The Tragic End of Daenerys, Mother of Dragons

Daenerys and Drogon

If you are following me on social media, you know I'm pretty sad about the ending of game of Thrones. This is my personal take on The Mother of Dragons and why I am so affected by her tragic end.

I am in full acknowledgment that this is a fictional story. In this blog post, I do defend the character but also process further down in the post why her ending has affected me so much personally. It also has inspired me as an actor. HBO’s epic production created such emotional responses, and such creations fuels my passion to act.

Team Daenerys forever.

She was not mad. She was not evil. She was temporarily blown off course due to her recent traumas. I watched this girl rescue the downtrodden, free slaves, go through rape, abuse, betrayal, loss, suffering and sacrifice for ten years to try to fulfill her vision, to regain who she was born to be and to make the world a better place.

All her suffering and sacrifice to "break the wheel" only to see in the finale, that it continues business as usual, was devastating.

It was heartbreaking that they did this to her. The last scene with Drogon was the most heartwrenching, poignant and beautiful filmed scene I have ever seen in my life. Poetic and absolutely heartbreaking. It gutted me and days later, it still does.

I keep thinking about the scene where he is guarding the steps to where she is, sniffing Jon. Thinking she was safe with Jon and letting him through.

Drogon like the other dragons, had his connection to Dany, but his seemed to be a closer bond. He knows something happened and you hear him coming to her. His pain and confusion at Jon's killing the woman they both love. In his grief and anguish, instead of killing Jon, he burns the throne. Drogon thought; "This thing has caused too much death and sorrow." An intelligent creature who understands that he lost both of his brothers, and then his mother, within a short time, all because of this throne.

To Drogon, no one but Dany deserved the throne. Dragons are said to be as intelligent if not more so than humans. They are also telepathically and emphatically linked to their people. I’d also like to think he didn’t kill Jon because he knew that his mother loved him.

Losing Dany is tragic to me. I feel that with solid advisors, she could have been reasoned with. She wasn't mad or evil, just lost in and feeling the power of control. She could have been reached by Jorah or Missandei, or anyone with wisdom and who she trusted. She listened to her counselors, she knew she needed them and surrounded herself with them. There was no one like this around her at this time.

She also suffered the recent losses of her dragon children, Viserion and Rhaegal, her best friend and confidant Missandei. Jorah, the one person completely devoted to her, the rejection of her lover Jon and the betrayal of her remaining advisors, Varys and Tyrion.

For years she delayed her own interests for the sake of others. She stopped her march to Kings Landing to rescue someone or topple the seats of tyrants. Let us not forget, she had just made the decision to delay her war with Cersei and the taking back her throne to save Westeros from the White Walkers, losing so much in doing so, because it was the right thing to do. It was the unselfish thing to do. It was for the good of all. Is this the heart and mind of a tyrant? Who only thinks of themselves?

Yes, she ruthlessly enacted her justice on ruthless killers. She torched slavers, murderers and abusers of children. Without remorse, she put to death who rejoiced in brutality. Evil met a dragon’s fire. She was ruthlessly compassionate.

Have none of us lost our way, or made terrible choices? We have hurt others. In her temporary madness of grief, anger and bitterness, was Dany, who has done good works, not worthy of redemption and forgiveness? Are all of us not allowed a second chance, a chance to make it right through the guidance of those who love us and who we hope know who we are at our core? Didn’t she deserve at least that? With all that she had given?

The loss of Dany and the fate of her last remaining dragon, Drogon makes me sad enough to tear up every time I think on it. I'm still processing why it has affected me so. As an actor and as a woman.

Daenerys Targaryen Mother of Dragons, Breaker of Chains

Is it that my stepson, William, who loved this show and wrote to me that he compared me to Daenerys in Game of Thrones?

"You're like a real life Daenerys! Blonde wise woman with a soft heart yet strong willed and relentless in your quest to bring justice & harmony through activism/awareness."

It’s probably one of the best compliments I have ever received. When the kid you helped raise thinks you are like Daenerys, The Mother of Dragons.......you did something right. Sadly, we lost him in 2014.

Perhaps the plight of Daenerys and her three dragons remind me of my family. Myself and my three brothers, like Rhaegal and Viserion, two are gone, people who were given talents and a vision to do great things in the world, only to make poor choices, get derailed by life’s hardships, lack of support and never able to be who they were born to be. Like Dany and her dragons, never quite reaching the goal they journeyed so long and far for.

Is it her dragons? Characters in their own right who are the last of their kind. Extinct due to the greed, abuses and folly of men. Three are brought back to life by an extraordinary girl, now woman, only to be killed off again. Intelligent, loyal and devoted to her and to each other, they give up their lives for the one they love. And when they are gone, they are gone forever. Something we are experiencing in our own world. If it weren’t for Drogon and Viserion and Rhaegal, no one would have been able to get as far as they did.

Is it because she was one woman who had a vision for a better world, who fought to regain all that was taken from her, to end the abuses she herself suffered? A warrior queen in a world that desperately needs saving. Much like our own. And just as she has won it all, through everything she has endured, it is taken from her by taking her life. Taken by the men around her who should have, but failed to help her to remember who she really is.

Or in the end is it simply an incredibly powerful story, with extraordinarily gifted actors, cinematographers and crew? An incredibly powerful story that just happened to catch me at a time where just a few months ago, I suddenly lost my own mother.

I don't think I have ever been this affected by any movie or television series, more specifically, the characters which is a testament to the talents of all involved with it. I saw Emilia Clarke’s photo of a tattoo she recently had put on her wrist. It is small and delicate. I saw it and wept. The three young dragons flying free with each other, doing what makes dragons happy, before the world breaks them, and their mother. Kind of like so many of us. Poignant.

Some will say, “It’s just a TV show.” True, it is only a story. But for an actor, they are real. That is how we act. Great actors create worlds. Somewhere in the soul of an actor, these stories, these characters become real. They live in some time and dimension, occupy some place in our heart and mind. In some way, they are alive.

As a human, I am sad. As an actor, I am inspired. It's stories, productions and acting such as this that create a passion in me to be a part of such masterpieces.

The watch is over.

Eileen Anglin

Tattoo by artist Dr.Woo