#the nissa nissa theory is worse than the baby theory imo

[joannalannister]

Quotin’ myself:

Male sacrifice and female sacrifice are often not [treated] the same in popular culture. To boil it down - men sacrifice, while women are sacrificed.

[...] The male characters who get to go out guns blazing choose that fate; it’s the end result of their characterization to do so. Think of Syrio Forel. He chooses to sacrifice himself [but the women who die in childbirth in ASOIAF don’t get a choice.] There was no grand choice to sacrifice themselves in favor of saving the world, there was no option to refuse the sacrifice, there wasn’t any choice at all.

And that’s key. That’s what lies at the heart of all of GRRM’s stories: choice. As I said here, “Choice […]. That’s the difference between good and evil, you said. Now it looks like I’m the one got to make a choice” (Fevre Dream). In GRRM’s own words, “That’s something that’s very much in my books: I believe in great characters. We’re all capable of doing great things, and of doing bad things. We have the angels and the demons inside of us, and our lives are a succession of choices.”

[original post]

I think this is why I’m not fond of the theory that Dany is Jon’s Nissa Nissa, or the theory that Dany dies in childbirth in the end. Sure, these theories are possibilities that could happen in future books and I can see the internal logic to them -- a repetition of the Azor Ahai myth for the first, and the idea that Dany should have died in childbirth in AGOT if not for the magical intervention for the second -- but I don’t like them, because I don’t want to see Dany be sacrificed. Sacrifice herself, yes, but be sacrificed, no.  

I want to see Dany make choices. I 100% think that Dany is going to die saving the world, but I want it to be her choice to save the world, her choice to forsake saving the Targaryen Dynasty in favor of saving humanity. I want it to be an active choice, not an outcome that’s thrust upon her by circumstances or a choice that someone else makes for her. 

When GRRM says that choice is “the difference between good and evil” ... it’s a concept ties so strongly into the Eldritch slavery practiced by the others. The humans enslaved by the Others have had all their choices taken away. Choice defines humanity, and the Others have robbed so many of the freedom of choice, the freedom to be human. It’s something evil, not having that freedom to choose, to treat people as objects. 

Dany choosing to save the world would be so much more meaningful than just becoming a sacrifice. 

So I just hope that GRRM considers Dany’s choices to be worth writing about in the end. 

GRRM might go the childbirth route. He’s very fond of killing women in childbirth, and Dany’s been living on borrowed time since AGOT, so he might do it, I’ve talked before about how he might do it (1, 2, 3) and the show is almost certainly gonna do it but I don’t think I’d like it if GRRM went that route. I think GRRM is better than this, so I have a lot of hope that he won’t do it, but I’m not sure.