What will trigger Dany's madness?

[Newstar]

If Dany hasn't gone mad yet, and I don't think she has--I agree that there would be clearer signs in her POVs if that were the case--then I doubt she will in the remaining books. If Dany's flailing around in the grips of madness or tormented by her eroding grip on her sanity, she won't be able to get anything done, and Dany has two books left, dragons to bring to heel, wars to fight, and apocalypses to avert. Playtime, well, Essos is over, it's crunch time for Dany, and the narrative requires her to be sufficiently lucid to deal with all the crazy shit coming down the pipe. That rules out a descent into madness.

[Valandui]

Barristan Selmy says he saw no taint in her. This could be a good sign for no madness.

Not really. Barristan tends to be wrong about almost everything.

[lostcause]

I wouldn't hold my breath for any definite sign that she goes insane.

First of all, what would that be? There seem to be a lot of different opinions on what constitutes "going mad" in Dany's case. Is it being evil? Is it being delusional? Is it conquering Westeros?

If the current books are indicators Martin isn't just going to write: "And then Danerys lost her mind." - so whatever happens with Dany, people will disagree on what that means. 1 persons crazy is anothers genius.

[JonCon's Red Beard]

A lot of this threads.

[unSonofStannis]

Becoming Fire made flesh and fully integrating herself with the Red lot.

[Frey Pentos]

Agreed with WMarshal on that. She had 163 people killed in one incident without trial.

He said she massacred the Great Masters. She clearly didn't. She executed 163 of them in retribution for the slave kids but left the remaining, vast majority, of Great Masters alive. WMarshals statement is a little misleading imo.

[Ser Geno the Shitfaced]

Aerys is correct, Viserys isn't, Barristan said he never pursued Viserys and Danerys because he already saw signs of "the taint" in her brother. Theyre going to keep Danerys ambiguous but if anything does send her over the line, I think it will be Jon Snow dying in front of her. These two are going to be linked in some way going forward.

[Ser Geno the Shitfaced]

An interesting theory is that Danerys is already, and has always been insane. We only see her through her own point of view through the first three books which would make everything she does seem fine, to her. The fifth threw that theory off a little with Ser Barristan getting his own chapters, but perhaps he is too blinded by honor, duty, a desire to serve her, and possibly most of all senility to realize it.

[Hodor the Articulate]

I would love it if she goes mad, it would be quite interesting to read. But I doubt she will.

Nice to see so much fetishisation of mental illness in this fandom.

[SerArthurHeath]

Dany lost her family before she was born, she grew up in exile, her brother abused her, she often lived in poverty, she lost her husband and her son, she faced the Red Waste, she had to banish the man she believed to be her most trustworthy friend, she's faced numerous assassination attempts, she had to witness her people being killed in a shadow war, her city was besieged, she had to lock the pale mare victims out of the city, and she lived for weeks in the Dothraki Sea, alone, dehydrated, starving, and suffering from a miscarriage.

And she still hasn't broken.

GRRM would have a hard time selling Dany as someone who can break after everything she's been through.

Hasn't she?

[Fire Eater]

He said she massacred the Great Masters. She clearly didn't. She executed 163 of them in retribution for the slave kids but left the remaining, vast majority, of Great Masters alive. WMarshals statement is a little misleading imo.

Massacre is defined as the indiscriminate killing of a large number of people. Dany didn't give anyone a trial, nor did she bother to find out which slavers had been involved with the decision to nail children to posts along the road. She didn't bother to distinguish between any of the slave masters, so it is a massacre by that most basic definition.

[Mailedhorseman]

I think Sylar and Lecter were both aware that what they were doing was considered "evil." Whereas whatever Dany does, I think she actually convinces herself that it's good or done with good intentions.

This is exactly what makes her so dangerous. Her ability to convince herself of the "righteousness" of her cause makes her willing and able to command the death of so many people without hesitation.

This quote by Nikolaj Wlder Kostau really sums the danger Dany poses

"There’s also something about that type of power that Daenerys has. Most people believe she’s doing the right thing, but she’s burning people alive. She’s got a chip on her shoulder. I don’t want her to come across the Narrow Sea. She’s going to burn thousands and thousands and thousands of people and have that self-righteous smirk on her face the whole time".

[Lord Damian]

At the end of DWD is a potential breaking point for her. I think she will be a tyrant in Westeros but Mereen will have to be dealt with first.

[Nictarion]

Not really. Barristan tends to be wrong about almost everything.

Such as?

[SerArthurHeath]

Serving Aerys, serving Robert to start with

[IRON BANK]

If it is one thing that could trigger her madness it would be the loss of a dragon or a real life child.

[Sun]

Serving Aerys, serving Robert to start with

And he was quite willing to serve Joff as well, in fact he did until he was dismissed.

[Ziggy Targdust]

Not really. Barristan tends to be wrong about almost everything.

Guess she shouldn't ask him anything about her father or brother then. Also don't believe what he told her about Ned Stark.

[SerArthurHeath]

Probably

[Nictarion]

Serving Aerys, serving Robert to start with

What should he have done, killed himself, or become an outlaw like Sandor?