tokar

The tokar is a garment of profound significance in the Ghiscari culture of Meereen, a long, loose, shapeless sheet that must be wound around the hips, under an arm, and over a shoulder, with its dangling fringes carefully layered and displayed. It is not a garment meant for any man who has to work; it is a master's garment, a sign of wealth and power. Wound too loose, it is like to fall off; wound too tight, it will tangle, trip, and bind. Even when wound properly, the tokar requires its wearer to hold it in place with the left hand and walk with small, mincing steps and exquisite balance, lest one tread upon those heavy trailing fringes. For Daenerys Targaryen, the Queen of Meereen, the tokar is a daily ordeal, a "floppy ears" she must wear to be accepted by her conquered people, a symbol of the political compromises and cultural alienation that define her rule.

The Tokar as a Symbol of Power and Alienation

Daenerys first learns of the tokar's necessity from her advisors. The Green Grace, Galazza Galare, warns her that "the Mother of Dragons must don the tokar or be forever hated," insisting that in the wools of Westeros or a gown of Myrish lace, she shall forever remain a stranger, a grotesque outlander, a barbarian conqueror. Brown Ben Plumm puts it more succinctly: "Man wants to be the king o' the rabbits, he best wear a pair o' floppy ears." Daenerys, understanding the political calculus, reluctantly agrees. She dons tokars of sheer white linen with golden tassels, violet silk fringed in gold, and yellow silk, each time requiring the help of her handmaids, Irri and Jhiqui, to wind the garment correctly, often on the third attempt. The tokar is a clumsy thing, and Daenerys finds it a constant source of frustration. She complains to Ser Barristan Selmy that she has "too many councillors and too few cushions," and that all she does is sit, her buttocks going to sleep from the hard bench. The crown she wears, wrought in the shape of the three-headed dragon of her House, adds to the physical burden, leaving her neck and shoulders stiff and sore. The tokar, like the crown, is a weight she must bear to rule.

The Tokar in Court and Ceremony

The tokar is the required attire for holding court in Meereen. Daenerys wears it to receive petitioners, to hear their grievances, and to dispense justice. The garment's impracticality is a constant source of tension. When she stands, her tokar begins to slip, and she must catch it and tug it back into place. When she walks, she must take one step at a time, lest she trip over her fringe and go tumbling headfirst into court. The tokar is also a marker of social status among the Meereenese. The noble Hizdahr zo Loraq wears a purple tokar fringed with amethysts and pearls, while Reznak mo Reznak, the seneschal, wears a maroon silk tokar with a golden fringe. The freedmen, by contrast, wear frayed grey tokars, a sign of their reduced circumstances. The tokar is a garment that divides the city, a visual reminder of the old hierarchies that Daenerys has tried to dismantle. When she marries Hizdahr, she must wear a white tokar fringed with baby pearls, a symbol of fertility, and submit to the ritual of foot-washing, a tradition she finds deeply humiliating.

The Tokar as a Symbol of Compromise and Resentment

Daenerys's relationship with the tokar is one of deep resentment. She sees it as a symbol of the compromises she has made to rule Meereen, a city that does not want her. She tells her advisors that she is "only a young girl and know little of such matters," a phrase she uses to deflect their demands, but the tokar is a constant reminder of her powerlessness. She hates the way it restricts her movement, the way it makes her feel like a prisoner in her own court. She longs to be free of it, to wear the simple clothes of a Dothraki khaleesi or the fine silks of a Westerosi queen. The tokar represents the cultural gulf between her and her subjects, a gulf she can never fully bridge. When she finally escapes Meereen on Drogon's back, she sheds her tokar, leaving it behind in the pit, a symbolic rejection of the city and its burdens. The tokar, for Daenerys, is not just a garment; it is a cage.