#daenerys positivity

[daenerys-targaryns]

something something ‘feminine’ female characters being deserving of all things good and righteous and holy because of them overcoming their suffering by working within the system that hurts them using their wiley feminine attributes and charm something something ‘masculine’ female characters being villainized for fighting outside the constraints of the system they’re still subjected to in a more hands on approach and being victims of similar if not the same circumstances as their ‘feminine’ female peers but it doesn’t count for some reason because they don’t suffer as prettily as their counterparts something something

[xkittenxgirl]

mother of dragons <3

[baelontargaryen]

daenerys isn’t the “paul atreides of asoiaf” grrm was never inspired by dune nor has he ever stated it was an influence on his writing for the series

when asked for opinion on frank herbert’s dune books he respected it as “classic work” but clearly wasn’t the biggest fan of them

[williamaltman]

ASOIAF discourse about gender performance gets so insane because wdym Daenerys is a masculine character... Like she's the third most feminine POV character after Sansa and Catelyn. She's heavily associated with motherhood, marriages and romance. And I don't mean this in a negative way, Dany and Sansa are my favorite characters even though show Sansa was kinda ruined from s5 onwards.

Like yes Dany is going against misogynistic traditions by being a queen and a Khaleesi in her own right rather than as a consort. But breaking gender roles in a sexist society that doesn't let women into the same positions of power as men doesn't neccessarily make someone masculine, male-coded or whatever. She's not a tomboy, butch or even fight hand to hand like Arya/Brienne/Asha. Whether that's a good or a bad thing for you is another thing but it's the truth.

This is pretty much the same for Rhaenyra too, except show Rhaenyra is actually slightly tomboyish in personality and was against the idea of dealing with motherhood and marriage before the time jump.

[fromtheseventhhell]

Nymeria nipped eagerly at her hand as Arya untied her. She had yellow eyes. When they caught the sunlight, they gleamed like two golden coins. Arya had named her after the warrior queen of the Rhoyne, who had led her people across the narrow sea. (Arya I, AGOT) *George directly compares Dany to Nymeria*

---

This time the monsters did not frighten her. They seemed almost old friends. Arya held the candle over her head. With each step she took, the shadows moved against the walls, as if they were turning to watch her pass. "Dragons," she whispered. (Arya IV, AGOT)

--

If I had wings I could fly back to Winterfell and see for myself. And if it was true, I'd just fly away, fly up past the moon and the shining stars, and see all the things in Old Nan's stories, dragons and sea monsters and the Titan of Braavos, and maybe I wouldn't ever fly back unless I wanted to. (Arya X, ACOK)

--

"I wish I had a flaming sword." Arya could think of lots of people she'd like to set on fire. (Arya IV, ASOS)

--

Arya drew back from him. "He killed the slave?" That did not sound right. "He should have killed the masters!" (Arya II, AFFC)

--

"I would like to see a dragon," Mercy said wistfully. "Why does the envoy have a chicken on his chest?" (Mercy, TWOW) *said to her friend Daena*

This is the same Arya Stark who I'm supposed to believe isn't going to be instant besties with Daenerys Targaryen...okay. I think it's time for some of y'all to go back to the books and actually read them.

[rhaenin-time]

[lives4lovesworld]

smartasses; pOweR cOrRuPTs aNd abs0luTE p0wER cOrRuPTs, invariable and with no regards to good intentions (funnily enough is only ever said in the context of talking about Daenerys and her ancestors)

also them about their favs; 🙈 or. "he is sUch a MaNNis" 🤤 (meant unironically) ThE kIng wHo cARed when Stannis runs around burning everbody left and right because he is megalomaniac, sucks strategically and nobody gives a lick about him or his cause + "I want my oh so gullible, naive fave of a litEtaL cHild in an absolute power" 🤡

same goes for the dragons; when their mother commands them she is hitler with nuclear weapons but any able-bodied joe in the series is just the man™ when they get them in their incels fans's power fantasies

[starry-eyer]

let’s be honest for a sec

if you don’t want dany in a position of power at the end of asoiaf then you cannot actually care about the small folk.

you just want your fav on a throne while the small folk continue to be little better than slaves : )

yes, i know that other characters (like jon and arya) are also clearly positioned to make change but dany is the one with the dragons. she has the power to make true lasting change by using her power, and at the end of dance she finally understood that fire and blood was the only way to make true peace in meereen/slavers bay. if it takes fire and blood to strip some power away from lords and ladies in westeros and make the small folk a more protected class then i know dany will do it because she has the means and the kind heart to see it through

[cathearnshaw]

I think it's interesting how some toxic Sansa fans throw hate at Dany for her actions in the first book regarding her time with the dothraki, given how Sansa is in a similar situation to that of Dany in the first book, in the sense that both depend entirely on Drogo/Petyr.

Dany was a young girl whose "authority" derived from being the khaleesi to Drogo, a fragile position actually, as she really held no more power than any of her handmaidens. If anything were to happen to Drogo, then she'd be completely powerless. And she was well aware of the fact, such as when she took Eroeh and the other girls under her protection.

Sansa's situation might be certainly better than Dany's in AGoT, but then, if anything were to happen to Petyr, the man her entire life depends on, where would she go? As Alayne Stone she is only the bastard daughter of man who is not really much beloved, and as Sansa Stark she has a price on her head. No friends or family to help her. Even then, her identity would be put into question, she has no direwolf. Can you really blame her?

So then, I wonder, why are they so critical of Dany? Also, as if Sansa/Alayne isn't having the time of her life with her splendid tourney and her big lemoncake, not a worry in her life currently... She really is living in a different reality than the rest! 😂

[damn-i-really-am-bored-huh]

Me reading fanfics with Daenerys in them: "She would NOT fucking say that."

[daenerystemper]

season eight sucks but mayhaps i am rather fond of daenerys encouraging jon that he does know things

[fromtheseventhhell]

"The Starks are going to hate Dany because her father killed their grandfather and uncle"

The Starks thinking about Rickard and Brandon:

[merricatblackwoods]

oh look its hotd oc fixit fanfic idea i will never write (that is connected to my got fanfic i will also never write)

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

#it’s not ego or irrationality when yknow. you DID perform The Miracle #dany doesn’t even really think she is the prophesied hero she just nods politely when other people say it. #you know who IS delusional about this. stannis. it’s his most compelling trait

also after walking into a pyre to die at the lowest moment of her 14 year old life and instead of burning to death enacting the miracle from her prophetic dreams that everyone in her family died and failed trying to do that brings magic back into the world for the first time in 300 years and three dragons who are loyal only to her and the next day there’s a giant red comet in the sky. what is this tenth grader supposed to do NOT suspect a little bit that she’s the messiah.

[asongoficeandfiresource]

Daenerys and Queenship In ASOIAF

The world of ASOIAF explores the subject of leadership in a wide range of official and unofficial capacities. Daenerys Targaryen specifically is a character used to explore the unique types of queenship, alongside her narrative foil Cersei Lannister. Dany fits the role of multiple kinds of queens. The roles of these different types of queens are so different that they really shouldn’t have the same word describing them. As such, they impact Dany in very different ways.

Queen Consort

The first type of queen Daenerys becomes is a queen consort or khaleesi as Khal Drogo’s wife. The consort doesn’t wield power in their own right. What influence they have is completely dependent on their spouse.

Dany has even less power in her situation since most consorts come from a powerful, ruling family, while the power of her family died before she was born. For instance, consorts like Cersei Lannister, Margaery Tyrell, and Alicent Hightower bring with them the power of their families. That’s the benefit the monarchs had in marrying them to begin with, but that power also gives them a level of protection and influence beyond their husbands. We see Cersei wield that influence with her own guard in King’s Landing and she’s able to protect the reigns of her children through father’s armies. On the other side of that, the wealth, manpower, and resources of Margaery’s family makes her a desirable match for multiple kings while making it difficult for Cersei to remove her directly when she becomes threatened by her. This is a power Daenerys cannot wield since most of her family is dead and they have no land, wealth, manpower, or vassals to support her. She has one knight she thinks she can rely on (who is spying on her) and the guards provided by her husband. She is also younger than most queen consorts as she is sold at 13-years-old as a child bride with no family and political support. In that way she is set apart as a less powerful queen consort than the typical ones seen in the series.

The primary role of any consort is to give the monarch children. They are expected to give them an heir, a spare heir or two, and daughters who might be married to form alliances. Though that last duty isn’t addressed within the Dothraki culture and may not be a priority for them. An additional role for the consort includes appearing at royal events like feasts, ceremonies, and royal progresses as visual support for the monarch or even in the monarch’s place at times. Among female consorts, she would run a separate household from her husband (we see a simplified version of this with Dany’s handmaidens and khas) and could arrange marriages for the women in her household.

Depending on their relationship with the monarch, the consort might act as an unofficial advisor for their spouse and influence their policy. We see Dany doing this or trying to do this with Drogo. For instance, though it was through her decree that her brother (who might be considered part of her household since he has nothing of his own) not be allowed to ride, she has to convince her husband to re-establish Viserys’ status as a rider. Later, after her brother dies, she attempts to convince Drogo to invade Westeros to claim the Iron Throne for Rhaego. This initially fails and is only successful after a thwarted assassination attempt is made on Dany and the baby. Only then is Drogo willing to go to war against the people who tried to kill his son and wife and to make Rhaego king. After a battle against the Lhazareen, Dany uses her guards and her status as Drogo’s wife to stop the rapes that happen in the aftermath. She takes them under her protection and attempts to place them in the best positions she can within the confines of Dothraki culture. Though even this act is only possible with the agreement of her husband.

Other than producing an heir and passively influencing policy, the most impactful role a consort might have would be with charity. They were expected to give money to and organize charitable works. They might even make clothes for the poor and personally hand out alms.

The other queen consorts in the main series include Cersei Lannister, Selyse Florent, Alannys Harlaw, Margaery Tyrell, Dalla, and Jeyne Westerling.

Queen Regnant

The queen regnant is a queen who rules in her own right. She is not just the wife of the monarch or the mother of the monarch. She is the monarch.

The difference between this type of queen and the others needs to be emphasized because all the types of queens are often grouped together as though they were the same. But a queen regnant is far different from the others because her power is rooted in herself, not in a husband or child.

Like ruling kings, a queen regnant would hold court, listen to petitions, create policy, grant governmental appointments, diplomacy between both subjects and foreign leadership, trade disputes, land disputes, taxes, dealing with or assigning someone else to deal with maintaining food, clothing, craft, and weapon supplies, etc. It really goes on and on. It’s not just sitting on a throne and going to balls. Though that is part of it as well to maintain the visual image of power and wealth.

Daenerys spends most of the novels as a monarch. From the time Drogo dies all the way through A Dance With Dragons. We see her give those who remain of her husband’s khalasar the choice on whether to follow her or not to follow her. Those who chose to remain with her became her subjects. From then on, her choices became those of any good monarch: how to best serve her people. As she leads them, we see her making all kinds of administrative decisions to benefit her people. When they arrive in Vaes Tolorro, she immediately starts making the city habitable, secure and productive. While making military decisions, she takes the effects her choices will have on her people into account (a significant reason she took Meereen was because her people would have starved on the march without the resources inside the city). Once Dany becomes the Queen of Meereen, she regularly holds court to hear the issues of the people, she addresses food shortages, attempts to make allies, engages with ambassadors, arranges for medical aid, strategizes for war, negotiates for peace, etc. Daenerys is a queen regnant who actively fills her role.

The other queen regnants are potential ones Asha Greyjoy, who campaigned to claim her father’s throne, and Myrcella Baratheon, was the center of a plot to name her queen over Tommen and who will be queen after he dies.

Queen Regent

This is a type of queen Daenerys never is. A regent is a person chosen to rule for a monarch who is too young, is absent, or incapacitated. A queen who is a regent is either a queen consort given the regency by her husband who will be out of the country, a consort whose husband is too sick to rule, or a dowager queen whose underage child is now the monarch and she managed to secure the regency.

The queen regent of the series is Cersei Lannister, the queen Martin wrote as an intentional narrative foil for Daenerys. She encounters many of the same issues as Dany, both being women in administrative roles who endured exploitation from their family members and abuse from their husbands. Through their choices, we see how different they are despite their similar situations. They’re clearly set up as foils not only to explore different types of women in leadership positions but to also build up to their confrontation later in the series when Dany is revealed to be the younger, more beautiful queen Cersei has been prophesied to fear.

Queen Dowager

The queen dowager is the widow of a king. Along with being queen regnant in her own right, Daenerys is also a dowager queen as Khal Drogo’s widow. This kind of queen can maintain a position of influence if she’s the mother of the next monarch (see: queen regent) or they might be put into retirement, with a high ranking title and possibly an allowance (see: Alicent Hightower after the Dance of the Dragons in Fire and Blood). A title that may come alongside the queen dowager is that of queen mother. This title is exactly what it sounds like: a woman who held the title of queen and is now the mother of the monarch. If the mother of the monarch never held the title of queen, she would not be referred to by this title.

The position the Dothraki culture has for widowed khaleesi is with the dosh khaleen in Vaes Dothrak. The women in that group are forced to stay in the sacred city and are taken care of by slaves. They also maintain a high status and have the gift of prophecy. Despite being a widowed khaleesi, Daenerys refuses the position expected for her and becomes a ruling khaleesi or queen regnant instead. But a vision she saw in the House of the Undying suggests that she will go to the dosh khaleen as part of uniting the Dothraki.

The other queen dowagers of the series include Cersei, Margaery, Alannys, and Jeyne.

[queenvhagar]

My perhaps controversial take on the HOTD characters, the GOT characters the writers are trying to mold them into, and the GOT characters they actually most resemble in the books (in my opinion - feel free to disagree).

Disclaimer: these are entirely disconnected series with unique characters, so it's impossible to do what the writers of HOTD seemed to be trying to do in season 1 i.e. mold the characters from Fire and Blood to fit the characters of GOT to try to recreate the success of the early seasons. Given this, I tried to choose one single character analogue from GOT that each HOTD/FB character is most like, but oftentimes the reality is that if any single character from Fire and Blood resembles a Game of Thrones character it is likely that they are a combination of more than one. All of this said, here is who I think the writers are trying to fit certain HOTD characters into vs the character they are actually most like (according to Fire and Blood):

Rhaenyra Targaryen: obviously the show wants her to be the new and improved Daenerys, a protagonist everyone can root for who wants to revolutionize the existing order. In reality, Rhaenyra is most like Cersei: a woman who seeks to use her three bastards to usurp thrones and gain even more power than she already has, all while committing incest with a family member and using her power to punish and silence her enemies. She uses the existing system to raise herself up and keep others below her. She does reach her goal of ultimate power but ultimately she is unable to hold it. In pursuit of holding onto power or gaining more of it, she watches as her children die early deaths. The smallfolk despise her for her methods of ruling. Eventually, she will cause her own downfall and die before her time.

Alicent Hightower: the show wants her to be Cersei, a mean-spirited, jealous woman protecting her problematic children and using her status as queen to put others in their place (they even used Cersei scenes as audition material for the role). In reality, I see Alicent as most like Catelyn - a flawed woman, mother to a king, seeking to further the rights of her son in the hopes of protecting her family from those who would harm them, guided by her own sense of justice, honor, and understanding of the laws of the land (and of course, hyper aware of the bastards in the room). All she wants is her and her children's safety, and she is willing to go to war for it. In the end, however, she watches as every last child is taken from her before she herself dies alone.

Viserys I Targaryen: the show wants us to see him as the ultimate father who loves his child unconditionally and always supports her, and that his view of right and wrong should be what guides the world. In reality, he is most like Robert Baratheon: a weak king unsuitable for rule whose mistakes and complacency lead to civil war after his death. His preoccupation with past events and people, and his role in a former love's demise, leads him to neglect his current wife and their children and make decisions that create long-term issues for his family and the realm.

Criston Cole: as soon as Criston turns away from Rhaenyra, the show wants you to view him as a Meryn Trant type of Kingsguard - a man unconcerned with honor and violently anti-women, more than willing to carry out terrible acts commanded of him. In reality, Criston is like more like Jaime: he seeks to make a name for himself as a knight, guided by his own sense of honor and justice, though he is judged by others as lacking such principles. His devotion to his position on the Kingsguard and his love for the royal family motivates him. Occasionally his self-confidence and delight in goading his enemies can make him appear callous and proud. Although he is not officially the royal children's "father," he has guided and protected them and their mother from early on in the absence of their official father.

Daemon Targaryen: the show wants you to both love and hate Daemon. It seems he should fill many roles that Jaime did - a sword fighter whose swagger and danger mix together, whose dishonorable acts follow him through the world. He acts primarily out of love or his pursuit of it, whether for his brother or his lover and her children. The viewer is supposed to see that deep down he is a good guy, no matter how many characters say that he's not. In reality, I see Daemon as a more capable Viserys III: a man adamant in his family's racial superiority, who believes he and his loved ones should have access to unchecked power because they're better than everyone else. A man who enjoys exercising his power over others and demanding obedience out of fear of his wrath. A man who uses his younger family member to further his own interests without much thought to her own wishes or agency and willing to hurt her if she doesn't act the way he wants her to.

Otto Hightower: the show wants you to view Otto as a new Littlefinger, someone sly about his intentions who uses spies, information, and unsavory methods to take advantage of the ruling family and further his own interests and increase his own power. I see him instead as more similar to Tywin: a Hand of the King seeking to put his family close to the throne in pursuit of legacy and advancing his family's station, a man who arranged for his daughter to marry the king so his blood would sit the Iron Throne and bring his family power for generations, a man acutely aware of the political world and how the game is played and willing to get his hands dirty to play it.

The Strong boys: the show wants you to root for Rhaenyra's perfect, good natured and pure intentioned sons as if they were the Stark boys (mixed with Jon Snow). Raised in a good family, these boys know right from wrong and love each other. Yet some people unfairly think less of them for their birth. In reality, the Strong boys are closest to Joffrey, Tommen, and Myrcella. Bastards set to inherit positions they have no claim to, they are coddled by their mother and protected from any consequences to their actions. When one attacks another child, their mother demands that the other child's family is punished for their actions (and doesn't even reprimand the child for his role in the conflict). The result is the child has no remorse for the harm done, and the other child's family festers resentment against the child. Some people uncover the truth of their birth and object to their place in the line of succession, and these people are killed for speaking the truth. Eventually, a war is fought to keep them and their mother away from the throne, resulting in all of them being killed.

Aegon II Targaryen: the show wants you to see him as Joffrey 2.0. A man interested in viewing sadistic acts for his own pleasure, who abuses women for his own enjoyment, and who is unfit to rule. In reality I see Aegon as closest to Robb: a first born son reluctant to rule as king once his father dies but who rises to the occasion to try to keep his remaining family safe. A king willing to fight his battles alongside his men, no matter the risk it might pose to him. A king who tries his best to rule but makes mistakes along the way that cost him dearly. In the end, he watches as he loses everything, and he dies young.