Do The Sons Of The Harpy Have Khaleesi's Dragons?

Things are going quite poorly for nearly mostly every character on Game of Thrones this season. Jon Snow has been attacked by White Walkers, Arya has fallen in with the Faceless Men, and King Tommen is somewhere wallowing in anguish over the High Sparrow's attack on his family. During Season 5, it seems showrunners David Benioff and D.B Weiss have been leading viewers down a rabbit hole of agony and despair — and we have consistently had to witness one cruel thing happening after another. It seems that things are going especially bad for everyone's favorite Khaleesi, Daenerys Targaryen, though: Though in the past she has been more than capable of holding her own, it seems she hasn't been able to gain proper control over the city of Meereen since her arrival — and now, I'm beginning to wonder if the Sons Of The Harpy have Khaleesi's dragons.

During Season 4 of GoT, Daenerys and her Unsullied were warned against marching on Meereen when the slave-owning elite lined the road to the city with 163 crucified slave children. Disgusted, Daenerys and the Unsullied secretly armed the slaves of Meereen, inciting a revolt against the city’s masters. Though she was able to overturn slavery, Daenerys learns that the elite of Meereen are none to eager to forget their way of life. Now, following the betrayal of her most trusted advisor Jorah Mormont, and the loss of control over her dragons, rebellion in Meereen seems to be imminent.

During this season’s premiere, Daenerys' opposition finally showed its face in the form of golden mask-wearing assassins who are known as the Sons of the Harpy. They first appear when they burst in on one of Daenerys' Unsullied while he’s having a nice cuddle with a prostitute, and slit his throat. From what I can gather, the Sons of the Harpy are former slave-owners in Meereen who have banded together to try and overthrow Daenerys so they can return to their old ways. Instead of backing down, however, Daenerys' had her Unsullied smoke out the organization — but, it did little to deter the Sons of the Harpy, and their next attack left Daenerys’ beloved Ser Barristan Selmy dead — and Grey Worm severely injured. It hasn’t helped that the Queen of Dragons has begun questioning every one of her decisions, either — she is no longer the confident Khaleesi who marched into the cities of Slaver's Bay and demanded they abolish their inhuman way of life. Instead, she seems overly preoccupied with separating herself from her father, The Mad King.

In an attempt to form some sort of a truce with the former Masters of Mereen, Daenerys decides to let them reopen their fighting pits, and she agrees to marry a nobleman, Hizdahr zo Lora, in an effort to further instill peace. She even chains up her dragons Rhaegal and Viserion when her most beloved dragon, Drogon, begins terrorizing the city and runs away (flies away?) from her. Unfortunately, as we discovered during last week’s episode “The Dance of Dragons,” these concessions were not substantial enough to satisfy the Sons of the Harpy. They want Khaleesi dead, and it seems they're going to stop at nothing unless she is. During the games at the fighting pits, they attack in numbers so large that not even the Unsullied can protect Daenerys. It is Drogon, who was probably enticed by the smell of blood, that comes to Daenerys’ rescue. She literally jumps on his back as he flies out of the arena.

Still, if you consider all that we’ve learned in this season so far, some very curious moments occur leading up to the attack at the fighting pit. First and foremost, I’m convinced that Hizdahr zo Lora had something to do with the Sons of the Harpy. If you recall, he was late arriving to the games — and he only stated that he had to make sure “everything was in order” when asked about his whereabouts. Furthermore, after the attack on Grey Worm and Ser Barristan, Hizdah was of the members of the elite that Daenerys has arrested. She takes them into the dungeon with her Dragons and has one of them burned. Though, Hizdahr’s life is spared then, he now knows where the dragons are being kept.

These things all lead me to one very appalling conclusion. Though Hizdah was stabbed to death during the attack at the fighting pit, he was Daenerys’ ambassador and sat on her council of advisors — so it could be very likely hat he spied on her for the Sons of Harpy, and used his knowledge of Daenerys’ plans against her. More horrifying, however, are the matter of Rhaegal and Viserion: Though the dragons were chained up in the dungeon the last time we saw them, it is technically possible that the Sons of Harpy have taken them or have harmed them in some way. After all, they had no qualms over trying to kill Drogon before he escaped the fighting pit. If the Sons of Harpy have Khaleesi's dragons, who knows what they'd do?

All seems lost for Khaleesi at the moment: Clearly her Unsullied are no match for the Sons of the Harpy, and the city of Mereen is in totally upheaval. If the Sons of the Harpy do in fact have Rhaegal and Viserion, then her days may be numbered. After all, as her current boo and protector Daario told her, “A dragon queen without dragons is not a queen.”

Images: HBO (1); Giphy (2)