House Targaryen strikes back but more is needed.
Like the inevitability of Drogon burning everything in site, spoilers are coming. Dracarys!
After seeing her fleet destroyed by Euron Greyjoy and the Unsullied fall into Cersei’s trap at Castely Rock, Daenerys Targaryen desperately needed a win over the Lannisters and she delivered one with fire and blood.
After embracing Olenna Tyrell’s advice, Dany finally became a dragon as she eviscerated the Lannister forces and destroyed a plentiful amount of their supplies, food and men.
The war for the Iron Throne is after heating up and while the Targaryen’s have hit back, the mood in their camp was completely different before Drogon, the Dothraki and Dany swooped in to swamp Bronn, Jaime and their men.
“I’m at war. I’m losing. What do yo think I should do?,” asked Daenerys of Jon Snow and here in lies the main problem with her campaign. Up until Jon’s arrival on Dragonstone, Dany has been desperately lacking a commanding and decisive military leader.
We all known that Tyrion is superb when it comes to knowing the history of Westeros and analysing the human mind, but his war strategies have failed so far.
We’ll cut the youngest Lannister some slack because even some of the best military in Westeros have met their maker and failed on the battlefield – Stannis, Tywin and Robb Stark are all perfect examples – but Tyrion could definitely use some help. It’s also noticeable that Tyrion’s personal feelings towards his older brother Jaime are starting to come to the fore. If it came to it, would Tyrion sanction his death?
The trailer for the next episode offers a few cryptic insights into his mindset.
Another person that’s culpable in Dany’s initial defeats is the master spy of master spies, Varys. How did his seemingly endless intelligence network fail to spot the massive movement of troops from Casterly Rock to Highgarden? Varys’ commitment has already been questioned by Dany and it’s time for The Spider to deliver.
On the plus side, it’s nice to see that Jon and Tyrion both agree that Dany shouldn’t emulate Aegon by unleashing her dragons on The Red Keep and killing thousands of civilians, but something has to change.
Her win in the finale of ‘The Spoils of War’ was largely due to the fact that – as David Benioff pointed out – she “had an F-16 and brought it to a medieval battle”
While Dany’s willingness to fight is admirable, she still flew into combat against the Lannister forces without wearing any armour. In fact, Missandei – who isn’t a military strategist- was the only person that made the point that ‘it only takes one arrow’ to down the Mother of Dragons. After seeing Qyburn’s scorpion crossbow in full effect, surely someone will tell her to protect herself?
We can imagine that Cersei’s hand will be making plenty of those crossbows and manning the towers of King’s Landing with them.
As this cryptic image from the trailer showed, a dragon will be flying over King’s Landing at some point.
In terms of military problems, Dany is struggling to readjust her supply lines and food supply. In fact, a shortage of food is a massive concern for everyone because with the Long Night approaching, Sansa, Cersei and Dany have all expressed concern regarding a lack of supply.
All this without mentioning the fact that the Unsullied are left stranded waiting for relief. Euron Greyjoy’s fleet has also formed a blockade in the Sunset Sea, so she’s going to need someone to smuggle in supplies and lead her navies now that Yara is kidnapped.
Could this be a role that Ser Davos would fill? After all, he has extensive experience as a smuggler and Stannis trusted him to launch the siege of King’s Landing – granted that didn’t go to well – but he has history when it comes to the seas.
As for the wars to come on land, Dany is short of experienced and battle-hardened leaders. The Unsullied are superb warriors, but they mostly follow instructions and are currently ineffective. Jorah Mormont excelled in the Siege of Pyke during the Greyjoy Rebellion, but he’s currently AWOL as tries his best to get back to Dragonstone. Dany also opted to leave Daario Naharis is the leader of the Second Sons but he’s left behind in Meereen.
Her previous victories in Astapore, Yunkai and Mereen were generally short fights that were fought on a single front, but she needs someone that can plan for the future and organise her military forces.
Compare this with the personal that Cersei can rely on. Jaime Lannister (we’d be shocked if he died in the last episode), Euron Greyjoy and Randyll Tarly. OK, we know that the creators have to fill the remaining episodes with two wards – the one for the Iron Throne and the one between the White Walkers and Azhor Ahai (the prince/princess who was promised) – so Dany was never just going to fly into King’s Landing and take the city, but if she’s clever, she’ll give Jon Snow the benefit of the doubt and her help .
What does this entail? Well, she should prioritise his campaign against the Night King beyond the Wall before upping the ante in her bid to reclaim the Iron Throne from Cersei. As Jon said, any victory over Cersei in the game of thrones is pointless because ultimately, Daenerys “would be ruling over a graveyard’.
We know that Jon Snow is returning to the North and battling beyond the Wall, if Dany is clever, she should continue to support his war against the Night King. In return, she’ll get a powerful ally that has proven his military prowess.
After all, when she visited the House of the Undying and had those vision, she saw the King’s Landing throne room with holes in the roof – presumably from dragon fire. She lingered in the throne room and refused to sit on the Iron Throne as the snow fell.
Is this foreshadowing that Jon Snow’s war beyond the Wall will halt Dany’s attempt to reclaim the throne for House Targaryen? The next shot in that vision is telling because we see Dany passing through the gates at Castle Black to go beyond the wall.
The next few episodes will be very, very interesting.
