Bloodriders die with their khal

Among the Dothraki, a khal's bloodriders are bound to him by a vow far deeper than the oaths of Westerosi knights. They are not merely guards but brothers, shadows, and fiercest friends, sharing a single life with their khal. The ancient traditions of the horselords demand that when the khal dies, his bloodriders die with him, to ride at his side in the night lands. If the khal is killed by an enemy, they live only long enough to avenge him, then follow him joyfully into the grave. This custom is absolute: a bloodrider's existence is contingent on the khal's, and no provision exists for a khal who lingers alive but broken.

The Bond and Its Limits

A bloodrider is more than a guard; he is bound to the khal for life and death. The ancient traditions of the horselords demand that when the khal dies, his bloodriders die with him, to ride at his side in the night lands. If the khal dies at the hands of some enemy, they live only long enough to avenge him, and then follow him joyfully into the grave. In some khalasars, the bloodriders share the khal's wine, his tent, and even his wives, though never his horses. A man's mount is his own. This total identification means that a bloodrider has no independent future; his purpose and his end are fused with the khal's.

The Crisis of Drogo's Fall

When Khal Drogo falls from his horse, the khalasar's understanding of the custom is put to a brutal test. A khal who cannot ride cannot rule, and the bloodriders know that Drogo is as good as dead. Ser Jorah Mormont explains to Daenerys that a bloodrider dies with his khal, and that they will take her to Vaes Dothrak, to the crones, as their last duty to him in life; when it is done, they will join Drogo in the night lands. The bloodriders themselves act on this expectation. Qotho, Haggo, and Cohollo, seeing Drogo's wound fester, turn on Daenerys and the maegi Mirri Maz Duur, blaming them for the khal's decline. Qotho declares that when Drogo dies, Daenerys is nothing, and Cohollo spits in her face. They are not defying the custom; they are enacting its logic, preparing for the death that must follow their khal's.

The Collapse of the Khalasar

The custom's inexorable consequence is the dissolution of the khalasar. When Drogo is reduced to a living shell, blind and unresponsive, the bloodriders' deaths are only a matter of time. Qotho is killed by Ser Jorah, Haggo by Rakharo and Jhogo, and Cohollo by Aggo's arrow. With the khal and his bloodriders gone, the khalasar shatters. Ko Pono leaves first, naming himself Khal Pono, and many follow him. Jhaqo is not long to do the same. The rest slip away night by night, in large bands and small, forming a dozen new khalasars on the Dothraki sea where once there was only Drogo's. The custom that held the horde together—the bloodriders' absolute loyalty unto death—also guarantees its fragmentation when that death arrives.

Daenerys's Rejection of the Custom

Daenerys refuses to accept the bloodriders' fate as her own. When Ser Jorah warns her that the bloodriders will die with Drogo and that she will be taken to the dosh khaleen, she does not submit. Instead, she names new kos—Jhogo, Aggo, and Rakharo—asking them to live and die as blood of her blood, riding at her side to keep her safe from harm. They hesitate, saying it would shame them to be bloodrider to a woman, but she persists. After she walks into the funeral pyre and emerges unharmed with three newborn dragons, the surviving Dothraki kneel to her. Jhogo is the first to lay his arakh at her feet, murmuring "Blood of my blood," and the others follow. The custom is not abolished but transformed: the bond of bloodrider is now sworn to a khaleesi who has proven herself fire-made-flesh, and the old rule that a bloodrider must die with his khal is replaced by a new loyalty to the Mother of Dragons.