[ADWD SPOILERS] Daenerys 8

[Anth]

I don't understand why she's expected to use the dragons so easily. They're growing and becoming more of a problem than the solution imo. I would love for her to just fly out of Meereen with them and take over Westeros, but it just doesn't seem likely that the dragons are going to be so easy to use.

The biggest thing that bothers me about Dany is her relationship with Daario. Out of the many suitors she has, I'd like him to go away... along with the Greyjoys.

[A_S]

If she’s going to say “I’m just a young child and don’t know much about anything” once more I’m going to hit my head with this book. And why the hell couldn’t she meet with Tyrion all ready! This book is going nowhere! But yey, we got to see the dragons again. Maybe in next chapter something is going to happen…

I can’t understand how one dragon can just disappear? I would think someone should have seen him flying around?

[Bad Hound!]

Again, not much happening in this chapter. I'm not criticising Dany (I am with those who say "what can you expect from someone so inexperienced, she's still learning the ropes and actually is not doing that badly"), but more GRRM, who's advancing this side of the story way too slowly.

I can see how he is struggling with his "Meereenese knot" as he called it.

[Pearlblue5]

I find it very difficult to sympathise with Dany at any point of this chapter. She has got to the point where she has given up on Meereen, Hizdhar now rules the city through her - because she is entirely incapable of ruling herself. She has a long way to g before she should even contemplate sitting the Iron Throne.

In a book that is about accepting responsibility for your own actions, Dany is the only character who can't accept that she is doing a terrible job of ruling Meereen.

* Dany has become more and more prone to bouts of escapism. She asks Missandei at the end of the chapter to tell her about Naath and the butterflies, she clearly does not want to be in Meereen any more. In a previous chapter, Dany has sex with Daario as opposed to holding court. She doesn't want to rule, she wants to liberate and conquer and move on.

* She is convinced that Quentyn was called Frog because he wasn't handsome, she doesn't ever ask the reason. She is so self absorbed and interested only in surface beauty that she does not even consider any other option. She also judges the Yunkai armies as absurd - but they have just forced her into peace!

* Why did she take Quentyn to the dragons? She was trying to convince the Prince of Dorne to go home, but instead takes him to the dragon pit and says: "I don't want you, but look at my three dragons... oh what's that I can only ride one?"

* She seems to think that she has worked so hard for this peace agreement with the Yunkai, when she has actively worked against it for most of the book.

Thank goodness I wasn't the only one. I really liked Dany in the beginning. But in ADWD I was really disappointed. I feel in some ways Meereen is a mini Westeros. Dany has come in as an outsider, and she has clearly power and dragons, but faces challenges and opposition. She clearly does not know how to deal with it and is avoiding it.

Just like with Robert, it is one thing to win the throne, another to rule it. And Dany right now is still a teenager and I am blaming that slightly for her shirking off that second responsibility. Dany is clearly not ready for it. I'm hoping she can learn to become a better ruler and not abandon her people (Meereen). Because how she acts with Meereen is a trial for Westeros and can determine how they see her as a ruler. I just want her to learn it in Meereen because it won't be getting any easier in King's Landing. There will be a lot of people she can't trust.

[Cressen]

When I finished this chapter, my first thought was: was Dany always this dumb? I need to reread all the previous books to look for clues.

It's clear that Dany has no idea what she's doing anymore. She lost the war, is openly ridiculed by the Yunkai'i (the tumblers), surrounds herself with the wrong people (ditching Jorah was probably her biggest blunder, now she's only got Barristan left and he's no politician), comes across as shallow (Quentyn the Frog) and her priorities are completely skewed: her whole reason to come to Slaver's Bay was to find an army. Here's Quentyn promising 50,000 spears ... in Westeros ... where she's trying to get to. And she asks him to leave.

Honestly, as long as she considers the Meereenese as 'her' people, she'll never get to Westeros.

This all may be well written, but for me it's a frustrating read.

One thing I noticed: the Yunkai'i leaders are described as old and weak. Did Dany overestimate them? Were they ever really a threat? Their real power seems to lie with the sell swords. This is strongly hinted at by Ben later in this chapter ("we'll join whoever we think will win"). And I remember a dialogue in the HBO series (I don't think it's in the books) that said: 'power lies wherever people think it resides'.