This brings me to Daenerys. What many don't realize until it's too late is that Daenerys is an extremely unreliable narrator. By the time the reader has enough clues to understand this, he has already recorded her musings into his perceived history of events. He has forgotten that the only significant account of the flight to and from Dragonstone came from Daenerys, and it is now locked into his head as historical fact.
How unreliable is Daenerys? Let's put things into perspective. Daenerys was not even born until Willem Darry supposedly fled with her and Viserys from Dragonstone. Therefore, everything she knows up to and including this event must come from others. Who is her primary source for this information? Viserys.
I shouldn't need to explain that Viserys is delusional - unable to even recognize the reality in front of his own two eyes. On top of that, however, we can demonstrate that his memory of history is often imagined. Consider a couple of examples:
Viserys believes that the Usurper's hired knives were chasing them all across Essos, but Robert explains, "I should have had them both killed years ago, when it was easy to get at them, but Jon was as bad as you. More fool I, I listened to him."
Daenerys reveals that "Viserys had told her stories of the tourneys he had witnessed in the Seven Kingdoms, but Dany had never seen a joust herself." Yet, Viserys was not allowed to attend tournaments due to Aerys's fear of attempts on his life. Viserys was not even allowed to attend the tourney held in honor of his own birth!
At this point, we should be questioning all the things that Daenerys believes about her past. All. The. Things.
"His blunt words startled her. It seemed as though all the things she had always believed were suddenly called into question."
In truth, you wouldn't even need tinfoil to question if she is the sister of Viserys!
"Daenerys... Remember who you are."
10 comments:
You're not wrong! So much about Dany's back story seems off because of how she remembers it.
Are you familiar with the Lemon Tree theory? Dany remembers growing up in a house in Braavos with a red door and a lemon tree outside the window. GRRM connects lemons to Dorne on three occasions, and on another suggests they don't grow in Braavos.
If Dany is remembering growing up near a lemon tree, is it more likely that she grew up in Dorne?
From Game of Thrones, Daenerys I:
That was when they lived in Braavos, in the big house with the red door. Dany had her own room there, with a lemon tree outside her window.
All that Daenerys wanted back was the big house with the red door, the lemon tree outside her window, the childhood she had never known.
Storm of Swords, Arya II:
"Lemons. And where would we get lemons? Does this look like Dorne to you, you freckled fool? Why don't you hop out back to the lemon trees and pick us a bushel, and some nice olives and pomegranates too."
A Feast For Crows - Queenmaker:
Beyond a line of stony hills the grass grew greener and more lush, and there were lemon orchards watered by a spider's web of old canals.
Winds of Winter - Mercy:
"Seven hells, this place is damp," she heard her guard complain. "I'm chilled to the bones. Where are the bloody orange trees? I always heard there were orange trees in the Free Cities. Lemons and limes. Pomegranates."
Winds of Winter - Alayne I:
Sweetrobin loved lemon cakes too, but only after she told him that they were her favorites. The cake had required every lemon in the Vale, but Petyr had promised that he would send to Dorne for more.
Hey ND! Good to hear from you again!
I'm definitely familiar with the lemon tree theory. It's interesting to see how some people with apparent brain damage will dismiss this abundance of evidence because of a single line from a Sam chapter in AFFC:
Trees did not grow on Braavos, save in the courts and gardens of the mighty.
They seem to think that the entire theory rests on the claim that it is physically impossible for any tree to ever grow in Braavos, ever. Of course, no such claim is actually made. The rest of the readers with IQs higher than rocks simply look at the wealth of information specific to lemon trees and recognize that George is trying to tell us something.
Have you seen my post about how Tyrion, Dany, and Jon are all Dragonseed of Aerys? In it, I linked to a cool theory about the Dany growing up in the Water Gardens. It goes well with your comment.
I am attempting to reconstruct a set of events that explain how all this could have happened with the facts we know from reliable sources. Demonstrating the unreliability of Dany is an important requirement for that narrative.
I have read the post! I like the symmetry of the theory! The link you provided does a good job of linking Dany to Ashara, but there really isn't much to then link Ashara and Aerys.
I've always thought that the daughter Ashara had was Ned's, as there is plenty of evidence to suggest they had a romance, at around the same time that Ashara's child would have been conceived (the Tourney at Harranhal):
A Storm of Swords - Bran II:
The crannogman saw a maid with laughing purple eyes dance with a white sword, a red snake, and the lord of griffins, and lastly with the quiet wolf . . . but only after the wild wolf spoke to her on behalf of a brother too shy to leave his bench.
A Storm of Swords - Arya VIII
He looked at her uncomfortably. "My aunt Allyria says Lady Ashara and your father fell in love at Harrenhal—"
"Aye, he told me. Lady Ashara Dayne. It's an old tale, that one. I heard it once at Winterfell, when I was no older than you are now." He took hold of her bridle firmly and turned her horse around. "I doubt there's any truth to it. But if there is, what of it? When Ned met this Dornish lady, his brother Brandon was still alive, and it was him betrothed to Lady Catelyn, so there's no stain on your father's honor. There's nought like a tourney to make the blood run hot, so maybe some words were whispered in a tent of a night, who can say? Words or kisses, maybe more, but where's the harm in that? Spring had come, or so they thought, and neither one of them was pledged."
Dance with Dragons - Kingbreaker
But Ashara's daughter had been stillborn, and his fair lady had thrown herself from a tower soon after, mad with grief for the child she had lost, and perhaps for the man who had dishonored her at Harrenhal as well. She died never knowing that Ser Barristan had loved her. How could she? He was a knight of the Kingsguard, sworn to celibacy. No good could have come from telling her his feelings. No good came from silence either. If I had unhorsed Rhaegar and crowned Ashara queen of love and beauty, might she have looked to me instead of Stark?
An interesting thing is the men she danced with at Harranhal: Arthur Dayne, Oberyn Martell, Jon Connington and Ned. Is this list significant in some way? Arthur and Ned are obvious, but Oberyn and Connington?
It's highly likely Ashara is Septa Lemore, so that would account for Connington. As for Oberyn, I can only assume he was the one who took Dany to the Watergardens. He then took her to Braavos later when he signed the Viserys/Arianne pact.
I may have found another clue:
Game of Thrones - Daenerys I:
Daenerys said nothing. She had always assumed that she would wed Viserys when she came of age. For centuries the Targaryens had married brother to sister, since Aegon the Conqueror had taken his sisters to bride. The line must be kept pure, Viserys had told her a thousand times; theirs was the kingsblood, the golden blood of old Valyria, the blood of the dragon. Dragons did not mate with the beasts of the field, and Targaryens did not mingle their blood with that of lesser men. Yet now Viserys schemed to sell her to a stranger, a barbarian.
How much did Viserys know about Dany's origins? If he wanted the line to stay pure, why marry off the last living female Targaryen to Drogo? Why did he agree to marry Arianne Martel?
Why does Dany think the line is pure all the way back to Aegon the Conqueror, when this is clearly not the case? In her recent ancestry, there is Betha Blackwood, Dyanna Dayne, Mariah Martell and Larra Rogare. Even Rhaegar married outside the family.
Even though I'm not convinced about Ned + Ashara, I like the way you're thinking about these things. Allow be to add a few points of my own for clarification.
The Kingsguard are often referred to as "White Swords" so while Arthur is likely Ashara's dance partner, it could also be any of the others (except for Jaime, I think, who was sent to back to King's Landing). Hightower and Whent were likely involved in conspiratorial matters due to their presense at the Tower of Joy. Lewyn was the uncle of the princess, who Ashara was then in service to. Selmy was in love with Ashara. Just saying that we should be careful not to assume too quickly.
Barristan assumes that a Stark dishonored Ashara, but he assumes a great many things that are wrong. I would even say that he's reliably wrong.
Dany was probably not present when Oberyn made that pact about Viserys. When Quentyn presents the document to her, the lack of mention of her makes her feel strange. However, I would not be surprised if - later on - Oberyn poisoned Willam Dustin, who was caring for Dany at the Water Gardens, making him sick and giving him that smell Dany mentions. Then Oberyn may have delivered her to the cheesemonger. It may have even been the case that he was looking for someone who could pass as a Targ, and was unaware of her parentage!
I don't think we know that Viserys ever agreed to marrying Arianne. He and Dany may have simply been tools of the Martells, the cheesemonger, and other conspirators.
It's hard to say how much Viserys really knows about Dany. He is also someone who is reliably wrong. We are led to assume a great many things about their past together, but never actually told these things. At some point, did the cheesemonger present Dany to Viserys as his long lost sister, rescued from exile? Did a young Viserys lament over his lost mother and dream about some day meeting the child she carried but - unknown to him -
never actually delivered? Did he suspect, deep down, that Dany was not actually his sister but went along with the game for his benefit anyway?
However, I would not be surprised if - later on - Oberyn poisoned Willam Dustin, who was caring for Dany at the Water Gardens, making him sick and giving him that smell Dany mentions.
I hope this isn't a typo and you actually think it was Willam Dustin and not Willem Darry who looked after Dany, because it's brilliant! It accounts for one more survivor of the Tower of Joy, since if he survived, he would have been present with Ned at Starfall for the birth of Ashara's child, and his body was never returned home so his whereabouts are unknown.
This only leaves the question of what happened to Willem Darry if Dany is really remembering the death of Willam Dustin?
That was definitely not a typo. You got it - it accounts for his horse being returned without his body. Darry was probably with Viserys while Dustin was with Daenerys. Remember how Daenerys describes his soft hands? Those are the hands of a lord, not a master-at-arms.
When Darry fled with Rhaella and Viserys, mother and babe probably both died shortly after. Later on, someone schemed to use Dany to replace the missing babe - a pretender to the throne, but a very convincing one. Half Targaryen, after all, if the theory is correct. Dustin protected her for a while at the water gardens, but was eventually found out. Oberyn/Doran are likely conspirators, as are Illyrio/Varys.
I have been thinking a bit more about Dany being an unreliable narrator, and how she may or may not actually be Targaryen after all. Most people assume that she survived the funeral pyre and gave birth to the dragons because she is Targaryen, but I think both of these things can be attributed to Mirri Maz Duur.
There is a theory that Mirri Maz Duur was casting a spell to save herself on the funeral pyre, but it backfired and protected Dany instead. Dany can feel the intense heat of the fire up until Mirri stops singing and starts screaming, then she can't feel the heat any more and steps into the fire. I agree with this, but it's only half of the story.
I haven't seen any theories that try to question just what Mirri was up to in the tent with Drogo, but I don't think saving Drogo was her intention. I think she was trying to hatch the dragon eggs. She is such a mysterious character, with connections to Asshai, and Maester Marwyn, that I wouldn't put this beyond her.
It's not mentioned that Dany had her dragon eggs removed from the tent, so we can assume they were in there during the blood magic ritual.
When Dany wakes the next morning, the eggs are warm - though Jorah says they feel cold to him. Something happened that night to change the eggs. We can probably rule out that they were in the brazier - like were during Dany's own failed attempt to hatch them - or Jorah would have felt the heat too. However, Dany does dream about them being in the brazier, with Jorah watching over them, which is strange.
My guess is that Rhaego's life was given to wake the dragons, not to heal Drogo - although Mirri probably intended that it be Drogo's life as the trade. Can Dany feel the heat of the eggs because they are now her children, because the spirit of her unborn child is in them? Is the Stallion the Mounts the World actually three dragons?
I like that theory! It gives a more clear meaning to "Mother of Dragons," "life for life," etc. I wonder, though, if each dragon required its own human sacrifice: Rhaegal - Rhaego, Drogon - Drogo, Viserion - Mirri.
I also wonder - does the birth of all dragons require a human sacrifice?
For the record, I still think Dany has Targaryen lineage. It's just that she's wrong about it being legitimate. Instead, she's a "dragonseed."
There are two things that make me think that one life per egg was not required.
- Mirri and Drogo are still alive at the time Dany notices the eggs were warm
- Mirri didn't have additional sacrifices ready during her ritual, unless she was only attempting to hatch a single egg.
'The dragon has three heads' makes me think that the three dragons can be treated as one entity and only require a single life.
Not sure about a sacrifice during the birth. If true, it's difficult to know what Mirri's plans were in regards to this. Mirri does offer to help Dany perform some blood magic just before the fire is lit, so perhaps there is an additional step that she ends up having to perform while burning.
I'm still on the fence about whether Dany is Targ or not, but it's nice for both options to still be possible. She definitely is not legitimate as you say. However, it would be nice symmetry if all of Jon, Tyrion and Dany have been living their lives in the shadows of their fathers, only for none of them to actually be their father's children.
There is an interesting part of the dream Dany has in the chapter before Drogo's pyre, where she encounters Rhaegar in his armour and lifts the visor only to see herself. Is Rhaegar her father? Could Rhaegar have been the one to dishonour Ashara at the Tourney of Harranhal?
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