Dame of Thrones: Daenerys Targaryen
Welcome, my lovelies, to Dame of Thrones. What’s Dame of Thrones? It’s a new biweekly panel expressing love, admiration, and all sorts of positive feelings for the approximately twenty thousand female characters in A Song of Ice and Fire. George R.R. Martin looks at all your other shows’, like, three lady characters with any amount of screentime and he laaaaaughs and laughs. Your friendly neighborhood appreciator of the ladydom of Westeros and beyond is me, new Winter Is Coming contributor Rebecca Pahle. I am: An Associate Editor at The Mary Sue, where I take Game of Thrones perhaps a bit too seriously (ha no). A regular contributor at Pajiba, where ditto. A lover of puns. And an ardent supporter of the One True Lobster King of Westeros, Stannis Baratheon. All shall love him and despair.
But with Dame of Thrones I’ll be providing handy run-downs of the women, one every two weeks. First up: KHALEEEEESIIIIIII.
There are no spoilers beyond the jump for non-book-readers, don’t worry.
Name: Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons.
Family: Brothers—Viserys and Rhaegar Targaryen, deceased. Parents—Mad King Aerys II and Queen Rhaella, deceased. Husband—Khal Drogo, deceased. Son—Rhaego, The Wouldabeen Couldabeen Stallion That Mounts the World—Deceased. Basically a whole bunch of dead people.
Known Associates: Backup dancers Ser Khaleesi Notice Me Jorah Montmont, Ser Barristan Selmy, The Most Adorable Eunuch You Will Ever Meet Aka Grey Worm, Skeezy Blue-Haired Fabio (at least in the books) Daario Naharis, Miss Missandei, Ser Not Appearing In This Film (or Strong Belwas. Miss ya, buddy).
Weapon Of Choice: Dragons, one-liners.
What’s Her Deal?: The last living child of Targaryen King Aerys II, Daenerys is determined to roll into Westeros with an army at her back and claim her outrageously uncomfortable throne. At the moment she’s across the Narrow Sea concerning herself with the business of freeing slaves, but make no mistake, she’s still the teenage girl-shaped pall of death hanging over the heads of all the usurpers. Or flying over. On dragons. She is coming for your souls.
Why Is She Awesome?: Dany rose from an inauspicious background—most of her family killed, no friends, and there was that whole thing where she was married off to a guy she never met so her sadistic brother could be king, and she was basically expected to shut her mouth and let the dudes in her life do the talking—to be one of the few contenders for the Iron Throne who actually has a shot at getting and keeping it. (Stannis, I love you, but I am not deluding myself about your chances.) Daenerys knows she might only have one shot at achieving her goal, so she bides her time and makes (for the most part) smart decisions instead of behaving rashly. Plus she has dragons. Dragons.
Most Badass Scene: The freeing of the Unsullied in season three, episode four. Kraznys mo Nakloz? More like Kraznys mo Nakloser. A greater mic has never been dropped.
Best Quote: “Where are my dragons?!” “Dracarys.” It’s so nice and succinct.
Fan Theory Du Jour: Remember Daenerys’ son Rhaego, who was supposed to be the prophesied Stallion Who Mounts the World until, whoops, magical shenanigans led to a stillbirth? One fan theory says that the Stallion Who Mounts the World is one of Ms. Mother of Dragons’ metaphorical children: The dragon Drogon.
Merch Me Up: People love the Mother of Dragons, so there’s a lot you can spend your money on if you want to proclaim your allegiance. You can get yourself a dragon claw necklace or a Targaryen sweatshirt, or you can even wrap Dany’s dragons around your fingers in ring form.
It Belongs In a Museum: AKA Rebecca picks a piece of fanart she really likes. There’s a lot of Daenerys fanart—more Dany fanart than dresses with weird necklines in Margaery Tyrell’s closet—but I saw this painting by Jason Wright (available as a print on Etsy) and was smitten like a kitten:
That wraps it up for the inaugural edition of Dame of Thrones. Have a character in particular you want me to turn my eye toward two weeks from now? Drop me a comment. If there’s a bit of merch or fanart you want to pimp at me Littlefinger-style for possible inclusion, you can send the link to [email protected]. And you can find me on Twitter @RebeccaPahle.
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