Tropes:

• Abusive Brother: A life being raised by Viserys in place of dead parents would be enough to break most people.
• Age Lift: Inevitable, as Daenerys is only 13 years old at the start of the book. She is 17 on the show, as one History of Westeros features on the Season 1 Blu-ray that establishes 17 years has passed since her father was overthrown, at which point her mother was still pregnant with her.
• Anti-Hero: Seems to be about a Pragmatic Anti-Hero at this point. As a whole, she has good, just morals, but she has a record of treating those who make an enemy of her with total brutality...which, of course, is made much more justified in the fact that all her enemies thus far have been colossal assholes.
• Arranged Marriage: To Khal Drogo, to secure an army for her brother.
  • Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Though her marriage to Drogo did not start off this way, they grow to be very happy together and were expecting their first child before things got worse.
• Badass Boast: She makes a few of these, but has an unfortunate tendency to make them when she is in absolutely no position to carry them out, so they often end up being disregarded or thrown in her face. Gradually, her bite levels up to her bark.
  I am Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen of the blood of Old Valyria. Valyrian is my mother tongue.
• Badass Damsel
• Bare Your Midriff: While in Dothraki garb.
• Batman Gambit: The Sack of Astapor, because she knew that Drogon would never allow himself to be given away, while Kraznys mo Nakloz, being a slave master his whole life, thought anything could be bought or sold.
• Berserk Button: She does not like slavery at all.
  • Sexual assault and violence against children aren't among her favorite things, either. This makes sense, considering she's personally experienced all of these.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Once you've crossed her there is no coming back. And you should probably get ready to die in some horrific fashion.
  • After Mirri Maz Duur successfully manages to kill her husband and son, Daenerys has her tied to Khal Drogo's funeral pyre. Mirri Maz Duur claims that she won't scream for Daenerys. She is wrong. Daenerys has taken Mirri's earlier statement that "only death can pay for life" to heart, and is using Mirri's death in combination with the fire to hatch her dragon eggs.
  • After Pyat Pree tries to imprison her along with her dragons in the House of the Undying, she has them burn him alive, then proceeds to seal Xaro and Doreah in the empty treasure vault of Qarth for betraying her.
  • Kraznys mo Nakloz repeatedly insults her and is an amoral slaver. So she burns him to death during her sacking of Astapor.
  • As of the sacking of Astapor, Dany has killed more named characters than any two other people on the show.
• Bigger Bad: Is seen this way by much of Westeros including Robert, being exiled to Essos but preparing to return and claim the throne. She isn't a major concern to them anymore due to the civil war and her lack of power at the start of the series, but is steadily becoming a more dangerous threat.
• Bi the Way: How she learns "the womanly arts of love."
• Bilingual Backfire: Kraznys mo Nakloz finds out the hard way that Daenerys could speak Valyrian all along.
• Breakout Character
• Break the Haughty: After the Spice King's "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
• Catchphrase: "Dracarys" becomes her Pre-Asskicking One-Liner.
• The Chains of Commanding: Starts to feel them in Season 2.
• Character Development: On the course of four episodes she went from being terrified and submissive to threatening her abusive brother that she'll have his hands cut off if he dares to bully her again.
• Cool Pet: Right now she has three dragons.
• Determinator: As an interesting side effect of her Small Name, Big Ego. She will claim that Iron Throne, lack of husband, army, or even food and shelter be damned.
• Determined Widow
• Deuteragonist
• Dissonant Serenity: Complete with a Creepy Monotone, and, if you're really unlucky, a polite half-smile.
• Eloquent In My Native Tongue: Her Dothraki still needs a little work. "There are many dirts across the sea, like the dirt where I was born." As of Season 2, however, she's as fluent in Dothraki as she in the common tongue (which is spoken both in Westeros, the Free Cities, and Qarth).
  • Likewise, in Astapor, it looks like she'll have to learn Valyrian if she doesn't want to be constantly insulted by assholes like Kraznys mo Nakloz. Subverted however, as she purposefully waits until the control of the Unsullied has been given to her, before revealing that Valyrian is her mother tongue, ordering the Unsullied to ransack the city and finally, paying Kraznys back for his rudeness by having Drogon burn him alive.
• Emotionless Girl: Sometimes shows shades of this, which makes sense, given that she spent most of her life with Viserys in constant fear of 'waking the dragon', making it an impressive indicator of her psychological fortitude that she isn't a perpetually flinching Extreme Doormat.
• The Exile
• Fatal Flaw: Pride. While Daenerys is nowhere near as arrogant and horrible as her brother and is, in fact, a sweet and genuinely kindhearted young woman, she is also very prone to going off on one about what she wants and why she should have it and why everyone should do what she says - even when taking this course of action would make getting it less likely. This is especially apparent in Season Two, where she threatens to burn down Qarth (a task for which her Dragons are way too young yet to actually do) if she isn't allowed inside, and rages against the Spice King when he refuses to give her ships to return to Westeros.
• Fetus Terrible: Played with. Dany and Drogo's child is prophesied to become 'The Stallion Who Mounts the World.' After Dany resorts to Blood Magic to save her dying husband, something happens in her womb, and the child is stillborn with reptilian features and wings.
• Foreshadowing: Fire cannot kill a dragon. In her first scene, she walks straight into a bath that her maid tells her is too hot without flinching. In the books...
  Dany isn't actually immune to fire, confirmed by GRRM (the dragon hatch scene was a one time thing, and even then her hair burns off). Although she does show some resistance towards heat and flame in general.
• Foreign Fanservice: Doreah suggests her exotic appeal is why Drogo chose Daenerys as his wife.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: At the start of season 2 Dany was the leader of only a few dozen ex-slaves, most of which were women, old men and children. By halfway through season 3 she has an army and dragons old enough to kill and feared by the cities of Essos.
• Genre Savvy: See Take a Third Option, below.
• Going Native
• Guile Hero: Has finally graduated to this as of "And Now His Watch Is Ended".
• The High Queen: What she aspires to, and what Jorah believes she could be.
• Honor Before Reason: There's no strategic advantage to be gained from attacking Yunkai. Yunkai is well-defended, and has given Dany gold and ships, which she needs, in exchange for just going her way and leaving in peace. But Yunkai has slaves, and Dany just has to liberate them.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: With Drogo.
• Impoverished Patrician
• The Kid with the Remote Control: Daenerys herself is harmless, but she has three dragons who follow her every command.
• Kick the Son of a Bitch: The Sack of Astapor.
• Kill It with Fire: Her solution to pretty much every problem, though averted with her even-more-brutal execution of Doreah and Daxos. And now that her dragons are large enough to fight, she can do this whenever she wants.
• Love Makes You Crazy: Resorts to forbidden Blood Magic to save Drogo's life in "Baelor". Subverted in "Blood and Fire" - everyone thinks she's killing herself by walking onto Drogo's funeral pyre, but in reality she's hatching her dragons.
• Magical Abortion
• Magnetic Hero: The few people she's come across that haven't ended up dead for crossing her so far have joined her, either out of personal debt or being enchanted by her beauty. Two of the latter have even killed their own allies as signs of loyalty to her, though it didn't work out for Xaro and future episodes will tell if it works for Daario.
• Mama Bear: Do. Not. Touch. Her. Dragons. If not you'll be reminded that her father was Aerys Targaryen. She even tells Jorah that they're the only children she will ever have. In the books...
  Dany hasn't had her period since she miscarried Rhaego, and doesn't believe she'll ever be able to have children again
• Marital Rape License: Drogo takes her against her will on their wedding night despite her protests and then continues to take her without her consent and in spite of obvious discomfort. This is a stark contrast to the book. However, it's a somewhat complex situation. Drogo isn't forceful or violent—he seems to think that Daenerys' tears are due to shyness rather than fear, and the language barrier means she can't correct him. Also, sex in his culture seems to be pretty rough anyway, so he very well might not realize how things seem from her perspective.
  • A possible darker explanation is that Drogo is used to raping women; hence his assumption that "No" in her language is a term of endearment.
• Messianic Archetype:
  • Definitely invokes this. The Dothraki think she will give birth to the Stallion that Mounts the World and this seems to connect to a prophecy that she herself believes which marks her as the Dragon of the Targaryens which seems to be confirmed when she successfully hatches three dragons. It's not clear yet if the prophesies surrounding her involve the good kind of messiah or the bad one.
  • Jorah Mormont seems to think this. Out of everyone who's vying for the Iron Throne, Daenerys is the only claimant with "a good heart" and the inner-strength that would cause her to be loved by her subjects and feared by her enemies. On the other hand, he's probably a little biased.
• Moral Dissonance / Wrong Genre Savvy: She has shades of this. Like her brother, she seems to be under the impression that she has the moral high ground among all the Iron Throne's claimants simply because she's a Targaryen - completely overlooking (until Jorah corrects her) the fact that her ancestors took the Seven Kingdoms not because they had any right to them but because they could. And because they had dragons. Even after, she still has a bit of a self-centred streak about her - which seems to be a common flaw amongst her family.
• My Parents Are Dead
• Nerves of Steel: Has definitely developed these. Since first arriving in Astapor she's been insulted, intimidated and threatened in various unpleasant ways by several powerful people. None of them managed to so much as affect her expression, much less her resolve.
• Noble Fugitive
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Stops the dothraki from taking prisoners as spoils of war. This leads to Drogo being mortally injured in a challenge. One of the women -victimized but also spared- seizes the chance to take revenge on Drogo and on Dany's unborn son with him.
• No Sell: Completely immune to harm from fire or heat.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Her villainhood being mostly restricted to retribution notwithstanding, after Mirri Maz Duur manages to destroy everything she has built up in less than a week, she proves that she is her father's daughter. With the exception of Varys and Joffrey, the leaders of Westeros regard her and her dragons an unimportant curiosity from the far side of the world, as they have wrong or outdated intelligence of her build-up.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: She pretends to not understand the Valyrian dialect Kraznys mo Nakloz is speaking, only to reveal right before she fries him that she understood him all along.
• Oblivious to Love: Takes until Mid-Series 2 (and half-a-dozen people pointing it out first), to realise that, yes, Jorah Mormont is in love with her.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: A firm believer in this. Exemplified by the Sack of Astapor
• Self-Made Woman: Hoo boy, is she ever. From abused child to independent woman; from glorified sex slave to fully-realized Khaleesi; from penniless widow to liberator and commander of eight thousand men — she is Daenerys Stormborn and she takes what is hers with fire and blood.
• Shoulder-Sized Dragon: One problem of this trope is averted in that she wears an armoured spaulder on her shoulder.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: A disproportionate sense of entitlement is pretty much the only trait she shares with her brother.
• Silly Rabbit Cynicism Is For Losers: See Take a Third Option.
• Slave Liberation: During the Sacking of Astapor, on a truly massive scale.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Oh, does she ever have this problem. And she will continue to have it up until such time as she gains a potent army or her dragons become useful. The Spice King of Qarth may be a condescending Smug Snake, but his observation that she doesn't yet have anything to recommend her as a likely conqueror of Westeros is difficult to argue with. She takes his words to heart and is starting to learn better.
• Take a Third Option: Jorah says that Dany needs the Unsullied, not just because they're incredibly Badass but because they don't rape or sack. Barristan disapproves of using slave soldiers, believing that a leader's subjects and soldiers should follow her not because they must but because they choose to. Both agree that Dany should not trade one of her dragons for the slave army. Her solution? Take command of the Unsullied. Kill the slave masters. And free the Unsullied, making them triply undyingly loyal to her than they would had she simply owned them.
• Took a Level in Badass: Time only empowers a dragon and her antagonists begin to learn it the hard way. She gradually gets free of her brother's dominance and outgrows her more prudent advisors.
  • In arguably her most Crowning Moment of Awesome, her level of badasserry multiplied exponentially after the way she masterminded the Sacking of Astapor!
• Try to Fit That on a Business Card: A single nickname is not enough to describe her magnificence:
  Missandrei: Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons.
• Underestimating Badassery: Whether due to her own guile or their foolishness, people who underestimate her and sleight her or try to manipulate her end up dead, often in gruesome fashion. By the time she gets to Yunkai her reputation has begun to preceed her and they offer her ships and gold if she leaves them in peace, though by the time her meeting with Razdal ends it turns out they haven't learned enough
• White-Haired Pretty Girl
• Young Conqueror: Is bent on becoming one. She struggles at first, since she has no transportation, only a handful of followers and three helpless, infant dragons. After gaining the Unsullied she becomes a genuine threat.

Tropes:

• Bait the Dog: His more humane side is briefly seen during a love scene with Dorea, but in the end he flips out and reverts back to his mean nature.
• Big Bad Wannabe: The unrelenting self-proclaimed rightful King gets easily trumped by the first powerful foe he antagonizes.
• Big Brother Bully: Physically and sexually harasses her.
• Blond Guys Are Evil: Yeah.
• Break the Haughty: His time among the Dothraki is not fun for him. Subverted in that it does little to break his haughtiness.
• Brother-Sister Incest:
  • One-sided and very creepy. His very first scene involves forcing his sister to undress and commenting on her figure while pawing at her boobs. Cersei later mentions that the Targaryens wed brother-to-sister for three hundred years.
  • In interviews, the actor who portrays him describes Daenerys as his "sister, wife, and daughter" all in one, often mentions that his character feels as though he "owns" Daenerys due to the fact that he would have married her if he still had the throne, and is even somewhat jealous of having to give her up to another man.
• Bullying a Dragon: If your sister—who is effectively the Barbarian Tribe's queen—is the only person who can ensure you will be tolerated, assaulting her is definitely a pretty dumb thing to do. The irony is that when he turns red, he describes it as "waking the dragon."
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Pot of molten gold poured over his head. "A crown for a king" indeed.
• Death by Irony: Should have been more specific when he demanded a golden crown.
• Entitled Bastard: Viserys seems surprised to discover Dany is unwilling to save him after he threatens her life and the life of her unborn child.
• The Exile
• Freudian Excuse: Both due to what happened to his family and the pressure on his shoulders to avenge them.
  • He hints at the reasons behind his behavior in a conversation with Jorah Mormont, expressing the overwhelming pressure of being the “last hope of a dynasty” and his obsession to restore it, as well as bitterness over Dothraki reverence of his sister, “not a piece” of which he’s ever gotten himself.
  • A lot of his behavior is an obvious case of In the Blood... One of Aerys' kids had to have inherited his crazy gene, after all. Blame the inbreeding.
• Green-Eyed Monster/The Resenter: Is quite jealous of his sister when he realizes that the entire Dothraki tribe loves and respects her.
• Impoverished Patrician
• In-Series Nickname: Viserys likes to style himself as the rightful King of Westeros, along with its other titles, but most people simply refer to him as the Beggar King. During his time with the Dothraki, he is also known as the Sorefoot King and Cart King.
• Insistent Terminology: Referring to Robert Baratheon as "The Usurper", and calling himself a "King".
• It's All About Me: He's never shares credit that it was his sister and Magister Illyrio that got him the Dothraki alliance, insisting it was his idea. Also he claims that the Dothraki are his people and army to command when they aren't and are actually Daenerys'.
  • In the DVD extras, he narrates the history sections, giving the perspective of House Targaryen. While recounting the Sack of King's Landing, he mentions that he was spirited out of the city before it fell as, with his brother Rhaegar's death, he was now heir to the throne. Technically, he was second in line behind his nephew, Aegon. In fact, as his sister-in-law was a Dornish princess, he may well have been third in line behind his niece and nephew.(Dornish law puts women in the line of succession; while Dornish law doesn't officially apply to the royal line, had the Targaryens won, Dorne would have had a significantly stronger army than the Targaryens, having not taken part in the war.
• Jerkass
• Kick the Dog: Pretty much every scene with Daenerys involves him abusing her physically and/or emotionally.
• My Parents Are Dead
• Noble Fugitive
• Promotion to Parent: Has been taking care of Daenerys for her almost her entire life since their exile.
• Revenge: One of his driving motivations is to punish those who stole the Iron Throne.
• Small Name, Big Ego
• Smug Snake
• Stupid Evil
• Too Dumb to Live: Maybe he shouldn't have spent most of his time in the company of the Dothraki wigging out at them every few minutes, openly insulting their traditions and threatening his sister, who happens to be carrying the unborn son of their king. His visible intoxication during his final scene doesn't improve his chances of living.
• The Unfettered: He will do anything to retake the Iron Throne. Or rather, he'd let his sister do anything.
  Viserys: I would let his whole tribe fuck you. All 40,000 men and their horses too if that's what it took!
• Villainous Breakdown: Never the most stable of individuals to begin with, but becomes increasingly unhinged as he loses control over Daenerys and realizes his powerlessness in the new 'alliance' with Khal Drogo. This finally culminates in his drunkenly storming into a feast and threatening Drogo's wife and unborn child in front of him and his entire Khalasar. He ends his life whimpering and begging before the molten gold does its work.
• White Hair, Black Heart
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Seems to be under the impression that he's the divinely appointed hero in a epic tale that will end with him retaking the Iron Throne for the Targaryen Dynasty. Suffice to say, it seems obvious to everyone else that he's not.

Tropes:

• Dark Messiah: He's prophecised to be "The Stallion Who Mounts the World" (in which 'Mounts' doesn't mean 'Ride' but 'Fuck') the khal of khals who will lead the Dothraki to dominion over all the lands of the world.
• Dead Guy Junior: Obviously named after the late Prince Rhaegar, with the termination changed to reflect Dothraki naming customs.
• Fetus Terrible: To Mirri Maz Duur he's one.
• Magical Abortion: Due to Mirri Maz Duur's Blood Magic, Rhaego is the sacrifice for Drogo's cure. He's born terribly deformed and already dead.
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: As stated above, the Dothraki title for him would effectively be "The Stallion Who Fucks the World". Had he been born, things would probably not have been good for the Westerosi.

Tropes:

• Affably Evil: Pycelle describes him as something of a charmer. From the books...
  when Aerys was first crowned, he was pretty normal. It was only as time went on that the crazy set in.
• Ax Crazy
• The Caligula: Was known as "The Mad King" and apparently had a penchant for killing people in nasty ways.
• Kill It with Fire: His last words were "Burn them all." Also, that's how he killed Ned's father.
• In-Series Nickname: Known by many as "The Mad King", and with good reason. From the books...
  He was also known as "King Scab" because he constantly cut himself with the blades of the Iron Throne.
• In the Blood/Royally Screwed Up: His insanity was passed on to Viserys, and he himself probably inherited it from three hundred years of Brother-Sister Incest.
• Hearing Voices: Renly says that he used to burn women and children because the voices in his head told him to.
• Madness Mantra: "Burn them all."
• Memetic Monster: Aerys' madness was so horrifying that it reached very horrifying memetic levels in-universe. He's now the go-to comparison for when you really want to offend someone, or want to make a really dramatic point. This is shown a few throughout the show - Firstly, when Ned Stark says that Robert's and his council will be little better than the Mad King should they kill Daenerys and her unborn child. The second time is when Cersei is on the brink of an emotional breakdown, recognising that her incestuous affair with Jaime has created another Aerys.
• One-Winged Angel: According to Jaime, his lunacy got to the point that during his downfall he believed he would turn into a dragon if he were burned alive with his subjects.
• Posthumous Character: Jaime killed him at the end of Robert's Rebellion.
• Pyro Maniac: See Kill It with Fire.
• Taking You with Me: He intended for his pyromancers to burn all of King's Landing to the ground and kill everyone in it to spite Robert.
• Villainous Breakdown: He completely lost it when his defeat was imminent.
• Villainous Incest: Rhaegar, Daenerys, and Viserys are the products of his marriage to his sister. He was the product of incest himself, which probably didn't make him any saner.

Tropes:

• Alternate Character Interpretation: In-universe and out of it. Daenerys obviously doesn't think he was as evil as Robert says and Robert tends to be something of an unreliable source for information on the Targaryens. From the books...
  Various people from all different factions speak very highly of Rhaegar and, even though it was his sister who died, Ned never gives any sign of bearing Rhaegar a grudge. In fact, Robert and Bran (and what does he know?) are the only ones who explicitly claim Rhaegar kidnapped and raped Lyanna.
• Arch-Enemy: Robert Baratheon viewed him as this.
• I Have Your Betrothed: His kidnapping of Robert Baratheon's betrothed Lyanna Stark (probably in combination with his father's penchant for burning his liege lords) is what started Robert's Rebellion.
• Posthumous Character: He died near the end of Robert's Rebellion.
• Warrior Prince: He is implied as this by Jorah Mormont, who refers to him as "the real Dragon" of the Targaryen family at the time of the Rebellion. Robert turned out to be a far better one when they met, though.
• The Wise Prince: According to Ser Barristan
  When your brother Rhaegar led his men at the battle of the Trident, men died for him because they believed in him. Because they loved him. I fought beside the last dragon that day, my grace.

Tropes:

• Beast of Battle: He introduced the concept of using dragons as weapons of war to Westeros.
• Dragon Rider: His personal dragon was Balerion "the Black Dread", the biggest dragon ever known. He forged the Iron Throne by melting down the swords of Aegon's enemies, and is one of the dragons that turned Harrenhal into the blasted ruin it is now. From the books...
  Balerion's wingspan is said to have been so wide that entire towns fell under his shadow when he passed over. Together with the other two Targaryen war dragons, he burnt 4000 men alive with Aegon atop him in the battle during the War of Conquest that became known as the "Field of Fire".
• Famed in Story: Remembered in a positive light as founder of the realm by many, his conquest ended the independence of the Seven Kingdoms and while many of the houses were downgraded to Lord Paramounts, others were elevated. From the books...
  The first Baratheon was a general in Aegon's army, Dorne wasn't conquered and only joined the realm peacefully two centuries later, the Lannisters were defeated and bent the knee, the Tyrells benefitted from the destruction of House Gardener and the Starks and the Tullys negotiated favorable terms. The greatest losers still standing after the war were the Ironborn.
• Founder Of The Kingdom: Unifier of the realm, founder of King's Landing and maker of the Iron Throne.
• Hollywood History / Historical Badass Upgrade: In-universe, he is remembered as the founder of the realm, while his sisters' part in the conquest tends to be sidelined.
• In-Series Nickname: Known as "Aegon the Conqueror" for subjugating six of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros into one realm, making him the single-most succesful named conqueror in the history of the series. From the books...
  He's also known as "Aegon the Dragon".
• Outside Context Villain: To the seven divided kingdoms he invaded, though not to Houses Tyrell and Tully, whom he elevated to their current ranks.
• Posthumous Character: Not surprising, since he lived 300 years before the start of the story.

Tropes:

• Adaptation Dye Job: Described as dark-haired and balding in the books, but played by blond Iain Glen.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: Ser Jorah Mormont is explicitly described in the book as "not a handsome man." Iain Glen, on the other hand, is quite appealing.
• Badass: His duel with Qotho, Drogo's bloodrider, has him overcome his opponent's superior speed by trapping his sword in his breastplate with one hand and cutting his throat with his free hand.
  • Badass Baritone
  • Badass Beard
• Becoming the Mask: Originally traveling with Daenerys and Viseyrs as an informant of Varys seeking to earn a pardon from Robert Baratheon. Gradually, he falls in love with Dany, defending her life on several occasions, and becoming a key ally in her plan to retake the Seven Kingdoms, even after he has secured his pardon.
• Bodyguard Crush: He develops one for Daenerys.
  • Viserys calls him out on it in "A Golden Crown."
  Viserys: You stand there all nobility and honor. You don't think I see you looking at my little sister, hm? Don't think I don't know what you want.
  • Daenerys notices too:
  Jorah: Don't ask me to stand aside as you climb on that pyre. I won't watch you burn!
  Daenerys: Is that what you fear? [kisses him on the cheek]
  • Further referenced in "The Ghost of Harrenhal." Daxos says it outright to Dany that Jorah is in love with her, and Jorah himself all but admits it outright when they speak together later.
• Combat Pragmatist: Has no qualms about fighting an unarmored foe with his armor on, and in fact makes that a principle piece of his strategy to win the fight.
  • In season 3, he begins counseling Daenerys to take a more pragmatic approach to her campaign to retake Westeros, without concern for the morality of her actions, in opposition to the more idealistic advice given by Barristan Selmy.
• Culture Clash: While the Dothraki call him "the Andal," the Mormonts are actually blood of the First Men. The Andals are the Saxon invaders to the original Briton occupants of Westeros.From the books...
  The Andals were a second migration thousands of years after the First Men, bringing (among other things) the seven-in-one god you hear about. They settled primarily in the south of Westeros, and their influence is not felt much above the Neck; northerners claim to descend solely from the First Men, keep the "old gods" by worshipping at a heart tree, and generally do not become knighted because the Faith of the Seven invented that office.
• Disproportionate Retribution: His exile for the crimes he committed, in his mind at least.
• The Dragon/The Lancer: To Daenerys.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • Revealed in "The Wolf and the Lion" to be spying on Daenerys on behalf of Varys.
  • In "You Win or You Die," he protects Daenerys from an assassination that he was the indirect cause of.
• Everyone Can See It: In-universe, everyone and their mums seems to be aware that he's got a crush on Daenerys.
• The Exile
  • Felony Misdemeanor: One could seriously make this argument. Considering that other nobles in Westeros routinely partake in murder and torture, getting sentenced to death for selling a couple of poachers into slavery seems downright tame in comparison! *
    Particularly since one of Ned Stark's own bannermen is the Bastard of Bolton, who skins people for fun! That said, it's very clear that slavery is Serious Business in Westeros as far as crime goes. Even the Ironborn go through some effort to distinguish their thralls from slaves, and are disgusted with the practice.
• Friendly Rivalry/Friendly Enemy: With Barristan Selmy. They both have much in common and are quite similar in terms of character, but each has his issues with the other. And while always friendly or at least polite with one another, they're both quite frank in expressing their reservations about the other.
• I Choose to Stay: He chooses to remain by Daenerys' side even after being pardoned and allowed to return by King Robert.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Was the second into the breach at the Siege of Pyke, behind Thoros with his flaming sword. He was knighted by the King himself for his bravery.
• The Mole: Originally, to Varys. He later becomes the mask and serves Daenerys loyally.
• Mr. Exposition: As a seasoned advisor and mentor, one of his roles consists in providing information to Daenerys, who is a newcomer.
• Perma Stubble
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: After Barristan Selmy joins Daenerys, Jorah becomes the Red to his Blue.
• You Can't Go Home Again: He sold some poachers into slavery and fled rather than facing Ned Stark over it. Subverted, as informing on Daenerys has earned him a royal pardon. Which he's ignored so far to continue serving Daenerys.

Tropes:

• The Atoner: He considers himself as having failed the Targaryens, and swears himself to Daenerys' Queensguard to remedy that.
• Badass: Regarded by both viewers and characters as the most badass person in the series. And that's saying something.
  • Badass Beard: In season 3.
  • Badass Boast: Note his above quote and note that his says this to his fellow Kingsguard brothers.
  • Badass Grandpa: Roughly 60 years old, gray haired, and has served three separate kings, but he is still considered a complete badass and is treated with reverence by anyone with sense. When he is forcibly retired he pointedly mentions that he could cut his way through the other five Kingsguard members present if he wanted to, "like carving a cake."
  • Memetic Badass: In-universe. Watch the Kingsguard freak out when he draws his sword in anger. After he had taken off his breastplate.
  Jaime: He was a painter. A painter who only used red.
  • Retired Badass: After being removed from the Kingsguard by Joffrey to make room for the Hound. Until season 3, that is.
• Big Damn Heroes: In the season 3 premiere, he shows up just in time to save Daenerys from an assassin.
• Composite Character: It's really subtle, but some of his attributes, namely the admiration Ned and Jaime have for him, seems to be taken from Jaime's mentor in the books, Memetic Badass Ser Arthur Dayne, the "Sword of the Morning". Jaime squiring for Ser Barristan comes from him squiring to Lord Sumner Crakehall
• Cool Old Guy: Honorable, pleasant, and just a generally decent person in a very screwed up world.
• Defector from Decadence: Though he was also one after taking Robert's pardon after the Rebellion
• Due to the Dead: When Ser Hugh gets killed, Barristan stands vigil for him a whole night, establishing early on that he is not like the average scumbag who serves in the Kingsguard.
• Friendly Rivalry/Friendly Enemy: With Jorah Mormont.
• He's Back: In the final scene of the season 3 premiere, he appears as a mysterious cloaked figure who appears to be preparing to kill Daenerys, which becomes a Stab the Scorpion when he instead saves her from the real assassin, and reveals his identity.
• Honor Before Reason: Why he rejects Cersei's retirement offer; as a member of the Kingsguard, he's sworn for life.
• I Let Robert Baratheon Die: He took his failure to protect the drunken Robert from the boar pretty hard, despite Robert ordering him to stand aside and Ned telling him it wasn't his fault.
• In the Hood: In the season 3 premiere, where he shows up to save Daenerys from an assassin. Doubles as a medieval Conspicuous Trenchcoat.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Quite possibly the straightest example in the series.
  • This becomes especially clear after he joins Daenerys, and his advising her to morally correct choices contrasts with Jorah's more coldly pragmatic suggestions.
• Master Swordsman: Ned mentions being glad they never met in combat, as the widow's life wouldn't suit Catelyn.
• My King Right Or Wrong: As Kingsguard, he is sworn to serve the ruling king. In effect, this meant he once served the Targayens, and following their defeat, accepted a pardon from Robert Baratheon and served him loyally. Despite his misgivings about Joffrey he would have served him loyally had he not been dismissed.
  • Also the reason why he did nothing to aid Rickard and Brandon Stark when they were cruelly and unjustly executed by the Mad King, even though he considered it a horrific crime.
• Old Master
• Old Soldier: He's one of the oldest active soldiers, as he's a veteran of three previous wars.
• Praetorian Guard: Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. Or at least he was before he was coerced into "retiring".
• Pragmatic Adaptation: In the books, his identity is hidden for a while after joining Daenerys, since she's never met him before and he uses the alias Arstan Whitebeard. In the show, people who hadn't read the books would still recognize the actor, or have forgotten the character entirely so that a later reveal would have no impact, so he reveals his true identity right away.
• Put on a Bus: In Season 2.
  • The Bus Came Back: In Season 3.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Becomes the Blue to Jorah's Red after joining Daenerys.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Cersei tries to have him retire to a nice seaside castle. He tells her where she can shove it before storming out. And no-one tries to stop him either, they're clearly too afraid to try.
• Sixth Ranger: And a supremely awesome one at that.
• The Smart Guy: Of all Daenerys' loyalists, Ser Barristan has by far the closest ties to Westeros, making him extremely valuable for more than just his proficiency with violence.
• Stab The Manticore: His first appearance in Season 3.
• Worthy Opponent: When he served the Mad King, Ned Stark apparently considered him this, holding him no ill will now they are on the same side and openly confessing he is glad they never met in combat, as he didn't feel that "a widow's life would suit [Catelyn]." Ser Barristan reciprocates the feeling, telling him that he's too modest and that he thinks that he's also a great warrior. He also says that he's seen Ned cut down 'a dozen great knights', probably at the Trident.

Tropes:

• Armor Is Useless: He believes a Dothraki would defeat an armored knight in a duel because of speed and freedom of movement. Ser Jorah's duel with Qotho convinces him otherwise.
• Composite Character: He seems to be two of Dany's Dothraki bodyguards (Jhogo, the whip, and Rakharo, the arek) combined into one man. The character was originally going to be called Jhogo, but executives thought it sounded too similar to Drogo and changed it to Rakharo to avoid confusion.
• Death by Adaptation: Possibly forced by the actor, since he was scheduled to play a role in the film version of ''World War Z'
• Decapitation Presentation: Barely avoided in "The Night Lands" - He is decapitated, but his head is left covered by those who find it.
• Killed Off for Real
• My Khaleesi Right Or Wrong: Is visibly hesitant about the decisions Dany makes, especially when she goes against Dothraki culture, but remains loyal nonetheless.
• Praetorian Guard: As bloodrider
• Stuffed into the Fridge
• Tempting Fate: Before he leaves looking for cities beyond the Red Waste.
• Whip It Good: In addition to the arakh he's also good with a whip.

Tropes:

• Badass
  • Badass Beard
• Canon Foreigner/Expy: In place of Jhogo.
• Composite Character: Might be a combination of the Jhogo and Rakharo traits that were not used in Rakharo.
• Demoted to Extra: To the point he hasn't been seen in Season 3
• Fish out of Water: In Qarth, much like the other Dothraki.
• Praetorian Guard: As bloodrider.
• Remember the New Guy
• Sticky Fingers: Even after Daenerys commands him not to steal anything from their host, Xaro Xhoan Daxos, he takes a golden wine chalice, dumps the wine and takes the chalice
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Rakharo.

Tropes:

• Demoted to Extra: Dropped from season 1, appears in one single scene in season 2
• Put On A Horse
• Remember the New Guy
• Praetorian Guard

Tropes:

• Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Rakharo. Turns into Love Hurts when he is killed in Season 2.
• Composite Character: In the books she is one half of a Those Two Gals combo with fellow handmaiden Jhiqui; on the show, Jhiqui seems largely an extra, while Irri has gained a lot more personality.
• Deadpan Snarker: In her interactions with Rakharo.
• Death by Adaptation
• Fish out of Water: At least in Qarth.
• Heroic BSOD: When Rakharo's horse returns, with his head stuffed inside a bag. She breaks down because, since his body hasn't been burned, he won't be able to cross over to the 'Night Lands' the afterlife in Dothraki belief.
• Hyper Awareness: Realizes Daenerys is pregnant before she is showing.
• Insistent Terminology: When Doreah says that Daenerys will look like a Princess in the dress that Xaro Xhoan Daxos has given her, Irri corrects her. Daenerys is a Khaleesi (Queen), not a Princess.
• Ironic Echo: In the deleted scene where she's murdered, Doreah taunts her with her own catchphrase as she crushes her windpipe, after casually commenting on the strange dichotomy of pain and pleasure that people experience whilst being strangled. "It is known!"
• Promoted to Love Interest: After some heavy flirtation in the first season, Irri and Rakharo were confirmed to be lovers in season two. Not that we saw any interaction with them anymore. In the books, both Irri and Jhiqui are both attracted to Rakharo, but nothing else happens.
• My Khaleesi Right Or Wrong: Like Rakharo, she seems often less than thrilled with Daenerys' decisions, but still remains faithfully at her side.
• Servile Snarker
• Stuffed into the Fridge

Tropes:

• Adaptation Dye Job: Described as blonde and blue-eyed in the books.
• Adaptational Villainy: In the books, she's loyal to Dany to the extent where Dany stops her Khalasar in the Red Wastes so she can die in peace. In the series, she willingly betrays Dany to Xaro and, in a deleted scene, even murders Irri.
  • In her commentary on the season 2 finale, Emilia Clarke states that there was another deleted scene where she explained her reasons for betraying Dany, clearly speaking directly to the people who were upset about this change, which appears to happen for little motivation in the final product. Unfortunately, she doesn't go into detail on what those reasons were.
• Bare Your Midriff
• Bi the Way
• Composite Character: In a way, with Shae from the books. While the Shae from the series is the book character in name only, Doreah plays the character's book role of a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing playing the part of a Hooker with a Heart of Gold, who eventually betrays a POV character when a better opportunity comes along. She's also Killed Off for Real because of this betrayal.
• Face Heel Turn: Pays dearly for it.
• Happiness in Slavery
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Ultimately subverted.
• Made a Slave: Sold to a brothel at age nine.
• Sealed Room in the Middle of Nowhere: Her final fate.
• Sex Slave
• Spared by the Adaptation: Subverted. In the books, she dies in the Red Waste, which doesn't happen to her in the show. However, Season 2 ends with her trapped in Xaro's vault with no prospect of escape.

• Beard of Barbarism
• Canon Foreigner/Expy: His name is never mentioned in the books. He may be an expy of Rommo, an aged Dothraki warrior of Dany's khalasar.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: In Season 3 seemingly.
• Old Warrior
• The Quiet One

Tropes:

• Adapted Out/Chuck Cunningham Syndrome
• Catch Phrase: "It is known."
• Demoted to Extra: She only appeared one episode in a single scene.

Tropes:

• Age Lift: In the books Missandei is around ten years old. Nathalie Emmanuel is in her early twenties.
• Beautiful Slave Girl
• Completely Unnecessary Translator: All that Tactful Translation turns out to be unnecessary after all. It does however likely save Missandei's life since it shows Daenerys that the girl has brains and cunning.
• Conditioned To Accept Horror: Hardly bats an eye at Kraznys cutting off the nipple of an Unsullied in order to make a point.
• Cunning Linguist: Speaks fluent Common Tongue as well as High Valyrian and Dothraki. In "Second Sons" it is revealed she speaks 19 languages
• Expository Hairstyle Change: After becoming Daenerys' handmaiden.
• Go-Go Enslavement/Ms. Fanservice: Not as obvious, but her slave outfit does show off her legs and cleavage. Given her job, it would make sense that she would be dressed as sexy as possible to cause Distracted by the Sexy in Kraznys' clients. Once she joins Daenerys this changes.
• Hyper Competent Sidekick: Seems to be a much more competent negotiator than her master, though she occasionally has trouble translating around her master's crudities.
• Slave Collar: Part of her outfit, which she lost when she was given to Daenerys.
• Stripperific: Another thing that's changed since joining Daenerys; she now dresses much more modestly.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To the late Irri
• Tactful Translation: Missandei supplies these for her master, Kraznys, in his dealings with Dany, wherein she translates around his constant crude insults of Dany.
• Third-Person Person: Like all slaves, she refers to herself as "This one".

Tropes:

• Adaptational Attractiveness: In the books he's described as stocky and square; Jacob Anderson is neither of these.
• Ambiguously Brown
• Appropriated Appelation: His name was given to him by his masters as an insult. He chooses to keep his name even after Dany allows him to pick a new one. In his mind, Grey Worm is a sacred name since it belongs to a man who has been freed from slavery.
• The Captain: Chosen by the Unsullied officers as their commander.
• Undying Loyalty: To Dany.

Tropes:

• Adaptational Attractiveness/Pragmatic Adaptation: Instead of the dyed blue hair and golden tooth Tv Naario has more conventional good looks
• All Men Are Perverts: He makes no secret of his lust to Daenerys when they meet. And he kills his two fellow leaders and pledges his entire army to Daenerys because he wants her for himself.
• Badass Longhair
• Blood Knight: He believes that the gods gave two sources of pleasure to man: fucking a woman who wants to fuck him and killing a man who wants to kill him.
• Cool Sword: The hilts of his arakh and dagger are shaped like naked women
• The Hedonist
• Klingon Promotion
• Loveable Rogue
• The Starscream: to Mero and Prendahl

Tropes:

• All There In The Books. Their names: Drogon (black and red), Rhaegal (green) and Viserion (bronze).
• Badass Adorable: They've always been pretty damned cute, and now, as of the Season 2 finale, they are undeniably Badass.
• Breath Weapon: Fiery breath
• Cool Pet
• Demoted to Extra: Viserion and Rhaegal when compared with Drogon... leads to:
  • Those Two Guys
• Mama Bear: While Daenerys is this for them, they also invert it. They will snap at anyone who so much as insults their "mother".
• Our Dragons Are Different: They don't have six limbs, only four (wings and hind legs), they don't talk, and they only eat cooked meat
• Parrot Pet Position: In Season 2, though they've grown substantially between seasons (though its has been only some weeks between the two) and now they are too big to do that.
• Pet Monstrosity: To some. Daenerys and her khalasar seem to love them, though.
• Shoulder-Sized Dragon: At first. As of season three, Drogon is closer to the size of a medium-to-large dog.
• Theme Naming: Each of the dragons are named after a deceased relative of Daenarys - Drogon is her dead husband Drogo; Rhaegal is her brother, "The Last Dragon" Rhaegar; and Viserion is her other brother Viserys.