*Spoilers for Game of Thrones season 8 finale, The Iron Throne. Especially about Daenarys.
Daenarys!😠We all knew she was going to die after the last episode when she became a Mad Queen, but boy did it still hurt. We saw it coming, and I even wanted it, but it still didn’t prepare me.
I was very disappointed with the way her character was treated in the show, because I still think that they forced her downfall. She had 8 seasons of growth only to become a delusional dictator who justifies slaughtering millions. I’m not against a Mad Queen arc, I just wish they did it right. And, I mean the fact that Tyrion had to literally spell it out for us this episode is just another classic example of ‘telling’ instead of showing. There’s more on my thoughts on this here.
I’ll be honest, I’m conflicted by her death scene. In the beginning of the episode, I was like oh shit, she’s gone full European liberator/coloniser – and I know how that goes. Anyone who’s read anything about western history does.
So I sighed, sat back, and resigned myself to the fact that Arya was going to kill her. You know, since for some reason she’s still in King’s Landing and there has to be some reason for that, right?
Wrong.
In a satisfying turn of events, Jon killed Dany. I mean, this means Arya’s presence was weird and useless, but let’s discuss that another time.
Jon finally did something useful, and I’m glad because I was super sick of him at this stage. The finale did him dirty, but at least he got to have this.
Daenarys’ death was actually really tragic, and it hurt more than expected. Watching her excitedly talk to him about a future together, her eyes begging for some kind of pride and affection from him hurt. Here she is, still vulnerable and naive and full of love despite the powerful speech she gave outside. She was excited with her victory, and she really wanted the only person she loved left to be happy with her.
And then he fkn stabs her. RIP.
The scene was poetic, and beautiful, and real sad because this is our girl Daenarys! We’ve been backing her for ages, cheering her on, excited to have this strong female heroine who’s out here kicking ass. (Yeah, don’t even get me started on how her villain arc affects female hero representation). Her death was so sad because she meant so much, and yet here she was, killed by someone she loved and trusted.
Was Daenarys Killed Too Easily?
Despite the tragedy and beauty of the scene, the one thing I think is that it wasn’t enough.
Daenarys just kinda laid down and died, and I feel like she wouldn’t have died so peacefully. She barely reacted, and it felt a bit weird and fake. It was out of character, and quite frankly very cliche. Like, cliche enough that reddit user YouDailyDevil predicted the whole thing in detail. (But still tragic, goddamn).
Yeah, I know. That prediction is wild, and super accurate. It was disappointing, but Drogon’s mourning was so fucking sad that I didn’t have time to criticise the writing. I was too busy drowning in tears.
I didn’t realise just how much I loved Daenarys’ character till I saw her killed. RIP Daenarys, the most iconic character in this show.
Image Sources: HBO, Reddit u/YourDailyDevil, u/deregistered_remocrat
