How Did Fans React When Dany Got Her First Victory?

There are a few layers to this, but if I had to pick who benefited most when Daenerys was declared queen, I'd say her core coalition — especially the Unsullied, the freedpeople of Slaver's Bay, and her closest advisers — saw the most immediate gains. I always pictured the scene not just as a coronation but as a seismic redistribution of power. The Unsullied went from being sold, trained weapons to an autonomous military force with someone who explicitly outlawed their old chains. The freed slaves in cities like Meereen and Yunkai finally had legal backing to keep their freedom; that’s a huge, tangible win even if the follow-through was messy. Her advisers — Tyrion and Missandei in particular — gained influence and the chance to shape policy. That said, Daenerys herself also benefited enormously: legitimacy, resources, and the moral narrative of liberation. But such gains came with costs and instability, so 'benefit' looks different at different scales.

I've been chewing on this finale controversy for years, and what critics mostly pointed to was a problem of build versus payoff. In 'Game of Thrones' the show planted little seeds — Targaryen fire talk, visions, hints of instability — but many felt the writers skipped the slow, psychological erosion of her morals and jumped straight to spectacle. That makes her King's Landing rampage feel less like inevitable tragedy and more like a plot swerve designed to shock. On top of pacing, people complained about missing connective tissue: the advisers who challenged or tempered her were gone, her loneliness and paranoia were heightened narratively but not explored deeply, and trauma was used as shorthand for an instantaneous moral collapse. Critics argued the show needed more scenes showing internal debate or crumbling restraint; instead, it gave us an iconic image — dragon and flames — that lacked emotional scaffolding. I also think a lot of the heat came from expectations. Fans who’d been tracking 'A Song of Ice and Fire' and the show’s earlier slow-burn moral exercises wanted a nuanced fall. When the show gave a compressed, dramatic turn instead, it felt unearned to many. Whether you love the theatrical choice or hate it, it’s clear the storytelling mechanics rubbed a lot of viewers the wrong way, and that’s why critics labeled her corrupted rather than completed.

I got chills rereading that wedding scene — the title 'Khaleesi' is first applied to Daenerys in the book 'A Game of Thrones', specifically in the chapter titled 'Daenerys I'. In most hardcover and paperback editions it's the eleventh chapter of the novel, right after her forced marriage arrangements and the Dothraki rituals. Khal Drogo and the Dothraki speak the word around her as she becomes the khal's wife, so that's where she effectively receives the name and role. If you like tiny trivia, the word itself isn't something she earns by battle or ceremony beyond marriage; it's a cultural title for the khal's wife in Dothraki society. Later books use it constantly as a signifier for her authority among the Dothraki and beyond, but that first moment in 'Daenerys I' is where the label sticks. I always picture the dusty tent and the way she learns the Dothraki cadence — it's one of those scenes that marks a turning point for her character.

Watching the later seasons of 'Game of Thrones', I kept thinking the show did drop fairly clear hints that Dany was carrying something like PTSD after traumatic battles. Early on she goes through literal trauma — abuse, loss, and slavery — and the show layers new violent experiences on top of that. After the Loot Train Attack ('The Spoils of War') and especially after Missandei’s execution, you see more than anger: she has nightmares, an obsessive replaying of losses, and an emotional narrowing where empathy seems harder for her. Visually, the show uses close-ups, lingering silence, and haunting music to sell those internal wounds. There’s dissociation in some scenes — she appears cut off, staring into space — and triggers that escalate her behavior (fire, betrayal, the death of those she trusted). Clinically you can argue about labels, but the patterns we see—intrusive memories, sleep disturbance, hyperarousal, and avoidance—map onto PTSD symptoms. I felt the writing tried to mix trauma with destiny and politics, which muddied the portrayal, but the hints are definitely there, woven into her breakdown rather than spelled out bluntly.

Seeing things through the lens of the books, I’d bet that future adaptations — especially if George R.R. Martin finishes 'A Song of Ice and Fire' — will give a much fuller picture of why Daenerys snapped. In the show, her final descent felt abrupt because we were relying on TV time and external behavior; the novels can linger in inner thought, show the slow corrosion of hope, and give space to trauma, grief, and paranoia. Martin has already hinted that Targaryens carry terrible inheritances in 'Fire & Blood', and a completed narrative would probably trace the accumulation of losses, betrayals, and the corrupting influence of absolute power. If new screen projects take it on, they could also choose one of two routes: they either flesh out the psychological progression with flashbacks, dreams, and more intimate scenes, or they double down on the tragic inevitability — showing that the monster was born from a chain of choices and circumstances. Personally, I want nuance: not to excuse violence, but to understand how a liberator became a destroyer. That kind of depth makes rewatching and rereading so much richer.

Watching that moment in 'The Bells' hit me like a sucker-punch — it’s the clearest, most devastating scene where she genuinely tips into uncontrollable fury. The way the camera lingers on her face as the city begs for mercy, and she keeps flying, dragon-breath like righteous fire, felt like the end of a long, simmering collapse. I felt awful and oddly mesmerized: she’s both conqueror and broken child in that instant. Before that, there are smaller, chilling moments that map her descent. Missandei’s execution is a gut-punch that strips away any pretense of cold strategy and replaces it with raw, personal vengeance; the scene where Randyll and Dickon Tarly are burned alive after refusing to bend the knee is brutality used as a message. Even back in Season 1, the Mirri Maz Duur pyre — when she lets the betrayer burn — shows a woman forced to pick vengeance over mercy for the first time. Those scenes together don’t just show anger; they reveal how grief, isolation, and a belief in destiny push her past the point where reason can hold. I keep replaying them, trying to decide whether she’s evil suddenly, or finally free of the chains that kept her humane, and every time I land somewhere complicated and sad.

I still get a little giddy thinking about the webs behind 'Game of Thrones' — there’s a lot of sneaky scaffolding that props Dany up if you read between the lines. The bluntest piece is Illyrio Mopatis: he houses Viserys and Daenerys in Pentos, gives Dany those dragon eggs, bankrolls the wedding to Khal Drogo, and arranges travel and lodging. That kind of money and timing isn’t accidental; it reads like someone quietly grooming a claimant. Varys is the other big clue. In the books he and Illyrio clearly conspired about Targaryen restoration (you’re nudged to that by their private conversations and Varys’ cryptic asides). Varys’ knowledge of court politics and his movements suggest he’s manipulating events to benefit a Targaryen cause, even if his precise motives shift over time. Then there’s the human trail: Ser Jorah switches from spying for King Robert to genuinely supporting Dany, and several other exiles and Pentoshi merchants behave like they’re following a plan rather than just helping a refugee. Taken together — gifts, financing, political maneuvering, and planted allies — it’s strong circumstantial evidence that Dany had secret, well-funded Targaryen support behind the scenes.

Watching the early episodes of 'Game of Thrones' again, I was struck by how differently book-readers and show-only viewers experienced Daenerys’s dragon moment. In 'A Game of Thrones' she’s technically a child—around thirteen—when she hatches the three dragon eggs on Khal Drogo’s funeral pyre. That little detail is huge in the books, and it changed how readers felt about the wedding, the power shift, and the darker bits of her story. When HBO adapted it, they aged her up for the screen and Emilia Clarke’s performance framed the scene as a young woman coming into power rather than a child surviving trauma. So many viewers who discovered Dany first on TV didn’t realize the original text positioned her as underage. I remember arguing about this in a forum years ago: people who’d read the novels were like, “Of course—she was a child,” while stream-watchers talked mainly about the spectacle of three dragons hatching and what that meant politically. The adaptation choice softened a lot of moral discomfort and shifted the conversation toward fantasy rebirth and destiny rather than the ethics of the relationships that led to that moment.