In Defense of Dany

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Call me crazy but I love Dany’s character. She is the most human of all the characters on this show. Her reactions to pain, treason, and loneliness are all natural. She just happens to now have a fully developed dragon and two extraordinary armies at her back. Gene, you were talking about the different character arcs. You mentioned Jon and Arya as falling within the mold of the transformation arc (hero’s journey) yet you did not mention Dany. Have we all forgotten where she started? She was sold off in marriage by her brother to be basically raped by Drogo. Dany transformed that situation and thus became successful (birthed three dragons aka something special and magical). Just like Jon, she has faced countless of events that should have killed any other character but she survived and succeed in all, even now.

Many people, not only in the Game of Thrones universe but in real life, love Jon. Have we forgotten that he has now betrayed the woman he loves twice? That he sentenced a child to death for betrayal and killed many men in war. I will admit he is probably a better person than anyone else in Game of Thrones, but how does that make him better than Dany? If being good was the criteria for ruling the seven kingdoms then Ned Stark would probably still be alive.

Which brings me to Sansa. The opinions out there are more divided on her likeability than Jon’s. However, have we forgotten that through her naivety she was responsible for the beheading of her father? She also chose to sentence Ramsey to a horrific and brutal death. Don’t get me wrong the guy deserved it. The point I am trying to make here is that if Sansa had an invisible army and a powerful mystical creature she would have burned it all down too. Sansa is very capable of showing the same brutality to achieve her goal as Dany. I would think that if Sansa had real power she would be worse. She graduated from the school of Cersei/Joffrey Cruelty and the School of Littlefinger Connivingness.

Now for Arya. I agree with the assessment that she too is on a transformation arc, but let’s not forget that the driving force behind most of her actions for the longest time was revenge. She killed off the entire Frey line ending that family forever. Have we forgotten that as well? How many people, innocent or not, did she kill for the Many-Faced God? It may not have been shown in the tv series but she is an assassin for hire. Maybe not for money, but she served the Many-Faced God for years.

Last but not least, Tyrion. A man that has had his personal interest, enjoyment, and pride as his driving force for most of his arc is now the all-mighty arbiter of morality. He killed the woman he loved because she betrayed him. He continues to protect his sister and brother who have committed countless horrors. He also briefly conspired against his “Queen”. The only reason he is on Dany’s side is that he killed his father and was exiled. Now, granted, he might be the fittest, in terms of knowledge and experience, to rule the Seven Kingdoms and could do it successfully. Nevertheless, he is not perfect.

In fact, none of the characters in this series are perfect. So I am a little confused as to why most everyone is so upset at Dany for the destruction of King’s Landing. Aegon did the exact same thing with just one dragon. He melted the walls of Harrenhal with all of its inhabitants therein, innocent or not. Ending the Horae forever (same as Arya). Then he said fuck it let’s build another castle and a throne with the swords of his enemies. As you all mentioned King’s Landing was Dany’s to burn. She has been betrayed countless times by the people she trusted. She loves Jon despite the fact that he has a better claim, despite the fact that he is her nephew. She trusted Tyrion and Varys and they all betrayed her. The only two who have stuck by her through thick and thin were Missande and Grey Worm. Let’s also remember that Missande comes from peaceful people and was a peaceful person. She most likely was able to access the situation in Kings Landing during her capture and here last counsel to Daenerys was to burn it all. Was there anything worth saving there?

Dany endured many trials and tribulations, betrayals, deaths of loved ones. She lost two of her children and loved/trusted advisors. Can you blame her for wanting revenge? She risked everything by following the words of her advisors, losing her key battles. She risked everything to go north for Jon. Even though Arya was the one to kill the night king, the battle would have been more than lost were it not for her dragons and quite a big chunk of her army. She saved the people of Westeros ahead of herself interest. Now she has done what all the dragons before her sis, she became a true dragon and took no hostages. Revenge at its finest.If that makes her a villain that we have just reduced this story to good guys versus bad guys, instead of the complex history of realistic characters who are human and have human emotions and make mistakes. We have reduced them all to Batman and the Joker. Where in reality this story is much more than that. Dany has played the game of thrones and won. Others can play with her and overthrow her, but for now, she is the strongest. This is how the story should end, the strongest one on the throne and let the others try to live under her or die trying to overthrow her.

This is Dany’s transformation arc and I for one want her to keep succeeding.

Thank you for reading 🙂

Michiko

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