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Daenerys, Marriage and Golden Chains

One thing I find very interesting about Dany’s marriages is that there are golden chains/collars involved in both of them:

The old woman washed her long, silver-pale hair and gently combed out the snags, all in silence. The girl scrubbed her back and her feet and told her how lucky she was. “Drogo is so rich that even his slaves wear golden collars. A hundred thousand men ride in his khalasar, and his palace in Vaes Dothrak has two hundred rooms and doors of solid silver." – Daenerys I AGOT

When she was clean, the slaves helped her from the water and toweled her dry. The girl brushed her hair until it shone like molten silver, while the old woman anointed her with the spiceflower perfume of the Dothraki plains, a dab on each wrist, behind her ears, on the tips of her breasts, and one last one, cool on her lips, down there between her legs. They dressed her in the wisps that Magister Illyrio had sent up, and then the gown, a deep plum silk to bring out the violet in her eyes. The girl slid the gilded sandals onto her feet, while the old woman fixed the tiara in her hair, and slid golden bracelets crusted with amethysts around her wrists. Last of all came the collar, a heavy golden torc emblazoned with ancient Valyrian glyphs.

"Now you look all a princess,” the girl said breathlessly when they were done. Dany glanced at her image in the silvered looking glass that Illyrio had so thoughtfully provided. A princess, she thought, but she remembered what the girl had said, how Khal Drogo was so rich even his slaves wore golden collars. She felt a sudden chill, and gooseflesh pimpled her bare arms. – Daenerys I AGOT

And then, we have Dany’s wedding with Hizdahr:

Four hours later, they emerged again as man and wife, bound together wrist and ankle with chains of yellow gold. – Daenerys VII ADWD

When she’s being prepared to meet Drogo, Dany is being treated like a princess for the first time in her life. But in truth, she feels like a slave, wearing a golden collar just like the ones that Drogo’s slaves are said to use. She’s being sold by her brother, she’s raped by her husband and she doesn’t really have a lot of agency. The little agency that she does get comes from Drogo, but she still has no true power, and has to rely on his authority to get what she wants.

Dany’s marriage with Hizdahr is similar. Dany feels trapped, like she has no agency at all, despite being a queen in her own right. Because by marrying Hizdahr to bring peace, this also means that Dany has to bow to the wishes of the slavers and make many compromises.

Another interesting thing is that both times, Dany marries a slaver and has to accept their ways. With Drogo, Dany tries to protect the Lhazareen women from being raped, but she can’t stop Drogo’s khalasar from enslaving the Lhazareen, and only after he dies she’s able to free the slaves of her small khalasar. With Hizdahr, Dany manages to keep the citizens of Meereen free, but has to allow slavery to return outside Meereen, has to reopen the fighting pits, and has to accept people bringing their slaves into her city.

In both marriages. Dany has to sacrifice part of herself. She’s not truly free. She can’t follow her own moral compass.

It’s very likely that Dany will marry a third time. In the House of The Undying, they say she’s the bride of fire. The first vision in the bride of fire section is of her silver during her wedding with Drogo. The second vision is of a corpse standing at the prow of a ship, and this could very well mean that Hizdahr will be killed by Victarion. The last vision is of a blue flower growing in a chink of ice and filling the air with sweetness. It clearly indicates Jon Snow, but it hints to more than that. The flower filling the air with sweetness seems to indicate a very positive relationship. And when I think about it and compare it to Dany’s first two marriages, it’s an interesting contrast. Because if Dany marries Jon, it would be of her own free will, and Jon is someone that would respect her agency. He and Dany have similar beliefs, so Dany wouldn’t have to compromise her principles like in her other marriages. And while her first two husbands were slavers and forced Dany to tolerate slavery to a certain extent, with Jon, it would be the opposite. They would fight together against the enslavers of the dead, and Dany will finally be able to fight for what she believes is right. Dany won’t feel trapped. There will be no golden chains in Dany’s wedding with Jon.

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"Dany turned the whip in her hand. Such a light thing, to bear such weight. "Is it done, then? Do they belong to me?" "It is done," he agreed, giving the chain a sharp pull to bring Drogon down from the litter. Dany mounted her silver. She could feel her heart thumping in her chest. She felt desperately afraid. Was this what my brother would have done? She wondered if Prince Rhaegar had been this anxious when he saw the Usurper's host formed up across the Trident with all their banners floating on the wind. [...] ...Though the Astapori yanked and tugged, Drogon would not budge off the litter. Smoke rose grey from his open jaws, and his long neck curled and straightened as he snapped at the slaver's face. It is time to cross the Trident, Dany thought, as she wheeled and rode her silver back."

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Dany in Qarth

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The Prince that was Promised

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Dany's dragon dream

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“She aims much higher, our Viserra. I have seen the way she preens and prances around Baelon. That is the husband she desires, and not for love of him. She wants to be the queen.” Viserra Targaryen.

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Just a doodle

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Wanted to draw canon

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“because i was once a searching adolescent, given to moods and ecstasies, these are still part of me and always will be.” - madeleine l'engle RHAENYRA TARGARYEN APPRECIATION WEEK DAY SEVEN ▸ free choice

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She stroked Rhaegal. The green dragon closed his teeth around the meat of her hand and nipped hard

Decided to work matching portraits for the remaining of Dany's children, so here's Rhaegal

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a thousand eyes, and one 👁️

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This is not to say that women don’t have power, but by and large, their avenues to power are circumscribed. Asha, for example, commands a remarkable amount of respect for a woman in Westeros, but not enough for the men to rally around her to take the Seastone Chair, though she’s by far the best choice to do so. And outright rule by women is an almost unheard of event. Daenerys Targaryen is remarkable and dangerous in every sense because her very existence is perilous to the current power structure.

—Caroline Spector, “Power and Feminism in Westeros,” in Beyond the Wall: Exploring George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire (ed. James Lowder)

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how many eyes does lord bloodraven have?

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daenaera velaryon

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“daella’s death tore the heart out of the queen.”

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“daena was targaryen to the bone; strong, beautiful, willful.”