"Danaerys was always going to be the Mad Queen." Topic

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I thought so from the beginning. This just adds what I missed. 👍

Yeah, I figured as much. I just wish the show didn't wait until the last few episodes to make the switch. It felt like whiplash it happened so fast. She went from plucky underdog leader with cool dragons to mad as a hatter stone cold tyrant in a heartbeat. It just came across as sudden even though it seemed like the logical conclusion.

If the books ever are finished, I hope that George does a better job of transitioning.

Who am I kidding? He'll never finish the books. Hopefully whoever they hire to finish them does a better job of transitioning.

Tgerritsen, Completely agree with your take on last few episodes on Daenaerys.

Tiron… pure intelligence… never noticed?… or was it because he was kind of turned on by her?…

Armand

I think they had to wait until the end to show her as crazy. If they had started showing her having "issues" in earlier episodes that everyone would have known she wasn't going to become Queen and that would have been a big giveaway. I agree she went crazy fast and it wasn't done well but they had a reason.

Targaryen. 🤷 What can I say?
She was an entitled Targaryen from the start.

Her brother was worst…

Armand

@Grattan54–you are likely correct, but I also think they may have been worried about backlash from fans if they had slowly morphed her character, claiming it was "bad, misogynistic writing" rather than them slowly introducing her change.

Ya that girl was cray cray! She had to go.

I watched a short video by a commentator who argued that he believes one of the biggest issues which has befuddled Martin, and is responsible for his inability to finish books, is keeping track of the sheer number of characters, their physical locations, and the timing of their adventures and development. He argues that the early books leaned into the months of time that might pass as characters traveled, plotted, etc., and you can see the difference with the way the TV showrunners just sort of collapsed those issues in the last season or two and had characters teleport around and change demeanors overnight.

It was the opening of the Kings Landing to Winterfell bullet train.

Seriously though.
Martin grew tired of seeing the sausage being made in Hollywood, and deliberately set out to write a story that was unfilmable. I think he succeeded. Heck, even in the last published book he threw a ton of new plots and characters into the mix. You can't really blame Benioff and Weis for baling. That's just too convenient. Martin didn't help. Did we really need to spend pages with the likes of Nimble Dick? Dark Star (or whatever his name is…)? The emo Dayne.
The challenge in filming the story was what to leave out in a way that didn't outrage that grumpy temperamental old man. The same issue popped up in House of the Dragon. Nettles! And it only took 2 seasons for that.

I wonder about all the parents who named their baby "Khaleesi", and then watched in horror as she committed atrocities. 🤷 Should have stuck with Mary or Susan.