The Dany Like Thread

[SingleMort]

Appologies if there already is one of these (though I didn't see one.)

But I saw that The Dany Hate Thread had nearly 400 replies so I thought that I would start up this thread as a sort of counter-point because Dany is one of my favourite characters in the series and I'm just wondering of other people feel that way also or if there really is nothing but hate for Dany?

So please post if you do like Dany and why you think she is a good character.

PS: I respect everyone's opinions but I really hope that people don't use this as another thread to continue the Dany hate becuase we've already got one of those.

[arek]

I like Dany, there I said it

Some dislike her because they feel she has no right to the Iron throne because her family was defeated, but so were the Starks in the war of the Five Kings but no one seems to go against them for wanting to reclaim it.

Im glad Dany wants the throne, beats reading those cliche characters who dont want the throne but somehow still end up getting it anyway.

Some people say without her dragons, armies or name she would be nothing (cept a smart, strong, beautiful woman IMO), lol but people dont say the exact same bout the Starks (name and armies), Lannisters...etc.

She is smart, brave and she does care and is a better queen then Cersei. Her character was introduced as an abused scared girl thanks to that dick of a brother of hers, she was forced to marry (but ironically that barbarian was a better man then her brother and treated her better despite the fact Drogo was born into a culture like Dothraki) yet she grew into a strong woman.

[Ser David the Just]

I don't like her because she is stupid. But you are right, without her name or armies she would be a beautiful woman. I'm sure she would have a place on the Street of Silk.

[Miriel]

I really like Dany's character. I don't get the Dany hate myself.

I appreciate how her character grew and changed from scared girl to more confident woman. Sure, she has made mistakes, but who has not? I think all things considered, she's done pretty well for herself thus far.

(Must just add--this is my opinion and I will not be arguing this point, I've seen a bit of the Dany hate thread and have no wish to rehash all that :P )

[Spastic Plastic]

Ser David the Just, your drive-by trolling is getting from mildly annoying to boring. I understand that Ran still keeps you around on the forum as a laughingstock, but surely you can do better than this!

I like some parts of Dany's character and dislike others. She has gotten really far on her own, without any man's help. So far, her dragons have been more of a burden to her than a magical help like some people here think. At fourteen she is actually trying to be a just ruler and listening to advice, unlike thirty-year old Cersei who equates "ruling" with "telling everyone else to shut the fuck up".

[Faceless Mike]

PS: I respect everyone's opinions but I really hope that people don't use this as another thread to continue the Dany hate becuase we've already got one of those.

I don't like her because she is stupid.

*facepalm*

She has as much right to use what she has at her disposal (name, dragons, etc.) as anyone else, and she seems to be doing okay so far. She still acts like a teenage girl at times, but with the amount she needs to learn, I think she's doing well.

[TheLoneliestMonk]

I support this thread. Dany is one of my favorite characters in the series. She's a total badass now, with signs pointing to her becoming more badass. She's trying to be benevolent and doing pretty ok at it. She suckles dragons. WTF is not to like?!?!?!

[Liadin]

TBF, there's a lot more to the Dany hate thread than people saying "I hate Dany and here's why." In fact, there are entire pages lacking a single post along those lines.

I don't have a firm opinion on Dany as of yet; will have to wait and see how she develops. I don't have any particular dislike for her, and I don't think she's a bad person, but some of her judgments are problematic, as is her status as invader. It's not fair to say "she wouldn't have any power if she weren't a noble!" because.... well.... none of them would.... but I see a huge difference between invading a country in which you've never set foot and hanging onto what you already have in the midst of an ongoing war. However, we don't know what Dany will do yet; she could pull a Stannis and choose to defend the realm against the Others rather than beating it into submission (and I suspect there would be a lot less Dany hate if she did so).

Thus far I find Dany a sympathetic character with unsympathetic goals. So I neither hate nor love her.

[The SmilingKnight]

Daenerys has always been my favorite character, rivaled only by Arya.

My introduction to the series was through her chapters ending in the birth of Dragons that i found as excerpts somewhere.

So i followed her alone through her beginning, molested and abused by a weak disgusting brother, treated as thing, sold to slavery, virtually raped and then slowly forming into someone discovering herself truly - all ending in her terrible tragedy where she looses the man she has come to love, her child and her own mind.

(>Which is a similar story personal arc Arya is going through and im very sympathetic to such events.)

To be reborn, literally. Giving birth to Dragons, returning magic in the world - which was the most impressive scene i ever read in my life.

I like her as a character too and completely identify with her choices and decisions while mistakes she made here and there are something quite normal and understandable and make her human and what she is as much as her right decisions.

She does carry a great legacy of her house, alone. She is bent by it - like so many characters in Songs are in their own ways, burdened by their own histories, ruled by, broken and remade or destroyed by events outside of their control.

The way she faces them is always been satisfactory, even impressive at times (oh that sweet, sweet moment when she won her Unsullied) and i have no doubts that she will do much much more then be just another Targaryen, a ruler, a despot.

Not to mention that her story arc takes us into all those "foreign" mysterious, old and wild parts of the world.

She is the only one i would bend my knee to. A worthy Queen.

[Daeron Targaryen]

I really like Dany. She has developed from a scared little girl into a confident young woman who is quite wise for her age, knows when to listen to advices and actually cares for her subjects, which is something that all other Iron Throne candidates lack. Sure she's made mistakes but that's entirely acceptable and she seems to have learned from them.

All considered I see her as a very positive character and a good example of female role model.

For the record I also believe that her sense of entitelment to the Iron Throne, which many dislike, is perfectly acceptable and justified given her family history.

[shadow catlady]

I enjoy the Dany chapters, and I still root for her (though not necessarily to be a conqueror), though I understand why people find her sense of entitlement barely better than Viserys's, and find problems with certain of her actions, like killing all those slavers, though I don't always see events like those in exactly the same way. I am partly perhaps more a fan of the magical dragon-hatching than many of her critics, and am prone to believe anyone that can pull off a stunt like that simply is more entitled than ordinary people, but I recognize that isn't a very in-depth perspective.

I have other reasons for rooting for her character, though. I like how Dany is so culturally flexible, and deals pragmatically with the situations she is handed. She was open enough to love Drogo even though the Dothraki are a scary bunch, and managed to temporarily woo the whole clan. I like how she can blend people of vastly different cultural backgrounds into a team, which shows the kind of leadership qualities I admire. She is sexually open and aware of herself, which I find compelling in a young female character. I have hopes for her to become some sort of positive bridge between cultures and genders, somehow bringing good to the world, which is why I can take the "mistakes" she's made learning about her world and her power.

[The SmilingKnight]

Her sense of entitlement comes from her background, from living so long with bitter Viserys and spending her childhood on the run, always afraid of the Usurpers knives.

It is not something she has chosen herself. Its a delusion that is slowly but inexorably shed away by the world. She will come to understand it and will grow even more with it but we see her now at the beginning or close to the middle of that process.

Her notions of evil Usurper and good Targaryens, especially Aerys, are just steps away from being shattered by reality. By Selmi, Tyrion and really, everyone she will meet soon.

[LugaJetboyGirl]

I support this thread. Dany is one of my favorite characters in the series. She's a total badass now, with signs pointing to her becoming more badass. She's trying to be benevolent and doing pretty ok at it. She suckles dragons. WTF is not to like?!?!?!

For realz. Dany is one of my favorite characters (possibly ever). She is a total badass indeed. I think she is a great role model even, as a strong female character who manages to continue being sympathetic to others and feeling socially responsible, while also being about as kick-ass as you can possibly be (hello, having her baby dragons burn off peoples faces). She has had to use her brains and be politically savvy to get the power she has, moving up from leadership of a pathetic, starving khalasar to become the ruler of cities with her own army. I love that she wants to take back her ancestoral kingdom because she actually IS a good queen, unlike all the other recent Targs and those other piddling excuses for powerful women in Westeros currently.

God, she totally rules! She ate a stallions heart! As TLM says, she suckles dragons! She hung out in a burning pyre! She cast down that old mansion with those creepy old people! She wears a leather vest!

[nightwisp1956]

I like the character, Dany very much. I like the evolution of her from scared child to mature woman. Dany went through so much and her transformation is fascinating. Her chapters are some of the best in ASOIAF and I am curious to find out how her visions of prophecy in the House of the Undying is going to play out in the rest of this series.

[Imagica]

Daenerys has always been my favorite character, rivaled only by Arya.

This.

In fact it was her chapter, the one in the end of AGOT with the birth of dragons, that made me fall in love with ASOIAF. Everything before was good, but lacked... magic, and I mean magic not in the sense we're used to, but the feeling of wonder and miracle that, for me, is the one of the main points of fantasy genre. And herself, I readily emphasize with (yes, even her goals. I find them quite in-character). But then, except for Arya, I do have odd tastes when it comes to characters, at least compared to this board (dislike of Tyrion, a degree of sympathy for Cat, etc.)

[Nichole]

I've always liked Dany myself. She may not be my favorite character, but I like her story. Her sense of entitlement does get annoying by the end of SOS, but I think that is just part of her development and she is going to have to learn some tough lessons in ADWD. She is not stupid, she is actually very smart and doing pretty well considering all that she has gone through.

[trio]

I think I like Dany.

I liked her at the beginning, felt her fear and admired the way she basically grit her teeth and decided to make something of this new life with Drogo that she'd been sold into.

I admired the way she was proactive, basically.

I went off her a bit when she was being all "I am QUEEEEN! BOW DOWN!" but recently she's been showing some vunerability and lonlieness and worrying about screwing up and the burden of power and now I'm liking her again.

[Darklich528]

I don't mind Dany. She has fairly good character development and her chapters are somewhat entertaining. I'm glad she has flaws in her elitist attitude and for once we have a heroine who wants power and isn't afraid to get it. Shades of gray.

The only thing that bothers me is that it appears as though she has plot armor, but in the end it doesn't bother me that much.

[Temeraire]

I'm a big fan of Dany for a lot of reasons. For one, in the first book, her ties to dragons and the increase in magic in the world pleases me.

I also really love her complexity. She isn't stupid, but I agree her youth and inexperience show in a lot of her decisions. The way she oscillates between strong willed and confidence outwardly and doubting herself inside is handled believably, and in the later books when we begin to see hints of the Targaryen madness the fascinating conflict between her desire to be just and kind and her drive to have power and reclaim her throne escalates.

I like her because, even though I hope she turns out to be a hero of the series, with her past (both her immediate past that we have read in the books and the past that took place before, as well as the history of her lineage) it remains possible that she could either be the savior of Westeros, or its doom.

[trio]

The only thing that gives me pause with Dany is that I'm not sure I like her character development.

It's too whiplashy for me.

She starts out as basically, Sansa. All passive and terrified and ruled by men's wishes. Sold into marriage.

But then after she loses the baby, she does a bit of a 180 and starts being all Bass Ass Grown Woman. But it was too sudden, too much, too ADULT.

Most of the time I get no sense, for example, of her age. She's what? 14? 15? I find that gets totally lost in the mix. Even her internal monologue sounds more like a 30 year old.

You can say "Oh well it's the environment, the brutal culture, the pressure to appear invunerable, the loss of the baby"....All good points, I guess.

The only thing is that we get no sense that it IS the environment. Even Jorah (who, being alien to the environment should have noted the difference) treated her like an adult woman. When he was all perving over her, you got the impression it was her status rather than her age, that was the problem.

It's just something that really jumps out at me by it's absence, from her chapters. I keep picturing this rather hard-looking teenager. And then wondering why nobody else seems to be doing the same.

Sure, she has dragons and an army. But still - she's 14, FFS! And yet everyone reacts no different to her than if she were a 30 year old. If they're patronising it comes across as sexism, more than anything else.

Perhaps it's the scrapping of the 5 year gap? GRRM seems to be writing her as an adult now. I wish he wouldn't.