Game of Thrones - Spoilers

[Mantra]

What about the scene where she burned Sam's brother and father to death for not bending the knee? Or the scene where she crucified all of the masters in Meereen (most of them may have had it coming after doing the same to children, but still)? Or the scene where she burns all of the khals alive? You could argue that last one was self defense, but she wasn't exactly distressed by it. As a matter of fact, she seemed to even enjoy it. Either way, there are several times in the past where her first impulse was to be pretty damn cruel and vengeful. It's just that she used to have people like Varys, Jorah, Missandei, Tyrion, and even Jon talk her out of these decisions, but they're all either dead or traitors (in her eyes, at least) now at this point. As she said herself in this episode, she's now letting fear dictate her actions & decisions and she plans to use fear (and force) to take the throne and continue using it to maintain power & control once she obtains it. Ergo, she plans to become a dictator.

Yeah, I don't know what to say dude, I just don't personally feel like any of these incidents work as foreshadowing for the fucking crazy genocidal shit from last night. To me, killing direct political enemies, soldiers, or people who are guilty of committing their own crimes and atrocities is not even remotely the same as mass-murdering thousands of unarmed women and children who are totally innocent and pose no threat. That is specifically what I'm talking about when I say there's no precedent for that kind of meaningless sadism from her. Seriously, what's the second worst thing Dany's ever done after this? Whatever you think it is, I guarantee it's not even remotely on the same level as mindlessly slaughtering hordes of innocent civilians.

To be clear, it's not that I'm upset with this outcome for her character, because I've been hoping that they'd turn Dany into a fascist tyrant ever since season 2 or so. It's just the execution that's lacking. This episode was pretty great on its own, but it was preceded by three seasons of mediocre, fan-fiction writing that failed to develop Dany's character effectively. And in general, the sense of plotting and pacing in this show has been awful for a good two or three seasons now.

[ryanmcfly]

Yeah, I don't know what to say dude, I just don't personally feel like any of these incidents work as foreshadowing for the fucking crazy genocidal shit from last night.

She literally said she would take what was hers with Fire and Blood.

[sweeterthan]

She literally said she would take what was hers with Fire and Blood.

Plus she’s a direct descendant of “the mad king”. She’s as mad as she is royal.


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[marodi]

Plus she’s a direct descendant of “the mad king”.
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But so is Jon/Aegon.

Unless he takes more from his Stark half.

[sweeterthan]

But so is Jon/Aegon.

Unless he takes more from his Stark half.

Jon was raised a stark and while he was probably emotionally abused by Caitlyn’s coldness he was not emotionally and physically abused the way dany was by her brother.

[marodi]

Jon was raised a stark and while he was probably emotionally abused by Caitlyn’s coldness he was not emotionally and physically abused the way dany was by her brother.

Then again, it is entirely possible that the madness that runs through the Targaryen bloodline comes from inbreeding. While Jon was not subjected to the same environment that Dany was, he can't do anything about his genetic background.

Anyway, Viserys was as obsess with taking back the Iron Throne as Dany is now. The difference is that he was made to look mad from the start. And even back in season one, the question of both Targaryens sanity was a concern in King's Landing.

[Mantra]

She literally said she would take what was hers with Fire and Blood.

Big deal, I say that every day.

[ryanmcfly]

Big deal, I say that every day.

Well it kind of just looks like you're just ignoring the evidence that this was a direction that her character could go then.

[Mantra]

Well it kind of just looks like you're just ignoring the evidence that this was a direction that her character could go then.

Yeah but if the textual evidence is just "Shit Daenerys says sometimes," that evidence cuts both ways. For every scene of her getting pissed off and ranting about razing these motherfuckers to the ground, there's like five more to offset that where she's talking about breaking the wheel and mercy being her strength and whatnot.

And my point is not that there's NO signs of her becoming a tyrant. The seeds were planted from the beginning, and there were some flashes and initial steps in that direction, but ultimately I don't think it was enough to get her to where she needed to be last night. They had her at maybe a 2 or a 3 on the tyrant scale and then just cranked her up to 11 in the span of like two episodes. They didn't put in enough work over the last few seasons to gradually nudge her further and further in this direction. If we think about Walt in Breaking Bad, he didn't just go from normal dude to mass murdering asshole with only a few moderate transgressions in between. If you want a character to go through a believable transformation (which is 100% what I wanted from Dany's story), you gotta really build their arc and show multiple points of descent.

[theimage13]

Yeah but if the textual evidence is just "Shit Daenerys says sometimes," that evidence cuts both ways. For every scene of her getting pissed off and ranting about razing these motherfuckers to the ground, there's like five more to offset that where she's talking about breaking the wheel and mercy being her strength and whatnot.

And my point is not that there's NO signs of her becoming a tyrant. The seeds were planted from the beginning, and there were some flashes and initial steps in that direction, but ultimately I don't think it was enough to get her to where she needed to be last night.

You know who's really good at being fucking crazy while tricking people into thinking they're not?

Successful tyrants.