Background

"But how can I rule seven kingdoms if I cannot rule a single city?" He had no answer to that. Dany turned away from them, to gaze out over the city once again. "My children need time to heal and learn. My dragons need time to grow and test their wings. And I need the same. I will not let this city go the way of Astapor. I will not let the harpy of Yunkai chain up those I've freed all over again." She turned back to look at their faces. "I will not march."

"What will you do then, Khaleesi?" asked Rakharo.

"Stay," she said. "Rule. And be a queen." -ASOS, Daenerys VI

Back when GRRM was planning to have a 5 year gap, he seemingly ended most of the ASOS POV plots at a good stopping point/cliffhanger. For Daenerys instead of turning to Westeros, choosing to stay/rule/be a queen in Meereen (while also allowing her dragons to grow). During this time she was going to have numerous marriage opportunities, ranging from characters she met in in Qarth to others who hadn't arrived yet. In this post, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at these marriage opportunities from what was conceptualized by GRRM early on, to what we ended up getting surrounding the Meereenese Knot.

If interested: A Wedding in Winterfell: Direwolves & Giants

The Suitors

Note: Not all of these characters were contenders at the same time. Just wanted to list them out for the discussion below.

Daario Naharis

It is important to note that GRRM conceptualized Daario early on. He was originally appearing in Qarth, before being replaced by Quhuro Mo (the captain of the Cinnamon Wind):

His garb, rich as it was, had seen hard wear; salt stains patterned his boots, the enamel of his nails was chipped, his lace was soiled by sweat, and she could see where the end of his cloak was fraying.
"Arise, " she bid him when the courtesies were done, slipping easily into the liquid Valyrian of the Free Cities. "So what would you have of me, Daario Naharis?"
"Nothing but the honor of serving you, my queen, and the joy of watching your face shine with delight when you hear what I shall tell you."
"Get on with it, Tyrosh, " Ser Jorah growled. "Her Grace has no taste for theses hints and feints."
"As you will, ser. Dragonmother, Stormborn, fairest of queens, hear my tidings. Robert Baratheon is dead. "
Outside her walls, dusk was settling over the great city of Qarth, but a sun had risen in Dany's heart. "Dead?" she repeated, with wonder in her voice. In her lap, black Drogon hissed, and pale smoke rose before her face like a veil. "You are certain? The Usurper is dead?"
"Dead and buried, Your Grace." A golden tooth gleamed in his mouth when he smiled. "When we set sail from Tyrosh many moon turns past, the talk was of nothing else."
The gods are just, Dany thought. He sent me a gift of poisoned wine, yet I live and he is gone. "What was the manner of this false king's death?" On her shoulder, pale Viserion flapped wings the color of cream, stirring the air. -ACOK, Daenerys (Interim Working Draft)

and:

Dany found herself stealing looks at the Tyroshi when her captains came to council, and sometimes at night she remembered the way his gold tooth glittered when he smiled. That, and his eyes. His bright blue eyes. On the road from Yunkai, Daario had brought her a flower or a sprig of some plant every evening when he made his report . . . to help her learn the land, he said. Waspwillow, dusky roses, wild mint, lady's lace, daggerleaf, broom, prickly ben, harpy's gold . . . He tried to spare me the sight of the dead children too. He should not have done that, but he meant it kindly. And Daario Naharis made her laugh, which Ser Jorah never did. Dany tried to imagine what it would be like if she allowed Daario to kiss her, the way Jorah had kissed her on the ship. The thought was exciting and disturbing, both at once. It is too great a risk. The Tyroshi sellsword was not a good man, no one needed to tell her that. Under the smiles and the jests he was dangerous, even cruel. Sallor and Prendahl had woken one morning as his partners; that very night he'd given her their heads. Khal Drogo could be cruel as well, and there was never a man more dangerous. She had come to love him all the same. Could I love Daario? What would it mean, if I took him into my bed? Would that make him one of the heads of the dragon? Ser Jorah would be angry, she knew, but he was the one who'd said she had to take two husbands. Perhaps I should marry them both and be done with it. -ASOS, Daenerys V

and:

“I do not want this night to end.”
“No? And why is that, my queen?”
“You know.”
“The wedding?” He laughed. “Marry me instead.”
“You know I cannot do that.” -ADWD, Daenerys VII

Jorah Mormont

It was a long kiss, though how long Dany could not have said. When it ended, Ser Jorah let go of her, and she took a quick step backward. "You . . . you should not have . . .""I should not have waited so long," he finished for her. "I should have kissed you in Qarth, in Vaes Tolorru. I should have kissed you in the red waste, every night and every day. You were made to be kissed, often and well." His eyes were on her breasts.

Dany covered them with her hands, before her nipples could betray her. "I . . . that was not fitting. I am your queen."
“My queen,” he said, “and the bravest, sweetest, and most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Daenerys—”
“Your Grace!”
“Your Grace,” he conceded, “the dragon has three heads, remember? You have wondered at that, ever since you heard it from the warlocks in the House of Dust. Well, here’s your meaning: Balerion, Meraxes, and Vhagar, ridden by Aegon, Rhaenys, and Visenya. The three-headed dragon of House Targaryen—three dragons, and three riders.”
“Yes,” said Dany, “but my brothers are dead.”
“Rhaenys and Visenya were Aegon’s wives as well as his sisters. You have no brothers, but you can take husbands. And I tell you truly, Daenerys, there is no man in all the world who will ever be half so true to you as me.”
-ASOS, Daenerys I

and:

Khal Drogo could be cruel as well, and there was never a man more dangerous. She had come to love him all the same. Could I love Daario? What would it mean, if I took him into my bed? Would that make him one of the heads of the dragon? Ser Jorah would be angry, she knew, but he was the one who'd said she had to take two husbands. Perhaps I should marry them both and be done with it. -ASOS, Daenerys V

and:

QUESTION: Will Jorah Mormont get out of the friend zone?
GEORGE RR MARTIN: I would not bet on it.

If interested: Jorah Mormont's "Report from Qarth" & Jorah Mormont: The Demon of Slaver's Bay

Xaro Xhoan Daxos

When Dany arrives in Qarth, Xaro (originally Jaro Jhoan Daxos) wishes to marry her (although he is likely homosexual):

"Marry me, bright light, and sail the ship of my heart. I cannot sleep at night for thinking of your beauty."
Dany smiled. Xaro’s flowery protestations of passion amused her, but his manner was at odds with his words. While Ser Jorah had scarcely been able to keep his eyes from her bare breast when he’d helped her into the palanquin, Xaro hardly deigned to notice it, even in these close confines. And she had seen the beautiful boys who surrounded the merchant prince, flitting through his palace halls in wisps of silk. “You speak sweetly, Xaro, but under your words I hear another no.” -ACOK, Daenerys III

although this is actually because Dany would have to gift him a dragon:

“He asked me to marry him again.”
“Yes, and I know why.” When the knight frowned, his heavy black brows joined together above his deep-set eyes. -ACOK, Daenerys III

and:

Dany had not seen him since. His seneschal brought her messages, each cooler than the last. She must quit his house. He was done feeding her and her people. He demanded the return of his gifts, which she had accepted in bad faith. Her only consolation was that at least she'd had the great good sense not to marry him. -ACOK, Daenerys V

and:

You should have taken me to husband. I am almost certain that I asked you for your hand. Begged you, even."

"Only half a hundred times," Dany teased. "You gave up too easily, my lord. For I must marry, all agree."
“A khaleesi must have a khal,” said Irri, as she filled the queen’s cup once again. “This is known.”
“Shall I ask again?” wondered Xaro. “No, I know that smile. It is a cruel queen who dices with men’s hearts. Humble merchants like myself are no more than stones beneath your jeweled sandals.” A single tear ran slowly down his pale white cheek. -ADWD, Daenerys III

Victarion/Euron Greyjoy

Another character potential mentioned in Qarth is Euron Greyjoy (Urrathon Nightwalker). In the original plotline Victarion/Euron were both going to show up in Slaver's Bay (Aeron too in the bowels of the Silence). That said instead of Euron marrying Dany, he was wanting (Euron's gifts are poison) Victarion to marry her.

If interested: Euron Greyjoy's Changed Plotline & Victarion & the Bride of Fire

Hizdahr zo Loraq

Instead of any of the characters listed above, Dany ends up proceeding with a marriage with Hizdahr after he is able to bring peace to the streets of Meereen:

… but Daenerys Targaryen had other children, tens of thousands who had hailed her as their mother when she broke their chains. She thought of Stalwart Shield, of Missandei's brother, of the woman Rylona Rhee, who had played the harp so beautifully. No marriage would ever bring them back to life, but if a husband could help end the slaughter, then she owed it to her dead to marry.

If I wed Hizdahr, will that turn Skahaz against me? She trusted Skahaz more than she trusted Hizdahr, but the Shavepate would be a disaster as a king. He was too quick to anger, too slow to forgive. She saw no gain in wedding a man as hated as herself. Hizdahr was well respected, so far as she could see. "What does my prospective husband think of this?" she asked the Green Grace. What does he think of me? -ADWD, Daeneyers IV

and:

"I do not doubt that Skahaz would soon have me confessing. A day with him, and I will be one of the Harpy's Sons. Two days, and I will be the Harpy. Three, and it will turn out I slew your father too, back in the Sunset Kingdoms when I was yet a boy.  Then he will impale me on a stake and you can watch me die … but afterward the killings will go on.” Hizdahr leaned closer. “Or you can marry me and let me try to stop them.”
“Why would you want to help me? For the crown?”
“A crown would suit me well, I will not deny that. It is more than that, however. Is it so strange that I would want to protect my own people, as you protect your freedmen? Meereen cannot endure another war, Your Radiance.”
That was a good answer, and an honest one. -ADWD, Daenerys IV

and:

"What is love? Desire? No man with all his parts could ever look on you and not desire you, Daenerys. That is not why I would marry you, however. Before you came Meereen was dying. Our rulers were old men with withered cocks and crones whose puckered cunts were dry as dust. They sat atop their pyramids sipping apricot wine and talking of the glories of the Old Empire whilst the centuries slipped by and the very bricks of the city crumbled all around them. Custom and caution had an iron grip upon us till you awakened us with fire and blood. A new time has come, and new things are possible. Marry me."

He is not hard to look at, Dany told herself, and he has a king's tongue. "Kiss me," she commanded. -ADWD, Daenerys IV

and:

Dany tried to speak and found no words. She remembered Ben's face the last time she had seen it. It was a warm face, a face I trusted. Dark skin and white hair, the broken nose, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. Even the dragons had been fond of old Brown Ben, who liked to boast that he had a drop of dragon blood himself. Three treasons will you know. Once for gold and once for blood and once for love. Was Plumm the third treason, or the second? And what did that make Ser Jorah, her gruff old bear? Would she never have a friend that she could trust? What good are prophecies if you cannot make sense of them? If I marry Hizdahr before the sun comes up, will all these armies melt away like morning dew and let me rule in peace? -ADWD, Daenerys VI

If interested: The 3 Labours of Hizdahr

Quentyn Martell

Quentyn Martell shows up hoping to wed Dany after she has already agreed to marry Hizdahr:

"I feared as much." Neither enchanted nor enchanting, alas. A pity he's the prince, and not the one with the wide shoulders and the sandy hair. "You have come for a kiss, however. You mean to marry me. Is that the way of it? The gift you bring me is your own sweet self. Instead of Viserys and your sister, you and I must seal this pact if I want Dorne." -ADWD, Daenerys VII

If interested: The Meereenese Knot: The Three Arrivals of the Frog Prince

The Different Events

Qarth

With the death of Drogo and the birth of her dragons, GRRM originally brought up Euron(Urrathon)/Xaro/Daario (before removing Daario) in Qarth, while Jorah was always there. It should be noted that while here, she gets a vision of her as a "bride of fire":

Her silver was trotting through the grass, to a darkling stream beneath a sea of stars. A corpse stood at the prow of a ship, eyes bright in his dead face, grey lips smiling sadly. A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall of ice, and filled the air with sweetness. . . . mother of dragons, bride of fire... -ACOK, Daenerys IV

and with the first vision being of the wedding to Drogo, the second two visions were likely originally going to foreshadow Dany's upcoming marriages/loves in the series.

If interested: Then & Now: Qarth & the Early Importance of the Visitors in Dany's Chapters

Post ASoS

With Dany choosing to stay in Meereen and rule, GRRM was going to have a 5 year gap where Dany would have ruled in Meereen. Upon the reopening of her plotline, I am guessing that her marriage would be heavily in the forefront. We would have a culmination of interesting events.

Originally Dany wanted Hizdahr to complete numerous tasks in order to marry her. These tasks were likely impossible for most people, except for Euron who would have not only provided an answer to the second vision above, but also would have given Dany a fleet home, etc.

This was likely changed as Dany would likely never marry someone like Euron, but also because GRRM chose to make Euron a bigger/Westeros centric villain.

The Tyrion AFFC Cliffhanger

Before this, he tried writing it with Tyrion arriving as POV (note that Tyrion had been captured by Jorah):

I had Tyrion across the Narrow Sea and down the river as far as Volantis, I think, and I was gonna break him there in Volantis and continue on to the next book. -SSM, Eastercon - Interview with Adam Whitehead: 8 April 2012

and:

Tyrion could no more outrun him than outfight him. Drunk as he was, he could not even hope to outwit him. He spread his hands. "And what do you mean to do with me?"
"Deliver you," the knight said, "to the queen." -ADWD, Tyrion VI

with the reader believing the queen to be Cersei before Tyrion appeared in Meereeen:

GRRM: Then there's showing things after [an important event (Danys disappearance with Drogon)], which proved to be very difficult. I tried it with one point of view character, but this was an outsider who could only guess at what was going on, and then I tried it with a different character and it was also difficult. The big solution was when I hit on adding a new point of view character who could give the perspective this part of the story needed.

This was before he split AFFC/ADWD location and Tyrion's plotline would have ended on a cliffhanger. I wonder if this would have been some form of "offering" to Daenerys from Jorah (one of her "Westeros enemies" a Lannister) and an attempt at being the third head.

If interested: "Taking you to the Queen"

Meereenese Knot/Wedding to Hizdahr

GRRM solved the Meereenese Knot (of which he wrote three versions of Quentyn's arrival for Dany's wedding) by creating Barristan as a POV instead of using the arrival of Tyrion (and few other attempts in between).

He chose to have Quentyn arrive right before the wedding, as it seemingly created the most tension/dramatic effect for the needs of different characters.

With the wedding to Hizdahr it makes a bit of a mess of certain prophecies (does the bride of fire mean only actual love now?, etc.) it doesn't mean that it will be the end of these different suitors hopes for a couple of reasons:

• The Dragon has Three Heads

Just because Dany married Hizdahr, doesn't mean that some of the above will give up their goal for her. Some might be willing to be a paramour, while others might just want a dragon. That said ever since the House of the Undying, Dany has been wondering about the three heads of the dragon:

But it would be years before her dragons were large enough to ride. And when they are, who shall ride them? The dragon has three heads, but I have only one. She thought of Daario. If ever there was a man who could rape a woman with his eyes . . .-ASOS, Daenerys V

and:

The dragon has three heads. There are two men in the world who I can trust, if I can find them. I will not be alone then. We will be three against the world, like Aegon and his sisters. -ASOS, Daenerys VI

and:

“The dragon has three heads,” Dany said when they were on the final flight. “My marriage need not be the end of all your hopes. I know why you are here.”
“For you,” said Quentyn, all awkward gallantry.
“No,” said Dany. “For fire and blood.” -ADWD, Daenerys VIII

and:

They do not see. His friends had lost sight of his true purpose here. The road leads through her, not to her. Daenerys is the means to the prize, not the prize itself. " 'The dragon has three heads,' she said to me. 'My marriage need not be the end of all your hopes,' she said. 'I know why you are here. For fire and blood.' I have Targaryen blood in me, you know that. I can trace my lineage back—" -ADWD, The Spurned Suitor

• Some of the Suitors Would Kill Hizdhar

After "healing" Victarion's bionic arm, Moqorro shows Victarion that Dany has wed:

Come sunset, as the sea turned black as ink and the swollen sun tinted the sky a deep and bloody red, Victarion came back on deck. He was naked from the waist up, his left arm blood to the elbow. As his crew gathered, whispering and trading glances, he raised a charred and blackened hand. Wisps of dark smoke rose from his fingers as he pointed at the maester. "That one. Cut his throat and throw him in the sea, and the winds will favor us all the way to Meereen." Moqorro had seen that in his fires. He had seen the wench wed too, but what of it? She would not be the first woman Victarion Greyjoy had made a widow. -ADWD, The Iron Suitor

and I am sure others would do the same if the opportunity arose:

“One day Your Grace will need to take the Iron Islands. That will go much easier with Balon Greyjoy’s daughter as a catspaw, with one of your own leal men as her lord husband.”
“You?” The king scowled. “The woman is wed, Justin.”
“A proxy marriage, never consummated. Easily set aside. The groom is old besides. Like to die soon.”
From a sword through his belly if you have your way, ser worm. Theon knew how these knights thought. -TWoW, Theon I

TLDR: Just a quick rundown of what were some of the original contenders, etc trying to marry Dany in Meereen and what GRRM choose to abandon doing/chose to do. From originally meeting/hearing about several of the characters in Qarth, to abandoning the 5 year gap, Dany's "Meereen Wedding" plotline has shifted so much. What was likely going to be a wedding to a Greyjoy Brother ("corpse prow ship") has either now been abandoned or altered in some form as Dany has wed Hizdahr zo Loraq of Meereen (of which GRRM wrote 3 versions of Quentyn's arrival). That doesn't mean that the list of suitors above aren't still/haven't been after her and/or her dragons.