Why Daenerys Targaryen is Unfit to Rule the World of Westeros | The Odyssey Online
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Why Daenerys Targaryen is Unfit to Rule the World of Westeros

I really tried to like her, I swear.

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Why Daenerys Targaryen is Unfit to Rule the World of Westeros
Game of Thrones, HBO

We all know the Mother of Dragons, Breaker of Chains, the Un-Burnt, etc; the strong, determined woman that has decided to "break the wheel" and take over Westeros and pretty much everywhere she can, apparently.

I hold an unpopular opinion in terms of our great Queen of Titles Preceding Her Name: I believe that she does not deserve the Iron Throne, nor do I think she'd be a good ruler. I also think that the circumstances leading to her becoming Queen have been a string of events she did not orchestrate, and that she is misinterpreted as being one of the stronger female characters in the show.

Let's start from the beginning: her husband, Drogo, and the Mother of Dragons.

Daenerys started the show young and naive, and that cannot be held against her. She had an awful, oppressive brother that sexually abused her, absolutely no say in where her body was going, or, to whom. She is forced to marry Khal Drogo, and he is shown to be a monster of a man, and eventually rapes her the night that they become married.

All of this is terrible by our standards, yes, but comparatively speaking, she has it pretty good. Actually, we find out a little later that Drogo is a total softy, and the two fall in love. Through this, she acquires an army of some of the most ruthless and effective fighters in the entire world, combined with the fact that the merchant, Illyrio, gave her dragon eggs; her situation doesn't seem so bad. Actually, she is far better off than she used to be, basically held prisoner by her own brother.

Of course, in true GoT fashion, things go bad very quickly: Khal Drogo is turned into a vegetable by a witch-woman named Mirri Maz Duur that Daenerys decided to trust on a whim, and her son is born deformed and dies. So far, the first real decision she makes without the help of one of her advisers, results in the death of her son and the comatose state of her husband.

When the witch is confronted, she basically verbally spits in her face. I mean, she does have a really good point:

"Saved me? Three of those riders had already raped me before you saved me, girl. I saw my god's house burn, there where I had healed men and women beyond counting. In the streets I saw piles of heads... the head of the baker who makes my bread, the head a young boy that I had cured of fever just three moons past. So... tell me again exactly what it was that you saved?"

So Daenerys burns her at the stake.

This woman was far braver than Daenerys, who merely stood next to her husband while he murdered everything Mirri knew and loved. She was a healer, and she sacrificed herself for what she truly believes is right: to at least attempt to stop the war machine that was Khal Drogo's horde.

So in the end Daenerys burns Mirri alive because she feels as though this woman failed her and betrayed her, but it was Daenerys that failed herself. She failed to understand that the continued existence of Khal Drogo's horde would have meant the potential deaths of thousands just like Mirri and her village, entirely innocent and undeserving of the horrors they are forced to endure.

This is how she was given the name Mother of Dragons, and I can't help but think it is undeserved. There is a lot of speculation that it wasn't Daenerys that actually awoke her dragons, but a complicated combination of shadow spirits and Mirri's blood ritual. So if this is has any truth to it, what has Daenerys really done that is all hers?

The current Queen of Meereen has found herself in quite the pickle, only to escape through one of the most cringe-worthy GoT episodes to date, not because of its brutality but because of its sheer ridiculousness.

Before we look at that scene, let's look at the events that lead her to being in Dosh Khaleen, specifically, the dragon pit scene. In the books, Drogon does not appear to save Daenerys, he appears because of the smell of blood and numerous gladiatorial battles that have happened, some including animals.

He then causes hundreds of deaths both by killing people himself, or by the people being crushed in the panic to escape. Amongst this chaos, Daenerys gets on top of him and saves the dragon from almost being killed and that is when she makes her great escape as the first dragonrider in over a century.

Now in the show, we have our apparently brave and strong Queen of Meereen being treated like a frail child, having to be escorted like a piece of fine china through the battle while all of her subordinates fight and die for her. Then, out of nowhere, comes Drogon to save the day and she rides off into the sunset, happy as can be.

She even closes her eyes, as if to completely lose hope and be one with her death.

She has the audacity to give up while all her men are dying around her, protecting her until their last breath? Why does this woman, who is widely regarded as one of if not the most powerful woman in the show, deserve to be queen? She did nothing to show strength, and literally every battle, political or physical, is won because of the wisdom of the people advising her and protecting her.

Which brings me to her current predicament: being at Dosh Khaleen.

Man, do I love the speech that old High Priestess gives her when she tries to come out all high and mighty with the million titles associated with her name. In a nutshell, she says that they were all wives of Khal, and they too had these dreams. What makes her so special that she should have what they could not?

Apparently, the scene in which she burns the other Khals alive is supposed to answer that question, but to me it was just pitiful. Those men, evil as they were, are on the same level as Khal Drogo once was. Remember him, the unbreakable fighter that slaughtered anyone who questioned his authority in a plethora of exciting ways? So they couldn't jump over some fire and kill her?

To me, at this point, it seems like the Khaleesi's authority is being forced to a point where it seems utterly fake and laughable. To kill ten of the most powerful men in the world, all she has to do is push down a few torches? What about this scene leaves these men, who have stared death in the eyes countless times, suddenly filled with a inexplicable fear that leaves them completely helpless?

How does this make sense? Her victory is cheapened by the ease of it, and though they deserved their fate, it is a victory that seems outlandish and ridiculous because it is. She didn't earn it, because for some reason there was no fight involved. These powerful men just resign to their fate in a way that does not fit who they represent as characters.

At this point, I'm just tired of her being given all of these things and expecting us to immediately view her as someone who is powerful, when in reality she is more of a figurehead than we like to admit.

It would be different if she had solid ground to stand on in terms of her ego and her misguided sense of entitlement, but the directors just don't seem to care. We are continuously force-fed her titles every time we see the character, and I am sick of hearing "The Unburnt, Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and of the First Men, Queen of Meereen, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons" because she does not deserve these things.

I want to like her, I really do, but I just can't. Hopefully we see her in less ridiculous situations in the future, because at this point I'm just waiting for her character to die.

Sorry Khaleesi, but this is one person you just haven't convinced of your claim to "break the wheel". If anything, I can't wait until the "wheel" breaks you.


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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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