WHY DID SHE BURN KINGS LANDING

Daenerys Targaryen transformed into the Mad Queen in the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones, but why did Daenerys go mad? Essentially, the reason Daenerys burned King's Landing to the ground is that she had already lost everyone and everything dearest to her. In "The Bells", the Dragon Queen single-handedly won the Battle of King's Landing; riding Drogon, they annihilated Euron Greyjoy's Iron Fleet, wiped out the Golden Company, and eliminated the city's anti-dragon defenses. But after the bells rang signaling Cersei Lannister's surrender, Daenerys snapped and massacred the city with dragonfire.

The divisive Game of Thrones finale culminated in this fiery scene, the completion of Daenerys' transformation into the Mad Queen. Channeling her father Aerys II Targaryen, also known as the Mad King, Daenerys forced the citizens of King's Landing to relive the nightmare of Aerys II's reign of terror, finally doing what both her enemies and allies feared most about Game of Thrones' Dragon Queen. On one hand, this move surprised long-time viewers of the show, who observed Daenerys' growth from a reluctant Targaryen heir into a conqueror who sought to break the wheel of Westerosi feudal society. On the other hand, Daenerys Targaryen's seemingly sudden descent into madness wasn't completely unprecedented.

In fact, burning King's Landing to the ground was actually something that Daenerys wanted to do at the start of Daenerys' war with Cersei in Game of Thrones, but she was talked out of it by Tyrion. Indeed, at the beginning of Game of Thrones season 7, Daenerys was poised not just to conquer Westeros but also to do it easily and decisively. When she left Essos, Daenerys looked unbeatable. She had amassed an all-star contingent of loyalists: Tyrion was Hand of the Queen, she had the allegiance of Lady Olenna Tyrell of Highgarden, Ellaria Sand and the Sand Snakes of Dorne, Theon and Yara Greyjoy's Iron Fleet, as well as Varys and Missandei. In addition, Dany had her legions of Unsullied led by the eternally loyal Grey Worm, the Dothraki hordes, and Daenerys' dragons Rhaegal, Viserion, and Drogon. It was inconceivable that she could lose to Cersei — and yet, thanks to Tyrion's miscalculations, she lost consistently, except for the Loot Train Battle, which Dany won thanks to her dragons.

But by the time Daenerys reached Winterfell to fight the Great War against the Night King in Game of Thrones season 8, she had lost a significant amount of her military strength, and her allies Ellaria Sand and Olenna Tyrell were dead. Also, her Iron Fleet was gone when Yara was captured by Euron Greyjoy. Worst of all, Viserion was killed and resurrected as the Night King's ice dragon. But beyond the icy reception she received, despite the presence of her lover Jon Snow, it was at Winterfell that Daenerys suffered her most personal loss: Jorah Mormont, Daenerys' oldest and dearest friend, died defending her at the Battle of Winterfell. After the Great War was won, Daenerys lost even more loved ones when she was ambushed returning to Dragonstone; Euron killed Rhaegal, and then Missandei was captured and beheaded in front of her on Cersei's orders.

In "The Bells", Daenerys had realized that her most loyal confidants and friends, whom she cultivated in Essos, were gone. Other than Grey Worm, who was mourning Missandei as much as Daenerys, everyone else who professed to support her was from Westeros. Worse, they were plotting behind her back because the secret that Jon Snow was Aegon Targaryen, the son of her dead brother Rhaegal, was spreading. Despite Daenerys' pleas, Jon told his family Arya and Sansa Stark the truth about his heritage, and Sansa wasted little time in informing Tyrion. Once Tyrion shared the info with Varys, the Spider was sending letters across Westeros trying to rally the highborn to support Jon's claim instead of Daenerys'. The inconvenient truth for Dany was that Jon's claim to the Iron Throne as the true heir was stronger than her own.

While many fans feel Daenerys' heel turn into the Mad Queen felt abrupt, forced, and unearned, her capacity for ruthlessness was established all throughout Game of Thrones. There's a legitimate argument that Daenerys' transformation into the Mad Queen seems to betray seven seasons of character development as she resisted her Targaryen impulses and tried to rule with fairness and mercy. But from Daenerys' point of view, she was betrayed by her Westerosi advisers, and the people from Essos she trusted most were taken from her while she was trying her best to save the realm. With Jorah and Missandei gone, the ones who are left, like Jon and Tyrion, betrayed her for the good of Westeros, culminating in the death of Daenerys and Bran the Broken on the Iron Throne.

Daenerys is the only person in Game of Thrones actually qualified to rule because she spent years learning how to do it well. She really did come to Westeros to "break the wheel" and build a better world, but the actions of her Westerosi allies showed they only wanted to preserve their broken system. From the beginning to the ending of Game of Thrones, it was Westeros that failed her, and Daenerys lost everything in her quest for the Iron Throne. So she finally snapped and unleashed all of her frustrations, grief, and pure rage on King's Landing. It may be true that Daenerys was always the Mad Queen and finally showed her true colors, but it can also be argued that it's Westeros that made her "Mad," and she simply gave them what they wanted — and what they deserved.

Despite her torching-the-innocent season 8 heel turn, Daenerys still isn't even close to being the overall villain in Game of Thrones. Daenerys is simply a product of the cruelty of Westeros — she's a mirror, metaphorically speaking, and a reminder of the destruction that unfolded during eras like House of the Dragon's earlier setting. She also serves as a thematic glimpse into Westeros' future if something doesn't change, and this is a fact Tyrion probably realized all too well when he ensured Bran the Broken was installed on the throne: he believed it's better to have a ruler with too much knowledge than one with too much firepower.

Many fans forget just how much Daenerys has gone through. Even though Khal Drogo is a fan-favorite character following the end of GoT, he still raped Daenerys. The fact she forgave him and this was more-or-less brushed aside is one of season 1's chief criticisms, but it's also a strong example of how cruelty in Essos and Westeros created Daenerys the Mad Queen. She's a brutal liberator who lost too much to a hostile world and reacted appallingly while essentially riding a sentient nuke, but she's not at the level of dehumanizing sadism that possesses Ramsay Bolton or Joffrey Baratheon. Game of Thrones' Dragon Queen is far too well-grounded with backstory and pure of purpose to be the true villain, and she should really be thought of much like her dragons — a force of nature corrupted to become a destructive typhoon instead of the healing rains that could have washed away Westeros' bloated hubris.