Season 4, Episode 10: In this clip, a former slave asks Daenerys to allow him to sell himself back to his master, citing poverty and problems with current benefits to the newly freed. This is related to the idea of path dependency, Path dependency is the idea that history matters: it’s easier or more cost-effective to continue down the current path than adapt to the new one because of the costs associated with switching – ‘switching costs.’ Even with slavery abolished, former slaveholders try to take advantage of former slaves and former slaves find it hard to live their lives in the new era, suggesting to the viewer the high switching costs that existed which prevented an easy move from slavery to abolition.
![](https://econthrones.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/slavery.webp)