Many plots in Game of Thrones were forced to simplify storylines and character arcs from A Song of Ice and Fire, leaving entire characters and histories on the cutting room floor. Even the very nature of a live action adaptation of a story portrayed in prose means that fans lose out on the rich internal world of the characters that serve as point of view narrators in the novels, and perhaps no character had the complexity of their abilities more simplified than Daenerys Targaryen.

While Daenerys' adaptation to the HBO series still portrayed a strong and capable leader, the changes made in the adaptation left the depth to her thoughts and actions out. The result was a far more impulsive and straightforward leader, but if Game of Thrones made the character more like she was in A Song of Ice and Fire she could have been one of the keenest queens in the series.

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Certain changes were necessary for Daenerys' on screen adaptation right from the introduction of her character but would immediately have consequences on how the character grew throughout her arc. The biggest initial change was the aging up of the character for Game of Thrones, nearly an adult at the age of 17 in the HBO series and in her early twenties by the end of it. In the books, Daenerys starts out at only 13 years old, a change that certainly would have made her sexual entanglements wildly inappropriate for the more mainstream adaptation, but which reflects on her growth into a leader immensely.

Game of Thrones — Daenerys with Drogon

Though it can be easy to forget while reading the novels, Daenerys is only a teenager reaching adulthood as she grows into her role. yet her character in the books proves far more mature and considerate compared to her television counterpart. Throughout Game of Thrones, Daenerys' willful and principled nature pushes her into an increasingly impulsive characterization. In Season 5, where many of the most drastic changes in the TV series began, Daenerys feeds former slavers to her dragons.

Execution by dragon would become her go to method of justice, later using Drogon to immolate her prisoners of war and burning King's Landing to the ground in the final season. These actions were portrayed as instances of Daenerys' unflinching moralism, but in the end came across as a descent into madness reflecting her father Aerys' insanity.

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However, in the books these events either do not happen or have yet to occur, and unlike in the television series the reader has insight into Daenerys' thoughts as her fearfulness out of following her father's path constantly guides her toward restraint rather than retribution. Daenerys frequently seeks out peaceful resolutions in the books, cultivates a wide range of allies, and much of her arc involves her clever navigation of complicated political plots. With so many of these plots simplified in Game of Thrones or excised altogether, much of the nuance to Daenerys' decision-making gets lost in the adaptation.

One example would be Daenerys' arrival in Mereen, where outside the city gates she needed to select a champion to represent her in single combat against the opposing city. In the show, Daenerys simply chooses Daario Naharis in order to test his abilities, but in the books Daenerys' own feelings for Daario weigh against her desire to protect her trusted advisors Barristan Selmy and Jorah Mormont.

Game of Thrones Daenerys Targaryen Fire

She ultimately selects Strong Belwas, a character missing from the show, but who serves as the perfect champion in the books. Since Belwas is a former slave, Daenerys knows the Mereenese would find no glory in killing the pit-fighting champion. Ultimately Belwas prevails, but the thought that goes into Daenerys' decision-making process reflects the multiplicity of angles she considers. Such decisions are grossly oversimplified in the show, and make the Khaleesi seem to put little consideration into such decisions.

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There is a tendency in the HBO series for those Daenerys seeks to win over to reverently vow themselves to her whenever she proves her seemingly divine right to rule, but the books cut her few to no such breaks. Practically every character and political party involved in the extremely diverse landscape of Essos seeks to use Daenerys to their own ends, constantly underestimating her and proving outwitted as she weighs her various counselors against her own sense of justice.

There is rampant speculation on whether the Daenerys of the books will ultimately end up going the same route her character in the show did, doomed to repeat her father's failures and arrive to Westeros as a violent conqueror rather than a diplomatic savior. Such developments have yet to be seen, but given her current trajectory in the novels, she would need to go through revolutionary changes to arrive at the same point.

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