Sweets
Sweets | |
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Sweets, by Pojypojy © | |
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Allegiance | House of Qaggaz |
Race | Valyrian[N 1] |
Culture | Essos[2] |
Born | Essos[2] |
Lover | Yezzan zo Qaggaz |
Book | A Dance with Dragons (appears) |
Sweets is a hermaphrodite[N 2] slave owned by Yezzan zo Qaggaz.[4]
Contents
Appearance and Character
Sweets has a willowy body, and has dyed purple hair and violet eyes. Sweets dresses in moonstones and Myrish lace. Sweets is fluent in four tongues, one of them High Valyrian.[4] Sweets is rather droll and astute - she titters a ghastly titter at Penny's naïveté as to their fate if Yezzan dies. Sweets is fond of her master, Yezzan.[5] Because Sweets is Yezzan's "special pet", indulged and favored, she is hated by Yezzan's other slaves.[5]
Sweets is referred to by the pronouns she/her by Tyrion Lannister,[4][5] but occasionally as he/him, by Tyrion and by Yezzan's serjeant Scar.[5]
Recent Events
A Dance with Dragons
Along with the rest of Yezzan zo Qaggaz's "special treasures", Sweets accompanies her master to the Yunkai encampment outside of Meereen. During the Windblown's march to Meereen, Dick Straw tells Quentyn Martell some of the gossip about Yezzan and his passion for grotesques, including word that among his slaves is a hermaphrodite[N 2] who warms his bed at night.[6]
Yezzan purchases Penny and Tyrion Lannister for his grotesquerie. His overseer, Nurse, introduces them to Sweets, who reveals what is under her skirts. Sweets is loathed by some slaves because she is the master's favorite, but she is friendly and candid with Tyrion and Penny, warning them to be careful around Nurse.[4] Sweets identifies Ben Plumm to Tyrion, before he and Penny are summoned to perform during Yezzan's banquet held in Yurkhaz zo Yunzak's honor.[4]
When Yezzan contracts the pale mare, it falls to Sweets, Penny, Tyrion, and his other treasures to attend to him. Tyrion thinks to himself that Sweets was right in that Yezzan was not so bad as masters went. When Tyrion tells Penny sardonically that they are all going to die, Sweets gives them a desperate look, and replies that Yezzan "must not die". Unlike Penny, Sweets is under no illusions as to their fate if Yezzan dies. She remarks to Penny that favorites sometimes accompany their masters to the grave and serve him in the afterlife. Tyrion thinks that Sweets should know, as his will be the first throat slit.[5]
When the goat boy hopefully mentions the slave-freeing Queen Daenerys Targaryen, Sweets replies that she is dead, drowned in the Dothraki Sea, either not knowing that the Dothraki Sea is grassland and not water, or making an ironic pun. When Tyrion informs Sweets that they will see to fetching fresh water for the master, Sweets sounds numb when she replies that this is good of Tyrion, causing Tyrion to realize that Sweets's numbness is caused by more than just the fear of being killed - Sweets had truly been fond of Yezzan, the only one of Yezzan's treasures to feel that way.[5]
Tyrion uses the task of fetching water to escape with Penny, as well as his knowledge of how Yezzan's other slaves feel about Sweets. Tyrion commands Yezzan's brutal and stupid serjeant, Scar, to take pails and fetch water, and when Scar is insulted at being ordered around by a slave and strikes him, Tyrion claims that Sweets said Yezzan must have water. Scar insults Sweets, saying he doesn't take orders from him either. Scar orders Tyrion and Penny to fetch the water, and Tyrion manipulates him into letting them go with Jorah Mormont as well. As they are escaping to the camp of the Second Sons, Penny becomes distressed at leaving her animals, Pretty Pig and the dog Crunch, and Tyrion lies to her and says Sweets will make sure they're taken care of.[5]
Later in the Second Sons' camp, Penny says they had been better off with Yezzan, saying they were his favorites, like Sweets. To shock Penny out of her listlessness, Tyrion lies to her and tells her that Yezzan's special slaves are all dead from the pale mare, and that Sweets was the first to go.[7] The fate of Sweets is unknown, although according to a semi-canon source, she did die of the pale mare.[2]
Quotes
—Sweets, to Tyrion Lannister and Penny
Sweets: Yezzan must not die.
Penny: Some masters free their slaves when they die.
Sweets: Only favorites. They free them from the woes of the world, to accompany their beloved master to the grave and serve him in the afterlife.[5]
—Sweets and Penny
His will be the first throat slit.[5]
—Tyrion Lannister's thoughts on Sweets's fate if Yezzan dies
Sweets sounded numb. It was more than just fear of having her throat cut; alone amongst Yezzan's treasures, she actually seemed fond of their immense master.[5]
—thoughts of Tyrion Lannister
Tyrion: Sweets said the master must have water.
Scar: Sweets can go fuck himself. He's made for it. We don't take commands from that freak neither.[5]—Tyrion Lannister and Scar
The hermaphrodite had long been their master's special pet, indulged and favored, and the noble Yezzan's other slaves hated him for it.[5]
—thoughts of Tyrion Lannister
Notes
- ↑ An assumption based on Sweets's purple eyes. However, as people not of Valyrian descent may also have purple eyes,[1] it may not be correct.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Equivalent to intersex in the real-world. "Hermaphrodite" is the term used in the novel, and conveys by association the beliefs and attitudes regarding intersex conditions that one would find in the setting.[3]
References
- ↑ So Spake Martin: Event Horizon Chat (March 18, 1999).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Sweets.
- ↑ wiki comment by Elio Garcia (January 9, 2017)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 47, Tyrion X.
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 57, Tyrion XI.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 25, The Windblown.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 66, Tyrion XII.