#Kraznys is such a textbook villain

[fedonciadale]

If unsullied were not treated cruelly by their masters and it was shown to Dany, do you think she would still buy the army the way she did in books? I think Dany was more appalled by slave treatment than slavery. She herself was sold to Drogo and while she is still traumatized by what happened to her, she still think marrying lamb women to Dothraki is solution for their rape.

Hi there!

this is an interesting question. The thing is that Dany had no money to buy the Unsullied in the first place and I think she never intended to part with one of her dragons.

She thinks she has to get an army if she wants to conquer Westeros and it never crosses her mind that the solution could be not to try to conquer Westeros.

In ASOS Daenerys II it is clear that while Dany is appalled at the treatment of the Unsullied the questions she wonders about is whether the Unsullied will serve her purpose. Barristan Selmy does not want her to buy them because he doesn't want to use slaves and he fears what it would do for her repuation. Jorah Mormont gives her the advice to use the Usullied though. He explicitly tells her that the moral high ground will gain her nothing:

“My queen,” the big man said slowly, “all you say is true. But Rhaegar lost on the Trident. He lost the battle, he lost the war, he lost the kingdom, and he lost his life. His blood swirled downriver with the rubies from his breastplate, and Robert the Usurper rode over his corpse to steal the Iron Throne. Rhaegar fought valiantly, Rhaegar fought nobly, Rhaegar fought honorably. And Rhaegar died.”

In the next chapter Dany buys the Unsullied and it is interesting that her freeing that she throws away the symbol of her rule over them only after she gave the order to kill the slavers (and everyone who wears a tokar).

She takes Jorah's advice not to listen to her qualms but to fight "dirty" instead of valiant,y nobly, and honorably. She pretends to buy the Unsullied for a dragon (and Illyrio's goods that do not even belong to her) and then she does not pay but instigates the Unsullied to rebel or rather she commands them to slay their former masters. Thus she didn't pay, and she's yet in possession of the Unsullied.

I think that the only effect the gruesome training of the Unsullied has on her decisions is that she can feel as a freedom fighter.

"Unsullied!" Dany galloped before them, her silver-gold braid flying behind her, her bell chiming with every stride. "Slay the Good Masters, slay the soldiers, slay every man who wears a tokar or holds a whip, but harm no child under twelve, and strike the chains off every slave you see." She raised the harpy's fingers in the air . . . and then she flung the scourge aside. "Freedom!" she sang out. "Dracarys! Dracarys!"

She completely forgets what she has been told:

"The Good Master has said that these eunuchs cannot be tempted with coin or flesh," Dany told the girl, "but if some enemy of mine should offer them freedom for betraying me . . ."

"They would kill him out of hand and bring her his head, tell her that," the slaver answered. "Other slaves may steal and hoard up silver in hopes of buying freedom, but an Unsullied would not take it if the little mare offered it as a gift. They have no life outside their duty. They are soldiers, and that is all."

From that moment onward Dany's men are called freedmen, but if you look at it it is almost always her freedmen. It is interesting how GRRM does it. The contradiction is right there, in the text. They are freed and yet they are hers. Just look at how often the word freedmen is used in connection with a possessive pronoun!

So, yes, all in all, I think the treatment of the Unsullied made no difference as to the how Dany purchased them. She never intended to pay a price. Jorah Mormont gave her the advice to have no qualms about purchasing slaves and to fight dirty. And she did exactly that. She conned the Astapori and killed them and in the end she had money and slaves and the good feeling that she had given them their freedom.

I mean the whole chapter and how Kraznys treats Dany really is laid on rather thick if you think about it. The Astapori are certainly the worst, Kraznys is a sexist and classist asshole, a slaver directly copied from archetypes of villains. And this veils the fact that the Unsullied just change their master.

Thanks for the ask!