Gerris Drinkwater
Gerris Drinkwater is a Dornish knight and the closest companion of Prince Quentyn Martell, whose charm, swordsmanship, and loyalty define his role in Quentyn’s ill-fated quest to win the hand of Daenerys Targaryen. He serves as the prince’s foil—confident where Quentyn is hesitant, worldly where Quentyn is earnest—and his actions, from devising the ruse that gets the Dornish party into the Windblown to his desperate attempt to stop Quentyn from confronting the dragons, shape the expedition’s tragic arc. After Quentyn’s death, Gerris is imprisoned, then released to carry a message to the Tattered Prince, a mission that may redeem his failure to protect his prince.
Identity and Background
Gerris Drinkwater is a knight of Dorne, tall and fair, with blue-green eyes, sandy hair streaked by the sun, and a lean, comely body. He carries himself with a swagger and a confidence bordering on arrogance, a demeanor that never seems ill at ease even when he does not speak the local language. He is the son of a landed knight, too lowborn to marry into the highest nobility but high enough to serve as a sworn shield and friend to a prince. His ancestral holdings lie in Dorne, and he was chosen by Prince Doran Martell to accompany Quentyn on his secret mission across the narrow sea.
Gerris is a natural leader in social situations. When the Dornish party changes ships at Lys and adopts new roles, Gerris assumes the master’s role, speaking for the group in Volantis while Quentyn plays the servant. He has a way of making himself understood even without a common language, and his disarming smile opens doors that Quentyn’s earnestness cannot. Yet beneath the charm lies a sharp intelligence: he is the one who first suggests they join the Windblown as a way to reach Meereen, a plan that requires them to abandon their true names and pose as sellswords.
Arc Through the Plot
Gerris’s journey mirrors Quentyn’s, but with a crucial difference: he sees the dangers more clearly and voices his doubts, yet follows his prince nonetheless. From the outset, he treats the quest as an adventure, joking about the glory they will win and the tavern wenches they will impress. But the deaths of their companions—Cletus Yronwood, Willam Wells, and Maester Kedry, slain by corsairs—darken his humor. After the attack, Gerris delivers a lying eulogy over their bodies, unable to speak the truth of who they were or why they had come.
In Volantis, when the Dornishmen struggle to find a ship to Meereen, Gerris proposes the desperate plan to join the Windblown. He argues that the demon road is too slow and that they must reach Daenerys before Tywin Lannister’s agents do. Quentyn agrees, and Gerris becomes “Dornish Gerrold” or “Drink” among the sellswords, while Quentyn is disguised as his squire, “Frog.” Gerris adapts quickly to the company’s rough life, making friends and learning its ways, but he never loses sight of their true purpose.
When the Windblown march north toward Meereen, Gerris urges Quentyn to wait until they are past Yunkai before deserting. He knows the Tattered Prince will send hunters after deserters and that capture means mutilation or death at the hands of Pretty Meris. Yet when the Tattered Prince himself orders a group of Westerosi—including the Dornishmen—to feign desertion and go over to Daenerys, Gerris sees the irony: the gods have handed them the perfect opportunity.
Relationships and Conflict
Gerris’s primary relationship is with Quentyn Martell, whom he loves as a friend but also sees clearly. He knows Quentyn is not the stuff of heroes—short-legged, stocky, plain-faced, and hesitant—and he tries to bolster his confidence with japes and encouragement. When Quentyn despairs of ever winning Daenerys, Gerris tells him to be patient, to wait for their chance north of Yunkai. But he also warns him against trusting sellswords, a warning Quentyn ignores.
His relationship with Ser Archibald Yronwood, the big man, is more straightforward: they are comrades-in-arms, with Archibald providing brute strength and Gerris providing wit. Together they form a protective shell around Quentyn, though neither can shield him from his own choices.
Gerris’s conflict with Barristan Selmy crystallizes after Quentyn’s death. When Selmy tells the Dornishmen that Quentyn is dead, Gerris punches a wall and lashes out, blaming Daenerys for spurning Quentyn and calling her a “bitch of a queen.” Selmy rebukes him, and Gerris insists that Quentyn acted for love. Selmy sees through this, arguing that Quentyn came for dragons, not love—a charge Gerris cannot refute.
Change and Ending
Gerris’s arc ends in a dungeon cell beneath the Great Pyramid of Meereen, where he and Archibald are imprisoned after the dragon disaster. He is defiant, bitter, and grieving. When Selmy offers them a chance to serve—to carry a message to the Tattered Prince, offering Pentos in exchange for the hostages—Gerris is skeptical. He points out that the Tattered Prince is more likely to give them to Pretty Meris than to honor the deal. But Archibald accepts, and Gerris follows, as he always has.
His final act is to agree to the mission, knowing it may fail. He has lost his prince, his friends, and his honor, but he still has his sword and his wits. Whether he will find redemption or merely a different death remains uncertain.
Narrative Role and Evaluation
Gerris Drinkwater functions as Quentyn’s foil and conscience: the worldly, charming knight who sees the dangers but cannot stop the prince from walking into them. He is the voice of pragmatism in a quest driven by duty and desperation. His arc—from lighthearted adventurer to grieving survivor—mirrors the tragedy of the Dornish expedition itself. He is not a hero, but he is a loyal friend, and his survival ensures that someone will remember what happened in the dragon pit.
