For what it's worth, I don't disagree with you that the jump in the show felt rushed (the writers fault) even to me, who as I've said, predicted this arc years ago. The conclusion of the article does too - it wasn't out of nowhere in terms of character development, but it WAS badly written and clumsily delivered in context of what the writers had given us previously. I also don't disagree that she probably legitimately felt justified or was able to rationalize everything - that actually falls completely in line with most would-be dictators with a savior complex. They're dangerous precisely because they believe what they want is inherently just. My issue with her character was never that she was any worse than everyone else in Westeros - just that she wasn't better, but her predilection to extreme violence got glossed over because nobody liked her victims - some of which was more understandable than others. Just born into different circumstances and a product of her environment/the people around her as much as Cersei (or Sansa) was. All of their stories could've ended very differently in different circumstances (as opposed to fate, which is ultimately man-made based on confirmation and implicit bias). To me, that's what makes it interesting.
I think Dany represents so many of the ideas of power and gender that the series is fundamentally about, so for the further turn into outright active, irrational, inhumane cruelty at King’s Landing to be executed as poorly as it was, and for the show to skip past the fallout of her death so easily and thoughtlessly, really does fail the story being told over these last eight seasons.
During the Dany speech to the Dothraki and Unsullied scene I kept thinking, wow this is legit what many people in America are afraid of. Some liberal white woman taking over and allowing a brown and black invasion.
I still just want to know how they (the Dothraki in particular, but the Unsullied as well) all just reappeared back after the battle at Winterfell. I mean I get that it was dark and we couldn't see anything so maybe they weren't slaughtered as was implied but like. BAD WRITING.
The contradiction here relies on what could've made Dany a great character in the end but ended up ruining her character, which is that, yes, she righteously freed slaves and did so based on some kind of principled opposition to slavery and empathy for all peoples, but in the end did leave them to be ruled by...Daario? and possibly get further fucked over if his government proved unstable. She left because her primary goal wasn't to free any slaves, it was always to rule westeros, clearly even at the possible expense of the slaves she freed. I would buy, possibly, given competent character development, that given the unambiguous choice between cruelty to regular people and giving up on the iron throne, she would choose the former and rule, but it just doesn't work unless that choice is perfectly clear. "Colonizer" is a silly word in this context though because "colonialism" is the result of the historically specific development of our world, and describes a specific set of practices that don't and probably couldn't happen on Planetos under its economic system. I mean its sort of incongruent that Dany could colonize Essos and her ancestors could colonize Westeros. These, especially Aegon's invasion, were just wars of conquest, just like the actual Norman Invasion of England that Aegon's is based on.
Yeah, the term "colonizer" is definitely dependent on seeing it through our world's lens but since the piece was written by a Black woman, I get why it was used and it didn't bother me because I got her point. At the end of the day, the whole show is a great argument for why we probably all need some kind of therapy due to generational trauma.
Lol I was about to say "no he's Ser Illyn Payne's son"....I had no idea. Rodrik's been in everything I feel like.
In light of how a lot of the storylines ended up playing out, I think the show is also a good argument for why more perspectives are needed in writer's rooms and as showrunners.
I don't want to put words in anyone's mouth, but I'm pretty sure she meant 'peace'. Unless this is a joke, then just ignore me.
I agree that her turn was jarring more because of how rushed the story became, and not necessarily because it was completely out of character. It's true that on the surface freeing slaves as she did seems like a noble gesture, and in some ways it was. However, most of Dany's actions were always done in order to advance her ultimate goal of returning to Westeros and taking the throne. But, the show always chose to portray her and her actions in an entirely positive light, and I think that's a huge part of why we as the audience (and apparently even Emilia Clarke herself) were somewhat shocked when we got to the penultimate episode. Having her burn everyone in King's Landing seems like the kind of horrific thing that Martin might pen, so I'm fully expecting that to be one of the beats which also occurs in the books. However, I don't think it'll be as jarring there because we'll get more character development leading up to it.
I disagree with this. For one, the Daario thing is definitely just lazy writing — the implication we’re meant to be left with when she leaves it to Daario is clearly “The major conflict has now been solved, things are good now, and I’m leaving it in the hands of one of the people I trust the most to maintain that peace.” Whether it’s a *bad* decision or not doesn’t reflect whether Dany meant for it be lol But anyway, the entire time she was in the East, her stated goal was Westeros, but up until the second Yara and Theon arrive, she really doesn’t take advantage of her chances to actually go there. When she learns that the slave masters had retaken the other cities, she decides to hold off on what would have been a slam dunk of a conquest in order to take on the much more difficult challenge of ensuring that slavery stays dead. Like, that right there is a clear, concise answer to your “cruelty to regular people [ie willingly let slavery continue] vs the iron throne” hypo