Unsullied in armor
The Unsullied are elite warrior-eunuchs bred and trained in Astapor, one of the three major cities of Slaver's Bay. They are slave-soldiers famed for their skills and discipline in battle. They are also often purchased from Astapor by some of the Free Cities, such as Qohor.
Unsullied battle tactics involve legions or at least large groups of them fighting in lock-step phalanxes using spear and shield, though they are also trained to use shortswords for close-quarters combat. Slave-eunuchs who have been trained from birth to fight, the Unsullied are renowned for their utter discipline on the battlefield, both in their usage of incredibly coordinated large unit phalanx formations, and because they will never break in the face of overwhelming odds, even to the point of death.
History
Four Unsullied guards at Illyrio Mopatis' manse in Pentos
Season 1
Magister Illyrio Mopatis of Pentos employs Unsullied as household guards at his manse. A few are also present at the wedding of Khal Drogo and Daenerys Targaryen.[1]
Season 3
Daenerys Targaryen travels from Qarth to Astapor to buy Unsullied. She is shown a group of them by Kraznys mo Nakloz, one of the Good Masters, who deals in Unsullied.[2]Daenerys offers one of her dragons in exchange for 8,000 Unsullied. The offer is accepted and Daenarys is given the whip and symbolically ownership of the Unsullied when she hands over Drogon to Kraznys. Taking advantage of the Unsullied's discipline, she orders them to kill the Masters and free any slaves they find. She takes control of Astapor and frees the Unsullied and her dragon offering them the choice to fight for her as free men. They accept Daenerys as their new commander and follow her out of Astapor.
Known Unsuilled
Gallery
In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the Unsullied are trained in Astapor, one of the three major cities of Slaver's Bay. They begin their training at five years old, when their genitals are fully removed. They are also given a puppy to look after, and at the end of the first year they must strangle the puppy to death. If they refuse, they are culled from the trainees and killed. They train from dawn to dusk until they have mastered the shortsword, shield, and three lengths of spear. Only one in three survives the training regime. They are given a beverage called the "wine of courage", which over years numbs their body's ability to feel pain. Upon being given the spiked cap which is the symbol of their rank, they must go to the slave market, kill an infant slave before its mother and pay the slave owner for his loss.
Their training is utterly brutal, designed not only to train them for combat but to strip them of any empathy, individuality, or sense of self-worth, in order to create soldiers who are willing to sacrifice their own lives if so ordered. Unsullied do not have permanent names, instead choosing new names at random every day, which are written on pieces of paper and then drawn by lot from a jar. Even these temporary names tend to be demeaning descriptors such as "Grey Worm", etc.
The extremely harsh training regime results in warriors who are unemotional, numbed against pain, and ferociously disciplined. They never loot or rape, they will hold against superior numbers, and will take their own lives if ordered to. Four hundred years ago, the Free City of Qohor was saved from destruction by an Unsullied regiment, the Three Thousand of Qohor, which held its line against repeated charges by a Dothraki khalasar numbering 50,000 riders. As a result, the Dothraki respect the Unsullied as they do very few other warriors in the world. This is a very great compliment indeed, when one considers that the Dothraki usually hold non-mounted infantry in contempt.
Unsullied serve under their own officers and function as small private armies which can be bought and sold. However, they are not mercenaries but slave-soldiers: they don't choose who they serve, who they fight, or if they are ordered to their deaths.
Though they are ferocious warriors, the Unsullied can become lazy if their mettle is not tested in battle. In the Free Cities, where they are usually employed as household guards who see little action, they can go soft.
See also
- Unsullied at A Wiki of Ice and Fire (MAJOR spoilers from the books)