The ASOIAF/GOT fandom is the only fandom I’ve ever seen to equate going to war against oppression to tyranny. Seriously, you don’t see this shit in any other fandom. You don’t see people saying that the rebellion should have tried to peacefully negotiate with the Capitol and President Snow. You don’t see people saying that going to war against the Empire in Star Wars is bad. You don’t see people saying that the Pevensie siblings going to war against Queen Jadis and her tyranny is a bad thing. You don’t see people saying that if the Order of the Phoenix peacefully negotiated with Voldemort and the Death Eaters, they would stop their tyranny and bigotry. You don’t see people saying that if only Katniss asked nicely, President Snow would stop the Hunger Games.
You don’t ever see fandoms saying that the heroes are bad for going to war against oppressors. you don’t ever see people saying that the heroes are “too extreme” because they went to war against tyrants. Actually, going to war against oppressors is literally what heroes do! It’s what you see in many many stories! Nobody says that the heroes are evil or too extreme for fighting against tyranny. Even when you do have an extremist character amongst the heroes, only the extremist character is vilified, but nobody ever vilifies the heroes for going to war against tyrants. Daenerys is the only character that I’ve ever seen be vilified for going to war against tyrants and oppression. She is not an extremist at all, she literally simply went to war against tyrants (the slavers) like every hero ever. I’ll never not be baffled by people saying that Daenerys is bad or “violent” for choosing war or that her methods are “extreme” for going to war, because that’s literally what almost every hero has been doing ever!
I think Dany’s hatred for being “too violent against the slavers” (LMAO) has mainly two reasons:
1. Misogyny. I don’t need to elaborate on that. Some people simply dislike the idea of a woman in power and will do anything to undermine her, while simoultaneously praising male characters for doing the same thing.
2. How the story is structured. ASOIAF is famous for “deconstructing” popular fantasy tropes. How well-deserved this fame is can be debated, but there is no doubt Martin has consciously chosen a harder road for his character to take. In a more traditional story, such complex problems are often solved by a Deus Ex-Machina: an external help, a cosmic catastrophe, magic, or, if there is really dirty work to be done, some evil character will do it, and then conveniently either self-destructs in a dumb way or the ever-blameless heroes will kill them, while simultaneously benefitting from their actions (Daenerys herself becomes this kind of character for the Starks in the final episodes).
Daenerys had no such solution in front of her. She couldn’t magically make slavery disappear with no pain and suffering. She had to do the dirty work, and, this being a more realistic setting than usual, it had heavy consequences for everyone involved. There was no easy, pain-free solution for ending slavery, because there simply couldn’t be one. Even in the “Best of the possible worlds” where the slavers just give up slavery once they are asked nicely (yeah, I know, but sometimes I do wonder if some people expected exactly that to happen), there would have been hunger and riots, because an economy was being torn apart and rebuilt.
Like it or not, this is “realistic”. Dany is dealing with the aftermath of a revolution: her cause was just and good, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be consequences, even for good people. This is the sad reality of such things, the reality that many fantasy stories don’t get into.
This is why I think that many fans (especially the Redditors) who profess to love the series’ “realism” merely mean its sex, violence and political intrigue. Deep down, they sti want their fave to win while also having the moral high ground, which is not going to happen here, or at least not as easily.
Brilliant addition! You’re completely right, ASOIAF doesn’t give its characters easy ways out. Other stories simply don’t focus on the consequences of war. Every war, even just wars, have consequences. But usually, what we see in most stories are wars with very little moral ambiguity and that deal very little with the consequences of it.
