the beggar queen

I read Danys in the book, saw the TV adaptation (Game of Thrones) and laughed. For the benefit for anyone who doesn't know who she is (speaking as if anyone actually reads my blog), Danys claims herself as the rightful ruler of westeros, the unburnt and the mother of dragons. In fact, she has a trail of titles which all added up is longer than this paragraph.

Her real identity is the beggar queen or the beggar / queen, however you prefer it. When she had to bully and threaten her way into the gate of Quarth for what the ridicule and hostility's worth, I pained myself in laughing while watching it: at last, someone got the risk assessment right. A beggar queen is a queen that owns literally nothing but liabilities. Yes, she is young, fearless, idealistic and amongst a few others has a claim to the throne of a usurped kingdom. But her foes hold high seats, own armies and set the rules of the game while she survive on begging literally. She also lives in an incredibly chauvinistic time when every woman accepts being traded and raped as parallel destiny of their womanhood. So Danys is high risk (caveat emptor), and it's natural that smart people snub her.

But one should not overlook the fact that she has two things: perseverance and dragons, albeit they are for now only small, vulnerable, squealing and squirming creatures. Additionally, she also has values that appeal to voiceless and docile men who are yet to learn their strengths, which in effect gives her access to a resource where no one has tapped before.

So once upon a time in a fantastic world where men kill men, dogs eat dogs,  Danys, the beggar queen, lives precariously with her fate. And in fact, she insists on rewriting her fate with the three magic words "perseverance", "potential" and "value".

Last but not least, when no one believes in her, she believes in herself.

I ask myself "will she make it?".