High Valyrian Dialects Explained: Astapori & Meereenese
Not every “Valyrian” you hear in Game of Thrones is High Valyrian. The rough, clipped speech of the slave cities of Slaver’s Bay — Astapor, Yunkai, and Meereen — belongs to descendant dialects that diverged from High Valyrian over centuries, the way French and Spanish diverged from Latin. This guide to the High Valyrian dialects explains the two documented varieties, how they differ from the classical language, and why Daenerys Targaryen needed an interpreter.
Quick Answer
The documented High Valyrian dialects are Astapori Valyrian and Meereenese Valyrian, spoken in the slave cities of Slaver’s Bay. They descend from High Valyrian but diverged over centuries: sounds simplified, grammar eroded, and local Ghiscari words entered the vocabulary (Astapori mysa, “mother,” comes from Ghiscari mhysa). High Valyrian survives as the formal, classical prestige language, while the dialects are everyday street speech.
Why the High Valyrian Dialects Exist: The Doom and the Diaspora
High Valyrian was the language of the Valyrian Freehold, an empire of dragonlords whose capital fell in the Doom of Valyria, a cataclysm that shattered Valyrian civilization. The Freehold’s colonies survived — including the Ghiscari cities of Slaver’s Bay — but cut off from the homeland, their speech drifted. Over centuries, the colonists’ Valyrian absorbed words from the native Ghiscari tongue, simplified its sounds, and wore down its elaborate grammar.
This is a thoroughly realistic process. Real languages behave exactly this way: Latin fragmented into the Romance languages after Rome fell, and each daughter language mixed with local speech. Creator David J. Peterson designed the Valyrian dialects the same way a historical linguist would — by applying centuries of fictional sound change to High Valyrian and layering in Ghiscari influence. Our article on who created High Valyrian describes his method in more detail.
Astapori Valyrian
Astapori Valyrian is the best-documented of the High Valyrian dialects, heard extensively in season 3 when Daenerys negotiates for the Unsullied in Astapor. The slaver Kraznys mo Nakloz speaks it, and his interpreter Missandei renders it into High Valyrian for Daenerys — a nice in-story illustration of just how far the dialect has drifted from the classical tongue.
Documented features of Astapori include simplified forms of High Valyrian words: the pronoun nyke (“I”) becomes nyk, and case endings and inflections are visibly eroded. Ghiscari loans are common — mysa (“mother”) derives from Ghiscari mhysa rather than from any High Valyrian root. The overall impression is a working street language: shorter, blunter, and far less formal than its ancestor.
Meereenese Valyrian
Meereenese Valyrian is spoken in Meereen, the largest of the slave cities, and is less fully documented than Astapori. What the sources show is consistent with the same pattern: a local variety shaped by distance from Valyria and contact with Ghiscari speech. In the story, Missandei — herself from the region — serves as the bridge between the cities’ dialects and Daenerys’s High Valyrian, which underlines an important point: even fluent speakers treat these as genuinely different varieties, not just accents.
Because documentation is thinner here, claims about Meereenese should be read cautiously. The broad picture — a divergent descendant of High Valyrian with local influence — is well supported; fine grammatical details are less certain.
High Valyrian vs. Astapori: Documented Cognates
The following pairs are documented on the public wiki and show the dialect’s drift in miniature:
| High Valyrian | Astapori Valyrian | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| nyke | nyk | I (pronoun) | Final vowel dropped — typical simplification |
| morghon | murgho | death | Vowel shifts and reshaped ending |
| naejot | nejo | before, in front of | Shortened, repurposed form |
| mittys | mitty | fool | Simplified ending |
| zaldrizes | zaldrizes | dragon | Retained nearly unchanged |
| — (Ghiscari mhysa) | mysa | mother | Borrowed from Ghiscari, not inherited from High Valyrian |
| — | Torgo Nudho | “Grey Worm” | Documented Astapori name: nudha relates to “grey” |
Notice the pattern: everyday words erode fastest, prestigious or technical terms (like “dragon”) survive intact, and gaps get filled by borrowing — exactly what historical linguistics predicts.
How the Dialects Differ from High Valyrian
- Phonology: sounds merge and final syllables drop, so words become shorter and less distinct than their High Valyrian ancestors.
- Grammar: the eight-case system and fine inflectional distinctions of High Valyrian appear worn down; the dialects lean more on word order and helper words, drifting toward the analytical style of English.
- Vocabulary: Ghiscari loans fill everyday slots (kinship terms, local objects), while High Valyrian words survive mainly in formal, religious, or technical use.
- Status: High Valyrian remains the prestige variety — the language of ritual, diplomacy, and the Targaryens — while the dialects are the speech of the marketplace and the barracks.
The relationship mirrors Latin and its Romance daughters: nobody in Astapor would mistake their street speech for the classical tongue, but a trained ear (like Missandei’s) can hear the ancestry.
Can You Learn the High Valyrian Dialects?
High Valyrian is the practical starting point: it is fully documented, with a dictionary, phrase collections, and translation tools to support learners. Astapori is partially documented on the wiki — enough to recognize its patterns and decode show dialogue — while Meereenese has the thinnest documentation of all. Learn the parent language first; the dialects then read as systematic variations on rules you already know, rather than as chaos.
For the broader story of the language family, see our complete guide to High Valyrian and the tale of the Doom of Valyria that set the dialects adrift.
Related Valyrian Tools
- Valyrian to English translator — decode High Valyrian text into English
- English to Valyrian translator — render English phrases in High Valyrian
- High Valyrian dictionary — look up documented words and meanings
- High Valyrian phrases — common phrases with English translations
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the High Valyrian dialects?
The two documented dialects are Astapori Valyrian (spoken in Astapor) and Meereenese Valyrian (spoken in Meereen), both in Slaver’s Bay. They are descendant varieties of High Valyrian, changed by centuries of separation and Ghiscari influence.
Is Astapori Valyrian the same as High Valyrian?
No. Astapori descends from High Valyrian but has simplified sounds and grammar and absorbed Ghiscari vocabulary. In the show, Daenerys needs Missandei to interpret between the two — they are mutually difficult, like Latin and Italian.
What does “mhysa” mean?
Mhysa is the Ghiscari word for “mother,” borrowed into Astapori Valyrian as mysa. It famously appears when the freed slaves of Yunkai hail Daenerys as their mhysa — their mother.
Why does Daenerys need a translator in Slaver’s Bay?
Because she speaks classical High Valyrian while the locals speak divergent dialects. The scene is realistic: a Latin scholar dropped into medieval Naples would face the same problem.
Which dialect is best documented?
Astapori Valyrian, the best documented of the High Valyrian dialects, thanks to the extended Astapor storyline in season 3. Meereenese Valyrian is considerably less documented, so detailed claims about it should be treated with caution.
Should I learn High Valyrian or a dialect first?
High Valyrian. It is the fully documented parent language, and knowing it makes the High Valyrian dialects’ changes — dropped endings, shifted vowels, borrowed words — legible instead of confusing.
The High Valyrian dialects are a masterclass in fictional historical linguistics: living proof that a language designed for television can have not just grammar and vocabulary, but a past. High Valyrian is the classical monument; Astapori and Meereenese are what happened when real people got hold of it.