Note: This article contains “Game of Thrones” spoilers from Season 8, Episode 5.
Emilia Clarke is a great actress. But for three reasons, her “Game of Thrones” character, Daenerys Targaryen, must die.
First off, Daenerys is now an avowed war criminal.
The evidence against Daenerys here isn’t exactly complicated. As many readers will know, Daenerys spent the most recent episode using a dragon to annihilate the civilian population of King’s Landing. Daenerys had previously accepted that her forces would suspend their application of force in the event of the city’s surrender. But when that surrender came she ignored it. Instead, she chose to burn civilians alive.
There’s a clear military distinction here between Daenerys’ action and real-world campaigns that killed large numbers of civilians. Take the Allied bombing campaigns, including atomic bomb strikes, of World War II. Those actions were designed to remove the Axis’ industrial and political means of resistance and thus shorten a war, not to kill for killing’s sake.
Second, Daenerys is a psychopath in charge of the most powerful nation in “Game of Thrones” and a weapon of mass destruction. The dragon’s utility in mass urban bombardment means that it must be regarded, at least by the “Game of Thrones” world, to be a weapon of mass destruction. But considering Daenerys’ abrupt loss of psychological stability (Clarke’s great acting skill has been her ability to show her character’s psychological development), her possession of a dragon weapon is now utterly incompatible with Westeros’ security. This is only emphasized by her new position as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms.
Third, Daenerys is a traitor to herself and her followers. Daenerys’ underlying leadership narrative centers on being “the breaker of chains,” or liberator of the oppressed. Daenerys promised her followers a seat at the policymaking table and a commitment to treat civilians better than any ruler before. She burned that narrative when she literally burned the civilians of King’s Landing.
Any obligation to support her rule has now been vanquished. A new moral cause was planted in the ashes of King’s Landing: Daenerys must die.
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