sansa stans trying to present daenerys as the ultimate villain of asoiaf/got:
@killeesi-is-dead
first of all, calling dany a tyrant or fascist while stanning cersei is laughable. second of all, making dany out to be the ultimate villain when there are literal ICE MONSTER ZOMBIES is laughable. third of all, i can guarantee no one asked you to “preach it to those who do not comprehend”; no one wants or needs to hear your opinion, just let people live their damn lives. fourth, the show made her the villain in exactly 1.5 episodes and the books have literally not done it all so… sure, jan. and finally, nowhere have i or any dany stan claimed that sansa is/was a villain. book!sansa is literally nothing like show!sansa as of now and while i think show!sansa is not a good person, is a manipulative, backstabbing, selfish, entitled, mini-cersei, i’ve never called her a villain.
and just because y’all are clearly incompetent at basic comprehension skills, here’s a little summary of why daenerys is not a tyrant, fascist or villain from myself, an actual student of political science, sociology, criminology, and philosophy:
“A tyrant is an absolute ruler unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped legitimate sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their position by oppressive means.”
“Fascism is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and of the economy.” One of the best definitions of fascism is by Umberto Eco: “It is enough that one of them be present to allow fascism to coagulate around it. The fourteen properties are as follows: ‘The Cult of Tradition’, characterized by cultural syncretism, even at the risk of internal contradiction. When all truth has already been revealed by Tradition, no new learning can occur, only further interpretation and refinement; ‘The Rejection of modernism’, which views the rationalistic development of Western culture since the Enlightenment as a descent into depravity; ‘The Cult of Action for Action’s Sake’, which dictates that action is of value in itself, and should be taken without intellectual reflection. This is connected with anti-intellectualism and irrationalism, and often manifests in attacks on modern culture and science; ‘Disagreement Is Treason’, devalues intellectual discourse and critical reasoning as barriers to action, as well as out of fear that such analysis will expose the contradictions embodied in a syncretistic faith; ‘Fear of Difference’, which fascism seeks to exploit and exacerbate, often in the form of racism or an appeal against foreigners and immigrants; ‘Appeal to a Frustrated Middle Class’, fearing economic pressure from the demands and aspirations of lower social groups; ‘Obsession with a Plot’ and the hyping-up of an enemy threat. This often combines an appeal to xenophobia with a fear of disloyalty and sabotage from marginalized groups living within the society; ‘Pacifism is Trafficking with the Enemy’ because ‘Life is Permanent Warfare’, there must always be an enemy to fight; ‘Contempt for the Weak’, which is uncomfortably married to a chauvinistic popular elitism, in which every member of society is superior to outsiders by virtue of belonging to the in-group; ‘Everybody is Educated to Become a Hero’, which leads to the embrace of a cult of death; ‘Machismo’, which sublimates the difficult work of permanent war and heroism into the sexual sphere, both disdain for women and intolerance and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits, from chastity to homosexuality; ‘Selective Populism’, The People, conceived monolithically, have a Common Will, distinct from and superior to the viewpoint of any individual. As no mass of people can ever be truly unanimous, the Leader holds himself out as the interpreter of the popular will (though truly he dictates it); ‘Newspeak’, employs and promotes an impoverished vocabulary in order to limit critical reasoning.”
“A villain is an evil fictional character, a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime.”
let’s start with tyrant: daenerys is NOT a tyrant. she is NOT an absolute ruler unrestrained by law. dany is a queen, yes, in a world where there are only kings/queens as rulers aka she is the same kind of ruler as every other ruler in the context of this world. the difference between dany and every other ruler? she has advisors who she actually listens to (tyrion, varys, jorah, daario, olenna, ellaria). dany actually listens to the people she is ruling, letting them come to her with basic, petty complaints and genuinely listening/thinking of ways to help them. she even institutes a council of elected rulers, allowing the people to choose for themselves who makes the everyday decisions. she also does not go around doing what she wants, unrestrained by law: she takes their laws and customs very seriously, while still adhering to her beliefs against slavery. how, pray tell, can she adhere to their laws when their laws defend and allow slavery? she can’t. these people are evil – i don’t understand how you can defend them. dany is in the right, there is no question about it. i don’t care if it’s their “customs”, oppression and slavery are also the customs of half the world still today, and guess what? it’s fucking wrong and the people actively trying to change it are the heroes. slavery was the “custom” in america for how fucking long? and guess what? lincoln is considered a hero for abolishing it, not a “tyrant”. and while daenerys HAS usurped a legitimate sovereignty by taking mereen, astapor, etc., she is in the right as she is liberating slaves.
daenerys is NOT cruel and does NOT defend her position through oppressive means. cruelty is “pleasure in inflicting suffering or inaction towards another’s suffering when a clear remedy is readily available”. daenerys never feels pleasure when she needs to resort to violence, even though she could rightfully feel it when killing actual rapists and slavers that deserve to die. she is literally the opposite of cruel, as she takes direct action to remedy another’s suffering – i.e. freeing the slaves and refusing to just leave them to suffer when given the opportunity to go to westeros. she also does whatever she can to limit the further suffering of the women at the hands of the dothraki because she wants to do something to try and help them, even though they’ve already been victimized – which was not her fault and was completely out of her control because guess what? she is also a victim of the dothraki and has absolutely no power. and what little power she gets, she immediately uses to try and help people. oppression is “unjustly inflicting hardship and constraint, especially on a minority or other subordinate group”. she is, again, literally the opposite of an oppressive ruler. she is actively liberating the oppressed and giving them a voice. am i supposed to feel sorry that now these rapists and slavers are being “oppressed”? wow, those poor babies. how will they ever go on uwu!!!
next, let’s tackle fascism: if you want to claim dany is a fascist ruler simply because she is an inspiring and charismatic leader like hitler, you’re an idiot. wanna know who is also an inspiring and charismatic leader? robb stark. jon snow. are they like hitler? NO. and neither is dany. let’s start with tyrion’s oh-so-ridiculous speech about eViL mEn:
When she murdered the slavers of Astapor, I’m sure no one but the slavers complained. After all, they were evil men. When she crucified hundreds of Meereenese nobles, who could argue? They were evil men. The Dothraki khals she burned alive? They would have done worse to her.
this speech echoes Martin Niemoller’s “First they came…”
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.
but there is one big problem here. SLAVERS AND RAPISTS ARE NOT SOCIALISTS. why in the ever-loving-fuck am i supposed to feel sorry for slavers and rapists? are you smoking fucking crack?
based on the definition i gave above by Umberto Eco, (summarized greatly by this article where i take some points from), fascism “lionizes tradition, rejects modernism, rejects analysis, and stokes fear of difference and outsiders. it’s elitist and populist at the same time, and cultivates a tradition of machismo, heroism, and xenophobia.”
guess who matches this definition? the northerners.
(i don’t agree with everything said in this article but again, there are very good points)
“Dany, though, is explicitly non-fascist in that she overturns traditions (like slavery, or women not being able to lead Dothraki) and instead of cultivating a strong fear of outsiders, seeks to put together a diverse coalition of followers… When she encountered opposition she invited them to bend the knee and join her. Instead of creating a romanticized, reactionary cult of heroism around the identity of her followers, the Khaleesi courted universalism.”
“The Khaleesi’s forces are multinational and multiethnic. The Dothraki aren’t Asian (this is a fantasy world, there is no Asia) but they’re obviously based on the real-world Mongol Empire. The Unsullied aren’t African (there is no Africa in this world) but they’re played by Black actors and are former slaves. Their race, culture, and status vis a vis Westeros still matters in the context of the fictional world. In Westeros they are still foreign and still other.”
“By suggesting that Dany is some kind of Fantasy Hitler, and showing Grey Worm as a ruthless executioner, Game of Thrones implies that women, people of color, former slaves, former peasants, and other members of dispossessed classes are just as likely to commit genocide as people with power are. It made the destruction of Cersei’s regime (which everyone should have been happy about) into an opportunity to tell us that rich white people can be victims, too.”
“But, by comparing Dany to Hitler, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss not only betrayed Dany’s character, they did it while playing on cheap fears of women and people of color. They said, essentially, ‘What if the worst crimes of white people, but with Asians and Blacks, and led by a woman?’ This isn’t to say that women or people of color can’t be villains. Cersei Lannister and Erik Killmonger prove otherwise. But, making the Khaleesi, Dothraki, and Unsullied into villains whose symbolism merely mirrors the white men have been villains (and fascism has historically been a white guy project) reduces and flattens those characters by robbing them of their identity.”
me: *bathes in the tears of white slave-apologists*
(also, yes, i am white – if any poc thinks i have this wrong, feel free to let me know)
lastly, let’s tackle the idea that daenerys is a villain: daenerys is NOT cruelly malicious. i believe i already went over how dany isn’t cruel, but she is also not malicious. malicious is “characterized by malice; intending or intended to do harm”. again, dany is not intending to do harm in any of her actions; she is doing the opposite! every action is towards her goal of ending slavery, stopping the harm of innocents. yes, her actions cause harm but they cause harm to RAPISTS AND SLAVERS. every character in the entire damn universe causes harm to someone, the difference is the intent. dany’s intent is never malicious in the fact that she never enjoys it and she always sees it as a necessary action to achieve her end goal: protecting innocents. she is NOT involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime. barring the last 1.5 episodes of the show, which most fans don’t even consider canon along with the rest of season 8 because of how ooc literally every character was written, dany never ever ever ever ever harms innocents. ever!!!!!!! end of story!!!!!!!!!!
i don’t know why it’s such a hard concept to come to terms with lol
