Essay on Daenerys Targaryen: A Machiavellian Leader Approved by Niccolo Machiavelli?

Niccolo Machiavelli is famous for the book, 'The Prince,' that advocates for the kind of politics that could make one get away with murder without one's conscience haunting anyone. Daenerys Targaryen is a character in the film, 'Games of Thrones,'who matches the leadership description of Machiavelli. Primarily, this paper analyzes whether Machiavelli would approve Targaryen as the Machiavellian leader. I believe that the former would support the latter as the leader of the Machiavellians. Notably, Daenerys Targaryen showed a powerful kind of leadership throughout the entire season of the series that made her an effective leader. A Machiavellian leader can manipulate every individual, and most of them have a high intelligence level. The latter sections of this paper will compare Daenerys Targaryen's leadership techniques and that required for one to be a Machiavellian leader, as depicted in the second edition of the book, "The Prince: Niccolo Machiavelli."

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Daenerys Targaryen utilized violence means and techniques to conquer her enemies, which is one attribute that would prompt her approval as a Machiavellian leader. The choice of violence exhibited by Targaryen echoes the sentiments aired by the Italian diplomat and political philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli. The leader argued that a wise prince uses his arms to win battles (Mansfield 70). Further, Machiavelli claimed that a prince would prefer to lose while using his arms other than hiring mercenaries from different regions and provides the example of Cesare Borgia, who led French divisions to conquer Forli and Imola (Mansfield 70). However, when he no longer trusted the army, he hired some mercenaries, who proved untrustworthy as well hence prompting him to use his arms. In Daenerys' use of violence, the princess utilized her army. She believed in their power to conquer her enemies, which is one of the violent tactics that would make her a suitable Machiavellian leader.

The second to last episode of the series, for instance, saw the massive killing of thousands of innocent people even though the defending armies of the Kings Landing Kingdom had surrendered. Targaryen did not accept the signs of peace from the military. Instead, she burnt down the entire army and killed innocent civilians. In addition to that, the last episode started with the queen supervising her forces, and a flag raised high in the air. The violence resulted from Targaryen's thirst for power. As such, she was willing to act and kill any individual who seemingly inhibited her dream of leading her people.

Machiavelli was contemplating whether it was better to be loved than feared. The conclusion derived was that it was safer to be feared rather than loved since love is broken at any available opportunity. In chapter 17 of the book, Harvey Mansfield indicated that men were generally ungrateful, pretenders, fickle, and dissemblers (pp. 83). With this in mind, when one does well to humans, they fail to reciprocate it at the time of utmost need. As such, a prince who has ruled honorably and formed friendships ends up being stripped off their power. The extreme use of violence by Targaryen and the political thoughts of Machiavelli showed that leaders might want to achieve their goals for morally accepted reasons. However, they have to make some challenging and dangerous compromises for the achievement of those goals. In effect, they are likely to deviate from their moral path, as it was the case for Targaryen, who resulted to violence as a means of acquiring power.

The political theory by Machiavelli represents an effort directed at excluding issues of legitimacy and authority in making political judgments and decisions. It is worth noting that Machiavelli appreciates that good laws and arms make up an orderly political system. However, he claims that fear and coercion yield illegality hence showing the importance of concentration efforts towards fear and coercion in a leader. Machiavelli seemingly implied that for people to abide by the law, there must be a threat of coercion (Machiavelli 84). In addition to that, Machiavelli indicated that a prince should make himself feared in a way that he lacks love from his people and escapes their hatred as well (Mansfield 83). Being feared, in this case, and lack of hatred can relate together, particularly if a leader escapes from activities such as grabbing the properties of his citizens. In instances where a prince should go after one's life, there must be enough justification (Mansfield 84).

Daenerys tries to rule with love initially, but she feels unloved in the region in return. Importantly, the film character thinks that she has done her best to the people of Westeros by supporting them and ensuring that they have a good life. More so, she sacrificed her ambitions and a large army to assist in a war aimed at protecting her people. However, she fails to understand the lack of love she gets from her country people, which prompts her to rule with fear. Daenerys indicated that most people fear her more than they love her, and she appreciated the concern. From this, it becomes clear that the empress prefers fear to love.

The film character has a lover, JonSnow, who explains that he cannot love her truly. As such, Daenerys feels that without Jon, the people are likely to see her as an invader. In the sequel, she accepts to be feared rather than loved by her people. It is essential to understand that it was Jon Snow who prompted Daenerys Targaryen to rule based on fear instead of love. Ruling based on fear signifies that Daenerys will make her people follow her based on fear instead of love.

After Daenerys chose to rule with fear, she burns a kingdom down. Innocent persons lose their lives, having in mind that soldiers who surrendered and opted for peace were murdered. The panic exacerbated by Targaryen was imminent in the entire region. The queen does not want her people to be afraid of the extent of love they have for her. Instead, she wants them to be frightened of her and her style of leadership, as proposed by Niccolo Machiavelli. The actions of Targaryen show that the people of King's Landing, the kingdom that she destroyed, did not matter to her. Instead, she cared about her position and her ability to instill fear on her subjects. It is evident in the series that Targaryen played her game well and managed to achieve her objective of instilling fear. More so, the beliefs of the queen that ruling by fear was better than love matches the perceptions and political philosophies aired by Niccolo Machiavelli. Machiavelli gives an example of Scipio, who ruled his people with mercy (Mansfield 85). In turn, Scipio was regarded as the corruptor of the Roman military. The example showed that goodness yields reject and revolt from people hence further explaining why one should castigate fear among subjects.

Machiavelli also seemingly showed support for princes that have earned that position due to their virtues rather than fortune. Some of the examples of leaders mentioned include Moses, Cyrus, Romulus, and Theseus (Mansfield 32). Moses executed the commands ordered by God. Leaders such as Cyrus conquered kingdoms that they found admirable (Mansfield 32). Such leaders had the opportunity to make the strides that they did, just like Daenerys Targaryen. Moses, for instance, had the excuse that arose from the oppression and enslavement of the Israelites, which made it possible for him to conquer the land. Primarily, this signifies that Moses was a liberator, as depicted by Machiavelli. Daenerys, too, was a liberator guided by faith in her cause. In a bid to set the people of Astapor and Meeren free, Targaryen used dragons while Moses used plagues to unrestrict the enslaved Israelites. Daenerys Targaryen was true to her cause and conquered different cities, particularly those that seemed appealing to her, which Machiavelli advocated for when he referenced leaders such as Moses, who were true to their cause.

Consequently, Machiavelli argued that Romulus was not exposed at birth that he would become the king of Rome while Cyrus needed to find the discontent that the Persians had with the empire of Medes (Mansfield 32). Similarly, Theseus would not have showcased his virtues if the Athenians had not been dispersed. The purity of these leaders allowed for recognition of opportunities that would make them the most renowned leaders of the land. Daenerys rules with virtues since she forms a mighty army that leads her to conquer the lands she finds desirable. By doing so, Daenerys Targaryen is not afraid to act, but instead introduces new orders and commands that will favor her ruling and that of her city. Targaryen did not show any of her weaknesses. Instead, she defended her kingdom with bravery and displayed force against her enemies, which showcased her independent nature, which Machiavelli considered an essential leadership trait.

Machiavelli would have compared Daenerys Targaryen to Cesare Borgia, a leader who received immense praised for his actions and capabilities to lead his people desirable (Mansfield 70). It is worth noting that Cesare was the illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI. The pope made Cesare a cardinal, but was later put in charge of the military forces after the sudden death of Cesare's elder brother. The military forces had the mandate of regaining the authority of the pope over other regions recognized as Papal's states. Cesare led the army to invade the Romagna region and appointed Remirro, who was a cruel man, to head the area as its governor. However, he knew that Remirro would take over the city. Hence, he had him assassinated by cutting him into two in public. As such, the people feared him, and no one would dare cause a revolt against Cesare's regime.

Similarly, when Daenerys Targaryen decided to kill soldiers who had surrendered, she castigated fear among her subjects. In the sequel, no one would dare revolt against her, showing that such actions of violence and lack of intimidation are some of the qualities that Machiavelli advocated for in a leader. Machiavelli argued that without arms, no principality was secure (Manfield 72). The arms defined in this case were subjects, citizens, or creatures. For Daenerys Targaryen, her arms were her army and the dragons that she used to free the enslaved and conquer two areas.

Conclusion

To conclude, Machiavelli had various political ideas and thoughts that defined a suitable leader from his perspective. Daenerys Targaryen was a character in the film, 'Game of Thrones,' and would have made an excellent Machiavellian leader. As Machiavelli argued, a leader should not be afraid of using violence to defend their kingdoms. Daenerys Targaryen used force in a variety of ways. First, the leader killed soldiers who had surrendered and innocent civilians, which created fear among her subjects. More so, she used dragons to conquer cities that she found desirable and weak, which Machiavelli advocated for in leaders. Machiavelli claimed that it was better to be feared than to be loved. His argument resulted from the fact that human beings tend to be ungrateful. In effect, leading with the desire to be loved could attract revolt against one's leadership and could lead to instances of a coup. Lastly, Daenerys Targaryen can be compared to leaders such as Cesare, who played with the minds of his subjects and was not afraid to kill any individual to ensure that his subjects do not make similar mistakes. Targaryen was true to her cause and ambitious in nature. She was determined to become a feared ruler; hence she conquered cities successfully using any available means.

Work Cited

Mansfield, Harvey C. The Prince: Second Edition. University of Chicago Press, 1998. Print.