One of those plot points was Daenerys Targaryen becoming a villain. Both her turn and her being mad were underused. So much could have been done with her character arc that would have left viewers in pools of tears. Instead she took less than an episode to decide to be a villain and the following episode she hardly got to do anything else before dying.
I don't say this as someone who was against Daenerys Targaryen winning the Iron Throne. In my fanfics I express support for various fates for this character. From going mad, dying, and living to rule the Seven Kingdoms.
I say this as someone who has looked at George R.R. Martin, author of the A Song of Ice and Fire series that Game of Thrones is based on. He didn't like war and his series is an anti-war war series. This means that both show and books focus on the ugliness of war. Instead of glorifying war, they show how high of a cost it is on combatants and bystanders alike. While you can argue against the burning of King's Landing in the finale, it clearly shows the theme of the common people being mere pawns by those in power.
Since Martin doesn't like war and the series is an anti-war war one, it doesn't seem likely that the hero of the story would be one whose goal is conquest. By having such a character being the hero, Game of Thrones would be glorifying some aspect of war.
In Westeros Daenerys was no longer going up against slavers and her ways of doing things hadn't changed. So she decided to burn the Tarlys alive instead of beheading them and could not comprehend why the Northerners weren't idolizing her.
Without the idolization she was used to, she started to drift over to the dark. All of her bad aspects started to come to the forefront as she tried to find comfort in this strange land. It is sad that Seasons 7 and 8 were poorly written as some parts of her character arc are left up to pure speculation.
On the other hand she believed the Iron Throne was hers because of her Targaryen heritage. She believed in the deepest parts of herself that the seat of power had been taken unjustly from her family. This even though she acknowledges that her father was an evil man. This side of her is in complete conflict with the first side of herself.
Daenerys was in conflict with herself. At a certain point one side would have to win out against the other. Either she would do things because she was entitled to them or she truly believed in making a better world.
Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow were shipped long before they met in the seventh season of Game of Thrones. It is safe to say they were one of the most popular ships in the series before the characters actually met. This is odd in a fandom that loathed Jaime and Cersei Lannister for their incestuous relationship. In fact Jonerys shippers (aka Jon and Daenerys shippers) would bend over backwards to defend their beloved ship.
Either because the show was always heading to the pair becoming lovers and not simply converging with each other or the showrunners wanted to cash in on the popular ship, Jonerys became canon during the seventh season. The huge downside to this was two seasons was never going to be enough time to make an epic relationship. With better writing and pacing, the pair could have been the ultimate love story.
What could have helped bring chemistry to Daenerys and Jon was if the relationship had been platonic instead. This means only a strong friendship needed to be conveyed instead of starcrossed lovers.
Besides pacing and chemistry issues being fixed, one major plot point in the final season would've been corrected. I couldn't have been the only one a little shocked that Daenerys would be so suspicious of Jon if she deeply loved him. The initial reaction of a couple in love is not to instantly blame the other of something horrible.
If Daenerys had truly loved Jon, her first thought wouldn't be to think he was going to overthrow her. That thought could've crept in over time, though. But if Daenerys and Jon were just good friends, it would make more sense for her to be instantly suspicious of him. This because they wouldn't be so deeply connected to each other.
This scene would have been given some much needed emotion if Jon and Daenerys had just been friends. Since it would be easier to establish a friendship between the two, we would have felt more deeply for their relationship ending in such a manner.
Over and over again in Game of Thrones we heard Daenerys Targaryen say how her dragons were her children. She stated numerous times how Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion were the only children she could have due to her being barren. Throughout the series we saw how much they meant to her.
Yet even though we had all that build up to their importance to Daenerys, when Viserion died it was more than a let down. The picture above is taken from the scene where Viserion died. If you saw this picture without any context you wouldn't get how much pain she was in. She has the look that says 'I think I forgot to turn the oven off' rather than 'one of my children died right in front of me'. Say what you want about Cersei Lannister, but when Joffrey Baratheon died she was in extreme pain. You didn't need to hear anyone explain how much pain she was in as it was more than evident.
When I heard the leak about Viserion dying my mind went to the exciting possibilities. Throughout the season Daenerys thought her dragons were invincible and that she had nothing to worry about when riding Drogon. A death of one of her children should have affected her as a mother and been received as a sign of her own mortality.
Instead she didn't react that much when he died and there was no scene where she let herself grieve for her fallen child. Instead we see her become more attracted to Jon after her child's death. As if someone grieving for their child would experience any arousal.
Worse than all of that is that after his death, Viserion becomes a mere plot point. He's jut an enemy with no emotional connection to Daenerys at all. Except for her slight reaction when Bran says the Night King now has control of Viserion.
One of the many things Daenerys Targaryen, Jon, and others didn't plan for in the epic battle was Viserion. They just expected the Night King to come without thinking how a dragon could change up battle tactics. A dragon is able to go across the battle field in more ways than someone on foot ever could. Viserion could have easily dove straight down to the Godswood while everyone was too focused on the wight's movements.
During the Battle of Winterfell Daenerys was never conflicted about attacking Viserion. She had no remorse about killing her child even though he had become the enemy. I don't know if that's a hint of her turning into a villain or just really bad writing.
Anyways...the moment Rhaegal died Daenerys flew straight at Euron Greyjoy's fleet, not caring what happened to her. That was a stupid move but at least it showed how much she cared about her children. So why wasn't she more emotional to Viserion's death? Was he just the black sheep of the family?
If done differently, Viserion's death could have spelled the start of Daenerys' madness. The dragon's death and resurrection could have impacted the Daenerys' story greatly instead of being a minor plot point. It was so sad to see something so interesting merely brushed aside.
Game of Thrones had slowly built up Daenerys Targaryen's madness. Unfortunately the show was so intent at painting her as the ultimate protagonist that there are still arguments about the hints of madness. Her crucifying slavers seems awesome until you realize some of them could have been reasoned with. That all slavers were not cut out of the same mold. Them being crucified was in retaliation for some slaves suffering the same fate. A decision some of the slavers were against.
But no matter how well Daenerys' madness was hinted at in seasons past, there is the fact her final turn had to be properly done. It couldn't just happen as why she turned had to be properly explained. We needed to understand why she finally embraced the darkness that had been steadily growing inside of her.
Though, truth be told, you can find a reason for her turning mad easier than not going straight to the Red Keep. In my fanfic Crossing the Divide Daenerys goes mad. But she never goes after innocents and only reserves her wrath for her enemies. The only time she does go after innocents is when she seeks to murder everyone on Bear Island for what she sees as a betrayal by Jorah Mormont.
The only reason I can make for Daenerys burning King's Landing before going to the Red Keep is that she wanted Cersei Lannister to feel helpless. The Targaryen wanted the other queen to feel as helpless as she does before ending her life. But that is merely a headcanon that lets me sleep soundly at night.
I have been waiting for Daenerys to go mad for so long and the only reason I don't hate her doing so in the show is because of that fact. But I can't defend it as good writing.
I have heard many say that Emilia Clarke can't act. I think the truth of the matter is that she can be inconsistent in her performances. In the final season of Game of Thrones she did the best acting she had done in the entire series.
It is impressive that she managed to take a horrible script and make it bearable. Of course she could never make the first time Jon Snow flew a dragon to be high art, but she could bring Daenerys Targaryen to life.
We also know that she doesn't yet acknowledge herself as a villain of any kind. It is the world that is against her and everything she does is right. But the nuances of her new morality can't be said for certain. Some of her statements in the finale might be bad writing and not an indication of her new morality.
Such as when she glares at Jon Snow but in their next scene together she acts fully in love with him.
Having an evil Daenerys that isn't killed until the final episode would have been a good move for Game of Thrones to make. They would show all the qualities we admired about her in a new light. This includes her seeming inability to die. In past seasons we were glad that she lived through every struggle but now we would be feeling scared each time she didn't die.
And her death would have to be done much more differently in the finale. If Jorah Mormont was still alive, though, he could get in close enough to her to land the killing blow. That could also mean the season of Mad Queen Daenerys Targaryen would have the subplot of Jorah trying to figure out how he can balance love, loyalty, and honor.
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