This article contains spoilers.
When Danaerys Targaryen was pregnant by Khal Drogo I too was pregnant with my first son. I watched the last episode of the first season of Game of Thrones when in hospital waiting for a caesarean section. My son was a month early and I had pre-eclampsia, a condition characterised by severe swelling and high blood pressure. I felt it keenly when Danearys paid for Khal Drogo’s revival with the life of her unborn son. She lost her child and I was told I was in danger of losing mine.
Danearys then gave birth to her dragons hatching their eggs by fire and blood sacrifice. She became the mother of dragons and a fierce protector of her children.
Thankfully my son was born healthy. His birth awoke in me a desire to protect him from the world, and defend his innocence. He was so vulnerable and helpless, I needed to be strong and forthright to ensure his place in the world. Just like Daenerys with her dragons I would go to all lengths to ensure his survival. I would protect him with everything I had.
Their vulnerability brings home a powerful message about motherhood and mortality. Parents cannot guarantee the safety of their children no matter how hard they might try.
Cersei Lannister was the other mother who aggressively advanced her children’s interests in Game of Thrones. She was a lioness protecting her cubs and their claim to the Iron Throne. She engineered executions and murders to ensure her eldest son Joffrey inherited the throne, and committed the unthinkable to try and promote the younger son Tommen’s interests.
She wanted to protect Tommen’s innocence and performed her murderous machinations without consulting him. But she too suffered losses regardless of her efforts. Joffrey died of poison, Tommen suicided after she orchestrates mass murder of her enemies, and her daughter Myrcella is murdered by Ellaria Sand in Dorne, as revenge against Cersei over the death of Oberyn Martell.
Cersei is a monster but she is still a mother, and we feel her loss when Tommen dies regardless of what she did for him. While Jaime Lannister’s fatherhood is largely undiscussed (because his paternity is largely a secret), motherhood seems to drive Cersei’s story arc. And now she is supposedly pregnant again, her desire for the continuation of the Lannister bloodline on the throne is as driven as ever.
Both Danaerys and Cersei gain power through their children but they also suffer their greatest losses through them. Despite their efforts, they cannot prevent the deaths of their loved ones. This vulnerability brings home a powerful message about motherhood and mortality. Parents cannot guarantee the safety of their children no matter how hard they might try. Daenerys cannot prevent the death of two of her dragons and Cersei loses all three of her children. You become vulnerable to the fates and what luck the seven gods may have in store for you. The helplessness a mother experiences as to the fate of her child and the loss of control over his or her destiny can be overwhelming. Your deepest wishes are for your child to survive and thrive and even that basic fact may be denied to you.
The helplessness a mother experiences can be overwhelming.
Another example is in Catelyn Stark, a mother who tries to protect her children from the Lannisters and is murdered trying. Catelyn saves her son Bran from an assassin’s knife, and pursues his killer, smuggling herself to King’s Landing to warn her husband of the Lannister plots against him. She tries to advise her son Robb on the battlefield, and accompanies Jaime Lannister for a hostage swap for her daughters. Her actions are those of a mother determined to do anything to save her children. Despite her attempts she and Robb are murdered by the Freys courtesy of the Lannisters. Catelyn is admirable for her principles but these do not save her. She treats Jaime with honour and takes him at his word regardless of his actions.
Like Danaerys I want my children to fly and be able to protect themselves, like Catelyn I want to shield them from harm, and like Cersei I want to ensure their futures. I would do anything to ensure their safety.
The magic of Game of Thrones is that you feel what the characters feel. You are even able to feel sympathy for Cersei Lannister. As her brother Tyrion says, her one redeeming feature is her love for her children. Her pain and loss is far more evident than that of Jaime who has little to do with his children.
It illustrates the depths of what a mother would do to further the interests of her children. It also demonstrates the deep love the mothers have for their children and the terrible losses when fate claims them.
Motherhood can be the most powerful and yet the most vulnerable a woman can be.
This is no fantasy.
