Asshai

"We could've been ten miles away from here by now, on the way to Asshai. You would've been safe."

- Ser Jorah Mormont to Daenerys Targaryen

Asshai is a city on the far side of the explored world from Westeros. It is located in the far southeast of the continent of Essos, on the eastern shore of the Jade Sea. This places Asshai far beyond the Free Cities, the Dothraki Sea, and Slaver's Bay. Qarth is located closer to it, given that the Straits of Qarth form the western entrance to the Jade Sea, but it still takes many months for a ship to travel from Qarth to Asshai.

Little is known about Asshai save that it is a great seaport and its people are exotic. Beyond Asshai lies an area known as the Shadow Lands, which are said to lie "under the Shadow". What exactly is casting "the Shadow" is not known, nor is the exact nature of "the Shadow."

People and things from Asshai are known as Asshai'i. The Asshai'i language is unique, rarely heard in Westeros or even western Essos, and rumored to be used in powerful magic spells.

Notable people from Asshai

 * Melisandre, a Red Priestess of R'hllor, the Lord of Light and a shadowbinder, serving as an advisor to King Stannis Baratheon.
 * Quaithe, a mysterious woman encountered by Ser Jorah Mormont in Qarth. Like Melisandre, she is also a shadowbinder.

Season 1
Illyrio Mopatis gives Daenerys Targaryen a wedding gift of three dragon eggs, said to be from the Shadow Lands beyond Asshai.

Ser Jorah Mormont tells Daenerys that in the Shadow Lands beyond Asshai there is a form of "ghost grass" which the Dothraki believe will one day swallow all the world.

Ser Jorah suggests to Daenerys that they flee Khal Drogo's khalasar by night so as not to be caught up in the chaos unleashed when he dies. He says there is a port in Asshai they can head to; Daenerys refuses.

Season 2
Melisandre, a Red Priestess of the Lord of Light from Asshai, has converted Stannis Baratheon and most of his household to her religion and become one of his closest advisers.

At Qarth, Jorah Mormont encounters the mysterious woman Quaithe, a shadowbinder from Asshai.

Season 5
Tyene Sand reveals that she coats her daggers with a poison called "the Long Farewell", which she claims is from Asshai. The poison takes time for the effects to become apparent, but when it does, the victim (in this case, Bronn) is left in excruciating pain. Tyene keeps an ampoule or two on hand for when she wants or needs to spare one of her victims.

Behind the Scenes
According to costume designer Michele Clapton, Quaithe's mask was designed to display a stylistic link to Melisandre, because both of them are from the region of Asshai. Melisandre wears an ornate neck piece featuring a repeated design motif of elongated hexagons. Quaithe's mask was constructed using the same hexagonal shapes as links, though filled in with metal. Further, the dresses of both Melisandre and Quaithe have the same hexagonal design motif (elongated so they are taller than they are wide). Melisandre has different dresses, and she usually wears an all-red one, but the one with hexagons which match her neck piece appears prominently in "The Night Lands" when she has sex with Stannis.

In Season 5's "High Sparrow", as Tyrion and Varys pass through Volantis they see another Red Priestess preaching to a crowd of slaves. Her gown has the same repeated motif of elongated hexagons, and she also wears a large hexagon-shaped pendant on a necklace.

In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Asshai is said to lie on the far south-eastern shores of the Jade Sea, a body of water far to the east even of the Free Cities and Slaver's Bay. It is located close to an enigmatic area called "the Shadow" or "Shadow Lands", and the city is sometimes known as Asshai-by-the-Shadow. The city is usually traveled to by ship, but it can also be reached overland by a circuitous route. The Dothraki consider the city and surrounding area to be ill-omened, while people from Asshai are distrusted as "spawn of shadows". However, the people of the Free Cities, Slaver's Bay, and Qarth don't display many qualms about pursuing trade with the city.

Asshai is reputed to hold large amounts of arcane lore, including knowledge of dragons. Common trade items include gems and gold found in the Shadow Lands beyond the city walls, as well as amber and dragonglass.

It is not unusual for a voyage from the Free City of Volantis to Asshai and back to take two years.

According to the TV series official pronunciation guide developed for the cast and crew, "Asshai" is pronounced "Uh-SHY", as opposed to "ASS-high", "Uh-SIGH", etc.

The Lands of Ice and Fire places Asshai southeast of Yi Ti (which is itself east of Qarth), on the eastern shores of the Jade Sea (which has been completely moved from its location on the HBO map). The Saffron Straits link the Jade Sea to as-yet-unknown seas to the east, and Asshai sits at the mouth of the straits. A major river, the Ash, empties into the Jade Sea at Asshai. The river flows out of the Shadow Lands, an area of mountains and hills northeast of the city surrounded by ghost grass. Further upriver from Asshai is a ruined city called Stygai. Yi Ti and the large island of Leng are located northwest of Asshai across the Jade Sea, but the closest islands to Asshai are the Manticore Isles, a small chain of land directly westward (apparently inhabited by very poisonous manticore insects). "Ulthos" lies across the Saffron Straits from Asshai, but it is unknown if it is another continent or just a very large island. The distance between Qarth and Assthai appears to be roughly similar to the distance between Qarth and Old Valyria. Asshai is located at roughly the same line of latitude as the island of Naath, placing it further south than the southernmost points of Westeros.

The World of Ice & Fire sourcebook revealed many details about Asshai. The city is apparently so ancient that even its own inhabitants don't know when it was first constructed, or even who constructed it. Also, the physical expanse of Asshai is so large that Qarth, Volantis, King's Landing and Oldtown could be accommodated behind its massive land walls. According to travelers' reports, all of the buildings in the city- from palaces to hovels- are constructed of a greasy black stone that seems to diminish any source of light: even the sun is considerably dimmer in Asshai than elsewhere, and the nights are pitch black.

The inhabitants of Asshai are equally unusual. Despite the city's size and its long history as a major port on the Jade Sea, the local population is no larger than that of a market town. The Asshai'i themselves are described as highly secretive, wearing masks and veils in public and never socializing in the streets of the city. There are no beasts of burden to be found in Asshai; crops are impossible to grow in the area (the only living flora is Ghost grass, which is inedible); and even drinking water has to be imported. Apparently the Ash River, which empties into the sea at Asshai, exudes some noxious presence that pollutes/kills off most living things: any animals brought to the city die soon afterwards, deformed, blind fish are the only fauna of the Ash, and the human population is seemingly rendered sterile from long exposure. For this reason, there are no children in Asshai, and the population apparently "reproduces" by purchasing foreign child slaves and raising them as successive generations of Asshai'i.