Daenerys Targaryen transcended the narrative.
In my earlier post comparing Endgame and infinity war to the finale of Game of thrones, I mentioned how, even though Loki was my favorite character, and it upset me he died, I could still accept the story. Whereas with Daenerys, that wasn’t possible.
I wanted to explain a bit, because there’s a lot of conflict and hate going around in the community, and not only is it toxic, it’s not productive.
I’ve been very clear about what I think on season 8, and I stand by that, but this isn’t a matter of whether or not they built it up correctly, or good or bad writing, or anything else.
This is strictly about what Daenerys means to people personally.
Regardless if you hate Daenerys, you have to admit that her story is powerful. Yes, she is a conflicted character and yes she is morally grey-that’s the reason the fandom is so divided about her. But here’s the thing-every person you ever meet is a form of morally grey. Some are definitely darker or lighter than others on that spectrum, but a character is a good character if they fall on that spectrum instead of on one or the other.
So, why was it upsetting that Daenerys turned? I mean, really, we can all fall to our inner demons, and Daenerys certainly had plenty of motive and reason to do so.
While yes, writing has a lot to do with the backlash, it’s also simply about the character who turned. Daenerys was no longer just a fictional character. She had a personal significance to a lot of people, me included. She wasn’t just a feminist icon; she was horrific abuse and trauma survivor who pulled through some pretty terrible stuff, and both men and women can relate to that. She had ideals, she believed in a better world, and she fought to make it happen. As Jon said back in season 7, “the people who follow you believe you made something impossible happen.” and it’s true. Daenerys brought magic back into the world. She believed in herself, in her own power, and that belief created magic.
For me, Daenerys made me feel strong. She made me feel brave, that maybe I could survive terrible things too. A few years ago I was in a mental hospital because of the decline in my health. I remember thinking to myself ‘there’s no way I’m going to be able to survive this.’ and it’s silly, but Daenerys Targaryen helped me to learn that I could.
In that sense, what the show did was kind of like killing someone and turning them into a martyr. That person is gone, they’re only about as capable as affecting the real world as Daenerys at that point, but the powerful significance, the magnitude of their effect on people, it was enough to spur others into feeling something, into doing something. I’m not the only one when I say that Daenerys changed me.
Tyrion said it himself in the finale; “There’s nothing more powerful in the world than a good story.”
Except, Daenerys Targaryen transcended the story. For a large portion of fans of the show, Daenerys was the story. She was the one that people cared about. Sure, you liked the other characters, but they weren’t more important than the rest of the narrative; Daenerys was. The fate of Daenerys Targaryen meant more to me than the entirety of the rest of the fictional world, and it was the same for a lot of fans.
D and D should’ve done a better job at writing, it’s true, and I stick by that. But the fact of the matter is, no one who cared about Daenerys was going to be happy with a fate like that. Not after how she affected us, not after how she made us feel about ourselves.
Daenerys Targaryen may be a fictional character, but she was real to a lot of people. She changed them, just as any real person can. So why is anyone surprised by how upset people are? It doesn’t matter what was foreshadowed or whether you chose the wrong side or not.
Daenerys Targaryen made us feel like maybe we could be dragons too. And when she died, when she turned, it made us feel small all over again.
