Written by Amanda Rodriguez
Spoiler Alert
Trigger warning: discussion of rape
The incredibly popular HBO TV series Game of Thrones is off and running as Season 4 gets under way, and as the devoted fan that I am, I’ve been thinking an inordinate amount about this show, in particular the character arc of one 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 (now that is a title). As I’m steadfastly staying behind the TV series in my reading of George R.R. Martin‘s ongoing book series, A Song of Ice and Fire, I don’t know what’s in store for Daenerys in the pages beyond the TV show. However, I see the journey of Daenerys Targaryen as a prototype for female liberation, one that charts women’s emancipation over the centuries and encourages us to push harder and dream bigger for even more freedom now.
Daenerys begins her life as property.
Daenerys is a quiet, dreamy youth who has been physically, mentally, and sexually abused by her brother, Viserys, who sells her to Khal Drogo to buy an army of Dothraki. Her ownership then transfers to Drogo who repeatedly rapes her before Daenerys learns to assert herself and manipulate his desires.
It’s important to note that HBO chose to alter Daenerys’ wedding night by having Drogo rape her, using her as property. Martin’s book A Game of Thrones, depicts her wedding night as a sexual awakening and a revelation for Daenerys about the power of her desire and sexuality. This change from book to screen has several implications, and not all of them are good since it solidifies the racist depiction of the Dothraki as unfathomable savages and kicks off the show’s penchant for the sexual degradation of women. However, it’s hard to realistically imagine a child bride with Daenerys’ disposition enjoying her stranger-husband’s advances, and the TV version of Daenerys’ arc then shows us how she (like so very many women) must overcome the repeated violation of her body (in her case, by both brother and husband).
Like her sexual abuse, Daenerys must overcome many obstacles on her heroine’s journey for self-actualization.
Our Khaleesi faces the death of her husband, brother, and child, the loss of most of her khalasar, starvation, and desperation along with many deaths in the Red Waste.
Like the mythical heroine that she is, though, Daenerys’ struggles make her stronger. She ignores the protests of those who either don’t believe in her or who underestimate the magnitude of her power. She trusts her instincts and is reborn from her husband’s funeral pyre where she is thought to have burned. Instead she emerges The Mother of Dragons with her hatched dragons suckling at her breast. In her Bitch Flicks review, In Game of Thrones the Mother of Dragons is Taking Down the Patriarchy, Megan Kearns says, “Dany becomes the metaphorical phoenix rising from the ashes, purging the last vestiges of her former timidity to transition into her life as a powerful leader.” Yes. Symbolically, Daenerys has faced many trials by fire, and she is unbowed and unbroken by them. Not only that, but Daenerys and NOT her brother Viserys is the trueborn heir imbued with magical abilities and, perhaps, a destiny. Her story tells women that only each of us can know our own minds and our true worth, and it is much greater than our patriarchal society can imagine.
The theme recurs of Daenerys having to constantly prove that she is a fit leader, that she knows what she’s doing, and that she can be ruthless when necessary. Her youth and femaleness make others underestimate her, including her own retinue (Jorah gets more than one tongue lashing for his continual doubts about her and her “gentle heart”). But Khaleesi proves herself again and again: in Qarth when she pits her magic against that of the warlocks, in Astapor when she outwits the chauvinistic slaver and acquires an army eight thousand strong of the renowned Unsullied warriors, and in Yunkai when she quietly liberates the slave city from its masters.
The liberation of slaves is the next step in Daenerys evolution as a feminist leader. Once acquiring the Unsullied, she immediately frees them and asks them each to make the personal choice to follow her. When she drops the whip that signifies her ownership of the Unsullied, I said aloud, “Fuck yeah!” Not only that, but in Yunkai, the former slaves rally around Daenerys, their liberator, and call her Mysha, meaning “mother.”
Now, it is deeply problematic that Daenerys is a white savior figure to all these enslaved and impoverished brown people. It’s condescending and (ironically) paternalistic. However, the trajectory of Daenerys’ development as a feminist guide for the liberation and empowerment of women holds true because what is most important is that Daenerys cannot abide slavery and oppression. She embodies the civil rights quote, “No one is free when others are oppressed.” This means that Daenerys will not rest just because she has become a queen with an army. Though poorly (and racistly) executed, Daenerys embodies intersectionality because she believes that everyone deserves equality and freedom of choice regardless of life circumstances or the type of oppression that they face.
In fact, I like to think that Daenerys even inspired Emilia Clarke, the actress who portrays her to take a feminist stance when at the end of Season 3, Clarke stood up to HBO (one of the most powerful networks on the planet) and refused to do anymore nude scenes for Game of Thrones. Talk about a meta-feminist empowerment arc!
As someone who hasn’t finished the books, I ask myself, “What’s next for Daenerys?” I see Season 4 as her opportunity to grow as a leader, learning how to balance her personal quest for the Iron Throne with the will of the people she has liberated. She will, of course, falter along the way because, hey, this is Game of Thrones, and a series of wins can only result in some kind of tragedy or personal failings. Fact. Though she will undoubtedly make mistakes, I suspect Daenerys will overcome any newfound challenges, as she has done before. Just as all women must when we struggle to be so many things to so many people while holding true to our own goals and values.
The ultimate question now becomes, “Who in the game of thrones is fit to rule?” All of the others with claims to the throne have had at least one major flaw: Robb Stark was too much his father’s son, valuing honor above all else (and is now dead); Stannis Baratheon is a charisma-less, rigid man with a chip on his shoulder and a dubious moral compass in the form of Melisandre; Mance Rayder will be lucky if he can even wrangle his own army and get beyond The Wall, Balon Greyjoy is powerless inland, and Joffrey Baratheon/Lannister is an evil fuck who everyone despises (and is now dead). Though others will undoubtedly enter the high stakes fray, Daenerys is without compare. Not only does she have dragons, she has proven her abilities time and time again. Most importantly, her liberation of slaves is a testament to her righteousness, her cunning, and her ability to evolve beyond outdated modes of rulership (not to mention that she’d be the first woman to ever sit on the Iron Throne in the history of Westeros). Jorah Mormont said it best:
“You have a good claim: a title, a birthright. But you have something more than that: you may cover it up and deny it, but you have a gentle heart. You would not only be respected and feared; you would be loved. Someone who can rule and should rule. Centuries come and go without a person like that coming into the world.”
***Please no book spoilers in the comments!***
Read also: Gratuitous Female Nudity and Complex Female Characters in Game of Thrones and In Game of Thrones the Mother of Dragons Is Taking Down the Patriarchy
This is why I’m team Khaleesi. She is the future queen!
SHe’s 15. Has been brainwashed by her older brother into believing she holds the rightful claim to a land that she has never seen. She has no knowledge of how the houses (great and small) have been interacting. If she was truly a Khaleesi she would have gone back to Daes Dothrak when Drogo died. Her freeing of the slaves left the cities without leadership which lead to an eventual bloodbath. She can’t control her dragons and has them chained after they kill one kid (What did she think the dragons were going to do). She uses sex as a weapon, and had intended to kill herself on Drogo’s funeral pyre. Let it be remembered that Aegon conquered Westoros with his dragons by “force”, and Robert with the Help of Ned and Jon Arryn ousted the Targaryens by “Force”. The crown is as rightfully belonging to House Baratheon as it did to House Targaryen 20 years prior to the events of the story. Plus Rhaegar’s children have a higher claim that Daenaery’s does
You seem to be basing much of your response on the books as opposed to the show (and you included several spoilers despite my request to refrain from doing so…please don’t include any others). As far as rightful claims to the throne go, it’s clearly a free-for-all, and power is the major component needed to secure it regardless of the prospective ruler’s ability and aptitude for sitting on the Iron Throne.
Good article. I like Dany as well, though I think her cause is falling apart like Robb Stark’s was. What do you think?
The conclusion of Season 4 is definitely leaning in that direction, unfortunately. Locking up her dragons (the two she could even find) seems like a bad move that’s going to have seriously negative repercussions.
Utterly hilarious that ‘feminists’ would choose to pick out daenery’s story over all of the anti-female narratives and actions in this story… Not to mention the actual books. Typical of ‘feminists’ to pick facts that serve their narrative while ignoring the reality of what is actually happening
Go equal rights activists.
Here at Bitch Flicks, we have multiple articles on ‘Game of Thrones’ — articles that both praise and criticize the series’ depiction of women. Many of our articles laud the myriad strong female characters. Yet our articles have called out the show for sexism, misogyny, racism, rape culture and treating women (particularly sex workers) as disposable. So to condemn our site or feminists as a whole (feminists are not a monolith btw) for one article that you disagree with is ridiculous.
Even more funny that you recognize the white savior of the brown people, but choose to totally overlook, even totally ignore it’s implications in recognition of your praise of daenerys’ feminist narrative.
So fucking pathetic
I disagree that Daenerys is a feminist icon. Feminism is synonymous with misandry and rejection of femininity. Daenerys is not a feminist because she neither hates men nor rejects her femininity. While she is definitely not averse to using violence to punish the wicked, she also demonstrates the very feminine virtues of compassion, practicality, adaptability, and willingness to recognize and learn from her mistakes. When force does not work, she finds more subtle means to accomplish her goals (whereas most men in the Game of Thrones universe would simply say “Do what I want or I’ll kill you!”). She is also a campaigner for justice, largely because most men in Essos cannot see the great injustice that exists there. In this vein, I see her more akin to the Greek goddess Athena, who fought with men and led them into battle when the cause was just, than Artemis who rejected virtually all men.
You obviously do not understand what “feminism” means. Feminism is about gender equality and abolishing oppression. Feminism is not “synonymous with misandry and [a] rejection of femininity.”
I submit that you are the one who doesn’t understand the meaning of the word. But, if you have an alternate description, please explain it.
Here’s the definition of feminism:
In my experience, “gender equality” is a euphemism for hatred of men and rejection of femininity that is used by feminists to evade admission of what they truly believe.
More to the point of this discussion: If the facial meaning of “gender equality” is truly the touchstone of feminism, then Daenerys Targaryen cannot possibly be a feminist character because she does not emulate the men in her life. While it is true that, for a brief period after her brother’s death, she takes on his desire to retake the iron throne as her own, once she arrives in Astapor and witnesses the true nature of the evils of slavery (which all of the men surrounding her either don’t care about or are oblivious to), she abandons her quest to rule Westeros and takes on a mission of her own to eradicate slavery in Essos.
Daenerys does not seek to be the equal of men. She seeks to be something different entirely.
“In my experience”
What’s funny is, all the actual feminists I know see feminism as a conversation about what equality means and how it should be pursued. The only people who seem 100% per cent sure what feminism represents are anti-feminists.
A bit like how the only people who are 100% sure of what Mexicans are like – sombrero, poncho, droopy moustache – are people who’ve never been to Mexico. When you’re actually in Mexico, everyone’s an individual.
Feminism is ALL about gender equality between men and women. It has NEVER been about “hatred of men”. Oh and guess what, men can be feminists too, and many of them are.
Feminism is not about gender equality. It is about females gaining power over males. You can pretend it is about equality all you want to but the fact is “slaves dream not of freedom but of becoming masters.” Don’t know who said it first.
But in the same way Women dream not of equality but of becoming the empowered leaders.
What in the world are you talking about? That is NOT what feminism is, it has always been about equality between men and women, NOT about hatred. Many men are feminists too, and that’s awesome.
I feel it necessary to comment that Dany and Drogo’s wedding night scene was changed to a rape scene because the actors couldn’t make sense of it. Drogo goes from being tender on their wedding night to raping her for the following weeks in the books. It gets to the point where she considers committing suicide.
Also, I disagree that Dany’s a feminist icon. And no, it’s not because I don’t understand the meaning of the word feminism. Dany has a tendency to severely underestimate women, often assuming them to be harmless when the series has shown us that they can be just as ruthless, cunning and dangerous as any man. It’s a pattern in her arc and one that repeats itself.
In season/book 1 she underestimates Mirri Maz Duur and ends up losing her husband and child to her; in book 2 she quickly comes to trust Quaithe, a woman she knows nothing about and could very well have an agenda of her own; in season/book 3 she has the male slave masters in the Plaza (and everyone 12+ male upper class in the books) killed but the women are for some reason spared even though women can very much be slave owners too and [spoiler]in aDwD she comes to trust the Green Grace who is either the Harpy or pretty high up on the potential list to being her[/spoiler].
Personally, while being a woman does of course play a role in how people perceive her, her role as “Mother” etc., I feel Dany doesn’t have to struggle in the same way as most of the other woman because she has an advantage other women in the series don’t, dragons. They allow her a freedom others aren’t afforded and give her close to unlimited power in aSoS/3rd season where she pretty much destroys people as easily as blinking. She’s disrespected by the slavers but it barely means anything to her because she can get away with doing pretty much anything.
In that way, I don’t feel she’s a feminist or even a feminist icon.
There is nothing RACIST about Khaleesi position. Claiming it is just because she is white shows total ignorance.
I agree that Dany isn’t racist – she embraces other cultures, except where they blatantly violate human rights, and identifies with the slaves she liberates, as a woman who was sold herself. What is racist is that GRR Martin portrays the mass of brown slaves as totally passive. They have no underground that Dany could join. They have no Spartacus, Harriet Tubman or Frederick Douglass that she could empower to rule in her stead. It is because of this racist distortion of reality that Dany can play the White Savior without being, herself, a racist.
She seems to be on a very Anakin Skywalker-esque journey to the dark side, unfortunately. Dany is going to end up being a tragic hero turned villain that many of the audience actually identify with and root for…which will only make Game of Thrones that much more masterful.
Throughout the show/series, fire is quite synonymous with death and evil…bad stuff. With her dragons, Dany represents fire. Shouting things like “I will take what is mine with fire and blood” is NOT the kind of thing a heroine, a gentle queen savior, would say. “They can die in their old world or live in my new one” is not the kind of phrase that screams ‘Princess Leia/Luke Skywalker’ to me.
Dany is heading down the wrong path, upon her arrival in Westeros, she will essentially be seen as an evil invader by most, not as some great liberator. She’s coming with an army and with fire and blood. If there is one thing that will get the various houses to band together, it is a larger threat like her and her dragons.
Game of Thrones is much more complex than many give it credit for. It is not just sending everyone on a heroes journey of victory. It is never that simple.
We’ve had examples of evil or evil-seeming characters becoming much more heroic over the course of the series(Jaime) and more good-seeming characters take a turn for the worse(Theon) and plenty of varying examples.
If you think that out of the 5 main characters of Tyrion, Jon, Bran, Arya, and Dany that none of them will make a face-heel turn, you’re mistaken…and Dany is the prime candidate.
She’ll go dark, evil…but in the end will likely find redemption through the sacrifice of her own life…much like Anakin Skywalker.