GoT S8E5: Kill Them All
Nov. 17th, 2022 10:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerGame of Thrones S8E5 is officially titled "The Bells" but it really should be called "Kill Them All"— the infamous last words of King Aerys. Twenty or so years later his order is carried out. 😨
This episode is about the final battle for control of King's Landing and hence all of Westeros. Remarks after the cut (spoilers).
Basically, Daenerys Targaryen goes mad and burns the city. Using her enormous dragon and its fiery breath as a weapon of mass destruction, she kills soldiers after they've surrendered and laid down their weapons; she kills innocent non-combatants and children in their homes.
Why did she do this? Part of it, the showrunners would have us believe, is the fabled Targaryen family madness. "They say that when a Targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin," the character Varys says. Historically some Targaryens have been wise and just leaders, while others (and not just a few) have been mad, cruel tyrants.
I say would have us believe because the story arc of Daenerys going mad is rushed. It's rushed but it's real. And some of the things that cause her to snap are legitimate stressors.
All of these things are plenty to understand why a person would be pissed. But Daenerys goes way farther than justified. Once her dragon and her armies had defeated Cersei's armies, and the enemies laid down their weapons (literally), she could have attacked just Cersei. Yes, Cersei had filled the Red Keep with human shields, counting on Daenerys's good nature to protect her. Daenerys could have attacked just the Red Keep. Yes, thousands of innocents would die, but in such a situation the moral responsibility for that is on the tyrant who took hostages. Instead of letting thousands of hostages die, Daenerys instead methodically burned the whole city, killing probably hundreds of thousands of innocent people.
Daenerys has accomplished what her father, Mad King Aerys II, had wanted to do. He wanted to burn the whole city— his city— because he feared everyone might turn against him.
BTW, someone with a shred of a moral compass killed him for making that order.
This episode is about the final battle for control of King's Landing and hence all of Westeros. Remarks after the cut (spoilers).
Basically, Daenerys Targaryen goes mad and burns the city. Using her enormous dragon and its fiery breath as a weapon of mass destruction, she kills soldiers after they've surrendered and laid down their weapons; she kills innocent non-combatants and children in their homes.
Why did she do this? Part of it, the showrunners would have us believe, is the fabled Targaryen family madness. "They say that when a Targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin," the character Varys says. Historically some Targaryens have been wise and just leaders, while others (and not just a few) have been mad, cruel tyrants.
I say would have us believe because the story arc of Daenerys going mad is rushed. It's rushed but it's real. And some of the things that cause her to snap are legitimate stressors.
- Two of her dragons, which she considers her children, have been killed. One was killed just recently by Queen Cersei's admiral.
- She learns of Jon Snow's true parentage, which gives him a stronger claim to the throne via Targaryen bloodline than hers. She's fought for years to claim throne, and here Jon just gets a superior claim handed to him.
- Jon abruptly ends their romantic relationship. Once they understand they're aunt and nephew, to continue it would be morally wrong to him. Such incest is common within the Targaryen family, though, so Daenerys sees Jon's decision to leave not as a reflection of his cultural values (he was't raised a Targaryen) but as a personal betrayal against her.
- Lady Sansa of Winterfell is openly distrustful of her. Sansa commands the loyalty of the northern lords, who are already restive that King-in-the-North Jon "bent the knee" to her; and also has influence over the lords of the Vale. Together that's 2 of the 7 kingdoms of Westeros. Daenerys recognizes accurately that Sansa is, at best, a frenemy. A powerful frenemy.
- She learns her advisor, Varys, is plotting to kill her. At a minimum, he's discussed it in elliptical terms with Tyrion. He's also sent messages to other lords to undermine her rule. And it's implied in two brief scenes that he's actually tried to poison her in her castle. She learns of his treason and executes him.
- Cersei publicly executed Daenerys's advisor and friend, Missandei, to taunt her.
All of these things are plenty to understand why a person would be pissed. But Daenerys goes way farther than justified. Once her dragon and her armies had defeated Cersei's armies, and the enemies laid down their weapons (literally), she could have attacked just Cersei. Yes, Cersei had filled the Red Keep with human shields, counting on Daenerys's good nature to protect her. Daenerys could have attacked just the Red Keep. Yes, thousands of innocents would die, but in such a situation the moral responsibility for that is on the tyrant who took hostages. Instead of letting thousands of hostages die, Daenerys instead methodically burned the whole city, killing probably hundreds of thousands of innocent people.
Daenerys has accomplished what her father, Mad King Aerys II, had wanted to do. He wanted to burn the whole city— his city— because he feared everyone might turn against him.
BTW, someone with a shred of a moral compass killed him for making that order.
