Where is the logic in castrating fighters?

Question

This came up on another question, where in A Song of Ice and Fire (the books Game of Thrones is based on), the Unsullied have all of their genitalia removed, not just the penis.

"In Yunkai and Meereen, eunuchs are often made by removing a boy's testicles, but leaving the penis. Such a creature is infertile, yet often still capable of erection. Only trouble can come of this. We remove the penis as well, leaving nothing. The Unsullied are the purest creatures on the earth." He gave Dany and Arstan another of his broad white smiles. "I have heard that in the Sunset Kingdoms men take solemn vows to keep chaste and father no children, but live only for their duty. Is it not so?"

_{-- A Storm of Swords, chapter Daenerys II}

Removal of the penis makes sense in such a context, both to force obedience and to degrade the soldiers, but if you castrate a man then he loses most/all(?) of his ability to produce testosterone. Testosterone, being desirable for a soldier that relies on strength and fighting prowess, would be foolish to get rid of.

So for a (supposedly) elite army, why would it make sense to do so?

Answer 1

The Unsullied are an analog of the Roman Legion.

The most important quality in a legionnaire wasn't his testosterone fueled aggression, it was discipline.

In fact - when holding a shield wall - the last thing you wanted was a hothead beside you breaking formation and bringing the attack to the enemy. You held, the guys behind you pistoned their spears forwards between your shields, you did up close work with your Gladius (short sword).

Fully castrating the unsullied removed a major distraction, their upbringing/training forged them into perfect Legionnaires. They ignore wounds, hold the shield wall, and slowly and carefully wear down their attackers. They were made almost into automata, no humanity, no distractions. They would hold or advance as commanded, regardless of what was thrown at them.

Their lack of testosterone worked in their Master's favor.

Answer 2

The existing answers already cover the question, I will just add a quote, from the same chapter as yours, where Daenerys had the same concerns and poses the same question to Kraznys mo Nakloz:

Some of the soldiers were tall and some were short. They ranged in age from fourteen to twenty, she judged. Their cheeks were smooth, and their eyes all the same, be they black or brown or blue or grey or amber. They are like one man, Dany thought, until she remembered that they were no men at all. The Unsullied were eunuchs, every one of them. "Why do you cut them?" she asked Kraznys through the slave girl. "Whole men are stronger than eunuchs, I have always heard."

"A eunuch who is cut young will never have the brute strength of one of your Westerosi knights, this is true," said Kraznys mo Nakloz when the question was put to him. "A bull is strong as well, but bulls die every day in the fighting pits. A girl of nine killed one not three days past in Jothiel's Pit. The Unsullied have something better than strength, tell her. They have discipline. We fight in the fashion of the Old Empire, yes. They are the lockstep legions of Old Ghis come again, absolutely obedient, absolutely loyal, and utterly without fear." _{-- A Storm of Swords, chapter Daenerys II}

Answer 3

It is worth mentioning that the Unsullied were never really meant to operate as a whole elite army.

They were known as the best infantry in the world, but mostly sold as slaves perhaps in batches of 10 to 100. Not necessarily just to regents intending to use them in war, but to also to merchants and similar, who wished to use them in times of peace.

Clients who perhaps wished to avoid having soldiers constantly in search for either money, booze or women. And so their discipline outside combat might be just as important as their discipline in combat. Idle, undisciplined soldiers means trouble.

Answer 4

Soldiers do not need to be strong to fight. Soldiers do not need to be skilled at fighting to fight well. All a soldier needs to be able to do is obey orders without question or hesitation. And most importantly to never break formation or retreat from the fight.

Battles--especially during the middle ages--are fought until one side loses the will to fight. War is not about killing your enemy it is about convincing your enemy to give up and stop resisting. They are about breaking your enemies will to fight, so that they become subservient to you.

The unsullied are an elite army because they are disciplined and do not fear death or pain. They will continue on fighting when other soldiers would have run in terror for their lives.

Answer 5

There are three aspects to consider:

1. Where is in-universe logic in castrating the Unsullied?
2. Is that move logical according to real world?
3. Is that move logical in Westeros?

First question can be easily answered. It is all about control. Men with less testosterone (and Unsullied would have next to none) are more docile, less motivated and less intelligent. All of these make them much less effective soldiers, but also far less likely to rebel against authority.

Second question, answer is no. Look at the effects of castration:

• long limb bones
• incomplete bone fusion
• low bone density

Now, long limb bones are not necessarily a disadvantage in a medieval combat... but are very much a disadvantage in an ancient phalanx, which is what Unsullied are modelled after. Phalangite combat is a pushing or showing match, and having low centre of gravity is actually advantage there, as are short limbs and high physical strength. Incomplete bone fusion and low bone density would also make eunuchs much more fragile and easily injured.

Further, lack of testosterone damages the immune system. This is a real killer, as historically, most of deaths in medieval campaigns were due to disease, not injury - in fact, Second World War was the first war in which deaths due to disease did not outnumber deaths due to combat.

Third question, answer is also no. Kraznys Mo Nakloz is a used car salesman of Honest John's Dealership fare. In short, he is a liar. There is no evidence in books that Westerosi armies are undisciplined. I wrote about it more extensively in the link below, but in short, Westerosi armies are in fact highly-trained, highly-disciplined professional and semi-professional militaries. They are not - with few exceptions - rabble of untrained peasants. Between greater individual ability, insignificant advantage in discipline, and significant advantage in combined arms tactics, average Westerosi army would steamroll the Unsullied.

Answer 6

It's just a splashy shock element for TV entertainment.

There is no sane reason why one would want to do this, nor an explanation inhowfar it might be beneficial or even non-detrimental. It's just "Woah, gross. An army of eunuch robots, they gotta be super tough".

Realistically, castrating adolescent boys (and traumatizing them further, as depicted) will not only give you adult men which are not "men" by their externally observable appearance or the insignificant fact that they have no reproductive organs. It will give you an army of seriously disabled, disturbed individuals which are very much unsuitable as soldiers, let alone an intimidating army.

Leaving out some other very practical problems, just look at testosterone (which is really only one small thing in the big picture). Any serious testosterone deficiency, let alone complete absence does desastrous things in adults, and even moreso in adolescents.

Testosterone is not just about growing muscle and being aggressive. Lack of testosterone causes very significant physical and psychological deficiencies, such as short statue, gynecomastia, anxiety, depression, fatigue, a diversity of minor psychological conditions.
And finally, yes, it also causes bad skeletal muscle performance. None of that is what makes an elite soldier or an elite guard, it's pretty much the opposite of what you want. Especially where it comes to the "anxiety" part.

That, and your men will not even look like men because their faces will forever remain the faces of 12-14 year old boys. Put them in black leather and give them nothing but a shield and a spear when even the most uninformed horse-banging Dothraki realizes the occasional usefulness of using a bow in combat. Awesome.

I mean, what's the purpose of such an army? Unless your enemy dies from laughing, there's no way such an army could be victorious.