Daenerys Targaryen
| House / Order | House Targaryen |
|---|---|
| Race / Culture | Valyrian |
| Status | Alive (as of A Dance with Dragons) |
| Origin | Essos |
| Born | 284 AC, Dragonstone |
| Died | |
| Weapon | |
| Fate | Ruling Meereen; reunited with her dragon Drogon on the Dothraki sea |
| Portrayed by | Emilia Clarke |
Daenerys Targaryen, called Daenerys Stormborn and the Mother of Dragons, is the exiled daughter of King Aerys II Targaryen and one of the principal viewpoint characters of A Song of Ice and Fire. Born in exile after her family's fall, she becomes the first person in over a century to hatch living dragons.
The last surviving child of the Mad King (alongside her brother Viserys for a time), Daenerys grows from a frightened girl sold into marriage into a conqueror and liberator who claims the right to the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms.
Background
Daenerys was born during a great storm on Dragonstone, months after the death of her father and the fall of House Targaryen in Robert's Rebellion. Her mother, Queen Rhaella, died giving birth to her. She was smuggled across the Narrow Sea with her elder brother Viserys, and the two grew up wandering the Free Cities of Essos, dependent on the charity of others. Viserys, who styled himself the rightful king, was cruel and unstable, and frightened Daenerys with talk of "waking the dragon."
Biography
A Game of Thrones
In Pentos, the magister Illyrio Mopatis and Viserys arrange Daenerys's marriage to Khal Drogo, a powerful Dothraki warlord, in exchange for an army to retake Westeros. At first terrified, Daenerys grows into her role as khaleesi and comes to love Drogo. She is given three petrified dragon eggs as a wedding gift. Viserys, increasingly desperate, threatens her and is killed by Drogo, who pours molten gold over his head, the "crown" he demanded.
When Drogo is wounded and falls into a vegetative state, Daenerys turns to the maegi Mirri Maz Duur, whose blood magic costs Daenerys her unborn son and leaves Drogo a living husk. Daenerys ends his life and builds a funeral pyre, walking into the flames with the three dragon eggs. She emerges unburnt at dawn with three newborn dragons, Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion, the first seen in the world in over a century.
A Clash of Kings
With a small remnant of her khalasar, Daenerys crosses the Red Waste and reaches the city of Qarth. There she seeks ships and allies, surviving the treachery of the Warlocks of Qarth in the House of the Undying, where she receives cryptic prophecies. She leaves Qarth with a measure of wealth, the loyal Jorah Mormont at her side, and her growing dragons.
A Storm of Swords
In Slaver's Bay, Daenerys turns conqueror and liberator. At Astapor she buys the slave-soldiers called the Unsullied, then turns them on their masters. She frees the cities of Astapor and Yunkai, taking the warrior Daario Naharis, the eunuch Grey Worm, and the scribe-translator Missandei into her service. She takes the great city of Meereen, where the freed slaves hail her as Mhysa, "Mother."
A Dance with Dragons
Daenerys chooses to remain in Meereen to learn to rule rather than march on Westeros, struggling to hold a fractured city against a shadow war waged by the Sons of the Harpy. Her dragons grow dangerous; after Drogon kills a child, she chains the other two beneath a pyramid. She makes a peace marriage to the Meereenese noble Hizdahr zo Loraq. When violence erupts at the fighting pits, Drogon returns, and Daenerys flees on his back into the Dothraki sea, where the novel leaves her, gaunt and feverish, encountering a new khalasar.
Character
Daenerys is shaped by a desire to be both a just ruler and a conqueror, an ongoing tension between mercy and "fire and blood." She abhors slavery and cruelty, yet wields fearsome power. She clings to her identity as "the blood of the dragon" and to a destiny she only half understands, guided by prophecy and by the three heads of the dragon.
Relationships
Her marriage to Khal Drogo becomes the great love of her early life. Jorah Mormont serves her with devotion that curdles into a complicated, partly self-serving love, and she exiles him on learning he once spied on her. She takes Daario Naharis as a lover in Meereen. Her bond with her three dragons is maternal and central to her identity.
Quotes
If I look back I am lost.
I am Daenerys Stormborn, Daenerys of House Targaryen, of the blood of Old Valyria. I am the dragon's daughter, and I swear to you, those who would harm you will die screaming.
In the television series
In HBO's Game of Thrones, Daenerys was portrayed by Emilia Clarke. Her television arc carries beyond the published novels: she crosses to Westeros, loses Viserion beyond the Wall, and ultimately turns to destroying King's Landing before being killed by Jon Snow. None of these events have occurred in the books, where her story remains unfinished on the Dothraki sea.