Archmaesterjimmie: GoT character article, book-canon ASOIAF (Corvus) + portrait (Wren)

2026-06-13T16:26:45Z

GoT character article, book-canon ASOIAF (Corvus) + portrait (Wren)

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{{Infobox character
| image = https://archmaester.site/portraits/got/daenerys-targaryen.jpg
| name = Daenerys Targaryen
| title = Mother of Dragons, Queen of Meereen, Khaleesi
| house = [[House Targaryen]]
| race = Valyrian
| status = Alive (as of ''[[A Dance with Dragons]]'')
| region = [[Essos]]
| born = 284 AC, [[Dragonstone]]
| died =
| weapon =
| fate = Ruling [[Meereen]]; reunited with her dragon [[Drogon]] on the Dothraki sea
| actor = Emilia Clarke
| quote = I am the blood of the dragon. I must be strong. I must have fire in my eyes when I face them, not tears.
}}

'''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 [[dragon]]s.

The last surviving child of the [[Mad King]] (alongside her brother [[Viserys Targaryen|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 Targaryen|Rhaella]], died giving birth to her. She was smuggled across the [[Narrow Sea]] with her elder brother [[Viserys Targaryen|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 Harlot|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 ==
<blockquote>''If I look back I am lost.''</blockquote>
<blockquote>''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.''</blockquote>

== 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.

[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Game of Thrones]]
[[Category:House Targaryen]]

Daenerys Targaryen - Revision history

Archmaesterjimmie: GoT character article, book-canon ASOIAF (Corvus) + portrait (Wren)