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Is Daenerys Targaryen Going to Be Pregnant Again

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Paradigm: HBO via Polygon

Charting Daenerys Targaryen'south course from Khaleesi to 'Mad Queen'

How Game of Thrones prepared us for the series finale

Daenerys Targaryen's actions in the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones caused a stir. Though conflict brewed throughout flavor eight, many viewers thought the binge against the innocents of Male monarch'due south Landing looked strange and out of grapheme. What happened to Daenerys?

It's worth backing upward to meet the full scope of the Targaryen'due south arc. Examining the road that led us here — viewing the past through the lens of "The Bells" — makes everything look unlike.

The journeying of Daenerys Stormborn of Business firm Targaryen, the Start of Her Name, Queen of the Andals and the Offset Men, Protector of the Seven Kingdoms, Mother of Dragons, Khaleesi of the Corking Grass Bounding main, the Unburnt, Breaker of Chains, Mad Queen, is one of many choices. Let'south examine as we set up for her final bow.

Madness runs in the family

"They say every fourth dimension a Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin and the earth holds its breath."
— Lord Varys, season 8, episode 5

The history of Daenerys Targaryen's decisions begins before she was born. Yous can't divide her from her ancestors — the kings and queens who ruled the Seven Kingdoms for centuries earlier she was born.

Whether as a consequence of generations of incest (her parents were also brother and sister), or possibly some magical dragon blood influence, Targaryens have a tendency to become mad and bad. The most recent example of this is Aerys II Targaryen, the Mad King, Dany's father. Manner back in flavour iii, Jamie and Brienne had a chat about him and his sadism.

Aerys Targaryen (the Mad King) HBO

"He loved to watch people fire, the way their pare blackened and blistered and melted off their bones," Jaime said. "He burned lords he didn't similar. He burned Hands who disobeyed him. He burned anyone who was against him."

The Mad Rex died screaming "Burn them all!" near his subjects in King'southward Landing.

Targaryen madness abounds. 1 of them drank wildfire, believing it would plough him into a dragon (he died). The Sept of Baelor in Male monarch's Landing is named after a Targaryen who became convinced that nutrient was sinful (he died). Dany's older brother Viserys was only an all-around power-hungry and abusive dirtbag (he died). Fifty-fifty Dany once had 163 people crucified — some of whom were innocent (or at to the lowest degree less-than-guilty).

History makes it incommunicable to run across any determination that a Targaryen makes outside the lens of that unstable bloodline. People are right to exist wary. Dany knows this, and she aims to be unlike.

Dany believes she's destined to rule

"She's a girl who walked into a burn with iii stones and walked out with three dragons. How could she not believe in destiny?"
— Tyrion Lannister, season 8, episode 4

About 17 years earlier Game of Thrones begins, a bloody civil war called Robert's Rebellion unseated the Targaryens. Dany and her blood brother grew up in exile, across the Narrow Sea, believing that their family belonged on the Fe Throne and that the people of Westeros longed for their return.

That is the central truth of being a Targaryen: They are the rightful, dynastic rulers of the Seven Kingdoms. King Robert Baratheon was a usurper. He and those who follow and flow from him are illegitimate.

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When we kickoff run across Daenerys Targaryen, she believes that her older brother Viserys is the one who belongs on the throne — that he is the Concluding Dragon, as the Targaryens way themselves. Simply as Dany evolves during the beginning season from the naive girl we see in the starting time episode to the beloved khaleesi of the Dothraki, she comes to come across her brother as less than worthy.

When her brother'south inherent garbage-person-ness finally catches up to him, Khal Drogo pours molten gold on his head, killing him. Instead of being distraught, Dany watches coldly. She's detached.

"He was no dragon," she tells Jorah. "Fire cannot kill a dragon."

It is our first inkling that Daenerys Targaryen can turn fearsome. She can and does dehumanize those who stand between her and her (perceived) destiny.

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Later, Dany proves that, different her blood brother, fire cannot harm her: Once in the funeral pyre of Khal Drogo, and, much later, when she burns down the temple in Vaes Dothrak. The beginning time she tested herself in burn down, she walked away with three dragons. The second fourth dimension, she walked abroad with an army.

This is the lens through which we must view Dany'south actions considering it's the lens through which she views them. She is the Last Dragon. And information technology'due south hard to contend with her logic.

The question so becomes: Will she be a good and chivalrous dragon queen or a mad one like the worst of her ancestors?

Daenerys loves existence loved, but will have being feared

"Who can rule without wealth or fright or love?"
– Viserys Targaryen, flavor one, episode six

Every bit Dany evolves into a khaleesi and later into a queen, she receives the adoration of her various adopted subjects.

When she announces the name of her unborn child, the gathered Dothraki literally lift her on their shoulders. When she acquires her army of Unsullied and offers them their freedom, they choose to stay and serve her. When she conquers the Yellow Urban center of Yunkai, the people hail her equally "female parent." When she lays siege to Meereen, just her presence empowers the slaves there to rising up against their masters and open up the gates of the city to her army.

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These are the best case scenarios for Dany. These are examples of the kinder, gentler Targaryen that she wants to be — the inspirational, aspirational, good Targaryen. She is determined non to repeat the tyrannical mistakes of the past. She wants to rule with beloved, not fear.

It doesn't always go that style for her. And when it doesn't — when the people she would dominion don't admire her — she tends to react fiercely.

Dany wields physical power in service of her destiny

"I am Daenerys Stormborn of the claret of Old Valyria, and I will take what is mine. With burn down and claret, I volition take it."
– Daenerys Targaryen, season ii, episode half-dozen

An early glimpse of her wrath comes when she arrives at Qarth in season two. When she'southward not welcomed inside, she vows, "When my dragons are grown, we will take back what was stolen from me and destroy those who have wronged me. We will lay waste material to armies and burn cities to the ground. Plow us away, and nosotros will burn yous showtime." Non exactly the words of a good houseguest, permit lone a benevolent queen.

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She firmly believes in the ability she volition one day wield. She believes that she's destined to possess it for dynastic reasons and because of her dragons. And she's not afraid to threaten with the promise of burn if anyone stands opposed to her.

The young leader'due south threats eventually go action, and burning people alive is something Dany does in every flavor of the prove. Here are a few examples:

  • In season 1, Mirri Maz Duur — the maegi who pretended to treat Khal Drogo'south wounds, but was actually killing him — burns in Khal Drogo's funeral pyre.
  • In season 2, Dany's dragons fire Pyat Pree, the wizard from Qarth who tried to steal them and imprisoned Dany.
  • In season iii, she commands Drogon to burn Kraznys mo Nakloz, the erstwhile owner of the Unsullied army.
  • In season 4, Dany doesn't directly society anyone burned alive. However, her dragons fire (and eat) a little girl, so we're going to count it.
  • In flavour 5, Dany marches the leaders of Meereen's noble houses in front of her dragons as penalization for the actions of the Sons of the Harpy. Only 1 of them gets burned (and eaten), but the threat remained.
  • In season vi, Dany burns down the temple in Vaes Dothrak, with all of the assembled khals within.
  • In season 7, Dany executes Randyll and Dickon Tarly via Drogon for not bending the knee to her.
  • In season 8, Dany executes Varys, once more via Drogon.

Many of the executions above seemed justifiable at the time. Kraznys was a slaver who castrated little boys and turned them into soldiers. The Sons of the Harpy tried to kill her. She wields enormous and terrifying power — weapons of mass destruction in the course of dragons — but she generally applies information technology confronting those we could objectively consider evil. She is, information technology appears, a forcefulness for good.

Other executions are harder to justify. Randyll and Dickon Tarly were defeated and had surrendered. They refused to kneel before Dany, not necessarily because they believed in Cersei, but merely considering they had already pledged themselves and didn't want to alter allegiances. Dany gave them an out, allowing them to claim that Cersei deceived them. But they didn't kneel, and Dany killed them.

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This is the conclusion that Game of Thrones' writers used to foreshadow Dany's turn throughout season 8. Information technology's the archetype for every questionable decision she's ever made, and in episode ane they juxtapose it with Jon's option to bend the knee and renounce his kingship for the greater good.

"Daenerys," Sam tells Jon, "she executed my father and blood brother. They were her prisoners. She didn't tell you."

What Dany did was atrocious but justifiable in Jon'south rationalization. It's the quondam if yous want to brand an omelette, you lot've got to pause a few eggs chestnut.

Dany might occasionally do terrible things, but they're (arguably) justifiable. She may make mistakes from time to time, but her heart is generally in the right identify.

And we weren't incorrect to come across Dany in this style. She spent a lot of time trying to be better than her ancestors. The trouble arose when she wielded her unimaginable power at a moment when her heart was in the wrong place. Swell power necessitates keen responsibility. In the heart of a good ruler, information technology'due south fine. In the heart of a bad one … well, you know.

This is what she did back in Vaes Dothrak, too. The Dothraki khals told her she was just a khal'due south widow. She disagreed.

"None of you are fit to lead the Dothraki. But I am. And then I will," she says.

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When they say they won't serve her, she gets tough. "Y'all're not going to serve. You're going to die," she says, and burns downwards the temple with them inside. She walks out the undisputed leader of the Dothraki horde.

The gods flipped a money for Dany that can — and does — fall either way. But information technology tends to come up good when the people honey her, and bad when the people don't. She's repeatedly maxim I have a destiny. I will park my ass on the Iron Throne. Here's how information technology's going to piece of work: You're going to curve the knee joint, or you're going to die. I'd prefer if you loved me. I'll accept that y'all fright me. A bent human knee or your decease.

Dany wields diplomatic power in service of her destiny

"I'd similar to suggest an alternate approach."
– Tyrion Lannister, season 6, episode 9

During the first six seasons, we see Dany get from unwilling pawn to powerful queen. She builds the army that her blood brother envisioned, is (generally) adored by her people, and makes the world a better place — by using force to take what she wants.

Merely Dany never forgot her birthright and her destiny — to return to Westeros, take back what was lost, and sit on the Iron Throne. She finally has the army to do it. When Yara Greyjoy and her Ironborn fleet arrive in Meereen, Dany has the ways to transport her army across the Narrow Bounding main.

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She starts her conquest in her ancestral home of Dragonstone, which has been empty since Stannis Baratheon abandoned it. She'due south dorsum where she was born, but she's not alone. She has Tyrion Lannister, her exceedingly clever Paw of the Queen. There'due south Lord Varys, Master of Whisperers (and petty birds) who only wants what'due south best for the realm. She has allies in Dorne and the Iron Islands, and in Olenna Tyrell, the firebrand from Highgarden. And the e'er-faithful trio of Ser Jorah, Missandei, and Gray Worm.

Across her (hero's) journey, Dany has surrounded herself with amend angels and a couple hawkish devils. They all serve to temper her crueler and more impulsive instincts.

Now that she's in Westeros, Dany has a choice: Take King's Landing by force correct abroad, or bide her time and brand some political moves first.

Everyone agrees that taking the Iron Throne past force would be successful, but Tyrion, in his role as Hand of the Queen, cautions that tens of thousands of innocent people would die when her iii dragons were set loose on the city. That's not the kind of queen she wants to be.

"Conquering Westeros would be easy for you," says Tyrion. "Simply you're non hither to be queen of the ashes. We can take the Seven Kingdoms without turning it into a slaughterhouse. If the slap-up Houses support your claim against Cersei, the game is won."

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For now, she listens to Tyrion, sending the Unsullied instead to Casterly Rock and capturing the ancestral Lannister home, dealing a psychological blow first. Their plan works, simply her forces fall into a trap laid by the Lannisters — which ultimately leads to Dany and Drogon'south brutal attack on the Lannister railroad vehicle train at the Battle of the Goldroad.

After she learns that her troops were ambushed, Dany's furious at Tyrion.

"Enough with the clever programme," she says, fuming. "I take three large dragons. I'm going to wing them to the Cherry-red Keep."

In that moment of foreshadowing frustration, she has the presence of mind to seek council (something she refuses to practise in season viii). On the shores of Dragonstone, she turns to Jon Snowfall, who she barely knows at that point, and asks what he'd practice.

"I never thought that dragons would exist again. No one did," Jon says. "The people who follow you know that you made something impossible happen. Perhaps that helps them believe that you lot can make other impossible things happen. Build a world that'south different from the shit ane they've ever known. But if you lot use them to melt castles and burn cities, you're not different. You're just more of the same."

Jon Snow'southward not aligned with Cersei (making him a potential ally), and he'due south the Male monarch in the N. For his function, Jon wants to ally himself with Dany because Dragonstone sits on top of a huge supply of dragonglass — a weapon he needs in the coming state of war against the dead.

And it'south because of that fight against the Night King and her growing feelings for Jon that Dany chooses for a second time to agree off on attacking King's Landing. She agrees to take her armies and her dragons north to assistance Jon defeat the army of the dead, but she'southward relentlessly insistent that Jon renounce his championship of King of the N and pledge his (and the Due north's) fealty to her.

At the time, this seemed good and donating. And it was. Just information technology was also shrewd and political. Helping the North defeat the White Walkers may exist the right matter to do, merely it would earn her allies from a region that notoriously distrusted outsiders, particularly those from the south.

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Equally we all know, Jon, Dany, and the forces of the living are ultimately successful against the Night Rex. Almost immediately afterwards the battle, though — the very next twenty-four hour period while the bodies of the fallen are still smoldering — Dany gets impatient. She helped Jon, now it's time he and the Due north helped her.

Dany's two major decisions after arriving at Dragonstone — not turning the continent into a slaughterhouse and joining the fight against the regular army of the dead — are both skillful deeds. Only they're likewise political deeds. Both earn her goodwill amid her soon-to-be subjects, and joining Jon gains her his (and the Northward's) fealty.

Dany in King's Landing, Dany in isolation

"A Targaryen lonely in the earth is a terrible thing."
– Maester Aemon Targaryen of Castle Black, season five, episode 5

Daenerys Targaryen was built-in into a harsh earth on the dark of a storm, and her mother died in childbirth. Robert Baratheon wanted her dead considering of her last name and her potential claim to the throne. Her cruel brother died. Her Dothraki husband died. She assembled an army. She crossed the Narrow Sea with them, and fabricated her way back to her birthplace. She took Casterly Rock. She vanquished the Army of the Dead.

Everything is finally in place.

Dany might exist the Final Dragon. Dany might even take a cruel streak, equally Varys suspects. But she has surrounded herself with adept people who dear her, and she'south poised to have back the Iron Throne and fulfill her destiny.

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Her Targaryen coin spins. Her destiny is cloudy. The game of thrones has other plans for those she loves the most.

Two of her three dragon children are dead. Her sworn protector, Ser Jorah Mormont, a man who loved her unconditionally and counseled her relentlessly, is expressionless. Missandei, her best friend, translator, and humanizing touchstone, is dead. Lord Varys, who worked behind the scenes since flavour one to return a Targaryen to the throne, has lost faith in her and now he's dead. Her Hand, Tyrion Lannister, has done aught only make mistakes and miscalculations since they got dorsum to Westeros.

Even Jon Snow, a human being she loves and who once loved her in return, has pulled abroad from her and betrayed her trust by telling his real lineage to his family. She knows that what was once a closely held secret volition now be common noesis, threatening her claim to the throne.

She'due south no longer the Last Dragon. John has a better claim than she does. But worse than that, many love him more than they love her.

The game of thrones has stolen the love from her life. And once more, dear is what's important to Dany. It's what keeps her coin coming up good. In the absence of love, her Targaryen money lands on the mad side.

"All correct, then," Dany tells Jon after he rebuffs her final attempt at romance. "Permit information technology be fear."

Dany burns King's Landing

"Fire and claret."
– Business firm Targaryen words

There's a moment in "The Bells" where Dany sits atop Drogon on the walls of King's Landing. The Lannisters have surrendered. The gates are open. The state of war for the Fe Throne is over, and Dany has won.

Game of Thrones season 8 episode 5 - Daenerys on Drogon's back looking toward the Red Keep HBO

Dany looks out over King's Landing.

Information technology'south the city where her family fell from power. It's the city where her father died, and where usurpers have been sitting in her family's throne for xx years. It's a city that's full of people that didn't welcome her with open up artillery.

"The people who live in that location, they're non your enemies," he said. "They're innocents, similar the ones you liberated in Meereen."

"In Meereen, the slaves turned on the masters and liberated the metropolis themselves the moment I arrived," Dany said. "[Cersei] knows how to use her enemies' weaknesses against them. That'due south what she thinks our mercy is: weakness. Merely she's incorrect. Mercy is our forcefulness. Our mercy towards hereafter generations who will never again be held earnest past a tyrant."

Dany is not concerned almost the people living in King'southward Landing today. Dany is concerned about the people who will one twenty-four hour period alive in King's Landing under her rule. In her optics, the people there aren't innocent, they're enemies.

Earlier in season 8, Sam asks Jon, "You gave upwards your crown to salvage your people. Would she exercise the same?"

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With her pick, Dany gives the states her answer. Unfortunately, the answer is a definitive, resounding, smoldering ruin of a "no."

In the only moment that ultimately matters — when the battle for King'south Landing was won, and she sat atop her dragon, perched on the walls of the uppercase urban center — Daenerys Targaryen makes her choice.

Information technology's a pick that costs the lives of thousands of innocent people. It's a shocking choice. It's a pick that hurts just to lookout. Only it's a choice with precedent.

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Source: https://www.polygon.com/game-of-thrones/2019/5/16/18627860/daenerys-targaryen-mad-queen-prophecy-foreshadowing-deaths-game-of-thrones

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