Daenerys Targaryen is one of the most beloved characters on Game of Thrones. Her progression from the timid girl we met in the beginning of the series to the badass mother of dragons that we know today was amazing to watch, and viewers couldn’t help but root for her in her quest to become Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. However, despite being known for her compassion in the earlier seasons, it seems that she’s finally starting to show her true colors. The controversial choices she's made in the past season indicate that she's becoming a direct parallel to her father, King Aerys Targaryen II, infamously known as “The Mad King.”
One huge sign of Daenerys becoming the Mad Queen is the fact that she's stopped listening to her counsel. She's starting to act on her feelings alone, which has led to some unstrategic choices such as her attack on King’s Landing that Tyrion had advised against. This act almost costed Drogon his life. Additionally, she burned food reserves that would've been valuable for her army, proving that she's no longer thinking about her people. This kind of impulsiveness and selfishness is why Tyrion and Varys are beginning to question their loyalty to her, with Varys’ insight being particularly useful since he served Aerys. She's starting to rule by instilling fear instead of love (As seen with her constant “Bend the knee or die” speeches). This is an irrefutable mark of following her father’s footsteps.
Daenerys’ failure to listen to Tyrion is also what led to her making an extremely controversial move that fans are rather torn about. After Randyll and Dickon Tarly refused to bend the knee to her, she refused Tyrion’s advice (again) to hold them as prisoners and instead chose to have Drogon burn them alive. During Robert’s Rebellion, Aerys committed a very similar act with Rickard and Brandon Stark, the father and brother of Ned, respectively. Forcing a father and his son to die side by side is an extremely cruel punishment alone, but the manner in which both pairs died is even more horrific. It's also worth noting how different Daenerys’ reaction to the Tarly’s execution was compared to the other executions she's held in the past. Before, you could tell that even though she passed the sentence, she resented having to do so. Now, she seems almost bored when doing so. It's clear that the “gentle heart” that Jorah once spoke of is starting to grow cold and frigid.
I know that some will argue that Daenerys is still very compassionate, and cite the fact that she helped Jon and the others when they were Beyond the Wall. While that may be true, one has to wonder if that compassion is going to die once she finds out that Jon is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne. This “birthright” that she's felt entitled to and worked the entirety of the series to receive was never actually hers to begin with. This is going to be a massive hit to her pride, and something tells me that she isn't just going to accept it. And that's when “The Mad Queen” is going to become another accessory on her list of titles.
