Why Should I Root For Daenerys?

Published April 24, 2019 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hey Hosts,

Now, I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself with an enormous battle coming up this next episode, but I’m really finding myself souring on Daenerys. The thing is, she hasn’t been doing anything different.

Looking at where she came from to where she is now is a great, simple, story. She rises out of being sold into marriage into leading her own khalasar, cool. One of the earliest uses of her dragons is roasting a sexist man that unwittingly disrespects her to her face. Also cool. She frees the slaves of Meereen and crucifies the masters, really cool.

All of these obstacles came with a face that no viewer enjoyed, making the decision easy. No one cared when Kraznys was burned alive or when slave masters were put to death because they’re objectively bad people and ones that we don’t care about. The show has not been shy about her advisers like Barristan Selmy or Tyrion warning her when she is approaching “Mad King” territory yet she continues to cross it.

Now she has done some good along the way, like of course the freeing of Slaver’s Bay, allowing the Unsullied to serve by choice rather than by slavery but she has since the beginning tried to separate herself as something different. She has the famous quote of “breaking the wheel” that seemed like it was going to be the driving motto of her rule.

She has not lived up to that since setting foot on Dragonstone. She is openly aggressive towards Jon when he first appears and so far this season with Sansa she is unwavering about the North, insisting the are her subjects. What part of this is different than any Targaryen ruler that has existed over the last thousands of years? Where is she breaking the wheel? Even when the biggest secret Westeros has ever known is revealed to her, her first thought is that it de-legitimizes her claim to the Iron Throne.

Given all this, I can’t help but see Daenerys as a pretender. She is willing to appear different and do some amounts of good that are necessary but at the end of the day she is also shown to be just like any other Targaryen that has come before her. I fail to see a reason why she is so deserving of the Iron Throne, but I’m sure Jon will vacate his claim to her if they’re both left standing after next week.

Too Sweet and a hearty handshake,
Tyler M

P.S. – Tormund has been super cringeworthy and I hope he dies next episode.

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