long live the queen

first Daenerys Stormborn of 2024

“Viserys sold my mother’s crown, and men called him a beggar. I shall keep this one, so men will call me a queen.”

“the shape of a three-headed dragon; the coils were yellow gold, the wings silver, the heads carved from jade, ivory, and onyx.”

Daenerys and her children.

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One trend I've noticed a lot lately in the speculation of Tyrion meeting Daenerys is how he'll influence her. The argument often is that Tyrion will encourage her more "fire and blood" destructive tendencies when they get to Westeros. However, this view is often one-sided as it's always about how Tyrion will influence Daenerys but never about how Daenerys will influence Tyrion.

"Daenerys, I am thrice your age," Ser Jorah said. "I have seen how false men are. Very few are worthy of trust, and Daario Naharis is not one of them. Even his beard wears false colors." That angered her. "Whilst you have an honest beard, is that what you are telling me? You are the only man I should ever trust?" He stiffened. "I did not say that." "You say it every day. Pyat Pree's a liar, Xaro's a schemer, Belwas a braggart, Arstan an assassin . . . do you think I'm still some virgin girl, that I cannot hear the words behind the words?" "Your Grace—" She bulled over him. "You have been a better friend to me than any I have known, a better brother than Viserys ever was. You are the first of my Queensguard, the commander of my army, my most valued counselor, my good right hand. I honor and respect and cherish you—but I do not desire you, Jorah Mormont, and I am weary of your trying to push every other man in the world away from me, so I must needs rely on you and you alone. It will not serve, and it will not make me love you any better." -ASOS, Daenerys IV

Daenerys is not the sheltered child Aegon was who Tyrion could easily manipulate as shown when she called out Jorah for trying to isolate her from other men. Even Tyrion admitted to Aegon, having never met Daenerys that "she is strong" and "fierce." Daenerys was more worldly at 14 than Aegon is at 16. Even as a small, frightened girl at age 13 in the beginning of the series, she had more street smarts than her adult brother Viserys and has shown to be a prodigy in the series. Tyrion would not be able to manipulate her easily, especially since would initially be wary of him for being a Lannister.

Tyrion at the end of the day would be serving as her subordinate, him being largely dependent on her. Tyrion largely is the way he is because of the toxic family he grew up in. The Lannister vision has no idea of a Good Society, it's just pure self-aggrandizement by any means necessary. As the adage goes, rot always starts at the head. The monarchs Tyrion served as Hand, Joffrey and Cersei, were both cruel, incompetent tyrants with senses of entitlement that outweighed their actual abilities. They also had no concept of the duties of a monarch to their subjects, and instead just abused their power over others, including sexually. The one who actually ran the show for the Lannister regime, Tywin, was a cold, abusive Machiavellian who brutalized the smallfolk and his children, seeing them as pawns in his schemes. Tyrion could be cunning and brutal, because it was both encouraged and necessary for the winner-take-all, dog-eat-dog world of the Lannister court. It was an environment designed to bring out the darker side of his nature.

However, since the beginning we saw hints of the lighter side of his nature such as when he gave emotional support to Jon and designed a special saddle for Bran. He even helped Catelyn when they were attacked by the mountain clans even though she kidnapped him. In A Clash of Kings, we see hints of Tyrion wanting to be something other than the cold Machiavellian like his father when he stands up for Sansa when Joffrey beats her, and he has Morec killed and Slynt sent to the Wall for killing Barra, wanting to "do justice." In A Dance with Dragons, he risks his life to protect Aegon and even in his lowest he looks out for Penny even though she is a complete stranger to him.

Daenerys is a foil to Cersei, whose ruling philosophy is expressed in the statement "Why do the gods make kings and queens, if not to protect the ones who can't protect themselves?" Daenerys tries to live up to the image of an ideal monarch who protects the weak. She liberates the oppressed from slavery and tries to protect them, even performing acts like tending to those afflicted with the bloody flux herself, marrying someone she doesn't want and putting her plan of going to Westeros on hold to achieve peace. Working as Hand to Queen Daenerys, Tyrion may find himself in a change of pace in a different environment where for once his more positive tendencies are encouraged with his fondness for "cripples, bastards and broken things."

In short, in cutting himself off from his toxic family, Tyrion may actually find a new beginning in service to Daenerys. He's the Machiavellian polymath and court politician she needs, and she's the competent, idealistic monarch he needs.

The new queen of Meeren

So I'm not totally sure how prevalent this idea is with Daenerys antis, but I've seen more than one person talk about how Dany was racist towards the Dothraki and Ghiscari. This is, of course, ridiculous. Dany embraces both these cultures when she lives among them and even considers staying with them multiple times. Yes, she disagrees with and is even disturbed by some of the traditions these cultures have, but these traditions are ones of slavery, rape, and injustice. We the readers should also recognize these are not good traditions.

In every culture, there are traditions that are harmful, this is an unfortunate consequence of our humanity. No matter what country, city, etc you are coming from, there are things in the history of the place and people that are not good. The same is true of the world of ASOIAF. Slavery of Old and New Ghis, the right of the First Night in the North, the Ironborn's practice of taking thralls and salt wives, the Dothraki raping the women of whomever they defeat, the human experimentation in Valyrian, the invading armies of Westeros raping and burning the smallfolk. All these are practices meant to be condemned by the reader and acknowledged by povs as being wrong. Acknowledging a huge flaw like legal rape and fucking slavery is not being racist!

When Viserys calls the Dothraki barbarians and is actually racist towards them, Dany defends them and claims them as her own people. After all, she believes at this point that she will spend the rest of her life among the Dothraki. Now someone could try to argue that Dany refusing to stay a Khaleesi in the Dothraki Sea after Viserys' death is an example of her looking down on them ("If I were not the blood of the dragon...this could be my home.")

However, this is, firstly, not about race, second of all, this isn't about her thinking she's better than them, this is about her perceived duty to her house. Viserys raised her to believe it is their duty to their house to reclaim the IT, and not that he's dead, the duty lies solely on her and her unborn child. She isn't the only character who sacrifices her happiness out of perceived duty, Jon joins the Night's Watch because of this and literally anything Tyrion does on Tywin's orders or for Cersei.

With the Ghiscari, Dany only has issues with the slavers. She loves the slaves and is driven to free them, and, let me remind everyone, slavery in ASOIAF is not race-driven, that was another thing the show fucked up on. When Dany rules in Meereen, she embraces the culture quickly, just like with the Dothraki. She wears the traditional clothing, learns Ghiscari, and has Ghiscari nobles and freedmen on her counsel.

Any and all negative thoughts and associations Dany has with Ghiscari traditions (the tokar, the wedding ceremony) are because of the false peace and the continued power of the slavers. She hates how it feels to put on the tokar because it's a reminder that she is constantly compromising with the slavers and is allowing the Astapori and Yunkai'i slaves to fall back into chains. She doesn't want to marry Hizdahr because she knows he is working with the Harpy and he is constantly pressuring her to give into other demands by the slavers. The only traditions Dany has issues with are associated with slavery and the false peace in Meereen.

Daenerys isn't ever racist towards the Dothraki or Ghiscari, she values their council, and respects their traditions except the ones revolving around rape and slavery. She is only driven to take the IT because of perceived duty to her house. Daenerys is unhappy in Meereen because she hates slavery and is dissatisfied with the false peace there.

What Daenerys Targaryen would wear

i’m reading adwd for the first time, and the way daenerys rides dragon was insane. first i love how he didn’t come back because he loves her, it was the smell of blood from the fighting pits. and then he doesn’t seem to recognize her, she is just another warm body he can eat. i have to say it felt so weird when she grasped the whip and it made her feel stronger, dany wtf you were ordering people who had whips in their hands to be killed and said dragons are not slaves, look at you now.

i understand why she did what she did, dragon is basically a wild dragon, he would have killed her in a second but i still love how this reunion went against everything you would expect. dragon doesn’t come back to save her from some big bad wolf, he comes back and then she remembers she is a targaryen, fire and blood bbyy. i think when we she her again she will start showing change, towards a more violent dany who will finally use her dragons to do as she wishes, as she fuckin should with these slavers. but i wonder if the dany who gets to westeros will be as hopeful and idealistic of her la d and herself as the one we knew.

Daenerys Targaryen Aesthetic

more asoiaf comparisons, parallels & antiparallels to the first dance of the dragons vs the second & final dance of the dragons (& possibly the sixth blackfyre rebellion): the blacks being daenerys i targaryen's supporters, the golds being aegon vi targaryen's supporters, tommen baratheon being a close equivalent to gaemon palehair & his mother essie & sylvenna sand which may be interpreted as a parallel with queen cersei lannister & taena merryweather of myr, trystane truefyre being a close equivalent to aegon/young griff & perkin being jon connington & the shepherd being the new high septon the high sparrow, dalton greyjoy being euron i greyjoy's ancestor & the latter surpassing him, alyn waters later alyn velaryon resembling aurane waters later aurane velaryon & finishing what their ancestors started. history repeats itself.

things that dany would change immediately after taking the throne:

adopting linear primogeniture inheritance laws like in dorne

more extensive laws regarding consent in regard to marriage and adding an age requirement to marry

more protections for bastards and requirements for fathers of bastards to monetarily provide for their children and their mothers on a regulated basis

no more taxes on the poor, tax the rich instead bc it's very clear that a lot of these fucks are just hoarding wealth like jfc no wonder the kingdom went broke if they were pulling all their money from the people who have none to begin with meanwhile joffrey's wedding had like 77 courses for dinner

portions of food, clothes, etc. from imports and exports will be set aside and regularly distributed to those most in need, especially during the winter

schools!! teach these kids to read and write ffs maybe then the populace can help take better care of itself

"RHAEGO, I WAS GOING TO NAME him Rhaego, and the dosh khaleen said he would be the stallion who mounts the world." / @gelarios, sc.

TAGS   ( CURRENTLY )

ASOIAF: Dany Abandons Her Children, Drogon Abandons Dany, Dragon Bonds IV, Part I, covers her first 2 chapters of A Dance with Dragons. and contrasts the savage nature of her dragons & conquest against her wish to be a peaceful ruler.

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For all that I rag on Hizdahr for, I don't actually think he is the main conspirator behind the Harpies. I think it's Galazza, and Hizdahr and Reznak are just her main pawns. It's obvious what Hizdahr gets from it; he is named king of Meereen, and he's content with the prestige that brings to his name and how it elevates his family again in a world of uprisings that were ready to (metaphorically) cannibalize them and everyone else of that status. To him, he has played a part in saving his city and his family and stopped his entire culture and way of life from being completely uprooted. But ultimately, he is Galazza's puppet, and he knows that. I think becoming king emboldens him to question it more, to want to carry his own influence and break away from her control, but also, he knows that losing Galazza's favor means death.

I don't even think he is the main conspirator or perpetrator in trying to assassinate Daenerys; I think that was orchestrated in a way that very much makes him the fall man for it. Mind you, he was still aware of it and actively participated in it by trying to poison her, but I don't think that was *his* plan, I think it was something he was simply commanded to do with the promise of kingship hanging over his head and a threat of death on the other side. And as for Reznak, I think he is Galazza's true inside man and his purpose now is mostly to keep Hizdahr in line. That is why prophecies potentially warned Daenerys about Reznak (or Varys, or that one ship, but probably Reznak). Hizdahr and Reznak are both snakes in Dany's court, but Reznak is truly the snake with teeth.