In “The Door,” Daenerys didn’t have very much to do. She gave an impassioned speech to Jorah and started her new Dothraki horde on the move. Their eventual destination is clearly Meereen, and then Westeros. And her new army makes Daenerys the most powerful military force in the known world. Dothraki, Unsullied, dragons, soon perhaps the Iron Fleet—she’ll be on her way soon enough, bringing the Dothraki to Westeros in “wooden horses.” And it will be a disaster—an orgy of destruction, as bad or worse than anything the White Walkers themselves could wreak.

The Dothraki Will Ruin Westeros Forever, If The White Walkers Don’t Do It First

The Dothraki are an incredibly powerful force, and now they are united for the first time. There is little question that, if they can get to Westeros, they’ll conquer it easily. Sieges will still be difficult—Westeros’s fortifications are stronger than anything we’ve seen in Essos outside of Qarth—but no Westerosi force in the field could stand against them. Not the ironborn reavers (who will side with them anyway), not Jon and Sansa’s northmen, not the Kingsguard and the royal army, certainly not the ragtag Faith Militant. The Dothraki will be a force of sheer havoc and destruction.

What Daenerys forgets—or doesn’t care about—is that the Dothraki are barbarians. She knows them well. They have brutal and violent practices, like slavery, rape and wholesale pillaging. Daenerys curbed the worst excesses of these practices as Drogo’s khaleesi, but didn’t succeed entirely. Now as the paramount leader of the Dothraki, she will surely try again. And she’ll fail again.

The entire Dothraki business model is built around plunder and destruction. Daenerys may be able to end slavery and rape in the Dothraki horde, somehow. But their power is based in great deal on their willingness to utterly destroy their enemies. That’s not going to change in Westeros. It may even get worse; it’s a rich, unspoilt land compared to Essos. Ever wonder why so much of Essos is empty plains, ruined cities and abandoned wilderness? That’s because of the Dothraki.

The worst that the White Walkers are going to do, as they eventually march through the North, is kill everyone and turn them into wights. Sounds crappy, but hey, at least you’re dead. The wights seem rather witless. The Dothraki will do far worse when they land in the South. Daenerys may stop them in King’s Landing, but sooner or later, they’ll put a city to the sword. The people of Highgarden, enslaved. Riverrun torn down brick by brick; Oldtown burned to the ground.

The Dothraki aren’t going to Westeros for a quick, decisive battle at King’s Landing and then a wholesale surrender by their foes. They’re going to Westeros explicitly to pillage, destroy, and grow wealthy by doing it. Think of the Mongol conquest of what became Russia. The yoke of tyranny lasted centuries. Half of Westeros may end up dead, in chains, or forced to subsist on the land like the meanest peasants if Daenerys can’t control them. The other half will just end up dead at the hands of the White Walkers. Pick your poison.