“Daenerys’ defining scene, her perpetually relevant starting point, is “rape victim.” We understand, from her first moments, that this is a story about a woman who is powerless, and that her powerlessness stems largely from being female. The obstacle, then, is misogyny, and her arc, her radical change, will presumably be a journey from powerlessness to power. Women who expected Daenerys to become a benevolent feminist ruler, to break the wheel and end the cycle of oppression, were not stupid; they were following basic story logic. Their expectations didn’t spring from delusion or narcissism, they sprang from Star Wars.

And if some of those women got a little too invested, if they bought some cheesy merch, if they named their kids Khaleesi, well: Are we really unclear on why that happened? Still? “Rape victim who wants to end rape,” as an identity, is not “man who reclaims masculinity by dealing meth.” It’s certainly not “whiny teen who becomes psychic space ninja.” It’s an identity lots of women in the audience actually share. It’s just that, while the rest of us were still trying to find our power, Daenerys actually did.

Women turned this show, this deeply problematic and rape-filled show, into a place where they could bring their trauma. Daenerys is raped, Cersei is raped, Sansa is raped, Brienne survives numerous attempted rapes and can’t walk two feet in any direction without being harassed (though it does feel reliably great to watch her reasoned and proportionate responses) but instead of concluding that Game of Thrones hated women, women concluded that the show loved survivors. They believed it was telling them a story about what it takes to survive, to find your power, even when the whole world wants you powerless, voiceless, raped and dead.

I believe that Daenerys was always intended to become the Mad Queen. Her ultimate villainy is completely in line with the kind of story George R. R. Martin intended to tell, and is probably one of the plot elements he handed the showrunners, back when he outlined how he intended to end the series. But I don’t think George R. R. Martin, or the showrunners, fully understood the kind of story they were telling.

Because in that moment, when Daenerys goes nuts, and becomes a wicked genocidal dictator who must be deposed, I am remembering her rape scene. Basic story logic: That was the beginning of her arc, this is the end, and we are being asked to see what has changed. It was a journey from powerlessness to power, but now we know this makes it a journey from good to evil, too. What you are telling me, when you make Daenerys a power-mad despot, is that it was better for her to be powerless. It was better for her to be on her knees, with a stranger’s dick forced inside her, than it was for her to be a queen. Power turns Dany bad, and her badness hurts everyone, so it was better for the whole world for that little girl to get raped, over and over and over, than it was for her to find her power.

Yeah, I get it. And hey: Fuck you, too.”

—“Who Wins, Who Dies”, Sady Doyle