5. SHE HAS SOME ANGER ISSUES
Daenerys isn’t a hot head, exactly, but she does have a fiery rage inside of her. While that rage can sometimes be a powerful tool to strike fear into her enemies, it has also led some to hypothesize that Daenerys is actually the ultimate villain of the Game of Thrones saga. Her father went mad, and many have suggested that Daenerys might succumb to the same fate, and begin seeing enemies everywhere she looks.
While she may seem quite far from that place right now, it would most definitely be interesting to see her slip further and further into villainy, perhaps without even realizing that it was happening. Before she knew it, she might come face to face with Jon Snow, and realize that her goal of conquering the Seven Kingdoms has cost her too much of who she once was. Daenerys may become her father, and embrace much of the cruelty that defined the Targaryens throughout their history.
4. SHE MAY NOT BE AZOR AHAI
The idea of a “prince who was promised” or Azor Ahai is prominent in the world of Game of Thrones, and there are several theories about who this mystical savior who will stop the coming winter could be. Daenerys meets many of the criteria associated with Azor Ahai, there are other characters who meet just as many criteria, or even more than she does.
As in most places, her chief rival is Jon Snow, who meets almost all of the same criteria Dany does, although he doesn’t have her dragons. The flip side of that, though, is that Jon Snow is the most literal representation of the melding of ice and fire – being half Stark and half Targaryen.
There are other characters who could be Azor Ahai, including Tyrion, Beric, and until he died, Stannis. Dany may have a strong claim to that title, but she certainly doesn’t have complete ownership of it – at least not yet.
3. DAENERYS TAKING THE THRONE IS TOO EASY FOR GAME OF THRONES
Game of Thrones ends its first season with the death of Ned Stark. It’s an event that establishes the storytelling rules of this world. Ned Stark is a natural hero; a character who believes in honor above all else and always does what he believes to be right. Instead of watching him expose the villainy of the show’s other characters, Ned is cut down in his prime. It’s a messy, horrid, thing that shows us how complicated Game of Thrones can be.
As satisfying as it might be to see Daenerys ascend to the Iron Throne at the end of the show’s run, that answer is far too clean for Game of Thrones. It grafts a “Chosen One” narrative onto a story that has worked consistently to buck that tradition, and suggests that the characters inside of this story can live happily ever after, even if they lost a lot along the way.
Game of Thrones has never been that type of story, but putting Daenerys on the Iron Throne would turn it into one.
2. SHE’S TOO RELIANT ON HER DRAGONS
Daenerys Targaryen has an ultimate trump card, and she certainly isn’t afraid to use it. In fact, you wouldn’t be crazy for suggesting that she relies on that trump card a little too frequently for her own good. The dragons have gotten her out of a number of tight squeezes, but they’re not a nuanced solution to any problem she’s faced. Instead of trying to riddle out a workable answer, Daenerys simply blows her problems up with the help of her fire-breathing friends.
While it’s worked for her thus far, that’s partially because she’s chosen to move on from many of the places that she’s visited. In Westeros, that won’t be an option, and she’ll be forced to solve problems with her enemies without destroying her entire kingdom.
Dragons are a nice answer to many problems, but they can’t make her a competent leader, and it’s starting to seem like Daenerys thinks they could.
1. SHE’S UNAWARE OF THE WHITE WALKERS
This is true of many of the show’s characters, but it’s also a somewhat disqualifying fact. After all, viewers of the show and readers of the books know that the biggest threat to humanity in the world of Game of Thrones comes from the White Walkers, and it’s a threat many of them have ignored for far too long. Now, Daenerys hasn’t had many opportunities to ignore the threat yet, in part because she’s been safely stashed on a different continent.
When Dany does run into Jon Snow, though, this will be a major test of her leadership. Will she believe him about the real war to come, or turn her back like the rest of Westeros’s nobility? If she believes him, Dany will have proven herself a more responsible leader than her predecessors, but there’s a very real possibility she won’t without evidence, which will make her ill-equipped to handle the threat when it eventually arrives at her door.