Daenerys Targaryen

[Le Cygne]

She does have a deep character. In fact, she is my favorite character. Her psychological journey is amazing. I can understand if someone wants to say that her story line is boring, or that the bad guys she fights are cartoon "ish". But she is one of the great characters of fantasy and will be remembered for a very long time.

Agreed, she's on of my favorites, too. One of the best chapters in the series, probably the best for me, is her final one in ADWD. It's beautifully written.

[Carey Snow]

Agreed, she's on of my favorites, too. One of the best chapters in the series, probably the best for me, is her final one in ADWD. It's beautifully written.

She has three of my favorite chapters in the entire series. Her smothering Drogo in aGoT. The house of the undying in aCoK. And the fighting pit chapter in aDwD. When Drogon shows up, and she throws off her slipers to go and stop the rampage, is amazing.

Also love the unsullied chapters in aSoS. She is just my favorite character.... even the boring Meereen stuff is not that boring to me.

[Le Cygne]

Those were good ones, too. Drogo dying, I was bawling. Even thinking about it, gets me going all over again. I like when she ate the horse heart, too. I even like Daario because Dany does.

I agree, never boring at all.

[Gabriel Gubert]

Well, I expect the first half of TWOW will finish up this Slaver's Bay crap. The (likely) destruction of Meereen, the deaths of the many characters whose names I cannot spell, yada yada yada. It should be awesome reading about the destruction of that literary hell hole tbh.

But in the second half of TWOW, I expect GRRM to frustrate the fan base further by getting Dany tangled up in some Free City nonsense. I mean, the breaker of chains is going to be passing by Voltanis and Lys on her way to Westeros, slaver cities. How could the savior not get all mixed up in that business? It would be unfathomable, truly.

Hasn't that last chapter of hers in ADWD given you the impression that she is done with all the breaker of chains, queenish bullshit? From what I got she became, even more than when she had had hatched the eggs, the genuine MOTHER OF DRAGONS: meaning she doesn't really give a fuck anymore whether her dragons kill, eat, or burn people down in the midst of war, and that she is herself a dragon within, a Targaryen, fiery blood literally running through her veins. She seemed to have had the biggest epiphany yet, fulfilling a lot of what Quaithe's prophecy was about, like she is finally back on track on her true path or something and maybe that's where she's heading to in TWoW - being a true mother of dragons and moving swiftly and harsh through her enemies (and, heck, not only enemies, for she is a dragon now) and getting the fuck into Westeros. Her encounter with the khalasar at the end of it helped better emphasize the brute, ruthless twist in her personality and storyline in my opinion. The picture of Dany being instantly crowned Khaleesi right there just popped into my mind while I read it, and I wonder if George was trying to convey a coronation-like atmosphere as a closure to the chapter. But if he does spend more time in the Free Cities in her POV, I think it's gonna be quick and pretty destructive, just a small rock she needs to flick out of the way while journeying to Westeros.

[Queen‍‍‍‍‍‍ Alysanne‍‍™]

Agreed, she's on of my favorites, too. One of the best chapters in the series, probably the best for me, is her final one in ADWD. It's beautifully written.

I agree aswell, Dany 9 and 10 of ADWD are some of Martin's best written chapters. In Dany ten imagery of the grass, her clothing etc. makes it such a flowery chapter of symbols and Dany 9 is very cinematic almost like youre watching it on screen, the moment Drogon's shadow appears.

[MoIaF]

I agree aswell, Dany 9 and 10 of ADWD are some of Martin's best written chapters. In Dany ten imagery of the grass, her clothing etc. makes it such a flowery chapter of symbols and Dany 9 is very cinematic almost like youre watching it on screen, the moment Drogon's

shadow appears.

Agreed, she's on of my favorites, too. One of the best chapters in the series, probably the best for me, is her final one in ADWD. It's beautifully written.

Those are some excellent chapters - her trying to tame Drogon in the pit is amazing, as you say almost cinematographic. Her entire Vision Quest in the Dothraki sea is very deep and revealing of her character.

Life isn't a zero-sum game so I don't see Dany swinging the other way completely in TWOW. Her last moments in ADWD chapter she didn't see particularly agree or upset it seem to me that she was resolute. She had lost herself throughout most of ADWD and she seemed to find her way towards the end. I think as GRRM said a lot of TWOW will be Dany coming to terms with who and what she is, embracing her heritage and her family words.

Slavers beware she's going to finish what she started and she won't be nice about it.

[Kyoshi]

Those were good ones, too. Drogo dying, I was bawling. Even thinking about it, gets me going all over again. I like when she ate the horse heart, too. I even like Daario because Dany does.

I agree, never boring at all.

I also like Daario, mainly because Dany does, but I like him.

To answer the OP's question: I think she is a very big part of the story, she's a lot like Bran in that regard. Although she spends no time with the other main characters, her arc is still a compelling one. GRRM even broke his own rule about kings and queens not getting POVs because they know too much/have too much power.

There was a thread a while back on what the descendants of these characters, say a thousand years from now, would know about this age of heroes. Which characters would live through the ages? Daenerys was my immediate answer. I even have an epithet for her: Danerys the Liberator. The books aren't close to ending yet I can say without a doubt her name will live on and her actions will ripples through time. We can't say that about many characters at this point. Only other person I can think of is Robb: the Young Wolf (even with him the comparison is limited).

[Narvi]

I love her whole storyline but it's way past time to get out of slavers bay already.

[Le Cygne]

Life isn't a zero-sum game so I don't see Dany swinging the other way completely in TWOW. Her last moments in ADWD chapter she didn't see particularly agree or upset it seem to me that she was resolute. She had lost herself throughout most of ADWD and she seemed to find her way towards the end. I think as GRRM said a lot of TWOW will be Dany coming to terms with who and what she is, embracing her heritage and her family words.

True. No more silk queen. She's a dragon. Fire and blood!

Dany: You boasted that you'd had a hundred women.

Daario: A hundred? I lied, sweet queen. It was a thousand. But never once a dragon.

I also like Daario, mainly because Dany does, but I like him.

That's true, I would like Daario anyway, he's so infinitely confident. We see him through her eyes (mostly, Ser Grandfather is not a fan, but the feeling is mutual), but sometimes when she worries if he really loves her, I want to tell her, just sit back and enjoy the ride. Regardless of whether or not he does, they are having a damn good time together. But I think he really does love her. For who she really is, that's always a good thing.

[Barristan_the_old]

Just an idea but I do believe Danny will go to Asshai. The first reason for this is the prophecy which is obviously stated throughout all the books. To go west you must go east - to Asshai. To find the light you must pass beneath the shadow - Asshai. In the last Dany chapter she talks about how she can mount drogon but she cannot control him. It then said that the dragon lords of Valyria used binding spells and sorcery to control their dragons. She needs her dragons but she doesn't have control over them. Drogon only lets her ride him but doesn't obey or fly where she wants him too. The dragons are obviously going to be needed to fight the WW etc. so they will need to be controlled.

The only other possibility in my opinion is that victarion can pull off some magic with maqorro and the horn and bind them (or one) to his will.

I don't really see another option as far as the dragons go but I'd love to hear any other ideas you guys have..

[Watermelon Knight]

I'm beginning to think she will lose a dragon to Euron which will awaken her mama grizzly bear instincts and she will return to Westeros in pursuit of her child with Fire and Blood. Euron will rue the day he "woke the dragon" in Daenerys. Eventually she will hook up with Jon Snow and learn the true enemy against which to use her dragons, but that is a tale for book 8 or 9 ;)

I have a sneaky suspicion that the dragon-binding hellhorn will actually bind a dragon to Euron with a high probability of Victarion being devoured by a dragon. Smearing blood on the horn as a way to claim it strikes me as the weakest sort of blood magic. Typically blood magic requires more sacrifice. The idea that a dragon can be bent to one's will with a little pin prick and some blood strikes me as woefully naive.

[Steelborn]

I'm beginning to think she will lose a dragon to Euron which will awaken her mama grizzly bear instincts and she will return to Westeros in pursuit of her child with Fire and Blood. Euron will rue the day he "woke the dragon" in Daenerys. Eventually she will hook up with Jon Snow and learn the true enemy against which to use her dragons, but that is a tale for book 8 or 9 ;)

I think Euron will have a role in her storyline but her Fire and Blood epiphany already happened in her very last chapter.

If George's original letter is anything to go by, with Drogon she'll command the Dothraki and gather all her forces to invade Westeros... Not before Tyrion resolves most of the Meereenese knot for her.

[YouKnowNothingJonSnow]

FWIW, I think Dany will head West only in the later stages of the book. She has a lot to do, still.

She's about to inherit a huge Dothraki army via being able to ride a dragon. She has to return to Mereen and sort that mess out. Not only get the city up and running again, but figure out who has really been loyal to her and who hasn't. She'll need advice there and minds better than Barristan's to do it. She needs to meet Tyrion and he has to win her trust (that will be hard). She'll have to deal with Victarion and that dragon horn (whatever the ramifications there are). Archmaester Marwyn should be arriving soon. And she'll have to establish some sort of order before she leaves to that the cities she's freed don't slide back into chaos. Though I think the Volantese slaves she'll have (once that fleet gets there) will help run things on Slaver's Bay once she deals with their masters back in Old Volantis (I think she'll promise to do so in return for them promising to keep things up and running on Slaver's Bay).

She then gets a trial run with her new army in Volantis. The Dothraki get to do some sea travel. And then she can head to Westeros with a large army of freed slaves, Dothraki horsemen, and Unsullied. And quite possibly a large fleet of Ironborn as well. I believe Marwyn will tell her something about Dragonstone, and she'll head there first. It is a Targaryen place in some special way beyond what we know, just like Winterfell is a Stark place in some way beyond what we know.

And I think Dany has already gone East to head West. Time to head in the other direction now.

[Watermelon Knight]

I think Euron will have a role in her storyline but her Fire and Blood epiphany already happened in her very last chapter.

If George's original letter is anything to go by, with Drogon she'll command the Dothraki and gather all her forces to invade Westeros... Not before Tyrion resolves most of the Meereenese knot for her.

More of a foreshadowing, I'd say, with Quaith beaming crytpic thoughts into her head. We have little indication that she is prepared to abandon the slave cities.

I still don't trust Quaith and her word salad "advice". If Marwyn ever reaches Daenerys I will not be surprised if he knows of Quaith's ulterior motives.