A Quickie: Why Daenerys Won't Marry Jon for Romance (Game of Thrones)

Game of Thrones is a show lacking in child friendly content. The lands of Westeros and Essos are filled with less than pleasant things. Incest is one of the things that is commonplace. There is the relationship with the twins Jaime and Cersei Lannister which has produced three offspring. One insane little boy, one easily manipulated boy, and one sweet girl. House Targaryen is infamous for incest as the House liked keeping their blood clean.

So when the argument of 'eeew but incest' is used against the pairing of Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow, I just have to roll my eyes. I am not totally in favor of this ship and even if I was I would be more than ready to accept arguments against. It's just saying 'eeew but incest' as your sole argument without adding anything else is not a good point. Now if you want to add why a character or two would be against incest that's another thing entirely in my mind.

In this post I'll point out why a romantic relationship between Jon and Daenerys isn't likely to happen.

Daenerys is Seeking to Solidify Her Claim to the Iron Throne

At this point in Game of Thrones, Daenerys Targaryen is seeking to solidify her claim to the Iron Throne. After so many years of waiting she now has an army that she plans to use to conquer Westeros. Her mind is on the Iron Throne more completely than it has been in the past.

The reason she dumped her boy toy Daario Naharis was that he provided no benefit to her ultimate goal. She wanted to go to Westeros without her being attached to anyone. She wanted to be unattached because marriage is a powerful weapon in her quest.

To have any pairing with Jon Snow, therefore, Daenerys would need a political reason to marry him. She probably wouldn't want Jon as a 'mistress' as she is past the time of considering a romantic relationship outside of marriage. When Daario said he could be her mistress, she scoffed at the idea.

This indicates that even if she likes Jon, she won't have a physical relationship with him. She is only interested in marriage now. And only a marriage that would make her claim to the Iron Throne stronger.

If Daenerys were to get into a non-political marriage or a physical relationship outside of a political marriage, it would have to be with someone she has a strong bond with. Someone where friendship could realistically turn into romance. Those people are few and far between.

She has never met Jon so he is off that short list to start with.

Jorah Mormont has been with Daenerys since the beginning. They have been through the good, the bad, and the ugly. Missendei is also someone she has formed a deep bond with. Besides being Daenerys' friend, Missendei is also someone the Mother of Dragons turns to for advice. Both pairings have their own set of problems which I won't cover here.

Daenerys is Seeking to Break the Wheel

What I'm going to talk about in this segment is assuming Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow know they're related before anything happens. If they don't know they're related when they have sex, anything is on the table as their morals about incest aren't important.

The show could have them have a relationship before they knew. Then later they could find out and go from there.

The people that just don't go 'eeew but incest' and actually explain why a certain character wouldn't get into an incestuous relationship, they always bring up Jon Snow. They bring up how his Stark upbringing would mean he would never knowingly enter into a incestuous relationship.
I agree with this but I don't see the same amount of people bringing up Daenerys' views on incest.

As I said before, House Targaryen is infamous for its incest. So people tend to assume Daenerys would be fine having an incestuous relationship. What those people tend to forget is that she wants to 'break the wheel' which seems to mean she wants to change things. She told Yara Greyjoy near the end of Season 6 of Game of Thrones that she wants to leave the world a better place.

With her need to change, I doubt Daenerys would be okay with incest just because her House was.

Daenerys Would be Fine Marrying No One

It isn't like Daenerys Targaryen needs to marry someone. In the real world queens don't need kings to rule. They do just fine without them.

So if Daenerys can't find someone that she could use to strengthen her claim to the Iron Throne, she can remain unwed.

I haven't yet read the A Song of Ice and Fire books, but I have heard Daenerys has had her period in them. This would indicate that she would be able to give birth to another child. Or at least hint at the possibility of her becoming pregnant again.

In the show we don't have any menstrual blood scene. So it's up in the air if she can actually bear children.

Why do I bring this up?

The point of a political marriage is to mix bloodlines. If Daenerys can't bear children there is hardly a point to a political marriage because of this fact.

All of this romance, political marriage, and Iron Throne talk is assuming that Daenerys actually gets to the Iron Throne. There are theories out there that she isn't going to sit on the throne.

One piece of evidence is her visions in the House of the Undying. At one point she approaches the throne but eventually leaves it untouched.

So maybe Daenerys' quest to claim the Iron Throne will end up with a different outcome than she expects.