History appears to be repeating itself with Daenerys Targaryen and her father King Aerys II, a.k.a. the Mad King. Over the course of the past 2 seasons, Daenerys has started to resemble her father with her actions. The Mad Queen theory has set the internet ablaze and the evidence continues to pile up as Daenerys goes to great and dangerous lengths to win the Iron Throne. A season 5 scene between Daenerys and Ser Barristan Selmy about the Mad King definitely mirrors what seems to be happening with Dany in the final episodes. “I served in his Kingsguard. I was at his side from the first. Your enemies did not lie,” Barristan told Daenerys. “When the people rose and revolted against him, your father set their towns and castles aflame. He murdered sons in front of their fathers. He burned men alive with wildfire and laughed as they screamed. And his efforts to stamp out dissent led to a rebellion that killed every Targaryen, except two.” When she said that she wasn’t her father, Barristan said: “But the Mad King gave his enemies the justice he thought they deserved. And each time it made him feel powerful and right — until the very end.”
Daenerys’s main goal throughout the entire series has been taking the Iron Throne back for the Targaryens after it was usurped by Robert Baratheon. Ever since she arrived in Westeros, her choices have been questionable. In season 7, she burned Randyll and Dickon Tarly alive when they refused to bend the knee and recognize her as their queen. Tyrion begged Daenerys to reconsider her decision to sentence them to death, but she refused because she thought she was doing the right thing. She believed she was giving them the justice they deserved. She had them burned alive by Drogon and didn’t flinch.
As she’s gotten closer to reaching the Iron Throne, Daenerys has grown more paranoid. After losing Jorah in the Battle of Winterfell, Rhaegal to Euron, and Missandei’s kidnapping, Daenerys refused to listen to reason from her trusted advisors. She wanted to storm King’s Landing and kill her enemies. “This is a mistake,” Varys pleaded. “Cersei needs to be destroyed. But if we attack King’s Landing with Drogon and the Unsullied and the Dothraki, tens of thousands of innocents will die. That is why Cersei is bringing them into the Red Keep. These are the people you came here to protect. I beg you, your grace, do not destroy the city you came to save. Do not become what you have always struggled to defeat.” Daenerys began to talk about her destiny to rid the world of tyrants and said that she would serve “no matter the cost.” Tyrion offered up talking to Cersei as a way to negotiate. Daenerys couldn’t foresee a situation that wouldn’t end in slaughter, but she agreed to talk to Cersei so that the people of King’s Landing would know “who to blame when the sky falls down upon them.” Daenerys didn’t consider the fact that the people of King’s Landing will likely blame her regardless of whether or not Cersei refused to negotiate.
Daenerys sees her way of things as the only way, which echoes her father’s views back in the day. “I have served tyrants most of my life. They all talk about destiny,” Varys told Tyrion after trying to talk to Dany down from attacking King’s Landing. She truly hasn’t been the same since she found out that Jon Snow is actually Aegon Targaryen, the true heir to the Iron Throne. Her jealousy became apparent during a recent conversation with him. She begged him not to tell anyone his secret. Even though he doesn’t want to rule and has bent the knee to her, she knows that the people of Westeros won’t listen. She has witnessed how the people of Westeros rally around Jon Snow.
Jon Snow didn’t know what else he could do to relieve her worry. “You can say nothing to anyone. Ever,” an emotional Daenerys said to him. “Never tell them who you really are. Swear your brother and Samwell Tarly to secrecy and tell no one else. Or it will take on a life of its own and you won’t be able to control it or what it does to people. No matter how many times you bend the knee, no matter what you swear.” But the secret has already taken on a life of its own — with Daenerys. She can’t control what knowing the truth is doing to her. It’s eating away at her, knowing that someone could easily take the one thing she’s always wanted away from her, that there is someone out there that the people would support before her. It may be only a matter of time before Daenerys sees Jon Snow as her enemy.
The end of episode 4 set the stage for Dany’s descent into madness. Cersei ordering Missandei’s execution and having to watch her closest confident die flipped a switch in Daenerys. She’s probably not going to hold back on King’s Landing, even with the innocent people. Cersei recalled this old saying about the Targaryens back in season 2: “Every time a Targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin.” They’re either sane or insane. Both her father and brother were insane with power, and it looks like she may be on the same side of the coin as both of them. Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.