The Queen is Dead...Long Live the Queen!

Do not read this blog if you haven't yet watched the latest episode of Game of Thrones, "The Bells."

Last warning, people...

Three out of five stars? "The Vulture" is a dead duck!

Watching the reaction from week to week to the latest episode in the last season of Game of Thrones is making me feel like Daenerys Targaryen flying a dragon over King's Landing...I simply want to set everything on fire. They complained that there wasn't enough death in the Battle of Winterfell; they complained about how the Night King died (did you want him to win?); now they're complaining about the turn of events in this week's penultimate episode, "The Bells."

The flash point for outrage seems to be with Dany's "sudden" turn to the dark side with her complete annihilation of almost every living creature in the capital city, King's Landing. She had already won the war, won the crown, won everything she said she was fighting for, but at that crucial moment, she set it all on fire. Now those who supported her—Jon, Tyrion, Davos—will turn on her, and those who distrusted her—Arya, Sansa—will actively seek her demise.

But is this unwarranted? Does this turn serve only for plot manipulation at the expense of character development? Not if you've been paying attention since season one. Several other websites have supported this dramatic choice, so these opinions are not unique nor original, but I do want to give a detailed description of three major story lines that made Dany's actions not merely predictable but inevitable.

1. She's a genocidal maniac.
Daenerys Targaryen is a stone-cold serial killer, a genocidal maniac from the get-go. She came to power as the wife of a Dothraki warlord, learning that politics is best served at the end of a sharp blade. She went from city to city throughout Essos murdering kings (Qarth), ruling cadres (Astapor and Yunkai), and entire cities (Vaes Dothrak and Meereen). Sure, she was doing it in the name of "freeing the slaves," but burning fleets of ships, cities, and thousands of screaming citizens has been all in a day's work for the Mother of Dragons.

Her army, the Unsullied, is stolen property. She made a deal with the slave master to trade one dragon for 8,000 Unsullied. After the transaction was made, she ordered the Unsullied to murder all the slave owners, then she had the dragon (which technically did not belong to her anymore) set fire to the slave master, essentially reneging on the deal she made. She's a liar and a thief as well as a murderer.

As an audience, we didn't mind when she did these things because it seemed like she was an underdog, a scrappy little girl who was trying to survive and learn how to be a queen. We also liked that she was killing scumbag slave owners and setting the enslaved populations free. But did she really make these cities better places after she left? And what did she learn from this experience? When it doubt, burn them all with dragon fire.

2. She's a spoiled, entitled brat.
Everyone hated her older brother, Viserys Targaryen, because he was a whiny bitch and couldn't have been a bigger douche even with a small fedora on his white-haired head. Viserys thought he deserved to be king just because his father had been king. How is Dany any different or any better? She's constantly going on about how the Iron Throne belongs to her even though she's not done anything in Westeros to earn or deserve it. Her only reaction to the news that Jon Snow is really her brother's son is that it threatens her right to the throne. Selfish!

She was Khaleesi because she was married to the Khal; she did not earn her position but passively received it. Her Khalasar grew through murder (see above). Her claim to the throne in Westeros is that she is the only living descendant (or so she thought) of the previous Targaryen king, Aerys "The Mad King." What else gives her claim in Westeros? The fact is that Robert Baratheon had been king for 18 years before his death. That's a pretty strong claim that the royal line runs down the Baratheon's now, not the Targaryens. In any event, she expects that all of Westeros will simply bow down to her and accept her as their rightful ruler. Except this is unrealistic, because...

3. The Targaryens are foreign dictators.
One of the reasons Dany fit in so well in Essos is that it is the ancestral homeland of the Targaryens. They are one of the few surviving families of the Great Doom of Valyria, and their customs are native to Essos. Many people on the continent still speak Valyrian (as does Dany), and they have respect for the concept of might makes right (see: The Dothraki).

Westeros is literally an entirely different country. It's all about the politics and the alliances—it's the very meaning of the title "Game of Thrones." Dany has no idea about all the centuries-old hatreds and alliances between the various families and houses, and to make matters worse, she acts like she doesn't care. Sansa and Tyrion both try to explain it to her, to help her understand that the way things work is Westeros is about negotiation, not annihilation, but it doesn't get through to her.

Aegon I Targaryen and his sisters conquered Westeros because they had dragons. Their descendents ruled for 300 years because of dragons. The only reason that Jamie Lannister could kill Mad King Aerys was that the old man didn't have a dragon perched next to the Iron Throne. If Rhaegar Targaryen had been able to fly on a dragon instead of ride on a horse, Robert Baratheon would have never dared to start a rebellion. If he had, it would have been a short one.

The Targaryens ruled through force and fear for three centuries. No one in the North wants to see that era return. Dorne certainly doesn't, nor does the Eyrie, Casterly Rock, or the people of the Reach or Riverrun. In fact, they were all thrilled when the Mad King was killed, despite their animosity toward Jamie "The Kingslayer" Lannister. Do you think Germany would be happy with Greta Hitler? Or Russia with Natasha Stalin? Dany has to rule through fear because there are no slaves in Westeros to free in order to love her.

Go crazy? Please. She was crazy from the start. We just really liked her brand of crazy until it came a little bit too close to home. Come back tomorrow for Predictions Guaranteed to be Wrong about the series finale.