Daenerys Targaryen

"When my dragons are grown they will lay waste to armies and burn cities to the ground."

- Daenerys Targaryen

Daenerys Targaryen, sometimes called Dany, is a major character in Game of Thrones. She is played by starring cast member Emilia Clarke and débuts in the first episode of the first season. The role of Daenerys was originally played by Tamzin Merchant in the unaired pilot episode, but the role was recast for the series proper for undisclosed reasons. She is the only surviving child of King Aerys II Targaryen who was ousted from the Iron Throne during Robert's Rebellion. She lives in exile in the East. Daenerys was married to the Dothraki Khal Drogo but lost her husband and unborn son to the manipulations of the vengeful maegi Mirri Maz Duur. Her marriage to Drogo and subsequent interaction with the Dothraki people gives her the confidence to lead and the belief in herself as the rightful queen of Westeros. She plans to retake her homeland. She hatched three dragons by walking into Drogo's funeral pyre with the eggs. Hers are the first dragons seen in the world for hundreds of years.

Background
Daenerys is the only daughter and youngest child of King Aerys II Targaryen, the Mad King. Her father died during the Sack of King's Landing before she was even born. Her mother fled to the island of Dragonstone to escape the usurper Robert Baratheon who installed himself as king. On the night Daenerys was born on Dragonstone a vast storm raged. For this reason she is sometimes called Daenerys Stormborn. Her mother died soon after she was born. As a baby, she was taken into exile in the Free Cities with her brother, Viserys, by loyal retainers. After years spent fruitlessly trying to raise support to retake the Iron Throne, Viserys and Daenerys were given sanctuary by Magister Illyrio Mopatis in the Free City of Pentos. She dreams of finding a peaceful home and a place to belong. She lives in fear of her brother's temper and is meek and malleable.

Season 1
Viserys arranges for Daenerys to marry Khal Drogo of the Dothraki. Daenerys enjoys a bath that her servant warns her is too hot; this may be related to her Targaryen heritage. Viserys trades Daenerys for the use of Drogo's khalasar in his planned invasion of Westeros. At the wedding she accepts a variety of gifts. She receives three dragon eggs from Magister Illyrio, who tells her that they have been turned to stone by the passage of time. Ser Jorah Mormont, a knight of Westeros, brings books about the Seven Kingdoms and offers Viserys his service. She is given a beautiful white horse by Drogo. On their wedding night, Daenerys is resistant but Drogo continues regardless.

Drogo's khalasar marches east for several months. Daenerys seeks advice from her new servants (Irri, Doreah and Jhiqui) on how to best please her husband. Doreah, trained in the pleasure palaces of Lys, teaches Daenerys how to use her sexuality to influence Drogo and win the status of an equal in his eyes. Genuine affection blossoms between them. Irri teaches Daenerys to speak Dothraki. Daenerys's growing confidence sees her defy her brother's renewed attempts to control her. She discovers that she is pregnant with Drogo's child. She assuredly predicts that she will have a son, to Drogo's approval. The pregnancy buoys the love between them.

When the khalasar reaches the Dothraki city of Vaes Dothrak Daenerys invites Viserys to dinner and arranges fresh clothing for him. Viserys reacts angrily at being dressed in the "rags of savages" and strikes Daenerys. Daenerys hits him back with a heavy gold belt and warns that if he strikes her again she will order his hands removed. Unbeknownst to Daenerys, word of her pregnancy reaches King's Landing, where King Robert Baratheon orders her assassination. Magister Illyrio visits his ally Varys in the city, where they discuss how they will pave the way for the Targaryen restoration.

Daenerys eats the raw heart of a stallion before the eyes of the dosh khaleen, the Dothraki wise women, and names her unborn son Rhaego in honor of her slain brother, Rhaegar Targaryen. The Dothraki crones prophecise that Daenerys' son will be the Stallion Who Mounts the World, the khal of khals who will unite the Dothraki into a single horde that will overrun all the lands of the world.

Viserys is infuriated at how Daenerys has won the love of the Dothraki and tries to steal her dragon eggs and flee. He is stopped by Ser Jorah. Viserys demands that Khal Drogo pay the agreed price in providing troops for the invasion of Westeros. When he threatens Daenerys and her unborn child, Drogo has Viserys executed by pouring molten gold over his head. Daenerys notes that Viserys was not a true dragon, as fire cannot harm a dragon.

Daenerys tries to convince Drogo to invade so their son might claim the Iron Throne, but the Dothraki do not trust ships and water their horses cannot drink. Now that Viserys is dead, Drogo does not feel inclined to honor the bargain. A wineseller attempts to poison Daenerys to fulfill Robert's orders. She is rescued by Ser Jorah and Rakharo. Following the assassination attempt, Drogo reverses his decision and swears that he will lead his forces across the Narrow Sea and seize the Seven Kingdoms in blood and fire. To raise funds to hire the ships necessary for this endeavour, Drogo leads his khalasar into the lands of Lhazar, the 'lamb-men'. They seize loot and slaves that they can sell. Daenerys is appalled at how the Dothraki treat their prisoners, particularly the women, and wins them better treatment. One of Drogo's riders, Mago, objects and challenges Drogo to combat. Drogo slays him easily, but sustains a chest wound. One of the women Daenerys has saved, Mirri Maz Duur, tends to the injury.

The khalasar marches southwards to the edge of a great wasteland, but Drogo's wound festers and he falls from his horse, a grave sign of weakness amongst the Dothraki. Duur continues to treat him, but thinks his wound is fatal. Daenerys convinces her to employ magic to save Drogo's life, which the other Dothraki object to. Ser Jorah kills one of Drogo's bloodriders, Qotho, when he tries to intervene. Daenerys is injured in the altercation and goes into labor. Jorah takes Daenerys to Duur for treatment. Daenerys loses her baby and the khalasar splinters apart, leaving a handful of people behind. Duur saves Drogo's life, but leaves him in a vegetative state. Daenerys is appalled by the lifelessness of Drogo and smothers him to end his suffering. She constructs a funeral pyre for his body. She places her dragon eggs on it and ties Duur to the pyre. Daenerys steps into the blaze. The following morning it is revealed that she has survived, and three newly-hatched dragons are clinging to her body. Ser Jorah and the remaining Dothraki fall to their knees, proclaiming Daenerys their queen and leader.

Season 2
Daenerys leads her small band to cross the Red Waste, hoping to find shelter in the far lands of the east. She also tries to feed her newborn dragons, but they refuse the meat she offers. Finally, after the mare Drogo gave her as a wedding gift dies of exhaustion, Daenerys decides to send her three bloodriders, Rakharo, Aggo and Kovarro, with their remaining horses to explore in three separate directions, knowing that they are her small khalasar's last hope.

Daenerys is waiting in the Red Waste when Rakharo's horse returns without him. Jorah Mormont approaches the horse and realizes that Rakharho has been decapitated (his head in his satchel). Daenery's demands to see him, as he is "blood of her blood". Irri approaches and begins to cry. She is devastated by the mutilation of his body, believing that it will prevent his entrance to the Night Lands. Daenerys consoles her, promising that tonight, Rakharo rides with his ancestors.

While on her walk to get to the ends of the Red Rest, the return of her bloodrider Kovarro, Daenerys receives word that the city of Qarth is nearby, and they are willing to welcome the "Mother of Dragons". Ser Jorah Mormont cautions that Qarth is located in the "Garden of Bones", a brutal desert which those who've been turned away by Qarth have perished in. Daenerys and her Khalasar leave the Red Waste and reach the city of Qarth. The Thirteen, a group of wealthy nobles and merchant princes, the leaders of Qarth, emerge to greet her, guarded by a group of shielded spearmen. One of the Thirteen, the Spice King, speaks for the group. They request that the "Mother of Dragons" present her children, but Daenerys insists that her people be fed and sheltered before she reveals her dragons. The Thirteen decide to turn Danaerys' group away and abandon them to the Garden of Bones. Danaerys swears vengeance on Qarth should they not comply, and one of the Thirteen, Xaro Xhoan Daxos, chooses to vouch for Daenerys through a blood oath, and on his word, she and her khalasar are let into Qarth.

Personality
Unlike many in her House, Dany never inherited the insane tendencies that plagued her father and brother Viserys. She has inherited some of her father's ruthlessness; this is evident when she says that Viserys was not a true dragon due to fire having killed him. She shows compassion to her servants and allies, while her brother is cruel to them. While a little naive, she is quick of understanding.

After being wed to Khal Drogo she quickly realizes she is now in a position of power and for the first time in her life is not under the total domination of her brother. Under the instruction of her handmaidens and with encouragement from Mormont she begins to gain confidence and even manages to stand up to her brother during his rages. When he tries to hit her in "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things" she violently lashes back and informs him the next time he tries to strike her she will have his hands cut off.

Daenerys is polite and well-spoken. She used to be cowed by her brother's ambitions and his occasional cruel rages, but her time amongst the Dothraki has taught her pride, confidence and skills of command.

Daenerys spent her entire life living on the sufferance of others, bouncing back and forth between one benefactor or the next (like Illyrio Mopatis) with her brother, until whatever dreams they had of supporting the exiles' claim wore off and they'd have to move on to another patron. As a result, Daenerys has never known a true home. Constantly living under her brother's petty domination has given Daenerys a great empathy with the downtrodden of the world. She is deeply sympathetic to those she perceives as oppressed, while at the same time, her pent up frustration from years of being mentally and physically dominated by her petty would-be-king of a brother make Daenerys capable of being utterly ruthless against those she perceives as oppressing others. This has to produced a large amount of black-white thinking in Dany's mind.

Quotes
"I am Daenerys Stormborn and I will take what is mine with fire and blood."

- Daenerys Targaryen

"The time to strike is now, the Starks fight the Lannisters, the Baratheons fight each other."

- Daenerys Targaryen

In the books
In the Song of Ice and Fire novels, Daenerys was born on the Targaryan island refuge of Dragonstone eight months after her father's death. Her mother died giving birth to her, and a great storm raged at the moment of her birth, giving rise to the nickname 'Stormborn'. Daenerys is thirteen years old when the events of the novels begin. Dany is somewhat quiet and reticent, and fearful of her brother's famous rages, but also curious about life in the Seven Kingdoms and eager to learn more of life there. She has a kind and generous spirit. This spirit slowly begins to harden after her brother's death and after surviving her first assassination attempt.