#but that doesn’t mean she should be put on the same level as aegon ii even with the wrongs the blacks made and her own mistakes

[turtle-paced]

(1/2) Hey, I've been scrolling through your tumblr (really love your content!), but there's one point of divergence I wanted to address: I think you're far too sympathetic with Daenerys's actions in Slaver's Bay... She didn't really want to free the slaves, she wanted her army and so freeing them was a convenient move. Her whole conquest is about deceiving others and there's a lot of arbitrariness in how she ruled Meereen. Those three metas talk about this better than I ever could:

I’m familiar with the meta. I think I need to break this down a bit, and my reply will be long. It boils down to damn skippy I’m sympathetic to Dany - but that doesn’t mean I think she’s an angel.

First, the argument that Dany only wanted an army and freed the Unsullied out of convenience is a flat and absurd misread. It’s true that she set out wanting an army and an army alone, and willing to look past the human cost.

Slaves, Dany thought. Khal Drogo would drive them downriver to one of the towns on Slaver’sBay. She wanted to cry, but she told herself that she must be strong. This is war, this is what itlooks like, this is the price of the Iron Throne.

- Dany VII, AGoT

“What use are wealthy friends if they will not put their wealth at your disposal, my queen? If Magister Illyrio would deny you, he is only Xaro Xhoan Daxos with four chins. And if he issincere in his devotion to your cause, he will not begrudge you three shiploads of trade goods.What better use for his tiger skins than to buy you the beginnings of an army?”

That’s true. Dany felt a rising excitement.

- Dany I, ASoS

But then character development strikes. She can’t look past what she sees in Astapor, no matter how much she needs an army. Ser Barristan points out another path for her to take.

“Ser Jorah was a slaver himself, Your Grace,” the old man reminded her. “There are sellswordsin Pentos and Myr and Tyrosh you can hire. A man who kills for coin has no honor, but at leastthey are no slaves. Find your army there, I beg you.”

- Dany II, ASoS

She does not believe this is a viable option, as she tells Ser Barristan, and this does have a lot to do with her pride…but still, she can’t ignore what is done to the slaves of Astapor. When faced with the intolerable option of buying the Unsullied in good faith (more on that in a bit) and the intolerable option of giving up on Westeros, Dany chooses to free Astapor’s captives and call for their service as she would the service of free men.

And Astapor’s former slaves respond.

“Missandei is no longer a slave. I free you, from this instant. Come ride with me in the litter, I wish to talk.” Rakharo helped them in, and Dany drew the curtains shut against the dust and heat.“If you stay with me you will serve as one of my handmaids,” she said as they set off. “I shallkeep you by my side to speak for me as you spoke for Kraznys. But you may leave my servicewhenever you choose, if you have father or mother you would sooner return to.”

“This one will stay,” the girl said. “This one… I… there is no place for me to go. This… I willserve you, gladly.”

- Dany III, ASoS

“Spears!” Dany heard one Astapori shout. It was Grazdan, old Grazdan in his tokar heavy withpearls.” Unsullied! Defend us, stop them, defend your masters! Spears! Swords!”

When Rakharo put an arrow through his mouth, the slaves holding his sedan chair broke andran, dumping him unceremoniously on the ground. The old man crawled to the first rank ofeunuchs, his blood pooling on the bricks. The Unsullied did not so much as look down to watchhim die. Rank on rank on rank, they stood.

And did not move. The gods have heard my prayer.

“Unsullied!” Dany galloped before them, her silver-gold braid flying behind her, her bellchiming with every stride. “Slay the Good Masters, slay the soldiers, slay every man who wearsa tokar or holds a whip, but harm no child under twelve, and strike the chains off every slave yousee.” She raised the harpy’s fingers in the air… and then she flung the scourge aside. “Freedom!”she sang out. “Dracarys! Dracarys!”

“Dracarys!” they shouted back, the sweetest word she’d ever heard. “Dracarys! Dracarys!”

- Dany III, ASoS

She was utterly vulnerable if the Unsullied did not take up her call. Dany went in knowing that if the Unsullied did not rebel on the spot, she and everyone with her was dead. She chose to risk her life and the lives of her followers for the freedom of the Unsullied - and keep in mind that she still had the option of leaving and trying to recruit in the Free Cities, which would have been safer for her person. The money she took from Illyrio to buy slaves could have bought mercenaries just as easily.

There is no reasonable way to read that chapter without concluding that Dany picked the path she did because she empathised with the enslaved of Astapor.

Now, she absolutely did not realise ahead of time, or even immediately following, what this action committed her to. She still thinks she’s going to Westeros, since she hasn’t realised that in successfully leading a slave revolt and sacking all of Astapor, she’s dealt a massive blow to the slave economy that no slave city in the region can allow to go unchecked.

But it’s also here that we see that her objectives are changing to encompass more than “go to Westeros, reclaim Iron Throne.” She refuses to leave behind the Astapori who chose to follow her, even though they are an outright hindrance to that “taking Westeros” objective.

They ate the land bare as they passed, like locusts in sandals. Yet Dany could not bring herself toabandon them as Ser Jorah and her bloodriders urged. I told them they were free. I cannot tellthem now they are not free to join me. She gazed at the smoke rising from their cookfires andswallowed a sigh. She might have the best footsoldiers in the world, but she also had the worst.

- Dany IV, ASoS

No, she takes personal responsibility for her actions in this regard. Even though they are against her self-interest. It comes to matter less to her over the course of the chapter.

Dany looked at Missandei. “What are they shouting?”

“It is Ghiscari, the old pure tongue. It means ‘Mother.’’

Dany felt a lightness in her chest. I will never bear a living child, she remembered. Her hand trembled as she raised it. Perhaps she smiled. She must have, because the man grinned andshouted again, and others took up the cry. “Mhysa!” they called. “Mhysa! MHYSA!”

- Dany IV, ASoS

It is quite explicitly the conclusion of her ASoS arc that she rejects Westeros, temporarily, in favour of consolidating what she has done for the former slaves of Slaver’s Bay. Their interests over hers, since she can’t take them all to Westeros with her.

“Aegon the Conqueror brought fire and blood to Westeros,but afterward he gave them peace, prosperity, and justice. But all I have brought to Slaver’s Bayis death and ruin. I have been more khal than queen, smashing and plundering, then moving on.”

“There is nothing to stay for,” said Brown Ben Plumm.

“Your Grace, the slavers brought their doom on themselves,” said Daario Naharis.

“You have brought freedom as well,” Missandei pointed out.

“Freedom to starve?” asked Dany sharply. “Freedom to die? Am I a dragon, or a harpy?” Am I mad? Do I have the taint?”

“A dragon,” Ser Barristan said with certainty. “Meereen is not Westeros, Your Grace.”

“But how can I rule seven kingdoms if I cannot rule a single city?” He had no answer to that.

Dany turned away from them, to gaze out over the city once again. “My children need time to heal and learn. My dragons need time to grow and test their wings. And I need the same. I willnot let this city go the way of Astapor. I will not let the harpy of Yunkai chain up those I’ve freedall over again.” She turned back to look at their faces. “I will not march.”

- Dany VI, ASoS

It’s character development. Dany did not set out to end slavery in Slaver’s Bay, any more than Jon Snow started out ASoS intending to let the Free Folk through the Wall in ADWD. But nevertheless, ending slavery in Slaver’s Bay is what she commits herself to, eyes open, at the end of ASoS.

Second, the idea of good faith. The metas you link, especially here and here, do an excellent job of showing how Dany’s bad faith with the Masters makes it impossible for her to achieve peace. I have no problems with how the narrative depicts those actions coming back to bite her in negotiations. Seems like sound analysis of the situation to me, and a reasonable thing for GRRM to write.

Good faith is for dealing with people who sell lumber and wool and grain, not other people. Good faith in these transactions normalises and legitimises the trade of human beings. The appropriate response to slavers is to refuse to play their game, and treat them as the tyrants, kidnappers, and thieves they are. 

There is no way to deal with slavers in good faith without becoming complicit. Dany herself understands this on a gut level.

“The blood of my enemies I will shed gladly. The blood of innocents is another matter. Eightthousand Unsullied they would offer me. Eight thousand dead babes. Eight thousand strangleddogs.”

- Dany II, ASoS

She knows exactly what she’d be buying here.

Anyway. Transactions in human lives, which are illegitimate by their very nature, should and must be stopped. Stopping it means using force. Likewise, the slavers cannot afford for someone to come along and say that slavery illegitimate by its nature, much less start implementing the idea.

Dany’s dream of peace and freedom in Slaver’s Bay, which she spends most of ADWD trying to achieve, was impossible from the outset, due to her radical de facto classification of slavery as a crime (and measures to stop it, just war) rather than trade (and measures to stop it, theft). Her failure to realise this is what she’s done and the threat it poses to the status quo in the region in a timely fashion is a massive mistake.

What this doesn’t mean is “all’s fair” and “the ends justify the means.” I’ve always been critical of Dany’s decision to crucify the 163 Meereenese Masters, precisely because it’s indiscriminate violence that serves no purpose but Dany’s gratification. Likewise, 

Mercy, thought Dany. They will have the dragon’s mercy.“Skahaz, I have changed my mind. Question the man sharply.”

“I could. Or I could question the daughters sharply whilst thefather looks on. That will wring some names from him.”

“Do as you think best, but bring me names.”

- Dany II, ADWD

is no positive character trait. That’s not punishing enemies, but inflicting pain on innocents in the name of other innocents. Dany at her worst.

Throughout ADWD we see her struggling with that impulse, to say “screw it all” and make with the indiscriminate violence. Heads on spikes. Burn everything. This is how we’ve left her for the moment.

You are a queen, her bear said. In Westeros. “It is such a longway,” she complained. “I was tired, Jorah. I was weary of war. Iwanted to rest, to laugh, to plant trees and see them grow. I am only ayoung girl.”

No. You are the blood of the dragon. The whispering wasgrowing fainter, as if Ser Jorah were falling farther behind. Dragonsplant no trees. Remember that. Remember who you are, what youwere made to be. Remember your words.

“Fire and Blood,” Daenerys told the swaying grass.

- Dany X, ADWD

To go forward you must go back, indeed. The shape of her arc is going to give her some easy victories with this attitude, and then bite her again when she accidentally blows up King’s Landing. I’m not looking forward to Fire-and-Blood  Daenerys, even if her aims are good, because the ends do not justify the means. She’s not going to be using care and precision in her violence (care and precision being key aspects of justified violence, to avoid/minimise collateral), she’s just going to get in there and start burning things, and people, down. It’s going to be Dany at her ends-justify-means worst.

But the Dany I’m sympathetic to, and the one who I most definitely think is a worthy heroine with worthy character progression (which again, doesn’t mean I don’t think she’s got some serious character flaws, nor that all her actions are above board), is the one Tyrion described in ADWD.

“Iknow she is proud. How not? What else was left her but pride? I knowshe is strong. How not? The Dothraki despise weakness. If Daeneryshad been weak, she would have perished with Viserys. I know she isfierce. Astapor, Yunkai, and Meereen are proof enough of that.”

[…]

“…this Mother of Dragons, this Breaker ofChains, is above all a rescuer. The girl who drowned the slaver citiesin blood rather than leave strangers to their chains…”

- Tyrion V, ADWD

#ASoIaF #cw: violence #daenerys targaryen #a game of thrones #a storm of swords #a dance with dragons #asks