WMG / A Song Of Ice And Fire Daenerys

This Page is for all Daenerys focused Theories. For theories she shares with others, see if she's the main focus of the theory before putting it here.

Daenerys will refuse the Iron Throne.

There's plenty of evidence to be found here. For one, she is infertile, meaning that if she were to win the throne, she'd just bring back all the trouble that the lack of a certain heirs has caused already. She's been a queen too, meaning she knows the horrors of the feudal system better than anyone. Also, the Iron Throne was forged by dragonfire, and so it shall be destroyed. She'll probably start Westeros on the road to democracy.

• Well, she might try, anyway. Danaerys' plans tend not to go that well.
• Come to think of it, Dany accepting the Iron Throne, with no chance of an heir, could be an interesting way to end ASoIaF. Leaving us with the knowledge that history is doomed to repeat itself once she dies would fit in well with the general cynicism of the series.
• You don't need a biological child to be heir: Dany could always adopt.
  • Perhaps but adopting is not nearly as strong a guarantee as a biological child in this kind of system.
    • Only if people knew her heir was adopted. She could concoct an elaborate charade where she pretends to be pregnant for about 9 months, then "gives birth" and passes off some low-born bastard child as her own. Or, she could adopt an infant before invading Westeros. Without DNA testing to prove the parentage, what basis could the Lords of Westeros possibly use to challenge her "heir's" claim to the throne?
    • ....Don't Esoss or Asshai have maegi to fix that?
• There are hints that she might not actually be infertile: at the end of aDwD, she notes that her period is unusually heavy. An early-term miscarriage could easily be mistaken as an extra-heavy flow. You have to be pregnant in the first place to have a miscarriage...
  • She might be able to become pregnant, but if she can't carry it to term, then that's pretty much the same deal.
    • There's no evidence she can't carry to term yet. A lot of women have early-term miscarriages without any severe damage to their bodies, and simply miscarrying one baby doesn't mean she can't successfully have another.

Daenerys will confront Jaime

It's only fair that Dany gets a chance to confront one of the people who brought down her family. Especially the one who killed her father.

• "It's only fair"? Please remember where we are. Nothing "fair" ever happens in ASOIAF . . .
  • Exactly. Of COURSE there'll be a confrontation: just as soon as there's finally a chance for a lasting peace, they'll run into each other at precisely the right moment to send events spiralling off in the worst direction possible.
• Alternatively, circumstances could allow Dany and Jaime to meet, and for Jaime to give a thorough explanation of her father's true nature to her once and for all. And unlike Sir Barristan, he wouldn't attempt to spare her feelings about it.
• Imagine this confrontation between the two:
  Daenerys: Kingslayer, for the punishment of killing my father, you shall be put to death.
  Jaime: A wise ruler might treat injustice with mercy.
  Daenerys: I choose to treat injustice with justice.
  Jaime: And what justice would you give to a man who ordered the death of thousands?

Daenerys Targaryen is not Daenerys Targaryen.

She's Jon Snow's sister from Rhaegar and Lyanna. We still don't know the secret between Lyanna and Ned (although it's accepted that it's Ned looks after her son, Jon) but what if it were more than that? Lyanna might have had two children from Rhaegar, one who took after her, Jon, and another that took after Rhaegar, Dany. Ned took in Jon, being able to realistically pass off that Jon was his son, but could not take in Dany without it being obvious of her Targaryen parentage.Facts:

1. Lyanna was found in the Tower of Joy, in the Kingdom of Dorne.

2. The events in the Tower of Joy took place less than a year before Daenerys' birth at sea, so the two children would be similar in age.

3. While staying at the house with the red door, Willem Darry was visited by an accompaniment including Oberyn Martell at an undeterminable amount of time after their arrival in Braavos.

The real Daenerys died shortly after her birth. Ned went to Oberyn Martell and Doran Martell with Lyanna's child (maybe claiming it as Elia's) and requested she be placed in protection overseas with the other Targaryen children to prevent Robert's wrath. When she was taken to Braavos and it was learned that the real Daenerys died, he and Willem arranged to pass her off as the real Daenerys in the event of Viserys' death as a bastard could not inherit the throne. This also explains Ned's adamancy that Robert not kill Daenerys, as she was actually his bastard niece. This may help or hinder Jon/Dany shippers, as they would be full siblings.

Daenerys won't survive the series.

• If you're about to say "like he would really do it," please take a moment to remember where we are. Raise your hands if you thought the same regarding Ned and Robb Stark. There have already been subtle hints that Daenerys, despite having Taken Several Levels In Badass, still isn't quite nasty enough for this world. I grant, she has thus far proven to be a very difficult person to dispose of, but none of the majors players in Westeros are actively seeking her death; she's not important enough. Once she tries to actually invade Westeros, she's in for a nasty shock. After managing to cause a healthy dose of mayhem, confusion, and consternation, she'll end up being demolished the minute someone sends her dragons to the Void.
  • The released chapter of her shows her getting rather used to Assassination attacks and learning to be a good fair ruler while still being rather ruthless. She also has Tyrion, Quentyn Martell, Victarion Greyjoy all heading toward her. Tyrion is his father's son to the point of shooting his father in the crotch with a crossbow...
  • I think Dany may die before the end of the series, because she was prophesized to have three betrayals in her life. What kind of monarch is only betrayed three times? ...A monarch with a short life. Wildly guessing here, but it seems possible the third betrayal will kill her.
  • I've been assuming this almost has to be the case, if only because of the constant emphasis on how she's barren. A queen who returned to Westeros, conquered, and reestablished the ancient dynasty only to die childless because she cannot produce an heir would only plunge the kingdom back into anarchy and civil war a generation later. The mythological overtones of the story almost require a new king who can found a new, stronger dynasty that will be able to thrive for hundreds (if not thousands) of years.
    • Plus, to throw in the "Martin started writing this series based off the Wars of the Roses" angle, as the exiled and returning spawn of the old kings, she doesn't really fit the role of Henry Tudor. Jon is a far better fit, (likely) being the fusion of both the ancient blood of the Kings of the North and the ruling blood of the dragon kings.

Tyrion will join Dany.

• Related to the above, he's smart enough to keep her alive. I could even imagine them being married (whether or not they have sex is something else entirely, but as a co-ruler, she could do a lot worse).

Daenerys will be tricked by the Martells into destroying their enemies.

• Fact, The Martells support Dany. Fact, they're sending an suitor to treat with her. Fact, the Lannisters killed Dany's family. Opinion, Dany being duped into killing (mostly) innocent people is a great way for her to get into mega-mad queen mode, also it would teach her the Targaryens weren't great people, and that people will use her.

Daenerys' return to Westeros will be an Anti-Climax

• This strikes me as the kind of thing GRRM would do. I'm probably wrong (I've not read book four yet), but I can't say I'd be surprised if Daenerys gets home either to find it's an absolute wreck and there'll be no fighting involved, the people reject her outright for some reason, her dragons die of magic swine flu or something like that.
  • The most likely way this will happen is probably this: when she meets up with Euron Crow's-Eye, he uses his magic dragon horn, but instead of putting the dragons under his control, it causes them to go mad, and they kill him and Dany.

Daenerys will marry Tommen

Assuming Martin plans on ending the series on a stable note, this is the only possible outcome. Jon is the natural candidate of course, seeing as he and Dany are GRRM's pet characters, but at this point Winterfell is practically nonexistent, and holds no political power. This rules out Bran, too. Marrying Tommen is the only peaceful solution that will satisfy Dany and her army (which by this point could crush Westeros without breaking a sweat) and not involve murdering every other protagonist in the book.

• That's far from the only "stable" outcome. In fact, one could actually argue that it wouldn't be a stable outcome at all, since it would leave a queen who cannot bear heirs on the throne, while failing to resolve any number of other pretty significant issues (Tommen isn't truly of the blood of kings, he's supposed to die soon anyway according to Cersei's prophecy, simply having Daenerys come back doesn't actually work in the narrative context because it's a reimposition of the old order, rather than the birth of a new one, etc). Jon's ass is pretty much destined to wind up on that throne, with huge odds that neither Tommen or Daenerys survive the next two books. It can go multiple ways (Daenerys discovers Jon is her nephew and they marry, or conversely, Jon is revealed to be Rhaegar's heir and the kingdom acknowledges him, and then he either takes Dany's place (and her dragons) when she dies, or actively becomes a rival to her). Jon is almost certainly the fusion of old and new blood, and is pretty much poetically destined to eventually rule.
  • Side-note - even his oath doesn't necessarily preclude becoming king - if he dies and is reborn, his death would end his oath.

• Dany's army could certainly not 'crush Westeros without breaking a sweat'. She has Dothraki calvalry, a load of sellswords and the elite Unsullied Legion(s), but without a significant alliance with at least one of the Great Houses (and preferably more than one), her forces would probably be bled to the bone during her first siege attempt - which by itself would tie up a third to half her forces while she waits for whichever castle it is to fall. The warriors that make up Dany's army are very good at what they do, but there are many different facets of warfare, and the Westerosi use of heavy armor and fortifications could toss a spanner in the works of any plans she has for complete conquest. At this point, her dragons are as likely to kill her own men as they are the other side.
  • TV!Robert explained the true threat Dany poses; her army can't successfully besiege a castle, but if she leaves the castles alone and goes on a scorched earth campaign against everyone who can't hide behind stone walls, it's only a matter of time until the people decide they'd rather have her as their leader than the nobles who abandoned them to hide in their fortresses. Better to be at the devil's side than in her path, as it were. Whether or not Dany would be smart enough to come up with this plan, or have the will to go through with it if she did are different questions, however.
    • Correction, on the show it is talked about how a Dothraki army do not lay effective siege and that no sane commander would engage them in the field, but that the counter point to this argument was that they would start a scorched earth campaign that would force the king and his nobles to engage them for political reasons. that has nothing to do with an army of unsullied, the men-at-arms Selmy is training, and the mercenary companies in her employ. on top of that, the golden company, one of, if not the most, highly trained and respected mercenary company has landed and has sacked at least one castle and i think we can agree that they would be receptive of Dany, giving her an influx of elite troops and a staging area. So assuming she isn't raped and enslaved by the khalasar that finds her at the end of ADWD and she some how ends up leading them she should have a very good sized army and a great chance to really make a dent if she ever leaves Essos.
    • It's worth remembering that the threat posed by Dothraki is a mix of Unreliable Narrator and Easy Logistics thinking. All this discussion of what Dothraki could do if they reached Westeros ignores how they're supposed to reach Westeros in the first place, when they own no ships of their own and get seasick if they try to sail (as shown in Chapter 8 of A Storm of Swords). The most likely outcome of a Dothraki invasion is the Dothraki's fleet (of ships they can't properly sail) getting completely sunk in a naval Curb-Stomp Battle. Westerosi characters (besides Ned) fearing the Dothraki can be chalked up to them not actually understanding the Dothraki's limitations (and for characters like Renly, for example, they might just not care enough to disagree with Robert). Dany could only be a threat to Westeros because of having non-Dothraki troops as well. Lastly, the Golden Company is by no means guaranteed to side with Dany. There's even a WMG that Dany and Aegon VI will come into conflict, and since the Golden Company serves the latter...

Daenerys has the pale mare

In her last chapter in ADWD, it's described that she has massive, painful diarrhea, and she wakes up with blood on her thighs, which she interprets as being her period. Some theories state that she was pregnant but miscarried, but I think that's just a red herring, being that diarrhea and bloody feces are repeatedly stated to be symptoms of the bloody flux, which she could easily have caught while visiting Meereen's plague slums. The supposed Targaryen immunity to disease could easily have been a mistaken boast she heard from Viserys. Either the Dothraki have an easy cure for the pale mare, or she'll die early in The Winds of Winter.

• More likely she was that she was pregnant and accidently aborted Daario's child by eating certain berries. Mirri pointed out that Dany wouldn't be pregnant again until certain conditions were met. Of course, Dany thought that the conditions were impossible to meet, but the sun did rise in the west and set in the east (Quentyn dying in Meereen), the mountains did crumble (the dragons burning the pyramids of Meereen), and the seas did dry up (the Dothraki sea is undergoing a drought).
• Wouldn't that mean that Drogo is going to come back to life?
  • Unless it just means that she's going to find love again with someone capable of filling Drogo's shoes (i.e. not Daario.)
  • Lets go with Drogo coming back to life as that would be more awesome.
  • Drogo reborn = Victarion?
  • No! None of THAT! SHAME ON YOU! Drogo would materialize out of smoke and salt made of pure badasstanium.
• Bloody feces wouldn't lead to blood on her thighs. It would be mixed with, well, feces, and she'd have to be laying on her stomach for it to be on her thighs well enough to mistake it for a period. A lot of blood doesn't necessarily mean she miscarried/aborted, either; the first day of a period can be VERY heavy, and they tend to do weird things when a woman's diet is bad (like living solely on charred, half-cooked meat). Sometimes, a period is just a period.
  • I took it to mean that she had her period, but that she was now CAPABLE of bearing a child. She says she can't remember the last time she had her period, and if all of the above fufillments of the prophecy are true, she can get pregnant.
• Looks more like a miscarriage. Dany says she doesn't remember exactly, but thinks its been a couple of moons (ie months). Also her last periods were synched with the full moon, but this current heavy flow occurs at the crescent moon. All this is consistent with a miscarriage somewhere in the first trimester.
• 'Bloody flux' is the name of a historical illness and a real world symptom. Specifically, it refers to the purging of the body when someone is in the last stage of dying of extreme starvation. It was assumed it was an actual illness that died out until it was seen again in areas like the Sudan. So, for Dany, she probably is not about to drop dead from starvation.
  • "Flux" is an old-timey term for dysentery: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysentery. The "pale mare" is similar to real diseases like cholera, typhus, etc. many of which have bloody diarrhea as a symptom. Starvation can cause similar symptoms but is not all that relevant here except that malnutrition weakens the immune system. The original theory is plausible.
• She doesn't just wake up with blood on her thighs. It keeps coming, and she's surprised by how heavy the flow is. She repeatedly identifies it as her period. Do you really think she can't tell which body orifice the blood is coming from?

Dany really can't have kids

Mirri Maz Duur wasn't making a prophecy, she was giving the educated guess of an experienced midwife who saw firsthand the damage Rhaego's birth did to Dany. Exact wording is usually pretty important in the books, and Mirri's exact words were that Daenerys would never bear a living child. Being able to concieve and being able to carry the pregnancy to term are two different things- look at Lysa's track record.

Daenerys will march on Harrenhal with the dragons. Or even just one or two of the dragons.

Like Aegon the Conqueror.

Dany's return to westeros will be A Big Surprisingly Realistic Outcome.

She missed the opportunity to conquer, Aegon has or will gain the support and thanks to Cersei no-one wants a woman.

There'll be a diplomatic incident involving Daenerys and "The bear and the maiden fair"

Everybody in Westeros seems to be constantly singing it, but Dany didn't grow up there. So when she hears the lyrics for the first time, she'll take them to be about Ser Jorah and herself - cue interesting insights into a paranoid queen.

Daenerys will never return to Westeros.

Instead, she will conquer Essos and reestablish the Valyrian Freehold. She can hardly abandon Meereen now, and the only way the war in Slaver's Bay can end is with one side crushing the other; that's clear now. Once that's done, the obvious next target is Volantis; remember that woman in Volantis, the Widow of the Waterfront, who gave Ser Jorah a message for Dany, on behalf of the slaves of Volantis: "Tell her we are waiting. Tell her to come soon." Once Dany takes Volantis, the obvious next step is to do what the Volantenes wanted Aegon the Conqueror to do, long ago: conquer the other free cities and reestablish the Freehold of Valyria. This will end up being ASoIaF's version of the Holy Roman Empire, as the Valyrian Freehold was its version of the Roman Empire.

Daenerys will become the ruler of a humongous, multi-cultural empire that goes all the way from Meereen to Westeros

• Because she was already our Alexander the Great expy anyway. And it will be named Targarya.
  • She will then die, and her empire will fragment almost immediately afterward.
  • Just so long as she doesn't found hundreds of cities named Daeneria or whatever narcissistic name she comes up with.

Dany will accidentally obliterate King's Landing as soon as she makes it to Westeros

Martin's last trolling will be the biggest one. Daenerys and her dragons will finally make it to Westeros after nearly 3 decades and 7 books. However, as soon as she takes King's Landing she'll place one of her ill-behaved dragons in the wrong dungeon and it will unearth and fire one of the wildfire pots laid down decades ago by the Mad King. The ensuing chain reaction will destroy King's Landing, kill Daenerys and the three dragons before she even learns of the White Walker threat. This new Doom will turn the Westerosi realm into another myth of old like Valyria.

Daenerys will sacrifice herself and her dragons to save Westeros

By the end of the series, the Others will make it past the wall and lay waste to Westeros. And since magic is tied to the dragons, at the end she will have to sacrifice herself and her dragons to save Westeros, and remove all magic from the world in the process.

A Grand Unified Theory of Daenerys Targaryen's future exploits

Daenerys has now spent five books in Essos, slowly growing in power and learning how to be a queen. It's long due for her to make her expedition to Westeros reality, but she's been adamant that she won't leave Meereen until she can be reasonably certain that its people are going to be safe for the time being. I believe that many of the elements that allow her to leave are quickly coming together in A Dance With Dragons:

First, she will defeat Khal Jhago and his bloodriders personally with Drogon's help, and suddenly the khalasar figures out that she might be worth following, after all. They set off back to Meereen, luring Drogon with lame horses and other easy prey. Meanwhile Victarion's fleet reaches the city and engages in naval battle with the forces of Volantis and Qarth. Victarion has one of his crew use the Horn of Valyria and commands the two dragons to attack enemy forces, decimating them. At the same time surprising news come from Volantis: the slaves have started their own uprising in the absence of the bulk of the city's army and have received unexpected help from the Sealord of Braavos who sees a perfect opportunity to both end the slave trade on the shores of the Narrow Sea once and for all and make his city the dominant power in the region. The remains of the Volantean army retreat as the hear the news and the Yunkai'i are driven back or destroyed with the help of the dragons. The Ironborn are reluctantly welcomed into the city, but Ser Barristan has the Unsullied secretly block the way back to their ships.

At this point Daenerys returns with her new khalasar. Victarion tries to force her to marry him by blackmailing her with her dragons, but at this point Moqorro reveals that he had just been using him to get to Dany. He uses the magic in Victarion's hand that he healed to take control of him and force him to blow the Horn of Valyria, himself, in Dany's name and give her full control over all three dragons. The Ironborn revolt but are crushed between the Dothraki and the Unsullied and the survivors are chained to the oars for the oncoming journey. At this point the Mage arrives and reveals Dany the threat of the Others in the North and urges her to leave at once to save millions. A certain dwarf makes an appearance and pledges his sellsword company at her service, along with his expertise of the current political state of Westeros. Dany decides to leave Reznak mo Reznak as her viceroy for the time being, as his ruthless advice turned out to be wise in the hindsight, after all, but also leaves Jorah Mormont along with half of her Unsullied as his Kingsguard with orders to dispose of him should he prove treacherous.

With her new Iron Fleet and an army, Daenerys sails off towards the North, but first stopping at Braavos for winter supplies. There she hears of the plight of the Wildlings starving at the shores, and decides to take her fleet to them. They are the ships that Mother Mole prophecised in the last book.

Daenerys is already nuts and Quaite is a figment of her imagination

• Then how are Quaithe's predictions coming true?
  • Because Daenerys is a Mad Oracle and makes the predictions herself.

Daenerys or some other Head of the Dragon will get into trouble in the Eyrie when they reach Westeros

Come on, when you read the description of the Moon Door and the Sky Cells, or see them in the series, don't you think this place is just asking for a Suicidal "Gotcha!" followed by a rescue by a Surprise Vehicle? And the only flying "vehicles" in Martin's world are dragons. Bonus points if that Head of the Dragon will be Tyrion, who already ran afoul of the Eyrie's penitentiary system in Book 1.

• This sounds awesome, but given the nature of this series, such a scene could easily end with the character breaking their bones upon the dragon's scales. There's also the possibility that they misjudge the timing and end up splattered across the rocks anyway, though dragons are pretty huge.

Daenerys will finish her father's work...

• Attacking King's Landing (in GOT Bran has a vision of a dragon flying over King's Landing) with dragons she can't control when there is wildfire hidden under the city. How could this turn out? What happened to Rhaenyra may foreshadow Daenerys...

Daenerys will be the one who is sitting on the Iron Throne by the end of the series.

• However, she will decide that the Seven Kingdoms are better off as seven separate kingdoms, and break them apart with their own rulers, in a poetic reversal of Aegon the Conqueror arriving in Westeros and uniting them. As such, the rulers will be as follows:
  • The North: Likely Rickon, potentially Sansa.
  • The Riverlands: Edmure Tully.
  • The Vale: Sansa through marriage, if she isn't ruling the North.
  • The Stormlands: Shireen, assuming she survives, or a legitimized Edric or Gendry.
  • The Westerlands: Myrcella if she survives the prophecy against her, with Tyrion as her Hand, or Tyrion himself if she doesn't.
  • The Crownlands: As said above, Daenerys.
  • The Reach: Margaery if she survives all of her brothers, Willas if she doesn't.
  • Dorne: Arianne.
  • Iron Islands: Asha Greyjoy, even if Theon survives - he'd be too broken to rule himself. Plus, he can't extend the line due to missing a few pieces.
  • King Beyond the Wall, or some variant thereof: Jon Snow.
    • Better off? It will probably leave Westeros worse off, as there will be a return to the days of constant warfare between the Kingdoms. Also the Seven Kingdoms are mainly used to being united, trying to split them would be disastrous.

Building on the above, Dany will introduce radical government reforms in Westeros

She muses for a bit on how Valyria was a Freehold, so she's clearly contemplating more enlightened forms of government. She might bring some much-needed change to Westeros. Perhaps a central army, some kind of parliamentary body, a formal college of arms to reduce fraud (I'm looking at you, Kettleblack), you get the picture.

• Sounds a little too idealistic.
• It's more likely that she will create a centralized, despotic absolute monarchy, with appointed satrap-governors instead of hereditary lords, and a State Sec complete with a second army ready to crush any dissent. This is how I understand her "Break the wheel" line from the series.