Was leaving Daenerys in Meereen a mistake?

[Dagon Greyjoy]

She's entitled to use the Ghiscari as guinea pigs for all I care: Their society was fucked up enough that anything done to it (including obliteration) is a step up.

[A Man Has Said]

He did offer Dany the poison locusts and not eat himself.

It is known. Hizdahr is a villain. And Dany was stupid enough to marry him when the better idea was to mount his head on a prominently located wall.

[Glenn of House Patrick]

She's entitled to use the Ghiscari as guinea pigs for all I care: Their society was fucked up enough that anything done to it (including obliteration) is a step up.

True enough, but she got too sidetracked and lost track of her ultimate goal. And for her to land on westeros, she has to eventually abandon Essos, and once she does slavers bay will return to what they have always been known for.

[Dagon Greyjoy]

If anything, once Dany leaves for Westeros the armies of freedmen her Unsullied are training (and the Brazen Beasts) will simply exterminate the supporters of the old order. It will be brutal, it will be bloody, it will be Hellish... But it'll be for the greater good. Nobody should ever mourn an exterminated ruling class anyway.

[OberynBlackfyre]

I am gonna have to say it is kind of wrong to state that GRRM wrote Dany in Mereen mistakenly, even though it completely made me almost HATE Daenerys. You have to look at it as a literary device. Why did GRRM show Dany in Mereen, and NOT Westeros?

For starters, it gives her a chance to have her dragons get older (if nothing else, as they were pretty much just chained up or missing for two books). With baby dragons, she would pose little to no threat to Westeros without a sufficient army, which goes to my second point.

She gains an army that is COMPLETELY loyal to her because of the fact that she also gave them her freedom. We have seen what "semi-loyalty" can gain you in Westeros. The army she has behind her is by the vast majority, fierce within their faith in her. Not to mention the Unsullied.

We get to see Daenerys evolve when she is finally in a seat of actual power. She (quite obviously) makes some errors within her rule of Mereen, which she knows NOT to make again in Westeros. This therefore defeats any griping of people who would without a doubt question "why is she so good at being a Queen?" if she got to Westeros and flawlessly ruled.

This also gives a bigger scope of the World of A Song of Ice and Fire, as through this we have seen Slavers Bay, Volantis, etc. We realize the ripples someone like her makes as through the end of this, it seems like she would have destroyed the slave trade for almost good and all if she destroys the Yunkai army.......this could also lead Braavos to lend aid to her as well since they greatly oppose the Slave Trade as well.

Among all of these, if also gives time for other story lines to "wrap up" their dramatic points.....if Daenerys landed within Westeros many of the dramas or stories that are going on would be greatly effected, or possibly even ended because their main focus would be defeating her. One good example would be the Jaime/Brienne storyline. Jaime would never have been sent to the Riverlands if Daenerys landed in and successfully raised Dorne. The faith militant may have started in a much more rushed way, Quentyn would have returned and pretty much made Ariannes POV useless.

[Lisbeth Sand]

I like her reasoning for staying in Meereen. How could she expect to hold on to power in Westeros when she couldn't bring order to the slave cities she sacked? She and Stannis learned some important lessons in ASOS. Stannis needed to do something in order to win favor, so he went to the wall. Dany learned that there was more to being a queen than sacking cities, otherwise the realm will go back to chaos the way Astapor and Yunkai did.

I don't think she intends to stay in Meereen for the rest of her days. This is a learning experience for her.

[cade]

I'm in no position to question GRRM, but the Meereen storyline was an abject disaster, and it really hurt Daenerys' perception among readers. I don't think she'll ever live down A dance with Daario.

I think the contempt directed at Dany over Daario says a lot more about her detractors than it does about her.

This was my main gripe with leaving her in Meereen. We're supposed to actively root for Daenerys and remain invested in her quest to conquer Westeros. But given the noticeable amount of Daenerys detractors following ADWD, I think Martin done goofed a little bit. Personally, I'm not nearly as invested in her arc as I once was.

Oh, and if anybody is reading this, please don't see my suggestion as fanfiction. It's just me openly wondering whether Daenerys' arc could have been handled in a quicker way.

It's definitely not fanfiction, as GRRM said himself after ASOS that the very next book would focus on her return to Westeros. He planned to gloss over her entire Mereen arc with a time jump. That's why I think people often read way too much into that storyline. There's another quote I can find of GRRM saying Dany's original first chapter in ADWD started much later into her story (I'm guessing it's the one where she flies off on Drogon) but that it kept being pushed back, probably because he had to abort the time jump and stall her from getting to Westeros.

[OberynBlackfyre]

I think the contempt directed at Dany over Daario says a lot more about her detractors than it does about her.

It's definitely not fanfiction, as GRRM said himself after ASOS that the very next book would focus on her return to Westeros. He planned to gloss over her entire Mereen arc with a time jump. That's why I think people often read way too much into that storyline. There's another quote I can find of GRRM saying Dany's original first chapter in ADWD started much later into her story (I'm guessing it's the one where she flies off on Drogon) but that it kept being pushed back, probably because he had to abort the time jump and stall her from getting to Westeros.

thanks for bringing up the time jump. Though I am sure it was brought up previously as well, I think that many people forget that there is now a period of up to five years that GRRM is going to have to write through, rather than explain in a chapter.

[StannisBamfatheon]

I think the contempt directed at Dany over Daario says a lot more about her detractors than it does about her.

It's definitely not fanfiction, as GRRM said himself after ASOS that the very next book would focus on her return to Westeros. He planned to gloss over her entire Mereen arc with a time jump. That's why I think people often read way too much into that storyline. There's another quote I can find of GRRM saying Dany's original first chapter in ADWD started much later into her story (I'm guessing it's the one where she flies off on Drogon) but that it kept being pushed back, probably because he had to abort the time jump and stall her from getting to Westeros.

Sorry, reading about one of the most powerful people in their world day dreaming about one of the biggest goons in their world just doesn't really appeal to me. Plus some of their passages swayed into shirtless romance novel cover nonsense "Daario took her in every way imaginable" C'mon GRRM.

[cade]

Sorry, reading about one of the most powerful people in their world day dreaming about one of the biggest goons in their world just doesn't really appeal to me. Plus some of their passages swayed into shirtless romance novel cover nonsense "Daario took her in every way imaginable" C'mon GRRM.

I get that, nothing wrong at all with disliking that stuff. I just think some go over the top in their criticism of Dany for having a typical teenage crush.

[Ser Creighton]

It's called buying time. You see Martin needed to age the Dragons before Dany came to Westeros, he wanted to do a time skip but could not find a way to do it. So Dany became stuck in the dead end that is Meereen in what is by and large an after thought story line.

You ever notice how the Slave master got to Meereen faster than any characters in the series have ever gotten anywhere? It's not even a real siege, it's like lets encircle Meereen and give her dirty looks from a distance. She is in control of one City and yet somehow Slavery is shut down to the point Quarth is like if you leave so we can buy and sell slaves here again I will give you ships. Quarth is a port city, try brining the Slaves directly to you to buy and sell. Like Meereen was the only place this could be done.

[The Mother of The Others]

Must hope the two continents' plots end up shining light on each other somehow, in hindsight becoming meaningfully interlocking puzzle pieces. The slaver plot somehow informing the resolution Westeros reaches. Right now, the Essos half of this puzzle has fallen off of the table into an abyss of problems as hairy as a barbershop floor. But if D. can add Solver of Massive Problems to her list of titles by fixing the slaver continent, then she can solve any continent. The Westeros side of the world would then be a piece of cake. Or Arya may need to kill her because she's just no good for the world. It's a coin flip.

[LyannaStargaryen]

Dragons.

Dany can't invade Westeros until her dragons are big enough to fight. After all if she wins the Iron Throne it will be because of her dragons. Getting rid of the 5 year gap made it so she had to wait around for her dragons to grow. She also doesn't have any ships or any alliances yet. She will need both before she invades.

It's called buying time. You see Martin needed to age the Dragons before Dany came to Westeros, he wanted to do a time skip but could not find a way to do it. So Dany became stuck in the dead end that is Meereen in what is by and large an after thought story line.

You ever notice how the Slave master got to Meereen faster than any characters in the series have ever gotten anywhere? It's not even a real siege, it's like lets encircle Meereen and give her dirty looks from a distance. She is in control of one City and yet somehow Slavery is shut down to the point Quarth is like if you leave so we can buy and sell slaves here again I will give you ships. Quarth is a port city, try brining the Slaves directly to you to buy and sell. Like Meereen was the only place this could be done.

I agree Ser Creighton and Omar from The Wire.

Without the time jump, Dany needed some time for her dragons to grow to be truly threatening able to ride if she was to have a chance at conquering Westeros and bring allies to her side. So Meereen took much longer than we feel it should have, but it does make sense.

...I also could have done with less Dany swooning over Daario, but oh well.

[Nictarion]

Dragons.

Dany can't invade Westeros until her dragons are big enough to fight. After all if she wins the Iron Throne it will be because of her dragons. Getting rid of the 5 year gap made it so she had to wait around for her dragons to grow. She also doesn't have any ships or any alliances yet. She will need both before she invades.

Exactly! I don't understand how people think she could have invaded Westeros with small dragons?

[Gannicus]

Look, it's obvious he needed to buy some time before Dany returned to Westeros. I get that.

He flirted with the idea of a time gap but decided the readers would be better served with two additional books. I think he was right with the exception of Dany. In her case, I think we would have been better served if he gave us a Dany prologue and epilogue chapter. The story was just dull and it felt a bit like a merry-go-round. At times ADWD was long and slow and in truth Dany's chapters were the longest and slowest part.

But who am I to question GRRM?

[Roadside Rose]

Maybe her story is parallel to Aegon the Conqueror who said he had no interest in ruling Essos, and so he conquered Westeros.

[Roadside Rose]

It's called buying time. You see Martin needed to age the Dragons before Dany came to Westeros, he wanted to do a time skip but could not find a way to do it. So Dany became stuck in the dead end that is Meereen in what is by and large an after thought story line.

I don't agree with this. If GRRM could resurrect dead characters, he could do much better with aging the dragons. It's his book. I think he is trying to show the similarities or differences between Dany's and Aegon's conquest of Westeros. They both seem to have spent a lot of time in Essos.

Also, I noticed Jorah Mormont seemed to have doubted the story of Aegon conquering with dragons. I find this very strange because there have been so many stories backing that claim. Very strange.

[Pinkie Baelish]

I don't agree with this. If GRRM could resurrect dead characters, he could do much better with aging the dragons. It's his book. I think he is trying to show the similarities or differences between Dany's and Aegon's conquest of Westeros. They both seem to have spent a lot of time in Essos.

This. The speed that the dragons take to age is completely up to him. The whole Meereenese Knot has to do with his mistake of not aging the dragons quicker, IMO. Dunno, I feel that there has to be a better way to deal with this issue than spend 2 books in Meereen.

[BreastplateWithNipples]

I'm in no position to question GRRM, but the Meereen storyline was an abject disaster, and it really hurt Daenerys' perception among readers. I don't think she'll ever live down A dance with Daario.

LOL! Of all the things that were wrong with Meereen, people hate her for sleeping with Daario?? Apparently some people can get jealous even at literary characters. :D

Very predictable though. As soon as a female character stops being a cliché-teenage-vigin or cliché-mother, people yell "whore!!!" and show their basest instincts.

[danm_999]

LOL! Of all the things that were wrong with Meereen, people hate her for sleeping with Daario?? Apparently some people can get jealous even at literary characters. :D

Very predictable though. As soon as a female character stops being a cliché-teenage-vigin or cliché-mother, people yell "whore!!!" and show their basest instincts.

I think you'll find there are plenty of reasons people disliked where Daenerys story went with Daario that had little to do with slut shaming.