I love Game of Thrones. I wasn't sold from the beginning, it wasn't until the third season when I got into it, but from the very first episode there was one character I championed - Daenerys Targaryen.
Throughout the show's run, Daenerys went from someone stripped of her home and purpose, to someone with immense responsibility and power, evolving into a compassionate and well respected leader, and a champion for the downtrodden. Let's take a look at some of the accomplishments Daenerys' has achieved over the series:
• She saved Missandei, Grey Worm, and countless others from a life of slavery, being described as a, "Glimmering hope in an increasingly dark world," by former slaves.
• She refused to loot and pillage in order to fund her fleet to sail to Westeros.
• When Drogon killed one person, she locked her dragons up to keep them from killing more innocents.
• She gave water to those who had been crucified on the Walk of Punishment and tried to free them.
• She refused to attack Astapor because she didn't want to kill any of the innocent people within the city.
• She told Yara that the Greyjoys were no longer allowed to pillage, raid, and rape under her rule.
Not to mention the fact that throughout the series run, she has constantly been reminded of her father, the "Mad King" Aerys Targaryen, and done everything in her power to be a different ruler, and has been told NUMEROUS times that she's not like her father by LITERALLY HALF OF THE CHARACTERS. This Daenerys overcame loosing her entire family as a child, enduring the abuse of her older brother for most of her life, being threatened with rape and murder by various people and groups throughout her campaign, she lost her husband, was betrayed by her closest confidant (Jorah), lost her most loyal Westerosi voice (Barriston) to senseless violence, and to suddenly make her snap and become everything she's fought against being, just so goodie-two-shoes Jon Snow can have a chance at the throne... not cool.
Look, if you talk to anyone, there seems to be a consensus about the last two seasons of Game of Thrones, and that is that the writing has gone downhill, and rightly so, two seasons ago they ran out of written material and had to start writing their own stories. I'm not the only one who has noticed how characters like Tyrion Lannister, Littlefinger, and Varys have been dumbed down and lost much of what made them interesting, incredibly intelligent characters. You just need to search Game of Thrones in Google or on YouTube to find thousands of outraged fans commenting on the poor writing decisions since the producers took over. But it's unfortunate that Daenerys' has been treated so poorly this last season, and even more of a shame that she'll have to be saved by a man (Jon Snow). In a show that consistently pumped out strong, female protagonists AND antagonists, it feels like a step back in equality to assassinate her character to (once more) elevate a man.
I will say, however, that from a character perspective... I totally understand why Daenerys' snapped. I think one of the reasons I've always championed her is because despite all of the accomplishments she's achieved, she has her faults. She's made mistakes, she's had to execute people, and she's had to learn how to judge life to be a better ruler for everyone. And she's also extremely emotional... which I identify with. Throughout the seasons we've seen how intense she can get, but she's always been able to reign it in and remind herself that she isn't her father. But let's take a look at all she's lost leading up to last night's penultimate episode of the series. She's left behind the city-states that revered her to come home, lost two of her dragons, and a bulk of her army, she lost her closest confidant (Jorah, and for good this time), saw her best friend beheaded by a tyrant, and has had everything she's worked towards become threatened by Jon Snow. She literally has no place in the world, and when she's about to find her place once and for all, she discovers that someone has a better chance of taking it. I loved the scene right before she went mad, where she's sitting atop Drogon and looking at the Red Keep, and you can literally see her fighting the madness and anger within her before she gives in. And I don't blame her, because were I in her shoes... I hate to say it, but I'd probably have done the exact same thing and burned that entire city to ashes.
I still champion Daenerys, I think as a character she's come so incredibly far. But I hate how in one single episode they knocked her down to a tyrant who needs to be dealt with just like Cersei. The writers for Game of Thrones have been assassinating characters for the last two seasons and Daenerys is the latest, and probably the biggest betrayal, of all of those character assassinations.
