Dany and her coming of age

                                                                    https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Daenerys_Targaryen

Dany starts out a naïve young girl. Her brother mistreats and threatens her. He even sells her off to be married in order to gain what he needs to reclaim the iron throne. After being sold off to Drogo, Dany has a “traditional” Dothraki wedding, complete with rape and murder. At her wedding, she is given three dragon eggs. These eggs lie dormant, but in time they gain importance. At the end of the ceremony, Dany is given a silver horse which she later rides to the place where she consummates her marriage to Drogo. In the book, this consummation is consensual. There is a period of waiting before she says yes. In the TV version, however, she is clearly raped. She cries as she is forced to have sex with Drogo. This is troublesome because the TV version portrays the scene in a completely different, more detrimental way than it was originally portrayed. A female character does not need to be raped for the sake of a better story. That is not the right thing to do. Dany’s future with her new husband looks brighter when she discovers she is with child. It does not end happily, however. Dany saves Mirri Maz Duur, a Godswife and Maegi, from being raped and keeps her as her slave. When Drogo is wounded she has Mirri Maz Duur heal his wound. However, his wound festers and he falls unwell. Dany convinces Mirri Maz Duur to save Drogo with blood magic. When Dany goes into labor during the blood magic ceremony she has to be taken inside. Dany’s baby is stillborn. According to Mirri Maz Duur, the baby comes out blind looking like a monster with lizard-like scales, bat-like wings, and innards full of grave worms. When she touches him, his skin falls away from his bones. Mirri Maz Duur says that the baby’s condition and death are the price Dany has paid for saving Drogo. Drogo however, isn’t truly alive. He is left in a vegetative state following the blood magic ceremony. Dany tries to resume a normal life with Drogo, but it’s of no use. She realizes he will never be as he was until the day “When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. When the seas go dry and mountains blow in the wind like leaves. When your womb quickens again, and you bear a living child. Then he will return, and not before” (Martin, 635). Dany proceeds to smother Drogo after remembering Mirri Maz Duur’s words. She burns Drogo with his belongings, a new horse, and his hair still intact. She places her dragon eggs on the pyre with him as well. She then burns Mirri Maz Duur with Drogo because of her role in his demise. Dany tells Jorah she won’t go into the flames, but then she does so anyway. Once the pyre is lit she walks into the flames. After the fire has gone out she walks away, naked and unharmed. Her hatched dragons follow her out as well. She ends up naming them Viserion after her brother, Drogon after Drogo, and Rhaegal after her other brother Rhaegar.

                                                                   https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Daenerys_Targaryen


Dany’s journey from meek girl, living in her brother's shadow, to envisioning herself as queen shows how much she has grown. This growth enables her to be a central player in the quest for the throne. The abuse and involuntary sale for marriage wasn’t pleasant, but she rises above her situation and suffering by acquiring confidence. Her political aspirations can also be seen from a colonial perspective. In this way, her aspirations aren’t so noble but her compassion towards others makes her better than the other players in the quest for the throne. 

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