The Ethical Movement of Daenerys Targaryen

Summary

George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire suggests that attaining power often involves utilizing a politics that does not answer to ethics. While in Westeros, the setting for much of Martin's saga — and most specifically while in the seat of power itself, the capital city, King's Landing — we see that power is wielded by the one who is most willing to be treacherous. Or, as the character Ser Jorah Mormont formulates it, those most willing to play “the game of thrones.” As philosopher Marcus Schulzke points out, “the War of the Five Kings follows the logic of the Machiavellian struggle for power and illustrates many of Machiavelli's most important lessons.” The logic of this main battle in the books, called the “War of the Five Kings,” reduces the life of those who are not in power or fighting for power to a position of “bare life.” As ecologist Mick Smith argues, “the bios politicos cannot be simply a matter of an individual's capacity to survive or not: it is not reducible to bare life; rather it has to do with having the potential to initiate, participate in, and sustain politics as such.” Smith's argument is prescient for the citizens of Westeros, who, caught in the power struggle between the Five Armies, are reduced to just such a state of survival. While the battle is going on in Westeros, Martin introduces us to another continent on the other side of what is called the Narrow Sea.