Thursday, March 20, 2014

Daenerys Targaryen

*this is a continuation of my Month of Thrones series. Note that there are no spoilers past season three for my non-book readers*


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Dany is one of the characters in the story that has experience amazing growth through her story. The book started when she was 13, so hopefully that will help people understand certain decisions she has made during her rule. When she first began she was very timid and shy, possibly as a result of her overbearing and unsettling brother, Viserys (the only family she has). Her brother and Illyrio Mopatis sell her to Khal Drogo to hopefully insure the Dothraki (his troops) will fight for Viserys' crown. Despite initially being a commodity, she gains a sense of independence from her brother and begins to appreciate and love her warrior husband and embrace her role as queen/khaleesi.

During a storm that raged and destroyed most of the Targaryen Fleet, Dany was born (giving her the nickname of Stormborn). Her and Viserys were whisked away by loyalist to escape from Stannis and his fleet coming up the coast. She spent a lot of her childhood moving a nomads as it was dangerous for Dany and her brother to be alive, as they represent the old regime of the kingdom and threatened Robert. An important memory for Dany is the though of the "red door", one of the places in Braavos where she spent a significant amount of time and it also represents her lost childhood.

At her wedding ceremony to Drogo, she gains Jorah Mormont as an advisor/translator and also receives three petrified dragon eggs (a rare gift). Her first weeks of being in the khalasar are difficult as she has to spend most of her time on horseback alone since she couldn't speak the language. During this time she is able to gather her strength and stand up to her bully of a brother, impression the Khal and gaining more of his love. Dany soon discovers she is pregnant with the Stallion who Mounts the World, a person prophesied to unite all khalasars under his rule. After Viserys threatens Dany and her child, Drogo grants him his wish of a golden crown (with a twist) that results in his death.

After an attempt on her life. Drogo begins to rally to start an assault on Westeros in her honor by pillaging lands to get ships for crossing the Narrow Sea. After he gets injured, Dany seeks the help of a maegi name Mirri Maz Dur for her help in healing him. He doesn't take the advice and his would grows ever worse and causing him to not be able to ride his horse (a huge shame in he community). Dany then pleads to save Drogo at any cost and then goes into labor and has a stillborn. When she wakes, she discovers Drogo is only but a shell of a person so she euthanizes him and gets abandoned by most of the khalasar. Instead of joining the crones at Vaes Dothrak, she decides to make her own destiny. She then has Mirri burned at the stake in Drogo's funeral pyre along with the dragon egg and walks into the flames. From this the dragons(Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion) are born and it changes everything around her.

The second season/book has her ambling around the desert unsure of where to go next but aware that her people that remained are becoming dehydrated and starving. After sending out scouts, she heads out to Qarth to seek refuge with her people. She later discovers that many of the inhabitants only want her dragons and steal them from her (this did not happen in the books). Nevertheless, she ends up going to the House of Undying where she hears many prophecies. The Undying warlocks try to keep Dany in the house but with Drogo they destroy the location and leave Qarth.

Season Three has Dany gaining another advisor/protector in Barristan Sely (former Kingsguard) and also she purchases (then free) the Unsullied, a group of elite eunuch soldiers that can't feel pain. After she has the 8,000 she then has them conquer the city of Astapor and kill the slave-owners. This begins her crusade to end slavery in a part of the world that is renowned for it, which will be great to watch.

Throughout her journey, she has grown very strong and sure of herself. Her next steps are to use her soldiers to conquer all cities in Slaver's Bay area that refuse to follow her crusade against slavery. We will hopefully see her fully embracing her many roles as Mother of Dragons, Breaker of Chains and as a ruler in general. Of course the elephant in the room is if and when she will ever make it to Westeros and what kind of impact that will have on the people there (as there may still be loyalists). Plus her dragons keep growing and that means that they will need riders once they get big enough...so who knows?




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