Major spoilers ahead for Season 8 Episode 5.
I mean character spoilers, though. Turn back if you have enjoyed watching Daenerys Targaryen rise from being sold and raped to become the just ruler of Slaver Dragon Bay before returning to Westeros and fighting alongside her people. In The Bells, Daenerys goes from being the Breaker of Chains to Queen of the Ashes in an instant, destroying all of King’s Landing and, of course, the internet.
She’d already won the battle…so why did she do it?
Let’s talk about Fat Man and Little Boy.
Hiroshima Atomic Bomb (1945) | A Day That Shook the World
On August 6, 1945, the United States released a nuclear weapon over the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing 140,000 people. Three days later, the U.S. dropped a second bomb, this one over the city of Nagasaki, killing 40,000 more instantly, while thousands more would die of radiation poisoning.
Eight days later, Japan formally surrendered to the Allied forces, effectively ending World War II.
Last night on Game of Thrones, Daenerys Stormborn defeated the military protecting Cersei Lannister…but she made the choice to raze King’s Landing and the Red Keep to the ground with dragonfire anyway.
Why?
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The only reasoning I can accept is that she needed to demonstrate the full capabilities of her power so that none would challenge her again. Her logic is that a weapon of mass destruction is justified to ultimately save the lives of the rest of the kingdom.
In other words, she made the decision to nuke Japan to end the war.
Also read: How Daenerys used tactics that made the Red Baron famous
If you’re like me and you’ve been thrilled to watch the strongest most bad ass female protagonist ever and she’s your Khaleesi and your Mhysa and, yeah, she burns her enemies a little but whatever who wouldn’t then yes, this hurts.
Many people have argued that this was not an out-of-character arc.
To those people I say Drogon can eat you all…but here we are.
She had her reasons.
When American scientists successfully employed an atomic bomb in 1945, President Harry S. Truman was faced with a decision. He tasked a committee of advisors to deliberate whether to use the bomb against Japan (by then, Germany had already surrendered). Ultimately, the men decided to use the bomb rather than prolong the war.
The alternative was an invasion of Japan, which would have cost (American) money and lives.
Truman always stood by his decision.
Also read: 7 secret weapons Allied soldiers would’ve faced while invading Japan
If Daenerys Targaryen truly believes that she is not only the rightful ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, but also the best ruler, then it is conceivable that she would pursue victory at all costs. In the episodes leading up to her conquest of King’s Landing, she realized that she didn’t have the support or loyalty of the North that was promised to her by the Starks — not even from her lover-turned-rival Aegon Targaryen Jon Snow.
So I guess in her hangry moment up there on her battle buddy she decided she would have to show everyone what she was capable of — so that fear would cause them to comply.
This will obviously not go over well from the holier-than-thou Starks in what promises to be the crankiest series final ever.
See you next week.