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Something I came across in my research for my Dany essay... her unfulfilled dream of finding home is what she gives to everyone she cares for: home. Her desire for home informs and defines her ruling ethos. https://twitter.com/korcariwilds/status/1198614488049684483
One thinks of the refugees from Slavers Bay who call her Mhysa, but it starts in AGOT when she uses her newfound authority to protect women from rape after a battle. She takes them as hers and then cares for them, beginning with a girl her age she sees herself in.
She's even trying to care for Viserys, coming up with thoughtful ways to help him regain respect with the Dothraki. She cares for her handmaidens in AGOT too, asking them thoughtful questions and buying them gifts at the market.
What is really striking is that Dany's dragon identity, as it emerges in AGOT, is never associated with conquest or aggression, but rather defending those she protects. First she defends herself from Viserys, then swears to protect the women from the battle, and finally her child
Her emerging Myhsa indentity turns out NOT to be separate from her dragon identity, but rather one in the same. That's been the most striking thing in rereading all her AGOT chapters. Dany thinks of herself as a dragon when she finds inner strength, & when she vows to protect.
It's actually external forces, like Quaithe, who frame the dragon / Myhsa thing as an irreconcilable tension and try to get Dany to make an all or nothing choice. Dany's instinct, again and again, is to protect people, to give them a home and sense of safety she never had.
