Introduction
In this paper, we will discuss the story from the Path of the Dragon, by George R. R. Martin. “Path of the Dragon” are the chapters from the novel “The Storm of the Sword” about the character Daenerys Targaryen. The Storm of the Sword is among the series of seven planned novels of A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin. In this paper, we will analyze the character or hero of the story by using the paradigm provided by the Campbell’s journey of the hero. The Storm of the Sword is the third novel of its series and its genre is fantasy novel. The novella, “Path of the dragon” is extracted from it so it shares the same genre as this novel is also a part of The Sword and the Sorcery Anthology.
Discussion
Before discussing the story and the character of the novel, we will discuss the hero’s journey concept as provided by Joseph Campbell. In hero’s journey, a common pattern is used to analyze all the heroic characters. Through this paradigm, we will identify different stages in the life of the hero “Daenerys Targaryen” discussed in the Path of the Dragon novella. In this paper, we will see how Daenerys Targaryen fits the monomyth provided by the Joseph Campbell (Campbell, pp. 1). As the monomyth is based on the life stage for male heroes and we will discuss here a female hero.
Background of the Hero
From Targaryen family, Daenerys Targaryen was the youngest and the only survivor of the family. Her family was the Royal family that ruled the seven kingdoms (fictional kingdom of Westeros) for many years and they were overthrown by the rebellions of these kingdoms making Robert Baratheon their new king. She had an elder brother named Viserys who forced her to marry the barbaric leader of the Dothraki clan, Khal Drogo who killed her elder brother later in the story. After the death of Khal Drogo, she was supposed to be the leader of the clan. From here the challenging and adventurous story of this female leader and our hero started.
Daenerys Targaryen was a young, motivated, and goal oriented lady. She had a powerful character and she was kind and humble for her followers as well as the slaves of the seven kingdoms unlike the mad king, her father. She was passionate to take what was rightfully hers. She was focused and served justice to the people of the Westeros.
Call to the adventure
For the hero of this story, the adventure began when her husband died. She leads the clan of her husband who believed in her when she showed them the real baby dragons. She shared her vision with the people of the Dothraki clan. She was the mother of the dragons and the only heir to the Iron Throne. Her vision to take the seven kingdoms back, forced her to fight for her right and she started her journey to fight people that were in her way of going back home. But the call to adventure was forced to her. The story of this female hero is different from the other male heroes as she was not ready and sure to take the step and start this journey. She was not determined and initially, she didn’t want to take the adventurous path for her but after struggling with her life she was determined to keep the goal to change her life.
Meeting the God of her life
In every hero’s story, there comes a time where he or she fell in love and find the Goddess or in our story character, the God of her life. Daenerys Targaryen never wanted to marry such a barbaric hero and the leader of the clan that was famous for its cruelty. She soon after her marriage, had fallen in love with her husband Khal Drogo.
Hero’s Temptation
Once the hero finds his/ her lover in the story, according to the paradigm of the Campbell, there comes a time when she or he has to stay on their track of achieving the goal. This is the main challenge for the hero is to keep determined on achieving the set goals but some of the characters feel attracted toward their loved once and get distracted by the path they should be on. In the life of Path of the dragon’s hero, she was lured for a moment to leave the goal of conquering the iron throne and start her family with her lover (Khal Drogo). But after the death of the Khal, she realized that she had to fight for her and her dragons.
Supernatural Aid
To assist the character of Daenerys Targaryen, supernatural aid is used in the novel. She was shown the mother of the dragons which shows the fictional characteristics of the hero. Dragons were used as her weapon and everyone feared the dragons she had. Dragons never harmed the hero but they obey their mother’s orders and attacked her enemies.
A path of her Trials
After the death of her husband, she faced many trial and hurdles in her path. She was determined to take the Iron Throne back and she faced every hurdle bravely. Ser Jorah Mormont was her caretaker and guided the Queen to conquer the Westeros step by step. From Pentos they were headed towards the cities where the slavery was a common practice. Ser Jorah guided her to free the slaves and ask them to join their army. She needed the ships and the soldiers to fight for her in the Kings Landing. She faced several trials on this path to conquer the seven kingdoms. She had to go to Meereen, Astapor, and Yunkai to create her army (awoiaf.westeros.org). She bought the slaves from their masters and freed them. She bought the Unsullied and in return when their master of Astopor asked the Queen to give a Dragon in his slavery, she ordered the dragon to kill the master and freed the slaves of that area. They made her their Queen too and admired her actions.
Her Mentor
According to the paradigm of the Joseph Campbell, there should be a mentor for the hero of the story. The mentor for the Queen Daenerys Targaryen was Ser Jorah Mormont in this novel. She took advise form Ser Jorah at many stages of her life. she believed that he was the only one person whom she may trust and a reliable source to take advice from. Ser Jorah was a source of motivation for her as he stood with her in every thick and thin. The idea of building an army of slaves was also given by her mentor.
Atonement
In the novel the hero, Daenerys Targaryen never had met her mother or a mother like a figure. But she had a father like a figure in the form of Jorah Mormont. He was the closest person to Daenerys just like a father, although with the passage of time Jorah Mormont started feeling for her. Ser Jorah Mormont tried to save the life of the queen for many times but he has also betrayed her. He sold the information about the queen to her enemies and they tried to kill her when she visited the Qarth. When she came to know about this, she abandoned Ser Jorah. But he saved her life again to prove his loyalty and the Queen took his hand (Preston, pp. 1)
Rebirth
At this point of the story, there was nothing like a rebirth or death of the hero. The hero was at the peak of her success according to the end of the story in this novel. She conquered and freed many slaves and built her army. At the end of this part of the novel, the people of Astapor accepted her as their queen and she had the army to fight with for her dreams. The rebirth of the hero happened in the previous chapters when Daenerys asked the Khalasar to burn her with Drogo’s body and she walked out of the flame with her three baby dragons in the morning. The new phase of life was started for the hero with this rebirth. People considered her the mother of the dragon and started following her. At this point, she found herself more confident and a strong woman. This was the transformation of a young girl into a grown strong woman.
Conclusion
This paper is about the female hero character of the novella, “the Path of the Dragon” by George R. R. Martin. This is the fantasy novel and Daenerys Targaryen is the character that is examined under the different stages of the paradigm provided by the Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey. The analysis showed that the story and life of a female hero can also be examined under this paradigm. And the female character of the movie, “Daenerys Targaryen” fits the stages of the paradigm well. Through this report, the role and the characteristics of the hero are fully analyzed under this paradigm.
Works Cited
“Path Of The Dragon.” A Wiki of Ice and Fire. N. p., 2018. Web. 18 Apr. 2018, awoiaf.westeros.org. 2018. essay.
“The Hero’S Journey In Game Of Thrones: Daenerys Targaryen.” Winter is Coming. N. p., 2016. Web. 18 Apr. 2018.
Campbell, Joseph. The hero’s journey: Joseph Campbell on his life and work. Vol. 7. New World Library, 1990.
