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“The decision to turn Daenerys from a hero into a villain, a route that had long been a fan theory, has been controversial. Alex Abad-Santos of Vox stated, “The implication that Daenerys Targaryen is going mad is the greatest fraud Game of Thrones has ever perpetrated.” He argued that it is “essentially a bait-and-switch” because, for seven seasons, the audience has seen Daenerys as a good and moral person determined to abolish slavery and create a more just society, and that the show suddenly characterizing her as unwilling to listen to her advisors contrasts the various times she sought their counsel, including when she decided against flying to King’s Landing to burn down the Red Keep and when she chose to “defend the North against the Army of the Dead.” Eliana Dockterman of Time echoed these sentiments, opining that because Daenerys and Jon “proved the most popular heroes to cheer for — not only because they cheated death but because they spent time with those who weren’t like them and learned to understand them,” turning Daenerys into the villain in the last few episodes feels like “an unearned turn in the story” to some fans. Estelle Tang of Elle stated that many “commented how unbelievable it was for Dany to turn into a violent vengeance-seeker this far into the show’s run.” Esquire’s Gabrielle Bruney agreed that “Dany’s transformation was far too rushed to feel entirely believable” and said viewers felt that the writers threw out her character development. Calling Daenerys his favorite character and the arc emotionally draining, Mike Hogan of Vanity Fair also found the shift in Daenerys’s personality unearned. He said that although the show had been clear that Daenerys has a temper, “we have seen her balance that violence with mercy, kindness, and above all shrewdness. We have spent years watching her grow from a helpless girl into a seasoned leader who has been through a lot.” He added that turning Daenerys evil “after a run of bad luck that was admittedly pretty bad” made no sense. Dockterman added that “yes, Daenerys has used fire and her dragons to enact vengeance and punishment before, but up until season 7, everyone she burned was either evil or an enemy” and “there’s an additional layer of latent sexism to be analyzed here too: Cersei and Daenerys are two power-hungry women, literally evil queens in fairytale parlance” while “men like Theon and Jaime have been redeemed; Jon Snow looks to be the obvious choice for a selfless king.” Both she and Abad-Santos speculated that the show having Daenerys turn into a villain might have been a misdirection”