119 replies to this topic

[ManyFacedOne]

Not my favorite but she's one of my favorites and her arc in GoT (easily one of the best in the entire series) permanently sealed that.

[PatrickStormborn]

I've loved her since AGOT. I watched the show first, and I remember her always being my second favourite character behind Tyrion... But then the show took a surprise twist, and she lost her husband and son. After that, she stepped into the funeral pyre and brought the only three living dragons into the world, becoming a player in her own right and a female khal. That was when I realised that no other character in the series could live up to her.

I also loved her standing up to Viserys, the House of the Undying, the Astapori "dracarys" scene, her dealings with the Yunkai, the fighting pits scene, and her most recent chapter when she decided "to go forward, I must go back".

[ARYa_Nym]

She's among my favorite female characters. I've loved her in since AGoT. ADWD turned me off of her for a few months last summer but since she was among my favorites before I couldn't hate her for too long.

I love that she is staying true to her house and is trying to restore it.

I have to admit to liking Drogon more than her though. He's my favorite magical aspect of the series.

[eyeheartsansa]

.. when I saw how many people here hated her, it made me love her that much more.

She's not perfect, but she's smart and she's got balls.  She easily has the most epic story arc in the series up to this point.

People say she didn't 'deserve' or 'earn' her dragons.  I say bullshit!  She spent the night in a bonfire with her dead husband!  Whatever kind of blood magic or Targeryan mojo was involved here, it ultimately comes down to an act of death defying courage and hutzpah on Dany's part.

Also, rereading ASOS, I noticed that the real reason she got 'stuck' in Mereen was because she didn't want to send her army of freed people on a death march.  She already did that in the Red Waste and hasn't forgotten it.  If they'd made for Westeros a bunch of them would have starved.

Edited by eyeheartsansa, 28 April 2012 - 06:42 AM.

[Ghost714]

Daenerys became my favorite character the minute I saw her naked on the show....not really, but that did help.

In all seriousness, Dany became tied for my favorite character, along with Jon, as soon as she started taking control of her situation as Khaleesi of Drogo's Khalasar. She started to take action in making her situation better and better, and from then on, she only did more and more stuff to make me love her.

I have no problem saying I Love Daenerys, and I would call myself fiercely loyal, no matter what. I am not one of the people who denounces Dany for making a bad decision. Dany has earned enough respect in my book, so that I will stick with her no matter what, the good and the bad.

Thank you OP for making this thread, it's very good to know there are still some of us out there that love Daenerys. I really get tired of all the Dany hate threads.

[David Selig]

After the 20th "I hate Daenerys" thread reached its 400th post.

OK, not really, but it certainly helped making me like her more. Still not one of my favourites, but on my last reread I liked her quite a bit more than before. The her few chapters of AGOT were much more moving than I remembered them. Her plotline is often problematic (the whole of it in ACOK is just boring and implausible), but her personality is usually interesting. She has realistic flaws and weak moments, she can show great strength but also make blunders.

Too bad GRRM stuck her in one of the most boring cities in speculative literature aka Meereen for a whole book, I think this more than anything related to her personality made people hate her after ADWD.

[Sun]

Dany is my favourite soporific. When insomnia hits, a one page reading off a Dany chapter and I'm sleeping like a baby.

[Ghost714]

David Selig, on 28 April 2012 - 06:57 AM, said:

After the 20th "I hate Daenerys" thread reached its 400th post.

OK, not really, but it certainly helped making me like her more. Still not one of my favourites, but on my last reread I liked her quite a bit more than before. The her few chapters of AGOT were much more moving than I remembered them. Her plotline is often problematic (the whole of it in ACOK is just boring and implausible), but her personality is usually interesting. She has realistic flaws and weak moments, she can show great strength but also make blunders.

Too bad GRRM stuck her in one of the most boring cities in speculative literature aka Meereen for a whole book, I think this more than anything related to her personality made people hate her after ADWD.

See I think it just comes down to the individual, because I love Meereen, and all of Essos. It was really fun mastering all the names, places, and things in Meereen. I find that part of the story to be refreshingly different. Some people don't like that Dany's chapters pull you away from the main story in Westeros, but I don't mind it at all. I really do enjoy every bit of Dany's chapters.

[Ghost714]

Sun, on 28 April 2012 - 07:06 AM, said:

Dany is my favourite soporific. When insomnia hits, a one page reading off a Dany chapter and I'm sleeping like a baby.

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!
SEVEN HELLS, THAT'S FUNNY!!!!

[Parwan]

eyeheartsansa, on 28 April 2012 - 06:33 AM, said:

.. when I saw how many people here hated her, it made me love her that much more.
...

David Selig, on 28 April 2012 - 06:57 AM, said:

After the 20th "I hate Daenerys" thread reached its 400th post.

...

Interesting comments. On one of the threads, there was a post which went something like this:

I absolutely love Dany. She can really piss people off!

I'd like to give credit where credit is due, but I didn't note the poster's name. Perhaps it was one of you two? At any rate, Daenerys Targaryen is a major candidate for my "Howard Cossel Award."* There are certain people who are hated, and slammed, and excoriated, and ___ (fill in the blank with a negative verb), and they benefit from it. There is something of a P.T. Barnum aspect to it. Maybe there's no such thing as bad hatred. Certainly all the fire and heat of the Dany hatred and the Dany attack vs. Dany defense creates some interest for people like me. Then someone comes in with their statement about how boring Daenerys is. This makes me wonder how boring hatred can be.

I'd say that if Dany were a pop star, she and her agent would be crying all the way to the bank. Now, there's a problem with this. She's not a pop star; she's not even a real person. So I wonder if GRRM had all of this in mind when he created her. Probably not. But I can't help but think that there are some aspiring writers out there who are reading all this stuff and wondering, "Now, how can I create a character like this?"

.......................
* For those of you who haven't been around as long as I have, Cossel (not sure I have the spelling right) was one of the original commentators on Monday Night Football. He may not have been the most detested sports announcer in history, but he has to be close. There were many comments along the line of "How the hell does this guy keep his job?" Well, somehow in hell he did. Probably one reason was that all the hatred generated lots of publicity.

[Prince of Dragonstone]

Sometimes I don't know if it's Dany that people hate or the direction that her storyline has gone down. I feel like people really started hating on her after ADwD because they don't understand why she stayed in Meereen. For some reason they just thought that this teenage girl is supposed to just march to Westeros, conquer and destroy. THEN WHAT??? How could she ever possibly be a good leader if she's never actually lead anything before?

She saw what a disaster Astapor was and she deftly realized that if she ever did reclaim her birthright, she would need to learn how to govern if she were ever to have a chance of holding the Iron Throne. That's what the Meereen plot is all about. I don't understand why people don't understand this. I really, truly don't.

[Lady Katherine]

I like her because of the way GRRM writes her...she's so flawed and so human, yet she has moments where she is beyond human, almost magical (see: Drogo's funeral pyre)
She makes massive mistakes, but then has massive triumphs, like anyone.  My feminist heart also smiles at a woman (a girl, really) saying, "bam, in this male dominated world, I'm going to rule, and you're going to like it!"

Also, she is the TRUE HEIR.  Robert was the usurper.  She's Aery's last living child.  Even if R+L=J, Rhaegar and Lyanna were never married, so Jon is not the trueborn heir...

[Apple Martini]

Lady Katherine, on 29 April 2012 - 05:48 PM, said:

Also, she is the TRUE HEIR.  Robert was the usurper.  She's Aery's last living child.  Even if R+L=J, Rhaegar and Lyanna were never married, so Jon is not the trueborn heir...

Three Kingsguard members would not be there at the Tower of Joy for a bastard. Sorry to burst your bubble. Jon's legit.

In any case, it doesn't matter for either of them. The lords swore fealty to the Baratheons, they're the royal family now. Unless someone can get the lords to swear fealty to them.

Edited by Apple Martini, 29 April 2012 - 05:50 PM.

[BlueHighwind]

(Personally I always liked Jorah Mormont better than Dany, but she's always been my Top 5.)

I'd say Dany became one of my favorites when I realized her role in the story:  to burn her way to Queendom.  When she lost her army of Mongols, I was shocked, it seemed to ruin all her chances to get to Westeros.  Then she gave birth to Dragons.

Personally my favorite Dany moment was when she fake sold her dragon to the leader of the Unsullied, only to set him on fire.  "He is not a slave to be sold, moron."  That's how all problems should be solved.

[Lady Katherine]

Apple Martini, on 29 April 2012 - 05:49 PM, said:

Three Kingsguard members would not be there at the Tower of Joy for a bastard. Sorry to burst your bubble. Jon's legit.

Meh.  Sorry, I disagree.  Rhaegar could have ordered them to be there, they couldn't disobey.

Plus, if Rhaegar and Lyanna got "married" his marriage to Elia would pretty much make that moot.  I haven't seen any evidence in the books that polygamy in Westeros is legal or accepted...

Even Walder Frey waited for his wives to die before he got a new one...

Edited by Lady Katherine, 29 April 2012 - 06:33 PM.

[Lady Katherine]

Well, except maybe Craster...but that's a whole other kettle of fish...

[Apple Martini]

Lady Katherine, on 29 April 2012 - 06:31 PM, said:

Meh.  Sorry, I disagree.  Rhaegar could have ordered them to be there, they couldn't disobey.

Plus, if Rhaegar and Lyanna got "married" his marriage to Elia would pretty much make that moot.  I haven't seen any evidence in the books that polygamy in Westeros is legal or accepted...

Targs have done things differently before. And actually yes they could "disobey" because Rhaegar was dead. When Rhaegar, Aerys and Aegon were killed, their loyalty should have been transferred immediately to Viserys, and they should have gone to him instead of staying at the Tower, if he was the king. But they didn't — because Viserys wasn't the king, Jon was. That's also to say nothing of Mormont's crow that Bloodraven is warging that seems to think Jon's the king.

If you understand how the Kingsguard works, the only reason they would all still be at the Tower when Rhaegar, Aerys and Aegon were dead would be if Jon was the heir.

Like I said, the Baratheons are in charge now and it doesn't really matter. But saying that Dany's the Targ heir because Jon's not legitimate is incorrect if you can put two and two together.

Edited by Apple Martini, 29 April 2012 - 06:48 PM.

[Lady Katherine]

Ok then.....no need to insult my intelligence...everyone interprets literature differently...

Jon also swore a vow to the Night's Watch.  He was offered legitimacy and lordship of Winterfell by Stannis, which he did not accept.  I don't see him taking the Iron Throne if he turned down Winterfell.  So from that perspective, Dany would be Jon's heir, if he himself is Rhaegar's trueborn heir.  That being said, I know the hints of R+L=J are present in the book, but the way GRRM writes with his cliffhangers and left-field plot turns, his parents could be ANYBODY....I'm not going to resign myself to full acceptance of that theory until GRRM writes/says that Rhaegar and Lyanna are Jon's actual parents...

[oba]

Lady Katherine, on 29 April 2012 - 07:02 PM, said:

Ok then.....no need to insult my intelligence...everyone interprets literature differently...

Don't let it get you down.  Some posters treat theory as canon . . . so long as it's a theory they support.

[Apple Martini]

oba, on 29 April 2012 - 07:05 PM, said:

Don't let it get you down.  Some posters treat theory as canon . . . so long as it's a theory they support.

It's a theory based on how we're told, in the books, that the Kingsguard operates.

Edited by Apple Martini, 29 April 2012 - 07:09 PM.