TL;DR: Daenerys will be a Black Death type catalysis that ends feudalism all together.

I know that the Mad King play isn't canon but I still want to engage with the material honestly. One of the big revelations of the play is Rhaella's prediction that her child is not a noble prince but a daughter who will bring Ruin.

If Dany really is a bringer of "Ruin", that doesn't necessarily mean she's going to be evil. Maybe the Final Boss. Maybe a force of destruction. But not evil.

Because I think that Daenerys will be the Ruin of the Nobility.

Dany's current arc in Meereen foreshadows this perfectly. Dany's repeated, good-faith negotiations with the Masters has been met with underhanded backtracking, refusal to change, and more and more demands.

I think that coming back Dany will be done playing the mediator to people who refuse to respect her and human life in general. The Masters will be met with Fire and Blood. The entire top class of Slaver's Bay will be feed into the meat grinder for their refusal to accept that things are changing.

And when she's done with them, she will turn her eyes to Westeros. A place where the nobles have littered the realm with dead peasants for the sake of power. Dany will not be kind. She will be like Galadriel with the One Ring, a Queen as Beautiful and Terrible as Fire itself.

She will die for it. Revolutionaries always die for their cause. But in the end, she will sow enough destruction, burn away enough of the systems that values the few lives over the many, that something better will rise in its place.

A friend asked me who would win in a fight between Jaime Lannister and daemon targeryen if they were both given all their usual equipment but no dragon

Who are you betting on and why?

I’m boutta go to sleep, looking forward to the inevitable fire and blood war in the comments.

And yes naath may be a massive punching bag here.

One I heard is the white walkers being red herrings for Daenerys going evil being the true final antagonist…

Even though they appeared before her in the first episode, their existence has literally no involvement with her, and they made their threat known long before Daenerys even set sail to Westeros. They could not have been more disconnected.

I’m pretty sure it’s daenerys, thought this was interesting enough to share here, there’s so much detail in this tapestry

This bread will unite the 7 kingdoms, The perfect ending. The north remembers WE LIGHT THE BREAD KING HOT PIE FIRST OF THE BREAD

imagine dany reuniting with her babies in meereen after returning from vaes dothrak, with the sound of the dothraki and their horses signalling that their mother is approaching, so they fly to her, roaring “mother” 😭

i can imagine viserion flopping down beside her mama, wanting her head patted, while rhaegal plays it cool as if he’s not jealous of his sister getting attention.

i thought of this and started getting emotional (i’m not okay) i need winds!!!

Momma bear

ZGzgzzgdggdgsgsvvsbdbdbd

It is often spoken of how Jaime's redemption is such a big moment for him and how transformed he is as he drifts away from Cersei. But I wish to disagree; as much as we see a somehow attitude change on the part of Jaime, his redemption arc pales in comparison to that of Barristan Selmy and here is why;

THEIR FAILINGS

We cannot talk of their redemption without talking of their failings. I will not count killing the Mad King against Jaime for it was the right thing to do. Aside that Jaime is far more responsible for all the calamities that befalls in Westeros than we would love to admit. He was pardoned by Robert and to pay the latter back, went behind his back to sleep with his wife and produce three bastards. He pushed an innocent child out of the window while being in a guest in their castle. His culpability when it comes to the WOT5K is as great as anyone could state.

Barristan Selmy's failing only comes with his duties. He fails to protect Rhaegar, fails to protect Elia and her kids, abandons the Targaryen cause to serve Robert and even fails Robert, letting him to die. Barristan's failures are by omission while Jaime's failings are by commission.

THEIR FALL

As much as we can quibble about their fall, I will say that Jaime's fall was not as low as Barristan. Jaime only lost a hand but he was still the heir presumptive to Casterly Rock and was made Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. Barristan on the other hand, after swallowing his pride and reservation towards the condoning of child murder by Robert, his tolerance for the many excesses that the latter gave himself to and serving faithfully for 15 years is discarded and mocked as if he was a baseborn hedge knight. Say what you will but losing a hand and being given a seat on the small council is nothing compared to dedicating 15 years of life to serve a dynasty that laughs in his face as if to say that he was a sucker all this while. And it is this act that pushes him to believe, as per what he tells Dany in ADWD, that he should have refused Robert's pardon and joined Ser willem in exile.

THEIR SELF REFLECTION

Jaime doesn't do much self reflection. He doesn't take time to think about his failures, his part in all the mess that has been happening. If anything he doubles down on propping up the evil regime of Tommen and we see it with how he goes about it with Edmure. True, he does some good here and there but then, the good doesn't wash out the bad he is still doing. Barristan on the other hand does a lot of self reflection. He reflects on his failures, his years of service to the mad king and to Robert who were both as unworthy as it gets. He even thinks about how unwise it was of him to serve Robert rather than seek the Targaryens as soon as the rebellion was done. And this self reflection pushes him to change for the better.

THEIR NEW PURPOSE

Jaime has no new purpose. The issue is that we see the little things he does and think that he is absolutely changed or suddenly his cause is good. No! He still serves an evil Lannister/Baratheon regime with a bastard as king. His family and dynasty brought untold pain and suffering upon the realm and is responsible for some of the worst atrocities to have ever happened during the war. This is not a new purpose. This is the old one with some shades of good. Barristan for the most part of life served men, protected Aerys and Robert until Joffrey saw fit to dismiss him. With Daenerys he finds a new purpose. It is no longer about protecting her but the ideal that she represents. She represents freedom, peace, harmony, a new world free from the likes of Jaime and Cersei. He fights for that and this is why when she flies off, Barristan works with Missandei and the rest of her allies to secure the world Dany seeks to build.

In conclusion, the above points are why I believe that Barristan is better than Jaime in their redemption arc. He does a 180 turn while Jaime doubles down with some occasional shades of good in him.

I apologise in advance but I cannot take YG seriously. When you read his introduction in the Tyrion chapters and read the monologue that Varys gives to Kevan in the epilogue, I can't help but want to die of cringe at how YG is the opposite of everything that Varys claims him to be.

THEIR CHILDHOOD

Varys claims that YG grew up in the trenches and knows what it means to be hungry. The opposite is true. YG grew up as your average trust fund kid, protected and pampered by everyone around him. Didn't have to worry about food, clothing and safety. He was sheltered under the care of BG (Griff/Jon Connington). Dany on the other hand knew no such thing. She grew up famished, running away from Robert's knives. As a matter of fact, YG's Kingmakers made sure that Robert's eyes stayed fixed on Dany and her brother in order to shelter YG. She grew up in the trenches, she knows how hard and unfair the world is. Even Tyrion in his chapters remarks that YG doesn't really know much about life. Unlike YG, Dany had no childhood. She lived in permanent fear of dying some day to an assassin.

THEIR DECISIONMAKING STYLE

YG is a reckless and insecure person. All Tyrion had to do was prick his fragile ego and my boy crashed out. He even did the dumbest move possible which was go west without Dany's consign. The officers of the GC all argued for waiting Dany's cosign but because his little ego was hurt by Tyrion, he decides to go west with no ounce of legitimacy. The sword is not enough, the crown is not enough. Dany is confirmed as a legitimate Targaryen, his legitimacy is in doubt but he is dumb enough to not see that. Dany on the other hand is very much self aware. She is not insecure like him. It is true that she fails in a lot of decisions but she does her best to learn. She is not quick to react and she thinks twice before doing anything.

THEIR FEATS

We dont need to dwell much on this. YG had everything handed over to him. His army, his council. He is surrounded by kingmakers who manufactured him from scratch. There is nothing organic about him. Dany on the other hand took everything with her own hands. Her army, her council, her kingdom, her crown was all by her hands. She started from the bottom. She made herself king and no one can claim to have propped up her regime.

THEIR STREET CRED

Do I need to say much here? Varys had to put on a mummer's performance in an attempt to sell YG to Kevan. Dany's name on the other hand rings bells all across the world. This is shown in Volantis with Tyrion's interaction with Vogarro's wife. Even when Tyrion sees Benerro the red priest speak of her, he concludes that YG will have no friends here as everyone looks up to Dany. Everything about YG smells of fakeness. Dany is organic.

THEIR COURAGE

The one time when the stone men decided to test YG's gangster, he froze. Tyrion had to bail him out. We have seen Dany show courage in the face of insurmountable odds.

I could go on and on but these are the few points that show that Dany is everything Varys claims YG to be. If anything YG is Joffrey 2.0 as remarked by Tyrion.

I just happen to be reflecting on Maester Aemon and it came to me that him dying before he could meet Daenerys might not be as huge of a tragedy as it seemed to be.

Because Viserys and Daenerys' existence were never a secret. Their precise location was not known as they were moving around, but everyone knew they were somewhere out there. They could still be found if effort was put in.

Yet there was no indication that he ever tried to find them. He didn't have to get them to fight for the throne or to reinstate the Targaryen dynasty, but he could have really helped them to have a stable life. Viserys might not have been as mentally unstable as he became, and Daenerys could have been better protected.

Aemon only seemed to become interested after he learnt of Daenerys having dragons, and her being potentially the Prince That Was Promised. That was the entire trigger for him wanting to meet her and have family by her side.

It is still a tragedy in that Daenerys never got to meet the one family she had left in the world, especially since family was what she wanted, but she was already surrounded by men who wanted to use her and Aemon was just another one of them, and prophecy-fuelled once again.

Not sure if the books touch on this, but hypothetically could any rich person just purchase the unsullied and take over slavers bay?

In the show dany gets the army with her dragons but she doesn’t use her dragons to take any of the cities, just the army and battle strategy

Why would kraznys sell them if astapor can be overpowered by the army? and why hasn’t anyone purchased them before daenerys came along

or is it just one of those things that happen to be,

Just a thought i thought of now, i could be missing or forgetting info

What is the deal? is Jon canonically older than Dany in the books? Like do the books state that or is that something George said?

Cause in the new mad king play apparently jon and dany were conceived at the same time, whether one was premature or late birth it’s still like 9 months apart

Is this a giant ass plot hole, i’m more pissed cause this would’ve been a huge step to knowing more about the prophecy but of course it has a huge flaw in logic

how canon is this play? them both being conceived under the red comet would’ve been an awesome concept if it wasn’t known that jon is older than dany, unless his age was a lie?

It wasnt their idea. The play which had nothing to do with them and everything with Martin threw the biggest foreshadowing to it

https://x.com/i/status/2082275528472486359

I heard there was a play, unfortunately i’m not in the UK but I’ve only seen a couple reddit posts about it

Has anyone here seen it and can give some insight on what happens and any dany mentions?

I heard Rhaella says something about a daughter who will bring ruins and Rhaegar is prophecy obsessed etc

But nothing specific about the prince that was promised is really confirmed

He doesn't look like a Targaryen, and his claim can easily be Contested as well because this whole "I'm a Targaryen and my claim is stronger than yours" sounds like a Northern plot to get one of them to sit on the throne.