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According to the book A Game of Thrones it said that once a Dothraki was defeated their hair was cut. If this was the case, why wasn't Drogo's hair cut?

Wasn't he defeated by the Magician woman who healed him, didn't she set things into motion that killed him and his son? Does this count as defeat or is there no information to this?

And I know that Danaerys was "protecting" the body, but if the other Dothraki could belittle him more and take away his remaining honor wouldn't they have done so. Does the book say something like they knew his hair should have been cut, but Danaerys didn't do it anyway.

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    From the title in the hot list I thought this question was about TLOTR... I'm quite disappointed.
    – Bakuriu
    Jun 27, 2014 at 13:26
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    the Dothraki rulebook probably has an asterisk that if you're turned into a vegetable, you're exempt from the haircut stipulation. The point is to display your prowess in battle via how long your hair is - obviously a vegetable can't misrepresent itself as a great warrior.
    – coburne
    Jun 27, 2014 at 17:32
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    Actually, the Dothraki do cover this: If you can't ride, we won't feed you, and if you have anything, we kill you and take it from you.
    – David Wilkins
    Jun 27, 2014 at 19:13
  • @Pobrecita, That would be like saying that the Khals who retreat when city rulers close their gates and put on a formidable defense should cut their hair. Khals leave for cities where "people are more brave and do not hide behind walls" as Jhiqui, Irri told Daenerys in siege of Meereen.
    – Aegon
    Aug 11, 2016 at 4:31
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    The winner cuts the hair of the loser and takes it as a trophy. Kind of like the tradition of scalping by both colonials and Native Americans in North America. There's not some hair-cutter "referee" who goes and collects it, or keeps score and says "hey, you lost last week, your hair is too long." My question would be more: when do the Dothraki ever fight NOT to the death where the cutting of hair becomes relevant?
    – PoloHoleSet
    Sep 21, 2016 at 13:51

2 Answers 2

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You seem to have forgotten, he would have to "Lose a battle". He didn't. He won the fight and battle, and died of his "wounds".

Whenever they lose a battle they must cut their braids as a sign of defeat.

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    Exactly. They're a tribe of nomad warriors; poisoning someone would be cheating, a sign of weakness and cowardice on the part of the poisoner rather than some sort of clever, honourable victory.
    – evilsoup
    Jun 27, 2014 at 9:28
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The Dothraki have an intense dislike of magic. Even if a Maegi were to cast a fireball to beat a Dothraki warrior in combat, I highly doubt that this would require the warrior to cut his braids as it was never a real combat, the maegi cheated.

I also do not think that a warrior would have to cut their braids if they get shot by an enemy they can not see for example, because it was never a battle to begin with. The cutting of hair is a sign of lost honor, of losing a fight you should have won. If you get tricked you were never in a battle of honor in the first place.

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