Daario Naharis

Character description

Daario is a confident and seductive warrior who is the commander of the Second Sons, a company of sellswords consisting of 500 mounted mercenaries.

He is an efficient killer, bloody and ruthless, though entirely devoted to Danaerys Targaryen.

Overview

Daario Naharis is not a point of view character in the novels, so his actions are witnessed and interpreted through the eyes of other people, especially Daenerys Targaryen. Daario is mostly a background character in the novels.

In the books

Daario Naharis a leader in the Second Sons mercenary company. Daario is won over by Daenerys and brings the Second Sons over to her side. He becomes romantically involved with her, eventually becoming one of her advisors. However, she later grows wary of his aggressive solutions to her problems. He is later given as a hostage to Yunkai to vouchsafe for Daenerys's good intentions.

Third season

Under the leadership of his Captain Mero and second in command Prendhal na Ghezn, the Second Sons are hired by the slaver city Yunkai to fight against Daenerys' army. Smitten with Daenerys, Daario refuses to obey his superiors when they decide to assassinate her, instead killing them and presenting their severed heads to Daenerys. With the Second Sons under his command, Daario and his men pledge their allegiance to Daenerys. He then assists Jorah Mormont and Grey Worm in opening the gates of Yunkai, allowing Daenerys' forces to conquer the city.

Fourth season

On the march to the neighbouring slaving city of Meereen, Daario unsuccessfully attempts to romance Daenerys. At the gates of Meereen, Daario volunteers to fight Meereen's champion in single combat, swiftly killing him before taunting the Meereenese by urinating in front of the city. After Daenerys conquers the city, Daario persuades her to take him as her lover. When Yunkai begins to rebel against Daenerys' rule, Daenerys sends him and Meereenese nobleman Hizdhar zo Loraq to negotiate with the city's masters.

Fifth season

Daario and Hizdhar are successful in their negotiations with the Yunkish, although they insist as part of the agreement to reopening the city's fighting pits. Daenerys initially refuses, despite Daario pointing out that his youth as a pit fighter gave him the skills necessary to join the Second Sons and meet her. Daenerys changes her mind after the Meereenese insurgency the Sons of the Harpy kill her advisor Ser Barristan Selmy, and takes Hizdhar as her husband, though she keeps Daario as her consort. After Daenerys flies off on her dragon Drogon during an attack by the Sons at the opening of the fighting pits, he and Jorah decide to leave Meereen to find her. Tyrion Lannister tries to join them, until Daario points out he is better suited to govern Meereen in Daenerys' absence.

Sixth season

Jorah and Daario discover that Daenerys has been captured by the Dothraki, and follow her to the sacred Dothraki city of Vaes Dothrak. They infiltrate the city and meet Daenerys, but she points out that they will be unable to escape the 100,000 Dothraki in the city. Daenerys instead sets fire to the Temple of the Dosh Khaleen, killing the khals but emerging unscathed. Amazed, the Dothraki bow down to Daenerys, with Daario eventually following suit. While Jorah leaves to find a cure for his greyscale, Daenerys and Daario march on Meereen with the Dothraki. While Daenerys flies on ahead on Drogon, Daario arrives at the gates of Meereen to find the Sons of the Harpy massacring freedmen, and leads the Dothraki charge to kill the Sons. With slavery finally abolished in Slaver's Bay, Daenerys decides to return to Westeros and reclaim the Iron Throne. However, she insists that Daario and the Second Sons remain to keep the peace. Daario is dismayed and declares his love for Daenerys, but ultimately agrees.

TV adaptation

Daario Naharis is played by the Dutch actor Michiel Huisman in the television adaption of the series of books, but was played by English actor Ed Skrein in Daario's first three appearances in season three.