If there’s one big missed opportunity in Game of Thrones, it’s the fact that we never witnessed at least one Arya Stark and Daenerys Targaryen interaction. It’s a shame that the showrunners sort of forgot an important detail about the young Stark—her admiration for the Targaryen dragon queens.
Aegon the Conqueror’s sisters-wives, Visenya and Rhaenys, challenged women’s traditional roles in Westeros, and this is why Arya looks up to them so much. There’s no need to explain how the dragon queens influenced the young Stark because, evidently, she’s one of the bravest fighters in the franchise.
Game of Thrones robbed us of an Arya Stark and Daenerys Targaryen interaction
Game of Thrones fans probably waited several years to see Arya Stark finally meet the dragon queen, Daenerys Targaryen, but this hope was easily snuffed by one scene from Season 8 with Arya dismissing her and telling Jon Snow, “We don’t trust your queen.”
Avid fans know how much Arya would have been super stoked to see her in person because of her admiration for Rhaenys and Visenya, with the latter being her role model for years. It’s easy to forget this because, let’s face it—even with their legendary contributions, they were still reduced in roles as Aegon’s sisters-wives.
Visenya was the fiercer of the two and was instrumental in the conquest of Westeros. She rode Vhagar, who would become the oldest and largest dragon in the prequel show. Visenya also notably fought in the First Dornish War after the realm refused to bend the knee to Aegon, but perhaps, her most viable contribution that remained a long-standing tradition in Westeros was the formation of the Kingsguard.
Visenya’s legend continued to inspire Arya as the latter believed the warrior queen never conformed to Westeros’ traditional roles for women. She was a role model for the likes of Rhaenyra Targaryen, who read a lot of stories about her adventures. Daenerys, on the other hand, possessed the same fierceness as her ancestor when it came to riding dragons.
Arya finally meeting Dany would have been an epic spectacle. To see her face light up at the sight of a dragonrider, a descendant of the queen she admired—it’s a scene that we were robbed of.
George R.R. Martin needs to fix this in The Winds of Winter
The most obvious way we can get a satisfying Arya and Daenerys interaction is in George R.R. Martin’s The Winds of Winter. Fans have been speculating for years that their meeting would be a possibility given the Stark girl’s awe of dragons. Perhaps the author is also aware of this, so all we can do for now is cross our fingers and hope that the sixth installment will be published soon.
Martin said in 2023 that he had roughly 400–500 pages remaining to be written, and in September 2024, he claimed to have produced some new pages. No positive update has been reported since the beginning of the year.
Game of Thrones is currently available to watch on Max.
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