BEWARE OF SPOILERS…..
Before you continue, you are warned. This post contains spoilers. So if you haven’t seen the latest episode of Game of Thrones, please get back to your chambers until you are safe. If you have watched, please continue.
The penultimate episode of Game of Thrones has everyone talking. The reason? The powerful and favorite (for many) contender for the throne Daenerys Targaryen, finally went mad. And when I say mad, I am talking insanity Hittler level mad. With no apparent reason, she finally did what a lot had predicted. She destroyed King’s Landing bringing “fire and blood.” Lots and lots of blood…
I got to admit. My initial reaction was anger. Anger that possibly the strongest female character ever written on a fantasy story was “destroyed” in a matter of seconds. Through the seasons we saw her desire for the throne, and even when there were hints of her true nature, other characters kept reminding us that she was different than her dad, with clever reassurances here and there. We grew up with her and got fond of her beautiful arc. A young girl that survived every single possible adversity, becoming that hero we always crave in these kind of stories. She would have been the savior. Then season 8 happened.
For me in particular as a fantasy writer, and fan of the genre, Daenerys Targaryen was THE character of GoT. We can rarely enjoy such female characters in this genre so having her was gold. Her big sacrifices over season 7 seemed to be the confirmation of that. So of course, when she decided to burn the city killing thousands of innocents, I got pissed at the writers. My initial though was that they destroyed her because up until the very last second we all had faith in her. We were all Tyrion. Then, as those bells rang and after a few seconds of complete tense expectancy, seeing the greatest heroine becoming the biggest villain of the series was brutal and painful. Turns out Robert Baratheon was right. Cersei was right. Varys was right. They also have death in common BTW.
I had to watch the episode again without the stress and the anticipation of “the thousand Internet theories that could have happened” to really enjoy it. Then I understood what really pissed me off, and maybe a lot of people as well. We were angry because this was the simplest outcome possible and we were expecting something far more complicated. Nobody could have predicted how easy was to defeat Cersei, whose death by the way was a huge disappointment. Considering the way Rhaegal died, we were all so concerned. Something massive was supposed to happen during the battle, after all Cersei brought the Golden Company, and the rumors of a powerful Harry Strickland were growing so much last year that we were so shocked that at the end, him and his army were the most useless investment in the history of fantasy battles. Also, did you see the number of scorpions Cersei had?
Because the show is always surprising us with unexpected twists, we were thinking of the possibility of other dragons, or the return of Dario Naharis, or something shocking out of the blue, something that would spin our heads around with more theories and complicated explanations. But Daenerys got to King’s Landing and so easily defeated Cersei’s army that we didn’t have the time to think when she snapped. Even when we saw that Daenerys had won, before those bells rang we were all expecting a secret scorpion, or a secret weapon… and then it happened. Visually was spectacular, and a violent and gruesome narrative. All the theories were shut down just like that. The shock was that there was nothing shocking. And somehow that is equally brilliant. What we got instead was actually written all over the place but we refused to see it for many years. It was our mistake not the writers. What she did was always meant to happen, and it had to be that way because we were supposed to believe she was the true hero until almost the end of the story. She couldn’t be the savior. Also, she couldn’t sacrifice more. She lost two dragons, Missandei, and Jorah, it was already enough. Being rejected by Jon was the tip of the iceberg. And Tyrion was clever but his advises were not bringing her any results. We can’t get angry or shocked. After all she decided to follow the advice of Lady Olenna, remember what she told her:
I still think she is a strong character. I also retract my initial thought. Daenerys was not destroyed with what she did. Her character just did what she was meant to do for the story to conclude, something to let the true hero (Jon Snow) obtain his recognition. Am I rooting for her to keep the throne after this? Absolutely not. And before we think something unexpected will happen at the end, I think it wont. Jon will definitely find a way to confront her, and whatever happens next episode, whatever his outcome will be, he will end up being THE hero regardless of who keeps the throne, or if he lives or dies. The Mad Queen arc had to happen before the final episode to justify that fact and we all should have seen this coming!!! It was there all this time, but we were refusing to think that GoT was that obvious, and that my friends is a writer’s merit. Daenerys was too big of a character, too powerful, too good to be true… And there we have our Jon hero. The hero that didn’t wanted to be a hero but was the hero anyway. Since day 1.
With this I am not saying the story is bad. On the contrary, I think is amazing. I don’t know what can top this. It has been a decade of brilliant storytelling, I am a fan no matter what. This last season has been beautifully done, cinematographically speaking. Despite some plot holes (and the Starbucks coffee) we can agree that GoT has amazing single stories and character developments that make it phenomenal (I am talking about you Stark girls!.) With that being said, I can’t wait to see what happens on Sunday. We know what we will be doing after the final episode airs: we will be still obsessed with it. One last thought. This is a calling for female fantasy writers. The genre needs powerful female characters that remain true to their arcs, both heroes and villains, with an honest female POV. So lets keep up with the good work because the genre needs us.
What is dead may never die…
What did you think of the episode? Share your comments with me and follow me @paobsur
Dear Miss Sur.
My feelings of emptiness and anger are not because of Dany going mad… is because the way it was told.
But what you said about strong female characters is very very true. We need a lot more Milady de Winter (I love villains). A Strong female character that has it her way, even in a world were men had it a bit (really a lot) easier than men.