The pale mare

The pale mare is the name given to the bloody flux, a virulent and often fatal disease that sweeps through the armies besieging Meereen and eventually enters the city itself, becoming a major agent of death and chaos. It is first heralded by a dying rider who arrives at Meereen's gates, and its spread reshapes the strategic calculus of both the besiegers and the besieged, ultimately contributing to the collapse of the fragile peace and the outbreak of open war.

Origin and Arrival

The pale mare arrives in Meereen carried by a lone rider on a pale horse, who emerges from the morning mists and collapses at the city gates, crying out that Astapor is burning. The man is a skeleton, all bones and fevered flesh, with a mortified arrow wound in his thigh and dried blood mingled with his excrement, signs that the disease has already ravaged him. The Blue Graces who tend to him note the blood in his stool, and the Green Grace, Galazza Galare, declares that the gods sent this man as a harbinger of wroth and ruin. Daenerys Targaryen initially dismisses the threat, insisting that he was just one sick man, but the disease soon proves otherwise.

Spread and Impact on the Siege

The pale mare spreads rapidly through the Yunkish siege camps, where it is called the bloody flux. It kills indiscriminately, striking down slave and lord alike. The Yunkish commanders begin burning their dead in great columns of greasy smoke, and discipline in their camps deteriorates as the sickness takes hold. The disease also spreads to the Tolosi and Ghiscari legions, weakening the besieging forces. The sellsword captain Brown Ben Plumm warns Daenerys that the Yunkai'i are losing men to the flux, and the Tattered Prince notes that the pale mare is galloping through their siege camps, making them more vulnerable to attack. The disease becomes a key factor in the strategic calculations of both sides, with Ser Barristan Selmy and Skahaz mo Kandaq seeing it as an opportunity to strike while the enemy is weakened.

The Pale Mare Inside Meereen

The disease does not remain confined to the besieging camps. It enters Meereen itself, carried by the starving Astapori refugees who flee the destruction of their city. Daenerys is forced to keep them outside the walls, setting up a camp beside the river, but the disease spreads nonetheless. Many freedmen, sellswords, and Brazen Beasts are stricken, though the Unsullied remain untouched. The city's markets close, its streets empty, and the Meereenese begin to shun even the Temple of the Graces. The disease becomes a constant, unseen enemy within the walls, contributing to the city's desperation and the unraveling of Hizdahr zo Loraq's peace.

The Pale Mare as a Symbol and a Catalyst

The pale mare is more than a disease; it is a symbol of the inevitable decay and death that follows war and conquest. It is a force of nature that no treaty or army can control, a reminder of the fragility of human plans. The disease is also a direct catalyst for action. It weakens the Yunkish forces, making them more vulnerable to attack, and it contributes to the desperation that leads to the collapse of the peace. The pale mare is one of the prophecies Quaithe warns Daenerys about, and its arrival proves the truth of the warning, even if its meaning is not immediately clear. The disease ultimately becomes a key factor in the decision to break the peace and launch a preemptive strike against the Yunkai'i, as Ser Barristan and the Shavepate see the enemy's weakness as an opportunity that cannot be ignored.