Daenerys Targaryen's downfall in Game of Thrones was more than a sudden turn to madness

Given how the final season of Game of Thrones portrayed Daenerys Targaryen, many believe that her downfall was a sudden turn to madness. However, if one looks at her character arc closely from beginning to end, it is much more than a sudden change.

Daenerys was merely a teenager when Game of Thrones showed her getting sold to the Dothraki. She had lost her parents, a brother, and was a commodity for her other brother. Moreover, she lost her son and her husband, which left her to be the Khaleesi of a community she had to lead. Trauma, isolation, ruthlessness, and a rigid messiah complex, are what led to her downfall.

Daenerys' entire Game of Thrones journey is a testament to the fact that she didn't go mad overnight

In Game of Thrones Season 8, episode 5, The Bells, Daenerys snapped and used her dragon, Drogon, to burn King’s Landing and its civilian population. That moment is widely regarded as the point when Daenerys' downfall began. However, she didn't decide to burn down King's Landing overnight.

The fact that Daenerys was ruthless and a tyrant was clearly evident since the early seasons of Game of Thrones. Throughout her time in Essos, Daenerys was seen as a liberator, which made audiences love her violence because it was directed at "bad people" like slave masters.

However, her justice was always absolute, uncompromising, and brutal. For instance, she watched her brother Viserys die without mercy, burned Mirri Maz Duur alive, crucified 163 Meereenese nobles without individual trials, and executed the Tarlys by dragonfire for refusing to bend the knee to her.

Daenerys had transitioned from being a Targaryen princess raised in hiding, who was sold to the Dothraki, to a woman believing that the Iron Throne was destined for her and pursuing it. She spent years trying to save people and break the cycle of injustice, believing she could create a better world.

However, she eventually realized that the system she wanted to change was too deeply rooted to be dismantled easily. When her idealistic vision failed, she grew disillusioned and abandoned the more peaceful approach. Instead, she began using fear and violence to force others to accept her vision, becoming ruthless in the process.

Her psychological breakdown in Game of Thrones Season 8 was due to the consecutive losses she faced. It doesn't justify her violent actions, but it helps us understand how the anger built up in her so that she could contain it no longer.

Towards the end of the show, Daenerys lost Ser Jorah Mormont, Missandei, and two of her dragons (Viserion and Rhaegal), whom she viewed literally as her children. All these losses left her in a state of blind rage and immense vulnerability, leading to her descent into madness.

In Essos, Daenerys was worshipped as a "Mhysa" (mother). In Westeros, no one trusted her, everyone doubted her and her claim to the Iron Throne, and she was treated as a foreigner. Moreover, Jon’s true identity as Aegon Targaryen completely dismantled her life's purpose. Her claim to the Iron Throne, the singular goal that kept her alive through exile and abuse, was suddenly at risk.

Daenerys realized that the people of Westeros would prefer Jon over her and would never look at her with the adoration she received in the East. But she had come too far to give up at that point. Thus, she then made a conscious and calculated political choice: If she could not rule the seven kingdoms through love, she would rule through fear.

Game of Thrones is streaming on HBO Max.

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