The tantrum thrown by Daenerys, (where she slaughters the group of people that symbolically represent the common, non-elite people as a whole), was not only foreshadowed, it was not only planned from the beginning, we, as fans, were set up to be culpable in that slaughter.
Tyrion tells as us much when he was talking to Jon. We cheered Dany on when she was killing bad men, tyrants Dothracki raiders and slavers (and she got to choose who were bad men, but we generally agreed with her). Her penchant for violence was always there. What happened was, all of the sudden, we disagreed with her on who the bad men were.
Daenerys had a heart for slaves. In her mind, slavery was bad, and people that did not denounce slavery were evil. She killed them indiscriminately.
Daenerys also believed that the iron throne was hers by right. At first, it was by birthright, but, by the end of the show, when she didn't even have the best birthright claim to the throne, it was hers by "right" based on her life, her achievements. What was she good at? Conquest.
The people of Kings Landing stood opposed to her claim for the throne. It is pretty clear that, if the people were given a choice, Jon Snow was more loved, had a better birth claim, and would have been given the throne. Those people, just like the slavers of Astopor and Yunkai, were an obstacle to Daenerys getting what she wanted.
We cheered Dany on when she was killing people we disagreed with. The executions of Astopor and Yunkai were cruel and indiscriminate, but who cared? The deaths of the Tally's were harder to swallow, but still overlooked. Be in Dany's way, and you get blood and fire. She got to choose who the bad people were. And the bad people got torched.
The reason why "The Bells" was so bad was because we believed in Dany. We agreed with her. We accepted her violence as a necessary evil. We agreed that she should use her extraordinary power to further her agenda. Break the wheel. And then, suddenly, we didn't agree with her. The biggest problem, was her getting to choose the bad people. She was used to that. We reinforced that practice. But, what had we created? She had the power to destroy given to her by magic, and the power to choose who to destroy, given to her by us (at least in part). We, the fans, were made culpable to the slaughter by supporting her, as much as Tyrion was. We were surprised that she went as far as she did. We should not have been. The whole point of the show was that we should not have been surprised at that action, but we were. And we mourned when it happened.
The way that the show walked that line, getting us to agree with Dany, investing in her, but making the slaughter not out of character, and, out-of-line for the story based on the long line of killed people in the series, was, in my mind, amazing. It worked in glorious fashion.
Tyrion tells as us much when he was talking to Jon. We cheered Dany on when she was killing bad men, tyrants Dothracki raiders and slavers (and she got to choose who were bad men, but we generally agreed with her). Her penchant for violence was always there. What happened was, all of the sudden, we disagreed with her on who the bad men were.
Daenerys had a heart for slaves. In her mind, slavery was bad, and people that did not denounce slavery were evil. She killed them indiscriminately.
Daenerys also believed that the iron throne was hers by right. At first, it was by birthright, but, by the end of the show, when she didn't even have the best birthright claim to the throne, it was hers by "right" based on her life, her achievements. What was she good at? Conquest.
The people of Kings Landing stood opposed to her claim for the throne. It is pretty clear that, if the people were given a choice, Jon Snow was more loved, had a better birth claim, and would have been given the throne. Those people, just like the slavers of Astopor and Yunkai, were an obstacle to Daenerys getting what she wanted.
We cheered Dany on when she was killing people we disagreed with. The executions of Astopor and Yunkai were cruel and indiscriminate, but who cared? The deaths of the Tally's were harder to swallow, but still overlooked. Be in Dany's way, and you get blood and fire. She got to choose who the bad people were. And the bad people got torched.
The reason why "The Bells" was so bad was because we believed in Dany. We agreed with her. We accepted her violence as a necessary evil. We agreed that she should use her extraordinary power to further her agenda. Break the wheel. And then, suddenly, we didn't agree with her. The biggest problem, was her getting to choose the bad people. She was used to that. We reinforced that practice. But, what had we created? She had the power to destroy given to her by magic, and the power to choose who to destroy, given to her by us (at least in part). We, the fans, were made culpable to the slaughter by supporting her, as much as Tyrion was. We were surprised that she went as far as she did. We should not have been. The whole point of the show was that we should not have been surprised at that action, but we were. And we mourned when it happened.
The way that the show walked that line, getting us to agree with Dany, investing in her, but making the slaughter not out of character, and, out-of-line for the story based on the long line of killed people in the series, was, in my mind, amazing. It worked in glorious fashion.