Open sky for important things

Among the Dothraki, the sky is not merely a ceiling but a witness. The belief that all things of importance in a man's life must be done beneath the open sky governs their most sacred rituals, from marriage to death, and sets them apart from the settled peoples of the Seven Kingdoms, who conduct their ceremonies within septs, castles, or halls.

The Wedding and Its Consummation

Daenerys Targaryen wed Khal Drogo in a field beyond the walls of Pentos, for the Dothraki believed that all things of importance in a man's life must be done beneath the open sky. The ceremony began at dawn and continued until dusk, an endless day of drinking, feasting, and fighting under the sun and stars. Later that night, after the feast, Drogo led Dany out of the khalasar and into the grasslands, where he took her for the first time beneath the stars. The open sky was the only roof their union required.

The Naming of a Child

Months later, when Daenerys was near her time, she insisted that the night of conception be repeated under the sky. "This night we must go outside, my lord," she told Khal Drogo, for the Dothraki believed that all things of importance in a man's life must be done beneath the open sky. Drogo followed her out into the moonlight, the bells in his hair tinkling softly, and they lay together on a bed of soft grass a few yards from her tent.

Contrast with Westerosi Customs

The rule stands in deliberate contrast to the practices of the Seven Kingdoms. Eddard Stark sentences a deserter to death in the open air before a holdfast, but the execution itself is a formal, lordly act, not a sacred ritual. When Tyrion Lannister demands a trial by combat in the Eyrie, Lady Lysa Arryn threatens to open the Moon Door, a literal door in the wall of the High Hall that opens onto empty sky—a perversion of the Dothraki ideal, where the open air is meant to witness justice, not to serve as an instrument of death. Lord Beric Dondarrion is sent to bring the king's justice to Ser Gregor Clegane under the king's banner, but the judgment is pronounced indoors, in the throne room. And when Eddard Stark confesses his treason on the steps of the Great Sept of Baelor, he does so in the open air, but the crowd and the High Septon, not the sky, are the witnesses. The Dothraki custom, by contrast, makes the sky itself the guarantor of truth.

The Principle Extended

The rule extends beyond weddings and naming. When Daenerys, after the failed bloodmagic, prepares Khal Drogo's funeral pyre, she does so under the open sky, and when she walks into the flames herself, she does so in the sight of the stars. The Dothraki believe that a khal who cannot ride is no khal, and that a man who does not ride is no man at all—but even the most degraded among them, the walkers, are still subject to the sky's judgment. The custom is not merely a preference but a law of their world, as binding as the prohibition on drawing a blade in Vaes Dothrak.