Thread by @acadenigma

The symbolism of Dany and Cersei for me: White women whitewomening. They are the same always have been. Daenerys’ salvific persona was a shield.

A performance that hid the guile of greed for@power that she grew into. With every emancipatory act, her lust for power increased. All of this was when her dream of The Throne was an aspiration. A far-fetched aspiration

She manipulated everyone around her always and punished everyone who defied her, always. But in the small spaces across the Narrow Sea, she was a striver; against all odds survivor.

But in each instance. We could see her becoming more tyrannical, if we looked. We’re not distracted by her rhetoric of military supported kindness; moralizing “nation” building. She convinced us that being rightful makes your cause righteous

Look at S2 she kills Xaro steals his gold to buy that ship. Which takes her to Slaver Bay where she frees the Unsullied who “choose” to fight for her.

But: she can’t have slaves in Westeros. Oh yeah, she kills to secure them. Blinded by white benevolence. But then, chattel masters told their freed slaves “I know you’re free but you’re family too, and if you stay...”😏

Rizdal? The Second Sons? Her relationship with Daario? Like Cersei, she weaponized love aligning it with loyalty to her deserving power. Meereen where Drogon—her dragon, the one who carries her—manifests a secret rage

She cages him until she can control it. Barristan reminds Dany that Rhaegar’s madness was giving his enemies what they deserved. She lives by this too, this right sense of justice.

but we don’t see the madness because her deserving-to-be-greats-punishes are people with whom we do not cannot and don’t want to sympathize. So they get what’s coming to them and we were all “meh”. But it’s a cumulative

When Jon Snow arrives, her quest for The Throne moves from long shot to possibly imminent. We begin to see shifts in her—costuming helps parallel her to Cersei. The North remembers, and Dany knows it.

This is not to say she is without feeling, without heart, or without human compassions, passions, even. But her life goal has always been redemption for her house, securing what was stolen from her. AND destroying any threat to that

Killing in a blackwoman’s name is useful. But I don’t but it. Theirs was always a relationship defined by power imbalance. Dany likes them that way. In the North we see her because she is no longer revered, her power based on the reputation that preceded her.

“Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, rightful heir to the Iron Throne, rightful Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Protector of the Seven Kingdoms, the Mother of Dragons, the Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, the Unburnt, the Breaker of Chains”

Missandei deferred@to her power without question. But in The North she has to earn this deference, this trust, from a people equally fighting a righteous war. It is a classic hierarchy of oppressions and Dany does not want to equalize—break all chains—here.

Sansa gets her to all but admit that she will not break the chains of the North, she will not allow North’s independence; they will not be free. She is growing more despotic, losing her desire to be different. The parallel now becomes Cersei Daenerys Sansa

Or Cersei Sansa Daenerys. A loud despot with articulated ruthlessness and a quietly ambitious despot increasingly breathing fire separated by an softspoken mistress of strategery who listens and learns

Daenerys was also going to bring fire to King’s Landing. Dracarys was always her promise, her path to the Iron Throne. And she has shown us that anyone in her way feels the burn.

Daenerys shows that rightful doesn’t make you righteous. For all Jon’s weakness, Tyrion’s naievete they are righteous. Sansa more than both. If Tyrion survives, she and he are Westeros’ best chance. Bc The North don’t incest—even vicarious

Q: Does Jon kill Dany and go True North? Reunite with Ghost? Live amongst the really free?

#TheGameofThrones has many messages about the power of power; it seems the main one that without bridles conscience, mitigated passions, and a vision outside of ego, power is always corruptible, no matter if it’s a man or woman wielding it.