A Dragon Is Not a Slave in High Valyrian — The Astapor Line Explained

Quick Answer: "A dragon is not a slave" in High Valyrian is Zaldrīzes buzdari iksos daor. Word by word: zaldrīzes "dragon," buzdari "slave," iksos "is," daor "not." Daenerys Targaryen says it in Game of Thrones Season 3, Episode 4, in Astapor, just before she orders Drogon to burn the slaver Kraznys mo Nakloz. Say it roughly zal-DREE-zes BOOZ-da-ri IK-sos DAH-or.

Few lines of invented language have landed as hard as this one. For most of the episode Daenerys plays a foreign queen who needs a translator. Then she speaks four words of High Valyrian, and everyone in the square, and everyone watching, realizes she understood everything. This guide breaks the line down word by word, explains the grammar and pronunciation, and puts it back in its scene.

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The Line

Zaldrīzes buzdari iksos daor. "A dragon is not a slave."

Notice there is no word for "a." High Valyrian has no articles, so zaldrīzes can mean "a dragon" or "the dragon" depending on context. Here the sense is general: dragons, as a kind of creature, are not slaves. That is why the line works as a statement of principle and not only as a description of Drogon.

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Word by Word

Zaldrīzes — dragon. This is the standard High Valyrian word for the creature, used across both Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. It belongs to the lunar gender, the class High Valyrian uses for powerful, animate beings. The macron on ī marks a long vowel, and it also decides where the stress falls.

Buzdari — slave. The plain noun. In a scene set in a slave city, built on the trade in people, the word does a lot of work: Kraznys has just treated a dragon as one more thing to buy.

Iksos — is. A form of sagon, "to be." You will also see issa in other High Valyrian lines meaning "is." Both are forms of the same verb. This post sticks to the form Daenerys actually uses here rather than guessing at the rule that chooses between them.

Daor — not. High Valyrian's negation word, which also works on its own as "no." In this sentence it comes at the end of the clause, after the verb. English puts "not" in the middle; High Valyrian saves it for last, which gives the line its closing punch.

For more on how the noun genders and verb forms work, see the High Valyrian Grammar Guide.

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How to Pronounce It

Three tips:

1. Hold the long ī. Drī takes about twice as long as a short vowel. Because it is long, that syllable is heavy and takes the stress.
2. Do not stress the middle of buzdari. The second syllable is short and open, so the stress moves back to the first: BOOZ-da-ri.
3. Tap the R. High Valyrian R is a quick tap or a light roll, as in Spanish or Italian, never the American R.

The stress rule behind all of this is explained step by step in the High Valyrian Pronunciation Guide.

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The Scene in Astapor

Game of Thrones, Season 3, Episode 4, "And Now His Watch Is Ended" (2013).

Daenerys has come to Astapor to buy the Unsullied, an army of slave soldiers. The slaver Kraznys mo Nakloz handles the sale and speaks to her through his translator, Missandei. Throughout the negotiation he insults Daenerys in Valyrian, sure that the foreign queen cannot understand, and Missandei softens his words.

The price Daenerys agrees to is Drogon, her largest dragon. At the handover she gives Kraznys Drogon's chain and takes the whip that commands the Unsullied. When Drogon will not follow his new owner, Kraznys complains. Daenerys answers him herself, in High Valyrian: Zaldrīzes buzdari iksos daor. Then comes dracarys. Drogon burns Kraznys, Daenerys orders the Unsullied to kill the masters, and Astapor falls.

One detail makes the scene sharper on a second watch. Kraznys speaks Astapori Valyrian, a Low Valyrian dialect, the everyday descendant of the old language. Daenerys answers in High Valyrian, the classical form. She does not just reveal that she understood him. She answers in the more prestigious form of his own language.

For the rest of Daenerys's lines in this speech and later seasons, see Daenerys High Valyrian Quotes. For the command that follows, see Dracarys Meaning.

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Why the Line Lands

The sentence is simple, and that is the point. It is four words, with no subordinate clauses and no flourish. Daenerys spent the scene being talked about as if she were absent. The line takes back the right to say what things are. Kraznys sold her a deal in which a dragon was property. She ends the deal by stating that it never was.

It also works on the audience. Until this moment viewers heard Valyrian through Missandei's softened translations, the same way Daenerys appeared to. The line shows us we were in the same position as Kraznys: we did not know what she knew.

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Using the Line Yourself

Zaldrīzes buzdari iksos daor is attested: written for the show, spoken on screen, and consistent with Peterson's grammar. That makes it safe to quote, print, or use in a design. If you want it as a tattoo, copy the spelling exactly, macron included. Zaldrizes without the macron is a common error. High Valyrian Tattoo Phrases covers spelling and placement.

Be careful about building variations such as "a wolf is not a slave" by swapping the first word. Nouns of different genders take different endings, and the result may not be correct. Use attested words and check the grammar first.

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Want to test your Daenerys knowledge? Try the Tengwar Quiz. Type a topic like "Daenerys in Astapor" and get an AI-generated quiz you can share with other fans.

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People Also Ask

How do you say "a dragon is not a slave" in High Valyrian? Zaldrīzes buzdari iksos daor: "dragon," "slave," "is," "not."

When does Daenerys say "a dragon is not a slave"? In Season 3, Episode 4, "And Now His Watch Is Ended," in Astapor, right before she orders Drogon to burn Kraznys mo Nakloz.

Why is the scene so famous? It reveals that Daenerys understood every insult Kraznys spoke in Valyrian, and it turns the sale of a dragon into the fall of Astapor.

How do you pronounce it? Roughly zal-DREE-zes BOOZ-da-ri IK-sos DAH-or, holding the long ī.

Related Reading

• Daenerys High Valyrian Quotes — Every Line Explained
• Dracarys Meaning — What Daenerys Actually Says in High Valyrian
• High Valyrian Pronunciation Guide
• High Valyrian Grammar Guide
• 50 Essential High Valyrian Words
• Is High Valyrian a Real Language?
• 50+ High Valyrian Words & Phrases (With Meanings)

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High Valyrian is not a taught course on Tengwar, but David J. Peterson's other Game of Thrones language, Dothraki, is, alongside Elvish and Klingon, with structured lessons and an AI tutor. Start Dothraki free at /learn/200 →