Tonight’s episode foreshadowed Daenerys turning into the Mad Queen. But is that truly the route Game of Thrones wants to take with its strongest female contender for the throne?
Game of Thrones is a series that’s been frequently praised for its female characters, painting all of its women as complex human beings with motivations that go far beyond furthering the male characters’ storylines. The show highlights the full spectrum of female strength, and it’s often depicted women overcoming the oppression thrown at them.
But Game of Thrones has slowly been taking Daenerys’ character in a direction that might actually harm the show’s reputation for depicting women. Since season 6, we’ve witnessed her demonstrating similar qualities to the Mad King, and this week’s episode, more than any other, seems to hint at the fact that she’s becoming the Mad Queen.
She’s ignored the advice of her two remaining advisors, and she even begged Jon—the rightful heir to the Iron Throne—to be dishonest with his own people, in the hopes that they would support her instead of him.
And while Targaryen madness is certainly an interesting storyline to explore, this Mad Queen direction doesn’t bode well for the feminist message Game of Thrones appeared to be sending during its earlier seasons. It always seemed that a woman would end up on the throne—a striking and unique victory for a fantasy series. But with Cersei and Daenerys both bringing their worst attributes to the table, fans are beginning to root for Jon as the heir to the Iron Throne.
Sadly, it’s hard to deny that Jon’s the best contender at this point. He isn’t threatening people into following him, nor is he putting himself before his own subjects. But fans can and should question why the showrunners decided to take Daenerys in this direction in the first place. She could have been the one to conquer Cersei and show Westeros a better way. But instead, fans are seeing two queens who seemingly can’t reign in their own desires or act rationally. Is that truly the message we want to send viewers?
The fact that, of the three main contenders for the throne, the man is the only one to be a level-headed leader is problematic. Yes, the person who doesn’t actually want power is usually best suited for it, but did that person need to be Jon? Surely we’ve had enough stories where men triumph in the end. Game of Thrones could have offered its millions of viewers something more revolutionary.
If Daenerys does continue down this path, Jon will very likely wind up sitting on the Iron Throne. And frankly, that’ll be like watching the 2016 election all over again. Just once, can a woman who has worked tirelessly for years to achieve power actually attain what she’s earned?
If Jon swoops in at the last moment to save Westeros from the two “irrational women” fighting over it, it’ll just cement the idea that men should be the ones in power to everyone watching the series.
And, I’m sorry, but we didn’t just invest eight years of our lives into this show for that conclusion.
Game of Thrones continues next Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.
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