Who Is The Real Dany? (Show vs. Books!)

Do the books of ASOIAF foreshadow anything similar to the evil Daenerys heel turn that the HBO show gave us? And who is the character of Daenerys Targaryen, really?

Twitter: @thedragonLML | Instagram: @davidlightbringer

title image uses "Daenerys Targaryen" by Inna Vjuzhanina Art
intro music is "The Promised Land" by Stanley Black

[gp]

Can we just appreciate how well Emilia played Dany ? Her acting was superb and she studied the character far better than show runners.. Even in S7 and S8, she acted her heart out with very subpar writing.

[LizardsLore]

I still can’t get over how no one made a big deal about Jon being a dragonrider as if it were as common as riding a horse

[_Studio_Marie_]

I hope Emilia sees this and realizes that this was always the true Dany. It breaks my heart in knowing how heartbroken she was to learn that the character she carefully fostered, grew up through, and found personal strength in was reduced to something so unrecognizable in D&D's character assassination

[dishh]

I didn’t realize how upset I still was about the desecration of dany’s character in the show until hearing that there’s hope for the book ending to be different. Thank you for this video. Long live the dragon queen!

[paolabruno]

Power doesn't necessarily corrupts people, it reveals who they've always been.

[chipmunkpark]

Dany in the show sometimes is too one dimensional...while in the books she is still grieving her brother, even saying she loved him at one point. She felt guilt over her death...and he abused her most of her life

[mschell]

I recently rewatched season 1 - 4, and as great as those seasons are, even THEN they didn't entirely get the character of Daenerys right. Her time in Quarth is especially dumbed down when compared to the books.

[reddest-x]

You've made me fall in love with Dany as a character all over again. You, good sir, are the real slayer of lies here! (Also, the amount of work you've put into this really shows - you've really outdone yourself. Be proud.)

[angelstorm]

What this has highlighted more than anything is that D & D had zero understanding of the character they were writing! Emilia did and that's why she wanted to bring more warmth and humour to Dany's character. The people who go for confirmation bias that the books will end the same way, are speaking nonsense...or desperate for it to happen!

[lluewhyn]

One of the most disgusting implications of the show is that anyone who is trying to help the oppressed is just going to end up corrupted, or is manipulating people for their own evil ends. Have there been people like this? Yes. Has everyone who have led a movement to end suffering been like this? Absolutely not.

[nevaehaho]

I always thought that Dany getting upset at Jon after he revealed his parentage to her was not true to her character. Yeah, Dany wants to claim the iron throne and having a male relative more senior in line would make that a lot harder for her, but Daenerys wants the iron throne not because she thinks it’s rightfully hers (which she kinda does) or because she wants wealth or power. All her life she grew up running from place to place, listening to her last living relative who was almost always cruel to her tell her that one day they would go home. One day they would HAVE a home. Dany in the books doesn’t really crave the Red Keep and Kings Landing. She wants the big house with the red door and the lemon tree outside her window. The childhood she’d never known. But the house with the red door is far behind her now, and without anywhere else to feel like she truly belongs, Daenerys sails for the home her last family promised her would one day be hers. And when she gets there, she might find Jon and when she does, she won’t think “Oh no, a competitor”. I think she’ll think “finally, I found family”. :)

[violette]

me to anyone who defends the show: "incompetence should not be rewarded with blind loyalty"
Thank you for this, power reveals, and Daenerys Targaryen definitely deserved better.

but the dragon never forgets... and winter is coming

[chipmunkpark]

I love Emilia's portrayal of Dany in the first season, and I felt that she should've kept portraying her the same way later on. Dany wasn't a omnipotent ruler, but a woman battling between compassion and desire to rule

[MuzikFreak]

I was so confused watching Dany burn literally every that wasn’t The Red Keep. Because the person she hates most in that moment is Cersei right? And I can’t imagine Dany not knowing that Cersei doesn’t really give a damn about anyone but herself, so seeing that probably wouldn’t upset her the way that it could upset a good ruler.

So is she just burning the city to make Cersei sweat for a few minutes until Dany finally gets around to her? The whole time I was like, “Well if she’s gonna burn stuff down why didn’t she just start at The Red Keep?”
The sequence of events and how/why it happened is really a mess.

[teamblack]

*DAENERYS IN THE BOOKS:* I suffered for my entire life, I won't let my people suffer. A queen lives for her people

*DAENERYS IN THE EARLY SEASONS:* I'm a badass queen but I still care about my people and I will risk my life for them if need be

*DAENERYS IN SEASON 8:* Then I started blasting

[nunouno]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.

As hard and difficult of a time she’s had in the story with George RR Martin, Book Dany will always be appreciative of the fact that at least she’s isn’t TV show Dany and written by D&D.

[whollycarp]

D&D wrote the last season (or three) around a few ideas that they wanted to have. They wanted the scene where Jon stabs Dany, and they wanted to have a scene where we see a dragon destroy something on a large scale (the spectacle is the most important part). They wanted to subvert expectations, vis-a-vis Arya. Everything else was just writing in the gaps that were left by the pillars that they had established. It didn't matter if it made sense (to them), they just wanted to get to their big set pieces.

It just sucks that they had started out so good only to have them drop the ball at the end.

[kierademian]

I’ve always thought it more likely that Jon Con would destroy kings landing. Especially given the fact that the bells are what trigger Dany’s rampage in the show. Jon Con has constant ptsd flashbacks to the battle of the bells, hearing the bells and seeing that event as the catalyst to his entire exile and failure of Rhaegar. Further more when he thinks back to that day he wishes he had been more ruthless, threatening and killing civilians in an attempt to find out where Robert was hiding.

[buglamps]

It’s honestly so insulting with the Hitler imagery. Dany was a girl who went through terrible abuse throughout her life, survived, and rose up to rule an entire city, attempting to liberate those in even worse conditions than she was growing up, and putting her goals on hold. She was inspiring and strong and started off as a sex slave. Growing up she barely knew anything from suffering and poverty. She was ripped of whatever innocence she had left at only 13, still a little girl, and not even a year after losing a child, became a great and notable known throughout the world.

Hitler grew up in a middle class family, got rejected from art school, and then used his fancy talking to stir up the civil unrest that was already happening and facilitated a genocide.

Dany and Hitler’s personal histories are completely different. Comparing the two is just highly offensive. It feels like D&D are suggesting that Hitler also went through what Dany did and had achievements the likes of Dany before he chose to kill millions.

It just disgusts me. And I know that wasn’t D&D’s intent of course, but just…Hitler imagery? Really? You’re comparing this woman who lost so much at such a young age, and then rose up barely after she was sold into sex slavery… to fucking Hitler?? There is no correlation whatsoever.

I’m sorry for my poor writing skills, I just needed to rant. Take what you will from my word vomit.

[loopyafterdark]

Your viewers are shocking the hell out me.
They are having meaningful and observant conversations. And no arguing.
I can die happy now.( fr, yall are a breath of fresh air)