Do we like Daenerys Targaryen?
A character from Game of Thrones (2011-2019)
Our score: 5 out of 10. We'd back her at the start: she frees slaves and fights for the powerless. But her certainty that she's right gets scarier the more power she gains, so we'd hedge.
Daenerys begins as a frightened teenager, sold into marriage by her brother Viserys, who wants an army to retake the Iron Throne. Game of Thrones, based on George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, follows rival families fighting over Westeros. She is the exiled heir trying to get back from across the sea.
Over the early seasons she grows from a powerless pawn into a commanding leader. She hatches three dragons, gathers followers and armies, and makes ending slavery her cause. She is brave, charismatic and protective of her people. She is also proud and quick to be ruthless with anyone who crosses her. She struggles to rule the people she frees as well as she conquers them.
Her score sits in the middle because the story keeps asking whether she is a liberator or a conqueror. Her good intentions are real, but so is her belief that she alone knows what's best. Her trusted advisers often have to talk her out of her worst impulses. Late in the story that belief takes over, and she turns from freeing cities to burning them. Her allies have to decide whether to stand with her or stop her.