Emilia Clarke

[boojam]

Daenerys speaks Valyrian and Ghiscari. Why does she need to have Missandei hanging around at all times?

I don't think , even in the books, she speaks Ghiscari (probably low Valyrian, but I don't think the show will ever need that.)

She apparently knows a few low Valyrian words and maybe even a few Ghiscari but that's all.

[Señor de la Tormenta]

A girl hot as hell.

A mediocre actress.

A hateable carácter.

[Gogossos]

Less subtle than last week but yes, a very good performance. I certainly hope this helps some people separate the character from the actress.

[Stormland's Fury]

Even tho ancient Rome had a lot of slaves, there would have been patrician class without a lot of freeman plebeians shopkeepers, artisans , merchants, farmers, soldiers... skilled or unskilled workers , so on... who were not slaves.

It seemed to me that Slaver's bay was not really that lax about the whole thing as Rome, or at least a big chunk of the working class seems to be slaves or non-citizens (e.g. the sellsword companies) while the nobility basically are the merchants, artisans and so on.

[Hangover of the Morning]

Must say that I was quite positively surprised by her too.

She was awful last episode. I can understand the "icy-queen" persona in public but why she kept it during her private talk with Jorah was baffling.

[PatrickStormborn]

She was alright, yeah. Her wooden delivery to Hizdahr was cool cuz it showed she was feeling some self-doubt about the situation. That, and showing how Dany cant just proclaim things with this lot. Her petulance was nice when speaking to Hizdahr and it shows how arrogant Dany had been and how Hizdahr's words sorta brought her back to reality. Her "How many more??" at Missandei and Missandei responds with a huge number and her face is like: "seriously?..." Missandei's annoyed tone of "Yes, Your Grace." was really awesome too. Seems like the M-gal is like "ok, you bought this pig, you arent gonna bother feeding it?"

Lol such a bad interpretation of the scene. Missandei was not annoyed, just formal.

But, really, this has just reminded me what an awful idea it was to make Missandei older. There's nothing left to the character now apart from being a translator, which is unnecessary when Dany speaks Valyrian.

Is book Dany relatable/likeable at this point?

Considering that she's still one of the most popular characters in the series (and one of the author's favourite characters), I'll guess "yes".

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

Normally she's a bit crap, but I think she did a really good job in this episode.

[boojam]

It seemed to me that Slaver's bay was not really that lax about the whole thing as Rome, or at least a big chunk of the working class seems to be slaves or non-citizens (e.g. the sellsword companies) while the nobility basically are the merchants, artisans and so on.

We never really find out. There do seem to be artisans , merchant mariners , farmers and herders, ..., but George is not interested in details like that, I guess.

One can't run an economy totally comprised of 98% slaves, the whole thing would collapse.

[boojam]

But, really, this has just reminded me what an awful idea it was to make Missandei older. There's nothing left to the character now apart from being a translator, which is unnecessary when Dany speaks Valyrian.

Missandei has taken the place of the three Dothraki handmaidens in the books, who are still there! In the books.

She has acted as a body servant , at least once, so one supposes she fills the same purpose when we don't see Dany.

After 36 episodes it still bumfuzzles me why people still go on about the 'aged up' thing!

They did it for legal reasons starting in season 1, and character wise, on the show, it has zero effect on this particular visual narrative.

[ladystardust17]

Is book Dany relatable/likeable at this point?

IMO, she's becoming less and less likeable in the books. I just started rereading ADOD and she does sound like a whiny teenager. But that is exactly what GRRM does, he takes characters and makes you love them in the beginning only to show you they have a dark side, or makes you hate them (ie Jamie Lannister) only to show you their good side later. The point is that people are never black and white, but some shade of grey in the middle.

[bobbybuilderton]

She did do better than she usually does, but I still think she's a pretty crap actress. Doing well in a couple of scenes is not enough to change my mind on her overall. A broken clock is right twice a day...

[boojam]

Is book Dany relatable/likeable at this point?

I liked her character in the first novel, most of the 2nd novel, almost all of the 3rd novel...

Then in Dance, where she appears a lot, George seems to just carry along a 'template' Dany...

Still I like the story in Essos a lot, mainly because it's so different the Westeros story, which I get tired of.

One reason I like Arya's story so much in Braavos, it is a fine break from what started out as interesting court intrigue and then became kind of Blah soap opera at KL.

The north is still weird enough for me, so I like that.

One thing that bothers me is lack of passage of time, and I know it bothered George too, things need to have slowed down , people matured more in the books , stories and characters aged by about 5 years.

Things have moved so damn fast that a degree of verisimilitude has been lost.

I think GRRM could write a more mature Dany better.

[PatrickStormborn]

Missandei has taken the place of the three Dothraki handmaidens in the books, who are still there! In the books.

She has acted as a body servant , at least once, so one supposes she fills the same purpose when we don't see Dany.

After 36 episodes it still bumfuzzles me why people still go on about the 'aged up' thing!

They did it for legal reasons starting in season 1, and character wise, on the show, it has zero effect on this particular visual narrative.

It has a HUGE effect on Dany's narrative. Missandei could be any of the other handmaidens - and that's a complete dis-service to both Missandei and Daenerys, which makes it a bad decision.

With an adult Missandei, Dany loses the only character to whom she can truly present her inner conflicts and vulnerability, so that element of her characterisation is lost.

There's pretty much no dynamic between the characters on the show, whereas in the books it's easily one of the most interesting relationships and tells us so much about Dany.

[jentario]

I love her, I do. I couldn't fathom another playing the part, but, at times this season she has come off as a little smug to me.

Dany is a little smug to (or at least was in ASOS). I am also happy we're headed into ADWD now and some less flashy material for Dany.

[Petyr Patter]

I actually didn't mind Clarke in this episode, which is a total 180 from my opinion of last episode: http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/109227-emilia-clarkes-range/#entry5741751

She was acting the regal stoic queen, but while sitting on that giant throne and hearing "supplicants" such an act is appropriate. Plus, the script finally had her do something other than angry or annoyed. We get to see her happy at the simple joy of paying a farmer for his goats. Then we see her lose an argument and then realize she has a very hard long day ahead of her.

I still think she is a weak link for the show. She turns conversations into proclamations. And conversations are sort of important in Game of Thrones.

Daenerys speaks Valyrian and Ghiscari. Why does she need to have Missandei hanging around at all times?

She knows Valyrian in show universe, but almost certainly not Ghiscari. Remember, Missandei had to tell her Mhysa meant "mother" in Ghis.

[Stormland's Fury]

We never really find out. There do seem to be artisans , merchant mariners , farmers and herders, ..., but George is not interested in details like that, I guess.

One can't run an economy totally comprised of 98% slaves, the whole thing would collapse.

Yeah I agree on that, that's why it really bothers me that he doesn't flesh it out more especially since it's such an important part of Dany's arc. I mean it seems she crushes their economy and those details would really help since she learns how to rule but we don't even know if it's comparable to ruling a society like Westeros.

The farmers and herders seem to be free, but I wouldn't really consider them middle class but more part of the worker class. Also they seem to only make money by selling slaves to outsiders otherwise their economy would make no sense at all.

[Stormland's Fury]

It has a HUGE effect on Dany's narrative. Missandei could be any of the other handmaidens - and that's a complete dis-service to both Missandei and Daenerys, which makes it a bad decision.

With an adult Missandei, Dany loses the only character to whom she can truly present her inner conflicts and vulnerability, so that element of her characterisation is lost.

There's pretty much no dynamic between the characters on the show, whereas in the books it's easily one of the most interesting relationships and tells us so much about Dany.

Yeah, all this gets really lost on the show. It's like I mentioned before, her supporting cast basically just stands around a lot and talks very little in general.

I thought at first they would go at first somewhere with Dany telling Missandei with her "all men must die" remark, but nothing has really transpired yet.

[boojam]

It has a HUGE effect on Dany's narrative. Missandei could be any of the other handmaidens - and that's a complete dis-service to both Missandei and Daenerys, which makes it a bad decision.

With an adult Missandei, Dany loses the only character to whom she can truly present her inner conflicts and vulnerability, so that element of her characterisation is lost.

There's pretty much no dynamic between the characters on the show, whereas in the books it's easily one of the most interesting relationships and tells us so much about Dany.

I totally disagree.

I like the aging up.

NO! I disagree that is does no disservice or characterization , this is not the book, the re-interpretations work just fine.

[Onion Smuggler]

Was it just me who thought she wasn't great in this episode. I appreciate some of her dialogue isn't fantastic, but her delivery seems very over pronounced, I know she is a Queen but that is about all she can do. She has that one tone and apart from that very little?

[Pod The Impaler]

Does anyone else think she was very good this episode? I thought did a great job when talking to the goat herder and, the more sympathetic tone she gradually took on when talking to Hizdahr after being loathsome initially was great.

It was a good scene. You can see her visibly softening from dragon rage to more sympathetic. She does not consider herself a murder, and the point that children were also crucified by the slavers was never forgotten. However, Dany never got to mourn for her own murdered father (nor dead mother), and it likely weighs on her mind just thinking of what Robert the Usurper probably with the remains of her father and eldest brother. Perhaps this is something Hizdahr knew and was counting on.