Dænerys is really going full-on Targaryen.
There were three scenes that caught my attention regarding this topic, the first one being her arrival. When she was parading through Wintertown with her armies, she could see the smallfolk; they were cold and distrustful, and she didn’t like that. And then, as if they could sense here uneasiness, the dragons flew over the smallfolk. Obviously, this terrified them, and they ran away. This made Dæny smile. She smirked at their terror. Something she inflicted upon them. We don’t have to forget that these are her subjects now, and instead of treating them with kindness, even though they might be cold to her now, she uses fear.
That little part of that scene reminded me of a couple others in s7:
This interaction in s7e6:
Tyrion: [Fear] makes their power brittle because everyone beneath them longs to see them dead
Dænerys: Aegon Targaryen got quite a long way on fear.
And this little nugget from the Dragonpit scene in s7e7:
This place was the beginning of the end for my family. (Speaks Valerian.) A dragon is not a slave. They were terrifying. Extraordinary. They filled people with wonder and awe, and we locked them in here. They wasted away. They grew small. And we grew small as well. We weren’t extraordinary without them. We were just like everyone else.
And that is what makes her smile. The fact that people waited outside to see her arrive, the fact that she can terrify them. Because that means she’s not like everyone else, it means that she’s extraordinary.
The second moment that caught my attention was the Great Hall scene. While discussing what the hell to do now that the Wall had fallen (RIP little Ned Umber), tension started to grow. Before long, they were arguing and things were not good. Tyrion tried to save the day, but Sansa started asking the important questions: what about the food? How would she feed the “greatest army the world has ever seen”? And after this, we got a quick reaction shot of Dænerys, probably remembering that she burned all the food from the Reach, thus condemning thousands and thousands to starvation, including her armies. But then, Sansa talked about the dragons. “What do [they] even eat?” she asks. “Whatever they want” says Dæny, dead serious.
This reminded me of another little nugget from s7e7, this time courtesy of Jorah:
Dragons don’t understand the difference between what is theirs and what isn’t. Land, livestock, children… Letting them roam free around a city was a problem.
Dæny’s line is an allegory. She is the dragon, and as such, she can take whatever she wants. People can choose to follow her, can kneel or they can burn. But she doesn’t recognize that the world isn’t hers for the taking. The North doesn’t want her, they want a Stark. She failed all those people she wishes to rule the moment she decided to burn the food.
And the third moment regarding her Targaryen-ess that caught my eye was her open threat to Sansa. While talking to Jon about how Sansa doesn’t like her, she threatened her. “If she can’t respect me…” What, she’ll burn her alive? Just like she did with the Tarlys? Just like her father did Rickard Stark? Just like her father killed Brandon Stark? Nobody can judge her by her father’s crimes, that’s true. But she’s consciously choosing to go down that path. The path that led her ancestors, her father before her, to ruin.
The thing is, Dænerys Targaryen is not special, she’s just like any other Targaryen. She’s more of the same.
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