The Sorceress’ speech was a great teaching moment, and one that criticized the entire framing of race relations in the Seven Kingdoms. The sorceress enlightens Dany that her definition of “saved” was quite different from the sorceress’, since the Sorceress had already been raped multiple times and watched her village burned down and fellow villagers murdered by the time Dany stepped in to “save” her. Dany is confused, questioningly telling the sorceress, “But I saved you”. That is problematic, and illustrated well by the sorceress (her name is Mirri Maz Duur. Thanks GOT_Pedant! the show doesn’t even bother to humanize her with a name) who helps Dany “save” Khal Drogo, only to deliberately turn him into an empty vessel. The descriptions and casting choices paint white as savior and dark as brute needing to be saved. But what HBO does so well is present these issues in ways that demand examination. The show does have strong elements of misogyny. Daenerys is playing the war game, and to do so she needs to fight to kill, but otherwise her leadership is marked by a love for humankind and a moral fight to right wrongs and fight oppression.
They live life, experience, and grow both from hardships and victories, and choose the type of leaders they want to be in the process of that growth. Then she starts to take over the world. She’s a more adult, more complicated (and arguably more flawed) character than Hermione, and I can’t get enough! The Game of Thrones is about power in its varying forms, some of which breed destruction, and others of which fight that destruction with love and compassion. People aren’t just BORN perfect leaders.
Daenerys Targaryen’s drop the mic moment when she threw down Kraznys Mo Nakloz’s whip in Season 3, Episode 4 finally quenched that thirst! A young woman in a world created and run by men, Daenerys is denied her humanity, physically and verbally abused, and traded as a piece of property. After my decade long experience with Harry Potter ended with the 2011 release of Deathly Hallows Part 2, I’ve been left wanting for a new Hermione, a similarly amazing and feminist mainstream character.
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