‘Game of Thrones’ is back! Here’s why Daenerys Targaryen is my kindred spirit

Game of Thrones

returns tonight (yay!) which means we once again get to obsess over our favorite character: Daenerys Targaryen. The mother of dragons is more than just a gorgeous, warrior queen, with a brilliant sex life, command of a devoted army, and the most beautiful ivory hair we’ve ever seen. In fact, she’s kind of our whole inspiration for life. Here’s why. She Chooses Her Own Destiny Daenerys was forced into marriage by an ambitious brother, and at the time she felt hopeless. What he didn’t expect was that our heroine (and new Khaleesi) would garner strength from her new found family and eventually decide to take charge of her own destiny. She picked herself up by her (beautiful) britches and decided she was the rightful heiress to the Iron Throne. We have this same opportunity every day. Sometimes situations are rough: We don’t like our jobs, stuff just feels boring and complacent, and we’re certainly not living the life that other girl on Instagram is (she’s so well traveled!). But instead of blaming the circumstances around us, we can use them to propel us into our new destiny. To choose our own outcome. Our destiny! She doesn’t let a hard situation stop her Daenerys first found purpose in her role as wife to Dothraki warlord Khal Drogo, and as mother to his unborn son. She even ate a horse’s heart to strengthen said baby (hardcore!) But then  things took a turn for the worse when a witch wound up cursing her child and killing her husband. Definitely a setback, but not one that held her back for long. Even after that serious trauma, she soon sets out on her quest for the Iron Throne again. The lesson here? We may have the perfect life planned out, but thing can change in an instant. We lose jobs, apartments, even friends and family. A lot can happen in an episode! I mean, year. Things don’t go as planned, but we have the same opportunity to redirect and change course. Because we’re made of the same stuff as Daenerys. All we have to do is keep going.
She knows compassion is important While all the kings of the kingdom are running around in an epic battle for power, Daenerys doesn’t even need it. She doesn’t use force to get what she wants; instead, she uses compassion. The kings may use battle, money, and manipulation to secure the armies they need, but Daenerys chooses to free all the slaves in surrounding city-states and invite them to fight for her. In one spectacular moment, Daenerys asks her new recruit Grey Worm if he’d like to change his name. “Grey Worm is a lucky name,” he replies, “it is the name this one had the day Daenerys Stormborn set him free.” It’s a huge compliment, and a reflection of why her compassion is so badass. Because she cares about her recruits and frees them, they provide her with an army that isn’t bought or paid for, but is loyal to her. They even refer to her as “mother!” It doesn’t get any better than that. It’s easy to think we need to pick up the sword and wage war. But Daenerys teaches us that compassion is just as important, and just as useful as running at an obstacle head-on. Elle Griffin is the founder & editor-in-chief of Over The Moon Magazine and host of Over The Moon Radio. She is a writer, speaker, & scholar of the Divine Feminine; and she adores hosting full-moon parties and writing young adult fiction novels. Subscribe to receive free access to Over The Moon Magazine.