posting quotes from asoiaf, in celebration of daenerys targaryen, the fifteen year old exiled princess who birthed dragons into the world and smashed the slave trade. she who never knew the touch and love of her mother, yet became mother to thousands.
to the mother of dragons!
i know this room, she thought. she remembered those great wooden beams and the carved animal faces that adorned them. and there outside the window, a lemon tree! the sight of it made her heart ache with longing. it is the house with the red door.
— daenerys iv, a clash of kings.
"i know she is proud. how not? what else was left her but pride? i know she is strong. how not? the dothraki despise weakness. if daenerys had been weak, she would have perished with viserys."
— tyrion vi, a dance with dragons.
all her life viserys had told her she was a princess, but not until she rode her silver had daenerys targaryen ever felt like one.
— daenerys iii, a game of thrones.
rhaegal and viserion were fighting over a scrap of meat, buffeting each other with their wings as smoke hissed from their nostrils. my furious children, she thought. they must not come to harm.
— daenerys iii, a clash of kings.
rhaego. i was going to name him rhaego, and the dosh khaleen said he would be the stallion who mounts the world. not since those half-remembered days in braavos when she lived in the house with the red door had she been as happy.
— daenerys x, a dance with dragons.
dragons plant no trees. remember that. remember who you are, what you were made to be. remember your words.
"fire and blood," daenerys told the swaying grass.
— daenerys x, a dance with dragons.
rhaegal's head darted close, as if to steal the prize from his brother's jaws (...)
"stop that, rhaegal," dany said in annoyance, giving his head a swat. "you had the last one. i'll have no greedy dragons."
— daenerys i, a storm of swords.
"ghosts," irri muttered. "terrible ghosts. we must not stay here, khaleesi, this is their place."
"i fear no ghosts. dragons are more powerful than ghosts."
— daenerys i, a clash of kings.
and daenerys…
her hair was aflame. she had the whip in her hand and she was shouting, then she was on the dragon's back, flying.
— the queensguard, a dance with dragons.
each evenfall as the khalasar set out, she would choose a dragon to ride upon her shoulder. irri and jhiqui carried the others in a cage of woven wood slung between their mounts, and rode close behind her, so dany was never out of their sight.
— daenerys i, a clash of kings.
her eyes went to the dragon's eggs resting in their nest of dark velvet. the shifting lamplight limned their stony scales, and shimmering motes of jade and scarlet and gold swam in the air around them, like courtiers around a king.
— daenerys vi, a game of thrones.
maester aemon's heart aches with the knowledge that he will never reach daenerys. he will never have the chance to meet her; to guide her; to show her that she is not alone. this leads to an epiphany. the prince who was promised... or princess?
— samwell iv, a feast for crows.
blood and fire, thought dany. the words of house targaryen. she had known them all her life. "the blood of my enemies i will shed gladly. the blood of innocents is another matter."
— daenerys ii, a storm of swords.
in the free cities, they talked of westeros and the sunset kingdoms. her brother had a simpler name. "our land," he called it. the words were like a prayer to him. if he said them enough, the gods were sure to hear.
— daenerys i, a game of thrones.
in all the world there were but three living dragons, and those were hers; they were a wonder, and a terror, and beyond price.
— daenerys i, a storm of swords.