A dragon is not a slave
In my current process of rewatching GoT I realized, that Daenery’s time in Astapor just sums up most everything I really love about her. Here’s why:
[spoilers ahead]
S3E3
First, we see her walking down the Walk of Punishment with her buddies Lord Friendzone and Ser Barristan I’m-never-too-old-for-this-shit. She wants to give water to one of the crucified slaves, but he refuses (she ALWAYS takes care of the people in need).
And Jorah the explorah is like: If you want to sit on the throne, you must win it, and that will mean blood on your hands.
And Dany returns: The blood of my enemies, not the blood of innocents.
(I’m looking at you, David and Dan, because she said it explicitly!! But I’m not going to rage about it anymore …)
This shows, that she is well aware of what war means, that she cannot simply win the throne with a democratic discussion, like, you’re aware that this chair actually belongs to me, so please step aside guys? Blood MUST be shed, but not that of innocent people, who got nothing to do with the matter (!!!)
We go on to visit our homeboy Kraznys, who is so fat, that Dany thinks he has bigger breasts then hers …
(another irritating casting decision of the show, because he resembles Kraznys mo Nakloz from the books, like Jennifer Lawrence looked like Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games, but again, I’m not complaining)
Our dear friend insults her wherever possible. Missandei is super cute and tries to de-escalate the situation a bit, but of course she doesn’t know that Dany’s doing her favorite move. Just pretend she doesn’t understand a single word.
(I really admire her patience, this guy’s such a bloody clown.)
She makes a deal, one of her dragons for the Unsullied, and I’d like to slap Jorah in the face because he’s so naive. Like she’d seriously give away one of the dragons! They’re her children, you idiot. How long have you been with her?
She takes Missandei as “a present” and then we get one of my absolute favorite Dany quotes ever:
Dany: You know that I’m taken you to war. You may go hungry, you may fall sick, you may be killed.
Missandei: Valar morghulis.
Dany: Yes, all men must die. But we are not men.
Bam! That’s my gurl!
In these moments, Dany is the absolutely perfect feminist for me. She fights for the recognition of the woman in such a clever way, that I find myself sitting in front of the TV, putting my fist in the air for solidarity. Because there are differences between men and women, not as many as some men often pretend to be, but they’re there. So, these are no weaknesses! We should be proud that we are women and not try to be men …
(I run off the topic, so I stop here, because this post is not about feminism and so, go on to the next episode)
S3E4
We have to wait till the end of the episode until Dany gets her big moment, but really, it’s worth it.
First, we get a good overview of the size of the Unsullied and Krazy is babbling some stuff while Missandei continues to translate everything, like the busy lizzy she is.
Everyone is kind of tense, especially Jorah, as if he’s about to storm off and say, No Khaleesi, please not the dragon, take me instead! (It’s not so far off that he’d do something like this, right?) Even at the first time watching I wasn’t afraid that she’d give away the dragon, especially not Drogon. It was obvious back then, that he was definitely the MVP of Team Fire and Blood.
Dany gets a short reassurance, that the army is really hers now, and when Krazy Baby doesn’t understand why the dragon doesn’t obey him, she dissipates his ignorance.
(It’s really cool to see her address the Unsullied, but the best move is when she turns back to the supposed dragon tamer.)
Dany: A dragon is not a slave.
Krazy is totally surprised, like wtf, she understood me the whole time? But he doesn’t have much time to apologize. Dany starts her typical I’m Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen speech, albeit in short form, and it’s pretty clear what comes next.
Dany: Dracarys!
That gives me the same goose bumps as when she first used the words in the House of the Undying. She fights her enemies with fire and blood. The Unsullied show whom they serve now and slaughter all masters. And this is really what I love so much about this episode, she is just totally badass, but with so much style!
And just like in the previous episode with Missandei, she gives the Unsullied the opportunity to leave. But of course, everyone stays and shows their affiliation in their own little version of We will rock you.
But that’s what Dany is all about! Each of her followers is with her because they chose her! Even the honorable Jon, in his recruitment for the Battle of the Bastards, refers to some oaths people have sworn to House Stark centuries ago, but Dany doesn’t need that!
To cap it all off, she ends the whole chapter with a time-equivalent variant of the Drop the Mic gesture and moves on with her new (really huge) army. Now she really is in full bamf!Dany mode, and I love it!
(so, turns out, this has somehow become more of a review, but while writing I realized, I had to get it all out.)