Rate 6x04

I would like to give my opinion on Dany, because I find this discussion extremely interesting. Maybe one quick thing before I make my point: I've never participated in any discussions about Dany outside of this forum. I'm aware there are a lot of Dany haters out there and that many of you have had some frustrating experiences with them. So please keep in mind that I'm an unsullied when it comes to discussing Dany. Also, while Dany is not my absolute favourite character ever, I'm also no Dany hater by any sretch of the imagination. I'm a huge Emilia fan and I count many Dany scenes among my favourites, including the one we saw last Sunday (I gave the episode a 10/10 after all).

That being said, I think Dany is morally a lot greyer than some of you seem to think...? But that's exactly what makes her a good and compelling character, IMO. Let me elaborate on this: Dany has no evil intentions, I don't think so. She clearly wants to liberate slaves and generally end suffering and improve the world for the unprivileged. I can see and respect that. As a matter of fact, she has done more for the people than a lot of the kings of Westeros. But while her intentions are good, she often seems to think that the ends justify the means. It's hard to compare it to our world, because Westeros and Essos have completely different systems and moral views, but Dany has had some moments where her hunger for power (which she definitely has and I love that!) and her strong sense of justice led to some morally questionable choices. The show included these scenes for a reason:





Especially the lines "Let the priests argue over good and evil. Slavery is real. I can end it. I will end it.[...] They can live in my new world or die in their old one." display what I'm trying to say here. Dany is not really interested in what constitutes a sound moral decision. She wants to end real-life suffering, no matter what. But to get there, she is willing to go down a morally ambiguous path. She says it herself, she doesn't care about good and evil. She just wants to end slavery. Add to that the fact that she wants to impose her views on everyone else ("they can live in my new world or die in their old one") and it becomes apparent that Dany has some traces of what we call a benevolent dictator:



You are free to argue otherwise of course, but I think this definition fits Dany pretty well. And again, I find that endlessly interesting. I don't want Dany to be wholy good, because that would just make her a Mary Sue and thus a really terrible character. The morally-grey Dany we have now is a much better character.

At least she's not vicious like Viserys or self-centered dick like Rhaegar

I assume Daario will turn on Dany at some point before the season is over, and Jorah will kill him.

Why would Daario do that? Especially after this episode, he was completely awe-struck by her, so much so that he knelt. And for a man as arrogant as Daario I think that is very significant. I can't see him turning on her. 

No offense, but I find this comment kind of insulting. Some of us (me & @moiaf for example) have been discussing Daenerys in depth for years. We've participated in countless discussions on her, done rereads, etc. I don't think you will find any Dany fans that don't consider her an extremely grey character. We might just disagree on whether burning the Khals was meant to be triumphant or not. I honestly hadn't imagined it would have been seen any other way until I saw it mentioned today.

The inside the episode basically confirmed what I felt about the scene was what they intended though.

But I never said it was boring. I actually liked Dany's last scene. 

That's true. I just felt the temperature rising and worried that Arch might be feeling the wrath of Dany's forum dragons on behalf of assholes past. Y'all have had to defend her all alone for years.

Oh, she is definitely a grey character AND a hero. My post was not meant to dispute that.

Thanks for the links.

She was applying the Dothraki's own "might is right" ethos to them. Which is something of a moral compromise on her part, at least from s1 where she was horrified by much of their culture, but it was the only way to a) get back to Meereen and eventually Westeros and b) show herself to be worthy of leading them. That's what they value, she knew that and she acted on it. Yes, it was murder and that does make her a significantly greyer character but it's her finally coming to terms with what Jorah told her constantly "the Dothraki follow only the strong". And she realized that she was stronger than those khals and that that was her only opportunity of leaving the city. It's her going back to where she started and earning her leadership instead of expecting it just because she was Drogo's wife.

IMO it was a great moment.

Exactly. I don't know or care what he'll do eventually in TWOW but show-Daario is now firmly on-side.