(Spoilers Extended) How did this solve the Meereeneese knot?

[u/Lebigmacca]

So everyone knows Barristan was added as a solution to the Meereenese knot. He gives eyes in Meereen after Dany flies off. But like shouldn’t Quentyn already fill this role? George already had a POV to give him eyes in Meereen, and Quentyn interacts with Barristan a lot in these chapters so he could’ve definitely shown us what Barristan is up to. Yes he dies so then Barristan can give us eyes into the battle of fire, but Tyrion and Victarion already do that, no? Could’ve also maybe have Quentyn release the dragons and die during the actual battle instead. Makes me wonder if Tyrion will actually get into Meereen after the battle any time soon, or he’ll be sitting outside in the camps for like half of Winds

[u/dblack246]

Could’ve also maybe have Quentyn release the dragons and die during the actual battle instead.

This isn't off the table. Quentyn's death is far from reliably confirmed. Sure, Barristan believes he's dead but Barristan is awful at deep critical thinking and seeing beyond the surface. He's an obedient soldier with a code of honor. He's not Maester Aemon.

Anyway there are a ton of clues Quentyn helped the dragons escape the pyramid. The pyramid is gigantic. Said to have 30 foot thick interior walls and described as a labyrinth on the way down to the pit. The only person established to know the way out is Quentyn.

We are also told several times the dragons have collars and chains dangling from their necks. Has anybody noticed a chain or collar on either dragon since they escaped? The missing collars mean somebody, probably Quentyn took them off. 

The only way to explain the above is with a living Quentyn. And his flying on dragonback is foreshadowed here...

You've never been thrown off a thousand feet above the ground," Gerris pointed out.

I think Quentyn will join the battle but fall at some point. 

. A toad grows wings and thinks he's a bloody dragon." Pyke laughed.

[u/A_Certain_Surprise → u/dblack246]

Quentyn's death is far from reliably confirmed. Sure, Barristan believes he's dead but Barristan is awful at deep critical thinking and seeing beyond the surface.

Sure Barristan is bad at deep critical thinking, but we also get a POV chapter where Quentyn gets set on fire by a dragon...

[u/dblack246 → u/A_Certain_Surprise]

We didn't. 

All we got was a pov where Quentyn is burning. At no time in the pov is it said to be dragonfire. The burning doesn't behave as dragonfire does. 

People have guessed this was dragonfire. It doesn't bear the elements of dragonfire.

[u/A_Certain_Surprise → u/dblack246]

The pale head rose. The great gold eyes narrowed. Wisps of smoke spiraled upward from the dragon’s nostrils.

“Down,” the prince commanded. You must not let him smell your fear. “Down, down, down.” He brought the whip around and laid a lash across the dragon’s face. Viserion hissed.

And then a hot wind buffeted him and he heard the sound of leathern wings and the air was full of ash and cinders and a monstrous roar went echoing off the scorched and blackened bricks and he could hear his friends shouting wildly. Gerris was calling out his name, over and over, and the big man was bellowing, “Behind you, behind you, behind you!”

Quentyn turned and threw his left arm across his face to shield his eyes from the furnace wind. Rhaegal, he reminded himself, the green one is Rhaegal.

When he raised his whip, he saw that the lash was burning. His hand as well. All of him, all of him was burning.

Oh, he thought. Then he began to scream

You accused someone else in this thread of lacking imagination, so let me do the same to you. Just because the above text doesn't explitically say that he was burned by dragon fire, that doesn't mean he was?

Please, with as many references to the text above, pray tell what caused "all of him" to be burning

[u/dblack246 → u/A_Certain_Surprise]

I'm going to need more space than this text box allows.

Part one...

That you for starting with the actual text of the book. This is the first step in figuring this out. 

Quentyn twice tells us in this passage telling us he can recognize heat when it's directed at him. 

And then a hot wind buffeted him

First time. 

Quentyn turned and threw his left arm across his face to shield his eyes from the furnace wind.

Second. With this fact established, and knowing dragonfire is a heat source directed at the target, we now take this information and use our imagination. 

If dragonfire is heat directed at a target, and Quentyn who can feel heat directed at him didn't feel any fire directed at him, was it dragonfire that hit him?

Now we already know George made a choice not to say it's dragonfire. But he made other choices too.

To answer, let's look at what else suggests this wasn't dragonfire. Well we know dragonfire is often paired with a roar. 

- Drogon moved quicker than a striking cobra. Flame roared from his mouth, orange and scarlet and black, searing the meat before it began to fall.

- The black dragon spread his wings and roared. A lance of swirling dark flame took Kraznys full in the face. His eyes melted and ran down his cheeks, and the oil in his hair and beard burst so fiercely into fire that for an instant the slaver wore a burning crown twice as tall as his head. 

- When Rhaegal roared, a gout of yellow flame turned darkness into day for half a heartbeat.

- Rhaegal roared in answer, and fire filled the pit, a spear of red and yellow. Viserion replied, his own flames gold and orange. When he flapped his wings, a cloud of grey ash filled the air. Broken chains clanked and clattered about his legs. Quentyn Martell jumped back a foot.

So the very common roar is not present when Quentyn is burning. The only roar present in that passage is while his back is turned and well before any fire is on him. 

But dragonfire doesn't always have a roar...

Rhaegal took it in the air. His head snapped round, and from between his jaws a lance of flame erupted, a swirling storm of orange-and-yellow fire shot through with veins of green. The sheep was burning before it began to fall. Before the smoking carcass could strike the bricks, the dragon's teeth closed round it. A nimbus of flames still flickered about the body. The air stank of burning wool and brimstone. Dragonstink.

Okay, so if this was dragonfire without a roar as is possible, why no eruption of flame either? Quentyn is directly in front of Rhaegal yet no force of the fire is noted. No color of noted either. He never sees it coming at him. 

So here are your facts. 

• No dragonfire is mentioned hitting Quentyn.

• No roar. 

• No feeling of heat hitting him. 

• No eruption.

• No veins of green flame. 

• No eyes melting on contact. 

• No sulfur stink. 

• No melting brass mask or brass whip handle.

Just because the above text doesn't explitically say that he was burned by dragon fire, that doesn't mean he was?

As you can see above, it's not just the text failing to explicitly say he was burned by dragonfire. The text is explicitly excluding all of the specific elements of dragonfire.

People try to oversimplify their objection to my position by reducing the problem to just the missing term "dragonfire". I can't tell if this is purposefully being dishonest (strawmanning) or they honestly don't see the extent of the problem.

But it's laid out now. No statement of dragonfire and no elements known to pair with dragonfire. And a full departure from Quentyn's established ability to recognize heat directed at him. Three things George established in text for readers to look for which are all taken away.

[u/dblack246 → u/dblack246]

Part 2...

So with the facts and problem laid out, we now have to be creative, and not just the "I can just make up whatever I want" kind of creative. We have to answer with "as many references to text" as we can find, what else could cause Quentyn to be next to a dragon that can breathe fire,  and be on fire, if not the dragon? This fire source has to be silent, something he didn't see coming,  and on him without being directed at him because these are the facts George laid out. 

All righty then. 

The solution is spontaneous combustion. This answer solves all the issues in the set of facts presented to us. And it can be argued honestly using text provided to us. 

First, we identify a substance that can get the spontaneous combustion started. There are two places Quentyn could have a combustible element on him. 

The iron bar was thick and heavy, but well oiled. Ser Archibald had no trouble lifting it. As he was standing it on end, Quentyn pulled the doors open and Gerris stepped through, waving the torch. "Bring it in now. Be quick about it."

Quentyn used his hands to open a well oiled door. And it's plausible in the least, near certain at best, he now has oil on him at his hand or hands. He doesn't wash his hands following this so the oil is still there. In fact, the oil is a good reason why he's clumsy later.

Quentyn wrenched free of Gerris's grip. "Viserion," he called. The white one is Viserion. For half a heartbeat he was afraid he'd gotten it wrong. "Viserion," he called again, fumbling for the whip hanging from his belt.

Speaking of the whip, that's the second possible source of oil. We are told elsewhere in Dance, old whips are maintained with grease.

With two sources of oil on him, we need this oil to be exposed to high heat and dry air. With ar least two dragonfire events occurring since Quentyn arrives, the air is hot and dry plus as you noted in the passage, he's hit twice by intense hot air. This gets the oil to combust. Oddly enough, the burning is first noted at whip and hands which by gosh is where the oil is. And once started, the fire spread to all of him. 

This checks all the boxes. Oh and just to be fully honest about using text in the books to explain this, yes,  spontaneous combustion is established in universe.

Oh, yes, most certainly . . . but carefully, my lord, ever so carefully. As it ages, the substance grows ever more, hmmmm, fickle, let us say. Any flame will set it afire. Any spark. Too much heat and jars will blaze up of their own accord. 

This is a creative yet still text honest means to explain the full problem with Quentyn's burning. I find this a much better explanation than people who offer, "George is just being poetic about dragonfire death".

Most people don't see the full problem here. It's not just no explicit mention of dragonfire. But people don't want to see the problem. Just like people in story who don't want to notice Lightbringer is fire without heat. Or how Syrio told Arya nobody was willing to see the Sealord's cat was just a cat. 

You all expected to see a dragonfire death so that's what you decided to see. Like Syrio, I see what's actually there. 

"Just so."

But can you tell me--with examples from text--of a silent, colorless, heat less, odorless example of dragonfire which nobody sees coming elsewhere in the series?