Saw A Post About Daenerys' Name Meaning And Decided To Do Some Research For Myself :)

Saw a post about Daenerys' name meaning and decided to do some research for myself :)

So the name Daenerys itself was created by GRRM, but if we pull it apart into "Dae" and "Nerys" - both of which are names themselves - we get these meanings.

Dae - Greatness, the great one; shining, "light and hope" as in "a new day."

"The name Dae is primarily a male name of Korean origin that means Greatness."

Nerys - Lord, chief, hero, manliness, courage, lady

Nerys is a Welsh feminine given name. It may be a modern coinage, an elaboration of Middle Welsh ner "lord, chief" (which relates to the modern Welsh words nêr "hero" and nerth "manliness, courage") using the popular suffix -ys (found in Carys, Dilys, Gladys and Glenys).

Meaning: uncertain; possibly "lady"

Gender: Feminine

So, GRRM has admitted that he choses the names of his main characters with intent. Daenerys' name is a glaring indication of her future.

Something her name meaning reminds me of is the famous quote Barristan Selmy says to Daenerys:

"King Jaehaerys once told me that madness and greatness are two sides of the same coin. Every time a new Targaryen is born, he said, the gods toss the coin in the air and the world holds its breath to see how it will land."

Dany's name legit means "greatness", so safe to say she's dodged the "madness" coin-flip.

As for the Nerys part of her name, it reminds me of this:

"Lead us from the darkness, O my Lord. Fill our hearts with fire, so we may walk your shining path. R'hllor, you are the light in our eyes, the fire in our hearts, the heat in our loins. Yours is the sun that warms our days, yours the stars that guard us in the dark of night."

New days begin with dawns, and what is the Prince who was Promised said to bring?

The Dawn.

Daenerys is associated with many things: a fiery heart (she ate a horse heart, her dragons burned the blue, rotting heart in the House of the Undying), dragons (fire made flesh), blood magic, day, heat, she is called "bride of fire" by the Undying, and "moon of my life" by Khal Drogo, and R'hllor is associated with stars and the moon. She also slept with Khal Drogo in the womb of the world ("the heat in our loins").

Azor Ahai was also said to have a Red Sword of Heroes, and Drogon is red and black with black and red fire. I think he's Lightbringer.

With all this, it makes sense that Dany is the Prince Who was Promised, and will bring the dawn.

DAENERYS APPRECIATION MONTH 2022 ↳ Day 4: House Targaryen The ghosts of Targaryen kings guiding Dany during her visions in the House of the Undying, making her embrace her heritage to later bring back the dragons which parallels Viserys passing Aegon’s prophecy to Rhaenyra. The prophecy is passed from king to heir, making Dany the heir of all the Targaryen kings.

“…want to wake the dragon…” Ghosts lined the hallway, dressed in the faded raiment of kings. In their hands were swords of pale fire. They had hair of silver and hair of gold and hair of platinum white, and their eyes were opal and amethyst, tourmaline and jade. “Faster,” they cried, “faster, faster.” She raced, her feet melting the stone wherever they touched. “Faster!” the ghosts cried as one, and she screamed and threw herself forward. A great knife of pain ripped down her back, and she felt her skin tear open and smelled the stench of burning blood and saw the shadow of wings. And Daenerys Targaryen flew. “… wake the dragon…”

“… She was once smitten with a young knight from the stormlands who wore her favor at a tourney and named her queen of love and beauty. A brief thing. […] He put away his lance the day your lady mother wed your father. Afterward he became most pious, and was heard to say that only the Maiden could replace Queen Rhaella in his heart. His passion was impossible, of course. A landed knight is no fit consort for a princess of royal blood.” - A Dance with Dragons, Daenerys VII // naomi watts as rhaella targaryen   

@pscentral event 13: tropes || A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin

Fairest of Them All: This tropes is played with in Cersei Lannister’s arc as she is given a prophecy as a child that though she will be queen, a young and more beautiful queen will cast her down. Regarded as the most beautiful woman in Westeros, she still fears that another younger woman will one day surpass her. Though she doesn’t believe that her daughter-in-law Margaery is more beautiful than her, Cersei targets and attempts to remove her as a threat, all the while ruining her own political position. Meanwhile, Cersei is also ignoring the hints of Daenerys Targaryen, a younger and more beautiful queen who is building military support and intends to overthrow the Lannister regime.

Knight in Shining Armor: The role of knight is both practical in a military sense, but it lends itself to being a ceremonial and PR role where the values of chivalry are idealized and often discarded when inconvenient. For Loras Tyrell, its a showy display for tourneys. Others are more villainous, such as Criston Cole, Gregore Clegane, and Jorah Mormont, who use the respectability of the role while displaying none of the values of it. The ideal of the heroic Knight in Shining Armor is played straight with characters like Dunk, Lyanna Stark, Aemon the Dragonknight, and Brienne of Tarth, who fight to protect others.

Animal Eye Spy: The Stark children are all skinchangers. Bran, Arya, and Jon are specifically shown warging into their respective direwolves and seeing through the eyes of their bond animals. Arya and Bran extend their abilities from their direwolves to other animals. While Arya skinchanges a cat she bonds with, Bran is actively being taught to see through the eyes of birds and secretly skinchanges into another human-being, Hodor.   

Daenerys Stormborn aka Child of Storm + tv tropes  → BORN DURING A STORM (insp.)

A baby is born while a storm rages outside. […] This trope is used to mark a character as special as it’s a dramatic and exciting start to their life, and may foreshadow an eventful and fast-paced life to match their birth — indeed, a woman might give birth during the Big Storm Episode for no reason other than Rule of Drama. This is doubly so if the storm is supernatural in nature. The child may also be given a weather-related name to match. This also juxtaposes the death and destruction caused by severe storms with the birth of new life.

Queen Rhaella had been crowned queen of love and beauty in her youth, and queen of love she indeed was for she cared deeply for those around her, ladies-in-waiting and children alike.