House Targaryen Preview — Here Comes a New Challenger
By WiC Staff
At the end of Game of Thrones season 6, Daenerys Targaryen set sail for Westeros intent on ruling it. At the time, she seemed nigh unbeatable. Let’s quickly run through her advantages:
- An Unsullied infantry army.
- Thousands of Dothraki cavalry.
- Ships to carry them all to Westeros, including some donated by Theon and Yara Greyjoy.
- Three dragons, which makes her the only contender for the Iron Throne with an air force.
- Hand of the Queen Tyrion Lannister, who knows Westeros well and can advise Daenerys on how to successfully take it.
And when Daenerys arrives in Westeros, she has even more reasons to feel confident. At the end of season 6, Varys successfully negotiated an alliance with the Sand Snakes of Dorne and Olenna Tyrell of the Reach, so that’s more troops for Dany’s cause.
With all this going for her, the question now facing Dany is: How can she possibly lose? Her main competition for the throne is Cersei Lannister, who’s operating with a deleted army and few allies. Just sic a dragon on her and get her out of there, right?
Possibly. Daenerys wants to rule Westeros, but Tyrion may steer her away from presenting herself as a straight-up conqueror. There may be more peaceful ways to effectuate a transition of power. Also, while Cersei is down, she’s not out, and she’s fought her way out of tough corners before. Then there’s Euron Greyjoy, a mysterious figure who stated his intent to marry Daenerys back in season 6. Now that Yara has poisoned Daenerys against him, Euron may have to take his thousand ships and use them against her.
Finally, there’s the question of how the North plays into this. What will Jon Snow and his supporters have to say about this new Dragon Queen? Will she want to help him fight the White Walkers, and if so, how many resources is she willing to devote to that cause?
Next: Season 7 action scenes make past battles look “like child’s play”
Even with all that said, we have a hard time seeing how Dany doesn’t come out on top in all this. We’ll find out more on July 16.