News and discussions relating to George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" novels, his Westeros-based short stories, "Game of Thrones" and "House of the Dragon" TV series, and all things ASOIAF - but with particular emphasis on the written series.
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It feels like such a minor thing, that she was born in a great storm. Besides sounding badass it has absolutely no function so why is it used as a title over and over again?
I was thinking it can’t be just be GRRM’s style of writing because it is a very explicit detail that’s repeated countless times.
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![r/asoiaf - Preston Jacobs- Daenerys and the Page of Lies, Part 6 [Spoilers EXTENDED]](https://b.thumbs.redditmedia.com/K9O0Dk61GvYTAlhOAcscvRhzBaz9c9IaMqV6S4fkOeM.jpg)
I think it's the key to Daenerys's character and refers to her motivations, including her motivation to conquer Westeros, as being born from her abuse by Viserys. Her actions are "stormborn" in that they come from emotional turmoil.
Also she was born during another storm - the fall of house Targ. I think you’re spot on here, it’s to metaphorically say she’s been in turmoil from birth.
I totally agree. And of course the literal storm operates as a symbol for Dany's circumstance. But, had Viserys not been with her, Dany's life could not have become quite the same kind of storm. Even had she been immediately taken in by Illyrio, with a plan to wed her to Aegon as part of a Targaryen restoration in Westeros, her motivation would not be to compensate for and process childhood abuse except for Viserys having taken out his frustrations on her and threatened her with his becoming a dragon.
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 — see Birth-Death Juxtaposition and Life/Death Juxtaposition.
Because the storm lord took her family's throne and this act defines her motivations
It's just a moniker that sounds cool. But if you want to read more into it, it's pretty on the nose that she is (and will be) the last Targaryen and she chooses to name herself after the night that her family fell for good.
The storm on the night of her birth sank the remaining Targaryen fleet; without that, Rhaella, Viserys, and Daenerys might've been safe in Dragonstone for a little while longer. Perhaps enough time to get Mace Tyrell and the dornish back into shape.
Didn’t Rhaella die from childbirth? And Dany always thought she would marry Viserys, therefore the Targaryen family would go on. Also, I’m pretty sure Robert wanted the kids killed, so fleeing was their only option. Of course with more resources Viserys wouldn’t be called “beggar king”. Dany is a very tragic character.
Yes, Rhaella died from childbirth, although we don't get an exact timeline of how and when. Still, even without her, the Targaryen heirs still being in Dragonstone and still having a fleet to defend them is a better situation than them being with Willem Darry in Braavos after their own servants tried to hand them over.
Did he? It was Tywin who had Elia and her children murdered. Robert didn't punish anyone for it, but we don't know if he had done the same if it had been up to him. Even later on when he wants Daenerys killed (and he does change his mind about that later on), he's two steps removed from the actual killing via Varys and a Faceless Man.
More importantly though, it was not up to Robert alone what would happen. Ned and Jon would've cautioned him, I think, and they were decisionmakers just as much as Robert.
Other than the insight into her character, it can be used to strengthen the 'born amidst salt and smoke' thing, which is already there from being born on Dragonstone. Between Marwyn, Moqorro, and Benerro in Volantis I think in the next book people are going to start telling her she's the Prince that Was Promised
Storms don't have salt or smoke though do they
Salt in the ocean I guess.
She will be friends with storm from x men
N + A = S
It reminds me of how all the Targ rulers had different monikers they became know by- the older, the younger, the mad king, the unworthy, the blessed, the cruel. Though I doubt they used them in their titles haha. In theory, 100 years down the line and multiple Daenyrs’ have been born and ruled, it could differentiate her from them. 🤷🏼♀️
Storm is the Stormlander name for a bastard.
Dany was "born [a] Storm"
She is actually the lovechild of her mother Queen Rhaella Targaryen and Ser Bonifer Hasty, the old Stormlander knight who now serves in the Holy Hundred and who once had a romance with the young queen (then a princess)
/s
I don’t think it was intended to be that deep. It’s just a title in relation to the events that transpired during her birth.
If you were born in the midst of an earthquake they would probably call you Im_Watching_You_713 the earthbreaker.
Stormborn = born during the storming of dragonstone
Stormborn is probably a referral to being born during the storming of Dragonstone by Stannis and not an actual storm. Its part of the westeros that Danaerys has heard of, but has misunderstood.
The literal storm destroyed the Targaryen fleet such that Stannis could storm the keep.
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I have to reread the series, but I'm pretty sure Davos recalls an actual battle of Dragonstone not a storm. Problem is a lot of information we have is from Viserys, who's not the best source of information.
Interesting note: Stormborn in Valyrian is just the word “Storm” rendered as a name, Jelmazmar -> Jelmazmo. If one wanted to make the word “snow” (sōna) into a name, it’d be Sōnaro. Jon Snow and Jon Snowborn are the exact same in Valyrian. If you wanted to render Edric Storm’s name in Valyrian, it’d he Edric Jelmazmo.
Stormborn and Storm are the same in Valyrian. She’s Daenerys Stormborn. She’s also Daenerys Storm.
Rhaella is undoubtedly her mother. But her father? Well, there was always a certain knight, noble and true, who cared for Rhaella and hailed from the Stormlands. One who right now in the books has been serving as a father to Daenerys, and is trying to hold her kingdom together.
I’m not saying that Daenerys is Barristan Selmy’s bastard daughter. But I’m not not saying that.
And every theory should have a quick validation of “what would it add to the story?” The answer to that, is that it would add great irony to Daenerys, who believes herself the last true Targaryen, which will likely put her at odds with both Young Griff and Jon. She’ll be ranting about her birthright, and about Blackfyres and Bastardy, when she herself is a bastard without that birthright, certainly no more than Jon’s or even less.
She was born during Robert's Rebellion, she's Stormborn in that she was born during the 'storm' of a Baratheon-aka-Stormlander led rebellion. It's a title she holds on to as a reminder of her stolen throne.
It is a lie.
She is the bastard daughter of Aerys and Ashara, and the House with the Red Door is in Starfall.
Too many hints about Barristan saying Daenerys looks a lot like Ashara, Daynes having similarities to Targaryen genes, and George saying the location of the House with the Red Door has major implications for Daenerys' story going forward.
Starfall can't explain Dany's Tyroshi accent.
Only her eyes, because they both have purple eyes. And Barristan think about that only once....
Ashara had dark hair. She does not look like Dany.
Also, Jorah think Dany looks like his wife Lynesse Hightower. Is she Dany's mother ?
He only said there is more to know about that house. Like it is in Tyrosh.
Yeah the point of the resemblances is that everyone says she looks like the most beautiful women they know. Its just to depict how all her male followers are attracted to her.
The tower long fallen may have been the Broken Tower in Winterfell, with her Red Door being on Bear Island, until Jorah sold her to Tyroshi slavers. Where she had a Lemon Tree outside her window and acquired her accent.
Maybe an omen to be the “promised prince(ss)’? Just like the comet when Aegon was conceived and the Summerhall tragedy for Rhaegar.
Edit: Just now I realized you want to know why she wants to be called “Stormborn”. I wonder if Viserys didn’t blame her for the storm. He loved to blame her for everything in their miserable life.
Perhaps a reference to the Stormgod of the Ironborn-faith. As he is described to be the enemy of all life (like the Great Other) this could be a foreshadowing of Danys fall to the "dark side". Perhaps she looses someone important during the Westeros-conquest and turns to the others for their necromancy or something
It's about the hardship she's faced her entire life
As a writer myself, I'm going to say something potentially blasphemous.
Some things are really there just because its cool, or sounds bad-ass, or because you just get a kick out of it. The rule of cool is a thing. Not everything is specifically intended to convey a precise meaning or to foreshadow, although the best writers allow for that, and readers will analyse and interpret as they see fit.
Daenerys Stormborn just sounds really fucking cool. There's some meaning behind the use of the nickname more generally - being born in a storm as a mark of destiny, representing the chaos of the Targaryen's end etc etc - but its repeated use is probably just because it sounds badass.