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This page is about the short. For the ruling elite, see: Great Masters

"The Great Masters of Meereen"[3] is the fourteenth and final short of the fifth season of Histories & Lore. It is the eighty-ninth short of the series overall. It was released on March 15, 2016 in Game of Thrones: The Complete Fifth Season. It was narrated by Nathalie Emmanuel as Missandei and written by Dave Hill.

Premise[]

Missandei elaborates on the Great Masters of Meereen, and their history as the ruling class before the arrival of Daenerys Targaryen.[3]

Narration[]

Missandei: "The Great Masters of Meereen." As if calling themselves such could make them so.

Thousands of years ago during the height of the Ghiscari Empire, Meereen was second only to Old Ghis in wealth and glory. A paradise by the sea if one didn't mind the constant clinking of chains and cracking whips.

Slaves built Meereen, and on their backs, the city rested like a litter.

Then came the dragons of Valyria. The Masters of Old Ghis would not bow, so they burned. The Valyrians tore down their walls, burned their pyramids to ash and sewed their fields with salt and skulls. An old slave woman once told me that the Valyrians intended to break the chains of the Ghiscari slaves, absorbing them into the Valyrian Freehold where every man held a vote.

But the Great Masters of Meereen received their new overlords in the Great Temple, plying them with gold, wine and all the wealth that slavery had bought them, and the Valyrians instead took up the whip themselves.

I do not believe it. As their empire expanded, the Valyrians needed more and more bodies to feed their mines and colonies, where no wage could ever tempt a free man.

The Great Masters merely accommodated their new customers, staying rich as the Ghiscari Empire crumbled. After the Doom fell on Valyria, the Great Masters worried for their fortunes. By this time the Valyrians were their greatest providers and purchasers of slaves. Then the Dothraki horselords swept out of the plains of Essos and proved to be as fond of slaving as the dragonlords before them. The Great Masters grew richer still.

For the first time in its history, the Great Masters alone ruled Meereen and chaos ruled the rest of the world. The fighting pits swallowed men who in previous centuries would have filled the ranks of the Valyrian armies.

Without these soldiers to maintain order, the wealthy had to buy their own, which the Good Masters of Astapor were more than willing to sell. If the buyer's nerves still needed calming, the Wise Masters of Yunkai could sell him further release.

The Great Masters. The Good Masters. The Wise Masters.

Yet none were so great, good or wise that they recognized our queen for what she was.

Her ancestors had destroyed them, then become them. Perhaps they assumed she would bend as easily. But our queen does not bend. She breaks.

Appearances[]

Individuals[]

Locations[]

Events[]

Titles[]

Races[]

Miscellaneous[]

Cast[]

References[]

  1. HBOWatch Staff (October 7, 2015). Game of Thrones Season 5 Available on Blu-ray, DVD March 15, 2016. HBO Watch. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
  2. Histories & Lore: Season 5, Short 14: "The Great Masters of Meereen" (2016).
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Game of Thrones: The Complete Fifth Season (2016).
  4. Vanessa Cole (July 22, 2017). Game of Thrones writer Dave Hill gives a behind the scenes look at the creative process. Watchers on the Wall. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
  5. Game of Thrones: The Complete Sixth Season (2016).


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