Daenerys' Madness Was There All Along: We Should Have Seen It Sooner
Game of Thrones fans would be familiar with the following saying: "Every time a Targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin. And the world holds its breath."
The words are famous throughout Westeros and the Free Cities and have been ever since before the Targaryens seized power. Madness apparently ran rampant through that very inbred family if you would believe the local gossips. But look a little closer at their history and you will see that very few Targaryens were mad. The popular theory is that jealousy, coupled with a handful of the silver-haired dragon riders having gone a little off the deep end, prompted the popular saying.
Its use in GoT is very deliberate. Because at the beginning of the story, we are presented with two Targaryens, Viserys and Daenerys. The notion of a coin being flipped fooled many into thinking this meant one of them had to be sane, and the other mad.
Viserys was clearly mad, as was established early. He was cruel, evil, and selfish, and cared nothing about his younger sister. But what many fans seemed to forget for a very long time was that you can flip a coin twice and return the same result on both occasions…
Dany was indeed mad, as was well proven by the conclusion of the series.
But eagle-eyed fans have pointed out that her destruction of King's Landing should have surprised nobody. And if you rewatch the series, you will see the signs clear as day. Firstly, watching her brother being murdered by her husband.
Now, nobody is going to try claiming that Viserys did not have it coming. But the coldness in her eyes revealed a much darker side to the sweet, innocent Dany we were getting to know.
Then she sought revenge on the woman that was responsible for the death of her husband and unborn child. Which seems reasonable. But burning someone alive is possibly the cruellest method of execution she had available to her.
It was a method she would employ again and again, against some people that were very deserving, such as the Khals in Vaes Dothrak who threatened to rape her to death, but also others that perhaps did not earn such a cruel fate, like Tarly and his son.
Add that to her crucifying slave masters, and the act of revenge we all applauded, and the clues are there for everyone to see. In fact, it was likely only the deaths of Jorah Mormont, two of her dragons, and Missandei that gave her that final push toward total insanity.
She was teetering on the ragged edge when we first met her, but all she needed was power and purpose. That was all it took for us to learn which side the coin landed upon the day Dany was born…