#stormcrows

Stormcrow Dervishes

"Better the butcher than the meat." - Daario Naharis

Jane Marple

Lord Peter Wimsey

Doctor Who

Gandalf

Jessica Fletcher

The Starship Enterprise

DCI Barnaby

Hercule Poirot

First the Unsullied:

Beneath the towering brick facade of Meereen’s ancient Slave Exchange, five thousand Unsullied were drawn up in ten long lines. They stood as still as if they had been carved of stone, each with his three spears, short sword, and shield. Torchlight winked off the spikes of their bronze helmets, and bathed the smooth-cheeked faces beneath. When a body came spinning down amongst them, the eunuchs simply stepped aside, taking just as many steps as were required, then closing ranks again.

The Unsullied are gathered in front of the Slave Exchange - presumably some type of slave market in (pre-Daenerys) Meereen. The location is a reminder of the origins of the Unsullied - not only as slaves, but specifically as slaves that the Good Masters of Astapor sought to exchange for a dragon. That the Unsullied are not slaves today is of course because Daenerys liberated them (and overthrew the Good Masters in the process), a move which has resulted in fierce loyalty to her (seen not only in Grey Worm’s choice of permanent name, but also his rebuff to Hizdahr that the Unsullied were “free men who took commands only from their mother”). Still, the key hallmark of the Unsullied - their rigorous, absolute, totally unemotional discipline - remains part of the force. When the corpses come flying down among them, they simply step aside exactly as far as they need to for exactly as long as they need to before returning to formation - not permanently removing themselves from the danger, but responding to it with ironclad discipline. 

Then the Stormcrows:

The Stormcrows had assembled beneath the merchant’s arcade fronting on the southern side of the square, where the arches gave them some protection from the dead men. 

Daario’s personal connection to Daenerys notwithstanding (and he is absent from this battle for the moment as a hostage of Yunkai anyway), the Stormcrows are sellswords; their loyalty is ultimately to what will keep them and their company alive and solvent for the future. It should not be surprising, therefore, that the sellswords are positioned “beneath the merchant’s arcade”; as they stand in a place where goods and services are bought and sold, the sellswords embody violence for a prince, professional killers for hire against one’s troublesome armed enemies. (Worth noting here that Quentyn Martell first met the Windblown at the Merchant’s House in Volantis, in a chapter called “The Merchant’s Man” no less.) In keeping with that pragmatism toward their own survival, the Stormcrows have positioned themselves in the one place (mentioned here, at least) whose architecture provides built-in (if only partial) protection from the flying corpses. The Stormcrows are not going to expose themselves to danger unnecessarily; they will take any advantage they can get to avoid what danger they can, the better to live and fight (and get paid) another day,

Then the remaining Dothraki riders:

The horselords had come as well. Aggo and Rakharo had taken most of the queen’s small khalasar across the Skahazadhan, but the old half-crippled jaqqa rhan Rommo had scraped together twenty riders from those left behind. Some were as old as he was, many marked by some old wound or deformity. The rest were beardless boys, striplings seeking their first bell and the right to braid their hair. They milled about near the weathered bronze statue of the Chainmaker, anxious to be off, dancing their horses aside whenever a corpse came spinning down from above.

Veloce called for a meeting with Saterra and me. The manner in which she did so spoke of unwelcome news. We convened in my study. She told us that Ul’dah has become too dangerous, and we’ve drawn too much attention to safely build our network here. She urged us to consider a location where we’d be less hindered at this vulnerable stage, recommending Limsa Lominsa, a city with which she’s quite familiar.  

Prendahl na Ghezn

Teddy Coluca - American, Unknown age.

A quick rundown of my favourite mini paintings of this past year.

The Mandalorian, Beskar Edition - Star Wars Bandai

Scout Sergeant Mkoll, Gaunt’s Ghosts - Warhammer 40k

Plague Doctor - Dungeons and Dragons Minis

Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt, Gaunt’s Ghosts - Warhammer 40k

Stormcrow Archers, Neutral Faction - A Song of Ice and Fire

The Black Goat of the Woods - Cthulhu: Death may Die

Stannis Baratheon, The One True King - A Song of Ice and Fire

Rose Knights, House Tyrell - A Song of Ice and Fire

R’hllor Faithful, House Baratheon - A Song of Ice and Fire