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game of thrones - How could Ser Jorah Mormont "find out" about the Second Sons?


In the TV adaptation, Game of Thrones, in the third season in the seventh episode, Daenerys and her Unsullied are parked outside of Yunkai. The messenger from the city comes to offer them gold and ships if they are willing to go away.


Alas, the mother of dragons cannot see people in chains, so she decides to put an unreasonable ultimatum so she will destroy Yunkai.


The ambassador, in return, says that they have friends who will put her army to death with great pleasure. After he leaves, Daenerys speaks with Ser Mormont about these "friends". She asks who they might be, and he says that he doesn't know. Her reply is for him to find out.


How? How would he find out? Would he knock on the city doors and ask people who are the mercenaries kept on retainer by the city leaders? Will he take out his smartphone and search on Google (I bet there's reasonable reception nearby such a glorious city)? Or in a classic Mel Brooks moment, he'll take out the script and search for the answer in the script?


Okay, all the above are fairly preposterous. But it serves to illustrate the point. It doesn't seem reasonable that he can "find out" in any way that doesn't involve engaging in war with the mercenaries to begin with...


Can anyone give a plausible explanation as to how he found out the answer without resorting to the above options?



Answer



About 5 minutes into the next episode: episode 8, season 3, Daenerys, Ser Jorah and Ser Barristan are standing behind some rocks looking at a group of warriors riding by:




Daenerys: Do you know them?
Ser Jorah: Only by the broken sword on their banners (*). They're called the Second Sons. They're lead by a bravoosi named Mero -- the Titan's Bastard.



(*) Confirmed on the wiki: The banner of the Second Sons is a broken sword.


So that is the answer in the TV-show, clearly: They find out in the next episode when Ser Jorah recognizes them. Back when Daenerys first asked Ser Jorah, there was no one there but the emissary from Yunkai, so he could not see them to recognize them.


Ser Jorah has spent a long time in Essos, selling his sword and travelling. He has lots of knowledge about Essos culture and factions. This is known from very early in the books, when we get to know Ser Jorah's tragic history. But I do not believe it is until A Dance with Dragons that we hear that he was once riding with the Second Sons.


I do not have a relevant quote to prove it, and I do not believe there is a good, short quote, but it is clearly described in Jorah's wiki page. It was more of a thing of Ser Jorah and the captains recognizing each other.


To be clear, just because Ser Jorah's affiliation with the Second Sons is in the books does not mean it should be in the TV-show, and Ser Jorah never lied to Dany about it in the books.


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