Going Over Daenerys I, A Game of Thrones 

His dedication has no rival in realms of humans

GRRM has clearly just been waiting for Preston to break the books down line by line before releasing Winds

I think one of the already interesting distinctions between Dany and Viserys is in how they treat the gifts they’re given. Viserys was born a Prince and remembers those days well. To him, wealth, power and status are a birthright owed to him. He should not have to barter or beg for what is rightfully his so when Illyrio gives it to him, he doesn’t think twice. He thinks he deserves this. Dany, meanwhile, has been paying attention. She can see that everywhere they’ve ever been has been conditional, that they stayed a place only so long as they paid their way in one form or another. She understands that you don’t get anything in this world for free so she wonders what Illyrio’s price is because the idea of other people owing you status for no reason doesn’t mesh with the world she’s experienced growing up. It’s a small thing but it goes a long way to showing their different views on the world and what kinds of rulers they’d be if given the chance.

i feel like with Viserys, George is making the distinction between sexuality as attraction and sexuality as a form of control and aggression

Khal drogo slaves wearing golden chains and daenerys being given one is such a good symbolism

To be fair, Illyrio's manse is absolutely enormous its possible that there are streets and people gossiping within the walls that dany was referring to.

I'm a big fan of these chapter-by-chapter breakdowns. Hope they do well, because I want more!

Throughout the story we see Tyrion constantly hated by his family for “killing” his mother during birth and that line Dany has in this chapter “she died giving birth and Viscerys had never forgiven her” seems so reminiscient of what Tyrion says, probably just cause it’s the same and characters are going to have very similar experiences at times but could be something Tyrion and Dany connect over

I need to stop at 31:36 to say: Preston, walls does not stop sound, do they? The implication is that she been listening to the chatter from the street while she sits in her ivory tower. Rumours about exiled royals would spread so the subject of them would naturally come up from bypassers. That or Viserys made a stink about being called The Beggar King. Or the servants/slaves told her. This is not a mystery nor a contradiction.

Shame it cut off right at the end, I wanted to hear your comment on Jorah's introduction. But either way this was a great condensed version of the Page of Lies, and nice insight on how George opens up the world to us.

I think it's very clear that Viserys isn't attracted to Dany at all. Preston should understand that this type of abuse, even if it has sexual tones, is about POWER over a weaker party. Control, cruelty, so Viserys can feel some power.

I think Viserys is attracted to Danyerys because she’s the only female he feels is on the same social level as he is, he’s so obsessed with Targaryen supremacy that the only person good enough to be his wife is another Targaryen and the only one left is Dany.

Something I really hate to bring up in regards to the topic of Viserys and Dany is the idea that he may have been sexually abusing her from a young age. Dany has huge gaps in her memory that could be explained by her brain repressing trauma. It would lend some truth to the story about how Viserys took her virginity that Illyrio said to make Tyrion think less of them. He just twisted the wording to make it sound consensual and possibly alter Tyrion's views of her since everybody and their mother knew about Jaime and Cersei by then. Play Tyrion against Dany by making Tyrion think of his siblings. Clever little trick that completely downplays the abuse Dany suffered. Also I super hate to think about this, but I can't help but wonder if Viserys was a victim of abuse by Aerys. Aerys was raped when he was held captive at Duskendale and something some victims of abuse will do is inflict their pain on other, weaker people. Their children, included. And considering trauma manifests itself differently in every person who suffers it, it makes sense that Dany would have no memory of it whereas Viserys would be doing the abusing because something tragic happened to him. The idea that the "Targaryen Madness" is really just a string of trauma being spread from victim to victim is both incredibly interesting and horrifically depressing.

I don’t see Viserys being “attracted” to Dany, just that as a wannabe Targaryen king, he feels a sort of “entitlement” to her body

Is it weird how few memories Dany shares post-red door but pre-AGoT. A list of cities visited, Viserys hurting her, Viserys trying to hire the Golden Company, the Free Cities' bazaars... I think that's it? Compare that the the Stark kids: playing in the crypts, snowball fights, mock sword fights, nicknames, hair-mussing and so much more. Is it just supposed to show what an awesome family the Starks were, whereas Dany's childhood sucked? I find it leaves me weirdly untethered from Dany's situation... was she pampered in a manse all these years, or was she running around the Tyroshi bazaar too poor to buy anything? Or does it show how skewed her worldview is, like she casts herself as a poor pennyless orphan in the bazaar, but there was usually money to buy sweets, like she's naively blind to how privileged she is?

Viserys didn’t immediately take the eggs and buy an army because he thought he already had one. Is Septa Lemore Dany’s wetnurse?

I always thought that Viserys's attraction to Dany could be explained by his lust for power. All he dreams about is being king, and he knows that historical Targaryen kings engaged in sibling marriage, so he may have developed a fetishized attraction to his sister because he sees marrying her as part of a 'perfect' future where he has achieved all the trappings of Targaryen kinghood. I also saw this as the same pathology that might have warped Jaime and Cersei- I believe they both mention seeing themselves as Targaryen lovers in their POVs. Having institutionalized sibling marriage in the most powerful family in a kingdom for three hundred years could do a lot to warp peoples perceptions of it and contribute to strange fetishes.

I found it odd that despite Targaryen incest sometimes falling out of practice, such as with Daeron I and his kids, it just kinda spontaneously reappears. Would Viserys really be spontaneously attracted to his sister or is this some kind of madness he suffers?

23:40 - The Milk discussion. George had mentioned that Daenerys wetnurse was taken away when her mother and brother was. So who was she? Is she mentioned? Similarly, do we have any thoughts on who wetnursed Jon? I know Preston mentions that he thinks the milk soaked cloth detail is included to explain how Jon was fed, but could he get a wetnurse somewhere? Could this be Wylla? Side note, wouldn't the Direpups be fed more conveniently if they just found a lactating dog? There must be one around.

Preston, thank You so much for this. I am currently unable to reread bc of work I don't have time to sit and read a book and audio books never really worked for me because I miss a lot of detail. Alt shift took almost 10 years to finish first book I m like genuinely think tWoW will come out before he finishes all books lol but this is perfect!

Appreciate all the content you’ve been putting out lately Prest. Really interesting topics

The gods have yet to make a Preston video that fails to impress your grace

A Denarius is a roman silver coin, and Argyria is silver poisoning that turns your eyes purple. And Targaryens have silver hair and purple eyes. And Dany is the silver lady who rides a silver horse. The whole idea of the Prince that was Promised being a Targaryen comes from the Gaelic words: tairngire "promise, prophecy" tairngeartach "the Prophesied One, the Messiah"

"you do not steal from the dragon, oh no, the dragon remembers" is that coincidence or is that the first "the dragons remember, do you?" Or even another ice/fire parallel the dragons and the north both remember?

Once again coming along to say I absolutely love this format. Keep it going!!

Regarding what Illyrio really wants, I still think it's a scheme to carve up Westeros that got diluted with the expansion of the series. 1) The original plan when the series was three books was to give Viserys his army, kill him, and use scared little Dany as their puppet queen following their invasion of Westeros. The Others invading would hamper things, but now that Dany has her dragons they stand a fighting chance. 2) Following George's decision to expand the series to seven books, he decided to make Varys a "man of the people" type who followed his personal politics of feminism and egalitarianism, and especially anti-monarchy. With that, as well as the expansion on the Dance of the Dragons and the Blackfyre Rebellions which you can tell from Fire & Blood that he has a lot to say about them, George created the character of Aegon to be a mixture of the divine right of kings mixed with a populist leader with more sympathy for the lower class. Mix that with Dany's anti-slavery and "break the wheel" mindset and you've got a match made in heaven. OR with the increased Dornish presence in later books, we get the idea of "Dornish Law" that already has lots of socialist principles in their society. Arianne is a disenfranchised woman who sees her right to rule under fire. If Dany were to die at some point, Aegon could just marry Arianne and use her to implement these views. 3) Regarding Illyrio's little comment about only wanting to be named Master of Coin, I genuinely do believe he wants that as his asking price to support Viserys/Dany/Aegon. My reasoning is he wants to use his power to spread Essos influence in Westeros. I genuinely believe the War of the Nine Penny Kings wasn't just a footnote, but rather the first warning shot in how things may go. Essos is a bunch of city-states who are basically the merchant republics of the Mediterranean: militant capitalistic societies who have no qualms about using force to spread their spheres of influence. Westeros a bunch of divided kingdoms who just endured a brutal civil war and are just beginning a second (Dany) and potential third (Sansa/Littlefinger), are about to be invaded by the White Walkers, and will have a lot of rebuilding to do in the years ahead. Why not have the stable merchant republics come in and spend a lot of money to rebuild in exchange for more control over the land while Illyrio gets to collect his cut and a new age dawns on a war-torn Westeros? No matter what happens, Illyrio and Varys have quite a bit of leverage now that the series is expanded into seven books and people like Aegon and Arianne were introduced.

On where Dany hears stuff... later she talks about visiting bazaars, and we get the vibe in this chapter that she notices stuff Viserys doesn't (like Illyrio's mocking smile when he compliments Viserys)... I guess I imagine there were a bunch of times where Dany and Viserys went to lobby some big wig for support, and in the palanquin, Viserys in daydreamed about the Trident while Dany listened to the talk outside in the street. Then they got to the big wig's manse, and Viserys talked to the big wig while Dany waited in the foyer, listening to the servants talk. We don't really see examples of this, but it would be reasonable... I guess that could explain how Dany is such a weird jumble of shrewd, savvy and world-weary, mixed with tons of naivety?

I love these chapter analysis videos.

Around 59:00, not only does Viserys think of the battle of the trident, but Robert also fights the battle and kills Rhaegar in his mind over and over again. (Meanwhile Ned hasn't thought about Rhaegar in many years lol)

Random thought but if the storm that Daenerys was born during didnt actually happen, and they introduce her as "Princess Daenerys Stormborn" not Targaryen, could it be because she was born a Storm (aka a bastard from the stormlands) and they invented the born during a storm story to justify calling her Daenerys Stormborn?

This is the ASOIAF re-read I have been waiting for. 👍 Thanks, PJ. 🎉😊

12:30 - My interpretation of Viserys' behaviour towards Daenerys has always been that he isn't attracted to her, however he is possessive of her. Viserys is obsessed with getting the things he thinks he was robbed of. If things had gone as expected, chances are him and Daenerys would've been married. And he resents that this isn't the case. But not because he finds Daenerys attractive.

Wow I never realized Dany mentions “huge stone blocks being ripped from the parapets” during the storm but this is supposed to be on Dragonstone which is made of fused stone. Probably just George making the storm sound very violent but very interesting

Us trying to understand Illyrio’s plan depends entirely on when fAegon was conceived as an idea. If it was after AGOT, then George intended Illyrio to put Viserys on the throne and use him as a puppet, plain and simple when he began the story and is now in the problem of not knowing what he wants him to do now. But if fAegon was the plan all along, then his actions make no sense. Why give the dragon eggs to your backup plan, if they’re even that, instead of giving them to your main guy (and possible son) so Dany has the Aegon the Conqueror imagery and not fAegon? Why send two useful marriage pawns into the desert instead of using them either to wed Day to Aegon or use both of them to secure alliances with the great houses of Westeros against Robert? It seems clear to me that Aegon was never supposed to be part of Illyrio’s faction if the original second book in the ASOIAF trilogy was a second Dance, because making Illyrio his powerbroker when he’s already given so much to Dany just does not add up no matter what way you look at it.

ty for these!

You’re 🐐 for this series

Preston I love you so much ma, thanks for all your work

Did the Valyrians practice incest pre-Doom... Cuz the 'gotta keep the blood pure' excuse doesn't work if there's other dragon-riding families around. So this could be: A) the Targs didn't practice incest until they were exiled to Dragonstone, and if later in the story its implied that the old Valyrians practiced sibling incest, this is just cuz those histories are written by maesters, who wrongly assumed that all the customs the Targs practiced in Westeros were inherited from the old empire; or B) The Valyrians were really really worried that the few dozen great families would consolidate into a few large factions via marriage alliances, so they banned marriages between dragon-riding families thus only incest-marriages were viable to keep the blood pure; or C) Valyrian succession shared power between siblings (like the first 2 Targ kings co-ruled with their siblings before gradually shifting to a more typical Westerosi succession scheme) and the sibling marriages were part of that.

Frist time i commented just to give a video traction and the series going! Im so hooked

Bro when do you sleep??

Valyrians had children with other Valyrians to keep the blood pure. In Old Valyria, we can assume dragon-riding families married each other. After the fall of Valyria, the Targaryens were relatively alone. They did marry Velaryons sometimes, but the Targaryens were the last remaining dragon riders

Was this meant to cut off so abruptly two pages before the end?

Never had a good feel for how Dany and Viserys lived pre-AGoT. Half a year with Illyrio is implied to be a long time (though is that a long time compared to the previous place they were staying, or a long time compared to every other post-Red Door stay?) Where they literally in the streets at times, and Dany was exposed to wine sinks, or were they always in palatial estates? Where were they spending their money, if their hosts were looking after everything? Transportation to their next host, I guess? Its odd that Dany is complaining of a lost childhood when she's living in a manse and her big complaint is that they move around a bunch - i guess pre-Illyrio, they were staying in less and less opulent accommodations? How recently did the money run out?

I bet you could do an entire series out of this chapter

I think the exposition being all over the place makes sense. She probably overheard this for servants when they thought she wouldn’t over hear. That’s why it’s bits a piece. As for the stuff about knowing what the dothraki call Westeros, a serving girl could have told Danny, like when they’re bathing her and gossip about the khal

Is it possible that Viserys simply had the idea of marrying his sister in Targaryen tradition in the back of his mind the entire time, rather than simply being sexually attracted to her? It might be both, but if always assumed he’s desperately trying to Harken back to all things Targaryen and so siblings marriages would be on the table, also I think that’s why he freaked out so back at Danny’s wedding feast in Vise Dothraq (I may have misspelled that), cuz he can’t handle getting fucked over again but this time instead of losing a crown or jewels he loses his sister.

Idk why but everytime Illyrio is mentioned I get so uncomfortable. Everything about him is so unpleasant and wrong to me.

I think Viserys was definitely attracted to Daenerys. I don't see any reason why Illyrio would lie to Tyrion about this, especially with Viserys being long dead at that point. Him degrading Daenerys before her marriage is likely to make himself feel better about losing her as his bride. Viserys must have been aware that many Targaryen's did *not* marry their relatives, yet he chose to focus on the whole brother-sister marriages when telling Dany about their family. Maybe it's just racism, but it very well might be motivated by lust for her, too.

Did the Valyrians practiced incest pre-Doom... "The dragon kings had wed brother to sister, but they were the blood of old Valyria where such practices had been common" (Catelyn IV ACoK). Do we trust this though... Cat's knowledge could come from someone who incorrectly assumed that all the weird things the Targs did in Westeros were derived from Old Valyria?

11:30 - Why are you saying its odd for Viserys to find his sister attractive? They are Targaryens. They naturally do sibling marriage. There are multiple cases where sibling attraction has occured naturally. Realtedly, I think Cersei and Jaime are Targs.

Why did it randomly cut off at the end? 😅

25:44 just as callouses form from continuous skin abrasion, they also fall off after a few weeks of stopping the actions that cause the abrasion as new skin forms under them...speaking from first hand experience...

Love ya big P❤

Good stuff

Are we back?

How many days until theon IV

There's nothing odd about the Targaryen incest if you simply accept that Viserys is attracted to his sister, and is cherry-picking all the examples from history to gaslight Dany into accepting it as normal.

I assumed the talk was from elyrio's servants... it would be an odd coincidence if she overheard random tavernfolk gossping about elyrio.

Thanks

Since we're talking about Daenerys now I'm going to post my idea for how the fan fiction project could go with the story again. I had this idea a few weeks back for the fanfiction project when I was listening to The Mystery Knight, and there was someone who said if the stories about Aegon the Unworthy were true then half of Westeros would have the dragon blood. The drops of the dragon blood are again mentioned in Fire and Blood in parts of Westeros and Essos, specially Dragonstone. Not to forget there is enough talk about that in ASOIAF books too. Now, I'm not a "super fan" like Preston Jacob is or other big names in the fandom are and don't comprehend how George writes his stories.

wait you have a copy of Blood of the Dragon? OMG I am so jealous. 😍

Preston#1

A servant could be informing her if the things her brother doesn't know

Preston will overtake Alt Schwift X's abridged series at this rate 😂

Sibling incest may be "icky" (no argument there), BUT historically a lot of siblings have considered each other attractive. (I know several men whose wives look remarkably like their sisters.) The idea that it's inherently icky is cultural.

Dany is not the last Targaryen claimant but she is the last Targaryen female. Perhaps Illyrio knows or suspects that a woman is required to hatch the eggs and sees this as the only, if narrow, path to get Young Griff a dragon.

Sweet home Valyria

The "budding breasts" line has stuck with me. I remember physically putting the book down for a minute when I hit that bit. Yick.

Viserys doesn't sell the Dragon Eggs for an army at the start of A Game of Thrones because he thinks he already has an army.

Ned fed baby Jon with Milk of the Puppy

Wait. Who is Chris?

On Dany being Cleopatra... yeah, I see it. Not sure we know if she was an incest-kid? The Ptolemys did A LOT of incest, but were those just official on-paper marriages, while the heirs were a mistress' kids, the queen's kids by some other dude, or genuine incest-babies? DNA tests could tell us, but I don't think we've found the bodies of any of the Ptolemys yet (I think there's a candidate mummy for Cleopatra's sister Arsinoe IV who fits somewhat well with when/where/at-what-age Arsinoe died but we don't know for sure... there's candidates for Cleopatra's tomb, but excavation is ongoing and no mummy yet). Meanwhile previous Egyptian dynasties did practice incest, and we know from DNA evidence that the kids legitimately were incest-babies. There is some dispute cuz I guess the DNA evidence leaves ambiguity, but some research indicates that King Tut, for instance, was the son of full-siblings while his wife was his half sister (and in totally definitely unrelated news, Tut's 2 daughters were stillborn).

In case Targaryens for some weird reason don't have the instinctual aversion to incest - wouldn't Viserys being not attracted to her mean, be a good argument for her not beeing a Targaryen and that is why Illyrio lies about it?

Yahoo yippee

Well, about the incest in royalty famously in Europe the Habsburg in spain many others in the england line with Hemofilia and other issues, which could be inspiration for the author

10:50 imagine being so theory brain rotted that you just say shit like this

Finally a video without the Pokemon kid.. I had just stopped clicking Preston videos entirely

I hope he doesn't go on and on about the "page of lies"

I'm a little confused why Preston is asking why Targs do sibling marriage. Genes. Obviously. I have something to add to this. Targs have draconic DNA - the DNA of fire wyrms, and another species. I subscribe to the dracomorph theory - that fire wyrms gestated in ancient Targs, and left their DNA. I believe that the Fire Wyrms are one of those species that mate siblings - as many species do. Targaryens have genetic attraction tendency, so there is need for some biological president. I also believe that the Targs have no negative consequences of inbreeding because Fire Wyrms have resistance to inbreeding. This is based on rats, who mate siblings many times in a row, and have acquired a resistance to inbreeding traist.

23:25 The Tower of Joy is a Shakespearian allusion: A “Nunnery” aka either a whorehouse or a ?Sept? of (nuns) ?Septas?; namely a place where “whores go” to have children. (It might be both like that nunnery in the second Assassin’s Creed game .) Ned sent various women from there with men each with a baby; only Dayne died there, two out of three Kingsguard survived not two out of eveyone. Dustin was sent with baby Jaqen to Lorath; but, in the location Arya was warned about pirates, Euron captured Dustin’s boat, presumably offed Dustin and sold Jaqen (Aegon the Younger) to the Faceless Men (You missed the cage in the Black and White Rorge Biter metaphor clue.) Septa Lemore and Aegon(Young Griff) didn’t go to the Tower (most likely), they traveled the same path as Tyrion did later to Illyrio’s Manse(Mance). Tyrion Tanner’s name clues us about this, the Tanner’s wife aka Septa Lemore, the Pisswater prince and Tyrion the cistern builder, and Tyrion’s inability to know who Septa Lemore the wetnurse of Aegon is since servants names aren’t generally recorded in books (Bedchel theme clue set, “Are You My Mother (Thoros)?”).

At this rate Preston is going to overtake Shwifty.

**vids that end too soon**

I like these books a lot but george moved from occassional morbidity to drive points accross (like this chapter) to gratuitous vulgarity and grossness with things like cutting septas breasts and "the more she drank, the more she shat". I hope he tones it down in TWoW (if it comes out).

Is Howland Reed a woman? Maybe he’s doing a Mulan.

PJ IS BACK FOMOS

Go team green 😂

I always thought Viserys was attracted to Dany but also hated her especially as it appeared she gained power. I kind of liken his comments to closeted homosexuals who rage on about how being gay is sin and causes hurricanes etc. He projects and is rather mentally unstable add jealousy to that mix as well.

You displayed a staggering level of innocence around child sexual abuse. The most common perpetrators are in fact brothers, fathers and uncles. Other than that I enjoyed the video.

If Dany is a standin for Cleopatra, shouldn't se be black?

The giant chunks being ripped off the wall was just Viserys being stupid and not knowing what a trebuchet is

Hm.. the prose is not great.

Fiiiiiiirst🎉🎉🎉

I fucking love this series! Please keep making them Preston!

I mean, wouldn't you find it really icky to marry your first cousin? I would, but people married their first cousins until fairly recently without thinking much of it. Granted, you don't grow up with cousins as closely as siblings, but it seems more cultural to me that innate, that in those few civilizations where people did wed their siblings/uncles or whatever, it felt normal to them.

Enough of this shit. I want to go forward (more fanfic), without going back.