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She had mentioned that her dragons would be the only children she will have. Does this mean she does not want children or she can not conceive children?

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Mirri Maz Duur’s Prophecy was

"When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east," said Mirri Maz Duur. "When the seas go dry and mountains blow in the wind like leaves. When your womb quickens again, and you bear a living child. Then he will return, and not before."

This might or might not be a real prophecy, but the way it was said, it made us think that it would be almost impossible for Dany to have another child.

But it is not yet proven that she cannot.

I found an interesting theory on the Citadel:

Spoilers for A Dance with Dragons

For what it is worth, however, it seems just possible that A Dance with Dragons has satisfied most of the conditions if read metaphorically. Consider that Quentyn Martell -- "the Sun's son", referring to the Martell sun -- journeyed from the west to the east, where he died, that in Daenerys's last chapter she notes that the Dothraki sea is going dry and the grasses are dying, two of the pyramids of Meereen collapse in smoke and ash following Viserion and Rhaegel rampaging through the city and that she menstruates (or possibly suffers a miscarriage). This of course leaves us the need for a living child, and then the "return" of Drogo... though our speculation is that if she has a child, it will be a son that she names Drogo, thereby fulfilling Mirri's claim.

Update: Dany actually believes that she won't have any more children.

When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east, when the seas go dry and mountains blow in the wind like leaves. Only then would her womb quicken once again...

-- A Dance with Dragons, Daenerys IV

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    I thought in that scene she contracted the bloody flux because of the river water or the berries. Did I miss something? Thanks for the answer.
    – One-One
    Jun 27, 2014 at 8:48
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    Daenerys believes that she won't have any more children, but it's important to note that she's remembering the prophecy wrong. The original prophecy listed Dany's next pregnancy as just one of a list of otherwise-unrelated signs, which does not mean the same thing as what she seems to remember.
    – KutuluMike
    Jun 27, 2014 at 16:06
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    @One-One I don't remember exactly what it said but I think it was left very ambiguous what happened, other than Dany noting that she hadn't bled since she married Drogo. That may indicate that she recognize the bleeding as menstrual.
    – KutuluMike
    Jun 27, 2014 at 16:29
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    Regarding your spoiler and speculation: the mountains blowing in the wind like leaves could be Clegane's ashes. Jun 28, 2014 at 1:44
  • @One-One I read this a few weeks back and to me it read as if she had a miscarriage. She mentions in the chapter that she can't remember the last time she menstruated if it was the last moon or the one before. Jan 13, 2015 at 8:54
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I don't think she is barren, but you need to read through A Dance with Dragons to find out.

For most of the series so far, Dany has believed herself to be infertile, due to her miscarriage. Although Mirri Maz Duur's prophecy does not actually claim she is infertile, it's clear that what the witch is trying to imply. It's also obviously how Dany interprets the prophecy -- Duur basically listed a whole bunch of impossible things and included her becoming pregnant in the list, so Dany assumes the witch is telling her she cannot become pregnant.

But, it's important to note, that's not what the prophecy says. It lists a series of pre-conditions of Drogo's return, including Dany's giving birth again along with a few other, seemingly unrelated (and likely metaphorical) events.

It's also important to note that Dany got pregnant and had a miscarriage (a magically induce one, at that) almost as soon as she hit puberty. The kind of physical and emotional stress can cause havok with a women's fertility cycle. The fact that Dany stops menstruating after this point might indicate that she's infertile, or might indicate that she's got a serious hormone imbalance that is messing with her cycle.

In A Dance with Dragons, though, we get another clue:

She eats some unknown berries -- which we can speculate are moon berries, the ones that are used to make the abortion-inducing tea -- and suddenly has her period. This is strong support that she had some kind of hormonal issue and the moon berries may have pushed things back into gear.

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    Moon tea is made out of the flower tansy, mint, wormwood, a spoon of honey, and a drop of pennyroyal. Not berries.
    – TLP
    Jun 27, 2014 at 17:08
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    "Dany got pregnant and had a miscarriage (a magically [induced] one, at that) almost as soon as she hit puberty. The kind of physical and emotional stress can cause havok with a women's fertility cycle" - you and I have read some very different medical text-books... Jun 12, 2016 at 17:56
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Mirri hated Dany with a passion so its possible that she was just saying things to spite her, the smile she gives Dany implies that she knows something, as if she and Dany share a secret. Maybe what Mirri said is that secret. She had a reason to not see the Stallion prophecy fulfilled, hence why she may have killed Rhaego when he was born. A induced miscarriage and the pressure it would induce certainly would wreak havoc with her reproductive cycle. When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east, Quentyn Martell, When the oceans dry up, the Dothraki sea could lead to other misidentified prophecies, and when the mountains sway like trees in the wind. Gregor Clegane has already featured in a prophetic dream as a mountain sized giant and he visibly swayed in his fight against the Red Viper before finally collapsing.

So is Dany infertile? For women being unable to menstruate is a sign of infertility. For a time she certainly was incapable of conceiving, but if that is the case right now is unknown. She may be, she might not.

GRRM will likely shed light on that in later books. But then again this is GRRM and he may leave it undisclosed until the end of time.

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  • Welcome to the site. Unclear to me how this really answers the question. Appears to be mostly speculation and the 'She may be, she might not' is a non-answer. You'll find it helpful to take the tour and to review the section on answers.
    – Stan
    Jan 13, 2015 at 11:26
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"When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east," said Mirri Maz Duur. "When the seas go dry and mountains blow in the wind like leaves. When your womb quickens again, and you bear a living child. Then he will return, and not before."

She is giving examples of impossible things. This could be just another way of saying it will never happen. However, because she is being so specific and because we know GRRM's writing, we can infer that the examples she is given may actually take place at some point towards the end of the story. Perhaps its a way of saying the world as we know it will come to an end.

Someone in this thread mentioned that the sea's freezing due to the white walkers might qualify as the seas going dry. I was thinking the same thing.

Mountains blowing in the wind might be a reference to the wall falling down. The Horn of Winter is the only thing mentioned in the books capable of causing the wall to fall down but who knows, there may be other ways of causing its destruction.

When her womb quickens again, and she bears a living child may just mean that her condition of being unable to bear children is just temporary.

The tough one is the sun rising in the west and setting in the east. Is this just some vague reference to darkness falling across the world? Will the darkness begin in the east? Will it leave light only in the west for a short time as it continues to fall before darkness is everywhere?

I'm not sure but I do believe this prophecy is related to Melisandre's prophecy. “After the long summer, the darkness will fall heavy on the world. Stars will bleed. The cold breath of winter will freeze the seas, and the dead shall rise in the North.”

History will repeat itself, and when it does, a hero will be reborn.

"The Last Hero" who defended the realms of men by fighting in the Battle for the Dawn is expected to be reborn and save the world again. Said to be born again amid smoke and salt, heralded by a bleeding star, to wake dragons out of stone.

Well the bleeding star might have been the comet from an earlier episode, waking dragons from stone, well Dany did that already. Born again amidst smoke and salt may be Dany's rebirth in the fire where her dragons were born. Or perhaps all of these things will happen again and she will give birth to a new hero (The Last Hero) who will wake more dragons from stone. Also, could the reference to salt be connected to the Greyjoys in some way?

I'll sum this up by saying that I believe the world as they know it will end and a new generation will be tasked with rebuilding it. All the prophesies when examined together seem to point in this direction.

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She can have children. Her first child died because of blood magic as she walked into the tent where Drogo was being 'healed' and the witch told her that no one could enter as "death will dance here tonight". Also I think the witch planned to kill Daenerys's baby in the first place. Daenerys's baby for Drogo to live, sort of.

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Nobody knows for sure whether Daenerys is capable of bearing a child or not. Mirri Maz Duur comes up with a prophecy that includes:

When your womb quickens again, and you bear a living child.

This implies that Dany is incapable of bearing a child, but only because it is mentioned in the same breath as the other seemingly impossible conditions. Personally I think GRRM had something in mind when he wrote the words in that prophecy, and that those conditions will be met, e.g. (and this is just guesswork):

When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east

could refer to someone born in the west who dies in the east.

When the seas go dry

could refer to seas freezing if the Night King gets south of the wall.

I don't know whether Dany wants children but I think she thinks she can't have them, but that's not what the prophecy says. It's about Khal Drogo returning, but what would his return add to the story at this point?

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  • Also, the "when the seas go dry" statement could be in reference to the grass of the Dothraki Sea drying up as Winter approaches. Dany notes this change in the grass in her last chapter.
    – Speculator
    Aug 26, 2016 at 13:20
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Yes she can get pregnant and yes she can carry to term. I believe this. Maybe the prophecy will play out somehow or maybe the old witch lied to be more cruel then just taking her child and drogo but danearys thoughts as well.

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    We're looking for a bit more than your personal belief. Could you expand on this some?
    – Molag Bal
    Jun 12, 2016 at 17:20
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    Welcome to Stack Exchange! Do you have any evidence, or is this just your opinion? We generally expect answers here to be backed up either by canonical resources or solid reasoning. Have you taken our tour?
    – Rand al'Thor
    Jun 12, 2016 at 17:21

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