Queen Daenerys (Stormborn) Targaryen

• Individual Picture Notes
  • Emilia Clarke as Daenyrs Stormborn in HBO Game of Thrones

• General Notes
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    Daenerys is the last Targaryen Princess and one of the last members of the ancient Targaryen Dynasty -- the former royal family of Westeros.  She is a very young woman, beautiful in the inhuman way of the Valyrians, with silver-gold hair and violet eyes -- like other members of her family.
    
    Daenerys was conceived during the rebellion that would end her family's reign; her father is Aerys II, who was known as the “Mad King”.  Before her birth, Daenerys’ pregnant mother and her brother, Viserys, fled King’s Landing to the island fortress of Dragonstone, where her mother died in labor while giving birth to Daenerys during a storm; since that time, she has been known as Daenerys Stormborn.  When Dragonstone fell to rebel forces, Daenerys and Viserys were smuggled away to the Free City of Braavos by men loyal to her father.
    
    In the years after the fall of House Targaryen, Daenerys and Viserys fell into a hard life.  They constantly wandered in poverty among the nine Free Cities, moving often for fear of assassins under the order of King Robert Baratheon (known as “The Usurper”) while Viserys sought some means to win back the Iron Throne.
    
    In the Free City of Pentos, Daenerys and Viserys were the guests of Illyrio Mopatis, a rich and powerful magister.  Illyrio and Viserys arranged to marry the then 13-year old Daenerys to Khal Drogo, a warlord of the nomadic Dothraki.  In doing so, Viserys hoped to gain an army and return to conquer Westeros.   At Daenerys’ wedding, exiled knight Jorah Mormont pledged his service to her, and she received a set of three petrified dragon eggs from Illyrio.
    
    Although she was frightened by Drogo at first, the fierce warlord proved to be gentle and considerate toward his young bride, and she grew to love him.  No longer under her domineering brother's control, the freedom and power of her new role as Khaleesi (Queen) helped Daenerys blossom into a strong and confident young woman, even beginning to stand up to Viserys.
    
    Daenerys, Viserys, and Drogo’s khalasar traveled east to Vaes Dothrak, where Daenerys was presented to the crones known as the Dosh Khaleen.  At the time, she was pregnant with Drogo's child, and the crones prophesied that  the child would become "the stallion that mounts the world" -- a long-prophesized Dothraki conqueror.
    
    During their travels, Viserys grew increasingly impatient to regain the Iron Throne, demanding that Drogo help him retake his crown.  Tired of Viserys insolence, Khal Drogo "crowned" him by dumping a pot of molten gold over his head and killing him.  Drogo then led his warriors west, conquering foreign lands.
    
    Daenerys pitied one captive woman and saved her from Drogo's men, taking her into service. The woman was a maegi named Mirri Maz Duur.  After Drogo was wounded in a battle and his life was threatened, Daenerys commanded Mirri Maz Duur to heal him. The wound festered and Drogo was near death when Mirri Maz Duur attempted to save him through the use of ritual blood magic.
    
    However, Mir Maz Duur's efforts resulted in the death by magical forces of Daenerys’ son while still in her womb, and with Drogo reduced to a coma-like state.  Daenerys then ended Drogo's comatose life herself and was abandoned by most of his khalasar.
    
    Daenyrs ordered Mirri Maz Duur burned on Drogo's funeral pyre.  As the pyre was lit, a red star appeared in the sky, and Daenyrs entered the flames with her dragon eggs.  Her attempted self-sacrifice hatched the eggs, birthing the first three dragons in the known world for centuries, and Daenerys herself was unharmed.  She named her dragons Viserion, Rhaegal and Drogon, after her two brothers and husband. Three warriors of Drogo’s remaining khalasar swore themselves to Daenerys as her bloodriders, and she became the first female Dothraki leader, a khal (Queen) in her own right.
    
    Daenerys, her dragons, and what little remained of Drogo's khalasar wandered to a desolate area known as the Red Wastes until they found an ancient, abandoned city. There they recovered from the deadly ravages of their nomadic desert life, while Daenerys sent out scouts in all directions. One scout returned with three emissaries from the great city of Qarth.  Daenerys returned with them to Qarth, hoping to enlist aid from merchant emissary Xaro Xhoan Daxos in conquering Westeros.  However, the merchants of Qarth were only interested in obtaining her dragons.
    
    Daenerys then turned to one of the other emissaries, warlock Pyat Pree.  Against the judgment of her friends and counselors, she agreed to visit the warlock's leaders, the Undying Ones, in the House of the Undying. After viewing several mysterious portents and hearing vague prophecies, Daenerys realized that the warlocks were plotting against her.  Aided by her dragon, Drongo, Daenerys destroyed the House of the Undying.  With nowhere else to turn, Daenerys considered suggestions of the third emissary, the masked woman Quaithe of Asshai, who told Daenerys she must go further east to conquer the west.
    
    While she was in Qarth with the emissaries, an assasin tried to kill Danerys, but an old man calling himself Arstan Whitebeard interfered.  Whitebeard and a euneuch, Strong Belwas, revealed themselves as agents of magister Illyrio Mopatis.  Illyrio had sent three merchant ships with Whitebeard and Belwas to transport Danerys and her people to Pentos. Rather than return, however, Daenerys claimed the three ships and their cargo for her own and continued to the east.
    
    She traveled to Slaver's Bay, a region whose cities thrived on the sale and labor of slaves. In Astapor, Daenyrs purchased an army of elite eunuch slave soldiers called the Unsullied by pretending to sell Drogon. After taking control of the Unsullied, she used them to conquer Astapor and made them free man. They, however, decided to follow her. After forming a council to rule Astapor, she next set out for the city of Yunkai.
    
    Yunkai had hired two sellsword companies, the Storm Crows and the Second Sons, in addition to conscripting a force of some 4000 slave soldiers to defend the city. Daenerys parleyed with the captains of the companies, hoping to convince them to switch their allegiance to her. Her arguments convinced a commander of the Storm Crows to assassinate his colleagues and pledge the company for Daenerys.
    
    To the Second Sons, Daenerys offered a great store of wine as tribute; but she then attacked them in the night while they were drunk and sleeping. Yunkai's slave army was unable to withstand Daenerys' army of Unsullied and was slain, captured, or put to flight.  The City of Yunkai surrendered a few days later and the Second Sons also switched allegiance to Daenyrs.
    
    Near Meereen, Daenerys was nearly killed by the Titan's Bastard, former captain of the Second Sons.  Arstan Whitebeard slew the Bastard and finally revealed to Daenyrs his true identity as Sir Barristan Selmy, a famous knight of the Kingsguard who had served King Robert Baratheon after the rebellion.  Whitebeard claimed to have seen the error of his ways and told Daenyrs he had sought her out as true heir to the Seven Kingdoms. He also revealed that Jorah Mormont, still Daenerys's trusted right arm, had been sending reports on her actions to spymaster Varys in King's Landing, hoping for a pardon from King Robert.
    
    Daenerys felt betrayed by both Whitebeard and Mormont, though each fervently wished to atone for their actions. During her siege of Meereen, Daenyrs sent them both on a covert suicide mission through the sewers. Their mission succeeded and they won the city with minimal blood. Barristan humbly submitted to his Queen's judgment and was forgiven. Jorah stubbornly continued to insist that he had done nothing wrong, and Daenerys banished him from her service. 
    
    Having captured Meereen, Daenyrs has turned her eyes toward Westeros.  Through talks with Barristan about her homeland and its history, she learns that there is much she does not know about ruling.  Daenyrs is struggling as ruler of Meereen -- her men are being murdered in the street. She is also troubled by her dragons growing increasingly aggressive and wild, with one of them apparently killing and devouring a child.
    

Husband's Pictures

• Picture Notes
  • Jason Momoa as Khal Drogo in HBO Game of Thrones