WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for the Game of Thrones Season 8 episode "The Last of the Starks," which premiered Sunday on HBO.
The final season of Game of Thrones has dealt great pain to Daenerys Targaryen, whose entire life has been shaped by loss. She lost her home, her "sun and stars" Khal Drogo, their son, her beloved dragon Viserion and now, with the Iron Throne seemingly within her grasp, her faithful protector Jorah Mormont, and much of the Unsullied and Dothraki forces. However, as this week's episode shows, there's still more that can be taken from the Mother of Dragons.
With the "last war" looming, in "The Last of the Starks" Daenerys Stormborn must contend not only with the potential threat posed by Jon Snow, who has a superior claim to the throne and the love of the North, but also with a ruthless enemy in Cersei Lannister. The combined pressures appear to inch Dany closer to her infamous father, the "Mad King" Aerys, than she ever imagined.
Many fans suspected for some time that would happen, as Daenerys has been on this path since she allied with Jon Snow and the North in Season 7. She made it clear that anyone can join her, as long as they bend the knee, and help in her quest to defeat Cersei and seize the Iron Throne. However, her anger with the duplicitous Cersei, her frustration with her advisers and the recalcitrant North, and her desperation for Jon to keep secret his true identity as Aegon Targaryen, heir to the Iron Throne have raised red flags. To her mind, rule of the Seven Kingdoms is not only her birthright but her destiny, and anyone who stands in the way of that must be cut down.
When Varys, Tyrion, Sansa and Arya advise Dany in "The Last of the Starks" to wait to attack King's Landing, she questions their loyalty. The Stark sisters certainly don't hold a blind allegiance to the Mother of Dragons, but they raise good points in that their combined, and greatly diminished, forces need to rest following the Battle of Winterfell. However, the queen won't abide any more delays, and Jon, her Warden of the North, acquiesces.
When Varys and Tyrion attempt to appeal to reason, their main point is Cersei's own strategy to place innocents at the walls of the Red Keep, as human shields. Any attack by Targaryen forces will result in the slaughter of the very people Dany has pledged to free from the cruelty of Cersei's rule. However, she wants the Iron Throne, "whatever the cost."
It's startling to see the Breaker of Chains resigned to the mass bloodshed of the defenseless if it means achieving her ultimate goal. It's a sentiment that stirs concern among even her most loyal followers. Varys points out her "madness" is similar to what he witnessed in Aerys, who infamously proclaimed "Burn them all!" as the rebels sacked King's Landing. Dany hasn't descended to that level, yet, but Tyrion clearly senses she's beginning down that path.
As Varys warned, there's a price to pay, as Dany's recklessness in sailing for the capital results in the deaths of Rhaegal and Missandei. Any restraint Daenerys might have shown faded once Missandei was beheaded at the city gates. Angry and heartbroken, she's seemingly destined to walk into Cersei's trap and present herself to the people of King's Landing not as a liberator, the Breaker of Chains, but as the Mad Queen.
Dany has lost virtually everything, and between the real threat of Cersei and (perhaps) perceived threat of Jon Snow, she can feel the Iron Throne slipping from her grasp. But if she succeeds in reclaiming her birthright, she may do so through fire and blood, ensuring House Targaryen's legacy will forever be death and madness.
Airing Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO, Game of Thrones stars Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister, Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister, Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen, Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark, Maisie Williams as Arya Stark and Kit Harington as Jon Snow.