- "Many great fighters have died trying to make it to the Great Games. When most of you worthless scum join them in death this afternoon, it will represent a significant rise in your station. But if you do happen to triumph here, you will fight at the Great Pit of Daznak itself, in front of the queen. So, whatever happens, the gods have smiled upon you today. This is the day your lives actually start to mean something."
- ―Yezzan zo Qaggaz to his slaves
Yezzan zo Qaggaz is a recurring character in the fifth season. He's played by Enzo Cilenti and debuts in "The Gift". He is a slave-trader from the city of Meereen, on the coast of Slaver's Bay, and one of the Great Masters, the former ruling elite of the city.
Biography
Background
Yezzan zo Qaggaz is a member of the House of Qaggaz and a slaver who purchases and trains pit fighters. He owns one of the lesser fighting pits
Besides the Valyrian dialect of Meereen, Yezzan also speaks the Common Tongue of Westeros.
Season 5
Yezzan is present at an impromptu slave auction of Malko's. He purchases Jorah Mormont for use in the recently reopened fighting pits. When Tyrion Lannister demands to be bought as well, Yezzan is uninterested in Tyrion's claims that he and Jorah are a team. He changes his mind when Tyrion savagely beats the slaver holding his chain, and pays for him, agreeing with Malko's assertion that Tyrion is "funny". When Tyrion suggests that he and Jorah be paid for their labor to avoid the Queen's ire for practicing slaver, Yezzan hits Tyrion and tosses him a single coin. Later, at one of the "lower" pits, Yezzan addresses his fighters and announces that those who survive the day will fight at the Great Pit of Daznak. Yezzan is shocked to see that Daenerys Targaryen and Hizdahr zo Loraq themselves are present and hastily has his gladiators dedicate their kills to her. Yezzan is later knocked down by Jorah, who emerged from the dungeon early in a desperate attempt to reach the Queen.[1]
In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Yezzan zo Qaggaz is not a Meereenese Great Master but a Yunkish Wise Master. He has yellow eyes and is morbidly obese to the point that he can no longer stand. He contracted a jungle disease while on a slaving raid in Sothoryos which he has been suffering from for years: he cannot hold his water so he always smells of urine, which even perfume cannot hide. He wears yellow silk tokars with gold fringe. He is obsessed with the grotesque and often purchases slaves with physical deformities to add to his "collection". While overweight he is still shrewd and intelligent, a trait some of the other Wise Masters don't share.
Despite his personal grotesqueness, it is remarked that Yezzan isn't that bad compared to some of the other slavers, and isn't particularly cruel. So long as his slaves obey Yezzan treats them relatively well, and makes sure that they are well fed and looked after (though this is in the same sense that a man will make sure that the horses he owns are well fed and are not beaten, because he doesn't want to needlessly damage his own valuable property). Unlike him, however, his slave overseer, Nurse, tends to be cruel and harsh towards his master's slaves.
Yezzan is also one of the few Wise Masters who urges that Yunkai should try to make peace with Daenerys, fearing that further conflict with her Unsullied army and increasingly large dragons is more trouble than it is worth.
Yezzan is not involved in pit fights. There is a Meereenese crone called Zahrina that purchases cheap slaves to fight in the arenas, "meat" to be slaughtered by the more formidable fighters.
Yezzan purchases Tyrion and his other companion for entertainment. Tyrion notices that Zahrina is about to purchase Jorah, and he persuades Nurse to buy Jorah too, claiming that he is part of their show. Tyrion complies to his new master and is treated correctly. Jorah, however, does not cooperate, and as a result is treated very brutally by Nurse: he is locked in a cage and beaten severely every evening.
See also
Yezzan zo Qaggaz on A Wiki of Ice and Fire (MAJOR spoilers from the books)- Nurse on A Wiki of Ice and Fire (MAJOR spoilers from the books)
- Zahrina on A Wiki of Ice and Fire (MAJOR spoilers from the books)
References
- ↑ "The Gift (episode)"