Cat

In Qarth

“Oh, Shiera. That’s High Valyrian.”

The "Hightower" siblings 💚💚💚💚

Someone is running a poll to ascertain who “ASOIAF readers” (I use this term very loosely, for deliberate reasons) believe is the most reliable viewpoint character in the series, out of Sansa, Jon, Arya, Theon, Bran, Daenerys, Davos, Jaime, or whoever the reader puts in the tags. 

Predictably, Dany is getting some of the least votes. As of me writing this post, the top five, according to tumblr, in terms of reliability are Davos (33.2%), Jon (12.8%), Arya (10.2%), Sansa (9.8%), and Bran (8.1%). The lowest is Theon (2.1%), then Jaime (4.6%), Dany (6%), and Tyrion (7.6%). 

Before I delve into the real time mischaracterization of Dany, I want to talk about how absurd these poll results are. 

While I agree that Theon is incredibly unreliable in ACOK, he is far more of a reliable narrator in ADWD precisely because he is brutally tortured and his arrogance is shattered. This doesn’t make him the most reliable narrator overall, but what that 2.1% number does not capture is his character development. He is forced to become more honest with himself and the reader because he makes the worst mistakes imaginable and pays the price over and over again. For all that tumblr praises Theon’s Reek arc in ADWD, and claims that it’s some of GRRM’s best writing, you lot seem to have missed the point of it. Like, how can so many of you completely ignore that the consequences of Theon’s actions hit HIM the hardest, and thus he has to grow up very fast and realize the truth in the most horrific way? 

Jaime ranking low also makes sense, because like Theon, he is incredibly overconfident and swaggering, and wallows in self-pity throughout AFFC. Yet Jaime is also self aware in important ways. I won’t contest his ranking too much, because Jaime refuses to see his most important flaws or his own hypocrisy. 

Tyrion should not be ranking this low. He is the most intelligent viewpoint in the series, and the vast majority of his observations are accurate. In fact, GRRM often uses Tyrion as a mouthpiece for exposition and elaboration. For instance, while Dany thinks Brown Ben smiles amiably, Tyrion notes that Ben’s smile doesn’t reach his eyes. Tyrion observes that Illyrio is using Jon Connington and Young Griff. The reason Tyrion is so adept at playing the game of thrones is precisely because he is so sharp and perceptive! When does Tyrion lie to himself or to the reader? He does not have a habit of warping reality––quite the opposite, he is cynical, bitter, and especially resentful by ADWD, and quite pessimistic. Perhaps his pessimism may render him more biased, but it doesn’t make his observations of the world wrong. 

On the other hand, Davos has ranked very high because he is one of the only two lowborn viewpoints (and we know Melisandre is one of the least reliable viewpoints). However, people accept Davos being “the most reliable” even though he is so openly biased toward Stannis. I tell you, if Dany was that biased toward someone, she’d be ranking below Theon in this poll. Yet readers forgive Davos for this because, per the tags, he is “their old man meow meow” and “class conscious.” Still, I can agree that Davos is more reliable and honest than most.

I also do think Jon is a mostly reliable viewpoint. I do not contest his ranking. 

Arya and Bran are children. While Arya’s viewpoint is very illuminating and self-aware, she often does not have the language to capture what is happening to her or what she’s seeing because she’s only nine years old. And Bran being ranked as a highly reliable viewpoint? Bran is definitely a sweet and compassionate boy. However, GRRM said that Bran is the hardest character to write because he’s the youngest! How can a seven/eight year old be more reliable than 15-year old, ruling queen Dany, or experienced former hand of the king Tyrion? Bran refuses to accept that Summer’s wolfish nature reflects his own and does not see that his warging of Hodor is torturing Hodor, again because he is ONLY SEVEN. A seven year old is not one of the most reliable viewpoints AS PER THE AUTHOR HIMSELF. 

Imagine Sansa getting one of the highest amount of votes! Again, this demonstrates the overt bias in the fandom. If you search on So Spake Martin, which curates all of GRRM’s interviews, emails, exchanges with fans, and communication, there is only ONE viewpoint he explicitly names as an unreliable narrator. And no, it’s not Dany! It’s Sansa, whom he named TWICE as an unreliable narrator, in separate contexts of Sansa lying to herself about Sandor kissing her (she invents that memory but he doesn’t actually kiss her) and Sansa misremembering the name of Joffrey’s sword. Sansa’s fans have downplayed this over the years through several tactics. Their primary tactic is to deflect the unreliable narrator epithet onto Dany, because somehow Dany is unreliable (for the reasons that the other people participating in this poll believe––which I’ll get to). This is in spite of the fact that GRRM has never called Dany an unreliable narrator (and you are welcome to search on So Spake Martin, GRRM’s Not a Blog, or google if you don’t believe me). Their second tactic is to call anyone who says Sansa is an unreliable narrator a “misogynist.” Which is their usual tactic for anything, but it’s funny because … GRRM is the one who calls her that? And he’s the one who uses these examples as the basis for calling her that. We didn’t make this up. Nor did we make up Sansa lying about Mycah attacking Joffrey first (even though she saw the entire incident), or the Unkiss, or her misremembering Joffrey’s sword. Nor does Sansa react to Petyr taking Jeyne away, or Petyr selling boys to Lynn Corbray. A reliable narrator is one who speaks to the truth of the world around them. Does Sansa routinely do that? According to GRRM, the answer is a no, but if we dare to point that out we’re misogynistic. Anyway, you can make your own conclusions on that front, but note the absurdity of the only viewpoint GRRM identifies by name as being unreliable getting so many votes on a poll about viewpoint reliability. 

Let’s get to Dany now.

I agree that in some ways, Dany is an unreliable viewpoint. Like the Starklings, she’s a child, and that informs her view of what’s happening to her. She loves Drogo, though this is a fault of GRRM’s misogyny more than anything. Most of what she knows about Westeros and her family history is from Viserys or books. She tells herself not to look back because she doesn’t want to drown in grief. She usually assumes the best of people, which is why she doesn’t notice Mirri, Jorah, or Brown Ben’s treasonous natures until they hurt her. She wasn’t formally educated. She’s grown up in Essos. These are perhaps all of the objective ways that her viewpoint can be limited in how accurate it can be, but this does not put her in the Theon/Jaime/Cersei/Melisandre levels of biased, or even Arianne/Sansa levels of biased. And she’s better able to tell what’s happening around her than Arya or Bran, who are quite young. 

According to tumblr, though?

Dany does not see herself as a savior. Dany believes that, as a Queen, she must do right by her people: 

Soon Dany was as clean as she was ever going to be. She pushed herself to her feet, splashing softly. Water ran down her legs and beaded on her breasts. The sun was climbing up the sky, and her people would soon be gathering. She would rather have drifted in the fragrant pool all day, eating iced fruit off silver trays and dreaming of a house with a red door, but a queen belongs to her people, not to herself. (ADWD Dany IX) 

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“Your Grace?” Ser Barristan prompted, gently. A queen belongs not to herself but to her people. “I need Hizdahr zo Loraq.” (ADWD Dany V) 

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“I was alone for a long time, Jorah. All alone but for my brother. I was such a small scared thing. Viserys should have protected me, but instead he hurt me and scared me worse. He shouldn’t have done that. He wasn’t just my brother, he was my king. Why do the gods make kings and queens, if not to protect the ones who can’t protect themselves?” “Some kings make themselves. Robert did.” “He was no true king,” Dany said scornfully. “He did no justice. Justice … that’s what kings are for.” Ser Jorah had no answer. He only smiled, and touched her hair, so lightly. It was enough. (ASOS Dany III) 

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“Enough,” she said, dabbing at her cheek with the end of her tokar. “No one has ever died from spittle. Take him away."They dragged him out feet first, leaving several broken teeth and a trail of blood behind. Dany would gladly have sent the rest of the petitioners away … but she was still their queen, so she heard them out and did her best to give them justice. (ADWD Dany III) 

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"I had to take Meereen or see my children starve along the march.” Dany could still see the trail of corpses she had left behind her crossing the Red Waste. It was not a sight she wished to see again. “I had to take Meereen to feed my people.” (ADWD Dany X) 

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The thought of home disquieted her. If her sun-and-stars had lived, he would have led his khalasar across the poison water and swept away her enemies, but his strength had left the world. Her bloodriders remained, sworn to her for life and skilled in slaughter, but only in the ways of the horselords. The Dothraki sacked cities and plundered kingdoms, they did not rule them. Dany had no wish to reduce King’s Landing to a blackened ruin full of unquiet ghosts. She had supped enough on tears. I want to make my kingdom beautiful, to fill it with fat men and pretty maids and laughing children. I want my people to smile when they see me ride by, the way Viserys said they smiled for my father. (ACOK Dany II) 

- They are not strong, she told herself, so I must be their strength. I must show no fear, no weakness, no doubt. However frightened my heart, when they look upon my face they must see only Drogo’s queen. She felt older than her fourteen years. If ever she had truly been a girl, that time was done. […] Dany kissed him lightly on the cheek. It heartened her to see him smile. I must be strong for him as well, she thought grimly. A knight he may be, but I am the blood of the dragon. (ACOK Dany I)

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“You will be my khalasar,” she told them. “I see the faces of slaves. I free you. Take off your collars. Go if you wish, no one shall harm you. If you stay, it will be as brothers and sisters, husbands and wives.” The black eyes watched her, wary, expressionless. “I see the children, women, the wrinkled faces of the aged. I was a child yesterday. Today I am a woman. Tomorrow I will be old. To each of you I say, give me your hands and your hearts, and there will always be a place for you.” (AGOT Dany X) 

Dany believes that a Queen’s station is to protect her people, give them justice, help them find food and safety, bring peace to their lands. Does this make her idealistic? Yes, but why is idealism a crime if it’s Dany? Idealism and positive, pro-smallfolk ideals aren’t seen as unreliable in Jon, Davos, Brienne, Arya, Bran, Asha, etc, but somehow it’s unreliable and “savior complex” of Dany to want to do right by her people? Notice too that her desires as a young girl, to float around in a pool and eat iced fruit, contrast with what she sees as her duty, to sacrifice her happiness for her people, to “belong to her people.” Dany isn’t characterizing herself as their savior, she’s characterizing herself as their queen. To her, queenship is about justice. Why is that a bad or unreliable quality? 

Not to mention that people DO see Dany as their savior: 

“We follow the comet,” Dany told her khalasar. Once it was said, no word was raised against it. They had been Drogo’s people, but they were hers now. The Unburnt, they called her, and Mother of Dragons. Her word was their law. (ACOK Dany I) 

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If the Milk Men thought her such a savage, she would dress the part for them. When she went to the stables, she wore faded sandsilk pants and woven grass sandals. Her small breasts moved freely beneath a painted Dothraki vest, and a curved dagger hung from her medallion belt. Jhiqui had braided her hair Dothraki fashion, and fastened a silver bell to the end of the braid. “I have won no victories,” she tried telling her handmaid when the bell tinkled softly. Jhiqui disagreed. “You burned the maegi in their house of dust and sent their souls to hell.” (ACOK Dany V) 

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“The best calumnies are spiced with truth,” suggested Qavo, “but the girl’s true sin cannot be denied. This arrogant child has taken it upon herself to smash the slave trade, but that traffic was never confined to Slaver’s Bay. It was part of the sea of trade that spanned the world, and the dragon queen has clouded the water. Behind the Black Wall, lords of ancient blood sleep poorly, listening as their kitchen slaves sharpen their long knives. Slaves grow our food, clean our streets, teach our young. They guard our walls, row our galleys, fight our battles. And now when they look east, they see this young queen shining from afar, this breaker of chains. The Old Blood cannot suffer that. Poor men hate her too. Even the vilest beggar stands higher than a slave. This dragon queen would rob him of that consolation.” (ADWD Tyrion VI) 

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“Mother to dragons.” Dany shivered. “No. Mother to us all.” Missandei hugged her tighter. “Your Grace should sleep. Dawn will be here soon, and court.” “We’ll both sleep, and dream of sweeter days. Close your eyes.” When she did, Dany kissed her eyelids and made her giggle. (ADWD Dany II) 

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It was his failures that haunted him at night, though. Jaehaerys, Aerys, Robert. Three dead kings. Rhaegar, who would have been a finer king than any of them. Princess Elia and the children. Aegon just a babe, Rhaenys with her kitten. Dead, every one, yet he still lived, who had sworn to protect them. And now Daenerys, his bright shining child queen. She is not dead. I will not believe it. (ADWD The Queensguard) 

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“Is it true?” a freedwoman shouted. “Is our mother dead?” “No, no, no,” Reznak screeched. “Queen Daenerys will return to Meereen in her own time in all her might and majesty. Until such time, His Worship King Hizdahr shall—” “He is no king of mine,” a freedman yelled. (ADWD The Discarded Knight) 

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And the king’s protectors grew fewer every day. Hizdahr’s blunder with Grey Worm had cost him the Unsullied. When His Grace had tried to put them under the command of a cousin, as he had the Brazen Beasts, Grey Worm had informed the king that they were free men who took commands only from their mother. As for the Brazen Beasts, half were freedmen and the rest shavepates, whose true loyalty might still be to Skahaz mo Kandaq. The pit fighters were King Hizdahr’s only reliable support, against a sea of enemies. (ADWD The Queensguard) 

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One of the first things Dany had done after the fall of Astapor was abolish the custom of giving the Unsullied new slave names every day. Most of those born free had returned to their birth names; those who still remembered them, at least. Others had called themselves after heroes or gods, and sometimes weapons, gems, and even flowers, which resulted in soldiers with some very peculiar names, to Dany’s ears. Grey Worm had remained Grey Worm. When she asked him why, he said, “It is a lucky name. The name this one was born to was accursed. That was the name he had when he was taken for a slave. But Grey Worm is the name this one drew the day Daenerys Stormborn set him free.” (ASOS Dany IV) 

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Dany felt a lightness in her chest. I will never bear a living child, she remembered. Her hand trembled as she raised it. Perhaps she smiled. She must have, because the man grinned and shouted again, and others took up the cry. “Mhysa!” they called. “Mhysa! MHYSA!” They were all smiling at her, reaching for her, kneeling before her. “Maela,” some called her, while others cried “Aelalla” or “Qathei” or “Tato,” but whatever the tongue it all meant the same thing. Mother. They are calling me Mother. (ASOS Dany IV) 

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“I am no lady,” the widow replied, “just Vogarro’s whore. You want to be gone from here before the tigers come. Should you reach your queen, give her a message from the slaves of Old Volantis.” She touched the faded scar upon her wrinkled cheek, where her tears had been cut away. “Tell her we are waiting. Tell her to come soon.” (ADWD Tyrion VII) 

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“I told you, I know our little queen. Let her hear that her brother Rhaegar’s murdered son is still alive, that this brave boy has raised the dragon standard of her forebears in Westeros once more, that he is fighting a desperate war to avenge his father and reclaim the Iron Throne for House Targaryen, hard-pressed on every side … and she will fly to your side as fast as wind and water can carry her. You are the last of her line, and this Mother of Dragons, this Breaker of Chains, is above all a rescuer. The girl who drowned the slaver cities in blood rather than leave strangers to their chains can scarcely abandon her own brother’s son in his hour of peril. And when she reaches Westeros, and meets you for the first time, you will meet as equals, man and woman, not queen and supplicant. How can she help but love you then, I ask you?” Smiling, he seized his dragon, flew it across the board. “I hope Your Grace will pardon me. Your king is trapped. Death in four.” (ADWD Tyrion VI) 

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Mormont paid no mind to the mongrel crowd; his eyes were fixed beyond the siege lines, on the distant city with its ancient walls of many-colored brick. Tyrion could read that look as easy as a book: so near and yet so distant. The poor wretch had returned too late. Daenerys Targaryen was wed, the guards on the pens had told them, laughing. She had taken a Meereenese slaver as her king, as wealthy as he was noble, and when the peace was signed and sealed the fighting pits of Meereen would open once again. Other slaves insisted that the guards were lying, that Daenerys Targaryen would never make peace with slavers. Mhysa, they called her. Someone told him that meant Mother. Soon the silver queen would come forth from her city, smash the Yunkai'i, and break their chains, they whispered to one another. (ADWD Tyrion X) 

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Haldon nodded. “Benerro has sent forth the word from Volantis. Her coming is the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy. From smoke and salt was she born to make the world anew. She is Azor Ahai returned … and her triumph over darkness will bring a summer that will never end … death itself will bend its knee, and all those who die fighting in her cause shall be reborn …” (ADWD Tyrion VI) 

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On Braavos, it had seemed possible that Aemon might recover. Xhondo’s talk of dragons had almost seemed to restore the old man to himself. That night he ate every bite Sam put before him. “No one ever looked for a girl,” he said. “It was a prince that was promised, not a princess. Rhaegar, I thought … the smoke was from the fire that devoured Summerhall on the day of his birth, the salt from the tears shed for those who died. He shared my belief when he was young, but later he became persuaded that it was his own son who fulfilled the prophecy, for a comet had been seen above King’s Landing on the night Aegon was conceived, and Rhaegar was certain the bleeding star had to be a comet. What fools we were, who thought ourselves so wise! The error crept in from the translation. Dragons are neither male nor female, Barth saw the truth of that, but now one and now the other, as changeable as flame. The language misled us all for a thousand years. Daenerys is the one, born amidst salt and smoke. The dragons prove it.” Just talking of her seemed to make him stronger. “I must go to her. I must. Would that I was even ten years younger.” (AFFC Samwell IV) 

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One word. Tyrion Lannister’s world turned upside down. One word. Meereen. Or had he misheard? One word. Meereen, he said Meereen, he’s taking me to Meereen. Meereen meant life. Or hope for life, at least. (ADWD Tyrion VII) 

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Prince Quentyn was listening intently, at least. That one is his father’s son. Short and stocky, plain-faced, he seemed a decent lad, sober, sensible, dutiful … but not the sort to make a young girl’s heart beat faster. And Daenerys Targaryen, whatever else she might be, was still a young girl, as she herself would claim when it pleased her to play the innocent. Like all good queens she put her people first—else she would never have wed Hizdahr zo Loraq—but the girl in her still yearned for poetry, passion, and laughter. She wants fire, and Dorne sent her mud. (ADWD The Discarded Knight) 

Wow, it seems like quite a few people see Dany as their savior! Dany’s tiny, vulnerable Khalasar call her the Unburnt and Jhiqui fashions bells in her hair despite Dany’s protests (Dany downplays her own achievements, quite contrary to someone who’d view themselves as a savior). The slaves, red priests, and freedmen of Essos call her Mhysa, Mother, and Azor Ahai, and are waiting for her to smash the slavers. The slavers of Essos resent her because she is a “shining queen,” an emblem of abolitionist revolution. Grey Worm keeps his name because it represents the day Dany sets him free. The Unsullied say that they’ll only take orders from their Mother. Missandei says Dany is the mother to all. The freedmen view Dany as their Queen Mother and refuse to accept Hizdahr as their king. Dany is Barristan’s “bright, shining child queen” and “good queen who put[s] her people first.” Aemon views her as the Princess that was Promised. Even Tyrion, who is at his most cynical and pessimistic in ADWD, calls her “above all a rescuer,” because she’d rather “drown slaver cities in blood than leave strangers to their chains,” and follows up by thinking of Meereen as “life, hope for life,” in direct contrast to Westeros, Cersei, and his own family. Dany doesn’t ask for any of these titles or epithets. She’s completely unaware of most of these scenes as well. These are titles and epithets that other people bestow on her because of her substantive actions as a queen. 

Also, Dany already understands that politics and ruling are complicated. In AGOT, she learns that it is not worth playing the game of thrones if it means allowing women to be raped, and defies her own powerlessness as Khaleesi by saving those women, ultimately at great cost to herself and her safety (as well as her child’s life). In ACOK, she is a beggar queen who understands that people being interested in her dragons is not a sign of real loyalty, and comes to believe that being a beggar queen is better than relying on people who aren’t loyal to her. In ASOS, she realizes that she cannot become a queen if it means allowing people to be sold into slavery and also learns that there is a lot more involved to abolition than just taking out the slavers themselves. These are lessons that are reinforced throughout her arc, from AGOT and ACOK, where she learns how to deal with slavers and the issues of slavery before she gains the power to actually effectuate the changes she makes in ASOS and ADWD. 

The most laughable aspect of this, or the general notion that Dany “doesn’t understand the complexity of ruling,” is that it’s the exact opposite: Dany’s entire ADWD arc is dedicated to her learning and dealing with the nuances of ruling. Like, this is how GRRM himself describes her ADWD arc: 

Dany as Queen, struggling with rule. So many books don’t do that. In high fantasy there is always this presumption that if you are a good man, you will be a good king. Like Tolkien, in Return of the King, Aragorn comes back and becomes king, and then we read that “he ruled wisely for three hundred years.” Okay, fine. It is easy to write that sentence, “He ruled wisely,” but what does that mean? What were his tax policies? What did he do when two lords were making war on each other? Or barbarians were coming in from the North? What was his immigration policy? What about equal rights for Orcs? I mean, did he just pursue a genocidal policy, “Let’s kill all these Orcs who are still left over”? Or did he try to redeem them? You never actually see the nitty-gritty of ruling. […] Seeing someone like Dany actually trying to deal with the vestments of being a queen and getting factions and guilds and managing the economy… They burnt all the fields in Meereen. They’ve got nothing to import any more. They’re not getting any money… I find this stuff interesting. And fortunately, enough of my readers who love the books do as well. [source] 

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Tolkien may write that Aragorn “ruled wisely and well for years,” but what does that mean? What was his tax policy? How did the economy function? What about the class system? “There are still tens and thousands of orcs at the end of Lord of the Rings,” Martin said. “Did he pursue a policy of genocide toward them? Or did he reach out and try to educate them? We never get answers to any of these questions. We just get ‘he ruled wisely and well.‘” “That’s what I try to do in showing rulers as diverse as Robert and Ned Stark and Cersei Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen — show how people achieve a position of power and then what do they do with it, how do they deal with the divisions of their societies and violence and crime and economic matters.” [source]

The oft-repeated Aragorn tax policy quote that’s thrown around? Is actually about GRRM explaining why he structures Dany’s ADWD arc around seemingly “boring” things like administration and economic management. He explicitly says that Dany is “actually trying to deal with the vestments of being queen,” “getting factions and guilds and managing the economy,” “achie[ving] a position of power, deal[ing] with divisons of [her] societ[y] and violence and crime and economic matters.” In fact, he contrasts Robert with Ned and Cersei with Dany as two sides of ruling. If POV reliability is about how much a character understands the complexities of ruling, then why is Dany, whom the author says is ACTUALLY dealing with ruling, not considered reliable? Why are characters whom GRRM does not describe like this, or give such a detailed ruling arc to, considered more reliable viewpoints than her? 

And you can see how much Dany reflects on the nuances and complexities of ruling: 

That morning she summoned her captains and commanders to the garden, rather than descending to the audience chamber. “Aegon the Conqueror brought fire and blood to Westeros, but afterward he gave them peace, prosperity, and justice. But all I have brought to Slaver’s Bay is death and ruin. I have been more khal than queen, smashing and plundering, then moving on.” (ASOS Dany VI) 

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“But how can I rule seven kingdoms if I cannot rule a single city?” He had no answer to that. Dany turned away from them, to gaze out over the city once again. “My children need time to heal and learn. My dragons need time to grow and test their wings. And I need the same. I will not let this city go the way of Astapor. I will not let the harpy of Yunkai chain up those I’ve freed all over again.” She turned back to look at their faces. “I will not march.” (ASOS Dany VI) 

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I am queen over a city built on dust and death. Dany had no choice but to deny him. She had declared a blanket pardon for all crimes committed during the sack. Nor would she punish slaves for rising up against their masters. (ADWD Dany I) 

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Dany had wanted to ban the tokar when she took Meereen, but her advisors had convinced her otherwise. “The Mother of Dragons must don the tokar or be forever hated,” warned the Green Grace, Galazza Galare. “In the wools of Westeros or a gown of Myrish lace, Your Radiance shall forever remain a stranger amongst us, a grotesque outlander, a barbarian conqueror. Meereen’s queen must be a lady of Old Ghis.” Brown Ben Plumm, the captain of the Second Sons, had put it more succinctly. “Man wants to be the king o’ the rabbits, he best wear a pair o’ floppy ears.” (ADWD Dany I) 

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To rule Meereen I must win the Meereneese, however much I may despise them. “I am ready”, she told Irri. (ADWD Dany I) 

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“Your Grace has not asked for my counsel,” said Skahaz Shavepate, “but I say that blood must pay for blood. Take one man from each of the families I have named and kill him. The next time one of yours is slain, take two from each great House and kill them both. There will not be a third murder.” […] “Skahaz,” she told the Shavepate. “I thank you for your counsel. Reznak, see what one thousand honors may accomplish.” (ADWD Dany I) 

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“It might…though if we were to reopen the pits, we should take our tenth before expenses. I am only a young girl and know little of such matters, but I dwelt with Xaro Xhoan Daxos long enough to learn that much. Hizdahr, if you could marshal armies as you marshal arguments, you could conquer the world…but my answer is still no. For the sixth time.” (ADWD Dany I) 

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What he desired turned out to be gold. Dany had refused to compensate any of the Great Masters for the value of their slaves, but the Meereenese kept devising other ways to squeeze coin from her. The noble Grazdan had once owned a slave woman who was a very fine weaver, it seemed; the fruits of her loom were greatly valued, not only in Meereen, but in New Ghis and Astapor and Qarth. When this woman had grown old, Grazdan had purchased half a dozen young girls and commanded the crone to instruct them in the secrets of her craft. The old woman was dead now. The young ones, freed, had opened a shop by the harbor wall to sell their weavings. Grazdan zo Galare asked that he be granted a portion of their earnings. “They owe their skill to me,” he insisted. “I plucked them from the auction bloc and gave them to the loom.“ (ADWD Dany I) 

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“Let us say Elza. Here is our ruling. From the girls, you shall have nothing. It was Elza who taught them weaving, not you. From you, the girls shall have a new loom, the finest coin can buy. That is for forgetting the name of the old woman.” (ADWD Dany I) 

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A brothel. Half of her freedmen were from Yunkai, where the Wise Masters had been famed for training bedslaves. The way of the seven sighs. Brothels had sprouted up like mushrooms all over Meereen. It is all they know. They need to survive. Food was more costly every day, whilst the price of flesh grew cheaper. In the poorer districts between the stepped pyramids of Meereen’s slaver nobility, there were brothels catering to every conceivable erotic taste, she knew. Even so … “What could a eunuch hope to find in a brothel?” (ADWD Dany I) 

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She had not forgotten the slave children the Great Masters had nailed up along the road from Yunkai. They had numbered one hundred sixty-three, a child every mile, nailed to mileposts with one arm outstretched to point her way. After Meereen had fallen, Dany had nailed up a like number of Great Masters. Swarms of flies had attended their slow dying, and the stench had lingered long in the plaza. Yet some days she feared that she had not gone far enough. These Meereenese were a sly and stubborn people who resisted her at every turn. They had freed their slaves, yes … only to hire them back as servants at wages so meagre that most could scarce afford to eat. Those too old or young to be of use had been cast into the streets, along with the infirm and the crippled. And still the Great Masters gathered atop their lofty pyramids to complain of how the dragon queen had filled their noble city with hordes of unwashed beggars, thieves, and whores. (ADWD Dany I)

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“They are afraid for their children,” Reznak said. Yes, Daenerys thought, and so am I. “We must keep them safe as well. I will have two children from each of them. From the other pyramids as well. A boy and a girl.” (ADWD Dany II) 

-

“Hostages,” said Skahaz, happily. “Pages and cupbearers. If the Great Masters make objection, explain to them that in Westeros it is a great honor for a child to be chosen to serve at court.“ She left the rest unspoken. "Go and do as I’ve commanded. I have my dead to mourn.” (ADWD Dany II) 

-

Somewhere beneath those roofs, the Sons of the Harpy were gathered, plotting ways to kill her and all those who loved her and put her children back in chains. Somewhere down there a hungry child was crying for milk. Somewhere an old woman lay dying. Somewhere a man and a maid embraced, and fumbled at each other’s clothes with eager hands. But up here there was only the sheen of moonlight on pyramids and pits, with no hint what lay beneath. Up here there was only her, alone. (ADWD Dany II) 

-

She was the blood of the dragon. She could kill the Sons of the Harpy, and the sons of the sons, and the sons of the sons of the sons. But a dragon could not feed a hungry child nor help a dying woman’s pain. And who would ever dare to love a dragon? (ADWD Dany II) 

-

Dany had no answer for that. If this is truly what my people wish, do I have the right to deny it to them? It was their city before it was mine, and it is their own lives they wish to squander. “I will consider all you’ve said. Thank you for your counsel.” She rose. “We will resume on the morrow.” (ADWD Dany II) 

-

If I look back, I am doomed, Dany told herself … but how could she not look back? I should have seen it coming. Was I so blind, or did I close my eyes willfully, so I would not have to see the price of power? (ADWD Dany II) 

-

Mother of dragons, Daenerys thought. Mother of monsters. What have I unleashed upon the world? A queen I am, but my throne is made of burned bones, and it rests on quicksand. Without dragons, how could she hope to hold Meereen, much less win back Westeros? I am the blood of the dragon, she thought. If they are monsters, so am I. (ADWD Dany II) 

-

Dany flushed. “Your friend is being paid with food and shelter. I cannot give him back his wealth. Meereen needs beans more than it needs rare spices, and beans require water.” (ADWD Dany III) 

-

She took him out onto the terrace that overlooked the city. A full moon swam in the black sky above Meereen. “Shall we walk?” Dany slipped her arm through his. The air was heavy with the scent of night-blooming flowers. “You spoke of help. Trade with me, then. Meereen has salt to sell, and wine …” (ADWD Dany III) 

-

“He spoke no word but laid at her feet a black satin pillow, upon which rested a single bloodstained glove. “What is this?” Skahaz demanded. “A bloody glove …” “… means war,” said the queen.” (ADWD Dany III) 

-

“Enough.” Dany slapped the table. “No one will be left to die. You are all my people.” Her dreams of home and love had blinded her. “I will not abandon Meereen to the fate of Astapor. It grieves me to say so, but Westeros must wait.” (ADWD Dany III) 

-

He was too eloquent for her. Dany had no answer for him, only the raw feeling in her belly. “Slavery is not the same as rain,” she insisted. “I have been rained on and I have been sold. It is not the same. No man wants to be owned.” (ADWD Dany III) 

-

“The ones who come are well spoken and gently born, sweet queen. Such slaves are prized. In the Free Cities they will be tutors, scribes, bed slaves, even healers and priests. They will sleep in soft beds, eat rich foods, and dwell in manses. Here they have lost all, and live in fear and squalor.” (ASOS Dany VI)

-

“Gentle queen. You do not want to disappoint your people.” “You swore to me that the fighters would be grown men who had freely consented to risk their lives for gold and honor. These dwarfs did not consent to battle lions with wooden swords. You will stop it. Now.”  The king’s mouth tightened. For a heartbeat Dany thought she saw a flash of anger in those placid eyes. “As you command.” Hizdahr beckoned to his pitmaster. “No lions,” he said when the man trotted over, whip in hand. (ADWD Dany IX) 

-

“Three.” Saying it left a bitter taste in her mouth. “The cowards broke in on some weavers, freedwomen who had done no harm to anyone. All they did was make beautiful things. I have a tapestry they gave me hanging over my bed. The Sons of the Harpy broke their loom and raped them before slitting their throats.” (ADWD Dany IV)

-

“It shall be done, Magnificence,” said Reznak mo Reznak. “What of these Astapori?“ My children. "They are coming here for help. For succor and protection. We cannot turn our backs on them.” (ADWD Dany V) 

-

“Tell me, can this king puff his cheeks up and blow Xaro’s galleys back to Qarth? Can he clap his hands and break the siege of Astapor? Can he put food in the bellies of my children and bring peace back to my streets?” (ADWD Dany IV) 

-

Dany had left a trail of corpses behind her when she crossed the red waste. It was a sight she never meant to see again. “No,” she said. “I will not march my people off to die.” My children. “There must be some way into this city.” (ASOS Dany V)

-

"I wouldn’t,” said Brown Ben Plumm. “I’m no maester, mind you, but I know you got to keep the bad apples from the good.” “These are not apples, Ben,” said Dany. “These are men and women, sick and hungry and afraid.” My children. “I should have gone to Astapor.” (ADWD Dany V) 

-

“Let them come. In me they shall find a sterner foe than Cleon. I would sooner perish fighting than return my children to bondage.” (ADWD Dany IV) 

-

Blood and fire, thought Dany. The words of House Targaryen. She had known them all her life. “The blood of my enemies I will shed gladly. The blood of innocents is another matter. Eight thousand Unsullied they would offer me. Eight thousand dead babes. Eight thousand strangled dogs.” (ASOS Dany II) 

-

“You cannot claim them all, my child,” Ser Jorah said, the fourth time they stopped, while the warriors of her khas herded her new slaves behind her. “I am khaleesi, heir to the Seven Kingdoms, the blood of the dragon,” Dany reminded him. “It is not for you to tell me what I cannot do.” (AGOT Dany VII) 

-

“They sound lovely.” She drew him away from the pit. He does not belong here. He should never have come. “You ought to return there. My court is no safe place for you, I fear. You have more enemies than you know. You made Daario look a fool, and he is not a man to forget such a slight.” (ADWD Dany VIII)

-

“He knows. So do I.” Dany remembered the horror she had felt when she had seen the Plaza of Punishment in Astapor. I made a horror just as great, but surely they deserved it. Harsh justice is still justice. (ASOS Dany VI)

-

Every one of her advisors had argued fervently against it, from Reznak and the Shavepate to Ser Barristan, but Daenerys would not be moved. “I will not turn away from them,” she said stubbornly. “A queen must know the sufferings of her people.” (ADWD Dany VI) 

-

Ser Barristan watched with ill-concealed apprehension. “You should not linger here overlong, Your Grace. The Astapori are being fed, as “you commanded. There’s no more we can do for the poor wretches. We should repair back to the city.” “Go if you wish, ser. I will not detain you. I will not detain any of you.” Dany vaulted down from the horse. “I cannot heal them, but I can show them that their Mother cares.” Jhogo sucked in his breath. “Khaleesi, no.” The bell in his braid rang softly as he dismounted. “You must not get any closer. Do not let them touch you! Do not!” Dany walked right past him. There was an old man on the ground a few feet away, moaning and staring up at the grey belly of the clouds. She knelt beside him, wrinkling her nose at the smell, and pushed back his dirty grey hair to feel his brow. “His flesh is on fire. I need water to bathe him. Seawater will serve. Marselen, will you fetch some for me? I need oil as well, for the pyre. Who will help me burn the dead?” (ADWD Dany VI) 

-

Those who had the strength called out. “Mother … please, Mother … bless you, Mother …” Bless me, Dany thought bitterly. Your city is gone to ash and bone, your people are dying all around you. I have no shelter for you, no medicine, no hope. Only stale bread and wormy meat, hard cheese, a little milk. Bless me, bless me. What kind of mother has no milk to feed her children? (ADWD Dany VI)

-

Daenerys dare not open her gates to let them in. She had tried to do what she could for them. She had sent them healers, Blue Graces and spell-singers and barber-surgeons, but some of those had sickened as well, and none of their arts had slowed the galloping progression of the flux that had come on the pale mare. Separating the healthy from the sick had proved impractical as well. Her Stalwart Shields had tried, pulling husbands away from wives and children from their mothers, even as the Astapori wept and kicked and pelted them with stones. A few days later, the sick were dead and the healthy ones were sick. Even feeding them had grown difficult. Every day she sent them what she could, but every day there were more of them and less food to give them. It was growing harder to find drivers willing to deliver the food as well. Too many of the men they had sent into the camp had been stricken by the flux themselves. Others had been attacked on the way back to the city. Yesterday a wagon had been overturned and two of her soldiers killed, so today the queen had determined that she would bring the food herself. (ADWD Dany VI) 

-

“Mother,” they called to her, in the dialects of Astapor, Lys, and Old Volantis, in guttural Dothraki and the liquid syllables of Qarth, even in the Common Tongue of Westeros. “Mother, please … mother, help my sister, she is sick … give me food for my little ones … please, my old father … help him … help her … help me …” I have no more help to give, Dany thought, despairing. (ADWD Dany VI)

-

“Continue as we planned. Gather food, as much as you can.” If I look back I am lost. “We must close the gates and put every fighting man upon the walls. No one enters, no one leaves.” The hall was quiet for a moment. The men looked at one another. Then Reznak said, “What of the Astapori?” She wanted to scream, to gnash her teeth and tear her clothes and beat upon the floor. Instead she said, “Close the gates. Will you make me say it thrice?” They were her children, but she could not help them now. (ADWD Dany VI)

-

“As you wish,” she sighed. “I shall marry Hizdahr in the Temple of the Graces wrapped in a white tokar fringed with baby pearls. Is there anything else?” (ADWD Dany VI) 

-

In the afternoon a sculptor came, proposing to replace the head of the great bronze harpy in the Plaza of Purification with one cast in Dany’s image. She denied him with as much courtesy as she could muster. A pike of unprecedented size had been caught in the Skahazadhan, and the fisherman wished to give it to the queen. She admired the fish extravagantly, rewarded the fisherman with a purse of silver, and sent the pike to her kitchens. A coppersmith had fashioned her a suit of burnished rings to wear to war. She accepted it with fulsome thanks; it was lovely to behold, and all that burnished copper would flash prettily in the sun, though if actual battle threatened, she would sooner be clad in steel. Even a young girl who knew nothing of the ways of war knew that. (ADWD Dany I) 

-

She had them nailed to wooden posts around the plaza, each man pointing at the next. The anger was fierce and hot inside her when she gave the command; it made her feel like an avenging dragon. But later, when she passed the men dying on the posts, when she heard their moans and smelled their bowels and blood … Dany put the glass aside, frowning. It was just. It was. I did it for the children. (ASOS Dany VI)

-

“I have heard enough.” Dany did not need their squabbling on top of all the other troubles that plagued her. Meereen posed dangers far more serious than one pink-and-white hero shouting insults, and she could not let herself be distracted. Her host numbered more than eighty thousand after Yunkai, but fewer than a quarter of them were soldiers. The rest … well, Ser Jorah called them mouths with feet, and soon they would be starving. (ASOS Dany V)

-

“I must have this city,” she told them, sitting crosslegged on a pile of cushions, her dragons all about her. Irri and Jhiqui poured wine. “Her granaries are full to bursting. There are figs and dates and olives growing on the terraces of her pyramids, and casks of salt fish and smoked meat buried in her cellars.” (ASOS Dany V) 

-

The cedars that had once grown tall along the coast grew no more, felled by the axes of the Old Empire or consumed by dragonfire when Ghis made war against Valyria. Once the trees had gone, the soil baked beneath the hot sun and blew away in thick red clouds. “It was these calamities that transformed my people into slavers,” Galazza Galare had told her, at the Temple of the Graces. And I am the calamity that will change these slavers back into people, Dany had sworn to herself. (ADWD Dany III) 

-

No one was calling her Daenerys the Conqueror yet, but perhaps they would. Aegon the Conqueror had won Westeros with three dragons, but she had taken Meereen with sewer rats and a wooden cock, in less than a day. Poor Groleo. He still grieved for his ship, she knew. If a war galley could ram another ship, why not a gate? That had been her thought when she commanded the captains to drive their ships ashore. Their masts had become her battering rams, and swarms of freedmen had torn their hulls apart to build mantlets, turtles, catapults, and ladders. The sellswords had given each ram a bawdy name, and it had been the mainmast of Meraxes—formerly Joso’s Prank—that had broken the eastern gate. Joso’s Cock, they called it. The fighting had raged bitter and bloody for most of a day and well into the night before the wood began to splinter and Meraxes’ iron figurehead, a laughing jester’s face, came crashing through. (ASOS Dany VI)

-

All my victories turn to dross in my hands, she thought. Whatever I do, all I make is death and horror. When word of what had befallen Astapor reached the streets, as it surely would, tens of thousands of newly freed Meereenese slaves would doubtless decide to follow her when she went west, for fear of what awaited them if they stayed … yet it might well be that worse would await them on the march. Even if she emptied every granary in the city and left Meereen to starve, how could she feed so many? The way before her was fraught with hardship, bloodshed, and danger. Ser Jorah had warned her of that. He’d warned her of so many things … he’d … No, I will not think of Jorah Mormont. Let him keep a little longer. “I shall see this trader captain,” she announced. Perhaps he would have some better tidings. (ASOS Dany VI)

-

“You have brought freedom as well,” Missandei pointed out. “Freedom to starve?” asked Dany sharply. “Freedom to die? Am I a dragon, or a harpy?” Am I mad? Do I have the taint? (ASOS Dany VI)

-

The thing that surprised Dany most was how unsurprised she was. She found herself remembering Eroeh, the Lhazarene girl she had once tried to protect, and what had happened to her. It will be the same in Meereen once I march, she thought. The slaves from the fighting pits, bred and trained to slaughter, were already proving themselves unruly and quarrelsome. They seemed to think they owned the city now, and every man and woman in it. Two of them had been among the eight she’d hanged. There is no more I can do, she told herself. “What do you want of me, Captain?” (ASOS Dany VI)

-

Brown Ben Plumm was puzzled. “Who is Eroeh?” “A girl I thought I’d saved from rape and torment. All I did was make it worse for her in the end. And all I did in Astapor was make ten thousand Eroehs.” (ADWD Dany V)

-

Much of the talk about the table was of the matches to be fought upon the morrow. Barsena Blackhair was going to face a boar, his tusks against her dagger. Khrazz was fighting, as was the Spotted Cat. And in the day’s final pairing, Goghor the Giant would go against Belaquo Bonebreaker. One would be dead before the sun went down. No queen has clean hands, Dany told herself. She thought of Doreah, of Quaro, of Eroeh … of a little girl she had never met, whose name had been Hazzea. Better a few should die in the pit than thousands at the gates. This is the price of peace, I pay it willingly. If I look back, I am lost. (ADWD Dany VIII)

-

Her audience chamber was on the level below, an echoing high-ceilinged room with walls of purple marble. It was a chilly place for all its grandeur. There had been a throne there, a fantastic thing of carved and gilded wood in the shape of a savage harpy. She had taken one long look and commanded it be broken up for firewood. “I will not sit in the harpy’s lap,” she told them. Instead she sat upon a simple ebony bench. It served, though she had heard the Meereenese muttering that it did not befit a queen. (ASOS Dany VI)

-

“A queen must listen to all,” she reminded him. “The highborn and the low, the strong and the weak, the noble and the venal. One voice may speak you false, but in many there is always truth to be found.” She had read that in a book. (ASOS Dany I) 

-

Dany let the sound wash over her. I am not your mother, she might have shouted, back, I am the mother of your slaves, of every boy who ever died upon these sands whilst you gorged on honeyed locusts. (ADWD Dany IX)

-

 The cobbler thanked her for that, and the old brickmaker kissed her foot, but the weaver looked at her with eyes as hard as slate. She knows I lie, the queen thought. She knows I cannot keep them safe. Astapor is burning, and Meereen is next. (ADWD Dany V) 

-

Ser Barristan frowned. “Your Grace, I have known the bloody flux to destroy whole armies when left to spread unchecked. The seneschal is right. We cannot have the Astapori in Meereen.” Dany looked at him helplessly. It was good that dragons did not cry. “As you say, then. We will keep them outside the walls until this … this curse has run its course. Set up a camp for them beside the river, west of the city. We will send them what food we can.” (ADWD Dany V)

-

Plumm scratched at his speckled whiskers. “If there’s no dragons in the balance, well … we should leave before them Yunkish bastards close the trap … only first, make the slavers pay to see our backs. They pay the khals to leave their cities be, why not us? Sell Meereen back to them and start west with wagons full o’ gold and gems and such.” “You want me to loot Meereen and flee? No, I will not do that. Grey Worm, are my freedmen ready for battle?” (ADWD Dany V)

Dany hosts court and deals with the headaches of administration, statecraft, diplomacy, and political intrigue. She throws feasts and entertains guests. She passes tax laws and employment policies. She tries to create protections for the newly freedmen. She hosts military council and comes up with unique military strategies. She has to deal with an internal rebellion and a transcontinental slaver siege and war against her. She delays her campaign to reclaim the Iron Throne twice, rejects a fleet of ships, and rejects a lucrative Westerosi marriage proposal, to stabilize Meereen. She refuses to leave Meereen to the slavers. She sues for peace and marries Hizdahr, despite not loving him, because she believes it will be good for her people. She takes advice from all her courtiers and listens to their opinions and recommendations. She tries different attempts at quelling the Sons of the Harpy, from imposing a blood tax on the nobility to taking their children as hostages. She chains her dragons in the darkness after Drogon eats Hazzea. She worries about feeding her people and comes up with new agricultural initiatives. She tries to negotiate new trade alliances and find new sources of commerce and revenue for Meereen. She doles out justice for her people and against their oppressors. She tries to help ailing refugees by sending them food, medicine, healers, and setting up a camp for them outside of the city. She has to deal with a plague on top of the war and internal rebellion. She tries to adapt to Meereenese culture (wearing the tokar, speaking Ghiscari, re-opening the fighting pits, marrying Hizdahr, signing the peace accord with the Yunkai’i, allowing the widows of the Great Masters to inter them in the Ghiscari style, burying Hazzea in the Ghiscari style, allowing the former slavers/nobility a place in her court and councils, learning the names of the Meereenese families and Meereenese history). 

Throughout her learning the nuances of ruling, you see how much she questions herself. She is constantly criticizing herself. She names and calls out her own mistakes and failures. She even tells other people about her mistakes and failures. Her desire to go home, represented by the house with the red door, is routinely contrasted with her need to do right by her people. You see her mourning her dead, remembering their names (even Quaro and Eroeh, from AGOT), and berating herself for her inability to protect them. If she was an unreliable POV, she wouldn’t be so harsh on herself for the fall of Astapor, or the condition of the Astapori refugees. She even notices when people like the Astapori refugee woman or the Meereenese slaver boy look at her with suspicion, hatred, or derision, and then calls herself out for her flaws. She even questions if she’s mad or has the taint, which antis then use against her! At every point Dany is plagued with the tension between doing right by her people versus making sure there is peace versus her ambitions and duty to her family versus her personal desire to live a simple life versus the challenge of taking on oppression and slavery. She learns the bounds of appropriate use of violence and the place her dragons have in nation building. Indeed, she actively questions herself about the use of violence and power in building a nation and creating peace, which is why she thinks marrying Hizdahr, re-opening the fighting pits, and chaining her dragons are the right things to do (which they aren’t). She learns that a peace that requires the reinstatement of slavery is no true peace at all. In fact, one of the most complex political lessons in the entire series comes out of Dany’s ADWD arc––that compromising with oppressors is not a real peace or a real victory. 

Honestly, it’s laughable to claim that Dany hasn’t learned the complexities of politics and ruling yet. Her entire book arc is about that, even from AGOT. 

Voting Sansa over even Davos? “Definitely” not Dany? Why is it definitely not Dany, but it is the character whom GRRM literally name-dropped as an unreliable narrator? Why is Dany being categorized with Jaime here? 

There’s so much wrong with this set of tags. Davos is very biased toward Stannis, and the idea that he’s “less insane” than Selyse and Melisandre is just misogynistic, especially since at one point, Davos wants to choke Melisandre because he thinks the ~evil Eastern sexy sorceress woman~ is “unduly influencing” his ~good king.~ Not to mention that Davos continues to stay loyal to Stannis even though he knows Stannis sanctioned the burning of Edric Storm (which would’ve happened if Davos hadn’t smuggled him out). 

Bran is just as traumatized as Sansa and Arya. I know that this fandom has a habit of downplaying Bran’s trauma, but a grown man THROWS HIM OUT OF A TOWER WINDOW. He was in a COMA for weeks and has nightmares about “the golden man” and laments that he can never become a knight or walk! He loses his parents and eldest brother, becomes exiled from his family, witnesses his home being burned and destroyed, and is forced to go on on the run. He experiences starvation and thirst and fierce cold. The boy is crouching in a cave with Brynden Rivers and feasting on elk flesh through his direwolf. Like, be fucking for real! He’s traumatized too. 

Also, why does being traumatized mean a person is no longer reliable as a narrator? This fandom has a bizarre view of trauma, particularly as it relates to traumatized women and girls. I, like many women, have some form of trauma. Does that mean I’m crazy or dishonest? Does that mean I don’t see the world as accurately as a “normal” person? 

How is Tyrion delusional? Again, Tyrion is flawed in many ways––he’s violently misogynistic, bitterly cynical, deeply resentful, pessimistic––but he is not delusional or dishonest with himself. He’s one of the most self-aware, candid, and blunt viewpoints. 

Why do we need to “be for real” when it comes to Dany being a reliable narrator, lol? Oh yeah, I’m sure the person who thinks Bran isn’t traumatized “like Sansa and Arya” is a great expert on Dany. 

“Choosing fire and blood” you mean re-embracing her house words after she isolates herself from her house, her values, and her heritage, for the sake of the false peace? Why is this always held against Dany, but the other characters embracing their house words isn’t held against them? None of the other house mottos are progressive democratic mantras. Do you think “hear me roar” is the emblem of a house driven by social justice? 

It’s also funny that they chose Jon and then said this. Buddy, Jon is half-Targaryen, as his fans love pointing out. You all also love pointing out the fire imagery in Jon’s arc: that his vows for the Night’s Watch include “being a fire burning against the cold,” that he dreams of wielding a burning sword against the Others, and that Melisandre sees him limned in tongues of flame and sees him in her fires. He wields a Valyrian steel sword, which he himself acknowledges was forged by dragon flames and Valyrian spells. And he is literally going to be reborn through blood and fire, through Melisandre’s magic. Why is blood and fire acceptable for Jon, whom people hail as Azor Ahai precisely because of his TARGARYEN heritage and his VALYRIAN steel sword and the RED PRIESTESS who sees him in her FLAMES and his dreams of a BURNING sword and his invocation of being a FIRE against the cold, but it’s not acceptable for Dany? What, is it because Jon’s “evil” Targaryen blood is “diluted” by his 50% Stark blood? Is it because he’s a man who “matures faster? (could it be that he’s, you know, older than all of the other kids?). Why is Valyrian magic, whose ingredients are blood and fire (hence the words of House Targaryen), evil when it comes to Dany, but mystical, cool, and fun when it comes to Jon? Why is it that these same people want Jon to be Azor Ahai, to ride a dragon, to wield his great Valyrian lightbringer, to even steal a dragon from Dany before killing her, but then decry Dany embracing her own family’s words? Matter of fact, why is it acceptable for any character in the series to wield Valyrian steel––forged through blood and fire––if Dany is a bad person, or an unreliable narrator, for embracing the words she discarded at the beginning of ADWD? How does this make her less reliable when, as I demonstrated earlier, the slaves and freedmen of Essos want her to wield fire and blood against the slavers?

How is Dany “tripping major balls?” She downplays her own effect on magic coming back to the world. She prioritizes feeding her people in Vaes Tolorro over bowing to superstition. While she is religious, she does not put stock in prophecies dictating her life, and questions whether they’re entirely accurate. And every magical aspect of Dany’s arc has thus far been real, tangible, and come true. She dreams of dragons in AGOT and then hatches her dragon eggs at the end of AGOT. She dreams of riding a dragon in AGOT and then does ride a dragon at the end of ADWD. The Dosh Khaleen foretell that Rhaego will be the Stallion who Mounts the World and then the Undying show a vision of Dany becoming the Stallion who Mounts the World. Quaithe’s prophecy of who will seek Dany in ADWD comes true. Dany does slay the lies of Stannis being Azor Ahai and Young Griff being the Targaryen scion. Benerro, Moqorro, and the Undying all predict Euron’s role in Dany’s arc, and Euron himself wants to use and marry Dany. Dany walks into a funeral pyre and emerges unburnt, and later faces Drogon’s furnace fire head on and only her hair is burned. Even though Dany downplays her effect on magic returning to the world, Quaithe and Xaro notice magic coming back to Qarth, the acolytes of the Citadel notice the glass candles burning again, and Wisdom Polliter has enough magic to brew hundreds of casks of wildfire. Benerro and Maester Aemon both believe Dany is Azor Ahai/the Prince(ss) that was Promised. The Undying lay out accurate visions of both her past and her family’s past, and current events in Westeros unrelated to Dany, which means their visions of what will happen in her future are also accurate. For example, they show her a vision of her becoming Mhysa, and then in ASOS she does indeed become Mhysa. 

Dany does not fabricate or hallucinate these events. She’s not lying to the reader or to herself. Every magical event in the series that occurs with her is real. Like, this is an odd thing to say about a character in a FANTASY series. 

Yes, I generally get in a groove on a particular character and write several chapters or chunks of chapters at once, before hitting a wall. When I do hit a wall, I switch to another character. Some characters are easier to write and some harder, however. Dany and Bran have always been toughest, maybe because they are heaviest on the magical elements… also, Bran is the youngest of POV kids, and very restricted as well because of his legs. At the other end of the spectrum, the Tyrion chapters often seem to write themselves. The same was true for Ned. [source]

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The whole point of the scene in A Game of Thrones where Daenerys hatches the dragons is that she makes the magic up as she goes along; she is someone who really might do anything. [source]

The only one who’s tripping major balls is the person reading the fantasy series and thinking that the dragon queen is falsifying the magic around her. 

What this case study demonstrates is the reality of ASOIAF tumblr’s treatment of Dany. A big name fan will set an agenda about her, in this case the idea that she’s a particularly unreliable narrator. They’ll do so with little to no proof. Then for the next decade and a half (at least since 2011/2012) fans who “read” the books through tumblr/Reddit/quora/twitter/westeros.org/youtube video essays will run with the mischaracterization. Those who’ve only read the chapters of their favorite characters will spread blatant lies or inaccuracies about Dany because they can’t be bothered to read her chapters. People who’ve only read some of her chapters or read through her chapters only once and didn’t bother to actually understand them are similar. And those who’ve read all the books in full won’t bother correcting these misrepresentations, since they’re the ones who deliberately spread these lies.