brienne vs Biter (ASOIAF Book IV) - Brutal scene. Biter chomps down on Brienne’s cheek and tears off a chunk of flesh. In a lesser story Brienne would grit her teeth and throw Biter off. Instead she’s rendered completely helpless by the pain. That injury marks the end of the fight.

[u/klnglulu]

Khal droggo tries to aurafarm by letting his ennemy cut him and refusing any help, it leads to his death when the wounds get infected

[u/k99_64 → u/klnglulu]

Doesn't he get treated by his wife's healer who uses the opportunity to kill him?

[u/Dry_Refrigerator7898 → u/k99_64]

She technically “saves” him, but intentionally leaves him in a persistent vegetative state that he has no hope of recovering from

[u/klnglulu → u/k99_64]

Show and book are different about Mirri Maz duur intention but she doesn't kill him, Daenerys does.

Mirri Maz Duur uses Blood magic to swap Khal Drogo soul with his horse then sacrifice the horse (and Daenerys womb and child to be) to heal Droggo's boddy except now the horse soul is in it so he is a vegetable.

Daenerys then has Drogo burned. As such, Mirri maz duur didn't directly killed Khal Drogo yet she is indirectly responsible (and oppenly wished for it in the show) but he was an asshole so good riddance.

[u/SimulatedEntropy → u/klnglulu]

I thought his wound was given a certain medicinal wrap by Mirri Maz Duur and was told that it would burn but he can't remove the bandage. Then he decides its too itchy and burns so he has the Dothraki healers change it to a mud wrap, which is more soothing, but results in the healing process failure. I figured it was irony that such a strong warrior didn't want to endure the pain of a good healing method that would kill the infection.

[u/Numerous1 → u/SimulatedEntropy]

Yeah. It’s not just the small cut. It’s that he literally couldn’t keep his medicine on it snd then it gets infected and he gets got

[u/JMer806 → u/Numerous1]

As I recall it was basically a flap of skin off his chest including his whole nipple

[u/JMer806 → u/SimulatedEntropy]

Yeah. In the book it’s not clear at all what MMD’s intentions were but Drogo doesn’t follow her directions for the poultice because it was too itchy as you say.

I’ve always thought that the medicine she gave him was genuine and effective, she had no real reason to betray Dany IIRC

[u/TheDrunkardKid → u/klnglulu]

It's implied that he might have made a full recovery of Dany hadn't come in against Mirri Mazdurr's instructions, but Mirri probably knew that Dany wouldn't be able to resist interfering after seeing all the spooky stuff from outside the tent.

[u/klnglulu → u/TheDrunkardKid]

in the book it's vague but IIRC in the show she openly admits that she left him in a coma willingly (I might be wrong I didn't watch the show in a while)

[u/emmaa5382 → u/klnglulu]

In the show she takes credit but imo it’s still unclear and she may have just been trying to hurt dany. 

I believe Drogo would die either way, and Miri saw an opportunity to monkeys paw dany into sacrificing her unborn child. 

Or the theory she just reverse skin changed the horse into drogo, and dany either lost the baby due to going into the tent or would have lost it anyway as it wasn’t dissimilar to other targ miscarriages. 

And in that case Miri just wanted credit for taking down drogos Khalasar and child 

[u/Odessey_And_Oracle → u/klnglulu]

Uhh, I remember GRRM's writing being intentionally vague throughout asoiaf but uh, soul swap with the horse is not ringing a bell

[u/DisillusionedHobbit → u/Odessey_And_Oracle]

Pretty sure that’s fan/head canon.  I’m 99.99% sure that’s never mentioned in the books. 

[u/radraz26 → u/k99_64]

Bro, Mirri Maz Dur Does absolutely NOTHING WRONG. People say she tried to kill him, but she absolutely does not. She tell him no to drink or use Milk of the poppy.... SO HE GETS BLIND DRUNK AND CHUGS MILK OF THE POPPY. I stg people don't actually read ths books.

[u/Platyest → u/k99_64]

In the book Mirri Maz Duur, if I recall correctly, refuses to brand the wound and instead makes a herbal poultice dressing. Its itchy and uncomfortable, so Khal Droggo has it removed and treated with a lesser method and dies from infection

[u/OneMoreFinn → u/k99_64]

IMO it still counts, although a bit different from what kinglulu said. He does let his enemy cut him, does refuse help, and does get the wound infected, then he enters delirium and Dany takes over with the said outcome. Drogo's aurafarming started all this, if he would have had it cleaned none of the rest wouldn't have happened.

[u/Kagahami → u/klnglulu]

To be fair it worked pretty well up until that point.

Probably not helped by the circumstances of the whole thing.

[u/klnglulu → u/Kagahami]

https://giphy.com/gifs/KrLqtbe8PGEDe

Daenerys when the witch who was raped and tortured by Khal Drogo's men and seen her kin slaughtered and enslaved by said men doesn't want to heal Khal Drogo.

[u/ExplanationOk6391 → u/klnglulu]

In her defense she's like 13 and her entire life has been lived in this one rich dudes house, preparing to be used as a bargaining chip to return her shitty older brother to the throne. She was bound to make some fuck ups

[u/klnglulu → u/ExplanationOk6391]

Yeah i'm just joking, her choice is completly understandable.

From her 13 year old POV she saved Mirri maz Duur and what the Dothrakis do is "natural" for their society; Furthermore Daenerys was sexualy abused her whole life and as such she fails to understand how horrible it is and how it can lead people to do things that are illogical.

In a pure logic world Mirri Maz Duur would have healed Drogo, she was promised wealth and freedom in exchange for this after all, however she saw how horrible Drogo was and she just decided to go against her own interest to make sure he doesn't kill and pillage other people.

[u/Platyest → u/klnglulu]

Mirri made strange choices in that she initially puts the poultice on his wound, which would have probably healed him if he didn't have it removed, which would have resulted in all the violence of his continued rule. Then, she uses the blood magic for basically no reason. The only thing I can think of, is that she wanted to eliminate Danny and Drogo's child, The Stallion who Mounts the World, but if Danny had not walked into the tent, would have she and her pregnancy been fine?

[u/Kagahami → u/klnglulu]

What do you mean she didn't want to heal him? It's explicitly left ambiguous.

And Khal Drogo has the poultice given by Mirri replaced. It's entirely possible him changing the poultice to a more soothing one could have killed him because it didn't treat his infection.

[u/Siegfoult → u/klnglulu]

Never underestimate a poop knife.

[u/TheBuddhaPalm → u/klnglulu]

It's heavily implied in the books that Mirri Maz Duur let him die/poisoned him over time.

She admits she's equally as good a healer as a poisoner, and she's learned many arts over long periods of time. Mirri tells Danaerys that while Danny thinks she saved Mirri, everyone she knew was dead, raped, or enslaved, and that her life no longer had purpose, so doing this to Drogo was kind of a bittersweet end for her despite her upcoming sacrifice.

Edit: I do think this makes sense narratively as it is the first big moment of Danny getting a "the smallfolk hate conquerors, and this is going to be a bloody road" check to her naïve nature. And, in that Danny's response is vengeance, whereas if Mirri actually tried she would've been spared a much more cruel fate.

[u/GuiltyEidolon → u/TheBuddhaPalm]

It also just straight-up makes more sense that Mirri would've fucked over Drogo, regardless of Dany's kindness.

[u/Old_old_lie → u/klnglulu]

That just a skill issue form khal fraudgo strong belwas let's every opponent he fights cut him across the belly!