Daenerys Targaryen Appreciation Month 2021 || Day 27 - Historical Parallel: Daenerys I Targaryen And

Daenerys Targaryen Appreciation Month 2021 || Day 27 - Historical Parallel: Daenerys I Targaryen and Elizabeth I Tudor

The sister post of this edit can be found at asongoficeandfiresource

Wherever the Queen went, people would flock to see her, and Elizabeth would often stop her horse or litter to talk with them. The Queen had a great way with people, always knowing the right thing to say and do, and enjoyed talking to her poor subjects as much as her rich. She had the common touch and this was something her Stuart successors lacked. Indeed, Sir Walter Raleigh once told King James I that one of the reasons Queen Elizabeth had been so popular was because she was "a queen of the poor as well as the rich". The Queen loved the pagents the poor people put on for her, even though they were not as sophisticated as the ones at court, and always appreciated their gifts, great and small. -- ElizabethI.org

-- The Life of Elizabeth I by Alison Weir

It can't be overstated how hugely important the common touch was for royals and their success as a monarch. That's why it's no small thing that in ASOIAF we see characters like Arya, Dany, Margaery, and Alysanne going among the common people, working to understand their plight, and gaining their love.

TARGLINGS WEEK 2.0: → Rhaella and Viserys

When Viserys sold their mother’s crown, the last joy had gone from him, leaving only rage.

Great Houses of Westeros: House Targaryen (2/2)

“But in recent years, it has occured to me from time to time that it might have made for an interesting twist if instead I had made the dragonlords of Valyria, and therefore the Targaryens black….if I’d had dark-skinned dragonlords invade and conquer and dominate a largely white Westeros… though that choice would have brought its own perils. The Targaryens have not all been heroic, after all… some of them have been monsters, madmen, so…Well, it’s all moot. The idea came to me about twenty years too late.”

Daenerys Appreciation Month || Mythological or Historical Parallels

Hestia

Hestia is a Greek fire goddess of the hearth, home, family, and the state. Daenerys parallels Hestia because of the importance she places on home and her people. I would also argue that home is the most important thing to Daenerys and that her quest for the Iron Throne is a manifestation of that desire for home and for safety (since being exiled means she is forever under threat of assassination attempts.) As the books go on, she consistently attempts to create this sense of safety and home for former slaves and the disenfranchised. I also love how Hestia reminds us that fire is not only a tool used to destroy, but it is also necessary to sustain life, which I think is at the heart of the duality of Daenerys’ house words of Fire and Blood.

Kali Ma

Kali Ma is a Hindu goddess who is considered to be the Master of death and time. She is also said to be the Paramshakti, that is the supreme of all powers, or the ultimate reality. She is the ultimate manifestation of Shakti and the mother of all living beings. She destroys evil in order to protect the innocent. Daenerys parallels Kali as a mother figure who is the defender of the weak. For more details about how Daenerys parallels Kali read this meta by @yendany

Artemis

Artemis is a Greek goddess of the hunt, wildlife, the moon, and the protector of women and children. Daenerys parallels her connection to animals through her natural ability to ride and bond with horses as seen with The Silver and the fact that she was able to hatch, nuture, tame, and ride dragons, an extinct species at the time the books begin. She also parallels Artemis as a protector of women and children and as a mother figure. Artemis herself never gave birth, yet was revered as a Mother Goddess and prayed to by women in labor. This parallels Daenerys who has also never physically given birth to a human child, but is seen as a mother to her people and to the dragons she brought into the world.

Sekhmet

Sekhmet is an Egyptian warrior goddess of healing. She is the daughter of the sun god, Ra, and is among the more important of the goddesses who acted as the vengeful manifestation of Ra’s power, the Eye of Ra. Sekhmet was said to breathe fire, and the hot winds of the desert were likened to her breath. She is given titles such as the “One Before Whom Evil Trembles”, “Mistress of Dread”, “Lady of Slaughter” and “She Who Mauls”. Yet she is also revered as the goddess of healing and a protection. Daenerys has parallels with Sekhmet’s fire imagery and also parallels the idea that the destruction of evil is often necessary in order to protect and sustain life and to make way for healing.

asoiaf quotes  // A Game of Thrones - Daenerys I ↴ Her mother had died birthing her, and for that her brother Viserys had never forgiven her. […] A princess, Dany thought. She had forgotten what that was like.